HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1886-9-10, Page 22
�. THE BRUSSELS POST
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VAG ii,ANT. WIFE.
Br le. Weltonu,
Author of ',Tun Huse ex Tut' BTAnen,"
"AT rue WOULn'S Maaor," ITC.
CHAPTER X.
The country town of Beckham was
astir, It was a cloudly changeful May
afternoon, and the white.capped country
lasses who were alighting from all sorts
oflstrangevebiclesatthe churchyard gate
had to bold up their clean cotton !rooks
with what untutored grace they might,
as they trod the worn wet flagstones
that led up to the church door. Three
or four hundred lads and lessee of
Beckham and the neighbourhood were
collecting at the sound of the church.
bells for the Bishop to lay his hands on
their empty heads and confirm them
in the faith in which they werebaptized.
The big bare building filled quickly ;
the Vicar on 'Sunday never gathered
such a congregation. The candidates
filled the two middle aisles, the girls
occupying the whole of the one and the
front bunches of the other, the boys
the rest, The latter looked shame-
faced, the former self-conecioue but
content.
Long before the Bishop's appearance
the church was full in every part, for
it was a pretty sight even to those who
had no personal interest in any of the
candidates.
When from time to time the Bun burst
through the swift -flying clouds and
shone through the long windows full
upon the young faces crowned with the
demure little white caps, women
whispered to each other softly that it
Iookedlikeheaven. Tliesewere thoughts
not unworthy of this simile in some of
the youug minds, especially in those of
the girls; others, while trying' to fix
their thoughts—as they had been told to
do — upon the Catechism, could not
help wishing they could renounce the
pomp and vanities in white cashmere
with pretty frills of lace at throat and
wrists, like Miss Mainwaring of Gar.
stone Vicarage, who looked so like a
picture of some fair-haired saint, as she
sat with her starry blue eyes fixed
steadily on the communion -table in
front of her, that it was impossible to
guess that she was thinking more of
her newivory-bound church -service than
of the ceremony she was about to go
through. She and the girl by her side at-
tracted more attention than any others.
There were a few of their class present,
but of typos as commonplace and faces
as vacuous as those of the village -girls.
Betty Mainwaring was sixteen. Her
fresh young face was sweet and silly,
charming by the look of modest purity
which passed so easily under the tulle
cap and veil for the expression of pious
devotion; but in truth Betty's very
innocence, and the fact that she had
passed her whole life in an atmosphere
of the simplest, strictest religion, had
made it impossible for her to concentrate
much earnest thought upon this im.
portant step in Christian life. She had
read through the devotional works
prescribed for her as attentively as she
could, and had accepted all the formulas
and dogmas of the Church with the un.
shrinking faith of the most complete
ignorance of their meaning. She had
been taught that comfirmation is one of
the most serious events of life, and she
believed it and let the lad rest, while
her innocent thoughts wandered to a
consideration of the banks of the row
of girls in front of her and to the reflec-
tion how strange it seemed to be con.
firmed with one's own governess.
For the girl beside her, with the
passionate dark eyes and set serious
face, only eighteen herself, and already
carrying on her young shoulders the re.
sponsibility of directing the minds of
girls of her own age, was Miss Lane,
who taught " advanced " English,
French, German, Italian, music, and
singing, to the two grown.up Misses
Mainwaring, and the earlier stages of
the same to their two younger sisters and
'their seven-year-old brother. To her
life was a serious. hard.working affair
enough, and her tardy confirmation an
event of quite desperate importance,
involving much doubt and anxious self -
examining. She had even thought of
asking the Vicar, her pupils' father,
for a private interview, of laying bare
the bewildered state of her mind, and
of asking him whether he thought her
fit for confirmation. The papers ontho
subject which he had given her to read
had proved but dry bones to the eager,
earnest girl; but she had a strong con-
viction that confession would procure
little more. The Reverend John Main-
waringet religion was not of the hysteri.
cal, but of the independent sort ; and the
girl felt that all he could do would be to
throw her back on prayer and her own
conscience for an answer to her doubts.
What was certain was that he would
unhesitatingly have pronounced the con-
scientious little worker, striving hard to
live up to anideal standard of excellence
in her dull profession, as fitter for con.
firmation than almost any member of
his flock.
So she sat by her pupil's side, with
downcast eyes and mind fixed on the
service she was about to hear, curiously
conscious at the same time—being
keenly alive to outward things and not
without a young girl's vanity—of the
interest Ler pretty modest appearance
was exciting.
