“with every pleasing, every prudent part,
say what can chloe want?—she wants a heart.”
pope.
five minutes after marion had left lady severn’s drawing-room that rainy morning, another young lady entered it. a tall, handsome girl. beautiful almost; at least, to those who define beauty as material perfection of form and colour, not troubling themselves too much about the nature of the soul within. that in appearance she was what is called “striking” no one could have denied. well-made, in a certain sense graceful, and thoroughly well-dressed, her figure would have stood the test of pretty sharp, even feminine criticism.
as to complexion, exquisitely fair; of which, however, she paid the penalty, if such it be, in the colour of her hair, which though fine, soft, and abundant, was undoubtedly red. a deep, warm red, however—in itself, a lovely shade, though, probably, few would admire it as that of hair. but now comes a surprise. the eyes were good, hazel, i think; but whatever their precise tint they always looked deep and lustrous, for they possessed the inestimable advantage—little to be looked for in conjunction with such hair—of dark, almost black, lashes, and clearly-defined, slightly arched, eyebrows to match.
oh! what ill-natured things were said about those eyebrows and eyelashes! how the sandy freckled misses macdonald, husband-hunting at altes, whispered, about, “what a pity, is it not? still quite a young person, and really not bad-looking, if she would only leave herself alone.” each sister, all the same, secretly experimenting in the privacy of her own chamber, with “baton” and “bandoline;” nay, for aught i know, with camel’s hair-brushes and “lamp-black,” alias “noir velouté;” in the vain hope of rivalling the beautiful florence. vain hope truly, for as to eyebrows and eyelashes, the girl was indebted to nature only; and, indeed, had she been less gifted than she was in these respects, i question much if such expedients would have occurred to her, so perfectly satisfied was she with her outward appearance. naturally so, it must be allowed. the youngest and fairest of the three daughters of a widowed and struggling mother, her surpassing beauty had, from earliest childhood, been impressed upon her as the great fact of her existence. a fact utterly impossible to question or dispute.
that this same beauty was to be turned to the best account in the matrimonial market, followed naturally enough, as the second article of belief in the poor girl’s creed.
of the two plainer sisters, one, the elder, was married respectably, though by no means brilliantly, to a young curate, over-worked and under-paid; in these particulars, i fear, no exception to his class. the other was hopelessly engaged to a lieutenant in the navy, dependent on his pay, which had hitherto barely sufficed to keep his own head above water, and whose only prospects consisted in a vague talk of far distant “promotion.”
but the there was florence! florence the beautiful, whose brilliant marriage was to be the turning point in the fortunes of her family:—to obtain a comfortable living for her older brother-in-law; and in some mysterious way to bring the admiralty to a sense of what was owing to the meritorious but unappreciated lieutenant.
hardly was the girl out of short frocks and pinafores, before the anxious, scheming mother set to work to plan her future and obtain for her the desired opportunity. nor must we judge her harshly. poverty, and above all poverty of the striving, pinching, keeping-up-appearances kind, is not an influence likely to exalt or refine the character, and poor mrs. vyse, no lofty-minded woman to begin with, sank and deteriorated beneath it, as many better people have done before and since.
in one direction her efforts met with success.
