"And that I sometimes feel rather lonely. But we cannot have everything we wish for in this world, and I shall soon be home. One satisfaction is that I am making myself well acquainted with the route I have taken--as delightful a track as can be imagined--and that it will be a great pleasure by-and-by to guide some one who has never been to the beauty-land of Switzerland over the ground I have traversed--"
("I wonder," said f.a.n.n.y, "if he has anybody in his eye, and whether he is thinking of a honey-moon!")
"Over the ground I have traversed. I received your pleasant, chatty letter, telling me all the news, and I cannot thank you enough for it. You are a model of a correspondent. So you all went to hear _Faust_ at Covent Garden; I can imagine how you enjoyed yourselves, loving music as you do. When I was at Milan I went to La Scala, about which everybody who hasn"t seen it raves. It isn"t a patch on Covent Garden. You say it would have done my heart good if I had seen how beautiful Miss Farebrother looked--"
("I gave him," said f.a.n.n.y, "a most elaborate description of our dresses.")
"To see how beautiful Miss Farebrother looked. You need scarcely have told me that; she always looks beautiful--and so do you--"
("_I_ come in," said f.a.n.n.y, tossing her head, "as a kind of make-weight. Out of common politeness he could not have said less.")
"And so do you. On my way to the Grimsel this afternoon I stopped at Handek to see the Falls. I am not sure that I do not admire them more than any I have yet pa.s.sed. They are truly grand; and I wish I could have gathered some of the wonderful ferns low down the ravine to have inclosed in this letter. Before I reached the Falls I stopped at a hut, and there was a girl sh.e.l.ling peas. Quite a young girl, not more than seventeen, I should say; but there was something about her that reminded me of Miss Farebrother. Nothing like so pretty and sweet; but her hair was the same colour, and she was about the same height. She got me some milk, and I stopped a few minutes to rest, and helped her to pick her peas--"
("It has been my opinion," said f.a.n.n.y, "ever since I had the pleasure of Fred"s acquaintance, that he was little better than a flirt. He ought to be ashamed of himself. The least he could do was to keep these things to himself.")
"Helped her to pick her peas. We had an agreeable chat, although she spoke a patois of which I did not understand a single word. It was very comical--"
("Very," said f.a.n.n.y, with a fine touch of sarcasm.)
"Comical. Then I went on my way rejoicing, and it was quite dark when I reached the Grimsel. The monks are very hospitable; they gave me a good dinner and a good bottle of wine, for which they charge nothing; only one is expected to put something in the box for the poor before he leaves the hospice. I am up here in the mountains, nearly seven thousand feet above the level of the sea; out side there is a melancholy, sombre sheet of water called the Todten-See, or the Dead Lake. It is said to contain no living thing, only ghosts. Before I go to bed I shall go and see them. I am sorry to hear that the firm in which Bob was employed has failed, and that he is out of a situation. Hope he will soon get another, and that his career will shed l.u.s.tre and renown on the name of Lethbridge. And I am truly sorry to hear that Miss Farebrother has sprained her wrist--"
("Oh, f.a.n.n.y!" cried Phoebe, "I didn"t." "I told him you did," said f.a.n.n.y, calmly. "When a man is away, things must _not_ be allowed to languish. The interest _must_ be kept up somehow.")
"Sprained her wrist. She must take the greatest care of it. Of course you do not allow her to touch the piano. You ask me how she would look with her hair cut short--"
("Well!" gasped Phoebe. "It is really too bad of you. Nothing could induce me to have my hair cut off. I have never mentioned such a thing." "_I_ mentioned it," said f.a.n.n.y, with a little laugh. "Trust me for managing these affairs. He will be overjoyed when he comes home and finds your hair just as beautiful as when he left. He will say something about it, to which you will reply--exposing me, of course--and then he will pay you no end of compliments.")
"With her hair cut short. Are you serious? I know what a quiz you are, and I suspect you are amusing yourself at my expense. I can hardly believe that Miss Farebrother has any such intention. I never saw such beautiful hair as hers--"
("Thank you, sir," said f.a.n.n.y.)
"Such beautiful hair as hers, and she will be doing very wrong if she allows herself to be persuaded to adopt what I consider an odious fashion. You know my opinion about mannish women; I would banish them to some distant island if I had my way, where, as there would be no men among them, there might be a chance of their recovering their right senses. When I was in Milan I bought three lace handkerchiefs: one for Miss Farebrother, one for yourself, and one for your kind mother. I have something also for Uncle Leth and Bob. Please give them all my very kindest regards, and tell Aunt Leth I am longing to have tea with her, and to taste her wonderful gooseberry jam again."
(f.a.n.n.y had to stop here to laugh, and then she said: "Look, Phoebe, here are a lot of dots. His recollection of the gooseberry jam overcame him, and he went out to the Dead Lake to see the ghosts.")
"I threw down my pen, and went out for a stroll. It is a beautiful night. The Dead Lake does not sustain its reputation when the stars are shining on it. I tried to conjure up the ghosts, but they would not come. Instead of ghosts, all sorts of pleasant memories took shape, for the chief of which I have to thank your happy home. I thought of you all, and of the many acts of hospitality for which I am indebted to you. There is in such scenes as this a spirit of peace inexpressibly soothing, forming a reminiscence to be long remembered. The reflection of the stars in the still waters rendered it impossible to credit their evil reputation. The lake was a fairy lake, and as such I shall always think of it. Upon entering the hospice I heard the monks praying in low voices. Now I must to bed. Convey my kindest remembrances to Miss Farebrother, and receive the same yourself, from
"Yours very sincerely,
FREDERICK CORNWALL."
