It appeared to be only at this moment that the sisters became aware of the presence of "the gentleman" by whom Elinor stood. They had been too busy with their uncompleted toilettes to observe him at first. But now that Miss Hill"s hat was settled to her satisfaction, and the blue veil tied over her face as she liked it to be, and Miss Sarah had at last succeeded, after two false starts, in b.u.t.toning her jacket straight, their attention was released for other details. They both gave a glance over Elinor at the tall figure on the other side, and then looked at each other with a mutual little "Oh!" and nod of recognition. Then Miss Hill took the initiative as became her dignity. "I hope you are going to introduce us to your companion, Elinor," she said. "Oh, Mr. Compton, how do you do? We are delighted to make your acquaintance, I am sure. It is charming to have an opportunity of seeing a person of so much importance to us all, our dear Elinor"s intended. I hope you know what a prize you are getting. You might have sought the whole country over and you wouldn"t have found a girl like her. I don"t know how we shall endure your name when you carry her away."
"Except, indeed," said Miss Sarah, "that it will be Elinor"s name too."
"So here we all are again," said the Rector, gazing down tranquilly upon his flock, "not able to resist a little histrionic exhibition--and Mr.
Compton too, fresh from the great world. I daresay our good friend Mrs.
Ba.s.set would hand us out some chairs. No Englishman can resist Punch.
Alick, my boy, you ought to be at your work. It will not do to neglect your lessons when you are so near your exam."
"No Englishman, father, can resist Punch," said the lad: at which the two ostlers and the landlord of the Bull"s Head, who was standing with his hands in his pockets in his own doorway, laughed loud.
"Had the old fellow there," said Compton, which was the first observation he had made. The ladies looked at him with some horror, and Alick a little fl.u.s.tered, half pleased, half horrified, by this support, while the Rector laughed, but stiffly _au bout des levres_. He was not accustomed to be called an old fellow in his own parish.
"The old fellows, as you elegantly say, Mr. Compton, have always the worst of it in a popular a.s.sembly. Elinor, here is a chair for you, my love. Another one please, Mrs. Ba.s.set, for I see Miss Dale coming up this way."
"By Jove," said Compton, under his breath. "Elinor, here"s the one that knows society. I hope she isn"t such an old guy as the rest."
"Oh, Phil, be good!" said Elinor, "or let us go away, which would be the best."
"Not a bit," he said. "Let"s see the show. I say, old man, where are you from last?"
"Down from Guildford ways, guv"nor--awful bad trade; not taken a bob, s" help me, not for three days, and bed and board to get off o" that, me and my mate."
"Well, here is a nice little party for you, my man," said the Rector, "it is not often you have such an audience--nor would I encourage it, indeed, if it were not so purely English an exhibition."
"Master," said the showman, "worst of it is, n.o.body pays till we"ve done the show, and then they goes away, and they"ve got it, don"t you see, and we can"t have it back once it"s in their insides, and there ain"t nothink then, neither for my mate nor me."
"Here"s for you, old fellow," said Phil. He took a sovereign from his waistcoat pocket and chucked it with his thumbnail into the man"s hand, who looked at it with astonished delight, tossed it into the air with a grin, a "thank"ee, gentleman!" and a call to his "mate" who immediately began the ever-exciting, ever-amusing drama. The thrill of sensation which ran through the little a.s.sembly at this incident was wonderful.
The children all turned from Punch to regard with large open eyes and mouths the gentleman who had given a gold sovereign to the showman.
Alick Hudson looked at him with a grin of pleasure, a blush of envy on his face; the Rector, with an expression of horror, slightly shaking his head; the Miss Hills with admiration yet dismay. "Goodness, Sarah, they"ll never come now and do it for a shilling to amuse mother!" the elder of the sisters said.
Miss Dale came hurrying up while still the sensation lasted. "Here is a chair for you, Mary," said her brother-in-law, "and the play is just going to begin. I can"t help shaking my head when I think of it, but still you must hear what has just happened. Mr. Compton, let me present you to my sister-in-law, Miss Dale. Mr. Compton has made the widow"s heart, nay, not the widow"s, but the showman"s heart to sing. He has presented our friend with a----"
"Mind you," said Phil, from behind Elinor"s shoulders, "I"ve paid the fellow only for two."