it happened thus. among the few friends, who in the long weary years of her widow-hood and adversity, still remembered mrs. vyse, none was kinder, or showed her more substantial proofs of good will than lady severn, her husband’s cousin by marriage. no very near connection certainly, but there was another reason for this kindness to the poor widow and her fatherless children. the history of dame eleanor severn, like that of most people in this world, had begun with a first volume, or which the hero was not her lamented and much respected husband, the late sir ralph severn, but a certain harum-scarum sailor cousin of his, a handsome auburn-haired boy, with beautiful black-fringed eyes: gordon vyse by name. of course it was “utterly out of the question.” she was, an heiress, consequently it would never have done for her to have married a prospectless younger son. in time, suppose, she herself was brought to see the thing in this rational light. any how she married sir ralph, her own cousin, and (she being an only child), heir to her father’s title, though not to his wealth, which was all settled on eleanor severn herself. so title and wealth were re-united by this marriage; a highly satisfactory arrangement in the eyes of the family and the world at large. nobody troubled him or herself much about poor gordon; who before long consoled himself by marrying, considerably beneath him, a rather pretty, inferior-minded, managing little woman, who made him as good a wife as she knew how, and after his death did her poor best by the three daughters left to her care. they got on somehow. florence seemed the most fortunate, for lady severn saw her as a child, took a fancy to her, and paid for her education at a fashionable boarding school. questionable good fortune; but the girl was capable of gratitude, and honestly loved her mother and sisters. so she made what she truly believed to be best use of her educational privileges, devoted herself to accomplishments, including the art of dressing, and arranging her magnificent hair to the best advantage; and so succeeded as become, before she left school, the show pupil of the establishment. the thought of furnishing the inside of her head with any knowledge really worth acquiring, never occurred to her. and indeed it is difficult to say if she could ever have succeeded in doing so, for the cleverness which she certainly possessed, was of that self-conceited, essentially superficial kind, to teachers far more hopeless to deal with than any extreme of good, honest, modest, stupidity.
grown up at last, ready in every sense, of the word to “come out,” had there been any one to introduce her, for a tiresome year or two the beautiful florence languished at home. for some time the distress in the severn family put a stop to all hopes of a helping hand in that quarter. at last, however, mrs. vyse plucked courage. a gratefully expressed and judiciously timed letter to lady severn, resulted in an invitation to florence to visit her abroad for a few weeks. so well had the girl profited by her mother’s instructions that the few weeks lengthened into months, and the latter had already numbered more than twelve, and still there was no talk of miss vyse returning home. she knew how to make herself useful her hostess, who, on her side, treated her with the greatest generosity; for she was proud of her handsome young relative, niece as she preferred to call her, though in point of fact the connection was much more remote. every where miss vyse was admired and made much of, and on the whole she had spent a very agreeable year. still, the great object of her ambition, a wealthy husband, had not been attained, and for some time past this consideration had caused her no little anxiety.
there were difficulties in the way. lady severn’s continued mourning and sir ralph’s indifference to society, caused their life to be a very quiet one, which to florence was the more provoking, as she saw plainly that wherever they went, it only rested with themselves to have the entrée of the most select portion of the fashionable world. on coming to altes this winter, lady severn had kindly volunteered to relax little from her usual seclusion on her young friend’s account. pleasant news for florence! she was, however, too far-seeing to hope for very much in the way of gaiety, considering the habits of her entertainers; and she was far too prudent to take advantage of lady severn’s promise in any but the most careful and moderate manner, fearing lest the slightest appearance of discontent with their somewhat monotonous life, should weaken the influence she had gained over the mother, and, equally important, the favour she hoped to acquire in the eyes of the son.
for it had come to this! gradually, but steadily, for some months past, florence’s thoughts had been concentrating to this point. true, sir ralph himself was far from rich, but then there was considerable wealth in the hands of his mother, of which, even during her life, were he to marry to please her, florence had every reason to believe a fair potion would be his.
it was rather a bold idea; but she was not burdened with over-delicacy or scrupulosity, and on the other hand, was by no means deficient in tact, and possessed besides the inestimable of supreme, unruffled self-confidence. and, to do her justice, poor girl, she was strengthened by the thought of the happiness the news of such a marriage would diffuse over the dear, care-worn faces at home!
two distinct objects lay before her to achieve. in the first place there was lady severn to be won over, unconsciously, to her side. liking must be deepened to affection, esteem, and admiration judiciously heightened; till one day it should suddenly break upon the good lady, entirely as an idea of her own, that here, beside her, in the person of her young favourite, the daughter of her own, never-forgotten, first love, was the very wife for her son; the woman of all others, beautiful, sensible, and cheerful, whom she would choose as a helpmeet for the dreamy, studious, unpractical sir ralph. so thought florence for lady severn, and so, ere long, the unconscious lady was made to think for herself. for, though no plain words had as yet passed between them on the subject, florence believed, and rightly, that the first of her designs was in a fair way towards being accomplished.
