r< 4*4*4*4 4'4V4^4^:^<^<y<fO<j4x 
 
 H7l 4 4 4*4>% 
 
 ill 
 
 
 mm. 
 
 & 
 
 J, SALMON' 
 
 ! irmiatinjg %ihxmvi- f 
 
 BE, High Street 
 
 p* 12 
 
 . ^sata—*. -&*>$- 
 
 This Yolwnie if kepi beyond the weetc 
 will be charged for extra. 
 
 * ■ i
 
 ft 
 
 This 
 JWSi 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 "'.■-.' 
 
 ■'■■■■•:'. 
 
 I MS? 1 
 
 lttr< 
 
 ■:■; 
 
 H I HI 
 
 wE ■ 
 
 ■ 
 
 •■•"■..•■..•"'■■ 
 MM K
 
 ■i 
 
 BE
 
 I
 
 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN 
 
 VOL. II.
 
 NEIGHBOURS 
 ON THE GREEN 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. OLIPHANT 
 
 Old wives' tales " 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 ITonbon 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 AND NEW YORK 
 1889
 
 Rn hard Ci. ay as.' Sons, Limited, 
 
 LONDON AND BUNGAY.
 
 67/3 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN I 
 
 LADY ISABELLA 1 56 
 
 AN ELDERLY ROMANCE 279 
 
 10
 
 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN
 
 IReiQbbours on tbe (Sreen 
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTIEMAN. 
 Chapter I. 
 
 There were a great variety of houses on 
 the Green ; some of them handsome and 
 wealthy, some very old-fashioned, some even 
 which might be called tumbledown. The 
 two worst and smallest of these were at the 
 lower end of the Green, not far from the 
 " Barleymow." It must not be supposed 
 however that they were unpleasantly affected 
 by the neighbourhood of the " Barleymow." 
 They were withdrawn from contact with it 
 quite as much as we were, who lived at the 
 other end ; and though they were small and 
 out of repair, and might even look mouldy 
 
 » »■ VOL. II. B
 
 2 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 and damp to a careless passer-by, they were 
 still houses for gentlefolk, where nobody 
 need have been ashamed to live. They 
 were built partly of wood and partly of 
 whitewashed brick, and each stood in the 
 midst of a very luxuriant garden. At the 
 time Mr. Reinhardt, of whom I am going 
 to speak, came to East Cottage, as it was 
 called, the place had been very much ne- 
 glected ; the trees and bushes grew wildly 
 all over the garden ; the flower-beds had 
 gone to ruin ; the kitchen-garden was a 
 desert, with only a dreary cabbage or great 
 long straggling onion-plant run to seed 
 showing amono- the ofooseberries and cur- 
 rants, which looked like the copsewood in 
 a forest. It is miserable to see a place go 
 to destruction like this, and I could not but 
 reflect often how many poor people there 
 were without a roof to shelter them, while 
 this house was going to ruin for want of 
 an inhabitant. " My dear lady, that is com- 
 munism, rank communism," the Admiral
 
 I. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 3 
 
 said to me when I ventured to express my 
 sentiments aloud ; but I confess I never 
 could see it. 
 
 The house belonged to Mr. Falkland, who 
 was a distant relation of Lord Goodwin's, 
 and lived chiefly in London. He was a 
 young man, and a barrister, living, I sup- 
 pose, in chambers, as most of them do ; but 
 I wondered he did not furnish the place 
 and keep it in order, if it had been only 
 for the pleasure of coming down with his 
 friends from Saturday to Monday, to spend 
 Sunday in the country. When I suggested 
 this young Robert Lloyd, Mrs. Damerel's 
 brother, took it upon him to laugh. 
 
 " There is nothing to do here," he said. 
 " If it were near the river, for boating, it 
 would be a different matter, or even if there 
 was a stream to fish in ; but a fellow has 
 nothing to do here, and why should Falk- 
 land come to bore himself to death ? " Thus 
 the young man ended with a sigh for himself, 
 though he had begun with a laugh at me.
 
 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 " If he is so afraid to be bored himself," 
 said I — for I was rather angry to hear our 
 pretty village so lightly spoken of—" I am 
 sure he must know quantities of people who 
 would not be bored. Young barristers marry 
 sometimes, I suppose, imprudently, like 
 other young people— — " 
 
 " Curates, for instance," said Robert, who 
 was a saucy boy. 
 
 " Curates, and young officers, and all sorts 
 of foolish people," said I ; " and think what 
 a comfort that little house would- be to a 
 poor young couple with babies ! Oh no, 
 I do not like ito see such a waste ; a house 
 o-oins: to rack and ruin for want of some 
 one to live in it, and so many people famish- 
 ing for want of fresh air, and the country. 
 Don't say any more, for it hurts me to see 
 it. I wish it were mine to do what I liked 
 with it only for a year." 
 
 " Communism, rank communism," said 
 the Admiral. But if that is communism, 
 then I am a communist, and I don't deny
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 
 
 it. I would not waste a Christian dwelling- 
 place any more than I would throw away 
 good honest wholesome bread. 
 
 However this state of things came to 
 an end one spring, a good many years ago. 
 Workmen came and began to put East 
 Cottage in order. We all took the greatest 
 interest in the work. It was quite a place 
 to £0 to for our afternoon walks, and some- 
 times as many as three and four parties would 
 meet there among the shavings and the 
 pails of plaster and whitewash. It was 
 being very thoroughly done up. We con- 
 sulted each other and gave our opinions 
 about all the papers, as if it mattered 
 whether we liked them or not. The Green 
 thought well of the new tenant's taste on 
 the whole, though some of us had doubts 
 about the decoration of the drawing-room, 
 which was rather a dark little room by 
 nature. The paper for it was terribly 
 artistic. It was one of those new designs 
 which I always think are too mediaeval
 
 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 for a private house — groups of five or six 
 daisies tied together, with long stalks de- 
 tached and distinct, and all the hair on 
 their heads standing on end, so to speak ; 
 but we who objected had a conviction that 
 it was only our ignorance, and merely 
 whispered to each other in corners, that we 
 were not quite sure — that perhaps it was just 
 
 a little but the people who knew better 
 
 thought it showed very fine taste indeed. 
 
 It was some time ' before we found out 
 who the new tenant was. He did not come 
 down until after everything had been ar- 
 ranged and ready for some weeks. Then 
 we found out that he was a Mr. Reinhardt, 
 a gentleman who was well-known, people 
 said, in scientific circles. He was of German 
 extraction, we supposed, by his name, and 
 as for his connections, or where he came 
 from, nobody knew anything about them. 
 An old housekeeper was the first person 
 who made her appearance, and then came 
 an old man-servant ; both of them looked
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 
 
 .the very models of respectability, but I do 
 not think, for my own part, that the sight 
 of them gave me a very pleasant feeling 
 about their master. They chilled you only 
 to look at them. The woman had a sus- 
 picious, watchful look, her eyes seemed to 
 be always on the nearest corner looking for 
 some one, and she had an air of resolution 
 which I should not have liked to struggle 
 against. The man was not quite so alarm - 
 ine, for he was older.' and rather feeble 
 on his lees. One felt that there must be 
 some weakness in his character to justify 
 the little deviousness that would now and 
 then appear in his steps. These two people 
 attracted our notice in the interval of wait- 
 ing for their master. The man's name was 
 White — an innocent, feeble sort of name, 
 but highly respectable — and he called the 
 woman something which sounded like 
 Missis Sarah; but whether it was her 
 Christian name or her surname we never 
 could make out.
 
 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 It was on a Monday evening, and I had 
 gone to dine at the Lodge with Sir Thomas 
 and Lady Denzil, when the first certain 
 news of the new tenant of East Cottage 
 
 O 
 
 reached us. The gentlemen, of course, 
 had been the first to hear it. Somehow, 
 though it is taken for granted that women 
 are the great traffickers in gossip, it is the 
 men who always start the subject. When 
 they came into the drawing-room after 
 dinner they gave us the information, which 
 they had already been discussing among 
 themselves over their wine. 
 
 " Mr. Reinhardt has arrived," Sir Thomas 
 said to Lady Denzil ; and we all asked, 
 "When ?" 
 
 "He came yesterday, I believe," said 
 Sir Thomas. 
 
 "Yesterday! Why, yesterday was Sun- 
 day," cried some one ; and though we are, 
 as a community, tolerably free from pre- 
 judice, we were all somewhat shocked ; and 
 there was a pause.
 
 I. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 9 
 
 " I believe Sunday is considered the most 
 lucky day for everything abroad," said 
 Lady Denzil, after that interval ; " for be- 
 ginning a journey, and no doubt for enter- 
 ing a house. And as he is of German 
 extraction " 
 
 '•' He does not look like a German," said 
 Robert Lloyd; "he is quite an old fellow 
 — about fifty, I should say — and dark, not 
 fair." 
 
 At this speech the most of us laughed ; 
 for an old fellow of fifty seemed absurd to 
 us, who were that age, or more ; but Robert, 
 at twenty, had no doubt on the subject. 
 
 " Well," he said, half offended, " I could 
 not have said a young fellow, could I ? 
 He stoops, he is awfully thin, like an old 
 magician, and shabbily dressed, and " 
 
 " You must have examined him from 
 head to foot, Robert." 
 
 " A fellow can't help seeing," said Robert, 
 " when he looks ; and I thought vou all 
 wanted to know."
 
 io NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEX. chap. 
 
 Then we had a discussion as to what 
 notice should be taken of the new comer. 
 We did not know whether he was married 
 or not, and, consequently, could not go 
 fully into the question ; but the aspect of 
 the house and the looks of the servants 
 were much against it. For my own part, 
 I felt convinced he was not married ; and, 
 so far as we ladies were concerned, the 
 question was thus made sufficiently easy. 
 But the gentlemen felt the weight pro- 
 portionably heavy on their shoulders. 
 
 " I never knew any one of the name of 
 Reinhardt," Sir Thomas said with a musing 
 air. 
 
 " Probably he will have brought letters 
 from somebody," the Admiral suggested : 
 and that was a wonderful comfort to all 
 the men. 
 
 Of course he must have letters from 
 somebody ; he must know some one who 
 knew Sir Thomas, or Mr. Damerel, or the 
 Admiral, or General Perronet, or the Lloyds.
 
 I. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 1 1 
 
 Surelv the world was not so larsre as to 
 make it possible that the new comer did 
 not know some one who knew one of the 
 people on the Green. As for being a 
 scientific notability, or even a literary 
 character, I am afraid that would not have 
 done much for him in Dinglefield. If he 
 had been cousin to poor Lord Glyndon, 
 who was next to an idiot, it would have 
 been of a o-reat deal more service to him. 
 
 o 
 
 I do not say that we were right ; I think 
 there are other things which ought to 
 be taken into consideration ; but, without 
 arguing about it, there is no doubt that 
 so it was. 
 
 The Green generally kept a watchful eye 
 for some time on the East Cottage. There 
 were no other servants except those two 
 whom we had already seen. Sometimes the 
 gardener, who kept all the little gardens 
 about in order — " doing for " ladies like 
 myself, for instance, who could not afford 
 to keep a gardener — was called in to assist
 
 12 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 at East Cottage ; and I believe (of course 
 I could not question him on the subject ; 
 I heard this through one of the maids) 
 that he was very jocular about the man- 
 servant, who was a real man-of-all-work, 
 doing everything you could think of, from 
 helping to cook, down to digging in the 
 garden. Our gardener opened his mouth 
 and uttered a great laugh when he spoke 
 of him. He held the opinion common to 
 a great many of his class, that to under- 
 take too much was a positive injury to 
 others. A servant who kept to his own 
 work, and thought it was " not his place ' ; 
 to interfere with anything beyond it, or 
 lend a helping hand in matters beyond 
 his own immediate calling, was Matthew's 
 model of what a servant ought to be, 
 and a man who pretended to be a butler, 
 and was a Jack-of-all-trades, was a con- 
 temptible object to our gardener : " taking 
 the bread out o' other folks's mouths," he 
 said. He thought the man at the East
 
 I. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 13 
 
 Cottage was a foreigner, and altogether 
 had a very poor opinion of him. But 
 however what was a great deal worse was 
 the fact that neither the man-servant, nor 
 the woman, nor the master, appeared to 
 care for our notice, or in any way 
 took the place they ought to have done 
 in our little community. They had their 
 things down from London ; they either did 
 their washing " within themselves " or sent 
 it also away to a distance ; they made no 
 friends, and sought none. Mr. Reinhardt 
 brought no letters of introduction. Some- 
 times — but rarely — he might be seen of an 
 evening walking towards the Dell, with an 
 umbrella over his head to shield him from 
 the setting sun, but he never looked at 
 anybody whom he met, or showed the least 
 inclination to cultivate acquaintance, even 
 with a child or a dog. And the worst of all 
 was that he certainly never went to church. 
 We were very regular church-goers on the 
 Green. Some of us preferred sometimes to
 
 14 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 go to a little church in the woods, which 
 was intended for the scattered population 
 of our forest district, and was very pretty 
 and sweet in the midst of the great trees, 
 instead of to the parish. But to one or 
 other everybody went once every Sunday 
 at least. It was quite a pretty sight on 
 Sunday morning to see everybody turning 
 out — families all together, and lonely folk like 
 myself, who scarcely could feel lonely when 
 there was such a feeling of harmony and 
 friendliness about. The youn^ people set 
 off walking generally a little while before us ; 
 but most of the elder people drove, for it was 
 a good long way. And though some rigid 
 persons thought it was wrong on the Sunday, 
 yet the nice carriages and horses looked 
 pleasant, and the servants always had time to 
 come to church ; and an old lady like Lady 
 Denzil, for instance, must have stayed at 
 home altogether if she had not been allowed 
 to drive. I think a distinction should be 
 made in such cases. But when all the houses
 
 I. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 15 
 
 thus opened their doors and poured forth 
 their inhabitants, it may be supposed how 
 stranee it looked that one house should never 
 open and no figure ever come from it to join 
 the Sunday stream. Even the housekeeper, 
 so far as we could ascertain, never had a 
 Sunday out. They lived within those walls, 
 within the trees that were now so tidy and 
 trim. One morning when I had a cold, and 
 was reading the service by myself in my own 
 room, I had a glimpse of the master of the 
 house. It was a summer day, very soft and 
 blue, and full of sunshine. You know what 
 I mean when I say blue — the sky seemed to 
 stoop nearer to the earth, the earth hushed 
 itself and looked up all still and gentle to 
 the sky. There were no clouds above, and 
 nobody moving below ; nothing but a little 
 thrill and flicker of leaves, a faint rustle of the 
 grass, and the birds singing with a softer 
 note, as it they too knew it was Sunday. My 
 room is in the front of the house, and over- 
 looks all the Green. The window was open,
 
 1 6 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 and the click of a latch sounding in the 
 stillness made me lift my head without think- 
 ing from the lesson I was reading. It was 
 Mr. Reinhardt, who had come out of his 
 cottage. He came to the garden gate and 
 stood for a moment looking out. I was not 
 near enough to see his face, but in every line 
 of his spare, stooping figure there was suspi- 
 cion and doubt. He looked to the right and 
 to the left with a curious prying eagerness, as 
 if he expected to see some one coming. And 
 then he came out altogether, and began to 
 walk up and down, up and down. The 
 stillness was so great that, though he walked 
 very softly, the sound of his steps on the 
 gravel of the» road reached me from time to 
 time. I stopped in my reading to watch 
 him, in spite of myself. Every time he 
 turned he looked about him in the same 
 suspicious, curious way. Was he waiting for 
 some one ? Was he looking out for a visitor ? 
 or was he (the thought sprang into my mind 
 all at once) insane perhaps, and had escaped
 
 I. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 17 
 
 from his keepers in the cottage ? This 
 thought made my heart jump, but a little 
 reflection calmed me, for he had not the least 
 appearance of insanity. The little jar now 
 and then of his foot when he turned kept me 
 in excitement ; I felt it impossible to keep from 
 watching him. When I found how abstracted 
 my mind was getting, I changed my place 
 that I might not be tempted to look out any 
 more, feeling that it was wrong to yield 
 to this curiosity ; and when I had finished 
 my reading the first carriage — the Denzils' 
 carriage — was comma- ajeaminor alone the 
 distant road in the sunshine, coming back 
 from church, and the lonely figure was gone. 
 I did not know whether he had acme in 
 again or had extended his walk. But I felt 
 somehow all that day, though you will say 
 with very little reason, that I knew some- 
 thing more about our strange neighbour than 
 most people did on the green. 
 
 vol. 11.
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 
 
 CHArTER II. 
 
 This seclusion and isolation of East Cot- 
 tage did not however last verv lone. Before 
 the summer was over Sir Thomas, who, 
 though he stood on his dignity sometimes, 
 was very kind at bottom, began to feel 
 compunctious about his solitary neighbour : 
 now and then he would say something which 
 betrayed this. " It worries me to think there 
 is some one there who has been taken no 
 notice of by anybody," he would say. " Of 
 course it is his own fault — entirely his own 
 fault." The next time one met him he 
 would return to the subject. " What a 
 lovely day ! Everybody seems to be out-of- 
 doors — except at East Cottage, where they
 
 ch. ii. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 19 
 
 have the blinds drawn down." This would 
 be said with a pucker of vexation and an- 
 noyance about his mouth. He was angry 
 with the stranger, and sorry, and did not 
 know what to do. And I for one knew 
 what would follow. But we were all very 
 curious when we heard that Sir Thomas 
 had actually called. The Stokes came 
 runnine in to tell me one afternoon. " Oh, 
 fancy, Mrs. Mulgrave, Sir Thomas has 
 called!" cried Lucy. "And he has been 
 admitted, which is still greater fun," said 
 Robert Lloyd, who was with them. I may 
 say in passing that this was before Robert 
 had passed his examination, when he was 
 an idle young man at home, trying hard 
 to persuade Lucy Stoke that he and she 
 were in love with each other. Their parents, 
 of course, would never have permitted such 
 a thing for a moment, and fortunately there 
 turned out to be nothing in it ; but at 
 present this was the chief occupation of 
 Robert's life. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 " I am very glad," said I. k> I knew Sir 
 Thomas never would be happy till he had 
 done it." 
 
 ' And oh, you don't know what funny 
 stones there are about," said Lucy. " They 
 say he killed his wife, and that he is always 
 thinking he sees her ghost. I wonder if 
 it is true ? They say he can never be left 
 alone or in the dark ; he is so frightened. 
 I met him yesterday, and it made me jump. 
 I never saw a man who killed his wife 
 before." 
 
 "But who says he killed his wife?" 
 
 " Oh, everybody ; we heard it from 
 Matthew the gardener, and I think he heard 
 it at the ' Barleymow,' and it is all over 
 the place. Fancy Sir Thomas calling on 
 such a person ! for I suppose," said Lucy, 
 " though you are so very superior, you men, 
 and may beat us, and all that, it is not made 
 law yet that you may kill your wives." 
 
 "It might just as well be the law : for 
 I am sure there are many other things
 
 it. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 21 
 
 quite as bad," said Lottie, while Robert, 
 who had been appealed to, whispered some 
 answer which made Lucy laugh. " Poor 
 man, I wonder if she was a very bad 
 woman, and if she haunts him. How dis- 
 appointed he must have been to find he 
 could not get rid of her even that way ! ' 
 
 " Lottie, my dear, here is Sir Thomas 
 coming- ; don't talk so much nonsense," said 
 I hurriedly. 
 
 I am afraid however that Sir Thomas 
 rather liked the nonsense. He had not the 
 feeling of responsibility in encouraging girls 
 to run on, that most women have. He 
 thought it was amusing, as men generally 
 do, and never paused to think how bad it 
 was for the girls. But to-day he was too 
 full of his own story to care much for 
 theirs. He came in with dusty boots, 
 which was quite against his principles, and 
 stretched his long spare limbs out on the 
 beautiful rutr which the Stokes had worked 
 for me in a way that went to my heart.
 
 22 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 That showed how very much pre-occupied 
 he was ; for Sir Thomas was never in- 
 considerate about such matters. 
 
 "Wei]," he said, pushing his thin white 
 hair off his forehead, and stretching" out 
 his legs as if he were quite worn out, 
 " there is one piece of work well over. I 
 have had a good many tough jobs in my 
 life, but I don't know that I ever had a 
 worse." 
 
 " Oh, tell us what happened. Is he mad ? 
 Has he shut himself in ? ,: Has he hurt 
 you ? " cried the Stokes. 
 
 Sir Thomas smiled upon this nonsense as 
 if it had been perfectly reasonable, and the 
 best sense in the world. 
 
 " Hurt me ! well, not quite : he was not 
 likely to try that. He is a little mite of 
 a man, who could not hurt a fly. And 
 besides," added Sir Thomas, correcting him- 
 self, " he is a geatleman. 1 have no reason 
 to doubt he is a perfect gentleman. He 
 conducts himself quite as — as all the rest
 
 II. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 23 
 
 of us do. No, it was the difficulty of pretting 
 in that bewildered me." 
 
 "Was there a difficulty in getting in ?" 
 
 " You shall hear. The servant looked as 
 if he would faint when he saw me. ' Mr. 
 Reinhardt at home ? ' Oh ! he could not quite 
 say ; if I would wait he would go and ask. 
 So I waited in the hall," said Sir Thomas 
 with a smile. " Well, yes, it was odd, of 
 course ; but such an experience now and 
 then is not bad for one. It shows you, you 
 know, of how little importance you are the 
 moment you get beyond the circle of people 
 who know you. I think really it is salutary, 
 you know, if you come to that — and amusing," 
 he added, this time with a little laugh. 
 
 " Oh, but what a shame : how shocking ! 
 how horrid ! You, Sir Thomas, whom every- 
 body knows ! " 
 
 " That is just what makes it so instruc- 
 tive," he said. " I must have stood in the 
 hall a quarter of an hour : allowing for the 
 tediousness of waiting, I should say certainly
 
 NEhiltnOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 a quarter of an hour ; and then the man 
 came back and asked me, what do you think ? 
 if I had come of my own accord, or if some 
 one had sent me ! It was ludicrous," said Sir 
 Thomas with a half laugh ; " but if you will 
 think of it, it was rather irritating. I am 
 afraid I lost my temper a little. I said, ' I 
 am Sir Thomas Denzil. I live at the Lodge, 
 and I have come to call upon your master,' 
 in a tone which made the old fool of a man 
 shake, and then some one else appeared at 
 the top of the stairs. It was Mr. Reinhardt, 
 who had heard my voice." 
 
 "What did he say for himself?" I asked. 
 
 " It was not his fault," said Sir Thomas ; 
 " he knew nothing of it. He is a very well- 
 informed man, Mrs. Mulgrave. He is quite 
 able to enter into conversation on any 
 subject. He was very glad to see me. He 
 is a sort of recluse, it is easy to perceive, but 
 quite a proper person ; very well-informed, 
 one whom it was a pleasure to converse with, 
 I assure you. He made a thousand apologies.
 
 II. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 25 
 
 He said something about unfortunate circum- 
 stances, and a disagreeable visitor, as an 
 excuse for his man ; but whether the dis- 
 agreeable visitor was some one who had been 
 there or who was expected " 
 
 " Oh, I know," cried Lucy Stoke, with 
 excitement. "It was his wife's ghost." 
 
 Sir Thomas stopped short aghast, and 
 looked at me to ask if the child had gone mad. 
 
 " How could they think Sir Thomas was 
 the wife's ghost ? " cried Lottie, " you little 
 goose ! and besides, most likely it is not true." 
 
 " What is not true ? " asked Sir Thomas 
 in dismay. 
 
 " Oh, they say he killed her," said Lucy, 
 "and that she haunts him. They say his 
 man sleeps in his room, and the housekeeper 
 just outside. He cannot be left by himself 
 for a moment : and I. do not wonder he should 
 be frightened if he has killed his wife." 
 
 " Nonsense, nonsense," said Sir Thomas, 
 raising his voice. " Nonsense ! " he was quite 
 angry. He had taken up the man and felt
 
 26 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 responsible for him, " My dear child, I think 
 you are going out of your little wits," he cried. 
 " Killed his wife ! why, the man is a thorough 
 gentleman. A most well-informed man, and 
 knows my friend Sir Septimus Dash, who is 
 the head of the British Association. Why. 
 why, Lucy ! you take away my breath." 
 
 "It was not I who said it," cried 
 Lucy. " It is all over the green — everybody 
 knows. They say she disappeared all at 
 once, and never was heard of more ; and 
 then there used to be sounds like somebody 
 crying and moaning ; and then he got so 
 frightened, he never would go anywhere, nor 
 look any one in the face. Oh ! only suppose ; 
 how strange it would be to have a haunted 
 house on the green. If I had anybody to go 
 with me I should like to walk down to East 
 Cottao-e at midnight." 
 
 " Let me go with you," whispered Robert ; 
 but fortunately I heard him, and gave Lucy 
 a look. She was a silly little girl certainly, 
 but not so bad as that.
 
 ii. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 27 
 
 " This is really very great nonsense," said 
 Sir Thomas. " A haunted house at this time 
 of day ! Mrs. Mulgrave, I hope you will use 
 all your influence to put down this story if it 
 exists. I give you my word, Mr. Reinhardt 
 is quite an addition to our society, and knows 
 Sir Septimus Dash. A really well-bred, 
 well-informed man. I am quite shocked, I 
 assure you. Lucy, I hope you will not 
 spread this ridiculous story. I shall ask your 
 mother what she thinks. Poor man ! no 
 wonder he looked uncomfortable, if there is 
 already such a rumour abroad." 
 
 "Then he did look uncomfortable ? " said 
 Lottie. 
 
 " No ; I can't say he did. No ; I don't 
 mean uncomfortable," said Sir Thomas, 
 seeing he had committed himself. " I mean 
 it is absurd altogether. A charming 
 man ; one whom you will all like immensely- 
 I think Lady Denzil must have returned 
 from her drive. We are to see you all to- 
 morrow, I believe, in the afternoon ? Now
 
 28 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 Lucy, no more gossip ; leave that to the old 
 women, my clear." 
 
 " Sir Thomas does not know what to make 
 of it," said Lottie, as we watched him cross 
 the green. "He has gone to my lady to 
 have his mind made up whether he ought to 
 pay any attention to it or not." 
 
 ' And my lady will say not," said I ; 
 " fortunately we are all sure of that. Lady 
 Denzil will not let anybody be condemned 
 without a hearing. And, Lucy, I think Sir 
 Thomas gave you very good advice ; when 
 you are old it will be time enough to amuse 
 yourself with spreading stories, especially 
 such dreadful stories as this." 
 
 Lucy took offence at what I said, and went 
 away pouting — comforted by Robert Lloyd, 
 and very indignant with me. Lottie stayed 
 for a moment behind her to tell me that it 
 was really quite true, and that the report 
 had gone all over the green, and everybody 
 was talking of it. No one knew quite 
 where it had come from, but it was already
 
 II. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 29 
 
 known to all the world at Dinglewood, and 
 a very unpleasant report it was. 
 
 However time went on, and no more 
 was heard of this. In a little place like 
 Dinglewood, as soon as everybody has 
 heard a story, a pause ensues. We can- 
 not go on indefinitely propagating it, and 
 renewing our own faith in it. When we 
 all know it, and nothing new can be said 
 on the subject, we are stopped short ; and 
 unless there are. new facts to comment 
 upon, or some new light thrown upon the 
 affair, it is almost sure to die away, as a 
 matter of course. This was the case in 
 respect to the report about Mr. Reinhardt. 
 We eot no more information, and we could 
 not go on talking about the old story for 
 ever. We exhausted it, and grew tired of it, 
 and let it drop ; and thus, by degrees, we 
 got used to him, and became acquainted 
 with him, more or less. 
 
 The other gentlemen called, one by one, 
 after Sir Thomas. Mr. Reinhardt was asked,
 
 NEIGH HO VRS ON Till'. GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 timidly, to one or two dinner-parties, and 
 declined, which we thought at first showed, 
 on the whole, good taste on his part. But 
 he became quite friendly when we met him 
 on. the road, and would stop to talk, and 
 showed no moroseness, nor fear of any one. 
 He had what was generally pronounced to 
 be a refined face — the features high and clear, 
 with a kind of ivory paleness, and keen eyes, 
 which were very sharp to note everything. 
 He was, as Sir Thomas said, very well- 
 informed. There seemed to be nothing that 
 you could talk about that he did not know ; 
 and in science, the gentlemen said he was 
 a perfect mine of knowledge. I am not 
 sure however that they were very good 
 judges, for I don't think either Sir Thomas 
 or the Admiral knew much about science. 
 One thine however which made some of 
 us still doubtful about him was the fact that 
 he never talked of people. When a name 
 was mentioned in conversation he never 
 said, " Oh, I know him very well — I knew
 
 II. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 31 
 
 his father — a cousin of his was a great friend 
 of mine," as most people do. All the ex- 
 pression went out of his face as soon as we 
 came to this kind of talk ; and it may be 
 supposed how very much at a loss most 
 people were in consequence for subjects to 
 talk about. But this, though it was strange, 
 was not any sort of proof that he had done 
 anything wicked. It might be — and the 
 most of us thought it was — an evidence 
 that he had not lived in society. " He 
 knows my friend, Sir Septimus Dash," Sir 
 Thomas always said in his favour ; but then, 
 of course, Sir Septimus was a public person- 
 age, and Mr. Reinhardt might have made 
 his acquaintance at some public place. But 
 still, a man may be of no family, and out 
 of society, and yet not have murdered his 
 wife. After a while we began to think, 
 indeed, that whether he had killed her or 
 not, it was just as well there. was no wife 
 in the question — "Just as well," Mrs. 
 Perronet said, who was great in matters of
 
 32 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. ch. n. 
 
 society. "A man whom nobody knows 
 does not matter ; but what should we have 
 done with a woman ? " 
 
 " He must have killed her on purpose 
 to save us the trouble," said Lottie. But 
 the General's wife was quite in earnest, and 
 did not see the joke.
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 It is a good thing, on the whole, to have 
 a house with a mystery about it in one's 
 immediate neighbourhood. Gradually we 
 ceased to believe that Mr. Reinhardt had 
 anything criminal about him. But it was 
 quite certain that there was a mystery — that 
 we knew nothing about him, neither where 
 he came from, nor what his family was. 
 For one thing, he had certainly no occu- 
 pation : therefore, of course, he must be 
 sufficientlv well off to do without that : and 
 he had no relations — no one who ever came 
 to see him, nor of whom he talked ; and 
 though the men who called upon him had 
 been admitted, they were never asked to 
 vol. n. D
 
 34 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN chap. 
 
 go back, nor had one of us ladies ever 
 crossed his threshold. It would seem 
 indeed that he had made a rule against 
 admitting ladies, for when Mrs. Damerel 
 herself called to speak of the soup-kitchen, 
 old White came and spoke to her at the 
 gate, and trembled very much, and begged 
 her a hundred pardons, but nevertheless 
 would not let her in — a thins: which made 
 her very indignant. Thus the house became 
 to us all a mysterious house, and, on the 
 whole, I think we rather liked it. The 
 mystery did no harm, and it certainly 
 amused us, and kept our interest alive. 
 
 Thus the summer passed, and Dinglefield 
 had got used to the Scientific Gentleman. 
 That was the name he generally went by. 
 When strangers came to the green, and 
 had it all described to them — Sir Thomas 
 here, the Admiral there, the General at the 
 other side, and so on, we always gave a 
 little special description of Mr. Reinhardt. 
 " He is a Fellow of the Royal Society," one
 
 III. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 35 
 
 would say, not knowing much what that 
 meant. " He belongs to the British As- 
 
 sociation," said another. " He is a great 
 scientific light." We began even to feel a 
 little proud of him. Even I myself, on the 
 nights when I did not sleep well, used to 
 feel quite pleased, when I looked out, to 
 see the Scientific Gentleman's light still 
 burning. He was sitting up there, no doubt, 
 pondering things that were much beyond 
 our comprehension — and it made us proud 
 to think that, on the green, there was some 
 one who was going over the abstrusest 
 questions in the dead of the night. 
 
 It was about six months after his arrival 
 whep, one evening, for some special reason, 
 I forget what, I went to Mrs. Stoke's to 
 tea. She lives a little way down the lane, 
 on the other side of the " Barleymow." It 
 is not often that she asks any one even to 
 tea. As a rule, people generally ask her 
 and her daughters, for we are all very well 
 aware of her circumstances ; but on this 
 
 d 2
 
 36 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 particular night, I was there for some reason 
 or other. It was October, and the nights 
 had begun to be cold ; but there was a full 
 moon, and at ten o'clock it was as lioht as 
 day. This was why I would not let them 
 send any one home with me. I must say 
 I have never understood how middle-aged 
 women like myself can have a pretty young 
 maid-servant sent for them, knowing very 
 well that the girl must walk one way alone, 
 and that, if there is any danger at all, a 
 young woman of twenty is more in the way 
 of it, than one who might be her mother. 
 I remember going to the door to look out, 
 and protesting that I was not the least 
 nervous — nor was I. I knew all the roads 
 as well as I knew my own garden, and 
 everybody round about knew me. The 
 way was not at all lonely. To be sure, 
 there were not many people walking about ; 
 but then there were houses all along — and 
 lastly, it was light as day. The moon was 
 shining in that lavish sort of way which she
 
 ill. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 
 
 only has when she is at the full. The 
 houses amid their trees stood whitened 
 over, held fast by the light as the 
 wedding-guest was held by the eye of the 
 Ancient Mariner. The shadows were as 
 black as the light was white. There was a 
 certain solemnity about it, so full of light, 
 and yet so colourless. After I had left the 
 house, and had come out — I and my 
 shadow — into the full whiteness, it made 
 an impression upon me which I could 
 scarcely resist. My first idea when I glanced 
 back was that my own shadow was some one 
 stealing after me. That gave me a shake 
 for a moment, though I laughed at myself. 
 The lights of the "Barleymow" neutralized 
 this solemn feeling, and I went on, thinking 
 to myself what a good story it would be for 
 my neighbours — my own shadow ! I did not 
 cross the green, as I generally did, partly 
 from a vague feeling that, though it was so 
 light and so safe, there was a certain com- 
 pany in being close to the houses — not that
 
 38 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 1 was the least afraid, or that indeed there 
 was any occasion to fear, but just for com- 
 pany's sake. By this time, I think it must 
 have been very nearly eleven o'clock, which 
 is a late hour for Dinglefield. All the houses 
 seemed shut up for the night. Looking up 
 the green, the effect of the sleeping place, 
 with the moon shining on the pale gables 
 and ends of houses, and all the trees in black, 
 and the white stretch of space in the centre, 
 looking as if it had been clean swept by the 
 moonlight of every obstacle, had the 
 strangest effect. I was not in the least afraid. 
 What should I be afraid of, so close to my 
 own door ? But still I felt a little shiver run 
 over me — a something involuntary, which I 
 could not help, like that little thrill of the 
 nerves, which makes people say that some 
 one is walking over your grave. 
 
 And all at once in the great stillness and 
 quiet I heard a sound quite near. It was 
 very soft at first, not much louder than a 
 sigh. I hurried on for a few steps frightened,
 
 in- THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 39 
 
 I could not tell why, and then, disgusted 
 with myself, I stopped to listen. Yes, now 
 it came again, louder this time ; and then I 
 turned round to look where it came from. 
 It was the sound of some one moaning either 
 in sorrow or in pain ; a soft, interrupted moan, 
 now and then stopping short with a kind of 
 sob. My heart began to beat, but I said to 
 myself, it is some one in trouble, and I can't 
 run away. The sound came from the side 
 of East Cottage, just where the little railing 
 in front ended ; and, after a long look, I 
 began to see that there was some one there. 
 What I made out was the outline of a figure 
 seated on the ground with knees drawn up, 
 and looking so thin that they almost came to 
 a point. It was straight up against the rail- 
 ing, and so overshadowed by the lilac-bushes 
 that the outline of the knees, black, but 
 whitened over as it were with a sprinkling of 
 snow or silver, was all that could be made 
 out. It was like something dimly seen in a 
 picture, not like flesh and blood. It gave
 
 40 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 me the strangest sensation to see this some- 
 thing, this shrouded semblance of a human 
 figure, at Mr. Reinhardt's door. All the 
 stories that had been told of him came back 
 to my mind. His wife! I would have kept 
 the recollection out of my mind if I could, 
 but it came without any will of mine. I 
 turned and went on as fast as ever I could. 
 I should have run like a frightened child had 
 I followed my own instinctive feeling. My 
 heart beat, my feet rang upon the gravel ; 
 and then I stopped short, hating myself. 
 How silly and weak I was! It might be 
 some poor creature, some tramp or wander- 
 ing wretch, who had sunk down there in 
 sickness or weariness, while I in my cowar- 
 dice passed by on the other side frightened 
 lest it should be a ghost. I do not know to 
 this day how it was that I forced myself 
 to turn and go back, but I did. Oh ! what 
 a moaning, wailing sound it was ; not loud, 
 but the very cry of desolation. I felt as 
 I went, though my heart beat so, that such
 
 in. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 41 
 
 a moaning could only come from a living 
 creature, one who had a body full of 
 weariness and pain, as well as a suffering 
 soul. 
 
 I turned back and went up to the thing 
 with those sharp-pointed knees ; then I saw 
 the hands clasped round the knees, and 
 the hopeless head bowed down upon them, 
 all black and silvered over like something 
 cut out of ebony. I even saw, or thought 
 I saw, amid the flickering of the heavens 
 above and the shadows below, a faint 
 rockine in the miserable figure ; — that me- 
 chanical, unconscious rocking which is one 
 of the primitive ways of showing pain. I 
 went up, all trembling as I was, and asked 
 "What is the matter?" with a voice as 
 tremulous. There was no answer ; only 
 the moaning went on, and the movement 
 became more perceptible. Fortunately, my 
 terror died away when I saw this. The 
 human sound and action, that were like 
 what everybody does, brought me back
 
 42 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 at once out of all supernatural dread. It 
 was a woman, and she was unhappy. I 
 dismissed the other thought — or rather, it 
 left me unawares. 
 
 This gave me a great deal of courage. 
 I repeated my question ; and then, as there 
 was no answer, went up and touched her 
 softly. The figure rose with a spring in 
 a moment, before I could think what she 
 was going to do. She put out one of her 
 hands, and pushed me off. 
 
 " Ah ! have I brought you out at last ? " 
 she cried wildly ; and then stopped short 
 and stared at me ; while I stared, too, feeling, 
 whoever it might be she had expected, that 
 I was not the person. Her movement was 
 so sudden, that I shrank back in terror, 
 fearing once more I could not tell what. 
 She was a very tall, slight woman, with a 
 cloak tightly wrapped about her. In the 
 confusion of the moment I could remark 
 nothing more. 
 