At which the showman turned and winked at the Rector. To think that such a piece of audacity could be! A dingy fellow in a velveteen coat, with a spotted handkerchief round his neck, and a battered hat on his unkempt locks, with Pan"s pipes at his mouth and a drum tied round his waist--winked at the Rector! Mr. Hudson fell back a step, and his very lips were livid with the indignity. He had to support himself on the back of the chair he had just given to Miss Dale.
"I think we are all forgetting our different positions in this world,"
he said.
"I ain"t," said the showman, "not taking no advantage through the gentleman"s n.o.ble ways. He"s a lord, he is, I don"t make no doubt. And we"re paid. Take the good of it, Guv"nor, and welcome; all them as is here is welcome. My mate and I are too well paid. A gentleman like that good gentleman, as is sweet upon a pretty young lady, and an open "eart a-cause of her, I just wish we could find one at every station; don"t you, Joe?"
Joe a.s.sented, in the person of Mr. Punch, with a horrible squeak from within the tent.
The sensations of Elinor during this episode were peculiar and full of mingled emotion. It is impossible to deny that she was proud of the effect produced by her lover. The sovereign chucked into the showman"s hand was a cheap way of purchasing a little success, and yet it dazzled Elinor, and made her eyelids droop and her cheek light up with the glow of pleasure. Amid all the people who would search for pennies, or perhaps painfully and not without reluctance produce a sixpence to reward the humble artists, there was something in the careless familiarity and indifference which tossed a gold coin at them which was calculated to charm the youthful observer. Elinor felt the same mixture of pleasure and envy which had moved Alick Hudson; yet it was not envy, for was not he her own who did this thing which she would have liked to have done herself, overwhelming the poor tramps with delight? Elinor knew, as Alick also did, that it would never have occurred to her to do it. She would have been glad to be kind to the poor men, to give them a good meal, to speak to Ba.s.set at the Bull"s Head in their favour that they might be taken in for the night and made comfortable, but to open her purse and take a real sovereign from it, a whole potential pound, would not have come into her head. Had such a thing been done, for instance, by the united subscriptions of the party, in case of some peculiarly touching situation, the illness of a wife, the loss of a child, it would have been done solemnly, the Rector calling the men up, making a little speech to them, telling them how all the ladies and gentlemen had united to make up this, and how they must be careful not to spend it unworthily. Elinor thought she could see the little scene, and the Rector improving the occasion. Whereas Phil spun the money through the air into the man"s ready hand as if it had been a joke, a trick of agility. Elinor saw that everybody was much impressed with the incident, and her heart went forth upon a flood of satisfaction and content. And it was no premeditated triumph. It was so n.o.ble, so accidental, so entirely out of his good heart!
When he hurried her home at the end of the performance, that Mrs.
Dennistoun might not be kept waiting, the previous events of the afternoon, and all that happened in the copse and garden, had faded out of Elinor"s mind. She forgot Stanfield and the 6th and everything about it. Her embarra.s.sment and trouble were gone. She went in gayly and told her mother all about this wonderful incident. "The Rector was trying for a sixpence. But, mamma, Phil must not be so ready with his sovereigns, must he? We shall have nothing to live upon if he goes chucking sovereigns at every Punch and Judy he may meet."
CHAPTER XIII.
Phil Compton went off next morning by an early train, having in the meanwhile improved the impression of him left upon the family in general, and specially upon Mrs. Dennistoun, to whom he had talked with enthusiasm about Elinor, expressed indeed in terms unusual to her ears, but perhaps only more piquant on that account, which greatly conciliated the mother. "Don"t you think," said the Honourable Phil, "because I speak a little free and am not one for tall talk, that I don"t know what she is. I"ve got no poetry in me, but for the freest goer and the highest spirit, without a bit of vice in her, there never was one like Nell. The girls of my set, they"re not worthy to tie her shoes--thing I most regret is taking her among a lot that are not half good enough for her. But you can"t help your relations, can you? and you have to stick to them for dozens of reasons. There"s the Jew, when you know her she"s not such a bad sort--not generous, as you may see from what she"s given Nell, the old screw: but yet in her own way she stands by a fellow, and we"ll need it, not having just the Bank of England behind us. Her husband, old Prestwich, isn"t bad for a man that has made his own money, and they"ve got a jolly house, always something going on."
