HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1879-3-27, Page 22
THE TIMES 11' 4non 27,1879
MI HAD. DARORAVE'S HARVEST.
GHA.PT ; Ii, IL—continued.
LOGY.
"Thank you, Lucy," he said again ;
"but 1 omelet eat or drink, I do not
want anything you could get for me—
really I do hot ; so you had better fol
low the good example set by my slate
and Mrs. Dodson, and go to bed."
Evidently Miss Holding was aocus
tooled to yield unquestioeiug obedi
ence to her elders, for she lighted hes
candle aud said gaud-ziigllt to Mr. Gar
grave, and left the room without utter
zng another: word.
-Filen sale had got so far as the nar-
row stair -case, however, she paused
and hesitated ; she stopped and looked
back towards the door she bad jus
closed, then she proceeded up stairs,
very slowly, stopping for u moment on
each step. Whole she reached the top
of the flight she paused again, and,
Ole time without any liositatioti what-
ever, tripped down into the hall and re-
entered the parlor.
Sbe found Mr. Gargrave pacing up
and down the room as he hat paced up
and down his office.
"What is it ?" he asked, thinking
she roust have forgotten something.
"I came back to ask if you were ill.
I felt afraid you Must be," she answer-
ed, with a shy timidity of manner
evliich proved that her intercourse with
Mr. Gargrave was neither close nor fa-
miliar.
"Ill, child ? What in the world
made you think I was ill ?"
"I do not know. You do not look
well ? You seem different."--
"There is nothing the matter with
me, Lucy," he said, as she stopped
and seemed coufused." That is, noth-
ing the matter with my health. I got
an annoying letter this morning ; and
to -night I ht:ve been having a fight."
"A. fight !" echoed the girl, looking
flim over as though she expected to see
some visible tokens of the encounter
referred to."
'•Not that sort of a fight," he ex.
plained, "only a quarrel with myself.
It is all over now, and I am qnite right
again,"
He had ceased Lis walk end was
standing on the hearthrug as he told
her this, his back to the fire, his face
towards her.
The light from the caudle she held,
as well as from the two that stood up-
on the table, fell full upon him, and
with a certain wonder and ouriesity,
Lucy Holdine looked at her guardian
as she had certainly never looked at
hirn before.
On his side, he looked at her in re-
turu ; and, asbe did to, it struck him
that she was ery pretty.
Something in her attilude,something
in her expression, something in the
wn
ay of shadows cane and went across
her face, some feeling uneonseioutly
awakened and sliiniug through her
eyes, attracted and arrested his atten-
tion.
Yes; she had the effect of beauty, if
she were not really beautiful ; and it
passed through his mind that she
might grow beentiful.
Hitherto, if be thought about her ap-
pearance et ail, it was but to consider
that her eyes were too big and her
mouth wide ; but now there was a
wistful sweetness iu the one, and a
sympathetic tenderness in the other,
which transfigured her whole counten-
ance.
She stood for a moment looking at
him steadfastly and iuuocently, as a
child might have done ; then 'die said,
"I am sure you are i11, ouly yule will
not say so. Do let azo get you some-
thing. 1 can go into Alias Gargrave'a
room without disturbing her, and fetch
you sal volatile. or red lavender, or eau
de ealogne. She keeps theta all on
:her dressing -table."
Mr. Gargrave langbed Outright.
"Why, Lnoy," he exclaimed, you might
as wall offer to bring me some roue
rind a plait of false hair, as the tlrinns
von have mentloued. There, run
away, child,"
"I do not like to go when you are
ill."
"I am not ill." ho persisted ; "that
is, not ill in body.l'
"Then you are ill in mind, and that
is far worse," she said with a pretty
Iry �rintn.
"Why, bow should you know,Lncy,"
end then he stopped-sutideul , root -
Teethes the ono groat grief which lied
left the gid an orphan.
"I wish yon would let me do son e-
thina; for y'ota," axle conliuucd, with
quiet ittsistauce. ''It seems so queer to
bee '704 eat 110 supper," 1
lie ;list not answer her immediately.
