Perkins did not go up for his degree, and the men lost sight of one another in a few years, cherishing, indeed, a kindly remembrance each of his friend, yet taking little pains to refresh that remembrance by renewed intercourse. How many intimacies, how many attachments outlast a twelvemonth"s break? There are certain things people go on caring for, but I fear they are more intimately connected with self in daily life than either the romance of friendship or the intermittent fever of love. The enjoyment of luxury, the pursuit of money-making, seem to lose none of their zest with advancing years, and perhaps to these we may add the taste for art.
Now to Simon Perkins art was as the very air he breathed. The greatest painter was, in his eyes, the greatest man that lived. When he left Oxford, he devoted himself to the profession of painting with such success as rendered him independent, besides enabling him to contribute largely to the comfort of two maiden aunts with whom he lived.
Not without hard work; far from it. There is no pursuit, perhaps, which demands such constant and unremitting exertion from its votaries. The ideal to which he strains can never be reached, for his very successes keep building it yet higher, and a painter is so far like a baby his whole life through that he is always learning to _see_.
Simon was still learning to see on the afternoon d.i.c.k Stanmore sculled by his cottage windows--studying the effect of a declining sun on the opposite elms, not entirely averting his looks from that graceful girl, who ran into the house to the oarsman"s discomfiture, and missing her more than might have been expected when she vanished up-stairs. Was not the sun still shining bright on that graceful feathery foliage? He did not quite think it was.
Presently there came to the door a rustle of draperies, and an elderly lady, not remarkable for beauty, entered the room. Taking no notice of Simon, she proceeded to arrange small articles of furniture with a restless manner that denoted anxiety of mind. At last, stopping short in the act of dusting a china tea-cup, with a very clean cambric handkerchief, she observed, in a faltering voice, "Simon, dear, I feel so nervous I know I shall never get through with it. Where"s your Aunt Jemima?" Even while she spoke there appeared at the door another lady, somewhat more elderly, and even less remarkable for beauty, who seated herself bolt upright in an elbow-chair without delay, and, looking austerely round, observed in an impressive voice, "Susannah, fetch me my spectacles; Simon, shut the door."
Of all governments there must be a head. It was obvious that in this deliberative a.s.sembly Miss Jemima Perkins a.s.sumed the lead. Both commands being promptly obeyed, she pulled her spectacles from their case and put them on, as symbols of authority, forthwith.
"I want your advice, Simon," said this strong-minded old lady, in a hard, clear voice. "I dare say I sha"n"t act upon it, but I want it all the same. I"ve no secrets from either of you; but as the head of the family I don"t mean to shirk responsibility, and my opinion is, she must go. Susannah, no weakness. My dear, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Nina, run up-stairs again, we don"t want you just now."
This to a pretty head with raven hair, that popped saucily in, and as saucily withdrew.
Simon looked wistfully after the pretty head, and relapsed into a day-dream. Was he thinking what a picture it would make, or what a reality it was? His aunt"s voice recalled him to facts.
"Simon," she repeated, "my opinion is she must go."
"Go!" said her nephew vacantly, "what do you mean, aunt?--Go?--where?--who?"
"Why that girl we"re all so fond of," replied Miss Jemima, growing every moment more severe. "Mr. Algernon used to come here twice every quarter, usedn"t he? Never missed the day, did he? and paid his money as regular as clockwork. Susannah, how long is it since he"s been to see us?"
Susannah sobbed.
"That"s no answer," pursued the inflexible speaker. "Tomorrow week it will be ten months since we have seen him; and tomorrow week it will be ten months since we"ve had a sc.r.a.p of his handwriting. Is that girl to remain here, dependent on the bounty of a struggling artist and two old maids? My opinion is that she ought to go out and gain her own livelihood; my feeling is that--that--I couldn"t bear to think of the poor dear in any home but this."
Here the old lady, whose a.s.sumption of extreme fort.i.tude had been gradually leading to the inevitable catastrophe, broke down altogether, while Susannah, giving rein to her emotions, lifted up her voice and wept.
"You knew who she was all along, Jemima," said the latter, gulping sadly at her syllables: "you know you did; and it"s cruel to harrow up our feelings like this."
Simon said nothing, but on his homely features gathered an expression of resolve, through which there gleamed the bright radiance of hope.
