Sit thee down, John, and tell me all about it."
So they sat down together on the bright hearth, sat down so close that John could feel the constant touch of his mother"s hand--that white, firm hand which had guided and comforted him all his life long.
"Mother," he said, "if anyone had told me this morning that I should be Jane"s betrothed husband before I slept this night, I would hardly have believed in the possibility. But Love is like a flower; it lies quiet in its long still growth, and then in some happy hour it bursts into perfect bloom. I had finished my business at Overton and stayed to eat the market dinner with the spinners. Then in the quiet afternoon I took my way home, and about a mile above the village I met Jane. I alighted and took the bridle off Bendigo"s neck over my arm, and asked permission to walk with her. She said she was going to Harlow House, and would be glad of my company. As we walked she told me they intended to return there; she said she felt its large rooms with their faded magnificence to be far more respectable than the little modern villa with its creaking floors and rattling windows in which they were living."
"She is quite right," said Mrs. Hatton. "I wonder at them for leaving the old place. Many a time and oft I have said that."
"She told me they had been up there a good deal during the past summer and had enjoyed the peace and solitude of the situation; and the large silent rooms were full of stories, she said--love stories of the old gay Regency days. I said something about filling them with love stories of the present day, and she laughed and said her mother was going there to farm the land and make some money out of it; and she added with a smile like sunshine, "And I am going to try and help her. That accounts for our walk this afternoon, Mr. Hatton," and I told her I was that well pleased with the walk, I cared little for what had caused it.
"In a short time we came in sight of the big, lonely house and entered the long neglected park and garden. I noticed at once a splendid belt of old ash-trees that shielded the house from the north and northeast winds. I asked Jane if she knew who planted them, and she said she had heard that the builder of the house planted the trees. Then I told her I suspected the builder had been a very wise man, and when she asked why I answered, Because he could hardly have chosen a better tree. The ash represents some of the finest qualities in human nature.""
"That wasn"t much like love talk, John."
"It was the best kind of talk, mother. There had to be some commonplace conversation to induce that familiarity which made love talk possible.
So I told her how the ash would grow _anywhere_--even at the seaside, where all trees lean from the sea--_except the ash_. Sea or no sea, it stands straight up. Even the oak will shave up on the side of the wind, _but not the ash_. And best of all, the ash bears pruning better than any other tree. Pruning! That is the great trial both for men and trees, mother. None of us like it, but the ash-tree makes the best of it."
"What did she say to all this rigmarole about trees?"
"She said there was something very human about trees, that she had often watched them tewing with a great wind, tossing and fretting, but very seldom giving way to it. And she added, "They are a great deal more human than mountains. I really think they talk about people among themselves. I have heard those ash-trees laughing and whispering together. Many say that they know when the people who own them are going to die. Then, on every tree there are some leaves splashed with white.
It was so the year father died. Do you believe in signs, Mr. Hatton?"
she asked.
"Then, mother, without my knowledge or intention I answered, "_Oh, my dear_! The world is full of signs and the man must be deaf and blind that does not believe in them. I have seen just round Hatton that the whole bird world is ruled by the signs that the trees hang out." And she asked me what they were, and I told her to notice next spring that as soon as the birch-leaves opened, the pheasant began to crow and the thrush to sing and the blackbird to whistle; and when the oak-leaves looked their reddest, and not a day before, the whole tribe of finches broke into song.
"Thus talking, mother, and getting very close and friendly with each other, we pa.s.sed through the park, and I could not help noticing the abundance of hares and pheasants. Jane said they had not been molested since her father"s death, but now they were going to send some of them to market. As we approached the house, an old man came to meet us and I gave my horse to his care. He had the keys of the house and he opened the great door for us. The Hall was very high and cold and lonely, but in a parlor on the right-hand side we found an old woman lighting a fire which was already blazing merrily. Jane knew her well and she told her to make us a pot of tea and bring it there. With her own hands she drew forward a handsome Pembroke table, and then we went together through the main rooms of the house. They were furnished in the time of the Regency, Jane said, and it was easy to recognize the rich, ornate extravagance of that period. In all this conversation, mother, we were drawing nearer and nearer to each other and I kept in mind that I had called her once "my dear" and that she had shown no objection to the words."
"I suppose the old man and woman were John Britton and his wife Dinah. I believe they have charge of the place."
"I think so. I heard Jane give the man some orders about the gla.s.s in the windows and he spoke to her concerning the bee skeps and the dahlia bulbs being all right for winter. In half an hour there was a nice little tea ready for us, and just imagine, mother, how it felt for me to be sitting there drinking tea with Jane!"
"Was it a nice tea, John?"