 "Are you ill?" I said, faltering. "My
 
 in. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTIEMAN. 43 
 
 good woman, I — I don't want to harm you ; 
 I heard you moaning, and I— thought you 
 w r ere ill -" 
 
 She seized me by the arm, making my 
 very teeth chatter. The grasp was bony 
 and hard like the hand of a skeleton. 
 
 " Are you from that house ? Are you from 
 him ? " she cried, pointing behind her with 
 her other hand. " Bid him come out to me 
 himself; bid him come out and go down on 
 his knees before I'll give in to enter his 
 door. Oh ! I've not come here for nought 
 — -I've not come here for nought ! I've come 
 with all my wrongs that he's done me. 
 Tell him to come out himself; it is his 
 part. 
 
 Her voice grew hoarse with the passion 
 that was in it, and yet it was a voice that 
 had been sweet. 
 
 I put up my hand, pleading with her, 
 trying to get a hearing, but she held me 
 fast by the arm. 
 
 " I have not come from that house," I said.
 
 44 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 " You frighten me. I — I live close by. I was 
 passing and heard you moan. Is there any- 
 thing the matter ? Can I be — of any use ? " 
 
 I said this very doubtfully, for I was 
 afraid of the strange figure, and the pas- 
 sionate speech. 
 
 Then she let go her hold all at once. She 
 looked at me and then all round. There 
 was not another creature visible except, 
 behind me, I suppose, the open door and 
 lights of the " Barleymow." She might 
 have done almost what she would to me 
 had she been disposed ; — at least, at the 
 moment that was how I felt. 
 
 : You live close by ? " she said, putting 
 her hand upon her heart, which was pant- 
 ing and heaving with her passion. 
 
 Yes. Are you — staying in the neigh- 
 bourhood ? Have you — lost your way?" 
 
 I said this in my bewilderment, not 
 knowing what the words were which came 
 from my lips. Then the poor creature 
 leaned back upon the wall and gasped and
 
 in. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 45 
 
 sobbed. I could not make out at first 
 whether it was emotion or want of breath. 
 
 "Yes, I've lost my way," she said; "not 
 here, but in life ; I've lost my way in life, 
 and I'll never find it again. Oh ! I'm ill — 
 I'm very ill. If you are a good Christian, 
 as you seem, take me in somewhere and 
 let me lie down till the spasm's past ; I 
 feel it comino- on now." 
 
 "What is it?" I asked. 
 
 She put her hand upon her heart and 
 panted and gasped for breath. Poor 
 wretch ! At that moment I heard behind 
 me the locking of the door at the " Barley- 
 mow." I know I ought to have called out 
 to them to wait, but I had not my wits 
 about me as one ou»ht to have. 
 
 " Have you no home ? ' I asked ; " no- 
 where to go to ? You must live somewhere. 
 I will go with you and take you home." 
 
 "Home!" she cried. "It is here or in 
 the churchyard, nowhere else — here or in 
 the churchyard. Take me to one or the
 
 46 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap 
 
 other, good woman, for Christ's sake : I 
 don't care which — to my husband's house 
 or to the churchyard — for Christ's sake." 
 
 For Christ's sake ! You may blame me, 
 but what could I do ? Could any of you 
 refuse if you were asked in that name ? 
 You may say any one can use such 
 words — any vagabond, any wretch — and, of 
 course, it is true ; but could you resist the 
 plea — you who are neither a wretch nor a 
 vagabond ? — I know you could not, any 
 more than me. 
 
 " Lean upon me," I said ; " take my 
 arm ; try if you can walk. Oh ! I don't 
 know who you are or what you are, but 
 when you ask for Christ's sake, you know, 
 He sees into your heart. If you have any 
 place that I can take you to, tell me ; you 
 must know it is difficult to take a stranger 
 into one's house like this. Tell me if you 
 have not some room — some place where 
 you can be taken care of ; I will give you 
 what you want all the same."
 
 III. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 47 
 
 We were going on all this time, walking 
 slowly towards my house ; she was gasp- 
 ing, holding one hand to her heart and 
 with the other leaning heavily on me. 
 When I made this appeal to her she 
 stopped and turned half round, waving her 
 hand towards the house we were leaving 
 behind us. 
 
 "If that is Mr. Reinhardt's house," she 
 said, " take me there if you will. I am — 
 his wife. He'll leave me to die — on the 
 doorstep — most likely ; and be glad. I 
 haven't strength — to — say any more." 
 
 "His wife!' I cried in my dismay. 
 
 ' Lord have mercy upon us ! ' cried the 
 panting creature. "Ay! that's the truth." 
 
 What could I do ? She was scarcely 
 able to totter along, panting and breathless. 
 It was her heart. Poor soul! how could 
 any one tell what she might have had to 
 surfer ? I took her, though with trembline 
 — what could I do else ? — to my own 
 house.
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 I cannot attempt to describe what my 
 feelings were when I went into my own 
 house with that strange woman. Though 
 it was a very short way, we took a long 
 time to sfet there. She had disease of the 
 heart evidently, and one of the paroxysms 
 had come on. 
 
 " I shall be better by and by," she said 
 to me, gasping as she leaned on my arm. 
 
 My mind was in such a confusion that 
 I did not know what I was doing. She 
 might be only a tramp, a thief, a vagabond. 
 As for what she had said of being Mr. 
 Reinhardt's wife — my head swam, I could 
 neither understand nor explain to myself
 
 ch. iv. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 49 
 
 how this had come about. But, whether 
 she was good or bad, I could not help 
 myself ; I was committed to it. Every 
 house on the green was closed and silent. 
 The shutters were all put up at the " Bar- 
 leymow," and silence reigned. No, thank 
 heaven ! in the Admiral's window there were 
 still lights, so that if anything happened 1 
 could call him to my aid. He was my 
 nearest neighbour, and the sight of his 
 lighted window gave me confidence. 
 
 My maid gave a little shriek when she 
 opened the door, and this too roused me. 
 I said, " Mary, this — lady is ill ; she will 
 lie down on the sofa in the drawing-room 
 while we get ready the west room. You 
 will not mind the trouble, I am sure, when 
 you see how ill she is." 
 
 This I said to smooth matters, for it is 
 not to be supposed that Mary, who was 
 already yawning at my late return, should 
 be quite pleased at being sent off to make 
 up a bed and prepare a room unexpectedly 
 
 VOL. II. E
 
 50 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 as it were in the middle of the ni^ht. 
 And I was glad also to send her away, 
 for I saw her give a wondering look at 
 the poor creature's clothes, which were 
 dusty and soiled. She had been sitting on 
 the dusty earth by Mr. Reinhardt's cottage, 
 and it was not wonderful if her clothes 
 showed marks of it. I made her lie down 
 on the sofa, and got her some wine. Poor 
 forlorn creature ! The rest seemed to be 
 life however to her. She sank back 
 upon the soft cushions, and her heavy 
 breathing softened almost immediately. I 
 left her there (though, I confess, not with- 
 out a slight sensation of fear), and went to 
 the west room to help Mary. It was a 
 room we seldom used, at the end of a long- 
 passage, and therefore the one best fitted 
 to put a stranger, about whom I knew 
 nothing, in. Mary did not say anything, 
 but I could feel that she disapproved of 
 me in every pat she gave to the fresh 
 sheets and pillows. And I was concilia-
 
 IV. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 51 
 
 tory, as one so often is to one's servants. 
 I drew a little picture of how I had found 
 the " poor lady ' : panting for breath and 
 unable to walk — of how weak and how 
 thin she was — and what a terrible tiling 
 to have heart-disease, which came on with 
 any exertion — and how anxious her friends 
 must be. 
 
 All this Mary listened to in grim silence, 
 patting now and then the bedclothes with 
 her hand, as if making a protest against 
 all I said. At length, when I had ex- 
 hausted my eloquence, and began to grow 
 a little angry, Mary cleared her throat and 
 replied, 
 
 '-' Please, ma'am, I know it ain't my place 
 to speak " 
 
 " Oh ! you can say what you please, Mary, 
 so long as it is not unkind to your neigh- 
 bours," said I. 
 
 " I never set eyes on the — lady — before, 
 so she can't be a neighbour of mine," said 
 Mary ; " but she's been seen about the 
 
 E 2
 
 52 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 green days and clays. I've seen her myself 
 a-haunting East Cottage, where that poor 
 gentleman lives." 
 
 " You said this moment that you never 
 set eyes on her before." 
 
 " Not to know her, ma'am," said Mary ; 
 " it's different. I saw her to-day walking up 
 and down like a ghost, and I wouldn't have 
 given sixpence foi all she had on her. It ain't 
 my place to speak, but one as you don't 
 know, and as may have a gang ready to 
 
 murder us all in our beds Mother was in 
 
 service in London when she was young, and 
 oh ! to hear the tales she knows. Pretend- 
 ing to be ill is the commonest trick of all, 
 mother says, and then they get took in, and 
 then, when all's still " 
 
 "It is very kind of you, I am sure, to 
 instruct me by your mother's experiences," 
 said I, feeling very angry. "Now you can 
 go to bed if you please, and lock your door, 
 and then you will be safe. I shall not want 
 you any more to-night."
 
 iv. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 53 
 
 " Oh ! but please, ma'am, I don't want 
 to leave you by yourself — please, I don't ! " 
 cried Mary, with the ready tears coming 
 to her eyes. 
 
 However I sent her away. I was angry, 
 and perhaps unreasonable, as people 
 generally are when they are angry ; though, 
 when Mary went to bed, I confess it was 
 not altogether with an easy mind that I 
 found myself alone with the stranger in the 
 silent house. It is always a comfort to 
 know that there is some one within reach. 
 I went back softly to the drawing-room : 
 she was still lying on the sofa, quite motion- 
 less and quiet, no longer panting as she 
 had done. When I looked at her closely 
 I saw that she had dropped asleep. The 
 light of the lamp was full on her face, and 
 yet she had dropped asleep, being, as I sup- 
 pose, completely worn out. I saw her face 
 then for the first time, and it startled me. 
 It was not a face which you could describe 
 by any of the lighter words of admiration as
 
 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 pretty or handsome. It was simply the 
 most beautiful face I ever saw in my life. 
 It was pale and worn, and looked almost 
 like death lying back in that attitude of 
 utter weakness on the velvet cushions ; and, 
 though the eyes were closed, and the effect 
 of them lost, it was impossible to believe 
 that the loveliest eyes in the world could 
 have made her more beautiful. She had 
 dark hair, wavy and slightly curling upon 
 the forehead ; her eyelashes were very 
 long and dark, and curled upwards ; her 
 features, I think, must have been perfect ; 
 and the look of pain had gone from her 
 face ; she was as serene as if she had been 
 dead. 
 
 I was very much startled by this : so 
 much so that for the moment I sank clown 
 upon a chair, overcome by confusion and 
 surprise, and did not even shade the lamp, 
 as I had intended to do. You may wonder 
 that I should be so much surprised, but then 
 you must remember that great beauty is
 
 iv. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN 55 
 
 not common anywhere, and that to pick 
 it out of the ditch as it were, and find it 
 thus in the person of one who might be a 
 mere vagabond and vagrant for auofht you 
 could tell, was very strange and startling. 
 It took away my breath ; and then, the 
 figure which belonged to this face formed 
 so strange a contrast with it. I know, as 
 everybody else does, that beauty is but skin- 
 deep ; that it is no sign of excellence, or of 
 mental or moral superiority in any way ; 
 that it is accidental and independent of the 
 character of its possessor as money is, or 
 anything else you are born to : I know 
 all this perfectly well ; and yet I feel, as 
 I suppose everybody else does, that great 
 beauty is out of place in squalid surround- 
 ings. When I saw the worn and dusty 
 dress, the cloak tightly drawn across her 
 breast, the worn shoes that peeped out from 
 below her skirt, I felt ashamed. It was 
 absurd, but such was my feeling ; I felt 
 ashamed of mv £ood crown and lace, and
 
 56 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 fresh ribbons. To think that I, and hundreds 
 like me, should deck ourselves, and leave 
 this creature in her dusty gown ! My sus- 
 picions went out of my mind in a moment. 
 Instead of the uneasy doubt whether per- 
 haps she might have accomplices (it made 
 me blush to think I had dreamt of such a 
 thing) waiting outside, I began to feel in- 
 dignant with everybody that she could be 
 in such a plight. Reinhardt's wife ! How 
 did he dare, that mean, insignificant man, 
 to marry such a creature, and to be cruel to 
 her after he had married her ! I started up 
 and removed the lamp, shading her face, 
 and I took my shawl, which was my best 
 shawl, an Indian one, and really handsome, 
 and covered her with it. I did it — I can't 
 tell why — with a feeling that I was making 
 her a little compensation. Then I opened 
 one of the windows to let in the air, for the 
 night was sultry ; and then I put myself 
 into my favourite chair, and leant back my 
 head, and made myself as comfortable as
 
 iv. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 57 
 
 I could to watch her till she woke. I 
 should have thought this a great hardship 
 a little while before, but I did not think 
 it a hardship now. I had become her 
 partisan, her protector, her servant, in a 
 moment, and all for no reason except the 
 form of her features, the look of that sleep- 
 ing face. I acknowledge that it was absurd, 
 but still I know you would have done the 
 same had you been in my place. I suspected 
 her no more, had no doubts in my mind, 
 and was not the least annoyed that Mary 
 had gone to bed. It seemed to me as if 
 her beauty established an immediate relation- 
 ship between us, somehow, and made it 
 natural that I, or any one else who might 
 happen to be in the way, should give up our 
 own convenience for her. It was her beauty 
 that did it, nothing else, not her great want 
 and solitude, not even the name by which 
 she had adjured me ; — her beauty, nothing 
 more. I do not defend myself for having 
 fallen prostrate before this primitive power ;
 
 58 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 I could not help it, but I don't attempt to 
 excuse myself. 
 
 I must have dozed in my chair, for I 
 woke suddenly, dreaming that some one 
 was standing over me and staring at me — 
 a kind of nightmare. I started with a little 
 cry, and for the first moment I was 
 bewildered, and could not think how I had 
 got there. Then all at once I saw her, and 
 the mystery was solved. She had woke 
 too, and lay on her side on the sofa, look- 
 ing intently at me with a gaze which re- 
 newed my first impression of terror. She 
 had not moved, she lay in the same 
 attitude of exhaustion and grateful repose, 
 with her head thrown back upon the 
 cushions. There was only this difference- 
 that whereas she had then been unconscious 
 in sleep, she was now awake, and so vividly, 
 intensely conscious that her look seemed an 
 active influence. I felt that she was doin^f 
 something to me by gazing at me so. 
 She had woke me no doubt by that look.
 
 iv. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 59 
 
 She made me restless now, so that I could 
 not keep still. I rose up, and made a step 
 or two towards her. 
 
 " Are you better ? I hope you are 
 better," I said. 
 
 Still she did not move, but said calmly, 
 without any attempt at explanation: "Are 
 you watching me from kindness or because 
 you were afraid I should do some 
 harm ? " 
 
 She was not grateful : the sight of me 
 woke no kindly feeling in her : and I was 
 wounded in spite of myself. 
 
 "Neither," said I ; "you fell asleep, and 
 I preferred staying here to waking you ; 
 but it is almost morning and the oil is 
 nearly burnt out in the lamp. There is a 
 room ready for you ; will you come with 
 me now ? " 
 
 "I am very comfortable," she said ; "I 
 have not been so comfortable for a very 
 loni: time. I have not been well off. 
 have had to lie on hard beds and eat poor
 
 60 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 fare, whilst all the time those who had a 
 right to take care of me " 
 
 " Don't think of that now," I said. " You 
 will feel better if you are undressed. Come 
 now and go to bed." 
 
 She kept her position, without taking 
 any notice of what I said. 
 
 " I have a long story to tell you — a long 
 story," she went on. " When you hear it 
 you will change your mind about some 
 things. Oh, how pleasant it is to be in a 
 nice handsome ladys room again ! How 
 pleasant a carpet is, and pictures on the 
 walls ! I have not been used to them for 
 a long time. I suppose he has every kind 
 of thing, everything that is pleasant ; and, 
 if he could, he would have liked to see me 
 die at his door. That is what he wants. 
 It would be a pleasure to him to look out 
 some morning and see me lying like a 
 piece of rubbish under the wall. He would 
 have me thrown upon the dust-heap, I 
 believe, or taken off by the scavengers as
 
 IV. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 61 
 
 rubbish. Yes, that is what he would like, 
 if he could." 
 
 "Oh, don't think so," I cried. "He 
 cannot be so cruel. He has not a cruel 
 face." 
 
 Upon this she sat up, with the passion 
 rising in her eyes. 
 
 " How can you tell ? — you were never 
 married to him ! " she said. " He never 
 cast you off, never abandoned you, never 
 Her excitement grew so great that 
 she now rose up on her feet, and clenched 
 her hand and shook it as if at some one 
 in the distance. " Oh, no ! " she cried ; 
 " no one knows him but me ! " 
 
 " Oh, if you would go to bed ! " I said. 
 " Indeed I must insist : you will tell me 
 your story in the morning. Come, you 
 must not talk any more to-night." 
 
 I did not get her disposed of so easily 
 as this, but after a while she did allow 
 herself to be persuaded. My mind had 
 changed about her again, but I was too
 
 62 NEhiHBOURS ON THE GREEN. ch. iv. 
 
 tired now to be frightened. I put her into 
 the west room. And oh ! how glad I was 
 to lie down in my bed, though I had a 
 stranger in the house whom I knew nothing 
 of, and though it only wanted about an 
 hour of day !
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 When I got up, about two hours after, 
 I was in a very uncomfortable state of 
 mind, not knowing in the least what I 
 ought to do. Daylight is a great matter 
 to be sure, and consoles one in one's per- 
 plexity ; but yet daylight means the visits 
 of one's friends, and inquiries into all that 
 one has dene and means to do. I could 
 not have such an inmate in my house 
 without people knowing it. I was thrust- 
 ing myself as it were into a family quarrel 
 which I knew nothing of — I, one of the 
 most peaceable people— ! 
 
 When I went down stairs the drawing- 
 room was still as I had left it, and the
 
 64 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 sofa and its cushions were all marked with 
 dust where my poor visitor had lain down. 
 I believe, though Mary is a good girl on 
 the whole, that there was a little spite in 
 all this to show me my own enormity. 
 A decanter of wine was left on the table 
 too, with the glass which had been used 
 last night. It gave the most miserable, 
 squalid look to the room, or at least I 
 thought so. Then Mary appeared with 
 her broom and dust-pan, severely dis- 
 approving, and I was swept away, like the 
 dust, and took refuge in the garden, which 
 was hazy and dewy, and rather cold on 
 this October morning. The trees were all 
 changing colour, the mignonette stalks were 
 long and straggling, there was nothing in 
 the beds but asters and dahlias and some 
 other autumn flowers. And the monthly 
 rose on the porch looked pale, as if it felt 
 the coming frost. I went to the gate and 
 looked out upon the green with a pang of 
 discomfort. What would everybody think ?
 
 v. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 65 
 
 There were not many people about except 
 the tradespeople going for orders and the 
 servants at their work. East Cottage 
 looked more human than usual in the 
 hazy autumn morning sun. The windows 
 were all open, and White was sweeping the 
 fallen leaves carefully away from the door. I 
 even saw Mr. Reinhardt in his dressinQf-Qfown 
 come out to speak to him. My heart beat 
 wildly and I drew back at the sight. As if 
 Mr. Reinhardt was anything to me! But I 
 was restless and uncomfortable and could not 
 compose myself. When I went in I could 
 not sit down and breakfast by myself as I 
 usually did. I wanted to see how my lodger 
 was, and yet I did not want to disturb her. 
 At last I went to the door of the west room 
 and listened. When I heard signs of move- 
 ment inside I knocked and went in. She 
 was still in bed ; she was lying half smothered 
 up in the fine linen and downy pillows. On 
 the bed there was an eiderdown coverlet 
 covered with crimson silk, and she had 
 vol. ir. f
 
 66 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 stretched out her arm over it and was 
 grasping it with her hand. She greeted me 
 with a smile which lighted up her beautiful 
 face like sunshine. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I am better — I am quite 
 well," she said. " I am so happy to be 
 here.'' 
 
 She did not put out her hand, or offer 
 any thanks or salutations, and it seemed 
 to me that this was good taste. I was 
 pleased with her for not being too grateful 
 or affectionate. I believe if she had been 
 very grateful and affectionate I should have 
 thought that was best. For again the 
 charm came over me — a charm doubled 
 by her smile. How beautiful she was ! 
 The warm nest she was lying in, and the 
 pleasure and comfort she evidently felt in 
 beine there, had brought a little colour to 
 her cheeks — just a very little — but that 
 became her beauty best. She was younger 
 than I thought. I had supposed her to 
 be over thirty last night, now she looked
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 67 
 
 five or six-and-twenty, in the very height 
 and fulness of her bloom. 
 
 "Shall I send you some breakfast?" I 
 said. 
 
 " Oh, please ! I suppose you don't know 
 how nice it is to lie in a soft bed like 
 this, to feel the nice linen and the silk, 
 and to be waited upon ? You have always 
 been just so, and never known the differ- 
 ence ? Ah ! what a difference it is." 
 
 " I have been very poor in my time,'* 
 said I. 
 
 " Have you ? I should not have thought 
 it. But never so poor as me. Let me 
 have my breakfast please — tea with cream 
 in it. May I have some cream ? and — 
 anything — whatever you please ; for I am 
 hungry ; but tea with cream." 
 
 " Surely," I said ; " it is being prepared 
 for you now." 
 
 And then I stood looking at her, wonder- 
 ing. I knew nothing of her, not even her 
 name, and yet I stood in the most familiar 
 
 f 2
 
 68 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 relation to her, like a mother to a child. 
 Her smile quite warmed and brightened 
 me, as she lay there in such childish en- 
 joyment. How strange it was. And it 
 seemed to me that everything had gone 
 out of her mind except the delightful 
 novelty of her surroundings. She forgot 
 that she was a stranger in a strange house, 
 and all the suspicious, unpleasant circum- 
 stances. When Mary came in with the 
 tray she positively laughed with pleasure, 
 and jumped up in bed, raising herself as 
 lightly as a child. 
 
 " You must have a shawl to put round 
 your shoulders," I said. 
 
 " Oh, let me have the beautiful one vou 
 put over me last night. What a beauty it 
 was ! Let me have that," she cried. 
 
 Mary gave me a warning look. But I 
 was indignant with Mary. I went and 
 fetched it almost with tears in my eyes. 
 Poor soul ! poor child ! like a baby admir- 
 ing it because it was pretty. I put it
 
 v. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 69 
 
 round her, though it was my best ; and 
 with my cashmere about her shoulders, 
 and her beautiful face all lighted up with 
 pleasure, she was like a picture. I am 
 sure the Sleeping Beauty could not have 
 been more lovely when she started from 
 her hundred years' sleep. 
 
 I went back to the dining-room and took 
 my own breakfast quite exhilarated. My 
 perplexities floated away. I too felt like a 
 child with a new toy. If I had but had 
 a daughter like that, I said to myself — 
 what a sweet companion, what a delight 
 in one's life ! But then daughters will 
 marry ; and to think of such a one, bound 
 to a cruel husband, who quarrelled with 
 her, deserted her — Oh, what cruel stuff men 
 are made of! What pretext could he have 
 for conduct so monstrous ? She was as 
 sweet as a flower, and more beautiful than 
 any woman I ever saw ; and to leave her 
 sitting in the dust at his closed door ! I 
 could scarcely keep still ; my indignation
 
 7o N Eh: 1 1 HOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 was so great. The bloodless wretch ! with- 
 out ruth, or heart, or even common charity. 
 One has heard such tales of men wrapt up 
 in some cold intellectual pursuit ; how they 
 get to forget everything, and despise love 
 and duty, and all that is worth living for, 
 for their miserable science. They would 
 rather be fellows of a learned society than 
 heads of happy houses ; rather make some 
 foolish discovery to be written down in the 
 papers, than live a good life and look after 
 their own. I have even known cases — cer- 
 tainly nothing so bad as this — but cases 
 in which a man for his art, or his learning, 
 or something, has driven his wife into 
 miserable solitude, or still more miserable 
 society. Yes, I have known such cases : 
 and the curious thing is, that it is always 
 the weak men, whose researches can be of 
 use to no mortal being, who neglect every- 
 thing for science. The great men are 
 great enough to be men and philosophers 
 too. All this I said in my heart with a
 
 v. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 71 
 
 contempt for our scientific gentleman which 
 I did not disguise to myself. I finished 
 my breakfast quickly, longing to go back 
 to my guest, when all at once Martha and 
 Nelly, the Admiral's daughters, came run- 
 ning in, as they had a way of doing. 
 They were great favourites of mine, or, at 
 least, Nelly was — but I was annoyed more 
 than I could tell to see them now. 
 
 " We came in to ask if you were quite 
 well," said Nelly. " Papa frightened us 
 all with the strangest story. He insists 
 that you came home quite late, leaning 
 on Mary's arm, and was sure you must 
 have been ill. You can't think how posi- 
 tive he is, and what a story he made out. 
 He saw you from his window coming along 
 the road, so he says ; and now I look at 
 you, Mrs. Mulgrave, you are a little pale." 
 
 " It was not I, you can tell the Admiral," 
 I said. " I wonder his sharp eyes were 
 deceived. It was a — friend — I have staying 
 with me."
 
 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 " A friend you have staying with you ? 
 Fancy, Nelly ! and we not to know." 
 
 " She came quite late — yesterday," said I. 
 " She is in — very poor health. She has 
 come to be — quiet. Poor thing, I had to 
 give her my arm." 
 
 " But I thought you were at the Stokes' 
 last night ? " said Martha. 
 
 " So I was ; but when I came back it was 
 such a lovely night ; you should have been 
 out, Nelly, you who are so fond of moon- 
 lio-ht. I never saw the green look more 
 beautiful. I could hardly make up my mind 
 
 to come in." 
 
 Dear, dear, dear ! I wonder if all our fibs 
 are really kept an account of ? As I went 
 on romancino- I felt a little shiver run 
 over me. But what could I do ? 
 
 Nelly gave me a look. She was wiser 
 than her sister, who took everything in a 
 matter-of-fact way. She gave me a kiss, and 
 said, " We had better go and satisfy papa. 
 He was quite anxious."
 
 v. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 73 
 
 Nelly knew me best, and she did not 
 believe me. But what story could I make 
 up to Lady Denzil, for instance, whose eyes 
 went through and through me, and saw 
 everything I thought ? 
 
 Then I went back to my charge. She had 
 finished her breakfast, but she would not 
 part with the shawl. She was sitting up 
 in bed, stroking and patting it with her 
 hand. 
 
 " It is so lovely," she said, " I can't give it 
 up just yet. I like myself so much better 
 when I have it on. Oh ! I should be so 
 much more proud of myself than I am if I 
 lived like this. I should feel as if I were so 
 much better. And don't ask me, please ! I 
 can't — I can't get up to put myself in those 
 dusty hideous clothes." 
 
 " They are not dusty now," I said, and a 
 faint little sense of difficulty crossed my 
 mind. She was taking everything for 
 granted, as if she belonged to me, and had 
 come on a visit. I think if I had offered to
 
 74 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 give her my Indian cashmere and all the 
 best things I had she would not have been 
 surprised. 
 
 She made no answer to this. She con- 
 tinued patting and caressing the shawl, 
 laying down her beautiful cheek on her 
 shoulder for the pleasure of feeling it. It 
 was very senseless, very foolish, and yet it 
 was such pretty play that I was more pleased 
 than vexed. I sat down by her, watching 
 her movements. They were so graceful 
 always — nothing harsh, or rough, or un- 
 pleasant to the eye, and all so natural — 
 like the movements of a child. 
 
 I don't know how loner I sat and watched 
 her — almost as pleased as she was. It was 
 only when time went on, and when I knew 
 I was liable to interruption, that I roused 
 myself up. I tried to lead her into serious 
 conversation. " You look a great deal 
 better," I said, " than I could have hoped 
 to see you last night." 
 
 "Better than last night? Indeed, I
 
 V. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN 75 
 
 should think so. Please, don't speak of it. 
 Last night was darkness, and this is light." 
 
 " Yes, but 1 fear I must speak of it. 
 
 I should like to know how you got there, 
 and if some one perhaps ought to be 
 written to — some one who may be anxious 
 about you." 
 
 " Nobody is anxious about me.'' 
 " Indeed I am sure you must be mis- 
 taken," I said. " I am sure you have friends, 
 
 and then 1 don't want to trouble you, 
 
 but you must remember I don't know your 
 
 name." 
 
 She threw back the shawl off her shoulders 
 all at once, and sat up erect. 
 
 " My name is Mrs. Reinhardt : I told you," 
 she said, " and I hope you don't doubt my 
 word." 
 
 It was impossible to look in her face, 
 and say to her, " I don't know anything 
 about you. How can I tell whether your 
 word is to be trusted or not ? ' This was 
 true, but I could not say it.
 
 76 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 I faltered, " You were ill last night, and 
 we were both excited and confused. I wish 
 very much you would tell me now once 
 again. I think you said you would." 
 
 "Oh, I suppose I did," she said, throw- 
 ing the shawl away, and nestling down once 
 more among the pillows. A look of irri- 
 tation came over her face. " It is so tire- 
 some," she said, " always having to explain. 
 I felt so comfortable just now, as if I 
 had got over that." 
 
 There was an ao-orieved tone in her 
 voice, and she looked as if, out of her tem- 
 porary pleasure and comfort, she had been 
 brought back to painful reality in an unkind 
 and uncalled-for way. I felt guilty before 
 her. Her face said plainly, " I was at ease, 
 and all for your satisfaction, for no reason 
 at all, you have driven me back again into 
 trouble." I cannot describe how uncomfort- 
 able I felt. 
 
 " If I am to be of any use to you," I said 
 apologetically, " you must see that I ought
 
 v. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLE MAX. 77 
 
 to know. It is not that I wish to disturb 
 you." 
 
 " Everybody says that," she murmured, 
 with an angry pull at the bedclothes ; and 
 then, all at once, in a moment, she bright- 
 ened up, and met my look with a smile. 
 My relief was immense. 
 
 " I am a cross thing," she said ; "don't 
 you think so ? But it was so nice to be 
 comfortable. I felt as if I should like to 
 forget it all, and be happy. I felt good 
 
 -But never mind ; you cannot help it. 
 
 I must go back to all the mud, and dirt, 
 and misery, and tell you everything. Don't 
 look distressed, for it is not your fault." 
 
 Everv word she said seemed to convince 
 me more and more that it was my fault. I 
 could scarcely keep from begging her 
 pardon. How cruel I had been! And yet, 
 
 and yet My head swam, what with the 
 
 dim consciousness in my mind of the true 
 state of affairs, and the sense of her view of 
 the question, which had impressed itself so
 
 78 NEIGHBOURS ON THE ERE EN. ch. v. 
 
 strongly upon me since I came into the 
 room. Which was the right view I could 
 not tell for the moment, and bewilderment 
 filled my mind. I could only stare at her, 
 and wait for what she pleased to say.
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 
 
 PART II. 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 After my visitor had got over her little 
 fit of passion I took up my shawl — my good 
 shawl, which she had flung from her — : and 
 put it away ; and then I sat down by the 
 bedside to hear her storv. She had beq-un 
 to think ; her face had changed again. Her 
 bewildered sort of feeling (which I could 
 not understand, but yet which seemed 
 so natural) that she had got over all that 
 was disagreeable, passed away, and her 
 life came back to her, as it were. She 
 remembered herself, and her past, which I 
 did not know. She did not speak for some 
 time, while I sat there waiting. She kept
 
 So NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 twitching- at the clothes, and moving about 
 restlessly from side to side. The look of 
 content and comfort which had filled up 
 the thin outline of her beautiful face, and 
 oiven it for the moment the roundness of 
 youth, disappeared. At last she looked up 
 at me almost angrily as I sat waiting. 
 
 " Oh, you are so calm," she said. "You 
 take it all so quietly. You don't know what 
 it is to have your heart broken, and your 
 character destroyed, and yourself driven 
 mad. To see you so calm makes me wild. If 
 I am to tell you my story I must get up ; 
 I must be my own self again ; I must put 
 on my filthy clothes." 
 
 " They are not filthy now. There are 
 some clean things, if you like to use them," 
 I said softly ; but I was very glad she should 
 get up. I left her to do so with an easier 
 mind, and had the fire made up in the 
 dining-room that she mio'ht not be in the 
 way of visitors. It was a long time before she 
 came, and when she at last made her appear-
 
 VI. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. Si 
 
 ance I found she had again wrapped herself 
 in my Indian shawl. To tell the truth, I did 
 not like it. I gave a slight start when I 
 saw her, but I could not take it from her 
 shoulders. She had put on her old black 
 gown, which had been carefully brushed 
 and the clean cuffs and collar I had put 
 out for her, and had dressed her hair in a 
 fashionable way. She was dressed as poorly 
 as a woman could be, and yet it appeared she 
 had all the pads and cushions, which young 
 women were then so foolish as to wear, 
 for her hair. She was tall, and very slight, 
 as I had remarked last night, but my shawl 
 about her shoulders took away the angularity 
 from her figure, and made it dignified and 
 noble. To find fault with such a splendid 
 creature for borrowing a shawl ! I could 
 as soon have remonstrated with the Oueen 
 herself. 
 
 " This is not the pretty room you brought 
 me to last night, " she said. 
 
 " No ; this is the dining-room. I thought 
 
 VOL. II. G
 
 S- NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 it would be quieter and pleasanter for you, 
 in case any one should call." 
 
 u Ah ! yes, that was very considerate for 
 my feelings," she said, " but I am used to 
 it, I am always thrust into a corner now. 
 It did not use to be so before that man 
 came and ruined me. Whereabouts is it 
 that he lives ? " 
 
 " You can see the house from the window," 
 said I. 
 
 Then she went to the window and looked 
 out. She shook her clenched fist at the 
 cottage ; her face grew dark like a sky 
 covered by a thunder-cloud. She came back 
 and seated herself in front of me wrapping 
 herself close in my shawl. 
 
 " When I married him I was as beautiful 
 as the day. That was what they all said," 
 she began. " I was nineteen, and the artists 
 used to go on their knees to me to sit to 
 them. I might have married anybody. I 
 don't know why it was that I took him, I 
 must have been mad ; twenty years older than
 
 vi. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 83 
 
 me at the least, and nothing to recommend 
 him. Of course he was rich. Ah ! and I was 
 so young, and thought money could buy every- 
 thing, and that it would last for ever. We had 
 a house in town and a house in the country, 
 and he gave me a lovely phaeton for the 
 park, and we had a carriage and pair. It 
 was very nice at first. He was always a 
 curious man, never satisfied, but we did very 
 well at first. He was not a man to make 
 a woman happy, but still I got on well 
 enough till he sent me away." 
 
 "He sent you away!" 
 
 "Yes. Oh! that was nothing; that got 
 to be quite common. When he thought I 
 was enjoying myself, all at once he would 
 say, ' Pack up your things ; we shall go to 
 the country to-morrow ; ' always when I was 
 enjoying myself." 
 
 " But if he went with you, that was not 
 sending you away." 
 
 " Then it was taking me away — which 
 is much the same — from all I cared for ; 
 
 G 2
 
 84 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 and he did not always go with me. The 
 last two times I was sent by myself as if 
 I had been a prisoner. And then, at last, 
 after years and years of oppression, he 
 turned me out of the house," she said — 
 "turned me out! He dared to do it. Oh! 
 only think how I hated him. He said every 
 insult to me a man could say, and he turned 
 me out of his house, and bade me never 
 come back. One day I was there the 
 mistress of all, with everything heart 
 could desire, and the next day I was 
 turned out, without a penny, without a 
 home, still so pretty as I was, and at my 
 age ! " 
 
 "Oh! that was terrible," I cried, moved 
 more by her rising passion than by her 
 words — "that was dreadful. How could he 
 do it ? But you went to your friends — ? ' 
 
 " I had no friends. My people were all 
 dead, and I did not know much about 
 them when they were living. He sep- 
 arated me from everybody, and he told lies
 
 vi. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 85 
 
 of me — lies ri^ht and left. He had made 
 up his mind to destroy me," she cried, 
 bursting into sobs. " Oh ! what a devil he 
 is ! Everything I could desire one day, and 
 the next turned out ! " 
 
 Looking at her where she sat, something 
 came into my throat which choked me 
 and kept me from speaking : and yet I 
 felt that I must make an effort. 
 
 "Without any — cause?" I faltered with 
 a mixture of confusion and pain. 
 
 " Cause ? " 
 
 " I mean, did not he allege something 
 — say something ? He must have given 
 some — excuse — for himself." 
 
 She looked at me very composedly, not 
 angry, as I had feared. 
 
 "Cause? excuse?" she repeated. "Of 
 course he said it was my fault." 
 
 She kept her eyes on me when she said 
 this ; no guilty colour was on her face, no 
 flush even of shame at the thought of having 
 been slandered. She was a great deal
 
 86 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 calmer than I was ; indeed I was not 
 calm at all, but disturbed beyond the 
 power of expression, not knowing what 
 to think. 
 
 " He is very clever," she went on. " I 
 am clever myself, in a kind of a way, but 
 not a match for him. Men have education, 
 you see. They are trained what to do ; but 
 I was so handsome that nobody thought I 
 required any training. If I had been as 
 clever as he is, ah ! he would not have found 
 it so easy. He drove me into a trap, and 
 then he shut me down fast. That is four 
 years ago. Fancy, four years without any- 
 thing, wandering about, none of the com- 
 forts I was used to ! I wonder how I gave 
 in at the time : it was because he had broken 
 my spirit. But I am different now ; I have 
 made up my mind, until he behaves to me 
 as he ought, I will give him no peace, no 
 grace ! 
 
 " But you must not be revengeful," I said, 
 knowing less and less what to say. " And
 
 vi. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 87 
 
 if you were not happy together before, I 
 am afraid you would not be so now." 
 
 She did not make any answer ; a vague sort 
 of smile flitted over her face, then she o-ave 
 a little shiver as of cold, and wrapped the 
 shawl closer. " A shawl suits me," she said, 
 "especially since I am so thin. Do you 
 think a woman loses as much as they say 
 by being thin ? It is my heart-disease. 
 When it comes on it is very bad, though 
 afterwards I feel just as well as usual. But 
 it must tell on one's looks. Could you tell 
 that I was thin by my face ? " 
 
 " No," I said, and I did not add, though 
 it was on my lips, " O woman, one could 
 not tell by your face that you were not an 
 angel or a queen. And what are you ? What 
 are you?" Alas! she was not an angel I 
 feared. 
 