but with the contemplation of the second came the “tug of war.” florence with all her self-belief, with all her happy confidence in the irresistible nature of her charms, felt at a loss. “tug of war” is not a happy quotation in this instance, for it was no case of greek versus greek, but the involuntary repulsion of an utterly alien nature, which so baffled this girl in all her efforts. ralph puzzled her. there were so many things about him which he could not understand. no wonder! for, if only she had known it, it would have been nearer the truth to say that there was hardly one thing about him; which, with all the good-will in the world, all the capacity for lending herself to his peculiarities on which she prided herself, she could ever have come to understand.
her opinion of human nature in general was by no means an exalted one. disinterested goodness, in the highest sense, was to her incredible, or rather inconceivable. strange, at first sight, this may appear. strange in so young a girl, for florence was little more than twenty, and her actual experience of the world had not been very extensive. strange, and no less sad, for the disbelief, or slowness to believe, in the truth and goodness of our fellows, which is almost excusable in a soured and world-tried man or woman of middle age, revolts and repels us in a very young person. meeting with it we cannot but suspect some terrible defect in the early up-bringing of such an one, if not some crooked tendency of peculiar strength innate in the character itself.
so, as i said, ralph puzzled florence. his devotion to study for its own sake, utterly indifferent to its bringing him name or fame; his distaste for society, in which, nevertheless, his rank and prospects would have insured him a cordial reception; his goodness itself; the union of strength, with gentleness which to her seemed almost weakness; nay, more, his very faults—his whole nature, in short—baffled her utterly.
and, above all, his indifference to her charms! for in this last there was a certain amount of inconsistency. not in his being always kind and attentive to her; that went for nothing, she knew he would have been so to any woman. but, over and above this, she saw that he admired her. in a quiet, cold sort of way, as if she had been a picture or a statue. she was pleasing to him as a beautiful object, for his perceptions were refined and correct to a fault. and even she felt, and truly, that to be thus admired by him was worth all the coarser adulation of the many—the vulgar triumph of reigning as a ball-room belle.
but this was all! beyond this point she could not succeed in impressing him. at last, after much cogitation, she decided in her own mind that he, a student, if not already a “savant,” must be of a different nature from other men, and she must content herself accordingly. one comfort certainly was hers. she need fear no rival, past, present, or future. his never having been specially attracted by any young lady had become, as it were, a proverb in the family. and as for anything else—. no; she felt instinctively there was nothing to fear. no awkward entanglement which might have precluded the idea of matrimony, or engendered a distaste thereto. and she was right. the life of this man, from earliest boy hood to the present time, would have stood the strictest scrutiny.
he must have always been, she decided, just the same peculiar being she found him now. it was simply not in him to fall in love, “to lose his head about anyone,” as she phrased it to herself. the best she could hope for was, that he should become, as it were, accustomed to her, regard her with quiet friendliness and respect, feel a certain amount of pleasure in her society; so that when his mother should one day make the proposition to him, for which florence was thus carefully paving the way, the idea should not, at least, be repugnant to him. he would marry her, no doubt, if his mother wished it, provided it could be done without much trouble or interference with his usual habits. still, it was mortifying to think of, that with this faint, colourless sentiment she must be content. for though herself too cold, or perhaps too thoroughly selfish, ever to experience the all-absorbing, self-devoting, uncalculating intensity of a genuine love, she was yet by no means insensible to the extreme gratification, the agreeable triumph of awakening such a feeling in all its depth towards her in the bosom of another. she had all the elements that go to the making of a thorough-paced coquette; but she was wise enough to see that, in her critical position, the exercise of any such arts might result in the direst misfortune to herself; and, through her, to the only three people in the world she really cared about.
the one consolation to her wounded vanity—ralph’s evident admiration of her beauty for its own sake, she sedulously cultivated. she was perfectly aware that it was merely the gratification an artist experiences when brought into relation with harmony of any kind. an utterly different feeling from that, happily far more common-place one, by no means confined to artist natures, which makes the outward form precious for the sake of its owner. the feeling which made makes rochester declare that “every atom or jane’s flesh” would, must be, dear to him, in pain, in sickness—yes, even in the wild paroxysms or insanity. the feeling so exquisitely described in another sense, in that lovely picture or motherhood, when heather tells how precious to her is every freckle on her little lally’s snub nose.