All at casco it recurred to hire, that the
tro(lhl;t which bad cnlue meas as likely
to ail .rt her fie hirn ; that gull, child I
ell ran, the he had hitherto considered
her, their it.rterotts were so in terwov n1
F11� S ittt0Vttt of evil or good touched p
Intal, 111iiSt touch her. There wore
eget ta] ri•a,0us also to INIli""h hitherto $
he MO.0 little heed Why art that tune if
tiie a it;.q dexo€tld neve, di"iiw.tlt` cvt:n 1
without ruin, she must be told all th
ins aud outs of the affair.
It had never been his habit to spew
of say of the details of his business be
fore Ifs woman -kind, The comm-
entaries
entar;es of bis early career its London
were such as to render him reserved
and self-contained, and in the sur-
roundiugs. of his later experienoee there
• was nottziug to induce oommunicatire-
r 11066.
A foolish woman and a thoughtless
child ! If Mr. Gargrave ever summed
up the persons composing ills domesti
circle be must have dune it in those
• words. A woman who so despised al
- business that she iguered, as far as
she could possibly co so, the feat that
but for business she would lack even
daily bread; and a child who had been
brought up so completely iu the midst
t of commerce that it seemed to her as
e ""Where 2" she asked. "Ob 1 how
did yon manage to do that 2," •
k "It was hard work ; it always is hard
- work to explain business nutters to
those who kuo;v nothing whatever of
business
Tho simplest terms in the lai guage
of commerce bear to outsiders a totally
different meaning from, that it is in-
tended to convey,. and the disaster
and ruin which eau he told to the ini-
tiated in half a dozen words has to be
paiufully interpreted Laud paiufully ro-
c peated in the ears of those to whom
City terms and City phrases are Bouco-
t ly more intelligible than so muchGreek.
Mr. Gargrave was patient, however.
He was accustomed to this non•com-
prehensiou ; for, let a business man be
careful and silent as he will, sometitues
a trade phrase must pass his lips, and
such phrases never did pass his lips
without elioitiug a disclaimer from Miss
Gargrave,
""I do not mean literally out of my
pocket," he said, in answer to the girl's
speech. ""I dict not lose my purse, as
you did last summer, or have ray pock-
et pioked, like Mrs. Dodsou, No,
Luey ; it is a worse business than any-
thing of that kind. I have rnade a
bad debt; or in plainer Euglish, been
swiudled out of an amount of money
which must produce serious embarrass-
ment duet ruin.
"Ruin!" she repeated, aghast. That
expression, at all events, was eompre-
hensible.
"I did not mean that altogether," be
said hastily. ""I may be able to pull
through. I hope I shall ; but it will
be difficult work—cruel work," he ad-
ded, as if speaking to himself.
"'I wish I c.luld help you," she Dried.
And she clasped her handsasshe spoke,
and alt her innocent heart looked out
tenderly through her eyes. ""Oh 1 1
wish I could."
Her simple words pierced his very
soul. If, through him, she were
brought to sorrow—if through him,the
small fortune her father hoped would
be secured to Iter should be utterly lost
—how could he bear the burden of his
remorse? He had thought of this be•
fore, but he had not thought of it in
the same way. If he had—but no, he
could not, after due deliberation, have
acted differently. He could not believe
that the way to right one wrong was
to perpetrate another. With oyes shut
blinded by hope mod egotism, and lack
of the especial sort of experience now
bought so dearly, he perilled the iuheri-
taros of this girl, the whole of which
hid been—morally, if not legally—in-
trusted to him, but, with his eyes op-
en, he could not strive to retrieve an
act of mad folie by committing a crime.
For it wonlcl have been a oxime—as
ho told himself over nod over , while
fighting out his battle—to use Mrs.
Brookley's motley in suetaining his
own credit. But yet, the contingency
,,f losing the widow's modest compet•
',nee was remote, and the difficulty of
preserving his position and Lucy's not
pressing. Had be been right ? Had
lie not been too hasty ? Might he not,
even yet, use the gleans which lay in
his very hands? Pisli ! was the argu-
ment all t0 be 1.000 over again; was
the demon of temptation r"tmpant as
ever; having mule his choice, would
be not abide by it whatever might be-
tide ; yes—whatever—
natural and as uninteresting tee the
mill -round of every -day existence.