But, just before the entrance of the
Bishop, three persons came in to whom
all eyes turned at once,, ant' there was
almost a murmur of admiration even in
the hush of the sacred building at sight
of the girl who, at the foot of the middle
aisle stopped for her mother and brother
to take off the long white mantle which
was wrapped sound her, and then
followed the Reverend John Mainwaring
np the aisle to the seat he had ket,t for
be in the pew with his own daughter
and the govornese, Annie Laue.
Lilian Braithwaite came of a hand-
some race. Tall, with a well.moulded
figgure, grey oyes, brown hair, and cuen
plexiou rich enough in its tints to premie s
something more lovely still when ti
season or two in town should have toned
down its oolouriug, she gave promise of
beauty distinguished enough to hold ibe
own amongst the fairest women she
might meet. The plain white cashmere
which looked so simple on Betty Main.
waring had quite a cilifforont effect upon
her handsome figure, and the tulle head.
areas, half cap, half veil, which she
wore in common with the other canon -
dittos of her own class, had as muoh of
the veil and as little of the cap about it
as possible. Already, at seveuteen, she
walked through the crowd of admiring
faces with a bearing which showed
more of tho dignity of an acknowledged
beauty than of the modesty of a young
girl. She smiled at the young gover-
ness good.humouredly enough however,
and would oven have entered into a
whispered conversation, with soorufully
critical remarks upon the rest of the
candidates, if Mise Lane had net re-
ceived here
e-ceivedhere overtures shyly and with all
the primness of her profession. Miss
Braithwaite, who was nob easily repulsed,
gave a little amused shug of tho shoulders
and said, in a loud whisper—
'. Are you afraid the Vicar is looking
at you 1 "
And then she meet hie rather uneasy
glance in her own direction with a bland
smile.
It had been rather a di.Tlcult matter
for him to bring himself to believe that
Miss Braithwaite was in all respects fit
for confirmation; but, as no scruple had
ever entered her own head, and as,
moreover, she was technically prepared
for the rite, being able to repeat the
Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments
and the Catechism wibh'perfeot fluency,
he had no choice but to bring her to
the Bishop with the rest of the Candi-
dates.
When the soivice was over, and she
rejoined her mother and brother, a
young man with a rather handsome face,
but deformed and rusting on crutches,
Dame up to her and stood silently by
while her brother wrapped her again in
the long white mantle she had come in.
" You here, Stephen 1 How did you
come ? Tho Doctor said you wore
not to go out till your Dough was better,"
n4 1111189 Braithwaite, in a voice scarcely
as low as it ought to have been.
" I wanted to see you—ail in white
like a bride, making the other girls
look ugly and clumsy," whispered the
cripple, with his face flushing ; " so X
got Thompson to got the pony.carriage
ready, and followed as fast as I could."
Stephen Lawler's contempt for the
appearance of the roat of tho candidates
was not shared by his cousin, Harry
Braithwaite, who turnedto watch one of
the girls admiringly, and whispered—
"I say Lilian, how awfully fetching
little ' Miss Prim' looks in that get-
up 1 "—" Little Miss Prim" was Annie
Laue, the governess.
"les, she is a pretty girl," answered
his sister, who was handsome enough to
be able to afford to acknowledge beauty
in others.
Meanwhile the crowd was surging to-
wards sho door, and Harry Braithwaite
kept his mother and sister as near the
Vicarage party as he could. At the
church ,door they discovered that a
heavy shower of rain was coming down,
and Mrs. Mainwaring was lamenting
Piteously that. her husband, who had
come on the box of the broughaii} beside
the coachman, would lose his voice
entirely if he were to return in the same
way through the rain. Harry Braith.
waite whispered a few words into his
mother's ear, and, raising his hat stepped
forward and placed a seat .in their own
carriage at the disposal of the Vicar's
wifo, in his mother's name.
" If Miss Lane will come with us, there
will be lets of room in the broughapi for
you and your two daughters and the
Vicar too," said hp.
And before Mrs. Mainwaring could
say more than " Oh, thank you, but,"
he had severed Miss Lane from her
pupils and was' escorting her under
an umbrella to the big Braithwaite
barouche.
Mrs.Idainwaring looked uneasy; her
two daughters, Joan and Betty, looked
displeased.
I am sure papa will not approve of
that arrangement, mamma," said Joan
the eldest of the family who had dome
to see her Bieber confirmed.
e Well, what could I do, Joan ? Ile
meant to be good.natured ; and it would
not do for the wife of the Vicar of the
parish to show any prejudice, Of course
I should not have allowed you or Betty
to go, but with Miss Laneit is different;
she can take caro of herself."
" I should think so I "said Joan sharp.
I1'Aud then the Vicar Dame up, and his
wife hurried him into the brougham,
saying there was plenty of room ; and
16 was not until they were on the point
of starting that she confessed in answer
t0 his inquiries, bleat Miss Lane was go-
ing home in the Braithwaites' carriage.
