"Yes, darling. He asked me all about our means. He was not at all prying; he was good and kind and oh! so generous at heart. I hated to tell him, and yet I felt obliged to. He was shocked; he thought your father would have left us better off."
"He had no right to ask about our father"s means," grumbled Llewellyn.
"No one could have worked harder than our father did."
"No one, truly," echoed Leslie.
"And no one ever led a more upright, exemplary, splendid life," said the widow. Her voice trembled; she paused for a moment.
Kitty and Mabel laid down their needlework.
"But, all the same," continued the mother, "you must not blame Mr.
Parker. He and your father had not met for many years, and in Australia they lead a different life. When a man is lucky there he is very lucky; and Mr. Parker has been one of the lucky ones. He took shares in some gold-mines, and explained to me that he is now a man of great wealth."
"He must have interrupted your work a good bit," began Llewellyn, then he checked himself. His mother glanced at him, took no notice of his speech, and continued with her story.
"The result of our interview is this," she said, looking round at her children and laying her hand on Leslie"s arm. "Leslie is to have a chance, a right good chance in life."
"Mother, what do you mean?" said Leslie. She opened her pretty eyes wide, and the color rushed into her face.
"Mr. Parker is a man of peculiar views," said the mother. "He does not want to help boys, he says; they must stand or fall on their own merits.
But for girls he has a peculiar feeling, an unbounded pity. The fact is, poor fellow, he had a wife of his own, and a daughter, and if the daughter were alive she would be your age, Leslie. I have not the slightest doubt that accounts for his prejudice in favor of girls. Now, my darling, he has offered to pay all your expenses either at Newnham or at that other great college, St. Wode"s, Wingfield. He wants you to give up your present employment immediately, and to go to either of these places at the beginning of term. You are to have every advantage that is possible. When you have completed your university education he will take further steps to insure your commanding an excellent living. The money is to be paid direct to me as required, and he has now given me a check for fifty pounds to buy the necessary outfit which you will require for your new life. I have taken the check and have accepted the offer. That is my news. It is a great chance for you, Leslie; it is a great chance.
You go away from us, I know, my darling, and I shall miss you terribly; but it is a great chance."
"And you have really accepted it, mother?"
"I have. I could not allow you to throw it away. Mr. Parker is such an old friend of your father"s that I am willing to put myself under this supreme obligation. He has even hinted that by and by he will do great things for Kitty and for Mabel."
"And what about poor Hester?" said that individual, dropping her stocking and looking with piteous eyes at her mother.
"You are to be my home-bird, darling." Then Hester rose and knelt by her mother, and put her strong young arms round her waist and kissed her.
"Yes; I for one would never leave you, mammy; and I don"t care a pin about being learned. I want just to be useful, although I am afraid I am a bit of a failure all round. There always is a failure in every family, isn"t there, mother; so it"s just as well that I should be the one."
"We mean to have no failures in this family," said Mrs. Gilroy. "Now, then, you young ones, it is time for bed; off you go at once. I have much to say to Leslie and to Llewellyn by themselves."
CHAPTER IX
ONE TAKEN, THE OTHER LEFT.
When the younger girls had rather unwillingly left the room, Leslie took a seat near her mother. Llewellyn, going to a bookcase at the further end of the room, began to fumble with some books.
"Come here, Lew," called out his sister; "we want you to talk to us and give us your advice; you are always so wise. Come, what are you doing at the other end of the room? Are you not delighted? Are not you as glad as I am?"
Llewellyn responded to Leslie"s invitation unwillingly. His mother looked up at him.
"What is the matter?" she asked.
"Nothing, mother. I am, on the whole, heartily pleased."
His reply came slowly, and as though he had weighed each word.
"But I don"t at all know that I ought to accept, even though mother is so good as to give me leave," said Leslie.
"That"s all rot, you know, Leslie," said her brother roughly. "Mother has accepted; the thing is done. It is a chance which may never come in your way again."
"But I don"t want it," she cried, touched to her very heart"s core by something in his voice. "If it were only your chance, how happy I should be! Oh, Lew, with your tastes, with your wishes, what could you not achieve? You know it has been the pa.s.sion of your heart since you were a little boy to go to one of the universities, and now-- Mother, dear, it is surely not too late; you could speak to Mr. Parker. You could explain to him that Llewellyn is the one in the family with genius; that Llewellyn will do him credit if he sends him to Oxford or Cambridge. Oh, leave me out! I can do without the university training. But, Lew-it would be the making of Lew! I suppose I am fairly well educated. I have pa.s.sed right through the high school from the beginning, and no girl who does that can be said to be ignorant. This chance ought to be Llewellyn"s. Mother, it would be possible, surely, for you to put it to Mr. Parker in the right light?"
"No, Leslie; he wishes you to go," said the mother quietly. "I have no choice in the matter. I have accepted for you. Look upon it, my darling, as a settled thing, and do not disturb, with the thought of any indecision, the great joy which ought to be yours."
"There is a ring at the hall door," cried Leslie. "I wonder who it can be?"
Mrs. Gilroy started.
"I quite forgot," she said, coloring slightly. "Mr. Parker asked if he might come round and be introduced to you all. Doubtless that is his ring. Llewellyn, dear, will you go and open the hall door?"
Llewellyn strode across the room.
"I feel quite overcome," said Leslie to her mother. "I never heard of Mr. Parker until half an hour ago, and now he is an immense factor in my life."
Her words were interrupted, the door of the little parlor was thrown open, and Mr. Parker, accompanied by Llewellyn, entered.
"Here I am, here I am, as I promised!" called out the former, rubbing his hands as he spoke, and pushing up his red hair from his almost as red forehead. "Here I am, and right glad to see you again, Mrs. Gilroy.
And so these are some of the youngsters? What"s your name, young sir?"
"Llewellyn," replied the boy.
"And how old may you be?"
"Sixteen," replied Llewellyn.
""Pon my word, you"re a well-grown chap. We don"t have "em better in the Bush, notwithstanding all the fine development that hard work gives. But you have fine shoulders-eh, and good stout legs. Fine young chap, Mrs.
Gilroy; I congratulate you, ma"am, in possessing him. And so this is the young lady. How do you do, my dear? I am proud to make your acquaintance."
Mr. Parker"s voice had been rough enough while he was addressing Llewellyn; but when he glanced at Leslie, who, tall, straight, and beautiful, stood before him, a spasm crossed his face and his voice faltered. It sank to a husky whisper; there was emotion in his tone.
"How do you do, my dear?" he said again; and he held out a great rough hand for the girl to shake.
She let her little hand lie in his for half a moment, and then withdrew it. She then went and stood by the fireplace.
"Sit down, please, Mr. Parker," said Mrs. Gilroy, "Leslie, I think our friend would like a gla.s.s of wine; will you get it?"
"No wine for me, thank you, ma"am; no wine for me. I have dined, and admirably. Steak and stout, and boiled apple pudding; that"s fare after my own heart. Simple, ma"am, you can see-simple as my own tastes. Well, I am glad to see you, Mrs. Gilroy, at home; and a nice, snug little parlor you have. No show or pretension, or anything of that kind; just the sort of room I"d expect Gilroy"s widow to have; and," added the man, glancing at the boy and girl, "just the sort of children too."
The two children, thus alluded to, could not help sighing. Llewellyn wished himself fifty miles away. Leslie felt uncomfortable, and did not dare to meet her mother"s eyes.