"Mother, what can I tell you? I wasn"t myself at all. I only know that Dinah came in and out with hot cakes and that Jane put honey on them and gave them to me with smiles and kind words. It was all wonderful! If I had been dreaming, I might have felt just as much out of the body."
"Jane can be very charming, I know that, John."
"She was something better than charming, mother; she was kind and just a little quiet. If she had been laughing and noisy and in one of her merry moods, it would not have been half so enchanting. It was her sweet sedateness that gave sureness and reality to the whole affair.
"We left Harlow House just as the hunting-moon was rising. Its full yellow splendor was over everything, and Jane looked almost spiritual in its transfiguring light. Mother, I do not remember what I said, as I walked with her hand-in-hand through the park. Ask your own heart, mother. I have no doubt father said the same words to you. There can only be one language for an emotion so powerful. Wise or foolish, Jane understood what I said, and in words equally sweet and foolish she gave me her promise. Oh, mother, it was not altogether the words! It was the little tremors and coy unfoldings and sweet agitations of love revealing itself--it wakened in Jane"s heart like a wandering rose. And I saw this awakening of the woman, mother, and it was a wonderful sight."
"John, you have had an experience that most men miss; be thankful for it."
"I am, mother. As long as I live, I will remember it."
"Did you see Mrs. Harlow?"
"For a short time only. She was much pleased at her daughter"s choice.
She thought our marriage might disarrange some of her own plans, but she said Jane"s happiness came before all other considerations."
"Well, John, it is more than a few hours since you had that wonderful tea with cakes and honey. You must have your proper eating, no matter what comes or goes. What do you say to a slice of cold roast beef and some apple pie?"
"Nay, mother, I"m not beef hungry. I"ll have the apple pie, and a pitcher of new milk."
"And then thou must go to bed and settle thyself with a good, deep sleep."
"To be sure, mother. Joy tires a man as trouble does, but a deep sleep will rest and steady me."
So John went to the deep, steadying sleep he needed; it was Mrs. Hatton who watched the midnight hours away in anxious thought and careful forebodings. She had not worried much about Harry"s pa.s.sion for Lucy Lugur. She was sure that his Mediterranean trip would introduce him to girls so much lovelier than Lucy that he would practically have forgotten her when he returned. Harry had been in love with half a dozen girls before Lucy. She let Harry slip out of her consideration.
John"s case was different. It was vitally true and intense. She understood that John must marry or be miserable, and she faced the situation with br.i.m.m.i.n.g eyes and a very heavy heart. She had given John her loving sympathy, and she would not retract a word of it to him. But to G.o.d she could open her heart and to Him she could tell even those little things she would not speak of to any human being. She could ask G.o.d to remember that, boy and man, John had stood by her side for nearly thirty years, and that he was leaving her for a woman who had been unknown a year ago.
She could tell G.o.d that John"s enthusiastic praise of this strange woman had been hard to bear, and she divined that at least for a time she might have to share her home with her. She antic.i.p.ated all the little offenses she must overlook, all the small unconsidered slights she must pa.s.s by. She knew there would be difficulties and differences in which youth and beauty would carry the day against truth and justice; and she sat hour after hour marshaling these trials of her love and temper and facing them all to their logical end.
Some women would have said, "Time enough to face a trial when it comes."
No, it is too late then. Trials apprehended are trials defended; and Martha Hatton knew that she could not trust herself with unexpected trials. In that case she believed the natural woman would behave herself naturally, and say the words and do the deeds called forth by the situation. So Martha in this solemn session was seeking strength to give up, strength to bear and to forbear, strength to see her household laws and customs violated, and not go on the aggressive for their sanct.i.ty.
She had a custom that devout women in all ages have naturally followed.
She sat quiet before G.o.d and spoke to Him in low, whispered words. It was not prayer; it was rather the still confidence of one who asks help and counsel from a Friend, able and willing to give it.
"Dear G.o.d," she said, in a voice that none but G.o.d could hear, "give me good, plain, household understanding--let me keep in mind that there is no foolishness like falling out--help me to hold my temper well in hand so that I may put things right as fast as they go wrong. I am jealous about John--it _is_ hard to give him up. Thou gavest him to me, Thou knowest. Oh, let nothing that happens unmother me!"
In this way she sat in the dark and silence and asked and waited for the answer. And no doubt it came, for about two o"clock she rose up like one that had been strengthened and went calmly to her rest.
In the morning the first shock of the coming change was over, the everyday use and wont of an orderly house restored the feeling of stability, and Martha told herself things might turn out better than looked likely. John was just as loving and attentive as he had always been, and when he asked her to call on Jane Harlow as soon as she could and give her welcome into the Hatton family, she did not impute his attentions to any selfish motive.