 A little while longer she sat musing 1 in 
 silence. How little she had told me after 
 all. How much more she must know in that 
 world within herself to which she had now
 
 88 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 retired. At length she turned to me, her 
 face lighted up with the most radiant smile. 
 " Shall I be a great trouble to you ? " 
 she asked. "Am I taking up anybody's 
 room ? " 
 
 She spoke as a favourite friend might speak 
 who had arrived suddenly, and did not quite 
 know what your arrangements were, though 
 she was confident nothing could make her 
 coming a burden to you. She took away 
 my breath. 
 
 " N — no," I said ; and then I took courage 
 and added : " But your friends will be expect- 
 ing you — the people where you live : and 
 you are better now " 
 
 I could not, had my life depended on 
 it, have said more. 
 
 " Oh, they will not mind much," she said. 
 " I don't live anywhere in particular. When 
 one thinks that one's own husband, the man 
 who is bound to support one, has a home, 
 and is close at hand, how do you think one 
 can stay in a miserable lodging ! But he does
 
 vi. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 89 
 
 not care : he will sit there doing his horrible 
 problems, and what is it to him if I were 
 to die at his door ! He would be glad. Yes, 
 he would be glad. He would have me carted 
 away as rubbish. He cares for nothing but 
 his books and his experiments. I have sat at 
 his door a whole night begging him to take 
 me in, begging out of the cold and the snow, 
 and his light has burnt steadv, and he has 
 gone on with his work, and then he has 
 gone to bed and taken no notice. Oh, my 
 God ! I should have let him in had he been 
 a cat or a dog." 
 
 " Oh, surely, surely you must be mistaken," 
 I cried. 
 
 " I am not mistaken. I heard the window 
 open ; he looked down at me, and then he 
 went away. I know he knew me : and so 
 he did last night. He knew I was there ; 
 and he had a fire lighted in the room where 
 he works. So he knew it was cold, too ; 
 and I his wife, his lawful wedded wife, sitting 
 out in the chill. Some time or other he
 
 90 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEX. chap. 
 
 thinks it will be too much for me, and I 
 shall die, and he will be free." 
 
 " It is too dreadful to think of," said I. 
 " I don't think he could have known that 
 you were there." 
 
 She smiled without making any further 
 reply. She held out her thin hands to 
 the fire with a little nervous shiver. They 
 would have been beautiful hands had they 
 not been so thin, almost transparent. She 
 wore but one rinof, her weddinof-rinQf ; 
 and that was so wide that it was secured 
 to her finger with a silk thread. I suppose 
 she perceived that I looked at it. She held it 
 up to me with a smile. 
 
 "See," she said, "how worn it is. But 
 I have never put it off my finger ; never 
 gone by another name, or done anything 
 to forfeit my rights. Whatever he may say 
 against me, he cannot say that." 
 
 At this moment she espied a chair in a 
 corner which looked more comfortable than 
 the one she was seated in, and rose and
 
 VI. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 91 
 
 wheeled it to the fire. She said no " By r 
 leave " to me, but did it as if she had been 
 at home ; there was something so natural 
 and simple in this that I did not know 
 how to object to it, but yet — I have had 
 many a troublesome responsibility thrown 
 upon me by strangers, but I was never so 
 embarrassed or perplexed in my life. She 
 drew the easy chair to the fire, she found 
 a footstool and put her feet on it, bask- 
 ing in the warmth. She had my velvet 
 slippers on her feet, my Indian shawl round 
 her shoulders, and here she was settled and 
 comfortable — for how lonq- ? I dared not 
 even guess. A sick sort of consciousness 
 came upon me that she had established 
 herself and meant to stay. 
 
 After a while, during which I sat and 
 watched, sitting bolt upright on my chair 
 and gazing with a consternation and bewilder- 
 ment which I cannot express upon her grace- 
 ful attitude as she reclined back, wooing every 
 kind of comfort, she suddenly drew her chair
 
 92 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 a little nearer to me and put her hand upon 
 my knee. 
 
 " Look here," she said hurriedly, " you 
 must sec him for me. If any one could move 
 him to do his duty it would be you. You 
 must see him, and tell him I am — willing 
 to go back. Perhaps he may not listen to 
 you at first, but if you keep your temper 
 and persevere " 
 
 " I ? " said I, dismayed. 
 
 "Yes, indeed, who else? only you could 
 do it. And if you are patient with him 
 and keep your temper — the great thing 
 with him is to keep your temper — I never 
 could do it, but you could. It would not be 
 difficult to you. You have not got that sort 
 of a nature, one can see it in your face." 
 
 " But you mistake me, I — I could not take 
 it upon myself," I gasped. 
 
 "Not when I ask you ? You might feel 
 you were not equal to it, I allow. But when 
 I ask you ? Oh, yes, you can do it. It is 
 not so very hard, only to keep your temper,
 
 vi. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 93 
 
 and to take no denial — no denial ! Make 
 him say he will not be so unkind any more. 
 Oh, how tired it makes me even to think 
 of it ! " she cried, suddenly putting up her 
 hands to her face. " Please don't ask me any 
 more, but do it — do it ! I know you can." 
 And then she sat and rocked herself gently 
 with her hands clasped over her face. This 
 explanation had been too much for her, 
 and somehow I felt that I was blamable, 
 that it was my fault. I sat by her in a kind 
 of dream, wondering what had happened to 
 me. Was I under a spell ? I did not seem 
 able to move a step or raise a hand to throw 
 off this burden from me. And the curious 
 thing was that she never thanked me, never 
 expressed, nor apparently felt, any sort of 
 gratitude to me, but simply signified her 
 will, and took my acquiescence as a right.
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 
 I cannot tell how I got through that 
 day : she got through it very comfortably, 
 I think. In the evening she asked me to 
 go into the pretty room she had been in 
 last night. 
 
 " I am so fond of what is pretty," she said ; 
 " I like everything that is nice and pleasant. 
 I never would sit in any but the best rooms 
 in the house if I had a house like this." 
 
 " But — some one might come in," I said. 
 " To be sure the time for callers is over, 
 but still my neighbours are very intimate 
 with me, and some one mi^ht come in." 
 
 " Well ?" she said, looking up in my face.
 
 CH. VII. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 95 
 
 "If they do, I don't mind. You may have 
 objections perhaps but I have none. I 
 don't mind." 
 
 " Oh ! if you don't mind," I said in my 
 consternation ; and I took up the cushion 
 she had placed in her chair, and carried 
 it humbly for her, while she made her way 
 to the drawing-room. 
 
 I think I was scarcely in possession ol 
 my senses. I was dazed. The whole position 
 was so extraordinary. I was ashamed to 
 think of any one coming in and finding her 
 there : not because I was ashamed of her, 
 but for my own sake. What was I to say 
 to anybody? How was I to explain myself? 
 I had taken her in without knowing any- 
 thing of her, and she had taken possession 
 of my house. Fortunately, no one came 
 that night. She placed herself on the sofa, 
 where she had lain in her wretchedness 
 the nicdit before. She stretched herself out 
 upon it, lying back with an air of absolute 
 enjoyment. She had got a book — a novel —
 
 96 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 which she was reading, not taking very much 
 notice of me ; but now and then she would 
 pause to say a word. I think had any one 
 seen us seated together that evening, without 
 knowing anything of the circumstances, he 
 would have decided that she was the ladv 
 
 J 
 
 of the house and I her humble and rather 
 stupid companion. But I was more than 
 rather stupid — I felt like a fool ; and that in 
 nothing more than this— that I could not 
 for my life tell what to do. 
 
 " Nobody is coming to night, I suppose ? " 
 she said at last, putting down her book. 
 
 " No, I suppose not." 
 
 " I thought from what you said you had 
 always some one coming ; and I like seeing 
 people ; I should like of all things to see some 
 of the people here. Do you think if they saw 
 
 me it would make any difference ? Oh, I 
 
 can't tell you exactly what I mean. I mean 
 —but it is so very unpleasant to be always 
 obliged to explain ; " and then she yawned : 
 and then she said : " I am so tired ; I think
 
 vii. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 97 
 
 I shall go to bed. Hush ! was not that some 
 one at the door ? ' 
 
 " It is my next neighbour going home," 
 I said. 
 
 " Does Reinhardt know the people about 
 here ? " 
 
 " He has not gone into society at all ; but 
 many of them know him to speak to," 
 said I. 
 
 " Ah ! that is always the way ; you hide me 
 out of sight, and you send word to your 
 people not to come ; but everybody is quite 
 ready to make friends with him. Oh ! I am 
 so tired — I am tired of everything ; life is so 
 dull, so monotonous, always the same thing 
 over, no pleasure, no amusement." 
 
 "I live a very dull, quiet life," I said, a 
 firmly as I could ; " I cannot expect it to suit 
 you ; and perhaps to-morrow you will be able 
 to make arrangements to go to your own 
 home." 
 
 "Ah!" she said, giving a curious little 
 cry. She looked at me, catching her breath ; 
 
 VOL. II. II
 
 98 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 and then she cried, " My own home ! — my 
 own home ! That is at the cottage yonder ; 
 you will open the door for me, and take me 
 back there " 
 
 " But how can. I ? Be reasonable," I said. 
 " I scarcely know — your husband ; I don't 
 know — you ; how can I mediate between 
 you ? I don't know anything of the circum- 
 stances. There must have been some cause 
 for all this. Indeed it will be a great deal 
 better to go home and get some one to in- 
 terfere who knows all." 
 
 "Don't you believe in feelings?" she 
 said suddenly. " I do. The first time I 
 saw Reinhardt I had the feeling I ought not 
 to have anything to do with him, and I neg- 
 lected it. When I saw you, it went through 
 and through me like an arrow : ' This is 
 the person to do it.' And I always trust 
 my feelings. I am sure that you can do 
 it, and no one else." 
 
 " Indeed — indeed you are mistaken." 
 
 (( Oh ! I am so tired," she cried again.
 
 vn. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 99 
 
 " Let me go to bed. I can't argue to-night ; 
 I am so dreadfully tired." 
 
 This was her way of getting over a 
 difficulty, and what could I do ? I could 
 not stop her from going to bed ; I could not 
 turn her out of my house. I went to the 
 door of the west room with her, more em- 
 barrassed and uncomfortable than could be 
 described. She turned round and waved her 
 hand to me as she shut the door. The light 
 of the candle which she held shone upon 
 her pale, beautiful face. She had my shawl 
 still round her. I, too, had a candle in my 
 hand, and as I strayed back through the long 
 passage I am sure I looked like a ghost. 
 Bewilderment was in my soul. Had I taken 
 a burden on my shoulders for life ? Was I 
 never to be free a^ain ? Never alone 
 as I used to be ? It had only lasted one 
 day ; but there seemed no reason why it 
 should ever come to an end. 
 
 Then I went back and sat over the fire in 
 the drawing-room, till it died away into white 
 
 ii 2
 
 ioo NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 ashes, trying to decide what I should do. To 
 consult somebody was of course my first 
 thought ; but whom could I consult ? There 
 was not one creature on the green who would 
 not blame me, who would not be shocked at 
 my foolishness. I did not dare even to 
 confess it to Lady Denzil. I must keep her 
 concealed till I could persuade her to go 
 away. And to think she should have been 
 disappointed that nobody came ! Good 
 heavens ! if anybody did come and see her, 
 what should I do ? Looming up before my 
 imagination, in spite of all my resistance to 
 it, came a picture of a possible interview 
 with Mr. Reinhardt. It drove me half 
 wild with fear to think of such a thing, 
 and yet I felt as one sometimes does, 
 that out of mere terror I should be driven 
 to do it, if I could not persuade her to 
 go away. That was my only hope, and 
 I felt already what a forlorn hope it 
 was. 
 
 And thus another day passed, and another
 
 VII. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 101 
 
 night. She was quite well-behaved, and 
 sometimes her beauty overwhelmed me so 
 that I felt I could do anything for her ; and 
 sometimes her strange calmness and matter- 
 of-course way of taking everything filled 
 me with irritation. She never looked or 
 spoke as if she were obliged to me, neither 
 did she ever imply, by anything she said or 
 did, that she meant to go away. She would 
 stand for a long time by the window, gazing 
 at the East Cottage ; she even stepped 
 out into the garden through the drawing- 
 room window, and went and stood at 
 the gate, looking out, though I called her 
 back, and trembled lest she should be seen 
 (and, of course, she was seen) ; but the 
 answer she gave me when I objected put a 
 stop to the controversy. 
 
 "You are afraid to let people see me," 
 she said ; " but I don't mind. There is 
 nothing to be ashamed of in looking at Rein- 
 hardt's house. If any one calls, it is quite 
 the same to me. Indeed I would rather
 
 i<W NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chak 
 
 be seen than otherwise. I think it is ri^ht 
 that people should see me." 
 
 To this I made no answer, for my heart 
 was growing faint. And then she turned, 
 and seized my arm — it was in the garden. 
 
 "Oh!" she said, "listen to me. When 
 are you going to see him ? Are you going 
 to-day ? " 
 
 As she spoke the sound of footsteps quite 
 close to us made me start. I had my back 
 to the gate, and she was standing close to 
 the verandah, so that she saw who was 
 coming though I could not. She dropped 
 my arm instantly ; she subdued her voice ; 
 she put on a smile ; and then she half-turned, 
 and began to gather some rosebuds from 
 the great monthly rose, with the air of one 
 who is waiting to be called forward. 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Mulgrave ! we have found you 
 at last," said a voice in my ear, and, turning 
 round, I saw the Stokes — Lottie and Lucy, 
 and their brother Everard, a short way 
 behind, following them on to the lawn.
 
 vii. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 103 
 
 "At last?" I said. 
 
 "Yes, and I think we have a very good 
 right to complain. Why, you have shut 
 yourself up for two whole days. The green 
 is in a commotion about it," said Lottie, as 
 she kissed me ; and she threw a quick glance 
 at the stranger, whom she did not know, and 
 asked me, "Who is that?" with her eyes. 
 
 " And somebody said you had visitors, 
 but we would not believe it," Lucy began, 
 open-mouthed. 
 
 "And so she has — one visitor, at least," 
 said my guest, turning round, with her hand 
 full of roses. Then she stopped short, and 
 a look, which was half alarm, crept over 
 her face. Everard Stoke was coming up 
 behind. 
 
 " How do you do, Mrs. Mulgrave ? ' 
 he said in his languid way. " It is not 
 my fault if I came in unceremoniously. It's 
 the girls who are to blame." 
 
 " There is no one to blame," said I, turning 
 round, and holding out my hand to him.
 
 io4. NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 But even in the moment of my turning 
 round a change had come over him. He 
 gave a slight start, and he looked straight 
 over my shoulder at my companion. I said to 
 myself that perhaps they knew each other, 
 and forgave him his rudeness. But the next 
 moment he went on hastilv, " We must not 
 stay now. Lottie, I have just remembered 
 something I promised to do for my mother. 
 I have just thought of it. Mrs. Mulgrave 
 will excuse me. Come away quick, please." 
 
 "Why, we have but just arrived!" said 
 Lucy, full of a girl's resistance. 
 
 " Come ! " her brother said ; and before 
 I could speak he had swept them away 
 again, leaving me in greater consternation 
 than ever. My companion had turned back, 
 and was busy again among the roses, gather- 
 ing them. I had not even her to respond 
 to my look of wonder. What was the 
 meaning of it ? Could they have known 
 each other, Everard and she ? 
 
 "Your friends are gone very soon," she
 
 vii. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 105 
 
 said without turning to me ; "it is rather 
 strange ; but I suppose they are strange 
 people. Oh ! how sweet these roses are — 
 I never thought such pale roses could be 
 so sweet." 
 
 I made her no answer, and, what was 
 strangest of all, she did not seem to expect 
 it, for immediately after she went back into 
 the drawing-room, and the next minute I 
 heard her voice singing as if on the way 
 to her own room The more I thought of 
 it the more strange it seemed. 
 
 That night she began to question me 
 about my neighbours on the green, and 
 somehow managed 10 bring the conversation 
 to the people who had called. 
 
 " I thought I knew the man's face ; I 
 must have met him out," she said, looking 
 at me steadily. 
 
 Everard Stoke did not bear a good character 
 on the green. To have known him was no 
 recommendation to any one ; and this en- 
 counter did not increase my happiness.
 
 106 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN, ch. vii. 
 
 But after that first evening it did not dis- 
 turb her. Next day went on like the pre- 
 vious one. I told the servants not to admit 
 any visitors, and I felt as if I must be 
 going mad. I could think only of one sub- 
 ject, my imagination could bring forward 
 but one picture before me, and that was of 
 a meeting with Mr. Reinhardt, which I kept 
 going over in my mind. I said to myself 
 " I could not do it — I could not do it," with 
 an angry vehemence, and yet I seemed to 
 see just how he would look, and to hear 
 what we were to say. It seemed to be the 
 only outlet out of this impossible position 
 in which I stood.
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 
 " Lady Denzil says she must see you, 
 please, ma'am," said Mary at my room door. 
 
 It had lasted for a week and I was down- 
 right ill. She would not go away ; when I 
 represented to her that I could not go on 
 keeping her, that she must go to her own 
 home, wherever that was, she either moaned 
 that she had no home, or that I must open 
 a way for her back to her husband. She 
 was quite unmoved by my attempts to dis- 
 lodge her. I told her I had people coming, 
 and she assured me she did not mind, that 
 there was plenty of room in the house, and 
 that, if I wished it, she would change into 
 a smaller chamber. This drove me almost
 
 10S NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 out of my senses, I could not turn her out 
 by force. I dared not face the criticisms of 
 my neighbours : I shut myself up. I got 
 a headache which never left me, and the 
 result was, that I was quite ill. I had been 
 lying down in my own room to try to get a 
 little quiet and respite from the pain in my 
 head ; and I was impatient in my trouble, 
 and felt disposed to turn my back on all 
 the world. 
 
 I cannot see her," I said impatiently. 
 " I am not well enough to see any one." 
 
 " Please, ma'am, is that what I am to 
 say ? " asked Mary. 
 
 Then I recollected myself. Lady Denzil 
 was my close friend and counsellor. I had 
 been admitted into the secret places of her 
 life, and she knew me in every aspect of 
 mine. I would not send such a reply to my 
 old friend. I rose from my sofa and went 
 stumbling to the door, feeling more miserable 
 than I can say. " Tell her I have a very 
 bad headache, Mary. I will try to see her
 
 vin. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 109 
 
 to-morrow. Give her my love, and say 
 that I could not talk to-day, nor explain 
 anything. If she will please leave it till 
 to-morrow ! — " 
 
 " Please, ma'am," said Mary earnestly, 
 " I think it would be a deal better if you 
 could make up your mind to see my lady 
 to-day." 
 
 " I cannot do it — I cannot do it!" I said. 
 ''If you but knew how my head aches ! 
 Give her my dear love, but I must keep 
 quiet. If you tell her that, she will under- 
 stand." 
 
 "If you won't give no other answer, 
 ma'am — " said Mary disapprovingly; and I 
 had lost my wits so completely that I actually 
 locked the door when she went down stairs, 
 in case some one should force the way. I 
 went back to my sofa and lay down again. 
 I had closed the shutters, I don't know why 
 —not that the light hurt me, but because I 
 did not feel able to bear anything. I never 
 lost my head in the same way before. I
 
 no NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 was irritable to such a degree that I could 
 not bear any one to speak to me — this 
 was, I suppose, because I felt that nobody 
 would approve of me, and was ashamed of 
 myself and my weakness. While I lay thus, 
 she beofan to sino; down stairs ; she had a 
 pretty voice ; there was a quaver in it, which 
 was in reality a defect, but did not appear 
 so when she sang. Her voice, I felt sure, 
 could be heard half over the green, and 
 Lady Denzil would be sure to hear it, and 
 what would they think of me ? They would 
 think she was a relation, somebody belonging 
 to me, whom I had a motive for hiding. 
 No one would believe that she was a mere 
 stranger whom I knew nothing of. 
 
 I kept as much away from her as 1 
 could during the day, and in the evening, 
 when I came down stairs, I managed to 
 steal out by myself for a walk. I thought 
 the fresh air would do me good, and, 
 as all the people were at dinner, I was not 
 likely to meet any one. When I felt
 
 vni. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. in 
 
 myself outside and free, I stood still 
 for a moment, and in my weakness three 
 or four different impulses came upon me. 
 In the first place I had a temptation to 
 run away. It seems absurd to write it, but 
 my feeling of nervous irritation was so 
 great that I actually entertained for a mo- 
 ment the idea of abandoning my own house 
 because this strange woman had taken pos- 
 session of it. And then I thought of rush- 
 ing to Lady Denzil, whom I had not long 
 before sent away from my door, and entreat- 
 ing her to come and save me. When I 
 had made but a few steps from my own 
 gate a nervous terror made me pause again, 
 and, turning round suddenly, I almost ran 
 against some one coming in the opposite 
 direction. I made a half-conscious clutch 
 at him when I saw who it was, and then 
 tried to hurry past in the fluctuations of 
 my despair. But he stopped, struck, I 
 suppose, by the strangeness of my looks. 
 " Can I do anything for you ? " he asked.
 
 H2 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap 
 
 " Oh, yes — everything ! ' I gasped forth, 
 not knowing what I said. 
 
 " I ! That is strange — that is very strange ! 
 but if it should be so ! — Will you lean 
 upon my arm, Mrs. Mulgrave ? you are 
 very much agitated." 
 
 "Yes," I said, "I am very much agitated, 
 but I will not lean upon you, for perhaps 
 you will think I am your enemy — though 
 I don't mean to be anybody's enemy, 
 heaven knows." 
 
 "Ah ! " he said. This little cry came from 
 him unawares, and he fell back a step, 
 and his face, which was like ivory, took a 
 yellower pale tint. I do not mean that I 
 observed this in my agitation at the moment, 
 but I felt it. His countenance changed. 
 He already divined what it was. 
 
 " I am very sure of that — that you mean 
 only to be kind to all the world," he said. 
 He had a slight foreign accent, a roll of 
 the r which is not in an English voice, 
 and he spoke very deliberately, like one to
 
 VIII. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN 113 
 
 whom English was an acquired language. I 
 think this struck me now for the first 
 time. 
 
 Then we paused and looked at each other 
 — he on his guard ; I, trembling in every limb 
 trying to remember what I had said in my 
 imaginary interviews with him, and feeling 
 as if my very mind had gone. I made a de- 
 spairing attempt to collect myself, to state 
 her case in the best possible way, but I might 
 as w r ell have tried any impossible feat of 
 athletics. I could not do it. 
 
 "There is a lady," I faltered, "in my house." 
 
 A kind of smile crossed his face at the 
 first words. He gave a nod as if to say, " I 
 know it ; " but again a change came over 
 him when I finished my sentence. 
 
 " In your house ! " 
 
 " Yes, in my house," I went on, finding 
 myself at last wound up to speech. " I found 
 her on Friday last at your door — seated in 
 the dust, almost dying." 
 
 Here he stopped, making an incredulous 
 
 vol. 11. 1
 
 IU NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 movement — a shrug of the shoulders, an 
 elevation of the eyebrows. 
 
 " It is true," I said : " she has heart-disease : 
 she could scarcely walk the little distance 
 to my house. Had you seen her, as I did, 
 panting, gasping for very breath " 
 
 " I should have thought it a fiction," he 
 said, bitterly, "and I know her best." 
 
 " It was no fiction. Oh, you may have had 
 your wrongs. I say nothing to the contrary," 
 I cried; '-'for anything I can tell, you may 
 have been deeply wronged ; but she is so 
 beautiful, and so young, and loves pleasure 
 and luxury so " 
 
 I think he heard only the half of what I 
 said, and that struck him like ah unexpected 
 arrow. He turned from me and walked a few 
 steps away, and then came back again. " So 
 beautiful and so young," he cried. "Who 
 should know that so well as I ? — who should 
 know that so well as I ? " 
 
 " You know it, and still you let her sit at 
 your door all through the lonely night ? I would
 
 vin. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 115 
 
 not let a tramp shiver at mine if I could help 
 it. You let her perish within reach of you. 
 You condemn her at her age, with her lovely 
 face, unheard " 
 
 He put out his hand to stop me. He was as 
 much agitated as I was. " Her lovely face," 
 he said to himself, — " oh, her lovely face ! " 
 That was the point at which I touched him. 
 It woke recollections in him which were more 
 eloquent than anything I could say. 
 
 "Yes," I said, "think of it." I do not 
 know by what inspiration I laid hold upon 
 this feature of the story — her beauty ; perhaps 
 because it was the real explanation of the 
 power she had acquired over me. 
 
 But in a minute more he had overcome 
 his agitation ; he came to a sudden pause 
 in front of me and looked me in the face, 
 though there were signs of a conflict in his. 
 It is vain to attempt to move me," he said, 
 hoarsely. " I do not know why you should 
 take it in hand, or why you should try to 
 attain your object in this way. I did not 
 
 1 2
 
 n6 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN chap. 
 
 expect it from such as you. Her lovely 
 face — does that make her erood or true 
 
 O 
 
 or fit for a man's wife ? " 
 
 " No doubt it was for that you married her," 
 said I, with an impulse I could not restrain. 
 
 He turned away from me again; he made 
 a few hasty steps and then he came back. 
 " I do not choose to discuss my own history, 
 with a stranger," he said ; and then softening 
 into politeness : " You said I could do some- 
 thing for you. What can I do ? " 
 
 This question suddenly brought me to 
 a standstill, for even in my perplexity and 
 confusion, and the state of semi-despair I 
 had been thrown into by my visitor, a vestige 
 of reason still remained in my mind. After 
 all he must know her and his own concerns 
 better than I could. His question seemed 
 to stop my breath. " She is in my house," 
 I said. 
 
 " You are too charitable, Mrs. Mulgrave," 
 he answered harshly. His voice sounded 
 loud and sharp to me after the subdued tone
 
 vill. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 117 
 
 in which we had been speaking, for we were 
 the only two living creatures visible on the 
 green. Everything was quiet around us, 
 and the ni^ht besfinninor to fall. 
 
 " I did not mean to be charitable," I said, 
 feeling that there was, without any conscious- 
 ness of mine, a tone of apology in my voice. 
 " I did not expect — what has happened. I 
 meant her to leave me — next day." 
 
 " She will never leave you as long as you 
 will keep her and give her all she wants," 
 he said, in the same sharp, harsh voice. 
 
 " Then heaven help me ! ' I cried, in my 
 confusion, "what am I to do?" 
 
 He seized my arm, so that he hurt me, 
 in what seemed a sudden access of passion. 
 "It will teach you not to thrust yourself 
 into other people's concerns, or meddle 
 with what does not concern you," he said. 
 He had come quite close to me, and his 
 face was flushed with passion. I think it 
 was the only time I was ever so spoken to 
 in my life. The effect was bewildering,
 
 nS NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 but I was more surprised than afraid. In 
 short, the curious shock of this unexpected 
 rage, the rude, sudden touch, the angry voice, 
 brought me to mvself. 
 
 " I think you forget yourself, Mr. Rein- 
 hardt," I said. 
 
 Then he dropped my arm as if the touch 
 burned him, and turned away, and shook, as 
 I could see, with the effort to control himself. 
 His passion calmed me, but it swept over 
 him like a storm. He muttered something 
 at length, hurriedly, in which there was the 
 word " pardon," as if he were forced most 
 unwillingly to say it, and then he turned 
 round upon me again : "I may have for- 
 gotten myself, as you say ; but you force 
 me to face a subject I would give the world 
 to forget, and in the only way that makes it 
 unavoidable. Good heavens ! your amiability, 
 and your Christianity, and all that, force me to 
 take up again what I had put from me for 
 ever. And you look for politeness, too ! " 
 
 I did not make any answer : what was the
 
 viii. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 119 
 
 use ? At bottom, I did blame myself ; I should 
 not have interfered ; I should have been 
 firm enough and strong enough to take her 
 to her home, wherever it was : I did not stand 
 upon my defence. I let him say what he 
 would ; and I cannot tell how long this 
 went on. I suppose the interval was not 
 nearly so long as it seemed to me. He 
 stood before me, and he smiled and frowned, 
 and ground his teeth and discharged, as it 
 were, bitter sentences at me. Englishmen 
 can be brutal enough, but no Englishman, I 
 think, would have done it in this way. He 
 seemed to take a pleasure in saying every- 
 thing that was most disagreeable. When 
 he scowled at me I could bear it, but when 
 he smiled and affected politeness I grew so 
 angry that I could have struck him. Poor 
 wretch ! perhaps there was some justifica- 
 tion for him after all. 
 
 "Because you are a woman!' he cried. 
 "A woman! — what it is to be a woman! 
 It gives you a right to set every power of
 
 120 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 hell in motion, and always to be spared the 
 consequences ; to upset every arrangement 
 of the world, and disturb the quiet, and put 
 your fingers into every mess, and always to 
 be held blameless. That is your right. Oh, 
 1 like those women's rights ! I should have 
 knocked down the man who had interfered 
 as you have done ; but, because you are 
 a woman, I must come out of my quiet, I 
 must derange my life, to save you from 
 your folly. God in heaven ! was that what 
 those creatures, those slaves, those toys were 
 made for ? To interfere — for ever to interfere 
 — and to be spared the consequences at any 
 cost to us ? " 
 
 I don't know how I bore it all. I got 
 tired after a while of the mere physical 
 effort of standing to listen to him. I did not 
 try to answer at first, and after the torrent 
 began I could not, he spoke so fast and so 
 vehemently. But at length I turned from him 
 and walked slowly, as well as I was able, to 
 my own door. He paused for a moment as if
 
 Vlll. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 121 
 
 in surprise, and then turned and walked on 
 with me, talking and gesticulating. " Nothing 
 else would have disturbed me," he said ; 
 " I had made my arrangements. How was 
 I to tell that a fool, a woman, — would thrust 
 herself into it, and put it on my honour 
 as a gentleman to free her ? What has 
 honour to do with it ? Why should I 
 trouble more for a woman — an old woman 
 — than for a man ? Bah ! Ah, I will be 
 rude ; yes, I am rude ; it is a pleasure — it is 
 a compensation. You are plain ; you are old. 
 You have lost what charms. Therefore, 
 what right have you to be considered ? Why 
 should you not bear your own folly ? Why 
 should I interfere ? " 
 
 " Pray make yourself quite easy about me," 
 I said, roused in my turn. " I did not appeal 
 to you on my account, and anything you 
 can do for me would be dearly purchased by 
 submitting to this violence. Go your own way, 
 and leave me to manage my own concerns." 
 
 He stopped, bewildered ; and then he asked
 
 122 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN chap. 
 
 with confusion, "What do you call your own 
 concerns ? " 
 
 " Nothing that can any way affect you," 
 I said, and in my passion I went in at my 
 own gate and closed it upon him. I stood on 
 one side defying him, and he stood on the 
 other with confusion and amazement on his 
 face. 
 
 " You do not wish my help any more ? ' 
 " No more. I shall act for myself, without 
 thought of you," I said. He stood and gazed 
 at me for a moment, and then suddenly he 
 turned round and left me. I looked after him 
 as he walked rapidly away, and I confess that, 
 notwithstanding my indignation and pride 
 my heart sank. He was the only creature 
 who could help me, and I had driven him 
 away. I had taken once more upon myself 
 the task which it had made me half frantic to 
 think of. My heart fell. I looked back upon 
 my house, which had been such a haven of 
 quietness and rest for so many years, and 
 felt that the Eden was spoiled — that it was
 
 vill. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 123 
 
 no longer my paradise. And yet I had 
 rejected the only help ! I was very forlorn, 
 standing there with my hand upon my gate 
 under the chilly October stars, having thrust 
 all my friends from me, and refused even 
 the only possible deliverance. " I cannot 
 allow myself to be insulted," I said to myself, 
 trying to get some comfort from my pride, 
 but that was cold consolation. I turned round 
 to go in, sighing and ready to sink with 
 fatigue and trouble ; and then I suddenly 
 heard moans coming from the house, and 
 Mary calling and beckoning from the open 
 door.
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 " Oh, ma'am, the poor lady's took bad — the 
 poor dear lady's took very bad ! " This was 
 Mary's cry as she hurried me in. The windows 
 were all wide open to give her air. She was 
 lying on the sofa gasping for breath, her 
 mouth and her eyes open, two hectic circles of 
 red upon her cheeks, and that wildly anxious 
 look upon her face which always accompanies 
 a struggle for breath. I did not feel at all sure 
 that she was not dying. I called out to my 
 cook to run instantly for the doctor. Both 
 the women had been in the room running 
 about as she gave them wild orders, opening 
 the windows one after another, fetching her 
 fans, eau-de-cologne, water, wine — as one
 
 CH. ix. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 
 
 thing after another occurred to her. She 
 stretched out her hands to me as I came in, 
 and grasped and pulled me to her ; she said 
 something- which I could not make out in 
 her gasping, broken voice, and I nodded my 
 head and pretended to understand, saying, 
 "Yes, yes," to calm her — "Yes, yes." It 
 did not seem to matter what one said or 
 promised at such a moment. For some time, 
 every gasp looked to me as if it must be 
 her last. I bathed her forehead with eau- 
 de-cologne, I wetted her lips with wine ; 
 I had hard ado not to cry out, too, in 
 sympathy with her distress. I shut down now 
 one window, now another, fearing the cold 
 for her, and then opening them again, 
 in obedience to her gestures to give her 
 air. I seem to see and to feel now, as I 
 recall it, the room so unlike itself, with the 
 cold night air blowing- through and through 
 it, and the great squares of blackness and 
 night, with a bit of sky in one, which broke 
 confusedly the familiar walls, and made
 
 126 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 it doubtful to my bewildered and excited 
 mind whether I was out of doors or in — 
 whether the chairs and sofa and the lamp 
 on the table had been transported into the 
 garden, or the garden had invaded the house. 
 The wind made me shiver ; the flame of 
 the lamp wavered even within its protect- 
 ing glass ; darkness and mystery breathed 
 in ; and, in the centre absorbing all thoughts, 
 was this struggle between, as I thought, 
 death and life. I cannot tell how time passed, 
 or how long we were in this suspense ; but 
 it seemed to me that half the night must 
 have been over before the doctor came, in 
 evening dress, with huge white wristbands, 
 as if he were going to perform an operation. 
 Notwithstanding the anxiety I was in, this 
 fantastic idea flashed across my mind : for 
 his cuffs were always too long and white. 
 But it was a relief beyond description when 
 he came : the responsibility, at least, seemed 
 to be taken off my shoulders. I had scarcely 
 permitted myself to hope before that the
 
 ix. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 127 
 
 paroxysm was already beginning" to sub- 
 side ; but now it became evident to me ; 
 and Dr. Houghton gave her something, 
 which at once relieved her. I sat down 
 beside the sofa, feeling half stupefied 
 with the sensation of relief, and watched 
 her breathing gradually grow calmer, and 
 the struggle abate. I think my own brain 
 had given way slightly under the tension. 
 It seemed to me that the room behind me 
 was full of people whispering and flitting 
 about, and that all kinds of echoes and 
 murmurs of voices were coming in at the 
 open windows. I suppose it was only my 
 own maids, and Susan from the Admiral's 
 next door who had come to see what was 
 the matter ; but the strange sensation of 
 being almost in the open air ; and the worn- 
 out state in which I w r as, produced this effect. 
 I could not move however to put a stop 
 to it. I could do nothing but sit still and 
 watch. And thus the scene of the first 
 evening, when I brought this strange in-
 
 128 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 mate home to my house, reproduced itself, 
 with another bewildering effect, before 
 my eyes. She was no , longer dusty and 
 miserable ; her poor black dress was neat and 
 covered by my shawl ; her hair had been 
 elaborately dressed, and, though a little 
 disordered, still showed how carefully it had 
 been arranged ; but otherwise, the attitude, 
 the look, were exactly the same. Her head 
 was thrown back in utter exhaustion upon 
 the dark velvet pillow, which showed it 
 in relief, like a white cameo on the dark 
 background of the pietra dura. Her eyes 
 were softly closed, and her lips. The doctor, 
 who had gone away to write a prescription, 
 was struck by her wonderful beauty, as I had 
 been that night. He started in his surprise 
 when he came back and saw how she had 
 dropped asleep. He drew me aside in his 
 amazement ; the discovery flashed upon him 
 all in a moment, as it had done on me. 
 When a woman is very ill, w T hen one's mind 
 is full of anxiety for her, her beauty is the
 
 IX. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 129 
 
 last thing one thinks of. So that the sudden 
 sight of her confounded him. " How beautiful 
 she is ! he said in my ear with a certain 
 agitation ; and though I am only a woman, 
 I had been agitated, too, when I found it 
 out. 
 
 It was just when the doctor had said 
 
 this that my eye was suddenly caught by a 
 
 strange figure at one of the open windows. 
 
 It stepped on to the sill, dark against the 
 
 blackness without, and there paused a 
 
 moment. Had this occurred at any other 
 
 time, I should, no doubt, have been very 
 
 much frightened, I should have rushed to 
 
 the window and demanded to know what 
 
 he wanted, with terror and indignation »' 
 
 but to-night I took it as a matter of 
 
 course. I did not even move, but kept still 
 
 by the side of my patient's sofa and looked 
 
 at him : and when he came in it seemed to me 
 
 the most natural thing in the world. He 
 
 entered with a sudden, impetuous movement 
 
 as if something had pushed him forward, lb: 
 
 VOL. [I. K
 
 130 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 advanced into the middle of the room — into 
 the little circle round the sofa. It was Mr. 
 Reinhardt. He had never been in my house 
 before, or in any house on the green, and 
 Dr. Houghton looked at him and looked at 
 me with positive consternation. For my part, 
 I gave him no greeting. I did not say a 
 word. It seemed natural that he should 
 come, that was all. 
 
 There was a curious sort of smile upon his 
 face ; he was wound up to some course 
 of action or other. What he thought of 
 doing I cannot tell. His face looked as 
 if he had come with the intention of taking 
 her by the shoulders and turning her out. 
 I don't know why I thought so, but there was 
 a certain mixture of fierceness, and contempt, 
 and impatience in his look which suggested 
 the idea. " I have come to put a stop to 
 all this. I shall not put up with it for a 
 moment longer." Though he did not speak 
 a word, this seemed to sound in my ears, 
 somehow, as if he had said it in his mind. But
 
 ix. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 131 
 
 when he came to the sofa and saw her laid out 
 in that dead sleep, her face white as marble, 
 the blue veins visible on her closed eyelids, 
 the breath faintly coming and going, he came 
 to a sudden pause. I think for the first 
 moment he thought she was dead. He gave 
 a short cry, and then turned to me wildly, 
 as if I were responsible. "You have killed 
 her," he said. He was in that state of 
 suppressed passion in which anything might 
 happen. He would have railed at her had 
 he found her conscious, he would have 
 railed at me if I would have let him : he 
 was half mad. 
 
