"A house at Timberdale?"
"Either in the neighbourhood of Timberdale or Crabb, Dr. Lewis writes: or he wouldn"t mind Islip. I saw his letter. Jacob says there"s nothing vacant at Timberdale at all likely to suit. We have been thinking of that little place over here, that the people have just gone out of."
"What little place?"
"Maythorn Bank. "Twould be quite large enough."
"And it"s very pretty," added the Squire. "Thomas Lewis coming back!
Wonders will never cease. How he could reconcile himself to staying away all his life, I can"t tell. Johnny lad, he will like to see you. He and your father were as thick as inkle weavers."
"Ay! Ludlow was a good friend to him while he was doing nothing," nodded old Coney. "As to his staying away, I expect he could not afford to live in England. He has had a legacy left him now, he tells the parson. What are you asking, Johnny?"
"Did I ever know Dr Lewis?"
"Not you, lad. Thomas Lewis went abroad ages before you were born, or thought of. Five-and-twenty years he must have been away."
"More than that," said the Squire.
This Thomas Lewis was half-brother to the Rector of Timberdale, but was not related to the Coneys. He served his time, when a boy, to a surgeon at Worcester. In those days young men were apprenticed to doctors just as they were to other trades. Young Lewis was steady and clever; but so weak in health that when he was qualified and ought to have set up on his own account, he could not. People were wondering what would become of him, for he had no money, when by one of those good chances that rarely fail in time of need, he obtained a post as travelling companion to a n.o.bleman, rich and sickly, who was going to reside in the warmth of the south of France. They went. It brought up Thomas Lewis"s health well; made quite another man of him; and when, a little later, his patron died, he found that he had taken care of his future. He had left the young surgeon a competency of two hundred a-year. Mr. Lewis stayed on where he was, married a lady who had some small means, took a foreign medical degree to become Dr. Lewis, and obtained a little practice amidst the English that went to the place in winter. They had been obliged to live frugally, though an income of from two to three hundred a-year goes a great deal farther over the water than it does in England: and perhaps the lack of means to travel had kept Dr. Lewis from visiting his native land. Very little had been known of him at home; the letters interchanged by him and the parson were few and far between. Now, it appeared, the doctor had again dropped into a legacy of a few hundred pounds, and was coming back with his daughter--an only child. The wife was dead.
Maythorn Bank, the pretty little place spoken of by Mr. Coney, was taken. It belonged to Sir Robert Tenby. A small, red-brick house, standing in a flower-garden, with a delightful view from its windows of the charming Worcestershire scenery and the Malvern Hills in the distance. Excepting old Coney"s great rambling farm-homestead close by, it was the nearest house to our own. But the inside, when it came to be looked at, was found to be in a state of dilapidation, not at all fit for a gentleman"s habitation. Sir Robert Tenby was applied to, and he gave directions that it should be put in order.
Before this was completed, the Rector of Timberdale died. He had been suffering from ailments and sorrow for a long while; and in the sweet spring season, the season that he had loved above all other seasons, when the May birds were singing and the May flowers were blooming, he crossed the river that divides us from the eternal sh.o.r.es.
Mr. Coney had to see to the new house then upon his own responsibility; and when it was finished and the workmen were gone out of it, he went over to Worcester, following Dr. Lewis"s request, and ordered in a sufficiency of plain furniture. By the middle of June all was ready, a maid-servant engaged, and the doctor and his daughter were at liberty to come when they pleased.
We had just got home for the Midsummer holidays when they arrived.
Old Coney took me to the station to meet them; he said there might be parcels to carry. Once, a French lady had come on a visit to the farm, and she brought with her fifteen small hand-packages and a bandbox.
"And these people are French, too, you see, Johnny," reasoned old Coney.
"Lewis can"t be called anything better, and the girl was born there.
Can"t even speak English, perhaps. I"m sure he has had time to forget his native tongue."
But they spoke English just as readily and fluently as we did; even the young lady, Anne, had not the slightest foreign accent. And there were no small packages; nothing but three huge trunks and a sort of large reticule, which she carried herself, and would not give up to me. I liked her looks the moment I saw her. You know I always take likes or dislikes. A rather tall girl, light and graceful, with a candid face, a true and sweet voice, and large, soft brown eyes that met mine frankly and fearlessly.