Nevertheless, it was as the Lady of Hatton Manor, rather than as John"s mother, she went to make this necessary call. She dressed with the greatest care, and though she was a good walker, chose to have her victoria with its pair of white ponies carry her to the village. Jane met her at the gate of their villa and the few words of necessary welcome were spoken with a kindness which there was no reason to doubt.
With Mrs. Harlow Martha had a queer motherly kind of friendship, and it was really by her advice the ladies had been led to think of a return to Harlow House. For she saw that the elder woman was unhappy for want of some interest in life, and she was sure that the domestic instinct, as well as the instinct for buying and selling, was well developed in her and only wanted exercise. Indeed, an hour"s conversation on the possibilities of Harlow House, of the money to be made on game, poultry, eggs, milk, b.u.t.ter, honey, fruit, had roused such good hopes in Mrs.
Harlow"s heart that she could hardly wait until the house was put in order and the necessary servants hired.
She relied on Martha like a child, and anyone who did that was sure of her motherly kindness. On this day Martha was particularly glad to turn the conversation on the subject. She spoke of Jane"s marriage and pointed out what a comfort it would be when she was alone to be making a bit of money at every turn. "Why!" she cried enthusiastically. "Instead of moping over the fire with some silly tale of impossible tragedy, you will have your dairy and poultry to look after. Even in winter they bring in money, and there"s game to send to market every week. Hares come as fast as they go, and partridge are hardy and plentiful. Why, there"s a little fortune lying loose in Harlow! If I were you, I would make haste to pick it up."
This was a safe and encouraging subject, and Mrs. Hatton pressed it for all it was worth. It was only Jane that saw any objections to their immediate removal to Harlow House. She said Lord Harlow, as her nearest relative and the head of their house, had been written to that morning, being informed of her intended marriage, and she thought no fresh step ought to be taken until they heard from him.
But this or that, Martha Hatton spent more than two hours with the Harlow ladies, and she left them full of hope and enthusiasm. And oh, how good, how charming, how strengthening is a new hope in life! The two ladies were ten or twelve degrees higher in moral atmosphere when Mrs.
Hatton left them than they had been before her call. And she went away laughing and saying pleasant things and the last flirt of her white kerchief as her victoria turned up the hill was like the flutter of some glad bird"s wing.
In four days there was a letter of great interest and kindness from Lord Harlow. He said that he was well acquainted with Mr. John Hatton from many favorable sources and that the marriage arranged between him and his niece Jane Harlow was satisfactory in all respects. Further she was informed that Lady Harlow requested her company during the present season in London. It would, she said, be her duty and her pleasure to a.s.sist in getting ready her niece"s wedding outfit, but she left her to fix the day on which she would come to London.
This letter was a little thunderbolt in the Harlow villa, and Jane said she could not go away until her mother was settled at Harlow House. John was much troubled at this early break in his love dream, but Mrs. Harlow would not listen to any refusal of Lord and Lady Harlow"s invitation.
She said Jane had never seen anything of life, and it was only right she should do so before settling down at Hatton. Besides, her uncle and aunt"s gifts would be very necessary for her wedding outfit. In the privacy of her own thoughts--yes, and several times to her daughter--she sighed deeply over this late kindness of Lord and Lady Harlow. She wished that Jane had been asked before she was engaged; n.o.body knew in that case what good fortune might have come. It was such a pity!
Mrs. Harlow"s removal was not completed until Christmas was so close at hand that it was thought best to make it the time for their return home.
It was really John and Mrs. Hatton who managed the whole business of the removal, and to their efforts the complete comfort--and even beauty--of the old residence was due. But the days spent in this work were days full of the sweet intimacies of love. John could never forget one hour of them, and it added to their charm to see and hear Martha Hatton everywhere, her hands making beauty and comfort, her voice sounding like a cheerful song in all the odd corners and queer places of the house.
Upon the whole it was a wonderful Christmas, but when it was over the realities of life were to face. Jane was going to London and John wondered how he was to bear the days without her. In the spring he would begin to build the house for himself he had long contemplated building.
The plan of it had been fully explained to Jane, and had been approved by her, and John was resolved to break ground for the foundation as soon as it was possible to do so. And he calculated somewhat on the diversion he would find in building a home for the woman he so dearly loved.
Then the parting came, and John with tears and misgivings sent his darling into the unknown world of London. It was a great trial to him; fears and doubts and sad forebodings gave him tragic hours. It was a new kind of loneliness that he felt; nothing like it had ever come to him before.