 " Tell him," I said, turning to the doctor. 
 Dr. Houghton was a man of the world, and 
 tried very hard not to look surprised. He 
 put his hand upon Mr. Reinhardt's shoulder 
 to draw him away : but he would not be drawn 
 away. He stood fast there, with his brows 
 contracted and his eyes fixed on the sleeping 
 face : he listened to the doctor's explanations 
 without moving or looking up. He said 
 
 K 2
 
 132 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 not a word further to any one, but drew a 
 chair in front of the sofa and sat down there 
 with his eyes fixed upon her. Oh, what 
 thoughts must have been going: through his 
 mind. The woman whom he had loved — I 
 do not doubt passionately in his way — whom 
 he had married, whom he had cast away from 
 him ! And there she lay before him uncon- 
 scious, unaware of his presence, beautiful 
 as when she had been his, like a creature 
 seen in a dream. 
 
 "He had better be got to go away before 
 she wakes," Dr. Houghton said in my ear. 
 " Do you think you can make one more exer- 
 tion, Mrs. Mulgrave, and send him away ? 
 Can you hear what I am saying ? She 
 will be in a very weak state, and any ex- 
 citement might be dangerous. I don't know 
 what connection there is between them, but 
 can't you send him away ? Who is this next ? " 
 
 This time it was a very timid figure at the 
 window, a halting, furtive old man peeping 
 in. And somehow this, too, seemed quite
 
 ix. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 133 
 
 natural to me. I felt that I knew everything 
 that happened as if I had planned it all 
 before-hand. " It is his servant come to look 
 for him," said I. And the doctor went to 
 the window with impatience and pulled poor 
 old White in, and shut it clown. 
 
 " The draught goes through and through 
 one," he said, with a shiver. It was quite 
 true ; I was trembling with cold where I sat 
 by the sleeping woman's side ; but it had not 
 occurred to me to shut the window ; every- 
 thing seemed unchangeable, as if we had 
 nothing to do with it except to accept whatever 
 happened. When White came in he looked 
 round him with great astonishment, and made 
 me a very humble, frightened bow, while he 
 whispered and explained to the doctor how 
 it was he had taken the liberty. Then he 
 gradually approached his master ; — but when 
 he saw the fimire on the sofa consternation 
 swallowed up all his other sentiments. He flung 
 his arms above his head and uttered a stifled 
 cry, and then he rushed at his master with a
 
 [34 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 sudden vehemence which showed how deeply 
 the sight had moved him. He put his hand 
 upon Mr. Reinhardt's shoulder and shook him 
 gently. 
 
 " Sir, sir ; ' : he cried ; then stooped to his 
 ear and whispered, " Master ; Mr. Reinhardt ; 
 master ! " Reinhardt took no notice of the old 
 man, he sat absorbed with his eyes fixed on 
 that marble, beautiful face. " Oh, sir, come 
 with me ! Oh ! come with me, my dear 
 master ; " said the old man. " You know what 
 I'm saying is for your good — you know it's for 
 your good. It's getting late, sir, time for the 
 house to be shut up. Oh, Mr. Reinhardt — sir, 
 come away with me ! come with me — do ! " 
 
 Mr. Reinhardt pushed him impatiently 
 awav, but did not answer a word ; he never 
 removed his eyes from her for a moment. 
 They seemed to me to grow like Charon's 
 eyes, like circles of fire, while he gazed at her 
 Was it in wrath — was it in love ? 
 
 '•Mrs. Mulgrave, ma'am," cried White, 
 turning to me, but always in a voice which was
 
 ix. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 135 
 
 scarcely above a whisper, " Oh, speak to him ! 
 It ain't for his orood to sit and stare at her 
 like that. I know what comes of it. If he 
 sits like that and looks to her it'll all begin 
 over aQfain. He ain't a man that can stand 
 it, he ain't indeed. Oh, my lady, if you'll be 
 a friend to him, speak and make him go." 
 
 " Ah ! " said a soft, sighing voice. "Ah ! old 
 White ! ' We all started as if a shell had 
 fallen among us : and yet it was not wonderful 
 that she should wake with all this conversa- 
 tion going on by her bed — and besides she 
 
 had slept a long time, more than an hour. 
 She had not changed her position in the 
 least, all she had done was to open her eyes 
 I don't know whether it was simply her su- 
 preme yet indolent self-estimation which kept 
 her from paying us the compliment of making 
 any movement on our account, or if it was 
 from some consciousness that her beauty 
 could not be shown to greater advantage. 
 But certainly she did not move. She only 
 opened her eyes, and said, " Ah, old White ! '
 
 i;/> XEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 But oh, to see how the man started, who 
 was nearer to her than White! It was as 
 if a ball or a sword-stroke had gone through 
 him. He sprang from his chair, and then he 
 checked himself and drew it close and sat 
 down again. He glanced round upon us 
 all as if he would have cleared not only the 
 chamber but the world of us, had it been 
 possible, and then he leant over her and 
 said sternly, " There are others here besides 
 White." 
 
 " Ah ! " Either she was afraid of him or 
 pretended to be ; she clutched at my sleeve 
 with her hand, she shrank back a little, but 
 still did not change her attitude nor raise 
 herself so as to see his face. 
 
 " I am here," he went on, his voice 
 trembling with passion. " I whom you have 
 hunted, whose life you have poisoned. Oh, 
 woman ! you dare not look at me nor speak 
 to me, but you wrong me behind my back. 
 You whisper tales of me wherever I go. 
 Here I had a moment's peace and you
 
 ix. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 137 
 
 have ruined it. Tell these people the truth 
 once in your life. Is it I that am in the wrong 
 or you . 
 
 A frightened look had stolen over her face, 
 her eyebrows contracted as with fear. Her 
 eyes became full of tears, and the corners 
 of her beautiful mouth quivered. Heaven for- 
 give me ! I asked myself was it all feigning 
 or had she something kinder and better 
 in her which I had never seen till now ? 
 But those eyes, which were like great cups 
 of light filled with dew, once more turned 
 to him. She remained immovable, looking 
 up to his face, when he repeated hoarsely, 
 " You or I, which is in the wrong?" 
 
 She answered with a shiver which ran all 
 over her, " I." Her voice was like a sigh. 
 I did not know what his wrongs might be, 
 but whatever they were, at that moment there 
 could be no doubt about it. He, a hard, 
 unsympathetic, inhuman soul, it must be 
 he that was in the wrong, not she, though 
 she confessed it so sweetly ; and if this effect
 
 138 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 was produced upon me, what should it be 
 upon him ? 
 
 Mr. Reinhardt shook like a leaf in the wind. 
 He had not expected this. It was a sur- 
 prise to him. He had expected to be blamed. 
 It startled him so, that for the moment he 
 was silent, gazing at her. But old White was 
 not silent. " Oh ! master, master, come away, 
 come home," he pleaded, wringing his hands ; 
 and then he came and touched my shoulder 
 and cried like a child. " Speak to him, send 
 him away ! " he cried. " It is for his own 
 good. If she speaks to him like that, if she 
 keeps her temper, it is all over ; it will have 
 all to be besom a^ain." 
 
 Reinhardt made a long pause. He looked as 
 if he were gathering up his strength to speak 
 again, and when he did so, it was with the 
 fictitious heat of a man whose heart is melting. 
 " How dare you say 'I,' 'he said, " when you 
 do not mean it ? — when all your life you have 
 said otherwise ? You have reproached me, 
 stirred up my friends against me, kept your
 
 ix. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 139 
 
 own sins in the background and published 
 mine. You have done this for years, and now 
 is it a new art you are trying ? Do not think 
 you can deceive me," he cried, getting up in 
 his agitation " it is impossible. I am not such 
 a credulous fool." 
 
 She kept her eyes on the ceiling, not look- 
 ing at him ; the moisture in them seemed 
 to swell, but did not overflow. " I may not 
 change then ?" she said, very low. " I may 
 not see that I am wrong ? I am not to be 
 permitted to repent ? " 
 
 He turned from her and began to pace 
 up and down the room ; he plucked at his 
 waistcoat and cravat as though they choked 
 him. More than once he returned to the sofa 
 as if with something to say but went away 
 again. When White approached, he was 
 pushed away with impatience, and once with 
 such force that he span round as he was driven 
 back. This last repulse seemed to convince 
 him. " Be a fool, then, if you will, sir," he 
 said sharply, and withdrew altogether into
 
 i4o NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 a corner, where he watched the scene. I do 
 not think Reinhardt even saw this or anything 
 else. He was walking up and down hastily 
 like a man out of his mind, struggling, one 
 could not but see, with a hundred demons, 
 and tempting his fate. 
 
 He came back aQfain however in his 
 tumultuous uncertainty, and bent over her 
 once more. "Talk of repentance — talk of 
 change," he cried bitterly. " How often have 
 you pretended as much ? Do you hear me, 
 woman ? ,: (bending down so close that his 
 breath must have touched her) — -" how often 
 have you done it ? how often have you 
 pretended ? Oh, false, false as death ! ' 
 
 She put her hand upon his shoulder, almost 
 on his neck. He broke away from her with 
 a hoarse cry ; he made another wild march 
 round the room. Then he came back. 
 
 "Julia," he cried, "Julia, Julia, Julia! 
 Mine!" 
 
 She lay still as a tiger that is going to 
 spring. He fell on his knees beside her,
 
 IX. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. \\\ 
 
 weeping, storming in his passion. Good 
 Lord ! was it my doing ? was I responsible ? 
 White gave me a furious look, and rushed 
 out of the room. The husband and wife 
 were reconciled.
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 
 
 Chapter X. 
 
 This is about the end of the story so far as 
 I am concerned. He spent the night there 
 by her sofa, kissing her dress and her hands, 
 and watching her in a transport of passion 
 and perhaps delight. For the last I would 
 not answer. It must have been at best a 
 troubled joy ; and a man's infatuation for a 
 beautiful face is not what I call love, though 
 it is often a very tragic and terrible passion. 
 He took her away in the morning, but not to 
 his own house. They went straight from mine 
 to London, that great receptacle of every- 
 body's misery and happiness. I saw them both 
 before they left, though only for a moment. 
 She was still lying on the sofa as when I
 
 ch. x. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAX. 143 
 
 left her, and the half disorder of her hair, 
 the exhaustion in her face, seemed rather 
 to enhance her beauty. Any one else would 
 have looked jaded and worn out, but a 
 faint flush of triumph and satisfaction had 
 stolen over her (partly perhaps produced by 
 her weakness) and woke the marble into 
 life. She stretched out her hand to me 
 carelessly as I went in. She said with 
 a smile, "You see my feeling was right. 
 I always trust my feelings. I knew 
 you were the person to do it, and you 
 have done it. I felt it whenever I saw 
 your face." 
 
 " I hope it will be lasting, and that you 
 may be happy," I said, faltering, not know- 
 in cr what tone to take. 
 
 "Oh, yes, it is to be hoped so. He 
 is going to take me to London," she 
 answered carelessly. " I am quite sorry 
 to leave your nice house, everything has 
 been so comfortable. It is small and it is 
 plain, but you know how to make yourself
 
 t44 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 comfortable. I suppose when one has lived 
 so long one naturally does." 
 
 This was all her thanks to me. The 
 husband took the matter in a different 
 way. They had a fire lighted and coffee 
 taken to them in the drawing-room (which 
 was left in the saddest confusion after all 
 the disturbance of the night) ; and it was 
 when the carriage he had ordered was at 
 the door, and she had gone to make her- 
 self ready, that he came to me. I was in 
 the dining-room with my breakfast on the 
 table, which I was too much worn out to 
 take. His face was very strange ; it was 
 full of suppressed excitement, with a wild, 
 strained look about the eyes, and a certain 
 air of heat and haste, though his colour was 
 like ivory as usual. " I have to thank you," 
 he said to me, very stiffly, " and if I said 
 anything amiss in my surprise last night, I 
 hope you will forgive it. I can only thank 
 you now ; nothing else is possible. But I 
 must add, I hope we shall never meet again.
 
 x. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 145 
 
 " I assure you, if we do, it shall not be 
 with my will," said I, feeling very angry as 
 I think I had a right to be. 
 
 He bowed, but made no reply ; not be- 
 cause words failed him. I felt that he 
 would have liked nothing better than to 
 have fallen upon me and metaphorically 
 torn me to pieces. He had been overcome 
 by his own heart or passions, and had taken 
 her back, but he hated me for having 
 drawn him to do so. He saw the tragic 
 folly of the step he was taking. There was 
 a gloom in his excitement such as I cannot 
 describe. He had no strength to resist 
 her, but she was hateful to him even while 
 he adored her. And doublv hateful, without 
 any counterbalancing attraction, was I, who 
 had as it were betrayed him to his fate. 
 
 " I trust your wife and you will be happy 
 — now," 1 said, trying to speak firmly. He 
 interrupted me with a hoarse laugh. 
 
 "My wife!" 
 
 " Is she not your wife ? ' I said in alarm. 
 
 VOL. II. L
 
 146 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN chap. 
 
 He laughed again, even more hoarsely, 
 with a sharp tone in the sound. " What 
 do you call a woman who is taken back 
 after — everything ? Who is taken back 
 
 because What is she, do you suppose ? 
 
 What is he, the everlasting dupe and fool ! 
 Don't speak to me any more." He hurried 
 away from me, and then turned round 
 again at the door. " I spoke a little wildly 
 perhaps," he said, with a smile, which was 
 more disagreeable than his rage, iK without 
 due thought for Mrs. Reinhardt's reputation. 
 Make yourself quite easy — she is my wife." 
 
 That was the last I saw of them. I was 
 too much offended to go to the door to 
 see them leave the house, but it is impos- 
 sible to describe the relief with which I 
 listened to the wheels ringing along the 
 road as they went away. Was it really 
 true ? — was this nightmare removed from me, 
 and my house my own again ? I did not 
 know whether to laugh or to cry. I fell 
 clown on my knees and made some sort
 
 x. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 147 
 
 of confused thanksgiving;. It seemed to 
 me as if I had been in this horrible bond- 
 age half my life. 
 
 Mary came in about half-an-hour after 
 to take away the breakfast things. I had 
 swallowed a cup of tea, but I had not 
 been able to eat. Mary was still disapprov- 
 ing, but quieter than at first ; she shook her 
 head over the untouched food. " We'll be 
 having; vou ill next, ma'am," she said, with 
 an evident feeling; that cook and she would 
 in that case have good reason to complain ; 
 and then, after a pause, she added severely, 
 " I don't know if you knew ma'am, as 
 the lady is gone off in your best shawl ? " 
 
 " My shawl ! " I had thought no more 
 of it : but this sudden news took away 
 my breath. 
 
 " She was always fond of it," said Mary 
 grimly. " She liked the best of every- 
 thing did that lady ; and she couldn't 
 make up her mind to take it off when she 
 went away." 
 
 t. 2
 
 MS NEIGHBOURS ON THE ORE EX. chap. 
 
 Though I was so confounded and confused, 
 I made an effort to keep up appearances 
 still. "She will send it back, of course, 
 as soon as she gets — home," I said; "as 
 soon as she gets — her own things." 
 
 " I am sure I hope so, ma'am," said 
 Mary, carrying off her tray. Her tone 
 was not one to inspire hope in the listener, 
 and I confess that for the rest of the morn- 
 ing my shawl held a very large place in my 
 thoughts. It was the most valuable piece 
 of personal property I possessed. When I 
 used to take it out and wrap it round me, 
 it was always with a certain pride. It was 
 the kind of wrap which dignifies any dress. 
 " With that handsome shawl, it does not 
 matter what else you wear," Mrs. Stoke 
 was in the habit of saying to me ; and 
 though Mrs. Stoke was not a great authority 
 in most matters, she knew what she was 
 saying on this point. I said to myself, " Of 
 course she will send it back," but I had a 
 very chill sensation of doubt about my heart.
 
 x. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 149 
 
 All the morning I sat still over the fire, 
 with a longing to go and talk to some one. 
 For more than a week now, I had not 
 exchanged a word with my neighbours, 
 and this was terrible to a person like me, 
 living surrounded by so many whose lives 
 had come to be a part of mine. But I had 
 not the courage to take the initiative. 
 I cannot tell how I longed for some one 
 to come, for the ice to be broken. And it 
 was only natural that people should be sur- 
 prised and offended, and even have leirned 
 to distrust me. For who could they suppose J 
 was hiding away like that — some mysterious 
 sinner belonging to myself — some one I 
 had a special interest in ? And then she 
 had been recognized by Everard Stoke ! 
 
 At about twelve o'clock my quietness was 
 disturbed by the sound of some one coming ; 
 my heart began to beat and my face to flush, 
 but it was only old White with his fellow- 
 servant, Mississarah, as he called her, pro- 
 nouncing the two words as if they were one.
 
 i5o NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 Their visit put me in possession of the whole 
 miserable story. It was like a tale of enchant- 
 ment all through. The man had been a mature 
 man of fortv or more, buried in science 
 and learning, when he first saw the beautiful 
 creature who since seemed to have been the 
 curse of his life. She was an innkeeper's 
 daughter, untaught and unrefined. He had 
 tried to educate her, married her, done every- 
 thing that a man mad with love could do 
 to make her a lady — nay, to make her a de- 
 corous woman — but he had failed and over 
 again failed. They did not tell me, and I 
 did not wish to hear, what special sins she 
 had done against him. I suppose she had 
 done everything that a wicked wife could do. 
 She had been put into honourable retirement 
 with the hope of recovery again and again. 
 Then she had been sent away in anger. But 
 every time the unfortunate husband had fallen 
 under her personal influence — the influence 
 of her beauty — she had been taken back. 
 "She hates him," poor White said, almost
 
 x. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 151 
 
 crying, "but he can't resist her. He's mad, 
 ma'am, mad, that's what it is. He could kill 
 hisself for giving in, but he can't help hisself. 
 We've had to watch him night and day as 
 he shouldn't hear her nor see her, for when 
 her money's done she always comes back to 
 him. He'll kill her some day or kill hisself. 
 Mississarah knows as I'm speaking true." 
 
 "As true as the Bible," said Mississarah; 
 but she was softer than he towards the wife. 
 " He was too wise and too good for her, 
 ma'am," she said, "a fool and a wise man 
 can't walk together — it's hard on the wise 
 man, but may be it's a bit hard too on the 
 fool. Folks don't make themselves. She 
 mightn't have been so bad " 
 
 "Oh, go along; go along, Mississarah, 
 do," said White. "We'll have to go off from 
 here where all was quiet and nice, and start 
 again without knowing no more than Adam. 
 But he'll kill her, some day, you'll see, or 
 he'll kill hisself." 
 
 Mississarah was a north-country woman,
 
 132 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 and had a little feeling that her master was 
 a foreigner, and therefore necessarily more or 
 less guilty ; but White was half a foreigner 
 himself and totally devoted to his master. 
 When they had poured forth their sorrows 
 to me, they went away disconsolate, and their 
 fears about leaving East Cottage were so soon 
 justified that I never saw them more. 
 
 And then came my melancholy luncheon, 
 which was set on the table for me, and which 
 I loathed the sight of. To escape fom it I 
 went into the drawing-room, from which all 
 traces of last night's confusion were gone. 
 I was so miserable, and lonely, and weary 
 that I think I dropped asleep over the fire. 
 I had been up almost all night, and there 
 seemed nothing so comfortable in all the 
 world as forgetting one's very existence 
 and being able to get to sleep. 
 
 I woke with the murmur of voices in my 
 ears. Lady Denzil was sitting by me holding 
 my hand. She gave me a kiss, and whispered 
 to me in her soft voice, — "We know all
 
 x. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 153 
 
 about it — we know all about it, my dear/' 
 patting me softly with her kind hand. I'm 
 afraid I broke down and cried like a child. I 
 am growing old myself, to be sure, but Lady 
 Denzil, thank heaven, might have been even 
 my mother — and if you consider all the agita- 
 tion, all the disturbance I had come through ! 
 I think everybody on the green called that 
 day, and each visitor was more kind than the 
 other. " I shall always consider it a special 
 providence, however, that none of us called 
 or were introduced to her," Mrs. General 
 Perronet said solemnly. But she was the only 
 one who made any allusion to the terrible 
 guest I had been hiding in my house. They 
 took me out to get the air — they made me 
 walk to the Dell to see the autumn colour on 
 the trees. They carried me off to dine at the 
 Lodge, and brought me home with a body- 
 guard. " You are not fit to be trusted to walk 
 home by yourself," Lottie Stoke said, giving 
 me her arm. In short, the green received 
 me back with acclamations, as if I had been
 
 154 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 a returned Prodigal, and I found that I could 
 laugh over the new and most unexpected 
 role, which I thus found myself filling, as 
 soon as the next day. 
 
 Some time after, I received my shawl in 
 a rough parcel, sent by railway. It was torn 
 in two or three places by the pins it had 
 been fastened with, and had several small 
 stains upon it. It was sent without a word, 
 without any apologies, with Mrs. Reinhardt's 
 compliments written outside the brown paper 
 cover, in a coarse hand. And that was the 
 only direct communication I ever had with 
 my strange guest. Before Christmas however 
 there was a paragraph in some of the papers 
 that L. Reinhardt, Esq., had volunteered to 
 accompany an expedition going to Africa in 
 order to make some scientific observations. 
 There was a ureat crowded, enthusiastic meet- 
 ing of the Geographical Society, in which his 
 wonderful devotion was dwelt on and the 
 sacrifice he was making to the interests of 
 science. And he was even mentioned in the
 
 x. THE SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN. 155 
 
 House of Commons, where some great person- 
 age took it upon him to say that in the arrange- 
 ment of the expedition the greatest assistance 
 had been received from Mr. Reinhardt, who, 
 himself a man of wealth and leisure, had gene- 
 rously devoted his energies to it, and smoothed 
 away a great many of the difficulties in the 
 way — a good work for which science and his 
 country would alike be grateful to him, said the 
 orator. Oh, me ! oh, me ! I looked up in Lady 
 Denzil's face as Sir Thomas read out these 
 words to us. Sir Thomas took it quite calmly, 
 and was rather pleased indeed that Mr. Rein- 
 hardt, by getting himself publicly thanked 
 in the House of Commons, had justified the 
 impulse which prompted himself, Sir Thomas 
 Denzil, head as it were of society on the 
 green, to call upon him. But my lady laid 
 her soft old hand on mine, and her eyes filled 
 with tears. " Do not let us blame him, my 
 dear, — do not let us blame him," she said 
 to me when we were alone. She had known 
 what temptation was.
 
 LADY ISABELLA. 
 
 PART I. 
 Chapter I. 
 
 There was one house in our neighbour- 
 hood which was perfect and above criticism. 
 I do not mean to say that it was a great 
 house ; but the very sight of it was enough 
 to make you feel almost bitter if you were 
 poor, and much pleased and approving if 
 you were well-off. Naturally it was the 
 very next house to Mrs. Merridew's, who 
 had heaps of children and a small income, 
 and could not have things so very nice 
 as might have been wished. Mrs. Spencer 
 and Lady Isabella lived within sight of her, 
 with but two holly-hedges between ; the 
 hedge on the side of the Merridew's house
 
 ch. I. LADY ISABELLA. 157 
 
 was bristly and untidy, but on the other 
 side it was trimmed and clipped till it looked 
 like a barrier-wall of dark green Utrecht 
 velvet ; and inside that inclosure every- 
 thing was in perfection ; the lawn was 
 mown every other day ; there was never 
 an obtrusive daisy on it, and no fallen leaf 
 presumed to lie for half an hour. The 
 Mower-beds which surrounded it were more 
 brilliant than any I ever saw — not mere 
 vulgar geraniums and calceolarias, but a 
 continual variety, and always such masses 
 of colour. Inside everything was just as 
 perfect. They had such good servants, 
 always the best trained of their class ; such 
 soft carpets, upon which no step ever 
 sounded harsh ; and .Mrs. Spencer's ferns 
 were the wonder of the neighbourhood ; and 
 the flowers in the two drawing-rooms were 
 always just at the point of perfection, with 
 never a yellow leaf or a faded blossom. 
 We poorer people sometimes tried to con- 
 sole ourselves by telling each other that
 
 158 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 such luxury was monotonous. " Nothing 
 ever grows and nothing- ever fades," said 
 Lottie Stoke, " but always one eternal beauti- 
 ful ness ; I should not like it if it were I. 
 I should like to watch them budding, and 
 pick off the first faded leaves." This Lottie 
 said with confidence, though she was notori- 
 ously indifferent to such cares,, and declared, 
 on other occasions, that she could not be 
 troubled with flowers, they required so 
 much looking after ; but poor little Janet 
 Merridew used to shake her head and 
 groan with an innocent envy that would 
 bring the tears to her eyes ; not that she 
 wished to take anything from her neigh- 
 bours, but she loved beautiful things so 
 much, and they were so far out of her 
 reach. 
 
 Mrs. Spencer and Lady Isabella lived 
 together in this beautiful house ; they were 
 two friends so intimately allied, that I was 
 in the habit of saying they were more like 
 man and wife than anything else. It was
 
 i. LADY ISABELLA. 159 
 
 a wonder to us all at Dinglefield how they 
 managed their money matters in respect 
 to housekeeping. Many a little attempt I 
 have seen to find this out, and heard many 
 a speculation ; whether the house was Mrs. 
 Spencer's, whether Lady Isabella only paid 
 for her board, which of them was at the 
 expense of the carriage, or whether they 
 kept a rigid account of all their expenditure 
 and divided it at the end of the year, as 
 some thought — nobody could make out. 
 When they first came to Dinglefield it was 
 universally prophesied that it would not 
 last. " Depend upon it, these arrangements 
 never answer," was the opinion of old Mr. 
 Llovd, who was Mrs. Damerel's father, and 
 lived with them at the rectory. " They 
 will quarrel in three months," the Admiral 
 said, who was not very favourable to ladies. 
 But when seven years had come and gone, 
 Mrs. Spencer and Lady Isabella still lived 
 together and had not quarrelled. By this 
 time Lady Isabella, who was really quite
 
 160 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 young when they came, must have been 
 nearly five-and-thirty, and people had made 
 up their minds she would not marry now, 
 so that the likelihood was, as it had lasted 
 so long, it would last all their lives. They 
 did not, at the first glance, look like people 
 likely to suit each other. Mrs. Spencer 
 was a woman overflowing with activity ; 
 she was thin, she could not have been any- 
 thing else, so energetic was she, always in 
 motion, setting everybody right. She was 
 shortsighted, or said she was shortsighted, 
 so far as the outer world was concerned, 
 but in her own house, and in all that in- 
 volved her own affairs, she had the eye 
 of a lynx ; nothing escaped her. It was 
 she who kept everything in such beautiful 
 order, and made the lawns and the flowers 
 the wonder of the neighbourhood. Lady 
 Isabella's part was the passive one ; she 
 enjoyed it. She did not worry her friend 
 by pretending to take any trouble. She 
 w r as full ten years younger than Mrs.
 
 LADY ISABELLA. \ 6 1 
 
 Spencer, inclining- to be stout, pretty, but 
 undeniably inactive. I am afraid she was 
 a little indolent, or, perhaps, in such close 
 and constant contact with her friend's more 
 active nature, Lady Isabella had found it 
 expedient to seem more indolent than she 
 was. She left all the burdens of life on 
 Mrs. Spencer's shoulders. Except the one 
 habitual walk in the dav, which it was said 
 Mrs. Spencer compelled her to take, lest 
 she should grow fat, we at Dinglefield only 
 saw Lady Isabella in her favourite easy- 
 chair in the drawing-room, or her favourite 
 garden-bench on the lawn. Indolent — but 
 not so perfectly good-tempered as indolent 
 people usually are, and fond of saying 
 sharp things without perhaps always con- 
 sidering the feelings of others. Indeed she 
 seemed to live on such a pinnacle of ease 
 and wealth and comfort, that she must 
 have found it difficult to enter into the 
 feelings of such as were harassed, or care- 
 worn, or poor. She had a wav of beesingf 
 
 VOL. II. M
 
 1 62 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 everybody not to make a fuss when any- 
 thing happened ; and I am afraid most of 
 us thought that a selfish regard for her 
 own comfort lay at the bottom of this love 
 of tranquillity. I don't think now that we 
 were quite right in our opinion of her. 
 She had to go through a great deal of fuss 
 whether she liked it or not ; and I remember 
 now that when she uttered her favourite 
 sentiment she used to give a glance, half- 
 comic, half-pathetic, to where Mrs. Spencer 
 was. But she bore with Mrs. Spencer's 
 " ways ' : as a wife bears with her husband. 
 Mrs. Spencer had all the worry and trouble, 
 such as it was. Plenty of money is a great 
 sweetener of such cares ; but still, to be 
 sure, it was easy for Lady Isabella to sit 
 and laugh and adjure everybody not to 
 make a fuss, when she herself had no 
 trouble about anything, never had even to 
 scold a servant, or turn an unsatisfactory 
 retainer away. 
 
 We were never very intimate, they and
 
 LAD Y ISABELLA. 1 63 
 
 I ; but it happened, one autumn evening, 
 that I went in to call rather out of the re- 
 gular order of calls which we exchanged 
 punctiliously. When I say we were not 
 intimate, I only mean that there was no per- 
 sonal and individual attraction between us. 
 Of course we knew each other very well, 
 and met twice or thrice every week, as 
 people do at Dinglefield. I had been calling 
 upon Mrs. Merridew, and I cannot tell what 
 fascination one found— coming out of that 
 full house, which was as tidy as she could 
 make it, but not, alas ! as tidy as it might 
 have been — in the next house, which was 
 so wonderful a contrast, where the regions 
 of mere tidiness were overpast, and good 
 order had grown into beauty and grace. I 
 suppose it was the contrast. I found myself 
 going in at the other gate almost before I 
 knew it ; and there I found Lady Isabella 
 alone, seated in the twilight, for it was grow- 
 ing dark, in her favourite corner, not very 
 far from the fire. She was not doing any- 
 
 M 2
 
 1 64 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 thing ; and as I went in, I fancied, to my 
 great surprise, that something like the ghost 
 ot a sigh came to greet me just half a 
 moment in advance of Lady Isabella's laugh. 
 She had a way of laughing, which was not 
 disagreeable when one came to know her, 
 though at first people were apt to think that 
 she was laughing at them. 
 
 " Mrs. Spen is out," she said, "and 1 am 
 quite fatigued, for I have been standing at 
 my window watching the Merridew babies 
 in their garden. They look like nice little 
 fat puppies among the grass ; but it must 
 be damp for them at this time of the 
 year." 
 
 " Poor little things ! there are so many 
 of them that they get hardy ; they are not 
 used to being looked after very much. Some 
 people's children would be killed by it," 
 said I. 
 
 " How lucky for the little Merridews that 
 they are not those people's children ! " said 
 Lady Isabella ; "and I think they must like it,
 
 I. LADY ISABELLA. 165 
 
 for it is a great bore being looked after too 
 much." As she spoke she leant back in her 
 chair with something that sounded like 
 another sigh. " I was rather fond of babies 
 once," she added, with a laugh which quickly 
 followed the sigh. "Absurd, was it not? 
 but don't say a word, or Mrs. Spen will turn 
 me out." 
 
 "It would take more than that to part you 
 two," said I. 
 
 " Well, I suppose it would. I think some- 
 times it would take a oreat deal. Mrs. 
 Mulgrave, do you know I have been turn- 
 ing it over in my mind whether I could 
 ask vou to do something- for me or not ? 
 and I think I have decided that I will — 
 that is not to say that you are to do it, 
 you know, unless you please." 
 
 " I think most likely I shall please — 
 unless it is scmething very unlike you," 
 said I. 
 
 "Well, it is unlike me," said Lady Isa- 
 bella ; and though I could not make out
 
 [66 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 her face in the least, I felt sure, by the sound 
 of her voice, and a certain movement she 
 made, and an odd little laugh that ac- 
 companied her words, that she was blushing 
 violently in the dark. "At least, it is very 
 unlike anything you know of me. You 
 might not think it, perhaps," she went on, 
 with again that little constrained laugh, " but 
 do you know I was young once ? " 
 
 " My dear, I think you are young still," 
 said I. 
 
 " Oh dear, no ; that is quite out of the 
 question. When a woman is over thirty, she 
 ought to give up all such ideas," said Lady 
 Isabella, with an amount of explanatoriness 
 which I did not understand ; and she began 
 to fold hems in her handkerchief in a nervous 
 way. " When a woman is thirty, she may 
 just as well be fifty at once for any difference 
 it makes." 
 
 " I don't think even fifty is anything so 
 very dreadful," said I. " One's ideas change 
 as one gets older ; but twenty years make
 
 LAD Y ISABELLA. i 67 
 
 a wonderful difference, whatever you may 
 think." 
 
 " Perhaps, for some things," she said hastily. 
 "And you must know, Mrs. Mulgrave, in 
 that fabulous time when I was young other 
 marvels existed. They always do in the 
 fabulous period in all histories ; and there 
 was once somebody who was — or at least 
 he said he was — in love with me. There, 
 the murder is out," she said, pushing her 
 chair a little further back into the dark 
 corner ; and, to my amazement, her voice 
 was full of agitation, as if she had been 
 telling me the secret of her life. 
 
 " My dear Lady Isabella," I said, "do you 
 really expect me to be surprised at that ? ' 
 
 " Well, no, perhaps not," she said, with 
 another laugh. " Not at the simple fact. 
 They say every woman has such a thing 
 happen to her some time in her life. Do 
 you think that is true ? " 
 
 " The people in the newspapers say it 
 can't be true," said I, " nowadays : though
 
 [68 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chat. 
 
 I don't think I ever knew a woman who 
 had not " 
 
 " Mrs. Spen will be back directly," cried 
 Lady Isabella hastily, "and I don't want 
 her to know. I need not tell you that it all 
 came to nothing, for you can see that ; but, 
 Mrs. Mulgrave, now comes the funny part 
 of it. His regiment is coming to the bar- 
 racks, and he will be within five miles of 
 us. Is it not odd ? " 
 
 " I don't think it is at all odd," said I. 
 " I dare say it is just in the natural order. 
 If it will be painful to you to meet him, 
 Lady Isabella " 
 
 " That is the funniest of all," she said. 
 " It will not be in the least painful to me 
 to meet him. On the contrary, I want to 
 meet him. It is very droll, but I do. 1 
 should so like to see what he looks like now, 
 and if his temper is improved, and a hundred 
 things. Besides, his sister used to be a great 
 friend of mine ; and when we broke it off 
 1 lost Augusta too. I want so much to know
 
 i. LADY ISABELLA. 169 
 
 about her. Indeed, that is my chief reason," 
 she went on falterino- " for wishing to meet 
 him." The words were scarcely spoken 
 when she burst into a little peal of laughter. 
 " What a stupid I am," she cried, " trying 
 to take you in. No, Mrs. Mulgrave, let me 
 be honest ; it is not for Augusta I want to 
 see him. I should so like just to make sure 
 — you know — if I was a very great fool, or 
 if he was worth thinking of after all. Now," 
 with a little sigh, " when one is perfectly 
 dispassionate — and cool " 
 
 "To be sure," said I, glad that it was 
 dark, and she could not see me smile ; " and 
 now that we have settled all that, tell me 
 what I am to do." 
 
 " You are so very kind," she said ; and 
 then went off again in that agitated laugh. 
 /' I am betraying myself frightfully ; but I 
 am sure you will understand me, Mrs. 
 Mulgrave, and not think anything absurd. 
 You are sure to get acquainted with him, 
 you know ; and if you would ask him to
 
 170 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 the cottage — and ask us to meet him 
 
 Good heavens! what a fool you must think 
 me," she cried : " but I should like it, I 
 confess." 
 
 " But, my dear, I never give dinners," 
 I said ; 'and to ask a man, a strange man, 
 to tea " 
 
 "He would be sure to come — to you," 
 she said very quickly, as if her breath had 
 tailed her. 
 
 " But, my dear, you are just as likely as 
 I am — more likely — to meet him at other 
 houses. It would be impossible otherwise. 
 Not that I should mind asking him — though 
 it is so odd to ask a man to tea." 
 
 "Hush!" she said, suddenly leaning for- 
 ward and grasping my arm. " Mrs. Spen 
 has told Lady Denzil — she meant it for 
 kindness — so we shall not be asked to meet 
 him. And I do wish it, just for once. 
 Hush, here she is coming. I don't want 
 her to know." 
 
 "Then, my dear, I will do it," said I,
 
 i. LADY ISABELLA. 171 
 
 grasping her hand. It trembled and was 
 hot, and she grasped mine again in an 
 agitated, impetuous way. Could this be 
 Lady Isabella, who was always so calm 
 and self-possessed ? I was rather afraid 
 of her in general, for she had the name of 
 being satirical ; and this was entirely a 
 new light on her character. But just then 
 Mrs. Spencer came in, and scolded us for 
 sitting in the dark, and rang for lights : and 
 then no more could be said. 
 
 It was curious to look at the two when 
 the lamp came. Mrs. Spencer seated her- 
 self on her side of the fire, like the husband 
 coming in from his day's work. She was 
 a clever woman, but she was matter-of-fact, 
 and notwithstanding the long years they 
 had lived together, was never quite sure 
 what was the meaning of her friend's jibes 
 and jests. It was this as much as any- 
 thing that gave a sort of conjugal character 
 to their relationship. Friends who were 
 merely friends, and were so different, would,
 
 172 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 one was inclined to suppose, have got rid 
 of each other years ago. But these two 
 clung- together in spite of all their differences, 
 as if there were some bond between them 
 which they had to make the best of. Mrs. 
 Spencer began talking the moment she 
 came in. 
 
 " I met Mrs. Damerel on the green and 
 she was asking for you, Isabella ; in short, 
 she was quite surprised to see me out alone. 
 ' I thought Lady Isabella always walked 
 once a day at least,' she said. ' And so 
 she pretends to do,' said I. And I told 
 her what I said to you before I went out 
 about your health. Depend upon it your 
 health will suffer. A vouno- woman at your 
 
 J O J 
 
 age getting into these chimney-corner ways ! 
 Mrs. Mulgrave, don't you agree with me 
 that it is very wrong ? " 
 
 " Don't scold me, please," said Lady 
 Isabella, out of her corner ; " if you both 
 fall upon me, I am rather nervous to-night, 
 and I know I shall cry."
 
 I. LADY ISABELLA. 173 
 
 At this Mrs. Spencer laughed ; just as a 
 husband would have done, taking it for 
 the merest nonsense ; yet somehow pro- 
 pitiated, for there was an inference of supe- 
 rior wisdom, importance, goodness on his 
 -I mean her — part, such as mollifies the 
 marital mind. No one could have been 
 more utterly bewildered than she, had she 
 known that what her friend said was literally 
 true. Lady Isabella had drawn a little 
 screen between her and the fire, which 
 sheltered her also from the modest light of 
 the lamp ; and I felt by the sound of her 
 voice, that though, no doubt, she could 
 restrain herself, it would have been a relief 
 to her to have shed the tears which made 
 her eyes hot and painful. She would have 
 laughed, probably, while she was shedding 
 them, but that makes no difference. 
 
