"Consumption."
"Oh no, no!" said the widow. "That word "consumption" covers a good deal. He died because you were his own well-agreed sweetheart, and then proved false--and it killed him. Yes, Miss Swancourt," she said in an excited whisper, "you killed my son!"
"How can you be so wicked and foolish!" replied Elfride, rising indignantly. But indignation was not natural to her, and having been so worn and harrowed by late events, she lost any powers of defence that mood might have lent her. "I could not help his loving me, Mrs.
Jethway!"
"That"s just what you could have helped. You know how it began, Miss Elfride. Yes: you said you liked the name of Felix better than any other name in the parish, and you knew it was his name, and that those you said it to would report it to him."
"I knew it was his name--of course I did; but I am sure, Mrs. Jethway, I did not intend anybody to tell him."
"But you knew they would."
"No, I didn"t."
"And then, after that, when you were riding on Revels-day by our house, and the lads were gathered there, and you wanted to dismount, when Jim Drake and George Upway and three or four more ran forward to hold your pony, and Felix stood back timid, why did you beckon to him, and say you would rather he held it?"
"O Mrs. Jethway, you do think so mistakenly! I liked him best--that"s why I wanted him to do it. He was gentle and nice--I always thought him so--and I liked him."
"Then why did you let him kiss you?"
"It is a falsehood; oh, it is, it is!" said Elfride, weeping with desperation. "He came behind me, and attempted to kiss me; and that was why I told him never to let me see him again."
"But you did not tell your father or anybody, as you would have if you had looked upon it then as the insult you now pretend it was."
"He begged me not to tell, and foolishly enough I did not. And I wish I had now. I little expected to be scourged with my own kindness. Pray leave me, Mrs. Jethway." The girl only expostulated now.
"Well, you harshly dismissed him, and he died. And before his body was cold, you took another to your heart. Then as carelessly sent him about his business, and took a third. And if you consider that nothing, Miss Swancourt," she continued, drawing closer; "it led on to what was very serious indeed. Have you forgotten the would-be runaway marriage? The journey to London, and the return the next day without being married, and that there"s enough disgrace in that to ruin a woman"s good name far less light than yours? You may have: I have not. Fickleness towards a lover is bad, but fickleness after playing the wife is wantonness."
"Oh, it"s a wicked cruel lie! Do not say it; oh, do not!"
"Does your new man know of it? I think not, or he would be no man of yours! As much of the story as was known is creeping about the neighbourhood even now; but I know more than any of them, and why should I respect your love?"
"I defy you!" cried Elfride tempestuously. "Do and say all you can to ruin me; try; put your tongue at work; I invite it! I defy you as a slanderous woman! Look, there he comes." And her voice trembled greatly as she saw through the leaves the beloved form of Knight coming from the door with her hat in his hand. "Tell him at once; I can bear it."
"Not now," said the woman, and disappeared down the path.
The excitement of her latter words had restored colour to Elfride"s cheeks; and hastily wiping her eyes, she walked farther on, so that by the time her lover had overtaken her the traces of emotion had nearly disappeared from her face. Knight put the hat upon her head, took her hand, and drew it within his arm.
It was the last day but one previous to their departure for St.
Leonards; and Knight seemed to have a purpose in being much in her company that day. They rambled along the valley. The season was that period in the autumn when the foliage alone of an ordinary plantation is rich enough in hues to exhaust the chromatic combinations of an artist"s palette. Most l.u.s.trous of all are the beeches, graduating from bright rusty red at the extremity of the boughs to a bright yellow at their inner parts; young oaks are still of a neutral green; Scotch firs and hollies are nearly blue; whilst occasional dottings of other varieties give maroons and purples of every tinge.
The river--such as it was--here pursued its course amid flagstones as level as a pavement, but divided by crevices of irregular width. With the summer drought the torrent had narrowed till it was now but a thread of crystal clearness, meandering along a central channel in the rocky bed of the winter current. Knight scrambled through the bushes which at this point nearly covered the brook from sight, and leapt down upon the dry portion of the river bottom.
"Elfride, I never saw such a sight!" he exclaimed. "The hazels overhang the river"s course in a perfect arch, and the floor is beautifully paved. The place reminds one of the pa.s.sages of a cloister. Let me help you down."
He a.s.sisted her through the marginal underwood and down to the stones.
They walked on together to a tiny cascade about a foot wide and high, and sat down beside it on the flags that for nine months in the year were submerged beneath a gushing bourne. From their feet trickled the attenuated thread of water which alone remained to tell the intent and reason of this leaf-covered aisle, and journeyed on in a zigzag line till lost in the shade.
Knight, leaning on his elbow, after contemplating all this, looked critically at Elfride.
"Does not such a luxuriant head of hair exhaust itself and get thin as the years go on from eighteen to eight-and-twenty?" he asked at length.
"Oh no!" she said quickly, with a visible disinclination to harbour such a thought, which came upon her with an unpleasantness whose force it would be difficult for men to understand. She added afterwards, with smouldering uneasiness, "Do you really think that a great abundance of hair is more likely to get thin than a moderate quant.i.ty?"
"Yes, I really do. I believe--am almost sure, in fact--that if statistics could be obtained on the subject, you would find the persons with thin hair were those who had a superabundance originally, and that those who start with a moderate quant.i.ty retain it without much loss."
Elfride"s troubles sat upon her face as well as in her heart. Perhaps to a woman it is almost as dreadful to think of losing her beauty as of losing her reputation. At any rate, she looked quite as gloomy as she had looked at any minute that day.
"You shouldn"t be so troubled about a mere personal adornment," said Knight, with some of the severity of tone that had been customary before she had beguiled him into softness.
"I think it is a woman"s duty to be as beautiful as she can. If I were a scholar, I would give you chapter and verse for it from one of your own Latin authors. I know there is such a pa.s.sage, for papa has alluded to it."
""Munditiae, et ornatus, et cultus," &c.--is that it? A pa.s.sage in Livy which is no defence at all."
"No, it is not that."
"Never mind, then; for I have a reason for not taking up my old cudgels against you, Elfie. Can you guess what the reason is?"
"No; but I am glad to hear it," she said thankfully. "For it is dreadful when you talk so. For whatever dreadful name the weakness may deserve, I must candidly own that I am terrified to think my hair may ever get thin."
"Of course; a sensible woman would rather lose her wits than her beauty."
"I don"t care if you do say satire and judge me cruelly. I know my hair is beautiful; everybody says so."
"Why, my dear Miss Swancourt," he tenderly replied, "I have not said anything against it. But you know what is said about handsome being and handsome doing."
"Poor Miss Handsome-does cuts but a sorry figure beside Miss Handsome-is in every man"s eyes, your own not excepted, Mr. Knight, though it pleases you to throw off so," said Elfride saucily. And lowering her voice: "You ought not to have taken so much trouble to save me from falling over the cliff, for you don"t think mine a life worth much trouble evidently."
"Perhaps you think mine was not worth yours."
"It was worth anybody"s!"
Her hand was plashing in the little waterfall, and her eyes were bent the same way.
"You talk about my severity with you, Elfride. You are unkind to me, you know."
"How?" she asked, looking up from her idle occupation.
"After my taking trouble to get jewellery to please you, you wouldn"t accept it."
"Perhaps I would now; perhaps I want to."
"Do!" said Knight.
And the packet was withdrawn from his pocket and presented the third time. Elfride took it with delight. The obstacle was rent in twain, and the significant gift was hers.
"I"ll take out these ugly ones at once," she exclaimed, "and I"ll wear yours--shall I?"