Miss Gerarave considered if right
had been right-- if everyone had his
own—she ought to be the sister of a
wealthy unary gentleman instead of
a ""a mere struggling trader," whilst
all Bliss Holding knew about ber own
position was that her father lied found-
ed the factory which kir. Gargrave,
who she understood was cone of grand
people, carried on.
She had bagun to call him guardian
soon after he took up his abode at the
cottage. First, Mrs. Dodson, theen
horse -Deeper, 60 styled hi, and sub-
sequently Miss Gargrave, when she
brought her fan and poodle, and lanes,
and essences, and ailments, and fine
ladyislu to the cottage, never dreamt
of speaking of hila nettle girl as any-
thing else.
By ;111r. Holding's will he was loft
guardiau of that gentleman's daughter,
and of the complicatious connected
with the mttkiug of that will hiss Gar -
grave and Lucy and Mrs. Dodson wore
utterly ignorant.
Mr. Gargrave, however, was not ig-
norant ; and as he stood before the fire
eileut thoughts, bitter and self -re-
proachful, coursed through his mind.
Amongst the tangle of ideas one only
was perfectly plain—Lucy must know,
and know soon. He had considered
the matter as affecting her when be re-
fused the coutrol of Miss lirockley's
money, but ho had not tlioukht of tel-
ling the girl the position of affteirs.
How and ''.iu what way he should
now best eater into explanations with
her was a problem—one he never,
probably, could have solved for him-
self, but whish she uncousciously was
making plainer.
"'Lucy 1" at Last lie said.
"Yes, Guardian,'' she answered. AU
the time he was silent she had remain-
ed silent also, looking sometimes at
him and sometimes at the fire, bat pa,
dewtly waiting for him to speak.
""Put dowu that candle and come
here ; I have something to say to
you."
There was only one topic °encr�ru-
ing which she felt sensitive; and think•
iug what he desired to say must have
refereuoe to it, she blushed deeply as
she obeyed.
He was considering the same topic.
but only as it bore upou money neat.
tyre. The girl bad a lover who was
personally distasteful to him, whose fa-
ther he disliked, whose mother he dis-
liked, whose aunt he disliked, whose
brothers and sisters he disliked, and
whose self lie both disliked and despis-
ed. Nevertheless, there being nothing
actually against the young man and
his family—quite the ooutrary, indeed
—he felt constrained, when asked fox
his consent, to agree that they should
be engaged.
He did not throw any dlfacultles in
the way of an early marriage, either
though the idea of the girl he remem-
beredalittle child being old enough to
Marry and be given in marriage at first
struck him with a strange se1SO of un-
reality. .
"Why, I roust be getting- au old man
myself," he considered, when Mr. Sut-
taby first broached the idea of "my
Rusell and your Miss Lucy malting it
match of it ;" and he was right. • Age
does not always count by years and
at thirty-three Mr. Gargrave looked
over furty,aud old enough to be verde,
au to all the parish.
Miss Holding had always regarded
hint as quite an acted person ; but thea
youth is ever ready to tape that -view
of those who are set ire authority OWL'thein.
Mr. Glee: eve, she imagined, was bet
in very high authority over her, and
she consrqueutly felt afraid that what:
he had to Bay concerned the you.,cf
man she called Reuel!, and that he
wen going to find fault with her or
dm.
]gut ]Mr. Gsrgravo's first wordy dis-
pelled this idea,
"I had a great blow—a great trouble
e11(021l say----to-day." he began, cor-
:eoting his first etatemout, as Ile re-
ocnbett.d how literally sha bedhotel...,
retell the word ""fight."
"I 41111 very sorry,," she said ; and !
let looked i'ad, though unintelligent. c
R".,: here Inst a large sum of tnohey,""
le (proceeded. i
"Lucy," he said, hoarsely—be felt
Ito must speak to someone, though the
understat ding of that someoue might
bone more able to grasp his moaning
than that of a child in arm.—"I could
to -night have freed myself from anxiety
about this affair. I had mouey eu-
ough to pay the liabilities 1' have in -
Burred cud pleuty to spare reside, of-
fered to the—sent to me—but I refused
to use it." not that a pity ?'