 "You don't do enough, and Lady Denzil 
 does too much," said Mrs. Spencer. " She 
 surprises me, and I think I am as active as 
 most people. I can't tell why she does it,
 
 174 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 I am sure. She is an old woman ; it can't 
 be any pleasure to her. There is a dinner- 
 party there to-night, and another on Saturday; 
 and on Monday the dance for those young 
 Fieldings that are staying there — enough to 
 kill a stronger woman. But these little, 
 fragile beings get through so much. She 
 keeps up through it all and never looks a 
 pin the worse." 
 
 "Are you going there to-night?" said I. 
 I had scarcely said it when I saw a little 
 flutter behind the screen, and felt it was a 
 foolish question. But it was too late. 
 
 " No," said Mrs. Spencer pointedly ; and 
 she looked straight at Lady Isabellas screen 
 with a distinctness of intimation that this 
 abstinence was on her account, which would 
 have puzzled me much but for the previous 
 explanation I had had. Words would have 
 been much less emphatic. She nodded her 
 head a great many times, and she gave me 
 a look which promised further information. 
 She was fond of her companion, and I am
 
 LAD Y ISABELLA. 1 75 
 
 sure would have sheltered her from pain at 
 almost any cost to herself; but yet she en- 
 joyed the mystery, and the story which lay 
 below. " All the officers from the barracks 
 will be there," she added, after a pause. 
 " There is a Captain Fielding, an empty- 
 headed — but they are all empty-headed. I 
 don't care much about soldiers in an ordi- 
 nary way, and I dislike guardsmen. So 
 does Isabella." 
 
 And then there followed one of those 
 embarrassing pauses which come against 
 one's will when there is any secret under- 
 current which everybody knows and nobody 
 mentions. Lady Isabella sat perfectly silent, 
 and I, who ought to have come to the rescue, 
 — I, after running wildly in my mind over every 
 topic of conversation possible, — at last rose to 
 take my leave, not finding anything to say. 
 
 " Are you going, Mrs. Mulgrave ? ' said 
 Lady Isabella. " I will go to the door with 
 you. I must show you the new flowers in 
 the hall."
 
 176 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 " Good gracious, something- must be going 
 to happen/' said Mrs. Spencer, " when 
 Isabella volunteers to show you flowers. 
 Don't catch cold in the draught ; but it is 
 too dark : you can't possibly see any colour 
 in them now." 
 
 " Never mind," said Lady Isabella in 
 an undertone ; and she hurried out leading 
 the way, — a thing I had never seen her do 
 before. She made no pretence about the 
 flowers when we got out to the hall. It was 
 quite dark, and of course I could see no- 
 thing. She grasped my hand in a nervous, 
 agitated way. She was trembling, — she, 
 who was always so steady and calm. It was 
 partly from cold, to be sure, but then the 
 cold was caused by emotion. "His name 
 is Colonel Brentford," she whispered in my 
 ear ; and then ran up stairs suddenly, leav- 
 ing me to open the door for myself. I have 
 received a oreat many confidences in my 
 life, but seldom any so strange as this. I 
 did not know whether to lau^h or to be
 
 i. LADY ISABELLA. 177 
 
 sorry, as I walked home thinking over it. 
 Lady Isabella was the last person in the 
 world to be involved in any romance ; and 
 vet this was romantic enough. And it was 
 so difficult to make out how I could perform 
 my part in it. Ask a guardsman, a strange 
 colonel, a man, to tea ! I could not but 
 reflect how foolish I was, always undertaking 
 things that were so difficult to perform. 
 But I was pledged to do it, and I could 
 not go back. 
 
 VOL, II. X
 
 LADY ISABELLA. 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 I was to dine at Sir Thomas Denzil's that 
 same evening, and so no doubt would Mrs. 
 Spencer and Lady Isabella have done, but 
 for that obstacle which the elder lady had 
 set up and in which the younger seemed 
 determined to foil her. I dressed to go 
 out, with my heart beating a little quicker 
 than usual. For myself, as may be sup- 
 posed, the officers from the barracks were 
 not very much to me ; but the undertak- 
 ing with which I suddenly found myself 
 burdened was very serious, and made me 
 nervous in spite of myself; and then the 
 man's very name was strange to me. I 
 thought over all my acquaintances, and
 
 CH. II. LADY ISABELLA. 179 
 
 everybody I had ever known ; but I could 
 not remember any one of the name of 
 Brentford. There were the Brent woods of 
 Northam, and the Bentleys. and a great 
 many names came up to my mind which 
 sounded like it at the first glance ; but I 
 could not recollect a single Brentford among 
 all my acquaintance. " I wonder who his 
 mother was ? " I said to myself ; for, to be 
 sure, there might be a means of getting at 
 him in that way ; but it was impossible to 
 find out at so short a notice. I almost felt 
 as if I were a designing woman when I went 
 into Lady Denzil's drawing-room — and so 
 I was, though I did not want to marry any 
 of those unconscious warriors either per- 
 sonally or by proxy. Little did Lady Denzil 
 suspect, as I went up to her — trying to look 
 as innocent as possible — and little did the 
 men of war think, of my evil projects, as 
 they looked blandly at me, and set me down 
 as that harmless and uninteresting being — an 
 old lady. The one who took me in to dinner 
 
 n 2
 
 i So NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 was an elderly, sober-looking, quiet gentle- 
 man. He was a Major Somebody, and I 
 don't think lie was so fine as the others. I 
 drew breath when I had seated myself under 
 his wing. It was a comfort to me to have 
 escaped the young ones, who never forgive 
 you, when they have to take you in to dinner, 
 for not being young and pretty. This was 
 a man who had no pretensions above me — a 
 man, probably, with a wife of his own and a 
 large family, whom one could speak to freely 
 and ask questions of. But before I would 
 go so far, I made what private inspection I 
 could. It was quite evident to me where 
 the gap was which Mrs. Spencer and Lady 
 Isabella ought to have filled. It had been 
 hastily filled up by Lottie and Lucy Stoke, 
 who were very much more to the taste 
 of the guardsmen, I don't doubt, than if 
 they had been their own grandmothers, 
 ladies of county influence and majesty. 
 Lucy, whose blue eyes were dancing in 
 her head with mingled fright and delight to
 
 i t. LAD Y ISABEL LA. r 8 1 
 
 find herself in such a grand party, sat by 
 a handsome dark man, to whom my eyes 
 returned a great many times. He looked 
 the kind of man whom a woman might be 
 faithful to for years. Could it be Jihn ? He ^ 
 was amused with Lucy's excitement and her 
 fright ; perhaps he was flattered by it as men 
 so often are. After a little while, I could see 
 he took great pains to make himself agreeable ; 
 and I felt quite angry and jealous, though I 
 am sure I could not have told why. 
 
 " Perhaps you recognize him ? " my com- 
 panion said to me, as he caught me 
 watching this pair across the table. "He 
 is one of the Elliots. His father had a 
 place once in this neighbourhood. I am 
 sure you must recollect his face." 
 
 " No, indeed," said I, denying by instinct. 
 "That gentleman opposite — is his name 
 Elliot ? I was looking at the young lady 
 by him. She is a little friend of mine, and 
 I am petrified to find her here. I did not 
 think she was out."
 
 i82 NFJCmUMJRS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 " That is why she likes it so well, I 
 suppose," said the Major with a little sigh. 
 
 " I am afraid you don't enjoy it much," 
 said I. " Pray forgive me for being 1 so 
 very stupid. I should like to know which 
 of these gentlemen is Colonel Brentford. 
 I have heard his name — I should like to 
 know which is he." 
 
 " He is sitting beside Lady Denzil," said 
 
 my companion shortly ; and he said no 
 
 more. His brevity startled me. I think 
 
 Colonel Brentford from that moment began 
 
 to lose in my opinion. I grew more and more 
 
 frightened by the thought of what I had 
 
 undertaken to do. I began to think it was 
 
 a great pity Lady Isabella, a sensible 
 
 woman, should waste a thought upon this 
 
 soldier — and all for no reason in the world 
 
 but that my Major announced curtly, " He 
 
 is sitting- beside Lady Denzil," without 
 
 adding a word to say, " I like him," or 
 
 " He is a very nice fellow," or anything 
 
 agreeable. I concluded he must be a bear
 
 II. LADY ISABELLA. 183 
 
 or a brute, or something utterly frivolous 
 and uninteresting. It never occurred to 
 me that it might be my Major and not 
 the unknown Colonel who was to blame. 
 And I had pledged myself to ask such a 
 man as this to tea ! 
 
 We had gone back to the drawing-room 
 before I got what I could call a good 
 look at him ; and then I was even more 
 disappointed to find that he was as far 
 from looking a brute or a bear as he was 
 from looking a hero. There was nothing 
 remarkable about him ; he was neither hand- 
 some nor ugly ; he was neither young nor 
 old. He stood and talked a Ions: time 
 to Lady Denzil, and his voice was pleasant, 
 but the talk was about nothing — it was 
 neither stupid nor clever. He was a man 
 of negatives it seemed. I was dreadfully 
 disappointed for Lady Isabella's sake. I 
 could not help figuring to myself what her 
 feelings would be. No doubt he had been 
 young when they had known each other,
 
 1 84 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 and youth has often a deceiving glitter about 
 it, which never comes to anything. Chance 
 threw my Major in my way again at that 
 advanced period of the evening. He said 
 to me, " We have a long- drive and the 
 night is chilly, and I wish I could get my 
 young fellows into motion. These pro- 
 ceedings don't always agree with the taste 
 of a man at my time of life ; and my wife 
 is always fidgety when I am out late — it is 
 her way." 
 
 " Mrs. Bellinger is not here to-nicrht ? " 
 I said. 
 
 "No, we are quite new to the place, 
 and Lady Denzil has not had time to call 
 yet : my wife, I am sure, would be delighted 
 if you would go and see her. She is 
 rather delicate, and far from her friends. 
 
 Colonel Brentford is the only one 
 
 And here he stopped short with an abrupt- 
 ness that made me hate Colonel Brentford 
 and repent my temerity more and more. 
 
 " I am so sorry you don't seem to have
 
 IT. LADY ISABELLA. 1S5 
 
 a favourable opinion of him," I said ; " not 
 that I know him, but I have heard some 
 
 friends of mine Oh, I am sure you did 
 
 not mean to say a word against him " 
 
 " Against him ! " said the Major stammer- 
 ing- ; " why, he is my best friend ! He is 
 the kindest fellow I know! He goes and 
 sits with my wife when nobody else thinks 
 of her. I don't want to find fault with 
 any one ; but Brentford — he is the man I 
 am most grateful to in all the world ! " 
 
 " Oh, I beg your pardon ! ' : I cried. 
 Good heavens ! what a very bad manner 
 the man must have had to give one such 
 a false idea. " I shall do myself the plea- 
 sure of calling on Mrs. Bellinger early 
 next week," I said ; after all, it did not 
 seem so insane to ask a man who was in 
 the habit of going to sit with an invalid 
 lady. And then a kind of inspiration stole 
 into my mind. Afternoon tea ! that was 
 the thing ; not an evening party, with all 
 its horrors — which every man hates.
 
 1 86 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 I don't know what Lady Denzil could 
 think of mc that evening ; but I stayed 
 until everybody had gone, with a deter- 
 mination to hear something more about 
 him. I think she was surprised ; but then 
 she is one of those women who understand 
 you, even when they don't in the least 
 know what you mean. That seems foolish, 
 but it is quite true. She saw I had a 
 motive, and she forgave me, though she 
 was tired, and Sir Thomas looked surprised. 
 
 " The fly has never come back for me," I 
 said. " I must ask you to let George walk 
 across the green with me. I have got my 
 big shawl, and I don't mind the cold." 
 
 " Wait a little now they have all gone, and 
 let us have a talk," said Lady Denzil. What 
 a blessing it is to have to do with a woman 
 who understands ! 
 
 " Our new friends are very much like all 
 the others, I think," said I. " Captain Field- 
 ing seems nice. Is he brother or cousin to 
 those pretty girls ?
 
 II. T.ADY ISABELLA. 187 
 
 " Brother, or I should not have him here," 
 said Lady Denzil ; " I have no confidence in 
 cousins. Colonel Brentford looks sensible. 
 I should not have thought him likely to 
 do anything so foolish as that business you 
 know. I suppose Mrs. Spencer must have 
 told you." 
 
 " No," I said, with a little thrill running 
 through me ; for, of course, it was something 
 about Lady Isabella that was meant — and I 
 was actually an agent employed in the 
 matter, and knew, and yet did not know. 
 
 " Lady Isabella and he were once engaged 
 to be married, " said Lady Denzil, speaking 
 low. " Don't mention this, unless Mrs. 
 Spencer tells you ; but she is sure to tell 
 you. And they quarrelled about some silly 
 trifle. Mrs. Spencer says he flew into a 
 passion, and that Lady Isabella had to give 
 him up on account of his temper. He does 
 not look like it, does he ? Mrs. Spencer 
 is most anxious that they should not meet." 
 
 " Do you think it is right to prevent
 
 1 88 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 people meeting, if they wish it?" said 
 I ; " perhaps Lady Isabella might think 
 differently." 
 
 " It is best never to interfere," said Lady 
 Denzil ; " that is my principle — unless I am 
 sure I can be of real use. Arc you going 
 now ? You must wrap up well, for the night 
 is rather cold." 
 
 " So my Major thought," I said to myself, 
 as I went across the green ; and I could not 
 but smile at the thought of the poor gentle- 
 man buttoning up his great-coat as he drove 
 with all those wild young fellows on their 
 drag. Very likely he felt they might upset 
 him at any moment driving through the dark 
 — and it was a very dark night. My sym- 
 pathies were much attracted by this good 
 man. He had to give in to them a great 
 deal, and put up with their foolish ways. I 
 could not help wondering whether he had 
 ever had such a commission given to him 
 as mine ; and then I reflected that Lady 
 Isabella was not even young to be humoured
 
 Li. LADY ISABELLA. 189 
 
 and have her fancies given in to. The 
 Colonel looked a sensible, commonplace sort 
 of man, with whom nobody had any right 
 to quarrel. And perhaps Mrs. Spencer was 
 right in doing her utmost to keep them 
 apart. Perhaps Mrs. Spencer was right ; 
 but then, on the other hand, Lady Isabella 
 was old enough to know her own mind and 
 decide for herself. Such were the various 
 thoughts that passed through my mind as I 
 took that little walk through the dark with 
 George behind me. It was a perplexing- 
 business altogether. But that I should be 
 mixed up in it! I could not but take myself 
 to task, and ask myself what call had I to be 
 thus mixed up with every sort of foolish 
 business — a woman of my age ? 
 
 I saw Lady Isabella two days after. She 
 came running in quite early, before luncheon, 
 to my extreme surprise, and gave me a 
 wistful look of inquiry which went to my 
 very heart. She could not say anything 
 however, for the Fielding girls were with me,
 
 i go NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. ( map. 
 
 talking of nothing but the dance which Lady 
 Denzil was going- to give for them. They 
 assailed Lady Isabella directly, the moment 
 she entered. 
 
 " Oh, why are not you coming on Mon- 
 day ? Oh, Lady Isabella, do change your 
 mind and come. It will be such a pretty 
 dance. And all the officers are coming, so 
 that there will be no want of partners. 
 Lady Denzil says she always asks more men 
 than ladies. Oh, Lady Isabella, do come!" 
 
 "That is very wise of Lady Denzil," said 
 Lady Isabella ; " but I wonder how the extra 
 men like it. No ; I don't think I shall go. 
 I shall see all the officers, perhaps, another 
 time." And with that she gave me another 
 look which made me tremble, holding me 
 to mv word. 
 
 " Perhaps you don't dance," said Emma 
 Fielding. " Oh, it is such a pity you won't 
 come." 
 
 " My husband won't let me," said Lady 
 Isabella ; " and, by the by, she will be wait-
 
 ii. LADY ISABELLA. 191 
 
 ing for me now. I had something to ask, 
 but never mind, another time will do." 
 
 She asked the question all the same with 
 her eyes. She looked at me almost sternly, 
 inquiring, as plainly as words, " Have you 
 done it ? Is my commission fulfilled ? " 
 which I could only answer by a depre- 
 cating, humble look, begging her as it were 
 to have patience with me. She shook her 
 head slightly as she shook hands with me, 
 and smiled, and then she sighed. That was 
 the worst of all. I read a reproach in the 
 sound of that si°fh. 
 
 " What does she mean by her husband ? " 
 said Edith Fielding. "Is she married, and 
 does she call her husband ' she ' ? Isn't 
 she very queer ? That sort of person always 
 bewilders me." 
 
 I could not help saying, " I dare say she 
 does," with a certain irritation. As if it 
 were within the bounds of possibility that 
 creatures like these should understand Lady 
 Isabella. And yet, alas ! if she were enter-
 
 i 9 2 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 ing into the lists with them, how could she 
 ever stand against them ? She, five-and- 
 thirty, and a little stout ; they, eighteen and 
 nineteen. Is there a man in the world 
 that would not turn to the young ones, and 
 leave the mature woman ? That was the 
 question I asked myself. I don't think I 
 am cynical ; I have not a bad opinion 
 of my fellow-creatures in general ; but still 
 there are some matters which one knows 
 beforehand. The first thing to be done 
 however was to make acquaintance with 
 Colonel Brentford as soon as possible. I 
 had promised to go to the dance, to take 
 Lottie and Lucy Stoke ; but then he would 
 be dancing ; he would not want to stand 
 in a corner and talk to an old woman like 
 me. Lady Isabella, at five-and-thirty, had 
 given up dancing ; but this man, though he 
 was nearly five years older, of course did 
 not think of giving it up. Most likely he 
 felt himself on the level of the Fieldings 
 and Stokes and the other girls, not on that
 
 M. LADY ISABELLA. 193 
 
 of his old love. Men and women are so 
 different. But, at all events, I would do 
 nothing before Monday : and in the mean- 
 time, I had promised to go and call on 
 Major Bellinger's invalid wife. There had 
 been something about him that pleased me. 
 Not that he was attractive ; but he had the 
 look of a man who was not always at his 
 ease, who had cares and perplexities in his 
 life, and perhaps could not always make 
 both ends meet. I always recognize that 
 look. I am not very rich now, and never 
 will be ; but I once was poor, quite poor, 
 and I know the look of it, and it goes to 
 my heart. 
 
 Accordingly, the first day I was at 
 liberty I drove into Royalborough to see 
 Mrs. Bellinger. They were in a little house 
 — one of the houses which people take for 
 the purpose of letting them to the officers. 
 It was opposite to a tall church, a three- 
 storied house, with two rooms on each 
 floor all the way up. There was a little 
 
 vol. 11. o
 
 19+ NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 oblong strip of garden in front and another 
 oblong strip behind ; and everything about 
 it gave evidence that it was let furnished. 
 But the little garden was rather pretty, and 
 there was a virginian creeper hanging in 
 rich red wreaths upon the walls. The 
 drawing-room was the front room on the 
 ground-floor. When I was shown in, it 
 seemed to me that I interrupted the prettiest 
 domestic scene. A lady, who looked very 
 fragile and weak, though not ill, lay on a 
 sofa in the room. Of course, she was Mrs. 
 Bellinger. She was about forty, perhaps, — 
 not much older than Lady Isabella. She 
 had a lovely invalid complexion, a soft, 
 delicate flush which came and went with 
 every movement ; her hair was bemnnino- 
 to get gray, and was partially covered by 
 a cap. She looked very weak, very worn, 
 very sweet and smiling, and cheerful. Near 
 her, on a low chair, sat a gentleman with 
 a book in his hand. He had been readino- 
 aloud, and had just stopped when I came
 
 II. LADY ISABELLA. 195 
 
 to the door ; and in front of him, at a little 
 distance, seated on a stool, just by her 
 mother's feet, sat a girl of seventeen or so, 
 with her head bent over her work. This 
 was Edith, the Major's favourite child, the 
 only one at home. And the gentleman 
 who had been reading aloud was Colonel 
 Brentford, the man about whom my mind 
 had been busy night and day. 
 
 I took the chair that was given me, and 
 I began to talk, but all the freedom and 
 ease were taken out of me. I felt as if I 
 had received a blow. Poor Lady Isabella ! 
 I had already perceived that to put herself 
 in competition with the young girls would 
 be a hopeless notion indeed ; but it was no 
 longer the girls in general, some of whom 
 were empty-headed enough, but Edith Bel- 
 linger in particular. Poor Lady Isabella ! 
 If she saw him once like this, I said to 
 myself, she would not wish to see him 
 again ! 
 
 " My husband told me you were going 
 
 2
 
 1 96 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN chap. 
 
 to be so cfood," said the invalid. " He 
 told me how kind you had been, asking 
 for me. I am really quite well for me, 
 and I am sure I could do a great deal 
 more if they would but let me. Hush, 
 Edie ! I am dreadfully petted and spoiled, 
 Mrs. Mulgrave. They make a baby of me, 
 and Colonel Brentford is so kind as to 
 
 come and read " 
 
 "It is very good of him, I am sure," I 
 said mechanically ; and then, without know- 
 ing what I was doing, I looked at Edith. 
 She was quite unconscious of any meaning in 
 my look. She smiled at me in return with 
 all the sweet composure yet shyness of a 
 child. Would he be equally unconscious ? 
 I raised my eyes and looked steadily at 
 him. He bore my scrutiny very well in- 
 deed. I knew there was an angry flush 
 on my face which I could not quite conceal, 
 and an eager look of inquiry. It puzzled 
 him, there was no doubt. A vague sort of 
 wonder came into his eyes, and he smiled
 
 ii. LADY ISABELLA. 197 
 
 too. What could the old woman mean ? 
 I am sure he was thinking. Edith was 
 very pretty, but then a great many girls 
 are pretty. What was particular about her 
 was her sweet look, which moved me even 
 though I was so hostile to her. One saw she 
 was ready to run anywhere, to do anything, 
 at the least little glance from her mother. 
 She was mending stockings — the homeliest 
 work — and she looked such a serviceable, 
 useful creature — so different from those 
 Fielding girls, who thought of nothing but 
 the dance. To be sure, the stockings and 
 the useful look were much more likely to 
 please me than to attract a guardsman ; 
 but I did not think of that in my 
 sudden jealousy of her. Poor, poor Lady 
 Isabella ! 
 
 And he did not go away, as he would 
 have done had this been a chance visit. 
 He kept his place, and joined in the con- 
 versation as if he belonged to the house. 
 When I asked Mrs. Bellinger to come and
 
 198 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 see me, he seconded me quite eagerly. He 
 was sure she was able, he said ; while Edith 
 put her pretty head on one side, and looked 
 very wise and very doubtful. 
 
 " Oh, Colonel Brentford, please don't be 
 so rash — please don't !" said Edith. " It is 
 very, very kind of Mrs. Mulgrave, but we 
 must think it over first — we must indeed." 
 
 " I will send my pony," said I ; " he is 
 the steadiest little fellow, and it is such a 
 pretty drive. The weather is so mild that 
 I am sure it would do you good." 
 
 " Now, Edith, please let me go," said the 
 invalid. " Do not be such a little hard- 
 hearted inexorable — Colonel Brentford is 
 the kindest of you all. He is ready to let 
 me have a little indulgence, and so is the 
 Major, Mrs. Mulgrave ; but Edith is the 
 most odious little tyrant " 
 
 " Mamma dear, it is for your good," said 
 Edith with the deepest gravity ; and the 
 mother and the friend looked at each other 
 and laughed. How pretty it was to see
 
 H. LADY ISABELLA. 199 
 
 her shaking her young head, looking so 
 serious, so judicious, so full of care ! " No 
 wonder if he is fond of her," I said to my- 
 self. I felt my own heart melting ; but, all 
 the same, I steeled it against her, feeling 
 that I was on the other side. 
 
 " And I am sure," I said with an effort 
 — for it seemed almost like encouraging 
 him — " I shall be very glad to see Colonel 
 Brentford too ; if you will take the trouble 
 to come so far for a cup of tea?" 
 
 He said it would give him the greatest 
 pleasure, with a cordiality that made me 
 cross, and got up and took his leave, 
 shaking hands with me in his friendliness. 
 Why was he so friendly, I wonder ? When 
 he was gone, Mrs. Bellinger launched into 
 his praises. 
 
 " You must not think it is only me he is 
 good to," she said; "he is kind to every- 
 body. People laugh at the guardsmen, 
 and make fun of them ; but if they only 
 knew George Brentford ! Because they
 
 -oo NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 see him everywhere in society, they think 
 he is just as frivolous as the rest. But if 
 they knew what kind of places he goes to 
 when nobody sees him — as we do, Edith ? " 
 
 " Yes, mamma," said Edith, as calm as 
 any cabbage. The mother was quite moved 
 by her gratitude and enthusiasm, but the 
 daughter took it all very quietly. " He 
 means to be very kind, but he is rash," 
 said the little wise woman ; " he gives the 
 boys knives and things, though he knows 
 they always cut themselves. He thinks so 
 much more of pleasing people than of 
 what is riq-ht. If Mrs. MuWave would 
 leave it open, mamma dear, and then w r e 
 could see how vou are." 
 
 This was how it was finally decided ; 
 indeed, before I left, even after that first 
 visit, I could see that things were gener- 
 ally decided as Edith thought best. They 
 were to come on Saturday — the Saturday 
 before the ball — if Mrs. Bellinger was 
 well enough ; and Colonel Brentford was
 
 ii. LADY ISABELLA. 201 
 
 to come too. I asked myself all the way- 
 back what Lady Isabella would think of 
 the arrangement. That was not how she 
 expected to meet him. She had wanted to 
 see her old love — a man whom (I could 
 not but feel) she had never quite put out 
 of her heart — perhaps only to prove her- 
 self, perhaps to try if any lingerings of the 
 old tenderness remained in him. And now 
 that it was arranged, and she was really 
 to see him, it was in company of a young 
 brieht creature who, there could be little 
 doubt, was all to him that Lady Isabella 
 had ever been. What a shock and bitter 
 dispelling of all dreams for her ! but yet, 
 perhaps, to do that at once and at a blow 
 was kindest after all.
 
 LADY ISABELLA. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 As I drove home, strangely enough, I 
 met the ladies on their afternoon walk. 
 Mrs. Spencer was in advance as usual, 
 talking rapidly and with animation, while 
 Lady Isabella lagged a step behind, paus- 
 ing to look at the ripe brambles and the 
 beautiful ruddy autumn leaves. 
 
 " Just look what a bit of colour," she 
 was saying when I came up ; but Mrs. 
 Spencer's mind, it was evident, was full of 
 other things. 
 
 " I wonder how you can care for such 
 nonsense," she said ; " I never saw any 
 one so unexcitable. After me fussing my- 
 self into a fever, to preserve you from this
 
 CH. in. LADY ISABELLA. 
 
 annoyance ! and I knew it would be too 
 much for you " 
 
 " Hush ! " said Lady Isabella emphati- 
 cally, and then Mrs. Spencer perceived 
 the pony carriage for the first time, and 
 restrained herself. She changed her tone 
 in a moment, and came up to me with 
 her alert step when I drew the pony up. 
 
 " What a nice afternoon for a drive," 
 she said ; " have you been at Royalborough ? 
 — is there anything going on ? I have 
 dragged Isabella out for a walk, as usual 
 much against her will." 
 
 " I have been to make a call," I said, 
 "on a poor invalid, the wife of Major 
 Bellinger." 
 
 "Oh, yes! I know, I know," said Mrs. 
 Spencer ; " he is to be the barrack-master. 
 He rose from the ranks, I think, or some- 
 thing — very poor, and a large family. I 
 know quite what sort of person she would 
 be. The kind of woman that has been 
 pretty, and has quite broken down with
 
 204 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 children and trouble — I know. It was 
 very good of you ; quite like yourself." 
 
 "If it was very good of me, I have 
 met with a speedy reward," said I, "for 
 I have quite fallen in love with her — and 
 her daughter. They are coming to me on 
 Saturday — if Mrs. Bellinger is able — for 
 afternoon tea." 
 
 " I know exactly the kind of person," 
 said Mrs. Spencer, nodding her head. 
 " Ah, my dear Mrs. Mulgrave, you are 
 always so good, and so " 
 
 " Easily taken in," she was going to say, 
 but I suppose I looked very grave, for 
 she stopped. 
 
 "Is the daughter pretty, too?" said 
 Lady Isabella : a flush had come upon her 
 face, and she looked at me intently, wait- 
 ing, I could see, for a sign. She under- 
 stood that this had something to do with 
 the commission she had given me. And 
 I was so foolish as to think she had 
 divined my thoughts, and had fixed upon
 
 in. LADY ISABELLA. 205 
 
 Edith, by instinct, as an obstacle in her 
 way. 
 
 " Never mind the daughter," I said 
 hastily, " but do come on Saturday after- 
 noon, and see if I am not justified in 
 liking the mother. I dare say they are not 
 very rich, but they are not unpleasantly 
 poor, or, if they are, they don't make a 
 show of it ; and a little society, I am sure, 
 would do her all the good in the world." 
 
 This time Lady Isabella looked so in- 
 tently at me, that I ventured to give the 
 smallest little nod just to show her that I 
 meant her to come. She took it up in a 
 moment. Her face brightened all over. 
 She made me a little <resture of thanks and 
 satisfaction. And she put on instantly her 
 old laughing, lively, satirical air. 
 
 " Of course we shall come," she said, 
 " even if this lady were not sick and poor. 
 These qualities are great temptations to us, 
 you are aware ; but even if she were just 
 like other people we should come."
 
 206 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 "Well, Isabella!" said Mrs. Spencer, 
 "you who are so unwilling to go any- 
 where ! ' ; but of course she could not help 
 adding a civil acceptance of my invitation ; 
 and so that matter was settled more easily 
 than I could have hoped. 
 
 I saw them the next day — once more by 
 accident. We were both calling at the 
 same house, and Lady Isabella seized the 
 opportunity to speak to me. She drew me 
 apart into a corner, on pretence of showing 
 me something. " Look here," she said, 
 with a flush on her face, " tell me, do you 
 think me a fool — or worse ? That is about 
 my own opinion of myself." 
 
 "No," I said, "indeed I don't. I think 
 you are doing what is quite right. This 
 is not a matter which concerns other 
 people, that you should be guided by 
 them, but yourself." 
 
 " Oh, it does not concern any one very 
 much," she said, with a forced laugh. " I 
 am not so foolish as to think that. It is
 
 III. LADY ISABELLA. 207 
 
 \ 
 
 a mere piece of curiosity — folly. The fact 
 is, one does not grow wise as one stows 
 old, though of course one ou^ht. And — he 
 is — really to be there on Saturday ? De- 
 spise me, laugh at me, make fun of me ! — 
 I deserve it, I know." 
 
 " He is really to come— I hope." I said 
 it faltering, with a sense of fright at my 
 own temerity : and Lady Isabella gave me 
 a doubtful, half-suspicious look as she left 
 me. Now that it had come so near I 
 grew alarmed, and doubted much whether I 
 should have meddled. It is very trouble- 
 some having to do with other people's 
 affairs. It spoiled my rest that night, and 
 my comfort all day. I almost prayed that 
 Saturday might be wet, that Mrs. Bellinger 
 might not be able to come. But, alas ! 
 Saturday morning was the brightest, love- 
 liest autumn morning, all wrapped in a 
 lovely golden haze, warm and soft as 
 summer, yet subdued and chastened and 
 sweet as summer in its heyday never is :
 
 2o8 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 and the first post brought me a note from 
 Edith, saying that her mamma felt so well, 
 and was so anxious to come. Accordingly, 
 I had to make up my mind to it. I sent 
 the pony carriage off by twelve o'clock, 
 that the pony might have a rest before he 
 came back, and I got out my best china, 
 and had my little lawn carefully swept 
 clean of faded leaves, and my flower-beds 
 trimmed a little. They were rather untidy 
 with the mignonette, which had begun to 
 grow bushy, but then it was very sweet ; 
 and the asters and red geraniums looked 
 quite gay and bright. My monthly rose, 
 too, was covered with flowers. I am 
 very fond of monthly roses ; they are so 
 sweet and so pathetic in autumn, remon- 
 strating always, and wondering why sum- 
 mer should be past ; or at least that is 
 the impression they convey to me. I know 
 some women who are just like them, women 
 who have a great deal to bear, and cannot 
 help feeling surprised that so much should
 
 ill. LADY ISABELLA. 209 
 
 be laid upon them ; yet who keep on 
 flowering and blossoming in spite of all, 
 brightening the world and keeping the air 
 sweet, not for any reason, but because they 
 can't help it. My visitor who was coming 
 was, I think, something of that kind. 
 
 The first of the party to arrive were 
 Major Bellinger and Colonel Brentford ; 
 they had walked over, and the Major was 
 very eloquent about my kindness to his 
 wife. " Nothing could possibly do her so 
 much good," he said. " I don't know how 
 to thank you, Mrs. Mulgrave. Brentford 
 says he made up his mind she must go 
 the very first minute, whether she could or 
 not — he said he was so sure you would do 
 her good." 
 
 " I am very glad Colonel Brentford had 
 such a favourable opinion of me," I said. 
 
 Then I stopped short, feeling very much 
 embarrassed. If Lady Isabella had only 
 come in then, before the ladies arrived — 
 but, of course, she did not. She came 
 
 VOL. II. P
 
 2io NEIGHBOURS ON THE ORE EX. CHAP. 
 
 only after Mrs. Bellinger was established 
 on the sofa, and Edith had taken off her 
 hat. They looked quite a family party, 
 I could not but feel. Colonel Brentford, 
 probably, was very nearly as old as the 
 Major himself, and quite as old as the 
 Major's wife ; but then he had the un- 
 married look which of itself seems a kind 
 of guarantee of youth, and his face was 
 quite free of that cloud of care which 
 was more or less upon both their faces. 
 He was standing outside the open window 
 with Edith when Mrs. Spencer and Lady 
 Isabella came in. He did not see them. 
 He was ofettinaf .some of the monthly roses 
 for her, which were high up upon the 
 verandah. It was so high that it was very 
 seldom we were able to get the flowers ; 
 but he was a tall man, and he managed it. 
 Lady Isabella perceived him at once, and 
 I saw a little shiver run over her. She 
 gave Mrs. Bellinger, poor soul, but a very 
 stiff salutation, and sat down on a chair
 
 in. LADY ISABELLA. 211 
 
 near the window. She did not notice the 
 p-irl. She had not thought of Edith, and 
 no sort of suspicion as yet had been roused 
 in her. She sat down quietly, and waited 
 until he should come in. 
 
 How strange it was ! — all bright full 
 sunshine, no shadow or mystery to favour 
 the romance ; the Bellingers and Mrs. 
 Spencer talking in the most ordinary 
 way ; the Colonel outside, pulling down the 
 branch of pale roses ; and Edith smiling, 
 shaking off some dewdrops that had fallen 
 from them upon her pretty hair. All so 
 ordinary, so calm, so peaceable — but Lady 
 Isabella seated there, silent, waiting — and I 
 looking on with a chill at my very heart. 
 He was a long: time before he came in — 
 talking to Edith was pleasant out in that 
 verandah, with all the brilliant sunshine 
 about, and the russet trees so sweet in the 
 afternoon haze. 
 
 " You shall have some," he said ; " but 
 we must give some to your mother first." 
 
 p 2
 
 212 NEIGH no (,'RS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 And then he came in with the branch 
 in his hand. 1 don't know whether some 
 sense of suppressed excitement in the air 
 struck him as he paused in the window, 
 but he did stand still there, and looked 
 round him with an inquiring look. He had 
 not left so many people in the room as 
 were in it now, and he was surprised. He 
 looked at me, and then I suppose my 
 agitated glance directed him, in spite of 
 myself, to Lady Isabella. He gave a 
 perceptible start when he saw her, and 
 smothered an exclamation. He recognized 
 her instantly. His face flushed, and the 
 branch of roses in his hand trembled. All 
 this took place quite unobserved by any- 
 body but me, and, perhaps, Edith, outside 
 the window, who was coming in after him, 
 and now stood on tiptoe, trying to see 
 what was going on and wondering. Lady 
 Isabella looked up at him with a face so 
 uncertain in its expression that my terror 
 was great. Was she angry ? Was she
 
 HI. LADY ISABELLA. 213 
 
 going to betray herself, and show the ner- 
 vous irritability which possessed her ? She 
 was very pale — white to her lips ; and he 
 so flushed and startled. She looked up 
 at him, and then her lips parted and she 
 smiled. 
 
 " I think / should like one of the roses," 
 she said. 
 
 Colonel Brentford did not say a word. 
 He made her a bow, and with a trembling 
 hand (how it did tremble ! — it made me 
 shake with sympathy to see it) he detached 
 a spray from the great branch, which was 
 all pink with roses, and gave it to her ; and 
 then he went away into the furthest corner, 
 throwing down his roses on a table as he 
 passed, and stared out of the window. To 
 him the meeting was quite unexpected, 1 
 suppose — something utterly startling and 
 sudden. The talk went on all the same. 
 Edith, surprised, came in, and stood with 
 her back to the open window, looking after 
 him in a state of bewilderment. He had
 
 214 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP, 
 
 gone in smiling, to give her mother the 
 flowers ; and now he was standing with 
 his back to us, the flowers cast down any- 
 where. As for Lady Isabella, she had 
 buried her face in her roses, and sat quite 
 silent, taking - no notice of any one. Such 
 was this meeting, which I had brought 
 about. And all the time I had to talk to 
 Major Bellinger, and look as if I were 
 attending to what he said. 
 
 " Does Edith sing ? ' I asked in despera- 
 tion. " I am so glad ! Do sing us something, 
 my dear — oh, anything — and the simpler the 
 better. How nice it is of you not to want 
 your music ! My piano is not in very good 
 order, I play so seldom now ; but it will not 
 matter much to your young fresh voice." 
 
 I said this, not knowing what I was say- 
 ing, and hurried her to the piano, thinking, 
 if she sang ever so badly, it still would be 
 a blessed relief amid all this agitation and 
 excitement. 
 
 " I only sing to mamma," said Edith.
 
 in. LADY ISABELLA. 2V 
 
 " I will try if you wish it ; but papa does 
 not care for my singing — and Colonel 
 Brentford hates it," she added, raising her 
 voice. 
 
 There was a little spite, a little pique, 
 in what Edith said. She was confounded 
 by his sudden withdrawal, and anxious to 
 call him back and punish him. This how- 
 ever was not the effect her words produced. 
 Colonel Brentford took no notice, and 
 kept his back towards us ; but on another 
 member of our little company the effect 
 was startling enough. 
 