But the doctor! He was like a shadow. A tall man, with stooping shoulders, handsome, thin features, hollow cheeks, and scanty hair. But every look and movement bespoke the gentleman; every tone of his low voice was full of considerate courtesy.
"What a poor weak fellow!" lamented old Coney aside to me. "It"s just the Thomas Lewis of the years gone by; no health, no stamina. I"m afraid he has only come home to die."
They liked the house, and liked everything in it; and he thanked old Coney very earnestly for the trouble he had taken. I never saw a man, as I learnt later, so considerate for the feelings of others, or so grateful for any little service rendered to himself.
"It is delightful," said Miss Lewis, smiling at me. "I shall call it our little chateau. And those hills in the distance are the beautiful Malvern Hills that my father has so often told me of!"
"How well you speak English!" I said. "Just as we do."
"Do you suppose I could do otherwise, when my father and my mother were English? It is in truth my native tongue. I think I know England better than France. I have always heard so much of it."
"But you speak French as a native?"
"Oh, of course. German also."
"Ah, I see you are an accomplished young lady, Miss Lewis."
"I am just the opposite," she said, with a laugh. "I never learnt accomplishments. I do not play; I do not sing; I do not draw; I do not--but yes, I do dance: every one dances in France. Ours was not a rich home, and my dear mother brought me up to be useful in it. I can make my own dresses; I can cook you an omelette, or----"
"Anne, this is Mr. Todhetley," interrupted her father.
The Squire had come in through the open gla.s.s doors, round which the jessamine was blooming. When they had talked a bit, he took me up to Dr. Lewis.
"Has Coney told you who he is? William Ludlow"s son. You remember _him_?"
"Remember William Ludlow! I must forget myself before I could forget him," was the doctor"s answer, as he took both my hands in his and held me before him to look into my eyes. The tears were rising in his own.
"A pleasant face to look at," he was pleased to say. "But they did not name him William?"
"No. We call him Johnny."
"One generation pa.s.ses away and another rises up in its place. How few, how few of those I knew are now left to welcome me! Even poor Jacob has not stayed."
Tears seemed to be the fashion just then. I turned away, when released, and saw them in Miss Lewis"s eyes as she stood against the window-sill, absently playing with the white jessamine.
"When they begin to speak of those who are gone, it always puts me in mind of mamma," she said in a whisper, as if she would apologize for the tears. "I can"t help it."
"Is it long since you lost her?"
"Nearly two years; and home has not been the same to papa since. I do my best; but I am not my mother. I think it was that which made papa resolve to come to England when he found he could afford it. Home is but triste, you see, when the dearest one it contained has gone out of it."
It struck me that the house could not have had one dearer in it than Anne. She was years and years older than I, but I began to wish she was my sister.
And her manners to the servant were so nice--a homely country girl, named Sally, engaged by Mr. Coney. Miss Lewis told the girl that she hoped she would be happy in her new place, and that she would help her when there was much work to do. Altogether Anne Lewis was a perfect contrast to the fashionable damsels of that day, who could not make themselves appear too fine.
The next day was Sunday. We had just finished breakfast, and Mrs.
Todhetley was nursing her toothache, when Dr. Lewis came in, looking more shadowy than ever in his black Sunday clothes, with the deep band on his hat. They were going to service at Timberdale, and he wanted me to go with them.
"Of course I have not forgotten the way to Timberdale," said he; "but there"s an odd, shy feeling upon me of not liking to walk about the old place by myself. Anne is strange to it also. We shall soon get used to it, I dare say. Will you go, Johnny?"
"Yes, sir."
"Crabb Church is close by, Lewis," remarked the Squire, "and it"s a steaming hot day."
"But I must go to Timberdale this morning. It was poor Jacob"s church, you know for many years. And though he is no longer there, I should like to see the desk and pulpit which he filled."
"Ay, to be sure," readily acquiesced the Squire. "I"d go with you myself, Lewis, but for the heat."
Dr. Lewis said he should take the roadway, not the short cut through Crabb Ravine. It was a good round, and we had to start early. I liked Anne better than ever: no one could look nicer than she did in her trim black dress. As we walked along, Dr. Lewis frequently halted to recognize old scenes, and ask me was it this place, or that.
"That fine place out yonder?" he cried, stopping to point to a large stone house half-a-mile off the road, partly hidden amidst its beautiful grounds. "I ought to know whose it is. Let me see!"