"I will only hope," she replied, after waiting a little, "that some kind person pitied and helped you when you were deserted. Any change must have been for the better after that. Who took charge of you?"
"My mother"s sister took charge of me, an elder sister, who kept a school. The time when I was most unhappy was the time when my aunt began to teach me. "If you don"t want to be beaten, and kept on bread and water," she said, "learn, you ugly little wretch, and be quick about it.""
"Did she speak in that shameful way to the other girls?"
"Oh, no! I was taken into her school for nothing, and, young as I was, I was expected to earn my food and shelter by being fit to teach the lowest cla.s.s. The girls hated me. It was such a wretched life that I hardly like to speak of it now. I ran away, and I was caught, and severely punished. When I grew older and wiser, I tried to find some other employment for myself. The elder girls bought penny journals that published stories. They were left about now and then in the bedrooms. I read the stories when I had the chance. Even my ignorance discovered how feeble and foolish they were. They encouraged me to try if I could write a story myself; I couldn"t do worse, and I might do better. I sent my ma.n.u.script to the editor. It was accepted and printed--but when I wrote and asked him if he would pay me something for it, he refused. Dozens of ladies, he said, wrote stories for him for nothing. It didn"t matter what the stories were. Anything would do for his readers, so long as the characters were lords and ladies, and there was plenty of love in it.
My next attempt to get away from the school ended in another disappointment. A poor old man, who had once been an actor, used to come to us twice a week, and get a few shillings by teaching the girls to read aloud. He was called "Professor of English Literature," and he taught out of a ragged book of verses which smelled of his pipe. I learned one of the pieces and repeated it to him, and asked if there was any hope of my being able to go on the stage. He was very kind; he told me the truth. "My dear, you have no dramatic ability; G.o.d forbid you should go on the stage." I went back again to the penny journals, and tried a new editor. He seemed to have more money than the other one; or perhaps he was kinder. I got ten shillings from him for my story. With that money I made my last attempt--I advertised for a situation as governess. If Mr. Linley had not seen my advertis.e.m.e.nt, I might have starved in the streets. When my aunt heard of it, she insisted on my begging her pardon before the whole school. Do girls get half maddened by persecution? If they do, I think I must have been one of those girls.
I refused to beg pardon; and I was dismissed from my situation without a character. Will you think me very foolish? I shut my eyes again, when I woke in my delicious bed to-day. I was afraid that the room, and everything in it, was a dream." She looked round, and started to her feet. "Oh, here"s a lady! Shall I go away?"
The curtains hanging over the entrance to the library were opened for the second time. With composure and dignity, the lady who had startled Sydney entered the room.
"Have you been reading in the library?" Mrs. Linley asked. And Mrs.
Presty answered: "No, Catherine; I have been listening."
Mrs. Linley looked at her mother; her lovely complexion reddened with a deep blush.
"Introduce me to Miss Westerfield," Mrs. Presty proceeded, as coolly as ever.
Mrs. Linley showed some hesitation. What would the governess think of her mother? Perfectly careless of what the governess might think, Mrs.
Presty crossed the room and introduced herself.
"Miss Westerfield, I am Mrs. Linley"s mother. And I am, in one respect, a remarkable person. When I form an opinion and find it"s the opinion of a fool, I am not in the least ashamed to change my mind. I have changed my mind about you. Shake hands."
Sydney respectfully obeyed.
"Sit down again." Sydney returned to her chair.
"I had the worst possible opinion of you," Mrs. Presty resumed, "before I had the pleasure of listening on the other side of the curtain. It has been my good fortune--what"s your Christian name? Did I hear it? or have I forgotten it? "Sydney," eh? Very well. I was about to say, Sydney, that it has been my good fortune to be intimately a.s.sociated, in early life, with two remarkable characters. Husbands of mine, in short, whose influence over me has, I am proud to say, set death and burial at defiance. Between them they have made my mind the mind of a man. I judge for myself. The opinions of others (when they don"t happen to agree with mine) I regard as chaff to be scattered to the winds. No, Catherine, I am not wandering. I am pointing out to a young person, who has her way to make in the world, the vast importance, on certain occasions, of possessing an independent mind. If I had been ashamed to listen behind those curtains, there is no injury that my stupid prejudices might not have inflicted on this unfortunate girl. As it is, I have heard her story, and I do her justice. Count on me, Sydney, as your friend, and now get up again. My grandchild (never accustomed to wait for anything since the day when she was born) is waiting dinner for you. She is at this moment shouting for her governess, as King Richard (I am a great reader of Shakespeare) once shouted for his horse. The maid (you will recognize her as a stout person suffering under tight stays) is waiting outside to show you the way to the nursery. _Au revoir._ Stop! I should like to judge the purity of your French accent. Say "au revoir" to me.
Thank you.--Weak in her French, Catherine," Mrs. Presty p.r.o.nounced, when the door had closed on the governess; "but what can you expect, poor wretch, after such a life as she has led? Now we are alone, I have a word of advice for your private ear. We have much to antic.i.p.ate from Miss Westerfield that is pleasant and encouraging. But I don"t conceal it from myself or from you, we have also something to fear."
"To fear?" Mrs. Linley repeated. "I don"t understand you."
"Never mind, Catherine, whether you understand me or not. I want more information. Tell me what your husband said to you about this young lady?"
Wondering at the demon of curiosity which appeared to possess her mother, Mrs. Linley obeyed. Listening throughout with the closest attention, Mrs. Presty reckoned up the items of information, and pointed the moral to be drawn from them by worldly experience.
"First obstacle in the way of her moral development, her father--tried, found guilty, and dying in prison. Second obstacle, her mother--an unnatural wretch who neglected and deserted her own flesh and blood.