 " Colonel Brentford ! ' : said Mrs. Spencer 
 with a little shriek ; and her nice comfortable 
 commonplace talk with Mrs. Bellinger came 
 to an end at once. She got up and came 
 to me, and drew me into another corner. 
 " For heaven's sake," she said, " tell me, 
 what did the girl mean ? Colonel Brentford ! 
 He is the one man in all the world whom 
 we must not meet. That is not him surely hju 
 at the window ? Oh, good heavens ! what
 
 216 XEIGHBOURS OX THE GREEN. chat. 
 
 is to be done ? I wanted to tell you, but 
 I never had an opportunity. Mrs. Mulgrave, 
 he was once engaged to Isabella. They 
 had a quarrel, and it nearly cost her her 
 life. I think I would almost have given 
 mine to preserve her from this trial. Has 
 she seen him ? — -Oh, my poor dear ! my 
 poor dear ! ' ; 
 
 Let anybody imagine what was the scene 
 presented in my drawing-room now. Colonel 
 Brentford at the other end, with his back 
 to us all, gazing out at the window : Major 
 Bellinger at one side of the room, and his 
 wife at the other, suddenly deserted by the 
 people they had been respectively talking 
 to, looking across at each other with raised 
 eyebrows and questioning looks. Edith, 
 confused and half-offended, stood before 
 the closed piano, where I had led her ; and 
 Mrs. Spencer holding me by the arm in the 
 opposite corner to that occupied by Colonel 
 Brentford, was discoursing close to my 
 ear with excited looks and voluble utter-
 
 in. LADY ISABELLA. 217 
 
 ance. And these people were strangers to 
 me, not like familiar friends, who could 
 wait for an explanation. I could only 
 whisper in Mrs. Spencer's ear, " For 
 heaven's sake, do not let us make a scene 
 now — let us keep everything as quiet as 
 possible now ! " 
 
 Just then Lady Isabella suddenly rose 
 from her seat, and sat down beside Mrs. 
 Bellinger, and began to talk to her. I could 
 not quite hear how she began, but I made 
 out by instinct, I suppose, what she was 
 saying : 
 
 " I cannot ask Mrs. MuWave to in- 
 troduce me, for I see she is occupied ; but 
 I know who you are, and you must let me 
 introduce myself. I am Lady Isabella 
 Morton, and I live here with a great friend 
 of mine. Colonel Brentford and I used 
 to know each other lonqf a<7o " 
 
 " Yes," said Mrs. Bellinger, drawing 
 her breath quickly ; " I think I have 
 heard "
 
 2i8 NEIGHBOURS OX THE CUE EX. chap. 
 
 "He was startled to see me," said Lady 
 Isabella. " Of course, he did not expect 
 — but we are always meeting people we 
 don't expect. Your daughter is going to 
 sing. Hush ! please hush ! I want to hear 
 it," she cried, raising her hand with a little 
 sign to the Major, who looked as though he 
 might be going to talk. Every word she said 
 was audible through the room, her voice 
 was so clear and full. 
 
 Colonel Brentford turned round slowly. 
 He turned almost as if he were a man upon 
 a pedestal, which some pivot had the power 
 to move. Either it was her voice which at- 
 tracted him, or he had heard what she said, 
 or perhaps he was recovering from the shock 
 of the first meeting. 
 
 It was at this moment that Edith beQfan 
 to sing. I do not know what her feelings 
 were, or if she cared anything about it ; but 
 certainly all the rest of the party, with the 
 exception of her father and mother, were 
 excited to such a strange degree, that I felt
 
 in. LADY ISABELLA. 219 
 
 as if some positive explosion must occur. 
 How is it that fire and air, and all sorts of 
 senseless things, cause explosions, and that 
 human feeling does not ? Edith's girlish, 
 fresh voice, rising out of the midst of all 
 this electrified one. It was a pretty voice 
 singing one of the ordinary foolish songs, 
 which are all alike — a voice without the 
 least passion or even sentiment in it, sweet, 
 fresh, guiltless of any feeling. Lady Isabella 
 leaned back in her chair, and listened with 
 a faint smile upon her face ; Colonel Brent- 
 ford stood undecided between her and the 
 piano, sometimes making a half-movement 
 towards the singer, but turning his eyes 
 the other way ; while Mrs. Spencer, on the 
 other side of the room, sat with her hands 
 clasped, and gazed at her friend. The two 
 Bellingers listened as people listen to the 
 singing of their child ; a soft little complacent 
 smile was on the mother's face. When 
 Edith approached a false note, or when she 
 was a little out in her time, Mrs. Bellinger
 
 220 neighbours ox the green. chap. 
 
 gave a quick glance round to see if anybody 
 noticed it, and blushed, as it were, under her 
 breath. The Major kept time softly with 
 his finger ; and we — listened with our hearts 
 thumping in our ears, bewildered by the 
 pleasant little song in its inconceivable 
 calm, and yet glad of the moment's breath- 
 
 ing time. 
 
 " Thank you, my dear," said I, when the 
 song was done ; and we all said " Thanks" 
 with more or less fervour, while the parents, 
 innocent people, looked on well pleased. 
 
 And then I went to Edith at the piano, 
 and asked all about her music, what masters 
 she had had, and a thousand other trifles, 
 not hearing what she answered me. But 
 I did hear something else. I heard Colonel 
 Brentford speak to Lady Isabella, and took 
 in every word. There was nothing remark- 
 able about it ; but he spoke low, as if his 
 words meant more than met the ear. 
 
 " I knew you were living here," was all 
 he said.
 
 Hi. LADY ISABELLA. 221 
 
 " Oh, I suppose so," said Lady Isabella. 
 She had been quite calm before, but I knew 
 by her voice she was flurried now. And 
 then there followed that little agitated laugh, 
 which in the last few days I had learnt to 
 know. " Most people know where everybody 
 lives," she added, with an attempt at in- 
 difference. " I too knew that your regiment 
 w T as here." 
 
 " But I did not expect to see you just 
 
 then," he went on. " And that rose 
 
 Pardon me if I was rude. I was taken al- 
 together by surprise." 
 
 " That I should ask you for a rose ? " she 
 said, holding it up. " It is but a poor little 
 thing, as these late flowers always are. Not 
 much scent, and less colour, but sweet, because 
 it is over — almost a thing of the past." 
 
 " I was taken altogether by surprise," said 
 Colonel Brentford. 
 
 He did not make any reply to her. He 
 was not clever, as she was. He repeated his 
 little phrase of confused no-meaning, and his
 
 222 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 voice trembled. And while he was saying 
 all this, Editli was telling me that she had 
 had a few — only a very few — lessons from 
 Herrmannstadt, but her mamma hoped 
 that if they stayed at Royalborough, she 
 might be able to have some from Dr. Delvey 
 or Miss de la Pluie. 
 
 "If, my dear?" said I. "I thought it 
 was quite settled that you were to stay ! ' And 
 then her answer became unintelligible to me ; 
 for my ears were intent upon what was going 
 on behind us, and instead of listening to 
 Edith, I heard only Colonel Brentford's feet 
 shuffling uneasily upon the carpet, and Mrs. 
 Spencer asking Lady Isabella if she did not 
 think it was time to Qfo. 
 
 " But you have not had any tea," said I, 
 rushing to the front : though, indeed, I was 
 not at all sure that I wished them to stay. 
 
 "We never take any tea," said Mrs. 
 Spencer unblushingly ; though she knew 
 that I knew she was the greatest afternoon 
 tea-drinker in all Dinglefield ; "and we have
 
 in. LADY ISABELLA. 223 
 
 to call upon old Mrs. Lloyd, who is quite ill. 
 Did you know she was ill ? We must not 
 neglect the sick and the old, you know, 
 even for the pleasantest society. Isabella, my 
 dear ! " 
 
 Colonel Brentford went after us to the 
 door. He looked at them wistfully, watching 
 their movements, until he saw that Mrs. 
 Spencer had a cloak over her arm. Then he 
 came forward with a certain heavy alacrity. 
 
 " Let me carry it for you," he said. 
 
 " Oh, thanks ! We are not going far ; 
 don't take the trouble. I would not for the 
 w r orld take you from your friends," cried 
 Mrs. Spencer wildly. 
 
 "It is no trouble, if you will let me," he 
 said. 
 
 He had taken the cloak out of her 
 astonished hand, and Lady Isabella, in the 
 meantime, with a smile on her face, had 
 walked on in advance. Even I, though I 
 felt so much agitated that I could have cried, 
 could not but laugh to see Mrs. Spencer's
 
 22; NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 look of utter discomfiture as she turned from 
 my door, attended by this man whom she so 
 feared. I stood and watched them as they 
 went away, with a mingled feeling of relief 
 and anxiety and wonder. Thus it was over. 
 Was it over ? Could this be a beginning or 
 an end ? 
 
 When I went back to the Bellingers they 
 were consulting together, and I fear were not 
 quite well pleased. The Major and his 
 daughter drew back as I entered, but I saw 
 it on their faces. 
 
 " I hope you will pardon me," I said, "for 
 leaving you alone. My friends are gone, 
 and Colonel Brentford has kindly walked 
 with them to carry something. Now I know 
 you must want some tea." 
 
 " Indeed, mamma is a great deal too tired," 
 said Edith, who naturally was most nettled, 
 " I am sure we ought to go home." 
 
 " I think she is over-tired," said the Major 
 doubtfully. 
 
 He did not want to be dragged away so
 
 in. LADY ISABELLA. 225 
 
 suddenly ; but yet he was a little surprised. 
 Mrs. Bellinger, for her part, did not say 
 anything, but she looked pale, and my heart 
 smote me. And then there appeared a line 
 of anxiety, which I had not noticed before, 
 between her eyes. 
 
 " It is only that she wants some tea," said 
 I ; and the Stokes coming in at the moment, 
 to my infinite satisfaction, made a diversion, 
 and brought things back to the ordinary 
 channel of talk. And then they challenged 
 the Major and Edith to croquet, for which all 
 the hoops and things were set out on the lawn. 
 Mrs. Bellinger and I began to talk when 
 they went away : and presently Colonel Brent- 
 ford came back and sat silently by us for five 
 minutes — then went out to the croquet-players. 
 A little silence fell upon us, as the sound of the 
 voices grew merrier outside. It maybe thought 
 a stupid game nowadays, but it is pretty to look 
 at, when one is safe and out of it ; and we two 
 ladies sat in the cool room and watched the 
 players, no doubt with grave thoughts enough, 
 
 VOL. II. Q
 
 226 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 Colonel Brentford took Edith in hand at once. 
 He showed her how to play, advised her, fol- 
 lowed her, was always by her side. What did 
 it mean ? Was he glad that his old love had 
 passed away like a dream, and left him free 
 to indulge in this new one — to throw himself 
 into this younger, brighter existence ? Neither 
 of us spoke, and I wondered whether we were 
 both busy with the same thought. 
 
 At length Mrs. Bellinger broke the 
 silence. 
 
 " I feel so anxious about our Colonel," she 
 said ; " he is so good and so nice. And your 
 friends came by chance, quite by chance, 
 Mrs. Mulgrave ? How strange it is ? Do you 
 
 know that there was once But of course 
 
 you know. Oh, I hope this meeting will be 
 for good, and not for harm." 
 
 " For harm!" I said, with words that did 
 not quite express my thoughts. " They are 
 both staid, sober people, not likely to go back 
 to any youthful nonsense. How could it do 
 harm r
 
 in. LADY ISABELLA. 127 
 
 Mrs. Bellinger shook her head. There was 
 a cloud upon her face. 
 
 "We shall see in time," she said, in a 
 melancholy, prophetic way, and sighed 
 again. 
 
 To whom could it be that she apprehended 
 harm ? Not to Lady Isabella, whom she did 
 not know. Was it to the child then, or to 
 him ? 
 
 2
 
 LADY ISABELLA. 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 Next day I had a number of visitors. 
 Mrs. Spencer had made it so well known in 
 Dinglefield that nobody was to invite Lady 
 Isabella to meet the new officers, that my 
 unexampled temerity startled the whole neigh- 
 bourhood. " Of course they have met, not- 
 withstanding all our precautions — and fancy, 
 at Mrs. Mulgrave's ! She was almost the 
 only person Mrs. Spencer had not told," my 
 neighbours said ; for the place is so small, 
 that of course everybody knows what every- 
 body else is doing on the green. The Stokes 
 were the first to call, and they were full of it : 
 
 " Fancy not telling us that Lady Isabella 
 had been here?" cried Lottie. "You must
 
 ch. iv. LADY ISABELLA. 229 
 
 have known there was something, or you 
 would have told us. And what did you mean 
 by it ? Did you think they ought to have 
 
 another chance ; or did you think ? Oh, 
 
 I do so wish you would tell me what 
 you meant ! " 
 
 " Another chance, indeed ! " said Lucy. 
 "As if Colonel Brentford — a handsome man, 
 and just a nice age — would look twice at 
 that old thing! " 
 
 "He is a good deal older than the old 
 thing," said I ; " and it is a poor account 
 of both men and women, Lucy, if everything 
 is to give way to mere youth. You yourself 
 will not be seventeen always. You should 
 remember that." 
 
 "Well, but then I shall be married," said 
 Lucy ; " and I sha'n't mind if nobody pays 
 me any attention. I shall have my hus- 
 band and my children of course ; but an. 
 old maid " 
 
 " Be quiet, Lucy," said her sister angrily. 
 "If you girls only knew how to hold your
 
 230 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 tongues, then you might have a chance ; 
 but please tell me, Mrs. Mulgrave — you 
 won't say you did not mean anything, for of 
 course you knew ? " 
 
 " I don't intend to say anything about it, 
 my dear ; and here is Mrs. Spencer coming j 
 if you would like to make any further in- 
 quiries," I said. I was quite glad to see 
 her, to get rid of their questionings. Mrs. 
 Spencer was very much flurried and disturbed, 
 out of breath both of mind and body. 
 
 " Oh, my dear Mrs. Mulgrave, what an 
 unfortunate business ! " she said, the moment 
 the girls were gone. " I have nobody but 
 myself to blame, for I never told you. I 
 thought as you did not give many parties — 
 and then I know you don't care much for 
 those dancing sort of men : and how was I 
 to suppose he would be thrown upon your 
 hands like this ? It has upset me so," she 
 said turning to me, with her eyes full of 
 tears ; " I have not slept all night." 
 
 Her distress was a great deal too genuine
 
 i v. LAD Y ISABELLA. 2 3 1 
 
 to be smiled at. " I am so sorry," I said ; 
 "but, after all, I do not think it is serious. 
 It did not seem to disturb her much." 
 
 " Ah, that is because she does not show 
 it," said Mrs. Spencer. " She is so unself- 
 ish. You might stab her to the heart and 
 she would never say a word, if there was 
 any one near who could be made unhappy 
 by it. She would not let me see, for she 
 knows it would make me wretched. And 
 I am quite wretched about her. If this were 
 to bring up old feelings ! And you know 
 she nearly died of it — at the time." 
 
 The tears came dropping down on poor 
 Mrs. Spencer's thin nose. It was too thin, 
 almost sharp in outline, but such tears 
 softened all its asperity away. I could not 
 help thinking of those dreadful French pro- 
 verbs, which are so remorseless and yet so 
 true ; about " Pun qui aime, et £ autre qui sc 
 laisse aimer;" about "Tun qui baise et 
 Pautre qui tend la joueP Is it always so in 
 this world ? I could have beaten myself
 
 2$i NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 for having interfered at all in the matter. 
 Why should anybody ever interfere ? Life 
 is hard enough without any assistance to 
 make it worse. 
 
 Lady Isabella herself came in late, when, 
 fortunately, I was alone ; and she was in a 
 very different mood. She came in, and 
 gave a curious, humorous glance round the 
 room, and then sat down in the chair by the 
 window, where she had sat the day before, 
 and asked Colonel Brentford for that rose. 
 
 " Is it possible it has been and is over," 
 she said, in her mocking way ; " that great, 
 wonderful event, to which I looked forward 
 so much ? It happened just here : and yet 
 the place is exactly the same. How funny 
 it is when one remembers that it has hap- 
 pened, and yet feels one's self exactly like 
 what one was before " 
 
 " You are not sorry, then ? ' I cried, not 
 knowing what to say. 
 
 " Sorry ? oh, no," she said with momentary 
 fervour : and then blushed scarlet. " On the
 
 iv. LADY ISABELLA. 233 
 
 contrary, I am very glad. It proved to me 
 
 1 got all I wanted. I am quite pleased 
 
 with myself. I can't have been such a fool 
 after all ; for- — he is not clever, you know — 
 but he is a man a woman need not be 
 ashamed to have been in love with : and that 
 is saying a great deal." 
 
 " And is it only a ' have been ? ' said I ; 
 for after all when one had taken so much 
 trouble it was hard that nothing should come 
 of it. I felt as if I had taken a great deal 
 of trouble, and all in vain. 
 
 " Indeed, I should hope so ! ' cried Lady 
 Isabella, getting up and drawing her shawl 
 round her hastily. " You surely did not 
 think that I meant anything more. I am 
 in a great hurry, I have only a few minutes 
 to spare ; and thanks to you, good friend, I 
 have had my whim, and I am satisfied. I 
 don't feel at all ashamed of having been 
 fond of him — once." 
 
 And with these words she ran away, 
 silencing all questions. Was this indeed
 
 23+ NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 all ? Was it a mere whim ? To tell the 
 truth, when I tried to put myself in her 
 position, it seemed to me much wiser of 
 Lady Isabella to let it end so. She was 
 very well off and comfortable : she had come 
 to an age when one likes to have one's own 
 way, and does not care to adopt the habits 
 of others ; and what an immense bouleverse- 
 ment it would make if she should marry and 
 break up that pleasant house, and throw 
 herself upon the chances of married life, 
 abandoning Mrs. Spencer, who was as good 
 as married to her, and who, no doubt, cal- 
 culated on her society all her life. I said 
 to myself — if I were Lady Isabella! And 
 then there was the great chance, the almost 
 certainty that he would never attempt to 
 carry it any farther. He was a young-look- 
 ing man, and no doubt (though it is very 
 odd to me how they can do it) he felt himself 
 rather on the level of a girl of twenty than 
 of a woman of thirty-five. He had been a 
 good deal startled and touched by the meet-
 
 iv. LADY ISABELLA. 
 
 ino- which was not wonderful : but he had 
 returned to Edith's side all the same ; and, 
 no doubt, that was where he would stay. 
 Edith was very young, and her parents were 
 poor, and the best thing for her would be to 
 marry a man who was able to take care of 
 her, and make her very comfortable, and to 
 whom, in return, she would be entirely de- 
 voted. Edith could consent to be swallowed 
 up in him altogether, and to have no life 
 but that of her husband ; and except by 
 means of a husband who was well off the 
 poor child never was likely to do anything 
 for herself or her family, but would have to 
 live a life of hard struggling with poverty 
 and premature acquaintance with care. This 
 was of course the point of view from which 
 the matter should be regarded. To Lady 
 Isabella Colonel Brentford's means or posi- 
 tion were unnecessary. She was very well 
 off, very fully established in the world with- 
 out him. And she could not be swallowed 
 up in him, and renounce everything that
 
 236 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 was her own to become his wife. She was 
 an independent being, with a great many 
 independent ways and habits. It was better 
 for him, better for her, better for Edith that 
 nothing should come of this meeting ; and 
 yet — how foolish one is about such matters : 
 what vain fancies come into one's head ! 
 
 Everything sank into its ordinary calm 
 however from that day. I did not see Mrs. 
 Spencer and Lady Isabella for a week after, 
 and then they were exactly as they had always 
 been. Lady Isabella made no remark to me 
 of any kind on the subject, but Mrs. Spencer 
 took me aside to give me her opinion. " I 
 am so glad to tell you," she said, " that your 
 little inadvertence has done no harm. Oh, I 
 forgot : it was not an inadvertence on your 
 part, but my own fault for not telling you. It 
 has done no harm, I am so glad to say. Isabella 
 seems to have quite settled clown again. I 
 don't believe she has given him another 
 thought. Of course it was a shock just at the 
 moment. But you must not blame yourself,
 
 iv. LADY ISABELLA. 
 
 indeed you must not. Probably she would 
 have met him somewhere sooner or later. I 
 really feel quite glad that it is over ; and it 
 has done her no harm." 
 
 This was all I gained by my exertions ; and 
 I made a resolution that 1 would certainly 
 never be persuaded to do anything of the 
 kind again. For, indeed, it had complicated 
 my relations with various people. What could 
 I do, for instance, about the Bellingers ? In 
 the meantime I simply dropped them, after 
 having rushed into such an appearance of 
 intimacy. If anybody else had done it, I 
 should have been indignant ; but how could I 
 help myself? I could not have Edith in my 
 house and see him wooing her, after having 
 taken such an interest in the other side. I 
 could not insult Lady Isabella by letting that 
 go on under her very eyes. And though I 
 wondered sometimes what the respectable 
 Major would think, and whether poor dear 
 Mrs. Bellinger would be wounded, I had not 
 the fortitude to continue the acquaintance.
 
 23S NEIGHBOURS ON THE ORE EX. chap. 
 
 I simply dropped them : it was the only 
 thing I could do. 
 
 And then the winter came on all at once, 
 which was a sort of excuse. There was a 
 week or two of very bad weather and I caught 
 cold, and was very glad of it, for, of course, 
 nobody could expect me to drive to Royal- 
 borough in my little open carriage with a bad 
 cold, through the rain and wind. A very 
 dreary interval of dead quiet to me, and 
 miserable weather, followed this little burst of 
 excitement. I felt sore about it altogether, 
 as a matter in which I had somehow been to 
 blame, and which was a complete failure — to 
 say the least. One day when I had been out 
 for half an hour's walk in the middle of the 
 day, Colonel Brentford called : but the card 
 which I found on my table was the only 
 enlightenment this brought me, and my cold 
 kept me away from all the society on the 
 green for six weeks, during which time I had 
 no information on the subject. Sometimes, 
 as usual, I saw Lady Isabella, but there was
 
 iv. LADY ISABELLA. 239 
 
 no change in her. She had quite settled 
 down again, was the same as ever, and Mrs. 
 Spencer had ceased to keep any watch upon 
 her. And so it was all over, as a tale that is 
 told. 
 
 The first time I was out after my influenza 
 was at Lady Denzil's, where, to my surprise, I 
 found Edith Bellinger. She scarcely looked 
 at me, and it was with some difficulty I got 
 our slender thread of acquaintance renewed. 
 Her mother, she thanked me, was better ; 
 her father was quite well ; they had been 
 sorry to hear of my cold ; yes, of course 
 it was a long way to drive. Such was 
 the fashion of Edith's talk ; and I acknow- 
 ledged to myself that it was perfectly 
 just. 
 
 " Your mamma must think it very strange 
 that I have never gone to see her again," I 
 was beginning to say, feeling uncomfortable 
 and guilty. 
 
 " I don't suppose she has thought about 
 it," Edith said hastily ; and then she stopped
 
 240 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEX. chap. 
 
 short and blushed. " I beg your pardon, I 
 did not mean to be rude." 
 
 " You are quite right," I said — " not in 
 being rude, but in feeling as you do. I seem 
 to have been very capricious and unfriendly : 
 but I have been ill ; and you do not look 
 quite so well yourself as when I saw you 
 last." 
 
 " Oh, I am well enough," said the girl ; and 
 then those quick youthful tears of self-com- 
 passion which lie so near the surface came 
 rushing to her eyes. " It is nothing, I — I am 
 not very strong ; and Lady Denzil, who is 
 always kind, has asked me here for change 
 of air." 
 
 " Poor child," I said, "tell me what is the 
 matter ? " But I was not to learn at this 
 moment at least. Colonel Brentford, whom 
 I had not seen till now, came forward and 
 bent over her. 
 
 " They are going to sing something, and 
 they want you to take a part. I have come 
 for you," he said.
 
 iv. LADY ISABELLA. 241 
 
 He looked down upon her quite tenderly, 
 and held out his hand to help her to rise. 
 Yes, of course, that was how it must have 
 ended. It was all settled, of that I could 
 have no doubt. I looked at them with, I 
 fear, a look that had some pain and some pity 
 in it, as they left me ; and when I withdrew 
 my eyes from them, my look met Lady 
 Isabella's, who was seated at the other side 
 of the room. She had her usual half-mocking, 
 half-kindly smile on her lips, but it looked to 
 me set and immovable, as if she had been 
 painted so and could not change ; and she was 
 pale — surely shewas pale. It troubled me 
 sadly, and all the more that I dared not say a 
 word to any one, dared not even make any 
 manifestation of sympathy to herself. She had 
 chosen to renew her old acquaintance with 
 him, had chosen to break down the barrier 
 which sympathizing friends had raised round 
 her, and to meet him with all freedom as if he 
 were totally indifferent to her. This had been 
 her own choice ; and now, to be sure, she had 
 
 vol.. ri. r
 
 242 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 to look on, and see all there might be to be 
 seen. 
 
 But he was very civil to me when he 
 chanced to be thrown near me. He said, 
 in a much more friendly tone than poor 
 Edith's, that Mrs. Bellinger had been sorry 
 to hear of my cold ; that he hoped I should 
 soon be able to go and see her ; and when 
 I said that Edith did not look strong, he 
 shook his head. " She is rather wilful, and 
 does not know her own mind," he said, and I 
 thought he sighed. Was it that she could not 
 
 make up her mind to accept him ? Was it 
 
 But speculation was quite useless, and there 
 was no information to be got out of his face. 
 
 A little after this I went to see Mrs. 
 Bellinger, but was coldly received. Edith 
 was not quite well, she said ; she had been 
 doing too much, and had gone away for a 
 thorough change. Colonel Brentford ? Oh, 
 he had gone to visit his brother Sir Charles 
 Brentford, in Devonshire. Edith was in 
 Devonshire, too — at Torquay.
 
 IV. LADY ISABELLA. 243 
 
 " They are a little afraid of her lungs," 
 Mrs. Bellinger said. " Oh, not I ; I don't 
 think there is very much the matter ; but 
 still they are afraid — and of course it is 
 better to prevent than to cure." 
 
 It seemed to me a heartless way for a 
 mother to speak, and I was discouraged by 
 my reception. When 1 came away I made 
 up my mind not to take any further trouble 
 about the matter. Perhaps I had been 
 
 mistaken in them at first, or perhaps 
 
 but then, to be sure, I had another motive, 
 and that existed no longer. It was my 
 fault more than theirs. 
 
 I heard no more of the Bellingers nor 
 much more of Colonel Brentford for a long 
 time after this. He, to be sure, went and 
 came, as the other officers did, to one house 
 and another, and I met him from time to 
 time, and exchanged three words with him, 
 but no more. And Lady Isabella made 
 no reference whatever to that agitating 
 
 o o 
 
 moment when I, too, had a share in her 
 
 R 2
 
 24-1 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 personal history. Even Mrs. Spencer 
 seemed to have forgotten all about it. 
 Their house was more exquisite than ever 
 that winter. They had built a new conser- 
 vatory, which opened from the ante-room, 
 and was full of the most bright, beautiful 
 flowers — forced, artificial things to be sure 
 they were, blooming long before their 
 season, but still very lovely to look at in 
 those winter days. The large drawing-room 
 and the ante-room, and the conservatory 
 at the end of all, were as warm and fragrant 
 and soft and delicious as if they had been 
 fairy-land — the temperature so equable, 
 everything so soft to tread on, to sit on, 
 to look at. It was a little drawing-room 
 paradise — an Eden, with Turkey carpets 
 instead of turf, and the flowers all in pots 
 instead of growing free. And here Lady 
 Isabella would sit, with that touch of mock- 
 ery in her laugh, with little gibes at most 
 people and most things, not quite so friendly 
 or gentle as they once were. Now and
 
 iv. LADY ISABELLA. 245 
 
 then, I have thought, she cast a wistful 
 glance at the door ; now and then her 
 spirits were fitful, her face paler than usual 
 — but she had never been more lively or 
 more bright. 
 
 It was past Christmas, and already a pale 
 glimmer of spring was in the air, when this 
 little episode showed signs of coming to 
 its conclusion. I remember the day quite 
 distinctly — a pale day in the beginning of 
 February, when everything was quite desti- 
 tute of colour. The sky was gray and so 
 was the grass, and the skeletons of the trees 
 stood bleak against the dulness. It was 
 the kind of afternoon when one is glad to 
 hear any news, good or bad — anything that 
 will quicken the blood a little, and restore 
 to the nervous system something like its 
 usual tone. 
 
 This stimulus was supplied by the entrance 
 to the house of our two neighbours Lucy 
 Stoke — very important, and bursting with the 
 dignity of a secret. She kept it in painfully
 
 246 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 for the first two minutes, moved chiefly by 
 her reverential admiration for the fine fur- 
 niture, the beautiful room, the atmosphere 
 of splendour about her. But I was there, 
 unfortunately, of whom Lucy was not afraid. 
 It was to me, accordingly, that the revelation 
 burst forth. 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Mulgrave," she said, " you 
 know her ! Who do you think I met eoine 
 down to Lady Denzil's, in a white bonnet, 
 -though it's such a dismal day — and a 
 blue dress — quite light blue — the dress she 
 went away in, I should think ? " 
 
 " A bride, I suppose," I said ; " but whom ? 
 — I don't remember any recent bride." 
 
 ' Oh, yes, I know you know her ! Young 
 Mrs. Brentford — Edith Bellinger that was," 
 " Edith Bellinger ! " I cried, with a sudden 
 pang. It was nothing to me. I had no 
 reason to suppose it was anything to any- 
 body, but yet 
 
 ' It must have been the dress she went away 
 in," said Lucy : " blue trimmed with bands
 
 iv. LADY ISABELLA. 247 
 
 of satin and fringe, and a white bonnet 
 with blue flowers. It was very becoming. 
 But fancy, only three weeks married, and 
 coming to see Lady Denzil alone ! " 
 
 "And so she is Mrs. Brentford," said 
 Mrs, Spencer, in a tone of genuine satis- 
 faction. She would have suffered herself 
 to be cut in little pieces for Lady Isabella, 
 she would have done anything for her — 
 but she was glad, unfeignedly thankful and 
 relieved, to feel that this danger was past. 
 
 And Lucy, well pleased, ran on for ten 
 minutes or more. It felt like ten hours. 
 When she went away at last, Mrs. Spencer 
 went with her to the door, to hear further 
 particulars. All this time Lady Isabella 
 had never said a word. She was in the 
 shade, and her face was not very distinctly 
 visible. When they left the room, she rose 
 all at once, pulling herself up by the arms 
 of her chair. Such a change had come upon 
 her face that I was frightened. Every 
 vestige of colour had left her cheek ; her
 
 243 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 lip was parched, and tightly drawn across 
 her teeth. She laughed as she got up from 
 the chair. 
 
 " We were all wishing for something to 
 stir us up," she said ; " but I never hoped 
 for anything so exciting as Mrs. Brentford's 
 blue dress." 
 
 "Where are you going?" I said, in 
 sudden terror. 
 
 " Up stairs — only up stairs. Where should 
 
 I go ? " she said, with that short hard 
 laugh. " Tell Mrs. Spencer — something. 
 I have crone to fetch — Mrs. Brentford's blue 
 dress." 
 
 Oh, how that laugh pained me ! I would 
 rather, a thousand times rather, have heard 
 her cry. She went away like a ghost, with- 
 out any noise ; and Mrs. Spencer, full of 
 thanksgiving, came back. 
 
 " Where is Isabella ? Oh, Mrs. Mulgrave, 
 I can't tell you what a relief this news is," 
 she said. " I have always been so dreadfully 
 afraid. Of course, anything that was for her
 
 iv. LADY ISABELLA. 249 
 
 happiness I would have put up with ; but 
 this would not have been for her happiness. 
 She is no longer young, you know — her 
 habits are all formed — and, even though she 
 was fond of him once, how could she have 
 taken up a man's ways, and adapted herself ? 
 It would never have done — it would never 
 have done ! I am so thankful he is married, 
 and that danger past." 
 
 For my part, I could not make any 
 answer. Perhaps Mrs. Spencer was right 
 -perhaps, in the long run, it would be better 
 so ; but, in the meantime, I could not forget 
 Lady Isabella's face. I went home, feeling 
 I cannot tell how sad. It was all so perfectly 
 natural and to be expected. The hardest 
 things in this world are the things that are 
 to be expected. Of course, I had felt sure 
 when I saw them together that it was the 
 little girl who would be the victor in any 
 such struggle. And Lady Isabella had not 
 attempted any struggle. She had stood 
 aside and looked on ; though, perhaps, she
 
 250 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CH. IV. 
 
 had hoped that the old love would have 
 counted for something in the man's heart. 
 But I said to myself that I had always 
 known better. What was old love, with all 
 its associations, in comparsion with the little 
 peachy cheek and childish ways of a girl of 
 seventeen ? I despised the man for it, of 
 course ; but I thought it natural all the 
 same.
 
 LADY ISABELLA. 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 I was sitting next day by myself, with 
 my mind full of these thoughts, when I 
 was suddenly roused by a shadow which 
 flitted across the light, and then by the 
 sound of some one knocking at the window 
 which opened into my garden. I looked up 
 hurriedly, and saw Lady Isabella. She was 
 very pale, yet looked breathless, as if she 
 had been running. She made me a hasty, 
 imperative gesture to open, and when I had 
 done so, came in without suffering me to 
 shut the window. " Mrs. Mulgrave," she 
 said, panting between the words, " I have 
 a very strange — request — to make. I want 
 to speak with — some one — for ten minutes
 
 2$2 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 — alone. May we — come — here ? I have 
 nothing to conceal — from you. It is him ; kn_ 
 
 -he has something — to say to me — for the 
 last time." 
 
 " Lady Isabella " I said. 
 
 " Don't — say anything. It is strange — 
 I know — but it must be ; for the last 
 time. 
 
 She did not seem able to stand for another 
 moment. She sank down into the nearest 
 chair, making a great effort to command 
 herself. " Dear Mrs. Mulgrave — please call 
 him," she cried faintly: "he is there. It 
 will only be for ten minutes — there is some- 
 thing to explain." 
 
 1 went out into the garden, and called 
 him. He looked as much agitated as she 
 did, and I went round the house, and 
 through the kitchen-door with a sense of 
 bewilderment which I could not put into 
 words. Edith Bellinger's bridegroom ! 
 What could he have to explain ? What 
 right had he to seek her, to make any
 
 v. LADY ISABELLA. 253 
 
 private communication ? I felt indignant 
 with him, and impatient with her. Then 
 I went into the dining-room and waited. 
 My dining-room windows command the 
 road, and along this I could see Mrs. 
 Spencer walking in her quick, alert way. 
 She was coming towards my house, in 
 search, probably, of her companion. There 
 was something absurd in the whole business, 
 and yet the faces of the two I had just left 
 were too tragical to allow any flippancy on 
 the part of the spectator. Mrs. Spencer 
 came direct to my door as I supposed, and 
 I had to step out and stop the maid, who 
 was about to usher her into the drawing- 
 room where those two were. Mrs. Spencer 
 was a little excited too. 
 
 "Have you seen Isabella?" she said. 
 " She was only about half-a-dozen yards 
 behind me, round the corner at the Lodge ; 
 and when I turned to look for her she was 
 gone. She could not have dropped into 
 the earth you know, and I know she would
 
 254 XEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 never have gone to the Lodge. Is she 
 here ? It has given me quite a turn, as 
 the maids say. She cannot have vanished 
 altogether, like a fairy. She was too sub- 
 stantial for that." 
 
 "She will be here directly," said I; 
 " she is speaking to some one in the other 
 room." 
 
 " Speaking — to some one ! You look 
 very strange, Mrs. Mulgrave, and Isabella 
 has been looking very strange. Who is she 
 speaking to ? I am her nearest friend and 
 I ous^ht to know." 
 
 "Yes," I said, "you ought to know, that 
 is certain — but wait, only wait, ten minutes 
 — that was the time she said." 
 
 And then we two sat and looked at each 
 other, not knowing what to think. I knew 
 scarcely more than she did, but the little 
 that I knew made me only the more anxious. 
 If his wife should hear of it — if Lady Isabella 
 were to betray herself, compromise herself! 
 And then what was the good of it all ? No
 
 v. LADY ISABELLA. 255 
 
 explanation could annul a fact, and the less 
 explanation the better between a married 
 man and his former love. This feeling made 
 me wretched as the time went on. Time 
 seems so doubly long when one is waiting, 
 and especially when one is waiting for the 
 result of some private, secret, mysterious 
 interview. The house was so quiet, the 
 maids moving about the kitchen, the chirp 
 of the sparrows outside, the drip — drip of 
 a shower, which was just over, from the 
 leaves. All these sounds made the silence 
 deeper, especially as there was no sound 
 from that mysterious room. 
 
 " The ten minutes are long past," said 
 Mrs. Spencer. " I don't understand what 
 all this mystery can mean. It is more 
 like an hour, I think." 
 
 "Oh, do you think so?" said I, though 
 I fully agreed with her. " When one is 
 waiting time looks so long. She will be 
 here directly. I hear her now — that was 
 her voice."
 
 256 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 And so it certainly was. But everything 
 became silent again the next instant. It 
 was a sharp exclamation, sudden and high ; 
 and then we heard no more. 
 
 " I cannot wait any longer," said Mrs. 
 Spencer. " I don't know what this can 
 mean ; I must have an explanation. Mrs. 
 Mulgrave, if you will not come with me, 
 I will go myself to Isabella. I don't un- 
 derstand what she can mean." 
 
 " I will go," said I ; and we rose at the 
 same moment and hurried to the door. 
 But we had not time to open it when a 
 sudden sound was audible, which arrested 
 us both. The door of the other room was 
 opened, voices came towards us — two 
 voices, and then a laugh. Was it Lady 
 Isabella's laugh ? Mrs. Spencer drew near 
 me and pinched my arm violently. " Is it 
 Isabella ? What, oh, what can it mean ? " 
 she said with a look of terror. And then the 
 door was thrown suddenly open, driving us 
 back as we stood in our consternation within.
 
 LADY ISABELLA. 257 
 
 It was Ladv Isabella who stood before 
 us, and yet it was not the Lady Isabella 
 I had ever known. When Mrs. Spencer 
 saw her she gave a suppressed groan and 
 sat down suddenly on the nearest chair. 
 This Lady Isabella was leaning on Colonel 
 Brentford's arm. Her face was flushed and 
 rosy ; her eyes shining like stars, yet full 
 of tears ; dimples I had never seen before 
 were in her cheeks and about her mouth. 
 She was radiant, she was young, she was 
 running over with joy and happiness. In 
 her joy and triumph she did not notice, I 
 suppose, the sudden despair of her friend. 
 " I have come to tell you," she said hastily, 
 " he never meant it. It is all over. Oh, do 
 you understand ? All this cloud that has 
 lasted for ten years, that has come between 
 us and the skies — it is all over, all over. 
 He never meant it. Do you under- 
 stand ?" 
 