well aware that ralph’s admiration for her sprung from no root of this, kind, florence found it the more necessary to nurse and cherish, with the utmost care, the delicate plant.
never, in all the months they had been members of the same household, had ralph seen her in any but a perfectly well-chosen and tasteful “toilette.” unless, indeed, on one or two occasions when he had “accidentally” caught sight of her in the most becoming of studied “negligés.” her magnificent hair escaped from its trappings perhaps, or decorated with a wreath of flowers to please her little cousins in a game of play, which had flushed her usually pale cheeks with an exquisite bloom.
this sort of thing, she imagined, kept up with sir ralph her character of gentle artlessness, somewhat subdued by the trials of her past life. whereas, in reality, she neither sat nor moved, looked nor spoke, when in his presence, save with the one purpose of strengthening and increasing his admiration.
this girl, then, as i have shown her, this florence vyse, was the young lady who entered the room that rainy morning, just as marion had left it.
“oh, florence, my love,” said lady severn, as she came in, “i am so sorry you did not happen to come before. such a nice young person has been here applying as daily governess. really, quite a superior, lady-like girl. evidently well brought up. i should fancy, from what she said, that her family must be in reduced circumstances. i wish you had seen her; i should have liked your opinion.”
“i am sorry i did not know you wanted me, dear aunt,” replied the young lady, seating herself on a comfortable low chair, near enough to lady severn to be heard without the disagreeable exertion of raising her voice. “i am very glad to hear of a suitable governess for the dear pets,” which, indeed, she was from the bottom of her heart; having, of late, had sundry most uncomfortable misgivings, that unless such a person appeared she would before long, for the sake of her character of unselfish amiability, be obliged to offer her services temporarily at least, as instructress. mentally resolving that this unexpected deliverance must be accepted, even though the candidate for the undesirable post should be a suspected tool of the jesuits, or something equally objectionable, she proceeded to cross-question lady severn on the subject, and had got the length of hearing that miss freer was a friend and guest of mrs. archer’s, when the door opened and sir ralph entered.
“oh, ralph,” said his mother, “i was just telling florence what a nice governess i have all but engaged for the children.
“indeed,” replied he; “she must have dropped from the skies to oblige you, for at breakfast this morning florence was bewailing your disappointment that somebody or other—mrs. archer, wasn’t it?—had not succeeded in finding some unfortunate lady willing to torture herself and the children for so many hours a day. really, mother, i think you might leave them alone for a while. sybil is too delicate and lotty too flighty to do much good at lessons.”
“i must beg you, ralph, not to speak in that foolish way. how can you possibly be able to judge about the education of young girls? florence, who really may be allowed to have an opinion on the subject, agrees with me that they have been running wild far too long.”
“oh dear aunt, pray don’t speak as if i would dream of interfering,” interrupted miss vyse, “i only happened to say the other day that i wished i had my school-days over again, now that i saw to how much better profit i might put them. though, perhaps, after all it would not be much use; for i am so stupid. and being with minds i can really look up to, has made me of late painfully conscious of my own deficiencies!” she added, with a gentle little sigh.
she wanted sir ralph to say that he hated learned women, but he took no notice of her self-depreciation. “he is really horribly boorish,” she thought to herself, as after waiting till she had finished her pretty little speech, he turned to his mother and enquired, “where and how have you heard of a governess then, mother? of course if she is a desirable person it will be a good thing for the children. i am quite aware such things as lessons are unavoidable, sooner or later.”
for the second time lady severn related the history of the lucky coincidence that had brought miss freer as an applicant for the post. she ended by saying that the young lady (she had called her “a young person” to florence, but “ralph had such queer notions”) had only just left her. “ah then,” he said, “i must have seen her as i came in. i lent her my umbrella.”
“lent her your umbrella, ralph. what for?”
“to keep off the rain,” he answered, quietly.