"That is something like a letter," said f.a.n.n.y. "Fred is quite a poet.
Don"t you think so?"
"He writes beautifully," replied Phoebe.
"Lace handkerchiefs," said f.a.n.n.y. "I wonder whose will be the prettiest? Mine, I should say."
"You deserve the best."
"There can be no doubt of that; but then men are so ungrateful. I must confess I can"t quite get over that girl at Handek. The idea of his helping her to sh.e.l.l peas!"
"It was very kind of him."
"It was nothing of the sort; it was a downright shameless piece of flirtation, and I shall take him to task for it. I shouldn"t so much have minded it if _I_ had been the girl; would you? Oh, how foolish of me!--there is a postscript to the letter. Just think of a young woman forgetting a "P.S."!"
"As if you did not know it was there!" said Phoebe, with a tender smile. "What does it say?"
"Well, I never! Just listen. "P.S.--My own dearest girl----""
"Eh?" cried Phoebe.
"No; it is a mistake of mine. He has left that out. "P.S.--I have kept this letter by me four days, and it is time I posted it, or I shall be home before you receive it. I expect to reach London on Friday morning." What do you think of that, Phoebe? How many to the minute is your heart going? Friday morning. The day after to-morrow. I shan"t be able to sleep a wink. But there is something more, Phoebe; that is not the end of the postscript. It goes on: "Enclosed are two small packets, one with your name outside, one with Miss Farebrother"s. I dare say you have not seen the flower they contain. It is the edelweiss, a flower which, always worn, brings luck and good fortune. If you will give me the opportunity, when I come home, I shall regard it as a great favour if you will allow me to put a piece of edelweiss in lockets for you both. With constant regards, Fred C." Here is your packet, Phoebe."
Phoebe opened the paper, and gazed at the white flower, around which the traveller had arranged a few forget-me-nots.
"He calls it," said f.a.n.n.y, "a flower of luck and good fortune. _I_ know the right name for it, if he doesn"t."
"What is its right name?" asked Phoebe.
"It is a love flower--nothing less. I shall put mine under my pillow, and shall dream of My Own. Not yours--mine; I am not a poacher. I will tell you what he is like in the morning. Good-night, dear Phoebe."
"Good-night, darling," said Phoebe.
Both the girls put their flowers of love under their pillows, and had happy dreams.
CHAPTER XV.
JEREMIAH PAMFLETT"S OPINIONS OF GIRLS.
No more chivalrous knight than Tom Barley ever drew breath, but notwithstanding his devotion to Phoebe, certain incontrovertible conclusions had for some time past forced themselves upon him. A number of men live to eat; a much larger number eat to live. Without reference to his inclinations, Tom Barley"s circ.u.mstances did not enable him to do the former, and he found it exceedingly hard to do the latter.
Between him and Mrs. Pamflett existed an unconquerable antipathy. Being of an independent order of mind, he was barely civil to her; and, as she kept the key of the cupboard, she repaid him in full by either throwing food to him as she would to a dog, or giving him none at all.
She tolerated him because he was useful to her in the way of chopping wood and doing various odd jobs of a rough nature; but for this, she would long ago have had him dismissed. Her son Jeremiah, who came regularly to Parksides on Miser Farebrother"s business, never failed to put a spoke in Tom"s wheel as he termed it; but his mother was successful in mollifying him by recounting the hardships to which Tom had to submit.
"He"s little better than starved," she said to her son, "and he hasn"t a rag to his back."
"Serve him right," growled Jeremiah; "I"d like to see him hanged!"
He never forgot the beating he had received in the village, by the instigation of Tom Barley, on the occasion of his first visit to Parksides; and with him, never to forget was never to forgive. With prudent care of his bones he steered clear of a collision with Tom, who was strong enough to tackle half a dozen men such as he; but he would gladly have seized an opportunity to do Tom an ill turn. Tom, the least vindictive being that ever wore rags, had forgotten the incident years ago, and would have met with civility any advances which Jeremiah might have made to him; but as Miser Farebrother"s managing clerk invariably scowled at him when they happened to meet, he took refuge in silence and avoidance. Jeremiah had made great strides since he first entered the miser"s service. He had mastered the intricacies and the rogueries of the money-lending business, and was the sharpest of sharp knaves--without feeling, without a heart, intent only upon his own interests and the gratification of his own pleasures. It has already been shown that he was lending money upon his own account; but this was done without the cognizance of the miser, who would have strongly resented such an encroachment upon his domain. Miser Farebrother would have found it difficult--indeed, almost impossible--to get along now without Jeremiah; the constant cramp in his bones, which had kept him so frequently and for so long a time together a prisoner in Parksides, grew worse instead of better, and Jeremiah had taken the fullest advantage which these absences had offered to him. There were matters of business which Jeremiah, and Jeremiah alone, could explain: sums of money were owing which, without Jeremiah, could never have been recovered; certain of the questionable transactions by means of which Miser Farebrother had ama.s.sed wealth were entered and recorded in a manner so peculiar that Jeremiah and no other person understood them.
He had played his cards apparently well. The question to be decided was, where the game was going to lead him.
On the Friday upon which Fred Cornwall was expected home, two or three pregnant circ.u.mstances took place affecting our heroine. It was the day previous to her birthday, on which she had obtained her father"s consent to the visit of the Lethbridges to Parksides. Phoebe had returned home on Thursday evening, intent upon making preparations for the visit of her dearest friends. Before she left Camden Town a little conversation took place between her and her aunt with respect to this birthday celebration.
"You must not expect much," Phoebe said; "I cannot afford to do as I would wish."