"Is there nothing you can do to help yourself? I will do my part gladly, and it cannot cost us much to live--just us two."
The next moment her face was crimson, as she reflected that what she had said, seemed like begging Neil to marry her, and his answer was not very rea.s.suring.
"There is _nothing_ for me to do; absolutely nothing."
"Don"t other men find employment if they want it?" Bessie asked, and he replied:
"Yes, if they want it; but I do not. You know as well as I the prejudice among people of my rank against clerkships, and trade, and the like. As a rule the McPhersons do not work."
"But I am not ashamed to work, and I am as much a McPherson as you,"
Bessie answered him, emboldened for once to say what she thought.
"Yes," he answered, slowly, "and I am sorry for it. You told me at one time you thought of going out as governess. Never harbor that idea again, if you care for me. I cannot have people pointing out my wife as one who had taught their children."
Bessie bowed her head silently as if in acquiescence, and Neil never suspected what was pa.s.sing in her mind, nor dreamed that a tide was set in motion which would take Bessie away from him forever.
CHAPTER V.
BESSIE"S DECISION.
"And so you have determined to go to America?" Neil said to Bessie about four weeks later, when he came to Stoneleigh in obedience to a letter from Bessie telling him she wished to see him on a matter of importance.
"Yes," she replied, "I am going to America. My pa.s.sage is engaged, and I sail in two weeks, in company with a Mrs. Goodnough, of Bangor, a nice old lady, who will take good care of me."
"Well," and Neil stroked his mustache thoughtfully, "I am not sure but that it is a good idea to beard the old woman in her den. You will be likely to succeed where others would fail, and when you are sure of her fortune send for me."
There was a levity in his manner which Bessie resented, and she said to him, quickly:
"If by the "old woman" you mean my Aunt Betsey, I would rather you did not speak of her thus. She has been kind to father and me--very kind.
But it is not her fortune I am going after. It is my own! I have always thought I had one somewhere, and as it does not seem to be here, it may be in America. But, jesting aside. I am going to find something to do.
It is no disgrace to work there, and your friends will never know."
"I am not sure of that," Neil said. "But what do you mean to do?"
"Anything I can find," Bessie answered, decidedly.
Neil only smiled and thought how sure it was that once with her aunt she would become a favorite, and eventually, an heiress to the fortune he so greatly coveted.
He should miss her, he knew, and still it would be a relief not to have her on his mind, as she would be, if left alone at Stoneleigh. So, on the whole, she had done wisely when she planned to go to America, and he did not oppose her, but said he would be in Liverpool the 25th, to see her off. He did not ask if she had the necessary funds for the voyage; he had trouble enough on that score, and was not likely soon to forget the scene, or rather succession of scenes, enacted at Trevellian House, when Mrs. Meredith"s bills were presented to his mother, who, but for shame"s sake, would have repudiated them at once as something she was not lawfully obliged to pay.
Neither did he inquire who Mrs. Goodnough was, and did not know that she was a poor woman who had worked in the fields, and was going out to New York, not as first-cla.s.s pa.s.senger nor even second, but as steerage, and Bessie"s ticket was of the same nature. She had but little money, and when she heard from Mrs. Goodnough, who was a friend of Dorothy"s, and who had once been in America, that a steerage pa.s.sage was oftentimes very comfortable, and that many respectable people took it because of its cheapness, she put aside all feelings of pride, and said to Mrs.
Goodnough:
"I will go steerage with you," and from this plan she never swerved.
But she would not tell Neil then; time enough at the last when he came to see her off, and must, of course, know the truth.
She knew he would be very angry, and probably insist upon paying the difference, but she could take no more money from him, and her blood was hot whenever she reflected what she had heard him say to Flossie of the bills incurred in Rome, and which she meant to pay to the uttermost farthing, if her life was spared and she found something to do in the new world, where to work was not degrading. But she must know the amount, and she timidly asked Neil to tell her how much it was.
"Enough! I a.s.sure you. Those Italians are rascals and cheats--the whole of them; but it need not trouble you, the debt is paid," he said, a little bitterly. But Bessie insisted upon knowing, and finally wrung from him that two hundred and fifty pounds would probably cover the whole indebtedness.
"Bringing mother home and all?" Bessie asked, and he replied:
"Yes, bringing her home and all; that was a useless expense."
He spoke before he thought, and when he saw how quickly the tears came to Bessie"s eyes, he repented the act, and stooping down to kiss her, said:
"Forgive me, Bessie, I did not mean to wound you; but mother did fret so about the bills. You know she did not like your mother."
"Tell her I shall pay them all," Bessie answered, as she withdrew herself from the arm he had thrown round her. "My mother was my own, and with all her faults I loved her, and I believe she was a good woman at the last. I should die if I did not."
"Yes, oh yes, of course," Neil said, feeling very awkward and uncertain what to say next.
At last he asked, rather abruptly, if Bessie knew where Jack Trevellian and Grey Jerrold were, saying he had never heard from either of them since he was in Rome.
Bessie replied that Flossie had written that Sir Jack was somewhere in the Bavarian Alps leading a kind of Bohemian life, and that he had written to his steward at Trevellian Castle that he should not be home until he had seen the Pa.s.sion Play, then in process of presentation at Oberammergau.
"He never writes Flossie," Bessie said; "neither does she know where Mr.
Jerrold is. She wrote to him at Venice, but he did net answer her letter. Perhaps he has gone home."
Neil said it was possible, adding, that she would probably see him in America, as his Aunt Lucy lived in Allington.
"But you are not to fall in love with him," he continued, laughingly.
"You are mine, and I shall come to claim you as soon as you write me you have found that fortune you are going after. Do your best, little Bess, and if you cannot untie the old maid"s purse strings n.o.body can."
Bessie made no reply, but in her heart there was a feeling which boded no good to Neil, who left her the next day, promising to come down to Liverpool and see her off.
CHAPTER VI.
IN LIVERPOOL.
It was a steady down-pour, and the streets of Liverpool, always black and dirty, looked dirtier and blacker than ever on the day when Neil McPherson walked restlessly up and down the entrance hall of the North-western Hotel, now scanning the piles of baggage waiting to be taken to the Germanic, and then looking ruefully out upon the rain falling so steadily.
"It is a dreary day for her to start, poor little girl. I wish I had money of my own, and I would never let her go," he said to himself, as he began to realize what it would be to have Bessie separated from him the breadth of the great ocean.
Selfish and weak as we have shown Neil to be, he loved Bessie better than he loved anything except himself, and there was a load on his heart and a lump in his throat every time he thought of her. She was to sail that afternoon at three, and he had come from London on the night express to meet her and say good-by. His father, and mother, and Blanche were staying at a gentleman"s house, a few miles from the city, and he was to join them there in the evening, and make one of a large dinner-party given in honor of Lady Jane. He had told his mother that Bessie was going to America, and in her delight at the good news she did not oppose his going to see her off, and actually handed him a five-pound note, which he was to give to Bessie with her best wishes for a pleasant voyage and happiness in the new world.
Thus armed and equipped, Neil waited until a whiz and a shriek outside told him the train from Chester was in, and, going out, he stood at the gate when Bessie came through, accompanied by Mrs. Goodnough, who carried her bag and waterproof, and who courtesied very low to Neil.
Never had the latter seen Bessie look as lovely, as she did to him then in her simple traveling-dress of black, which brought out so clearly the dazzling purity of her complexion, and seemed to intensify the deep blue of her large, sad eyes.
"Oh, Bessie!" he exclaimed, taking her hand and putting it under his arm, "how can I let you go? Where is Mrs. Goodnough? and who is this woman bobbing up and down and staring so at me?"