Miss Perkins wiped her eyes and then her spectacles. Resuming her dignity, she proceeded in a calmer voice--
"I will not conceal from you, Susannah, nor from you, Simon, that I have had my suspicions for several years. Those suspicions became a certainty some time ago. There can be no doubt now of the relationship existing between our Nina and the Mr. Algernon, as he called himself, who took such an interest in the child"s welfare. When I saw Mr.
Bruce"s death in the paper, I knew that our pet had lost her father.
What was I to do? When I consented to take charge of the child twenty years ago--and a sweet pretty babe she was--I perfectly understood there must be a mystery connected with her birth. As head of the family, I imparted my suspicions to neither of you, and I kept my conjectures and my disapproval to myself. This seemed only fair to my correspondent, only fair to the child. When I learned Mr. Bruce"s death, it came upon me like a shot, that he was the Mr. Algernon who used to visit here, and who furnished such liberal means for the support and education of that girl up-stairs--Susannah, I cannot make myself understood if you will persist in blowing your nose!--Since Mr.
Bruce"s death no Mr. Algernon has darkened our doors, no remittances have come to hand with the usual signature. Simon, my impression is that no provision whatever has been made for the poor thing, and that our Nina is--is utterly dest.i.tute and friendless."
Here Miss Susannah gave a little scream, whereat her sister glared austerely, and resumed the spectacles she had taken off to dry.
"Not friendless, aunt," exclaimed Simon, in a great heat and fuss; "never friendless so long as we are all above ground. I am perfectly willing to--stay, Aunt Jemima, I beg your pardon, what do you think ought to be done?"
The old lady smoothed her dress, looking round with placid dignity.
"I will first hear what you two have to propose. Susannah, leave off crying this minute, and tell us what you think of this--this _very_ embarra.s.sing position."
It is possible that but for the formidable adjective Susannah might have originated, and indeed expressed some idea of her own; but to confront a position described by her sister as "embarra.s.sing" was quite beyond her powers, and she could only repeat feebly, "I"ll give her half my money--I"ll give her half my money. We can"t drive her out into the cold." This with sobs and tears, and a hand pressed helplessly to her side.
Miss Jemima turned from her with contempt, declaring, in an audible whisper, she had "more than half a mind to send the foolish thing to bed;" then looked severely at her nephew.
"This girl," said he, "has become a member of our family, just as if she were a born relation. It seems to me there is no question of feeling or sentiment or prejudice in the matter. It is a mere affair of duty. We are bound to treat Nina Algernon exactly as if she were a Perkins."
His aunt took his face in both her hands, squeezed it hard, and flattened his nose with a grim kiss. After this feat she looked more severe than ever.
"I believe you are right," she said; "I believe this arrangement is a special duty sent on purpose for us to fulfil. I had made up my mind on the subject before I spoke to you, but it is satisfactory to know that you both think as I do. When we give way to our feelings, Susannah, we are sure to be injudicious, sometimes even unjust. But duty is a never-failing guide, and--O! my dears, to part with that darling would be to take the very heart out of my breast; and, Simon, I"m so glad you agree with me; and, Susannah, dear, if I spoke harshly just now, it was for your own good; and--and--I"ll just step upstairs into the storeroom, and look out some of the house-linen that wants mending. I had rather you didn"t disturb me. I shall be down again to tea."
So the old lady marched out firmly enough, but sister and nephew both knew right well that kindly tears, long kept back from a sense of dignity, would drop on the half-worn house-linen, and that in the solitude of her storeroom she would give vent to those womanly feelings she deemed it inc.u.mbent on her, as head of the family, to restrain before the rest.
Miss Susannah entertained no such scruples. Inflicting on her nephew a very tearful embrace, she sobbed out incoherent congratulations on the decision at which her eldest sister had arrived.
"But we mustn"t let the dear girl find it out," said this sensitive, weak-minded, but generous-hearted lady. "We should make no sort of difference in our treatment of her, of course, but we must take great care not to let anything betray us in our manner. I am not good at concealment, I know, but I will undertake that she never suspects anything from mine."
The fallacy of this a.s.sertion was so transparent that Simon could not forbear a smile.
