And that _but_ meant the effects of the three years that she had spent as the companion of her mother"s mournful widowhood, and of the cares of life on her elder brother and sister.
It was true, as Mr. Audley said, that the a.s.sociations of the rooms were not good for her spirits in her many lonely hours and confined life; and this reconciled Felix more than anything else to the proposed change. He was keeping his promise to Wilmet of not seeking a house till her return, when Mr. and Mrs. Froggatt, whose minds had been much relieved by hearing that the lodger would consult the proprieties, communicated to him their own scheme of taking up their residence at a village named Marshlands, about two miles from Bexley, where they already spent great part of the summer in a pleasant cottage and garden which they had bought and adorned. Mr. Froggatt would drive in to attend to the business every day, but the charge of the house was the difficulty, as they did not wish to let the rooms; and they now proposed that the young Underwoods should inhabit them rent-free, merely keeping a bedroom and little parlour behind the shop for Mr. Froggatt, and providing firing in them. With much more diffidence, at his wife"s earnest suggestion, the kindly modest old man asked whether Miss Underwood would object to his coming in to take a piece of bread and cheese when he was there in the middle of the day.
It was an excellent offer, and Felix had no hesitation in gratefully closing with it, even without consulting Wilmet. Her reply showed that a great weight was taken off her mind; and she was only longing to be at home again, contriving for the move, which was to take place at Lady Day. She was burning to study the new rooms; nevertheless, as by kind Marilda"s contrivance, she was taking lessons in German every day from a superior Fraulein who had once been her cousin"s governess, and was further allowed to inspect the working of a good school, her stay was extended, by Miss Pearson"s entreaty, a full fortnight beyond what had been intended. Nor had anything gone wrong in her absence. Even the overlooking of the boys" linen, which she had believed impossible without her, was safely carried on by Cherry, and all were sent off in sound condition. No catastrophe occurred; and the continual occupation and responsibility drove away all the low spirits that so often had tried the home-keeping girl. She _did_ enjoy those tete-a-tete evenings, when Felix opened to her more than he had ever done before; and yet it was an immense relief to have the day fixed for Wilmet"s return, and how much more to have her walking into the room with all the children clinging about her in incoherent ecstacy, which had not subsided enough for much comprehension when Felix came joyously in. "Hurrah, Wilmet! Mr.
Froggatt sent me home a couple of hours before time!"
"How very good! I met him in the street, just now. Really, he is the kindest old gentleman in the world!"
"I believe you dazzled him, Mettie; he says he did not know you till you spoke to him, and if he had realised what a beautiful and majestic young lady you were, he should hardly have ventured to propose your taking up your abode under his humble roof."
"That must be the effect of living with Alda," said Wilmet merrily; "but, oh! I am glad to be at home again!"
"And I never was so glad of anything in my life," said Geraldine eagerly.
"I am longing to go over the house, and know what to do about furniture," continued Wilmet.
"There! now W. W. is herself again!" said Felix.
"Mrs. Froggatt came and called on me," said Geraldine. "She talked of leaving us the larger things that will not go into the cottage."
"Which is well," said Felix; "for how much of ours will survive the shock of removing is doubtful."
"All the things that came from Vale Leston are quite solid," said Wilmet, bristling up.
"That carpet is solid darn," said Felix. "We tried one evening, and found that though the pattern of rose-leaves is a tradition, no one younger than Clem could remember having seen either design or colour."
"You should not laugh at it, Felix," said Wilmet, a little hurt: for indeed her mother"s needle and her own were too well acquainted with the carpet for her to like to hear it contemned.
Felix and Cherry both felt somewhat called to order, as if their mistress had come home again; and Cherry was the first to break silence by inquiring after Wilmet"s studies at Brighton.
"Oh yes," said Wilmet, "I do hope I am improved. That was all Marilda"s kindness. She quite understood how I missed everybody and everything; and at last, one day, when I was wishing I could p.r.o.nounce German like Alda, and that Alda had time to give me some lessons--"
"Alda hasn"t time!"
"Oh, you don"t know how useful she is! She writes all the notes.
Marilda devised getting this Fraulein--such a good-natured woman! and when she heard what I wanted, she got leave for me to come every day to study the working of the school. I do believe I shall teach much better now, if only I were not so ignorant. I never had any notion before how little I knew!"
However, Wilmet"s value had really risen so much in consequence of these instructions, that Miss Pearson arranged that she should lay the French and German foundations, and prepare the scholars, and should receive half a sovereign a half year from each girl whom she thus instructed, being the moiety of "extra." Moreover, the head teacher talked of retiring, and her succession was promised to Wilmet--a brilliant prospect, that the sight of Alda"s grandeur did not make her contemn.