"Did yon ? Was '
she oommented, wondo►iog at his agi-
tation, but having only the vaguest
compreneusieu wluat he was {cueing
about.
"I will tell you excagy how it btap-
pelted. Au old lady in the country
sent me up n Iarge sung—that ie, a
largo Bum tt1 lee "i d to her—to invest
for her. She bade me use. it as lay
own because she believed it would be
safe 1n my keepllla." •
"Yes, and it would surely," mur-
mured the gid,"
''No, 1 say it would nut have been
etafe•... I.cuulcl not have male it ahso-
lately secure, 1: might have goat it—
bode Se 1.411"'VOr is 0urtainty ; Whitt is
good tti-clay it had to -morrow. 1
{night, have saved my
ee
self for tits time
•
b ing-- fir eilwayt', perils,ps --- and I
mi,;lr, also have done no harm to her
but, then, upon the other hand, there
was rt °lienee, and .I dared not encourt-
counter ir. No smatter whet became
of tl,it b"lsittess—your father's, bubi•
nosy --1 could not run tate rick of beg-
garing her. Was l right 2"
''Of °arse yon were right," a newer -
ed Lnoy ; but'ahe would have tlilt"aVer'-
r,cl the sante had 1'e reversed the poet-
.
She had boors brought up in the
rood that Michael G'rgravc could do
u:r wrong ; arid. dimwit she puzzled 011-
cr the etury
most of all at his telling it to her, sh
was content to accept his reading of i
aa correct beyond doubt.
Ito, easy .the picture he presented
seemed blurred and misty to her uutao
oustomedeyes—that although she was
struggling to comprehend him she
really did not understand the position.
"All this may affect you, Lucy," he
acid, after a pause, resting one arm on
the mantlesholf and looking earnestly
at her as she spoke.
"How do you mean 2" she Raked, in
her ()Littlish eimpliotty.
"I will try to keep all harem from
you," he Went on ; "but it is necessary
for you to know that harm may come
—harm I may be powerless to avert. I
should like to -morrow to have a long
tall{ with you about our relative posi-
tions. I think it is better for ale to
tell you how we came to be situated
towards each Other ae we are. It is
too late to go on talking now. You
must be tired. If yon (10 not get to
sleep soon," be added, with an effort
to speak litriltly, "yon will have pale
cheeks in the tnorniug."
They aro always pale,"' she said with
to, little pont, touching them with her
fingers as she spoke. "I wish they
were render."
"They would not he half so pretty if
they were," Ire answered without
thought.
No need, then, for her to desire da-
mask roses instead of white. Swift
and hot the tell-tale blood rushed to
her fade, suffnsing the cheeks she had
despised with a color which for the
moment changed the chartieter of her
sour tenet) ee.
Not knowing why she blushed, yet
ashamed of blushing, she oast dowu
her eyes and averted her head while
she bade her guardian goodnight.
"Good -night," lee said smiling kindly
yet sadly, as he looked at her fair
young face. "Good -night. "God
bless you !" and he released the hand
he held.
When for the second time she walk-
ed up -stairs it was with a dazed and 1
confused sensation that she bad form-
ed the acquaintance of another guardi-
an and r second Michael Gargrave.
For the first time iu all the long years
she had known the friend her father
trusted she felt as if he were a living,
man and not an abstract irupersouaa-
tion--as if he were intelligible to her,
interesting to herr—aotnething of kin as
well as of kind, as if she could talk to
him without fear, and listen to him
e speaking with sympathy. After she
t was in her room she thought of glint
for a Iotag time—thought about all Mrs.
Dodson had told her anent the former
glories of the Gargraves — thought
nk
without one spaof impatience of Mies
Gargrare's endless narratives and pet-
tish lamentations.
Upon his side, Mr, Gargrave also
thought deeply coueeluing his ward;.
ut when 11e had $wished his oogita-
tions he could not have told anyone
what he had been thinking about her.
To he vonttinur,•1,
hrior9
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N.B.—Sewing Da schizo. Needles olevory kind.?
A. BOYD.
T.E[IS_ IS NO BOMBAST r
Truth Concerns Tau Mare Than Counterfeit,
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