That was Masted Harry's doings, I
suppose ?" said the Vicar, with a very
grave face.
" It was all done so quick/y, it was
impossible for me to stop hem," said
his wife deprecatingly. " You know you
would not have minded if it had boon
anybody else's carriage ; and, if they
are rather a wild set, we cannot reform
them by holding aloof from them. And
it is not as though I had let one of the
girls go," said she hurriedly, lowering
her voice.
"But you have let one of the girls '
go. Miss Lane is only a few months older
than Joan," he answered moro gravely
than ever.
And she, being a wise woman, droll.
ped the conversation to taloa it uta egeen
When they two sliouldbe alone together.
This little 'holdout and the discussion
ib had oausod disturbed the Treace of all
the occupants of the carriage. The
Vicar was annoyed that a member of
his household should be theowu into
such very uncongenial and perhaps
dangerous society on the very day of
her conflrmatiou. His wife was uneasy
on Recount of his annoyance. Joan and
Betty wore aomowbat agitated too; bub
they gave no vont to their feelings, ex-
cept iu a little sorb-touetl wrangle about
the amount of space each was authori-
sed to take on tho rather small front scat
of the brougham. When the Braith-
write carriage passed them, they be.
came suddenly silent, both gazing
overly out tubi it had passed out of
sight. They had time to see the portly
Lady Braithwaite and her haudsome
daughter leaning back comforbably on
one seat, while Mies Lane and Barry
Braithwaite sat opposite; ho was talk-
ing to her, and did not notice the
brougham.
-
\Vhen the Vicarage was reached, a
group of children rushed to the hall
door to criticise their elder sister in her
whits: gown, and the missing governese.
"Hasn't Miss Lain come back yet?"
asked Mrs. Mainwaring rather anxious-
ly " Their carriage passed us a long
time ago," she added, when tho children
had shaken their heads in surprise.
" She will stay at the Grange to tea
of course, mamma," said Joan acidly.
And again Mrs. Mainwaring, with a
glance at her husband, dropped the
subject.
The Grange was a sort of Ogre's
Castle to the simple lady, and not quite
without reason. There is in Most quiet
country neighbourhoods a house with
this sorb of reputation, where thorn
lives a wicked man who dons not come
regularly to church, and who goes to
bed and gets up again at unorthodox
hours, and whose guests to the same
and worse things besides; where there
is a tribe of servants who find it difficult
to obtain places in the neighbourhood
on leaving; and where, above all, there
is a family of healthy, high.spirited,
disciplined children, rough girls and
rougher boys, who grow up with a bad
name, which becomes steadily worse as
the wild lads grow into manhood, and
the girls, without any one's sayiug that
there is any "harm in them," acquire
the stigma of being "fast." The Grange
was more worthy of its 'bad reputation
than most homes of the same type.
Sir George Braithwaite, the present
owner, had in his youth on several
occasions narrowly escaped appearing
in the London police.courbs ; he had
sobered down somewhat on coming into
the baronetcy; but in four wild sons,
whose doings were the scandal of the
neighbourhood, he saw the follies of his
own youth repeated and developed.
When, two years before, the Reverend
John Mainwaring became Vicar of Gar-
ston, the inmates of the Grange had
made advauces to the new -comers, had
patted the pretty Betty and invited the
elder boys to fish and shoot during the
holidays. But the Vicar and hie wifo
soon took alarm, and, while striving to
maintain an appearance of perfect good-
will, discouraged the intimacy between
the younger members of the families,
until the proud Braithwaites, seeing at
last through oivil excuses and regrets,
drew back suddenly and heldthemeelvee
as far aloof as 14Irs. Mainwaring could
wish. The intimacy thus abruptly
checked had never been renewed, and,
although the members of the two feral.
lies greeted each other without ap-
parent ill.will when by chance they met,
there was no cordiality on either side—
the Grange laughed at the Vicarage as
"slow"; the Vicarage shuddered at the
Grange as "fast."
The interest the latter took in the
prim little Vicarage gille and their
brothers had died out long sinoe, while,
on the other hand, the "wild Braith-
waites" had an ever-increasing secret
attraction for. -the clergyman's family.
Joan and Betty were more constrained
than usual when accident brought them
face to face with any of the handsaw°
Braithwaite boys, and they both in their
hearts sat in judgment upon their par.
eats, and thought that a policy of con.
ciliation would be a moth more Chris-
tian way of treating the scapegraces.
And each of these demure and somewhat
stiff maidens began, as she left the
schoolroom, to think she saw signs of
redeeming grace in one of the Grange
lads, and to feel that sho would like to
have a hand in his reform.