"Better make a clean breast of it at once," said he. "Directly there"s a mystery in a family, Aunt Susannah, you may be sure there can be no union. It need not be put in a way to hurt her feelings. On the contrary, Aunt Jemima might impress on her that we count on her a.s.sistance to keep the pot boiling. Why, she"s saving us pounds and pounds at this moment. Where should I get such a model for my Fairy Queen, I should like to know? It ought to be a great picture--a great picture, Aunt Susannah, if I can only work it out. And where should I be if she left me in the lurch? No--no; we won"t forget the bundle of sticks. I"ll to the maul-stick, and you and Aunt Jemima shall be as cross as two sticks; and as for Nina, with her bright eyes, and her pleasant voice, and her merry ways, I don"t know what sort of a stick we should make of her." "A fiddlestick, I should think," said that young lady, entering the room from the garden window, having heard, it is to be hoped, no more than Simon"s closing sentence. "What are you two doing here in the dark? It"s past eight--tea"s ready--Aunt Jemima"s down--and everything"s getting cold."
Candles were lit in the next room, and the tea-things laid. Following the ladies, and watching with a painter"s eye the lights and shades as they fell on Nina"s graceful beauty, Simon Perkins felt, not for the first time, that if she were to leave the cottage, she would carry away with her all that made it a dear and happy home, depriving him at once of past, present, and future, taking from him the very cunning of his handicraft, and, worse still, the inspiration of his art.
It was no wonder she had wound herself round the hearts of that quiet little family in the retired Putney villa. As like Maud Bruce in form and feature, as though she had been her twin sister, Nina Algernon possessed the same pale, delicate features, the same graceful form, the same dark, pleading eyes and glossy raven hair; but Mr. Bruce"s elder and unacknowledged daughter had this advantage over the younger, that about her there was a sweetness, a freshness, a quiet gaiety, and a _bonhomie_ such as spring only from kindliness of disposition and pure unselfishness of heart. Had she been an ugly girl, though she might have lacked admirers, she could not have long remained without a lover. Being as handsome as Maud, she seemed calculated to rivet more attachments, while she made almost as many conquests. Between the sisters there was a similitude and a difference. One was a costly artificial flower, the other a real garden rose.
CHAPTER IX
THE USUAL DIFFICULTY
Maud"s instincts, when, soon after her father"s death, she felt a strong disinclination to live with Aunt Agatha, had not played her false. As inmates of the same house, the two ladies. .h.i.t it off badly enough. Perhaps because in a certain imperiousness and hardness of character they were somewhat alike, their differences, though only on rare occasions culminating in a battle royal, smouldered perpetually, breaking out, more often than was seemly, in brisk skirmish and rapid pa.s.sage of arms.
Miss Bruce"s education during the lifetime of her parents had been little calculated to fit her for the position of a dependent, and with all her misgivings, which, indeed, vexed her sadly, she could not yet quite divest herself of an idea that her inheritance had not wholly pa.s.sed away. Under any circ.u.mstances she resolved before long to go at the head of an establishment of her own, so that she should a.s.sume her proper position, which she often told herself, with _her_ attractions and _her_ opportunities was a mere question of will.
Then, like a band of iron tightening round her heart, would come the thought of her promise to Tom Ryfe, the bitter regret for her own weakness, her own overstrained notions of honour, as she now considered them, in committing that promise to writing. She felt as people feel in a dream, when, step which way they will, an insurmountable obstacle seems to arise, arresting their progress, and hemming them in by turns on every side.
It was not in the best of humours that, a few days after Lady Goldthred"s party, Maud descended to the luncheon-table fresh from an hour"s consideration of her grievances, and of the false position in which she was placed. Mrs. Stanmore, too, had just sent back a misfitting costume to the dressmaker for the third time; so each lady being, as it were, primed and loaded, the lightest spark would suffice to produce explosion.
While the servants remained it was necessary to keep the peace, but cutlets, mashed potatoes, and a ration of sherry having been distributed, the room was cleared, and a fair field remained for immediate action. d.i.c.k"s train was late from Newmarket, and he was well out of it.
To do her justice, Maud had meant to intrench herself in sullen silence. She saw the attack coming, and prepared to remain on the defensive. Aunt Agatha began quietly enough--to borrow a metaphor from the n.o.ble game of chess, she advanced a p.a.w.n.
"I don"t know how I"m to take you to Countess Monaco"s to-night, Maud; that stupid woman has disappointed me again, and I"ve got literally nothing to go in. Besides, there will be such a crush we shall never get away in time for my cousin"s ball. I promised her I"d be early if I could."
Now Miss Bruce knew, I suppose because he had told her, that Lord Bearwarden would be at Countess Monaco"s reception, but would not be at the said ball. It is possible Mrs. Stanmore may have been aware of this also, and that her p.a.w.n simply represented what ladies call "aggravation."