"But I hope," said Mrs. Dennistoun, "that as soon as these autumn visits are over you will have a house of your own."
"Oh, that!" said Compton, with a wave of his hand, which left it in some doubt whether he was simply throwing off the suggestion, or treating it as a foregone conclusion of which there could be no doubt. "Nell," he went on, "gets on with the Jew like a house on fire--you see they don"t clash. Nell ain"t one of the mannish sort, and she doesn"t flirt--at least not as far as I"ve seen----"
"I should hope not, indeed," said Mrs. Dennistoun.
"Oh, I"m not one of your curmudgeons. Where"s the harm? But she don"t, and there"s an end of it. She keeps herself to herself, and lets the Jew go ahead, and think she"s the attraction. And she"ll please the old lord down to the ground. For he"s an old-fashioned old c.o.o.n, and likes what he calls _tenue_, don"t you know: but the end is, there ain"t one of them that can hold a candle to Nell. And I should not wonder a bit if she made a change in the lot of us. Conversion of a family by the influence of a pious wife, don"t you know. Sort of thing that they make tracts out of. Capital thing, it would be," said Phil, philosophically, "for some of us have been going a pace----"
"Mr. Compton," said Mrs. Dennistoun, solemnly, "I don"t understand very well what you mean by these phrases. They may be much more innocent than they seem to a country lady"s ears. But I implore you to keep my Elinor clear of anything that you call going the pace. It must mean something very unlike her, whatever it means. She has been used to a very quiet, orderly life. Don"t hurry her off into a whirl of society, or among noisy gay people. Indeed I can a.s.sure you that the more you have her to herself the more you will be happy in her. She is the brightest companion, the most entertaining---- Oh, Mr. Compton!"
"I think it"s about time, now, mater, to call me Phil."
She smiled, with the tears in her eyes, and held out her hand. "Philip, then," she said, "to make a little difference. Now remember what I say.
It is only in the sacredness of her home that you will know what is in Elinor. One is never dull with her. She has her own opinions--her bright way of looking at things--as you know. It is, perhaps, a strange thing for a mother to say, but she will amuse you, Philip; she is such company. You will never be dull with Elinor: she has so much in her, which will come out in society, it is true, but never so brightly as between you two alone."
This did not seem to have quite the effect upon the almost-bridegroom which the mother intended. "Perhaps" (she said to herself), "he was a little affected by the thought" (which she kept so completely out of the conversation) "of the loss she herself was about to undergo." At all events, his face was not so bright as in the vision of that sweet prospect held before him it ought to have been.
"The fact is," he said, "she knows a great deal more than I do, or ever will. It"s she that will be the one to look blue when she finds herself alone with a fool of a follow that doesn"t know a book from a brick.
That"s the thing I"m most afraid---- As for society, she can have her pick of that," he added, brightening up, "I"ll not bind her down."
"You may be sure she"ll prefer you to all the world."
He shrugged his shoulders a little.
"They say it"s always a leap in the dark," he said, "for how"s she to know the sort of fellow I am with what she sees of me here? But I promise you I"ll do my best to take her in, and keep her in that delusion, for her good--making believe to be all that"s virtuous: and perhaps not a bad way--some of it may stick. Come, mater, don"t look so horrified. I"m not of the Cousin John sort, but there may be something decent in me after all."
"I am sure," said Mrs. Dennistoun, "that you will try to make her happy, Philip." She was crying by this time, which was a thing very odious to Phil. He took her by both hands and gave her a hearty kiss, which was a thing for which she was not at all prepared.