Third obstacle, her mother"s sister--being her mother over again in an aggravated form. People who only look at the surface of things might ask what we gain by investigating Miss Westerfield"s past life. We gain this: we know what to expect of Miss Westerfield in the future."
"I for one," Mrs. Linley interposed, "expect everything that is good and true."
"Say she"s naturally an angel," Mrs. Presty answered; "and I won"t contradict you. But do pray hear how my experience looks at it. I remember what a life she has led, and I ask myself if any human creature could have suffered as that girl has suffered without being damaged by it. Among those d.a.m.nable people--I beg your pardon, my dear; Mr.
Norman sometimes used strong language, and it breaks out of me now and then--the good qualities of that unfortunate young person can _not_ have always resisted the horrid temptations and contaminations about her.
Hundreds of times she must have had deceit forced on her; she must have lied, through ungovernable fear; she must have been left (at a critical time in her life, mind!) with no more warning against the insidious advances of the pa.s.sions than--than--I"m repeating what Mr. Presty said of a niece of his own, who went to a bad school at Paris; and I don"t quite remember what comparisons that eloquent man used when he was excited. But I know what I mean. I like Miss Westerfield; I believe Miss Westerfield will come out well in the end. But I don"t forget that she is going to lead a new life here--a life of luxury, my dear; a life of ease and health and happiness--and G.o.d only knows what evil seed sown in her, in her past life, may not spring up under new influences. I tell you we must be careful; I tell you we must keep our eyes open. And so much the better for Her. And so much the better for Us."
Mrs. Presty"s wise and wary advice (presented unfavorably, it must be owned, through her inveterately quaint way of expressing herself) failed to produce the right impression on her daughter"s mind. Mrs. Linley replied in the tone of a person who was unaffectedly shocked.
"Oh, mamma, I never knew you so unjust before! You can"t have heard all that Miss Westerfield said to me. You don"t know her, as I know her. So patient, so forgiving, so grateful to Herbert."
"So grateful to Herbert." Mrs. Presty looked at her daughter in silent surprise. There could be no doubt about it; Mrs. Linley failed entirely to see any possibilities of future danger in the grateful feeling of her sensitive governess toward her handsome husband. At this exhibition of simplicity, the old lady"s last reserves of endurance gave way: she rose to go. "You have an excellent heart, Catherine," she remarked; "but as for your head--"
"Well, and what of my head?"
"It"s always beautifully dressed, my dear, by your maid." With that parting shot, Mrs. Presty took her departure by way of the library.
Almost at the same moment, the door of the breakfast-room was opened. A young man advanced, and shook hands cordially with Mrs. Linley.
Chapter IV. Randal Receives His Correspondence.
Self-revealed by the family likeness as Herbert"s brother, Randal Linley was nevertheless greatly Herbert"s inferior in personal appearance.
His features were in no way remarkable for manly beauty. In stature, he hardly reached the middle height; and young as he was, either bad habit or physical weakness had so affected the upper part of his figure that he stooped. But with these, and other disadvantages, there was something in his eyes, and in his smile--the outward expression perhaps of all that was modestly n.o.ble in his nature--so irresistible in its attractive influence that men, women, and children felt the charm alike. Inside of the house, and outside of the house, everybody was fond of Randal; even Mrs. Presty included.
"Have you seen a new face among us, since you returned?" were his sister-in-law"s first words. Randal answered that he had seen Miss Westerfield. The inevitable question followed. What did he think of her?
"I"ll tell you in a week or two more," he replied.
"No! tell me at once."
"I don"t like trusting my first impression; I have a bad habit of jumping to conclusions."
"Jump to a conclusion to please me. Do you think she"s pretty?"
Randal smiled and looked away. "Your governess," he replied, "looks out of health, and (perhaps for that reason) strikes me as being insignificant and ugly. Let us see what our fine air and our easy life here will do for her. In so young a woman as she is, I am prepared for any sort of transformation. We may be all admiring pretty Miss Westerfield before another month is over our heads.--Have any letters come for me while I have been away?"
He went into the library and returned with his letters. "This will amuse Kitty," he said, handing his sister-in-law the ill.u.s.trated New York newspaper, to which she had already referred in speaking to her husband.
Mrs. Linley examined the engravings--and turned back again to look once more at an ill.u.s.tration which had interested her. A paragraph on the same page caught her attention. She had hardly glanced at the first words before a cry of alarm escaped her. "Dreadful news for Miss Westerfield!" she exclaimed. "Read it, Randal."
He read these words:
"The week"s list of insolvent traders includes an Englishman named James Bellbridge, formerly connected with a disreputable saloon in this city.
Bellbridge is under suspicion of having caused the death of his wife in a fit of delirium tremens. The unfortunate woman had been married, for the first time, to one of the English aristocracy--the Honorable Roderick Westerfield--whose trial for casting away a ship under his command excited considerable interest in London some years since.
The melancholy circ.u.mstances of the case are complicated by the disappearance, on the day of the murder, of the woman"s young son by her first husband. The poor boy is supposed to have run away in terror from his miserable home, and the police are endeavoring to discover some trace of him. It is reported that another child of the first marriage (a daughter) is living in England. But nothing is known about her."
"Has your governess any relations in England?" Randal asked.
"Only an aunt, who has treated her in the most inhuman manner."
"Serious news for Miss Westerfield, as you say," Randal resumed. "And, as I think, serious news for us. Here is a mere girl--a poor friendless creature--absolutely dependent on our protection. What are we to do if anything happens, in the future, to alter our present opinion of her?"
"Nothing of the sort is likely to happen," Mrs. Linley declared.
"Let us hope not," Randal said, gravely.