Wilmet"s anxious mind was well satisfied by her inspection of the new quarters, which, among other conveniences, had that of shortening by ten minutes her walk to school. The family apartments were all upstairs, the s.p.a.ce below being entirely taken up by the business, and the kitchens were under ground. The chief sitting-room upstairs was unfortunately towards the street, and had a northern aspect; it was a s.p.a.cious room, with three large windows filled with boxes of flowers, and contained a big table and two sofas, which, with the carpet and curtains, would remain well covered up. Folding-doors led into a smaller room, with a south window towards the little garden, where Mrs. Froggatt generally sat, and which had been used for the dining-room. There were two bedrooms besides on the same floor, one of which would remain untouched for Mr. Froggatt; and above these, there was a large nursery, and more rooms than had been ever furnished. Rent, rates, taxes, and repairs, all off her mind! Wilmet felt as if prosperity were setting in; and she was the first to make the audacious statement that they need not part with Martha, and indeed, that the house could not be kept in order, nor dinners cooked fit for Mr. Froggatt, by Sibby single-handed. And Cherry made up her mind that they were like a family of caterpillars moving their cobweb tent; Angela, seeing such an establishment of young tortoise-sh.e.l.ls, in their polished black, under their family web, had asked, "Which was their brother Felix?" and the name was adopted.
So a time of much business and excitement set in, and the lengthening spring evenings were no sinecure to Wilmet, as the flitting day approached, being rather hurried on by the old bookseller, who wanted to be at Marshlands in time to admire his hyacinths and sow his annuals. Mr. Audley would take rooms at the Fortinbras Arms for the remainder of his stay at Bexley; and indeed, there was a good deal to break the old habit of constantly depending on him, for his brother"s young wife was slowly dying in London, and the whole family seemed instinctively to turn to him for comfort and advice, so that he was obliged to be continually going backwards and forwards.
On the 24th of March, when he came down by an afternoon train, he found the house door open, the steps scattered with straw, and after looking in and seeing his own parlour intact, and with a cheerful fire, he pursued his way upstairs, and there found the sitting-room bare except for a sort of island consisting of the sofa, on which Geraldine lay rolled in cloaks and shawls, trying to amuse the twins by a feeble attempt to sing
"Weel may the boatie row,"
while making paper boats for Stella to drag by strings upon the smooth boards.
"Eh, Cherry, are you the Last Man, or the Last Rose of Summer ?"
"The last of the caterpillars," said Cherry, smiling, but with effort. "Do you see Stella"s fleet--just thirteen?"
"Making omens, foolish child!" but though Stella was eagerly pointing and explaining, "Tat Tella"s boat--tat Tedo"s--tat brothers--tat Angel," and so on, the word _foolish_ was not directed to the little one, but to the gray eyes heavy with unshed tears, that rested wistfully upon a wreck that had caught upon a nail and lay rent and ragged.
"Pray don"t look which it is," said she.
"Certainly not; I hate auguries."
"Do you think there is nothing in them?"
"I think there is nothing in this room but what ought to be in mine.
Do you expect me to stand discussing superst.i.tion in this horrible raw emptiness? Here," picking up Theodore, "I"ll come back for you."
"Oh no, thank you, let me get down by myself; he cannot be left alone in a room."
"Come, Stella, and take care of him."
"That"s worse, she leads him into mischief. We are fox, goose, and cabbage. Please give me my crutch; Wilmet put it out of reach because she said I was destroying myself."
"You are tired to death."
"Oh no; but one can"t sit still when so much is going on. Oh, how delicious!" as after an interval she arrived, and found Mr. Audley winding up a musical box, which Theodore was greeting with its own tunes, and Stella with a dance and chant of "Sing box--sing box;" and then the two sat listening to the long cycle of tunes which would hold Theodore entranced for any length of time.
After a short inquiry and a reply as to the sister-in-law"s state, and a few words on the progress of the flitting, there was a silence while Mr. Audley read the letters that had come for him in his absence, and Cherry"s face became more and more pensive. At last, when Mr. Audley laid down his letters, and leant against the chimneypiece, she ventured to say, "Is it wrong?"
"Is what wrong?" said the Curate, who had quite forgotten the subject.
"To care about omens."
"That depends. To accept them is sometimes necessary; to look out for them is generally foolish and often wrong."
"Sometimes necessary?" said Cherry eagerly.
"Sometimes experience seems to show that in good Providence a merciful preparation is sent not so much to lead to antic.i.p.ations, as to bring the mind into keeping with what is coming, and, as it were, attune it."
"So that little things may be constantly types of great future ones?"
"My dear Cherry, I said not constantly."
"Just let me tell you. Sibby says that the very day we all came into this poor old house, just as the omnibus stopped, there was the knell ringing overhead, and a funeral coming up the street. She knew it was a token, and burst out crying; and dear Mamma, who you know never shed tears, turned as white as a corpse, as if she was struck to the heart."
"And your father?"
"Oh! Sibby said he just stood in the doorway, lifted his hat as the funeral pa.s.sed and then well-nigh carried Mamma, with the baby (that was Fulbert) in her arms, over the threshold, and smiled at her, saying, "Well, mother, what better than to have found our home till death!" So you see he did believe in it."