"I"ll do by her----" he said, with a murmur which sounded like an oath, "as well as I know how."
Perhaps this was not the very greatest comfort to her mother, but it was the best she was at all likely to get from a man so entirely different in all ways from her own species. She had her cry out quietly while he went off to get his bag. The pony carriage was at the door in which Elinor was to drive him to the station, and a minute after Mrs.
Dennistoun heard his voice in the hall calling to his Nell, his old girl, in terms which went against all the mother"s prejudices of soft and reverent speech. To have her carefully-trained child, her Elinor, whom every one had praised and honoured, her maiden-princess so high apart from all such familiarity, addressed so, gave the old-fashioned lady a pang. It meant nothing but love and kindness, she said to herself. He reverenced Elinor as much as it was in such a man to do. He meant with all his heart to do by her as well as he knew how. It was as fantastic to object to his natural language as it would be to object to a Frenchman speaking French. That was his tongue, the only utterance he knew---- She dried her eyes and went out to the door to see them start.
The sun was blazing over all the brilliant autumnal colours Of the garden, though it was still full and brilliant summer in the September morning, and only the asters and dahlias replacing the roses betrayed the turn of the season. And nothing could be more bright than the face of Elinor as she sat in the homely little carriage, with the reins gathered up in her hand. He was going away, indeed, but in a week he was coming back. Philip, as Mrs. Dennistoun now called him with dignity, yet a little beginning of affection, packed up his long limbs as well as he could in the small s.p.a.ce. "I believe she"ll spill us on the road," he said, "or bring back the shandrydan with a hole in it."
"There is too much of you, Phil," said Elinor, giving the staid pony a quiet touch.
"I should like some of those fellows to see me," he said, "joggled off to market like a basket of eggs; but don"t smash me, Nell, on the way."
Mrs. Dennistoun stood on the steps looking after them, or rather, listening after them, for they had soon turned the corner of the house and were gone. She heard them jogging over the stony road, and the sound of their voices in the air for a long time after they were out of sight--the air was so still and so close, nothing in it to break the sound. The atmosphere was all sunshine, not a cloud upon the sky, scarcely a breath stirring over those hill-tops, which had almost the effect of a mountainous landscape, being the highest ground in all the visible s.p.a.ce. Along the other side of the combe, where the road became visible, there were gleams of heather brilliant under the dark foliage of the firs. She sat down in the porch and waited to see them pa.s.s; there was a sorrowful background to her thoughts, but for the moment she was not actually sad, if perhaps a little forlorn. They had gone away leaving her alone, but yet in an hour or two Elinor was coming back.
Time enough to think of the final parting. Next week Elinor would go and would not return. Mrs. Dennistoun held on by both hands to to-day and would not think of that future, near as it was. She waited in a hush of feeling, so near to great commotions of the heart and mind, but holding them at a distance in a suspense of all thought, till the shandrydan appeared in the opening of the road. They were thinking of her, for she saw a gleam of white, the waving of a handkerchief, as the little carriage trundled along the road, and for a moment the tears again blinded her eyes. But Mrs. Dennistoun was very reasonable. She got up from the cottage porch after the pony carriage had pa.s.sed in the distance, with that determination to make the best of it, which is the inspiration of so many women"s lives.
And what a drive the others had through the sunshine--or at least Elinor! You can never tell by what shadows a man"s thoughts may be haunted, who is a man of the world, and has had many other things to occupy him besides this vision of love. But the girl had no shadows. The parting which was before her was not near enough to harm as yet, and she was still able to think, in her ignorance of the world, that even parting was much more in appearance than in reality, and that she would always be running home, always going upon long visits brightening everything, instead of saddening. But even had she been going to the end of the world with her husband next week, Elinor would still have been happy to-day. The sunshine itself was enough to go to any one"s head, and the pony stepped out so that Phil had the grace to be ashamed of his reflections upon "the old girl." They got to the station too early for the train, and had half an hour"s stroll together, with all the railway porters looking on admiring. They all knew Miss Dennistoun from her childhood, and they were interested in her "young man."