 Mrs. Spencer stood up tottering, looking 
 like a ghost. " Isabella ! I thought you 
 
 vol. 11. s
 
 258 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chat. 
 
 had forgotten him. I thought it was this 
 that was all over. I thought you were 
 content." 
 
 Lady Isabella gave her a look of that 
 supreme happiness which is not considerate 
 of other people's feelings. " I am content 
 now," she said, clasping her hands upon 
 Colonel Brentford's arm, " more than con- 
 tent. 
 
 Mrs. Spencer answered with a bitter cry. 
 "Then I am nothing to her, nothing to 
 her ! " she said. 
 
 It was at this moment that I interfered. 
 I could keep silence no longer. I put 
 myself between the two who were so 
 happy and the one who was so miserable. 
 " Before another word is said I must have 
 this explained to me," I said. " He is 
 Edith Bellinger's husband. And this is 
 my house " 
 
 He interrupted me hurriedly : " I am no 
 one's husband but hers," he said. " You 
 have been mistaken. Edith Bellinger has
 
 v. LAD Y ISA BEL LA. 259 
 
 married my brother. There is no woman 
 to me in the world but Isabella — never has 
 been — never could be, though I lived a 
 hundred years." 
 
 "And it is you who have brought us 
 together," cried Lady Isabella, suddenly 
 throwing 1 her arms round me. " God bless 
 you for it ! I should never have known, 
 
 it would never have been possible but for 
 
 >> 
 you. 
 
 And he came to me and took both my 
 hands. " God bless you for it, I say too ! 
 We migfht have been two forlorn creatures 
 all our lives but for you." 
 
 I was overwhelmed with their thanks, 
 with the surprise, and the shock. If I had 
 done anything to bring this about I had 
 done it in ignorance ; but they surrounded 
 me so with their joy and their gratitude, 
 and the excitement of the revolution which 
 had happened in them, that it was some 
 minutes before I could think of anything 
 else. And there was so much to be ex- 
 
 s 2
 
 260 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 plained. But when I recovered myself so 
 far as to look round and think of the 
 other who did not share in their joy, I 
 found she was gone. She had disappeared 
 while they were thanking me, while I was 
 expressing my wonder and my good wishes. 
 None of us had either heard or seen her 
 departure, but she was gone. 
 
 "Was Mrs. Spencer to blame ?" I asked 
 w r ith some anxiety when the tumult had 
 subsided a little, and thev had seated them- 
 selves like ordinary mortals and begun to 
 accustom themselves to their delight. 
 " Had she anything to do with the quarrel 
 between you ? " 
 
 " Nothing at all," said Lady Isabella. 
 "She never saw George till she saw him 
 in your house." 
 
 "When you asked me for that rose- 
 said he. " The rose you used to be so 
 fond of; and I felt as if the skies had 
 opened " 
 
 " You turned your back upon me all
 
 V. 
 
 LAD V ISABELLA. 26 [ 
 
 the same," she said with the laugh that 
 had suddenly become so joyous. They 
 had forgotten everything but themselves 
 and the new story of their reconciliation : 
 which I suppose the old story of their 
 estrangement thus recalled and reconsidered 
 made doubly sweet. 
 
 " But about Mrs. Spencer ? " I said, 
 " Poor Mrs. Spen ! She had got to be 
 fond of me. She thought we were to spend 
 all our lives together," said Lady Isabella 
 with momentary gravity ; and then the 
 smile crept once more about the corners of 
 her mouth, and the dimples which had been 
 hidden all these vears disclosed themselves, 
 and her face warmed into sunshine as she 
 turned to him. This was my fate when- 
 ever I tried to bring back the conversation 
 to Mrs. Spencer, who, poor soul, had dis- 
 appeared like a shadow before that sunshine. 
 I was glad for their sakes to see them so 
 happy ; but still I could not but feel that 
 it was hard to have given your life and love
 
 262 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 for years and to be rewarded at the end 
 by that " poor Mrs. Spen." 
 
 The news made a great commotion 
 through all Dinglefield, and Mrs. Spencer 
 did not make so much difficulty about it as 
 I fancied she would. The marriage was 
 from her house, and she took a great deal 
 of trouble, and no mother could have been 
 more careful and tender about a bride. But 
 she made no fuss, poor soul — she had not 
 the heart ; and though I don't like fuss, I 
 missed it in this case, and felt that it was a 
 sign how deep the blow had gone. Even 
 Lady Isabella, pre-occupied as she was, felt 
 it. She had not realized it perhaps — few 
 people do. We are all in the habit of laugh- 
 ing at the idea of friendships so close and 
 exacting, especially when they exist between 
 women. But to Mrs. Spencer it was as if 
 life itself had oone from her. Her com- 
 panion had gone from her, the creature she 
 loved best. Next to a man's wife deserting 
 him, or a woman's husband, I know nothing
 
 LADY ISABELLA. 263 
 
 more hard. Her pretty house, her flowers, 
 her perfect comfort and grace of life palled 
 upon her. She had kept them up chiefly, 
 I think, for the young woman who, she had 
 thought, poor soul, was wedded to her for 
 life. Perhaps it was a foolish thought, per- 
 haps it might be a little selfish to try to 
 keep Colonel Brentford away. I suppose 
 to be married is the happiest ; but still I 
 was very, very sorry, grieved more than I 
 can say, for the woman who was forsaken ; 
 though she was only forsaken by another 
 woman and not by a man. 
 
 However that, I fear, is a sentiment in 
 which I should find few sympathizers. The 
 Brentfords took a place in the neighbour- 
 hood, and I believe Lady Isabella was a 
 very happy wife. As for poor little Edith 
 Bellinger, she had married the Colonel's 
 elder brother, Sir Charles, and was Lady 
 Brentford, to her great astonishment and 
 that of everybody about. It had been her 
 doubt and reluctance, poor child, to marry a
 
 264 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. ch. v 
 
 man older than her father, which had made 
 her ill. I think her mother missed her 
 almost as much as Mrs. Spencer missed 
 Lady Isabella. For every new tie that is 
 made in this world some old ties must be 
 broken. But what does that matter ? Is it 
 not the course of nature and the way of the 
 world ?
 
 AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 There is a house in Dinglefield, standing- 
 withdrawn in a mass of shrubbery, and over- 
 shadowed by some fine trees, which has been 
 called by the name of Brothers-and-Sisters 
 for a longer time than any one in the village 
 can recollect. It presents to the outside 
 world who peep at it over the palings, be- 
 tween the openings which have been care- 
 fully cut to afford to its inmates pleasant 
 glimpses of the lower part of the green, on 
 which the cricket-matches are played, the 
 aspect of a somewhat low white house, with 
 no apparent entrance, and a great number of 
 chimneys of different heights, chimneys which 
 I suppose suggested to some wag the un-
 
 266 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 equal stature of a family of children, and thus 
 procured the house its popular name. In 
 the map of the estate on which Dinglefield 
 stands it is called Bonport House, and this is 
 how -the General's letters, I need not say, 
 are addressed. But yet the common name 
 sticks, all the more because of the character of 
 the family which now inhabits that hospitable 
 place. It is literally a house of brothers and 
 sisters. General Stamford, the head of the 
 family, is a hale and ruddy old warrior of 
 sixty, who has seen a great deal of service, 
 and who has been knocked about, battered, 
 and beaten from the age of sixteen until 
 now : sent to every unfavourable place where 
 a soldier without money or influence has to 
 go, and engaged in every fierce little war in 
 which it has been the pleasure of England 
 to indulge, without any consideration for the 
 feelings of her fisfhtinpf men. He has been 
 at Bermuda ; he has been on the Gold 
 Coast ; he has braved all the fevers and 
 fought all the savages within our ken ; and
 
 I. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 267 
 
 outliving all this, has settled down with his 
 sisters and brother in our village, one of the 
 most peaceable yet the most active of men. 
 It is for this last reason that General George 
 (as we have all got to call him, partly be- 
 cause there are other generals about, and to 
 say General Stamford every time you men- 
 tion a man in a neighbourhood like ours is 
 fatiguing — -and partly for kindness) has so 
 many things on his hands. He is one of the 
 directors of our railway ; he is on several 
 boards in town, where he goes almost every 
 day punctual as clockwork, brushed to per- 
 fection, and driven to the station by Miss 
 Stamford in the pony-carriage, which always 
 takes him there, and always meets him when 
 he comes back. Miss Stamford is the eldest 
 sister of all. She is very like her brother, 
 and there never was such a tender 
 brotherly sisterly union as between these 
 two old people. They have known each 
 other so long, longer than any husband and 
 wife. They have the recollections of the
 
 268 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 nursery quite fresh in their minds, as if it 
 were yesterday — when it was always Ursula 
 who found George's books for him, and sfave 
 him good advice, and most of her pocket- 
 money, and looked after his linen when he 
 was at home, and his pets when he went 
 away. Miss Stamford knows all the occur- 
 rences of her brother's chequered life better 
 than he does himself, and recollects every- 
 thing, and knows all his friends, even if she 
 never saw them, and can recall to him the 
 exact relationship between the young man 
 who comes to him with an introduction, and 
 old Burton who was killed by his side among 
 the Maoris ; or Percival who died of the 
 yellow fever at Barbadoes. She is his re- 
 membrancer, his counsellor, half his heart, 
 and a good part of his mind ; and indeed 
 there is nobody among us who ever thinks 
 of the one without thinking of the other. 
 What she was doin^ with herself all those 
 years when George was fighting on the out- 
 skirts of civilization, or sweltering in the
 
 I. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 269 
 
 tropics, none of us know, but some of us 
 wonder now and then. Did nothing ever 
 happen to Miss Stamford on her own ac- 
 count ? Has all her life been only a reflection 
 of her brother's ? But this is what nobody 
 can tell. 
 
 The next member of the family in due 
 succession is Mrs. St. Clair, who is the 
 second sister, and who has been so long a 
 widow that she has forgotten that this is not 
 the normal condition of women. I don't 
 think, for my part, that she remembers much 
 about her husband, though he did exist, I 
 have every reason to believe. Her married 
 life was a little episode, but the family is all 
 her idea of ordinary existence. That little 
 sip of matrimony however has made her 
 different from the rest. I cannot quite tell 
 how. There is a tone that is more mellow ; 
 she is a little more — stout, if I may use such 
 a word : her outlines are a little fuller, both 
 of mind and body. Miss Stamford takes 
 care of the house and the General, but Mrs,
 
 270 NEh'.llROURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 St. Clair takes care of the parish. She is 
 the Rector's lay curate, and a most efficient 
 one. It it she who watches over, not only 
 the poor, but the district visitors, and even 
 the curates, whose juvenile importance she 
 makes very light of, keeping down all ram- 
 pant sacerdotalism. When a young man 
 comes into a parish full of very fine ideas 
 of priestly state and dignity, and fortified 
 besides by all the talk in the newspapers 
 about adoring ladies and worked slippers, it 
 is hard for him to find himself confronted by 
 a lively middle-aged woman who has no par- 
 ticular respect for him, and knows all his 
 kind, and all their little ways. Mrs. St. 
 Clair was of the greatest use to us all in this 
 particular. She kept us from innovations. 
 Our excellent Rector has not a very strong 
 will, and how far he might have been in- 
 duced to go in respect to vestments, or 
 candles, or even Gregorians, it would be 
 hard to say, but for Mrs. St. Clair, who kept 
 the young men down. Everybody who has
 
 I. AN ELDERL V ROMANCE. 27 t 
 
 ever been at Dinglefield has met her about 
 the roads, with her gray hair neatly braided, 
 and her soft brown eyes smiling, yet seeing 
 everything, and a basket in her hand. She 
 always had the basket ; and the basket, if 
 it had been examined, would have been 
 found always to contain something which 
 was to do somebody good. 
 
 Miss Sophy, the third sister, was much 
 younger than the others, and she was one of 
 those who are always young. Nothing had 
 changed much with her since she was 
 eighteen. She lived quite the same sort of 
 life as she had done then, and wore the same 
 kind of dresses ; and felt, I believe, very 
 much the same. Life had never progressed 
 into a second chapter with her, and she felt 
 no need of a second chapter. She did little 
 commissions for everybody, and carried little 
 messages, and played croquet, and went out 
 to tea, and performed her little pieces on the 
 piano with undiminished and undiminishing 
 satisfaction. She was as kind, as sweet, and
 
 272 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 as innocent as any girl need be ; and, in 
 short, she was a girl — but of forty-five. The 
 reader may think this is a sneer ; but nobody 
 ever thought of sneering at Miss Sophy ; 
 that malign amusement found no encourage- 
 ment in her simplicity. You smiled at her, 
 perhaps, then blushed for yourself, abashed 
 at your own heartlessness in finding any- 
 thing absurd in a creature so o-uileless and 
 true. She had no particular role of her own 
 in the family, except to be kind to everybody, 
 and to do what everybody wished, as far as a 
 merely mortal sister could. If there was 
 one thing that she thought especially her 
 duty and privilege, it was to look after the 
 faith and morals of the other brother, who 
 occasionally formed part of the household. 
 He was a barrister, an old bachelor like the 
 rest, who had chambers in town and came 
 when he pleased to Brothers-and-Sisters. He 
 spent the Sundays there, and Miss Sophy 
 took him to church. She would have made 
 him say the Collect if she could ; and, indeed,
 
 i. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 273 
 
 always questioned him about his opinions, 
 and argued with him on the Sunday after- 
 noons upon the points on which he was 
 astray. And when I add that Mr. Charles 
 was a clever lawyer and a man of the world, 
 and astray upon a great many points, it will 
 be seen that Sophy had her hands full. She 
 argued herself into palpitations and head- 
 aches, but I fear her arguments were less 
 potent than her intention. This energetic 
 effort to keep Charles right in theology was, 
 so far as any one knew, the only duty 
 exclusively hers. 
 
 These delightful people were only a small 
 part of the family to which they belonged. 
 Behind them was a bodyguard of married 
 brothers and sisters, a sort of milky way of 
 family plenitude, from which arose an army 
 of nephews and nieces who were always 
 looming about, sure to come down upon us 
 in force when anything was going on. There 
 were always men to be had for a dance, and 
 actors for theatricals on application to the 
 vol. 11. T
 
 274 XE/u/l HOURS OX THE GREEN. chap 
 
 Stamfords. " Tell me how many you want, 
 and give me two or three days' notice," Mrs. 
 St. Clair would say, and then Sophy would 
 write the letters, and after a while the air of 
 Dinglefield would be thick with nephews. 
 There was room for an untold number of 
 them in the old, many-chimneyed house. 
 When it was the time for garden parties, 
 or when there was a bazaar for some charity, 
 it was the turn of the nieces, who came like 
 the swallows, with a skimming of wings, and 
 a chirping and chattering of pleasant voices. 
 It was astonishing how soon we got to know 
 them all, discriminating Sophy Humphreys 
 from Sophy Thistlethwaite, and both from 
 Sophy Stamford number one, called Sofif, or 
 Henry's Sophy, to distinguish her from 
 Sophy Stamford number two, who was called 
 Fia, or William's Sophy. Sophy was the pet 
 name of the race ; the mother's name from 
 whom they all sprang. 
 
 And it would be difficult to give any 
 stranger an idea of the addition they were to
 
 i. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE 275 
 
 our limited society at Dinglefield. Go when 
 you would the genial house was always open, 
 a pleasant party always to be found on the 
 lawn in summer, by the drawing-room fire in 
 winter. They had their anxieties and sorrows 
 like other people, no doubt ; but not so many 
 as other people : for the time was over with 
 them for personal pangs and trouble ; and 
 when one nephew out of twenty goes a little 
 wrong, or one niece (also out of twenty) makes 
 a bad marriage, the pang is not so keen or 
 so lasting as when it is a son or a daughter 
 who has broken down. And this was the 
 worst that could now befall the house. It 
 was a house made for the comfort and 
 succour of every aching heart or troubled 
 mind within its range. There was nothing 
 they would not do for their neighbours and 
 friends ; how much more for their relations. 
 General George lent his kindly ear, a little, 
 just a little, hard of hearing (but no, not 
 hard of anything, the word is unworthy to 
 be uscci in his connection), to every request.
 
 276 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 He would do his best to place your son, or 
 invest your money ; or order early salmon 
 or turbot for you when you were going to 
 have a dinner-party. I should not have 
 liked to ask Mr. Charles Stamford to order 
 my fish, but I have no doubt he too would 
 have done it, had he been asked ; and as 
 for the sisters, they would, as the poor 
 people said, put their hand to anything. 
 
 One day Sophy came into my cottage 
 with an air of some excitement to tell me 
 that George had sent a telegram, and was 
 bringing down a large party of his fellow- 
 directors to dinner. " Will you come, dear 
 Mrs. Mulgrave ? Fancy ! how shall we 
 ever entertain these twelve business gentle- 
 men?" said Sophy in a flutter. "If only 
 some of the "iris had been here. Not that 
 the mrls would have cared for these old 
 creatures. But the worst is that Ursula her- 
 self is away. She went up to town this 
 morning to see her great friend, Mrs. Bid- 
 dulph. And though she will be back for
 
 A\ ELDERLY ROMANCE. 
 
 dinner, all the responsibility will be upon 
 Frances and me. I must run away now this 
 moment to James the gardener, to see how 
 many strawberries he can give us. Don't 
 you think it was tiresome of George to bring- 
 down so many upon us without warning ? It 
 is just like him : no, he is not tiresome — 
 never ! he is a darling ! But sometimes he 
 does a tiresome thing." 
 
 And Sophy tripped away, light-footed, 
 light-hearted, with no greater thought than 
 the strawberries. She was still as slim as a 
 ofirl, and there was about her all the ea^er- 
 ness and breathless mixture of fright and 
 pleasure which are natural at eighteen. She 
 was eighteen, spiritually speaking. I watched 
 her tripping along in her light summer dress, 
 and smiled ; I could not help it. I saw her 
 again three times that day, and, indeed, I 
 saw Mrs. St. Clare too, who was equally full 
 of business. " Twelve men ! " Mrs. St. Clair 
 cried. "Is it not a nuisance ? I can't think 
 how George could do it. They have a nice
 
 78 NEIGHBOURS OX THE GREEN. ch. I. 
 
 hit of villainy in hand ; they are going to cut 
 up all our pretty view, and take away the 
 poor people's gardens ; and then they expect 
 us to give them dinner ! " 
 
 " Did Sophy get the strawberries ? " I 
 asked. 
 
 "Oh, yes; more than they deserve. But 
 you are coming, and you shall see." She 
 went on, waving her hand, too busy to talk. 
 A dinner of twelve gentlemen, when you 
 have made no arrangements, and provided 
 nothing but what was needed for the family, 
 is a serious matter in a country place, espe- 
 cially when the real housekeeper is out of 
 the way.
 
 AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 All this time Miss Stamford knew nothing 
 of what was going on. She had gone up to 
 town early in the morning, and she had spent 
 the day with her friend, who was ailing ; and 
 in the afternoon she had missed the usual 
 dinner train by which General George always 
 travelled, coming by the next one, which was 
 about half an hour later. She came down 
 in the same carriage with a gentleman who, 
 she afterwards admitted, attracted her atten- 
 tion at once. He was a tall man — well, not 
 young, certainly — oldish, elderly, " about the 
 same age as other people " — with a long face, 
 like Don Ouixote. She remarked him ; and 
 he remarked her, apparently, showing her
 
 280 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 several little politenesses : opening and shut- 
 ting the window, &c. He was very like 
 Don Quixote. This was the chief remark 
 Miss Stamford made. 
 
 She was a little late for dinner, having 
 been taken entirely by surprise by the great 
 preparations she found on her return. She 
 had left everything in the ordinary quiet, no 
 company expected, and had ordered the usual 
 dinner for the family before she went away ; 
 and the sight of Williams the greengrocer, 
 and Jones the verger, both in grand official 
 costume, on duty in her own hall when she 
 got back, astonished her. 
 
 " Company, ma'am, as the General has 
 brought home from town, unexpected," 
 Williams said, as he opened the door. Their 
 own homely butler, Simms, had been pro- 
 moted to the rank of major-domo for the 
 moment, and was a very great personage 
 with two men under him. Miss Stamford 
 changed her dress as quickly as possible, but 
 dinner had begun before she got down stairs.
 
 II. 
 
 AX ELDERLY ROMANCE. 2S1 
 
 Mrs. St. Clair had taken the head of the 
 table, and Ursula slid quietly into the vacant 
 place which had been left for her. She 
 nodded to me across the table as she sat 
 down. She had not even put on her best 
 cap, and her gown was anything but new. 
 And it did not seem to me that Ursula 
 Stamford was by any means looking her best. 
 She was a little prim in appearance, though 
 so liberal and generous in heart ; and she 
 looked sixty, while to my knowledge she was 
 only fifty-seven. You will say that was not 
 a difference which mattered much ; but I 
 assure you we think a great deal of a year 
 or two up here among the snows of life. 
 She sat down so quietly that the gentleman 
 on one side did not at first notice that the 
 place was taken by his side, and she occupied 
 herself with the other, whom she happened 
 to know. There was a great deal of talk 
 going on at the table. Mrs. St. Clair had 
 picked up a few ladies in haste to make the 
 balance a little more even. Mrs. Stokes had
 
 282 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 sent Lucy, who was going to be married, and 
 Miss WoodrofF had come from the Rectorv, 
 and Mrs. Sommerville, the young widow 
 who was living with her brother, the curate. 
 There were seven of us altogether to thirteen 
 gentlemen, for, by way of making the table 
 a little more crowded, Charles Stamford had 
 thought proper to come, though it was not 
 his day. And we all talked as if our lives 
 were at stake. The younger ones were much 
 amused to be on duty thus, to be called upon 
 to take care of the old gentlemen, and the 
 rest of us understood the obligation we were 
 under to talk, and worked resolutely at the 
 conversation. For my part, I did very well, 
 I had quite a pleasant neighbour ; and, in- 
 deed, I have found that a great many of the 
 City gentlemen are very pleasant to talk 
 to. He told me all about the new railway it 
 was intended to make, and scarcely laughed 
 at all when I declared myself an enemy to 
 new railroads, in our neighbourhood, at least. 
 " Why should you cut up our pleasant,
 
 II. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 283 
 
 smiling country ? " I said. " We have all the 
 railways we w r ant, and more. I do not say 
 anything against what is necessary; but why 
 make gashes across the country when it is 
 not wanted " 
 
 "Gashes — I don't think they are gashes," 
 said my neighbour. "When I saw the white 
 steam flying along the valley just now, I 
 thought it very picturesque. I allow I do 
 not like it too near ; but Dinglefield is as 
 safe as if it were in Paradise. No railway 
 will climb your peaceable heights. If there 
 was question however of a railway into 
 Paradise itself, there is the man who would 
 do it," he said, looking across the table. " I 
 am a mere innocent myself. I do what other 
 people tell me : but there is the dangerous 
 man. I hope, for your sake, that he will 
 give his word against this, for he would 
 survey the moon if he thought it likely to 
 answer." 
 
 I peeped between the little thickets of 
 flowers with which Sophy had covered the
 
 284 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chat. 
 
 table, and looked at the man thus pointed 
 out to me. He was sitting by Ursula 
 Stamford, but he was not talking to her — 
 she, as I have said, was occupied by her 
 other neighbour at her right hand. He was 
 an old man, not far from seventy, according 
 to appearance, with snow-white hair, but 
 a beard still almost black, a combination 
 which is always striking. His features 
 were fine, his dark eyes deeply sunk under 
 eyebrows still dark like his beard. There 
 was a gentleman on the other side of him 
 whom he did not seem to care to talk to, 
 and he was sitting, scarcely speaking, his face 
 in repose. 
 
 " Do you mean that handsome old man ?" 
 I said. 
 
 " Old," said my companion, slightly 
 startled ; he was about the same a^e himself 
 if I had thought of it. " Well, I suppose he 
 is old," he added, with a little laugh. "You 
 should talk to him. I don't know a more 
 interesting man ; and, as I tell you, he is the
 
 II. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 285 
 
 man to whom, if there was a railway to be 
 made to the moon, everybody would turn. 
 If he took the Channel tunnel in hand he 
 would carry it through." 
 
 " But that must be impossible," said I. 
 " I hate the crossing ; but I would not trust 
 
 myself in a tunnel under the sea, not for 
 
 But you are laughing — it is impossible " 
 
 " Impossible ! — not in the very least — ask 
 him. I think myself he's too speculative. 
 But there is one thing certain. If Oakley 
 took it up, it would go through. He'd do it. 
 He is a man who does not believe in diffi- 
 culties. There might be a great catastrophe 
 next day, but one way or other he'd drive it 
 through." 
 
 I am a very quiet person myself, therefore 
 it stands to reason that I should like a man 
 who drives thing's through. Besides, he was 
 a handsome old man. I looked at him again 
 behind the flowers, while my companion 
 went on talking, and I saw something which 
 interested me. Miss Stamford came to a
 
 ?S6 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 pause in her conversation with the man at 
 her right hand, and she seized the oppor- 
 tunity to turn to the man on her left. At 
 the first sound of her voice his abstract 
 countenance lighted up. He turned hastily 
 round with a look of recognition. How 
 could he know Ursula Stamford, I said to 
 myself? His face lighted up with a gleam 
 of intelligence and pleasure, and something 
 which, not knowing any other word, I can 
 only call sweetness. He turned quite round 
 to her, and began to talk with an interest and 
 warmth which roused my immediate sym- 
 pathy. I seemed to be looking on at an 
 interesting scene in the theatre, seen from so 
 great a distance that it was only the dumb- 
 show which made it intelligible. And my 
 neighbour carried on his discourse all the 
 time. 
 
 ' He has sprung from nothing," he said. 
 " I don't know if he ever had a father. He 
 began in the humblest way. The first time 
 I heard of him was about thirty years ao- ,
 
 II. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 2S7 
 
 when he was strue^lmo- into business. He 
 was not what you would call a young man 
 then. (You ladies are hard upon age — you 
 don't like it talked about when it concerns 
 yourselves, but you stamp us down as old 
 men without a bit of fellow-feeling ) ' 
 
 Here I interrupted my instructor. " I 
 thought it was a weakness of ours only to 
 dislike to be called old. I thought men were 
 superior to such a little vanity — as to so 
 many others." 
 
 " You are satirical now. You think we 
 are not superior to any vanity, and I 
 shouldn't wonder if you w r ere right. I was 
 saying old Oakley was not a young man 
 to start with. He was a sort of an engineer, 
 self-taught, all self-taught, and he was trying 
 to get into business as a contractor. Mrs. 
 Mulgrave," said my companion solemnly, 
 " have you any idea what that man is worth 
 now ? I thought so, as you didn't seem 
 impressed. He is worth more than a million, 
 that is the fact — he is made of money ; losses
 
 2ss Neighbours on the green, chap. 
 
 don't seem to touch him. I do not suppose," 
 my friend added, with awe in his voice, 
 " that he knows how much he has." 
 
 This information did not excite me as he 
 expected, but I looked again between the 
 geraniums at Mr. Oakley. I am afraid his 
 handsome head interested me more than his 
 fortune. "And there are so many people 
 who have nothing at all!" I said; "but to 
 look at him he might be a philosopher 
 without a penny." 
 
 ; That is just like you ladies — you would 
 think more of him if he were a philosopher 
 without a penny. What an extraordinary 
 mistake ! ' cried my companion, " as if 
 money were not a power, quite as interesting 
 and a great deal more tangible than philo- 
 sophy." 
 
 His countenance flushed and chano-ed. 
 He was an enthusiast for money. I have 
 met many such among General George's 
 City friends : not in the sordid way we think 
 of, but really as a great power.
 
 it. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 2S9 
 
 When Mrs. St. Clair gave the S1 £ n to £° 
 away, I was quite sorry to break off this 
 conversation, which was so much more in- 
 teresting than the ordinary kind of talk. It 
 was a beautiful June evening, and, instead of 
 going into the drawing-room, we all went out 
 upon the lawn where Simms had laid down 
 the great lionskin, of which they are all so 
 proud, and some rugs which the General 
 brought from India ; for it is unnecessary to 
 say that we elder people were a little afraid 
 of the dew on the grass. But nobody could 
 have taken cold on such a night. The 
 borders were all red and white with roses 
 standing out against the deep green of the 
 shrubberies behind, and the colours seemed 
 to repeat themselves in the sky, which was 
 all one flush of rose above the blue, deepen- 
 ing into crimson as it descended, and burning 
 like fire between the trees on the horizon 
 line. Dinglefield stands high, with the broad 
 Thames valley lying at its feet, of which you 
 could get glimpses through the cuttings on 
 
 VOL. II. U
 
 290 NEIGHBOURS OX THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 the western side, if your eyes were not 
 dazzled with all that blaze of gold. Miss 
 Stamford was tired with her day in town, 
 and established herself at once in her 
 favourite basket-chair on the lawn. She 
 sat there tranquil and happy while the rest 
 walked about ; her presence, her smile, the 
 rest that seemed to breathe about her, gave 
 stability and meaning to the whole place. 
 She was only an old maid according to the 
 vulgar, but you could not look at her with- 
 out feeling sure that where she was, there 
 was a home. 1 don't know that it had ever 
 occurred to me to think so much about 
 Ursula Stamford before. There was some- 
 thing in the air which affected me, though 
 I did not know how. We could see the 
 lighted windows of the dining-room, and 
 hear the sound of the voices and laughter, 
 though at a distance ; and we all laughed 
 too in sympathy, though we did not know 
 what the jokes were. It was very pleasant 
 and friendly, and rather droll. None of us
 
 II. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 291 
 
 had any particular desire to be joined by the 
 gentlemen. We had done our duty by 
 them, talked our very best to them, and 
 flattered ourselves that it had all gone off 
 very well ; but though we were glad they 
 were enjoying themselves, now that our part 
 of the entertainment was over, we were not 
 very sorry to think that they must all go 
 away shortly by the last train. And no 
 heart among us, I am safe to say, beat one 
 pulsation the quicker when they came out 
 upon the lawn, some of them slightly flushed 
 with the laughter and the good cheer, to take 
 their coffee, and their leave. It had crown 
 almost dark by that time, and the white 
 waistcoats (for they were in their morning 
 dress, and most of them wore white waist- 
 coats) made a great show in the half light. 
 The greater part of them thanked us all for 
 the delightful evening, not being quite clear 
 which were, and which were not, the ladies of 
 the house, but determined to fulfil all the 
 duties of politeness. We walked with them 
 
 u 2
 
 292 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 to the gate to see them go, and shook hands 
 with them all, though we did not know 
 their names. I recollect the whole scene as 
 clearly as a picture, though I knew at the 
 time no reason why I should remember it : 
 the dining-room brightly lighted, the table 
 with all its fruit and flowers, and the vacant 
 chairs pushed away, standing in all manner 
 of groups : the drawing-room much more dim, 
 just showing a glimmer of newly-lighted 
 candles : the table on the. lawn with Miss 
 Stamford's white cap and half visible figure 
 close to it : and all the rest of us standing 
 about telling each other how well it had gone 
 off, and listening to the voices of the gentle- 
 men getting fainter and fainter as they 
 streamed off behind the shrubberies alone 
 the road to the station. If any one had told 
 us what changes would come from that visit ! 
 But how could any one have guessed the 
 changes that were to come ? 
 
 It was not the next day, but the day after 
 that I met General George in the afternoon
 
 II. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 293 
 
 coming from the station. It was at least 
 two hours before his usual time, and he was 
 walking. The sight of him gave me a little 
 shock. Something, I thought, must have 
 happened. I ran over in my mind, as one 
 naturally does, as I went up to him, the 
 things that were most possible. There were 
 nephews scattered about over all the world. 
 Could it be that there was bad news of 
 George Thistlethwaite in Ceylon, or Bertie 
 Stamford at the Cape ? or was it pleasanter 
 intelligence from young Mrs. Thurston (arc 
 Ursula Humphreys) or Lucy Thistlethwaite, 
 or one of the Lincolnshire girls ? but that 
 (I said to myself) would not be enough to 
 bring the General home so much sooner 
 than usual. When he came nearer how- 
 ever my mind became easier. He did not 
 look unhappy, he looked puzzled, and now 
 and then a gleam like laughter came over 
 his face. When he saw me he came forward 
 with an air of pleasure. 
 
 ; You are the very person I wanted to
 
 294 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 see — if you will let me, I will walk home 
 with you ; but let us go the back way," said 
 General George to my intense surprise, " for 
 I don't want to see my sisters till I have 
 taken your advice." 
 
 " My advice ! before you see your sisters, 
 before you tell Ursula I ' I cried, and then 
 the General laughed and frowned, and 
 looked angry and amused all in one. " That 
 is just where my difficulty lies," he said. A 
 difficulty about Ursula ! it took away my 
 breath. 
 
 " You will not believe it," he said, '' but it 
 is quite true. Charles came to me this 
 morning with the absurdest question. He 
 came to ask me who it was that sat next Mr. 
 Oakley at dinner at Bonport on Tuesday — 
 eh ? what, did you notice anything ? " he 
 asked abruptly, for I had not been able to 
 restrain a little exclamation. I have never 
 boasted of my penetration, but from that 
 moment I seemed to know exactly what he 
 was going to say.
 
 II. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 295 
 
 " I know who sat next Mr. Oakley at 
 dinner," I said. 
 
 " Ursula, wasn't it ? we laid our heads 
 together, and from all we could make out — - 
 he went to Charles first to find out who it 
 was, and Charles, of course, made up his 
 mind that it must have been one of the 
 voung ladies that had made such an impres- 
 sion. He proposed first Miss Woodroof and 
 then the young widow : but no. no. Oakley 
 said it was not a young lady. It was a lady 
 whose hair was turning gray, who wore 
 a cap, and used a double eye-glass. At 
 last the conviction forced itself upon me. 
 By Jove! it was Ursula — Ursula the man 
 was thinking of! We both burst out laugh- 
 
 ins: in his face But afterwards," the 
 
 General added gloomily with a flush of 
 displeasure, "afterwards — I feel furious, 
 Mrs. Mulgrave, though I may not show it ; 
 and that is why I have come first to 
 you." 
 
 "What did he want?' 1 I said, though 1
 
 296 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 allow there was some hypocrisy in my 
 question. 
 
 " What did he want ? — you may well ask. 
 He is a man of sixty- five, older than I am. 
 He wants — to marry my sister," said the 
 General, with a half suppressed outcry of 
 rage — " a man who has risen from the ranks 
 
 —a stranger — a — a confounded ■ I bes*- 
 
 you ten thousand pardons, Mrs. Mulgrave ; 
 he wants to pay his addresses, if you please, 
 to Ursula ! God bless us all — did you ever 
 hear such a thin^ ? I feel much more like 
 cursing than blessing, to tell the truth." 
 
 " But, General, he is very rich — richer 
 than any one ever was before." 
 
 " Ah, you have got bitten too," he said, 
 with a tone almost of disgust. " That is 
 what Charles says ; but what is his money 
 to me ? What is it to any of us, Mrs. 
 Mulgrave ? You would not upset all the 
 order of your life and change your habits, 
 and give up your own ways for a million of 
 money, would you ? After all, when you
 
 ii. AX ELDERLY ROMANCE. 297 
 
 have enough to be comfortable, what does 
 money matter ? Even the most extrava- 
 gant of women can't put more than a certain 
 number of yards of stuff into her dress. 
 When you have enough, what does it matter 
 whether the overplus is counted by hundreds 
 or by thousands ? " said the General, with 
 magnanimous but new-born indifference. If 
 he cared so little about it, why should he 
 go to the City every day, I could not help 
 saying to myself: and, indeed, it came to 
 my lips before I knew. 
 
 "If we all thought that," I said, "it 
 would save a great deal of trouble. Perhaps 
 vou would not then have had these twelve 
 
 J 
 
 gentlemen down to dinner and made all 
 the mischief, General." 
 
 General George laughed. " Perhaps I 
 shouldn't," he said, "but that is different. 
 It is not for the money, but the occupa- 
 tion, Mrs. Mulgrave ; and of course when 
 one has money invested one wants to make 
 something by it. However my opinion is
 
 298 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 that it would be much better to say nothing 
 about this follv to Ursula. To be sure," he 
 added with a look of half-defiant assurance 
 which he belied by a suspicious glance of 
 inquiry at me, " it might amuse her ; but it 
 could have no other effect. I don't see why 
 I should take any notice to Ursula." 
 
 " But Mr. Oakley— will he be satisfied ? " 
 
 " Old Oakley ? Upon my word, I don't 
 see why I should consider him or what will 
 satisfy him," said the General, growing red ; 
 but he was uneasy. He paused, then turned 
 to me again. "If you were in my position, 
 what should you do ?" 
 
 " I should tell her, and let her judge ; 
 after all, it is she who must decide." 
 
 " Decide — judge ! you speak," cried 
 General George, " as if it were pos- 
 sible — as if it might be within the 
 
 bounds of Bah ! do you suppose that 
 
 Ursula — Ursula ! my sister — would, could 
 hesitate one moment ? " 
 
 " No." I said " no," half because I really
 
 II. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 299 
 
 thought so, but half because he was so much 
 excited, and it was necessary to calm him. 
 "I do not suppose she would ; but still, a 
 
 woman should be told when a man It 
 
 is the greatest compliment he can pay her, 
 and it is always flattering even when it is 
 impossible ! ' 
 
 '' Flattering — a compliment ! What can 
 you be thinking of?" the General cried in 
 hieh disdain ; " that an old fellow like that 
 should propose to appropriate and take pos- 
 session of — a lady ! I don't say my sister, 
 which of course is the sting of it," he said 
 with a laugh, calming down again, " but 
 any lady " 
 
 " Dear General, forgive me," I said ; 
 " you always talk, you gentlemen, of mar- 
 riage as the end of every woman's ambition, 
 and you are always ready to jibe at those 
 who have not attained that great end. 
 Then how, when this elevation is in her 
 power, do you venture to think of keeping 
 her in ignorance of it ? " 
 
 o
 
 3oo NEIGH HOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 He turned round upon me almost with 
 violence. "Elevation!" he cried; then 
 perceiving, I suppose, by something in my 
 eyes what I meant, laughed more uneasily 
 than ever. "Come," he said, "we may say 
 silly things, I allow we all say silly things ; 
 but when you come to that — to speak of 
 elevation for my sister from any offer, or 
 that she should think it a compliment !— 
 God bless us all ! — there are a great many 
 foolish things that one says, but you know 
 better than to take it all for gospel. Of 
 course when one speaks of women one does 
 
 not think of- By Jove, I am only getting 
 
 deeper. Don't hit a man when he is down, 
 but be serious, and give me your advice." 
 