So that, when Miss Lane, who, how-
ever prim and staid her manner might
be, was undeniably a very pretty girl,
was caeried off before their oyes by one
of their wicked neighbours and taken to
the interesting Graugge, feelings which
their simple-minded mother never
dreamt of mingled with the indignation
Joan expressed: Betty was silent, but
inclined to be tearful.
The Mainwarings were a somewhat
stolid race, and meals at which no
stranger was present were very solemn
feasts indeed. On this occasion tea-
time was passed in dead silence—even
Marian and Bertram, the two youngest,
scarcely dared to kink each other under
the table. When they all rose, a tear
was rolling down Betty's fair cheek.
Her mother caressed her anxiously,
fearing that the excitement of the sol-
emn vows she had made that day had
proved too much for her. Betty gave
way.
430, how that Mies Lano must be en-
joying herself at the Grange I" she cried
bitterly.
1.26
1Y�
.1'V. t/101Y TO LOAN
Money to Loan on Farm Property at
LOWEST RATES.
PRIVATE AND OOMPANY FUNDS.
\1'.13. I)icxsoN,
Solicitor,
SEPT. 111, MO.
CUSTOM TAILORING .
The undersignel begs lettvu to intimate
to the public that be has opened a tailor
shop its the Garfield Ilume, blocs, over
Fetch's atone, whore he is prepared to hi:
tend to the wants of the public in euttiug,
fitting and making clothing in the latest
and most fanhionable Styles. Aly long ex.
parkway together with 0 mum of imam -
thin under one of -the boot cutters in Toren.
to ie a gunrenteo of being sblc to do salts.
factory work. Satisfaction guarente„d,
Brussels, Ont. 36-11m tl. ,e. BlillI1
No:.ey to Loan.
PRIT;.4.7i7 7rrUNDS'.
820.000
of Private Iundshave just been placed 10
my hands for Investment
AT 7 PER CENT.
Borrowers can have their loans complete
in three days it title is satisfactory.
Apply to E. E.WPlaM.
HURON AND BRUCE
Loan & Investment Co.
This Company is Loaning Money
on Farm Security at LOWEST iRA'Trs
of Interest.
MORTGAGE PURCHASED.
SAVINGS I3 A\1'i BRANCO.
8, 4 and 5 per cent. Interest Al-
lowed on Deposits, according to
amount and time left.
Orrice. --On corner of Market
Square and North street,Goderich,
Horace Horton,
k'IANAGLR.
Croderieh,Aug.5tim e.sse
• lY1ONY,1' TC LEND.
Any amount of Money to Loan on
Furm or Village property at
(i & 6s PER CENT, 'YEARLY.
Straight Loans with privilege of
repaying schen required. Apply
t'o
A, IIT;NTEI
Division Court Clerk, Brussels.
'fp)RUSSELS PUMP WORKS.
The undersigned begs to inform the public
that they have manufactured and ready
for use
PUMPS OF ALL KINDS,
WOOD Si IRON.
Cisterns of
Any dimension.
GATES or ALL SIZES.
CLCTIU S 1i1(1ImLs
of a superior construction. Examine our
stock beforo purchasing olsowhere. A Call
solicited. Wo aro also Agents for
illc1mttgall's Celebrated 1f'in /moil/.
Wilson & Pelton,
Shop Opposite P. Scott's Blacksmith Shot,
1'. S. -Prompt attention paid to all re-
pairing of pumps &o.
NATI
LL . I L 85
I TJSS H1LiS, 0ILSTT.
CHANGE OF PROPM'V ORL
yam.. _
Having leased the well known and splendidly equipped Roller Flouring
Mill from Messrs. Wni. Vaustono tC Sons for a term of years, we desire
to intimate to the farmers of 'Huron Co. and the public generally
that we are prepared to turn out the best brands of Flour, look after
the Gristing Tracie, supply any quantity of Bran, Chopped stuff, &c.,
and buy Any Quantity of Wheat.
The mill is recognised as one of the best in the County and our long
experience in this business gives us confidence in saying we guarantee
satisfaction,
Flour and Feed Always on hand.
,3' -'Gristing and Chopping promptly attended to.
A GALL SOLICITED.
. SteNtraxt L ick,
• PROPRIETORS.
1
BOTTOM PRICE.
e P , " ris i .`r..re eno
Skr WE A, COMM
CHAPTER
II. ! j�
Meanwhile the Braithwaitedo-'` carriage All Kind's Harvest Tools.
had reached the Grange, and, Miss
Lane's tiniidremonstranees havigg been
overcome, it had been arranged that she
VMS to stay to dine there, and a boy was
sent to the Vicarage with a message to
E. GERRY.