 " One does not think of one's own sis- 
 ters," said I, for I did not mean to spare 
 him, " only of other people's sisters, or of 
 those who have nobody to stand up for 
 them ; but I will not be ungenerous. Gene- 
 ral, I will give you my advice. Tell 
 Ursula, and let her judge for herself."
 
 ii. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 301 
 
 " Judge ! — she can have but one opinion. 
 But that is what Charlie says. I suppose 
 the two of you must be right,"' said the 
 General grudgingly. He walked on by 
 my side in silence, cutting down the weeds 
 by the roadside ferociously with his stick ; 
 then repeated with a still more churlish 
 assent, " I suppose what you two people of 
 the world say must be right." 
 
 I smiled within myself to be called a 
 woman of the w r orld ; but one must not take 
 the words of an angry man to heart. When 
 he came to the turn of the road which led 
 to Brothers-and-Sisters he muttered some- 
 thing about getting it over, and took off his 
 hat and left me without another word. Poor 
 General George! Under all his pretences 
 at an<*er he was in a qreat fright. Either 
 he believed his own careless talk, and 
 thought that a husband was too ' fine a 
 thing for any woman to refuse, or else— 
 But I need not discuss the vague feeling 
 of insecurity which had begun to creep over
 
 302 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. ch. II. 
 
 him. For my part, I did not feel alarmed. 
 I had more confidence in Ursula's faithful- 
 ness than he had. At the same time, the 
 crisis was exciting, and I thought the time 
 very long until the evening began to 
 darken, and I felt myself at liberty — dinner 
 being over — to run over the corner of the 
 green which lay between us, as I often 
 did in the evening, and see what Ursula 
 said.
 
 AN ELDERL Y ROMANCE. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 The family party was on the lawn as 
 usual ; Miss Stamford seated in her own 
 chair with her knitting and her feet upon 
 the lionskin ; while Mrs. St. Clair beside 
 her, with a basket full of bright scraps, had 
 been dressing dolls for a bazaar. Sophy 
 was cutting off the withered roses with a 
 large pair of garden scissors ; all their occu- 
 pations were quite as usual. But there was 
 an aspect about the family which was not 
 usual. In the distance the General's step 
 was audible pacing about ; and there was 
 an odour of his cigar in the air ; all as 
 peaceful, as homelike as it always was ; 
 but yet a something in the atmosphere
 
 304 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 which had not been there yesterday. As 
 I came up with my shawl over my head, 
 the General tossed his cigar away and came 
 nearer, and Sophia put down the basket 
 with the dead roses, and Mrs. St. Clair got 
 up to get me a chair. The only one that 
 had not changed in the least was Ursula, 
 who raised her head and her eyes and gave 
 me a friendly nod as she always did. She 
 went on with her knitting without any inter- 
 mission. It is work which does not demand 
 attention, nor so much light as doll-dressing. 
 They were all very glad to see me — more 
 glad even than on ordinary occasions : for 
 it was clear that the situation was highly 
 tendu, as the French say, and that a new- 
 comer was a relief. 
 
 "What a beautiful evening!" we all said 
 together, and then stopped abashed, as 
 people do who have rushed into the same 
 commonplace speech. 
 
 Then Ursula added, " Of course, that is 
 the first thing we must say to each other.
 
 in. A N ELDERL Y ROM A NCE. . 305 
 
 I think there never was such a summer — 
 so bright, so steady, one fine day after 
 another. Here is a fortnight, or nearly so, 
 that we have not had one drop of rain." 
 
 " Quite wonderful," said I. " The hay, 
 I hear, is a sight to see. A day or two 
 more, and we shall all begin to pray for 
 rain. We are never content whatever we 
 have." 
 
 " A little variety is always pleasant," 
 Mrs. St. Clair said. Meanwhile, while we 
 talked about the weather, the General hung 
 about over our little group like a storm- 
 cloud. He did not say anything, but he 
 looked tempestuous ; he, who was always 
 so calm. Presently he turned away, and 
 went off to say something to Simms, who 
 appeared just then with a note or a 
 message. 
 
 " I suppose," said Mrs. St. Clair, turn- 
 ing to me, "you know all about it. George 
 told us that he had met you, and told you 
 
 vol. ir. x
 
 306 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 " Yes, he told me ; " but I did not know 
 what to say ; they all wore a look of agita- 
 tion, except Ursula, who was as calm as 
 usual — more calm than usual, I should 
 have said ; but, no doubt, that was only in 
 comparison with the agitation of the rest". 
 
 "And I suppose you think like the rest, 
 that I will jump at a husband the moment 
 one is offered to me," said Miss Stamford 
 with a smile. 
 
 "We don't think so, Ursula. We know- 
 it is not the first time. It is only George 
 that is so frightened, poor fellow." 
 
 " Why should he be so frightened ? " 
 Miss Stamford cried. " No ; it is not the 
 first time. I may take that little credit to 
 myself. I might have my head turned, 
 perhaps, if it had been the first time. But, 
 after all, it is not so much to brag of. I 
 suppose he wants somebody to take care 
 of him when he gets old and feeble ; but 
 he ought to have somebody younger than 
 me.
 
 in. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 307 
 
 Sixty-five is not what you would call 
 young ; but it was odd how we all were 
 of opinion that Mr. Oakley's time for being 
 old and feeble was still a good way off, a 
 thing to come. I acknowledged that I 
 shared this weakness. We were all about 
 the same age, and it did not occur to us 
 that we were already old. 
 
 " He shows his sense," said I, taking 
 the part of the absent to whom nobody 
 did any justice, "as well as his good taste. 
 Poor man, though he is so rich, I am very 
 sorry for him. I wish Ursula had met him 
 twenty years ago when there would have 
 been no harm " 
 
 " No harm ! do you know that he is a 
 nobody — a. man self-made ? " said Mrs. St. 
 Clair; "not a match for Ursula Stamford 
 if he had been ever so young ! ' : 
 
 " But you did not think of that in Fia's 
 case," said Sophy ; "he was rich and you 
 never said a word. You thought it quite 
 reasonable. ' What do his grandfathers 
 
 x 2
 
 3o8 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 matter to us ? ' you said. I am not sure 
 myself whether it does or not ; but you 
 said so, you know ; and George proposed 
 the bride and bridegroom at the weddine, 
 and everybody was pleased. Now this 
 Mr. Oakley is a very nice man, whatever 
 you say, for I had a good deal of talk with 
 him myself; and if Ursula chose " 
 
 "You should not interfere," said Mrs. 
 St. Clair ; " you are always sentimental. 
 Of course, if there is so much as a thought 
 of a marriage, Sophy is always in favour of 
 it ; but to think of Ursula at her time of 
 life ! " 
 
 "You all talk very much at your ease 
 about Ursula," said Miss Stamford. " I 
 suppose Ursula may have a word, a little 
 share in it, for herself. The way my 
 family consult over me " — she said, turning 
 to me with a slight blush and laueh. " I 
 think George might have held his tongue ; 
 that would have been the more satisfactorv 
 way."
 
 in. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 309 
 
 "It was my fault," I cried hurriedly : 
 " he told me that he thought it would be 
 best not to tell you. You must forgive 
 me, Ursula, if I gave him bad advice ; I 
 thought you ought to know." 
 
 Before I had half said this, I saw I had 
 made a mistake ; but one must finish one's 
 sentence, however foolish it may be. Ursula 
 suspended her knitting for a moment and 
 looked at me with calm amazement. 
 
 " Not tell me!" she said. "Why should 
 he have kept it from me ? " 
 
 The emphasis was very slight, but it 
 meant a great deal. It never occurred to 
 her that a thing which concerned her so 
 closely should have been kept from her- 
 self; the question was why should we 
 know ; and I confess I felt very much 
 ashamed of having any say in it, when I 
 met the calm, astonished look of her eyes. 
 
 "It is getting a little chilly," she said, 
 rising up. " I think it is time to go in- 
 doors."
 
 310 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 We all followed her quite humbly, and 
 the General came stalking after us, more 
 like a thunder-cloud than ever. He had 
 been talking to poor Simms in a voice 
 which was not pleasant, and he appeared 
 at the drawing-room window by which we 
 all entered with the large lionskin in his 
 arms. 
 
 " I can't have this left out all night in 
 those heavy dews," he said. I do not 
 think I ever saw those signs of suppressed 
 irritation, which are too common in families, 
 among the Stamfords before. 
 
 Next morning General George came in 
 for a moment before I had breakfasted, to 
 tell me. for my satisfaction that all was 
 right. His face was quite clear again. 
 " I was a little cross last night. I fear 
 you may have supposed that I for a mo- 
 ment doubted my sister. Not a moment, 
 Mrs. Mulgrave. I have got to give him 
 his answer, poor old fellow. I can't help 
 feeling a little sorry for him all the same.
 
 ill. AN ELDERL Y ROMANCE. 3 1 1 
 
 What bad luck for the poor old beggar .1 
 Of all the women there to hit upon the 
 one who was simply hopeless ! Some men 
 always have that sort of fate." 
 
 " He showed his taste," said I ; " but I 
 heard he was the luckiest man in the 
 world, General ; that he always succeeded 
 in everything ; that however wild the pro- 
 ject was, he was the man to carry it 
 through." 
 
 I said this partly in malice, I am bound 
 to admit, and I was very successful. The 
 General's face clouded over again : he set 
 his teeth. " He shall not succeed this time ; " 
 and he said something more in his mous- 
 tache, some stronger words which I was not 
 intended to hear. It was all over then, this 
 odd little episode. I stood and watched him 
 from my door half relieved, half wondering. 
 Was it all over ? I did not feel so satisfied 
 or so certain as General George. 
 
 A few days of perfect quiet ensued. When 
 a week passed we all felt really satisfied. It
 
 312 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 was over then ? Mr. Oakley had accepted 
 his refusal. To be sure one did not see what 
 else he could have done, though I confess 
 that I had not expected it for my part. 
 However, on the Sunday morning the mo- 
 ment I looked across to the Stamfords' pew 
 after getting settled in my own, it seemed 
 to me that I could see indications of a new 
 event. Both Mrs. St. Clair and Sophy were 
 looking at me when I raised my head ; they 
 could not restrain themselves. They gave 
 me anxious, significant glances with little 
 hardly perceptible signs of the head and 
 hand. When the service was over, and we 
 were going out, Sophy was at my side in 
 a moment. We were not actually out of 
 church when I felt her arm slide into mine 
 and a whisper in my ear. " She has got a 
 letter ! " Sophy said, all in a tremble of eager- 
 ness. Mrs. St. Clair came up on the other 
 side as soon as we were clear of the stream 
 of people. " It is getting really serious," she 
 said ; " he will not take a refusal. It is quite
 
 in. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 313 
 
 absurd, and George is dreadfully angry. He 
 is just as absurd on the other side." 
 
 " And what does Ursula say ? ' ; 
 
 " Oh, Ursula does not say anything. Of 
 course we could not help knowing about the 
 letter. It was very long and very much in 
 earnest " 
 
 " Oh, quite impassioned ! " cried Sophy. 
 She had not encountered anything so exciting 
 for years. She was pale with interest and 
 emotion, shaking her head in intense serious- 
 ness. "He says that he appeals to her sense 
 of justice not to condemn him without a 
 hearing. It is quite beautiful. I am sure he 
 is a nice man." 
 
 " And then, you know, there is the other 
 side of the question," said Mrs. St. Clair 
 seriously. " I did not quite understand when 
 we spoke of it last. Charlie says he is im- 
 mensely rich — not just ordinarily comfortable 
 like so many people, but a true millionaire. 
 That changes the aspect of the matter a little, 
 don't you think ? Not that I am a mercenary
 
 314 NEIGHBOURS OX THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 person, still less Ursula ; but when you come 
 to think of it, wealth to that extent is some- 
 thing to be considered. Just fancy the good 
 she might do," cried the sensible sister, "and 
 the number of young people we have looking 
 to us ! I do think it is not exactly right to 
 ignore that side of the question." 
 
 " Charlie thinks it is quite wrong," said 
 Sophy, shaking her head. 
 
 The General had not even stopped to say 
 " Good morning " outside the church door as 
 he usually did. It was his brother Charles 
 who was with Ursula. The General walked 
 straight home, without looking to the right 
 hand or the left. I felt a great sympathy for 
 him. It was he that would feel it most 
 if anything happened ; and he was the only 
 one of the family who had that fantastic 
 delicacy of sentiment which some of us feel 
 for those we love, so that the merest touch 
 of anything that could be called ridicule, 
 seemed sacrilege and desecration to him. 
 
 I must not attempt to go in detail into
 
 ill. AX ELDERLY ROMANCE. 315 
 
 all that followed. Miss Stamford wrote a 
 very beautiful letter (they all told me) to her 
 antiquated lover, telling him how sorry she 
 was to be the cause of any annoyance to him, 
 and hoping that the vexation would be but 
 temporary, as indeed she felt sure it must 
 be — but that his proposals were quite out of 
 the question. This, of course, was what 
 every woman would have said in the circum- 
 stances. But neither did Mr. Oakley take 
 this for an answer. There was another letter 
 by return of post in which they said he 
 implored her to believe that nothing about 
 the matter was temporary — that it was a 
 question of life and death to him ; that now 
 was his only chance of happiness. Happi- 
 ness ! for a man cf sixty-five ! For my part I 
 could not help laughing, but it was no laugh- 
 ing matter for the household at Brothers-and- 
 Sisters. A few days after this I met Mr. 
 Oakley himself on his way to the house. He 
 recognized me at once, but naturally he did 
 not know who I was. He took me for one
 
 o 
 
 16 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 of the family, and came up to me carrying his 
 hat in his hand. He was a very handsome 
 old man. His hair was snow-white, a mass 
 of it rising up in waves from his forehead, 
 with eyebrows still black and strongly 
 marked, and the finest brilliant dark eyes. I 
 said to myself mentally : " If it had been I, I 
 should have given in at once." And his 
 manners were beautiful — not the manners of 
 society — the deferential respect of a man who 
 knows women chiefly through books, and 
 does not understand the free and easy modern 
 way of treating us. He kept his hat in his 
 hand as he stood and spoke. " I do not 
 know," he said, " if I have the honour of 
 speaking to a sister of Miss Stamford's, but 
 I know I met you there." 
 
 " Not a sister, but a very affectionate 
 friend," I said. His face lighted up instantly ; 
 he almost loved me for saying so. " Then if 
 that is the case we ought to be friends too," 
 he said. I was so much interested that I 
 turned and walked with him, regardless of
 
 in. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 317 
 
 prudence. What would the Stamfords say if 
 they saw me thus identifying myself with the 
 cause of their assailant ? but the interest of 
 this strange little romance carried me away. 
 
 " 1 must see her," he said. " Don't you 
 think I have a right to see her ? They need 
 not surely grudge me one opportunity of 
 pleading my own cause. No, indeed, I don't 
 blame them. If I had such a treasure — nay," 
 he went on with a smile, " when I have that 
 treasure, I will guard it from every wind that 
 blows. I don't wonder at their precautions. 
 But Stamford does not treat me with 
 generosity ; he does not trust to my honour : 
 that is why I adopt his own tactics. I 
 must try to effect an entrance while he is 
 away." 
 
 " I don't think Ursula will have you, Mr. 
 Oakley," I said. 
 
 " Perhaps not ; but that remains to be 
 seen. She has never seen me — that is, she 
 has never seen the real John Oakley, only 
 a director of her brother's company, two
 
 3i8 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 different persons, Mrs. Mulgrave, if you will 
 allow me to say so." 
 
 ' But she saw you before she knew you 
 were a director. She travelled with you. 
 You were the gentleman like Don Ouix- 
 
 ote " 
 
 How foolish I was ! Of course I ouomt 
 not to have said it. I felt that before the 
 words were out of my mouth. Such en- 
 couragement as this was enough to counter- 
 balance any number of severities. " Ah ! 
 I am like Don Quixote, am I ? " he said ; 
 and once more, and more brightly than ever, 
 his handsome old face blazed into the 
 brightest expression. Poor Mr. Oakley ! I 
 threw myself heart and soul into his faction 
 after this ; for indeed, as I afterwards heard, 
 he had not at all a pleasant " time," as the 
 Americans say, that afternoon. When he 
 sent in his name at Brothers-and-Sisters he 
 was told that the ladies were out, and, though 
 he waited, all that he managed to obtain 
 was a hurried interview with Mrs. St. Clair,
 
 ill. AX ELDERLY ROMANCE. 319 
 
 who conveyed to him Ursula's entreaty that 
 he would accept her answer as final, and not 
 ask to see her. Sophy told me after (she 
 must have hidden herself somewhere, for 
 nobody but Frances was supposed to be 
 present) that his behaviour was beautiful. 
 He bowed to the ground, she said, and de- 
 clared that no one could be so much interested 
 as he was in observing Miss Stamford's 
 slightest wish ; that he would not for the 
 world intrude upon her, but wait her pleasure 
 another time. Mrs. St. Clair's heart softened 
 too, and she did not protest, as perhaps she 
 ought to have done, against this " other 
 time." He passed by my cottage as he went 
 away, and I do not deny that I was in my 
 little garden looking out. " I have had no 
 luck," he said, shaking his head, but still with 
 a smile, " no luck to-day ; but another time 
 I shall succeed better." 
 
 I ran to the gate, I felt so much interested. 
 " Do you really think, Mr. Oakley," I said, 
 " that it is worth your while to persevere ? '
 
 32o NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 "Worth my while?" he said ; "certainly 
 it is worth my while : for I am in no hurry. 
 I can bide my time." 
 
 Bide his time at sixty-five ! I stood and 
 looked at him as lone as he was in si^ht. 
 There is nothing like courage for securing 
 the sympathy of the bystanders. 
 
 After this the excitement ran very high 
 both in the house of the Stamfords and in 
 the community in general. We all took 
 sides : and while General George made him- 
 self more and more disagreeable, and we all 
 watched and spied her every action, Ursula 
 was subjected all the time to a ceaseless 
 assault from the other side. Letters poured 
 upon her ; beautiful baskets of flowers ar- 
 rived suddenly, secretly, so that no one knew 
 how they came. After a while, when the 
 autumn commenced, there came hampers of 
 game and of fruit, all in the same anonymous, 
 magnificent way. And then the clever old 
 man found out a still more effectual way of 
 siege. The Stamfords had always nephews
 
 in. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 321 
 
 who wanted appointments or who required 
 to be pushed. For instance, there was young 
 Charley, of the Inner Temple, sadly in want 
 of a brief : when lo ! all at once, briefs be^an 
 to tumble down from heaven upon the young 
 man. In a week he had more business than 
 he knew what do with. And Willie Thistle- 
 thwaite had a living offered to him ; and 
 Cecil, whom they were so anxious to place 
 with an engineer, though the premium was 
 so serious a matter, suddenly found a place 
 open to him with no premium at all. I 
 believe in my heart that it was Mr. Charles 
 Stamford who helped the old lover to recom- 
 mend himself in this effectual, quiet way ; 
 for how should he have found out all the 
 nephews without help ? But as one of these 
 mysterious benefits after another happened 
 to the distant members of the family, the 
 feeling rose stronger and stronger among all 
 their friends. We set down everything, from 
 the flowers to the living, unhesitatingly to 
 Mr. Oakley ; and at last public sentiment on 
 
 VOL. II. Y
 
 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN chap. 
 
 o-~ 
 
 the green got to such a pitch that whereas 
 people had laughed at the whole matter at 
 first as little more than a joke, everybody 
 now grew indignant, and protested that Ur- 
 sula Stamford ought to be cut and sent to 
 Coventry if she did not marry Don Quixote. 
 I don't know who had betrayed this descrip- 
 tion which she had herself given of him. 
 But everybody now called him Don Quixote, 
 and the whole community took his cause to 
 heart. While this feeling rose outside, a wave 
 of the same sentiment, but still more powerful, 
 got up within. Mr. Charles spoke out and 
 declared (as, indeed, he had done from the 
 first) that to neglect such an opportunity of 
 strengthening the family influence would be 
 a mere flying in the face of Providence ; and 
 then something still more extraordinary hap- 
 pened. Frances herself — who looked upon 
 all married ladies in the light of prospective 
 widows, and regarded the one state only as 
 a preparation for the other — Frances herself 
 suddenly threw off her allegiance to the
 
 [II. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 323 
 
 General and went over boldly to the other 
 side. Sophy had been Mr. Oakley's cham- 
 pion all along. They began to turn upon 
 Ursula, to accuse her of behaving badly to 
 her unwearied suitor — they accused her of 
 playing fast and loose, of amusing herself 
 with his devotion. They raised a family 
 outcry against her, and brought down all the 
 married sisters and the distant brothers upon 
 her, with a storm of disapproving letters. 
 " The man that has provided for my Cecil," 
 one indignant lady wrote, "surely, surely, 
 deserves better at my sister's hands ; " and 
 " I really think, my dear Ursula, that any 
 petty objections of your own should yield 
 before the evident advantage to the family," 
 was what the eldest brother of all, the father 
 of the young barrister, said. On the other 
 side, with gloom on his face, and a sneer 
 upon his lip (where it was so completely out 
 of place), and a bitter jibe now and then 
 about the falsity and weakness of women, 
 General George stood all alone, and kept 
 
 v 2
 
 324 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 a jealous watch upon her. His love for his 
 favourite sister seemed to have turned to 
 eall. He would have none of her usual 
 services ; he no longer consulted her about 
 anything — no longer told her what he was 
 going to do. It is to be supposed that by 
 this cruel method the General intended to 
 prove to his sister how much kinder and 
 better a master he was than any other she 
 could aspire to ; but if this was the case, 
 he- took a very curious way of showing 
 his superiority. And Ursula stood be- 
 tween these two parties, her home and her 
 life becoming more and more unbearable 
 every day. 
 
 At last she took a sudden resolution. 
 Sophy ran over to tell me of it late one 
 September evening. There were tears in 
 Sophy's eyes, and she was full of awe. 
 " Ursula has made up her mind," she said, 
 almost below her breath. "It is all over, 
 Mrs. Mulorave. She has written him a 
 terrible letter — it is quite beautiful, but it
 
 in. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 325 
 
 is something terrible at the same time ; 
 and she is going off abroad to-morrow. She 
 says she cannot bear it any longer ; she 
 says we are killing her. She says she must 
 make an end of it, and that she will go away. 
 Poor Mr. Oakley ! " Sophy said, and cried. 
 As for me, I also felt deeply impressed 
 and a little awe-stricken, but I had a 
 lingering faith in Don Quixote notwith- 
 standing all.
 
 AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 There had been very little time left for 
 preparations, and hardly any one, Sophy 
 told me, was aware they were going away. 
 Except myself, no one of the neighbours 
 knew. All the arrangements were hastily 
 made. Ursula wanted to be gone if possible 
 before Mr. Oakley could take any further 
 step. I went over early next morning to 
 see if I could be of any use. Ursula was 
 in her room, doing her packing. To see 
 her in her old black silk with her simple 
 little cap covering her gray hair, and to 
 think she was beincr driven from her home 
 by the importunities of a too-ardent lover, 
 struck me as more ridiculous than it had
 
 ch. iv. AN ELDERL Y ROMANCE. 327 
 
 ever done before. She saw it herself, and 
 laughed as she stood for a moment before 
 the long glass, in which she had caught a 
 glimpse of herself. 
 
 "I am a pretty sort of figure for all this 
 nonsense," she said, permitting herself for 
 the first time an honest laugh on the subject ; 
 but then her face clouded once more. "The 
 truth is," she said, "it would all be mere 
 nonsense, but for George. It is he that 
 takes it so much to heart." 
 
 "Indeed," said I. "I think it is not at 
 all nice of the General ; and I don't think 
 it would be nonsense in any case. There 
 is some one else I acknowledge, Ursula, 
 that I think of more than the General." 
 
 She did not say anything more. Her face 
 paled, then grew red again, and she went 
 on with her packing. It is needless to say 
 that I was of no manner of use. I got rid 
 of a little of my own excitement by going, 
 that was all. I went again in the evening 
 to see the last of them. It was a lovely
 
 3 2S NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 September evening. There had been a 
 wonderfully fine sunset, and the whole hori- 
 zon was still flaming, the trees standing out 
 almost black in their deep greenness, though 
 touched with points of yellow, against the 
 broad lines of crimson and wide openings 
 of wistful green blueness in the sky. The 
 days were already growing short. There 
 is no time of the year at which one gets 
 so much orood of the sunset. As I went 
 across the corner of the green the gables 
 and irregular chimneys of the old house 
 stood up among the heavy foliage against 
 the lower band of colour where the green 
 and blue died into yellow, the "daffodil 
 sky " of the poet. They too looked black 
 against that light, and there was a wistful 
 look, I thought, about the whole place, pro- 
 testing dumbly against its abandonment. 
 Why should people go away from such a 
 pleasant and peaceful place to wander over 
 the world ? There was a solitary blackbird 
 singing clear and loud, filling the whole air
 
 iv. AN ELDERL Y ROMANCE. 329 
 
 with his sonQ-- I wonder if that songf is 
 really much less beautiful than the nightin- 
 gale's. I was thinking how blank and cold 
 the house would be when they were all 
 gone. The chimneys and gables already 
 looked so cold, smokeless, fireless, appealing 
 against the glare of the summer, which car- 
 ried away the dwellers inside, and extin- 
 guished the cheerful fire of home. As I 
 went in I saw the fly from the " Barley- 
 mow " creeping along towards the house to 
 carry the luggage to the station. The old 
 white horse came along quite reluctantly, as 
 if he did not like the errand. I suppose 
 all that his slow pace meant was that he 
 had gone through a long day's work, and 
 was tired ; but it is so natural to convey a 
 little of one's own feelings to everything, 
 even the chimneys of the old house. There 
 was nobody down stairs when I went in. 
 Simms told me in a dolorous tone that Miss 
 Stamford was putting on her bonnet. 
 
 "And I don't like it, ma'am — I don't like
 
 33° NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 it — going away like this, just when the 
 country's at its nicest. If it was the Gene- 
 ral for his bit of sport, his shooting, or that, 
 I wouldn't mind," said Simms ; " but what 
 call have the ladies got away from home ? 
 They'll go a-catching fevers or something, 
 see if they don't. It's tempting Provi- 
 dence." 
 
 " I hope not, Simms," said I ; but Simms 
 took no comfort from my hoping. He 
 shook his head and he uttered a groan as 
 he set a chair for me in the centre of the 
 drawing-room. No more cosy corners, the 
 man seemed to say — no more low seats and 
 pleasant talk — an uncompromising chair in 
 the middle of the room, and a business 
 object. These were all of which the old 
 drawing-room would be capable when the 
 ladies were away. I set down Simms along 
 with the house itself, protesting with all its 
 chimneys, and the old white horse lumberine 
 reluctantly along to fetch the luggage, and 
 the blackbird remonstrating loudly among
 
 iv. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 
 
 oo 1 
 
 the trees. They were all opposed to 
 Ursula's departure, and so was I. 
 
 The door opened, and Sophy came in 
 more despondent than all of these sundry 
 personages and things put together. " They 
 are rather late — the boxes are just being 
 put on to the fly. Will you come out here 
 and bid her good-bye ? " said Sophy, who 
 was limp with crying. I never could tell 
 whether it was imagination or a real quick- 
 ening of my senses, but at that moment, 
 as I rose to follow Sophy, I heard as clearly 
 as I ever heard it in my life the galloping 
 of horses on the dry, dusty summer road. 
 I heard it as distinctly as I hear now the 
 soft dropping of the rain, a sound as different 
 as possible from all the other sounds I had 
 been hearing — horses galloping at their very 
 best, a whip cracking, the sound of a frantic 
 energy of haste. Then I went out into the 
 hall, following Sophy. It must have been 
 imagination, for with all these lawns and 
 shrubberies round, one could not, you may
 
 33? NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 well believe, hear passing carriages like 
 that. Ursula was standing: at the foot of 
 the stairs in her travelling; dress. It was a 
 large, long hall, more oblong than square, 
 into which all the rooms opened ; the draw- 
 ing-room was opposite the outer door, and 
 the General's room (the library as it was 
 called) was further back nearer the stairs. 
 He was inside, but the door was open. 
 Ursula stood outside talking to the cook, 
 who was to be a kind of housekeeper while 
 they were away. " Don't trouble Miss 
 Sophy except when you are perplexed 
 yourself. On ordinary occasions you will 
 do quite nicely, I am sure ; you will do 
 everything that is wanted," she was saying 
 in her kind, cheerful voice, for Ursula did 
 not show any appearance of regret, though 
 all of us who were staying behind were 
 melancholy. The men were hoisting up 
 the trunks with which the hall was encum- 
 bered on the top of the fly, which was 
 visible with its old white horse standing;
 
 iv. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 333 
 
 tired and pensive at the open door. And 
 Mrs. St. Clair appeared behind her sister, 
 slowly coming down stairs with a cloak over 
 her arm and a bag in her hand. There 
 was nothing left but to say good-bye and 
 wish them a good journey and a speedy 
 return. 
 
 But all at once in a moment there w r as a 
 change. The horses I had been dreaming 
 of, or had heard in a dream, drew up with a 
 whirlwind of sound at the gate. Then some- 
 thing darted across the unencumbered light 
 beyond the fly and came between the old white 
 horse and the door. I think he — for to use 
 any neutral expressions about hint from the 
 first moment at which he showed himself 
 would be impossible — I think he lifted his 
 hand to the men who were putting up the 
 trunks to arrest them ; at all events they 
 stopped and scratched their heads and opened 
 their mouths, and stood staring at him, as did 
 Sophy and I, altogether confounded, yet with 
 sudden elation in our hearts. He stepped
 
 334 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP. 
 
 past us all as lightly as any young paladin of 
 twenty, taking off his hat. His white hair 
 seemed all in a moment to light up every- 
 thing, to quicken the place. Ursula was the 
 last to see him. She was still talking quite 
 calmly to the cook, though even Mrs. St. Clair 
 on the stairs had seen the new incident, and 
 had dropped her cloak in amazement. He 
 went straight up to her, without a pause, 
 without drawing breath. I am sure we all 
 held ours in spellbound anxiety and attention. 
 When Ursula saw him standing by her side 
 she started as if she had been shot — she made 
 a hasty step back and looked at him, catching 
 her breath too with sudden alarm. But he 
 had the air of perfect self-command. 
 
 " Miss Stamford," he said, " will you grant 
 me half an hour's interview before you 
 go?" 
 
 For the first time Ursula lost her self- 
 possession ; she fluttered and trembled like 
 a girl, and could not speak for a. moment. 
 Then she stammered out, " I hope you will
 
 IV. AN ELDERL Y ROMANCE. 335 
 
 excuse me. We shall be — late for the 
 train." 
 
 " Half an hour ? ' : he said ; " I only ask 
 half an hoar — only hear me, Miss Stamford, 
 hear what I have got to say. I will not 
 detain you more than half an hour." 
 
 Ursula looked round her helplessly. 
 Whether she saw us standing: grazing at 
 her I cannot tell, or if she was conscious that 
 the General behind her had come out to the 
 door, and was standing there petrified, staring 
 like the rest of us. She looked round vaguely, 
 as if asking aid from the world in general. 
 And whether her impetuous old lover took 
 her hand and drew it within his arm, or if she 
 accepted his arm, I cannot say. But the 
 next thing of which we were aware was that 
 they passed us, the two together, arm in arm, 
 into the drawing-room. He had noted the 
 open door with his quick eye, and there he 
 led her trembling past us. Next moment it 
 closed upon the momentous interview, and 
 the chief actors in this strange scene disap-
 
 336 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 peared. We were left all gazing at each 
 other — Sophy and I at one side of the hall, 
 Mrs. St. Clair on the stairs, where she stood 
 as if turned to stone, her cloak fallen from 
 her arm ; and the General at the door of his 
 room with a face like a thunder-cloud, black 
 and terrible. We stared at each other speech- 
 less, the central object at which we had all 
 been gazing withdrawn suddenly from us. 
 There were some servants also of the party, 
 Simms standing over Miss Stamford's box, 
 the address of which he affected to be scan- 
 ning:, and the cabman scratching his head. 
 We all looked at each other with ludicrous, 
 blank faces. It was the General who was 
 the first to speak. He took no notice of us. 
 He stepped out from his door into the middle 
 of the hall, and pointed imperiously to the 
 box. " Take all that folly away," he said 
 harshly, and with another long step strode 
 out of the house and disappeared. 
 
 He did not come back till late that night, 
 when all thoughts of the train had long
 
 iv. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 337 
 
 departed from everybody's mind. Before that 
 time need I say it was all settled ? I had 
 always been doubtful myself about Ursula. 
 She had been afraid of making a joke of 
 herself by a late marriage. She had shrunk, 
 perhaps, too, at her time of life, from all the 
 novelty and the change ; but even at fifty- 
 seven a woman retains her imagination, and 
 it had been captivated in spite of herself by 
 the bit of strange romance thus oddly intro- 
 duced into her life. Is any one ever old 
 enough to be insensible to the pleasure of 
 being singled out and pursued with something 
 that looked like real passion ? I do not sup- 
 pose so ; Ursula had been alarmed by the 
 softening of her own feelings ; she had been 
 remorseful and conscience-stricken about her 
 secret treachery to her brother. In short, I 
 had felt all along that she must have had 
 very little confidence in herself when she 
 was driven to the expedient of running 
 away. 
 
 They would not let me go, though I felt 
 vol. 11. z
 
 JJ l 
 
 \1 Jul /HOURS ON THE GREEN. chap 
 
 myself out of place at such a moment, so 
 that I had my share in the excitement as 
 I had in the suspense. And after all that 
 struggle and suspense it is inconceivable 
 how easy and natural the settlement of the 
 matter seemed, and what a relief it was that 
 it should be decided. 
 
 As soon as the first commotion was over 
 Mrs. St. Clair came to me, took my hands 
 in hers, and led me out by the open window. 
 " George ! " she said to me with a little gasp. 
 "What shall we do about George ? How 
 will he take it ? And if he comes in upon 
 us all without any preparation, what will 
 happen ? I don't know what to do." 
 
 " He must know what has happened," 
 said I ; "he saw there was onlv one thino- 
 that could happen. He must know what 
 he has to expect." 
 
 Mrs. St. Clair clasped her hands together. 
 What with the excitement and the pleasure 
 and the pain the tears stood in her eyes. 
 " Ursula was always his favourite sister, '
 
 iv. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 339 
 
 she said ; " how will he take it ? and where 
 is he ? — wandering about, making himself 
 wretched this melancholy night." 
 
 It was not in reality a melancholy night. 
 It was dark, and the colour had eone out of 
 the sky, which looked of a deep wintry blue 
 between the black tree-tops which swayed 
 in the wind. Mrs. St. Clair shivered a little, 
 partly from the contrast with the bright room 
 inside, partly from anxiety. " Where can 
 he be ? — where can he be wandering ? " she 
 said. We had both the same idea— that 
 he must have gone into the great park or 
 the forest and lost himself wandering about 
 there in wild resentment and distress. 
 "And we must not stay out here or Mr. 
 Oakley will think something is wrong, and 
 Ursula will be unhappy," she said with 
 a sigh. 
 
 It was then I proposed that I should stay 
 outside to break the news to the General 
 when he appeared — a proposal which, after 
 a while, Mrs. St. Clair was compelled to
 
 340 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. chap. 
 
 accept, though she protested— for after all, 
 my absence would not be remarked, and it 
 was easy to say that I had gone home, as 
 I meant to do. But I cannot say that the 
 post was a pleasant one. I walked about 
 for some time in front of the house, and 
 then I came and sat down in the porch 
 " for company." There was nothing, as I 
 have said, specially melancholy about the 
 night, but the contrast of the. scene within 
 and this without struck the imagination. 
 When a door opened the voices within 
 came with a kind of triumph into the dark- 
 ness where the disappointed and solitary 
 brother was wandering : and so absorbed 
 was I in thoughts of General George and 
 his downfall that I almost missed the sub- 
 ject of them, who came suddenly round the 
 corner of the house when I was not look- 
 ing for him. It was he who perceived me, 
 rather than I who was on the watch for 
 him. " You here, Mrs. Mulgrave ! ' he 
 said in amazement. I believe he thought,
 
 iv. AN ELDERLY ROMANCE. 341 
 
 as I started to mv feet, that I had been 
 asleep. 
 
 "General!' I cried in my confusion. 
 " Stop here a moment, do not go in. I 
 have something to say to you." 
 
 He laughed — which was a sound so un- 
 expected that it bewildered me. " My kind 
 friend," he said, " have you stayed here to 
 break the news to me ? But it is unneces- 
 sary — from the moment I saw Oakley arrive 
 1 knew how it must be. Ursula has been 
 going — she has been going. I have seen 
 it for three or four weeks past." 
 
 " And, General ! thank heaven you are 
 not angry : you are taking it in a Christian 
 way." 
 
 He laughed again — a sort of angry laugh. 
 " Am I taking it in a Christian way ? I 
 am glad you think so, Mrs. Mulgrave. 
 When a thin^ cannot be cured it must be 
 endured, you know. I am out of court — 
 I have no ground to stand upon, and he is 
 master of the field. I don't mean to make
 
 342 NEIGHBOURS ON THE GREEN. CHAP 
 
 her unhappy whatever happens. Is he 
 here still ? " 
 
 " Yes," I said trembling. He offered me 
 his arm precisely as Mr. Oakley had offered 
 his to Ursula. " Then we'll go and join 
 them," he said. 
 
 This was how it all ended. There was 
 not a speck on his boots or the least trace 
 of disorder. Instead of roaming the woods 
 in despair, as we thought, he had been 
 quietly drinking Lady Denzil's delightful 
 tea and playing chess with Sir Thomas. 
 They had seen nothing unusual about him, 
 we heard afterwards, and never knew that 
 he ought to have been starting for the Con- 
 tinent when he walked in that evening, 
 warmly welcomed to tea — which shows what 
 sentimental estimates we women form about 
 the feelings of men. 
 
 The marriage took place very soon after. 
 Mr. Oakley bought Hillhead, the finest 
 place in the neighbourhood, very soon 
 after ; he was so rich that he bought a
 
 iv. AN. ELDERLY ROMANCE. 343 
 
 house whenever he found one that pleased 
 him, as I might buy an old blue china pot. 
 The one was a much greater extravagance 
 to me than the other was to him. And 
 they lived very happy ever after, and no- 
 body, so far as I know, has ever had occa- 
 sion to regret this love at first sight at 
 sixty-five — this elderly romance. 
 
 END OF VOL. 11.
 
 Richard Clay and Sons, Li iited, 
 London and Bungay. 

 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 SEC'H LTMJ 
 
 
 Form L9-25m-9,'47(A5618)4-U
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 000 375 954 5
 
 „»;►.»:»:»:»:►: 
 
 J5S8S 
 
 «>:►:»:►.>:»:»:►:»:>: 
 
 
 >;>;>;►;>. 
 
 MWKTO 
 
 
 
 ■x>»;»:>re*K> 
 
 
 > k » fc'k fc"» »'» ■ 
 
 
 {www