“pray, ralph, do not answer my questions in that ridiculous way. you know what i mean, perfectly. you are not in the habit or lending your umbrella to the first person you happen to meet in the street.”
“certainly not, mother. and as it happens i did not meet this protégée of yours in the street at all. i saw her as i came in, standing at the foot of the stairs, looking out at the rain rather disconsolately. it never occurred to me till i had run up stairs that perhaps she had no umbrella, and so i ran down again to see. i had no idea who she was. young or old, ugly or pretty. i passed her quickly, thinking of other things; which was stupid enough, for i might have thought a lady would not be standing, staring at the rain for any pleasure in the prospect.”
“and when you ran down again did you see her, cousin ralph?” asked florence, softly.
“yes, cousin florence,” he replied jestingly; “but i am afraid i can’t tell you much about her. i only saw a young girl with pretty brown hair, for she was standing with her back to me, and hardly turned round to thank me, so eager was she to run off as soon as she had the umbrella.”
he did not add that as the girl had retraced a step or two to ask his address, her veil had flown back and revealed a pair or grey eyes, which the word “pretty” would not have adequately described. but “pretty brown hair!” what evil genius prompted ralph to use the expressions? the first seed sown of many, that were in time, to yield a harvest of bitter fruit. the first small prejudice planted in the heart of a jealous and scheming woman. pretty brown hair, indeed,” said florence to herself, and she never forgot the words. ralph so seldom seemed to notice anything, pretty or ugly, about a woman, that the slightest expression of admiration at once caught her attention. and in the present case another feeling was aroused. notwithstanding all her self-satisfaction florence was, to tell the truth, touchy about the colour of her hair. she thought it, really and truly, the loveliest that ever grew on a woman’s head, but yet she was aware that there was a diversity of opinion on the subject. vulgar people, uneducated eyes might call it a defect. spiteful people might say spiteful things about it, were they so inclined. she was sure that ralph admired it, for under none of these heads could be classed. he, whose taste was refined and cultivated in the extreme, must, could not but think it beautiful; but yet — she could not endure him to speak of another woman’s “pretty brown hair.”
they went in to luncheon. as they were taking their seats at table they were joined by the two grand-daughters, “the children,” florence’s “dear pets.” charlotte, the elder, was a tall, well-grown child. handsome already, and with promise of considerable beauty of the large, fair type. “quite a severn,” as her father had been before her, and already well aware of the fact.
sybil was as unlike her, as in childhood, ralph must have been unlike his handsome brother. a quiet, mouse-like little girl, with a pale face and straight, short-cut, rather dark hair. sweet eyes though; and, indeed, far from plain-looking, when one examined the features more critically. few, probably, were ever at the pains to do so, for she was precisely the sort of child that gets little notice; partly, perhaps, because she never seemed to expect it. she was rather an unsatisfactory child. her grandmother loved her and cherished her, but yet somehow she did not, or could not, understand her. her great delicacy and the constant care and indulgence it necessitated, would have utterly spoilt most children; but it had not done so with sybil. not, at least, in the ordinary way.
lotty, one could see at the first glance, was tremendously spoilt. but she was by nature honest and hearty, though selfish, headstrong, and conceited. conceited, however, in a childish, innocent sort of way. laughable enough now and then. after all i hardly think the conceit was indigenous in her. i suspect miss vyse had had a hand in the sowing of it. lotty was her avowed favourite, and on the whole had not improved in character since florence had taken up her residence among them.
lotty burst into the room and seated her-self opposite her cousin, without any of the gentle, half appealing air so pretty to see in a girl of her age.
“soup” she said, coolly, in answer to her grandmother’s question as to what she would take; “that’s to say if it isn’t that horrid kind we had yesterday.”
but observing a look of gentle reminder on the face of miss vyse, who intended sir ralph to see it too, she added—
“i beg your pardon, grandmamma, for calling it horrible, but florence and i both think—”
“never mind what we both think, lotty,” interrupted miss vyse, smilingly. “sybil, dear, will you have some or this?”
little sybil was sitting quietly by her uncle; her favourite place, for though frightened of him, she was always pleased to be near him. he stroked her smooth, soft hair, and she looked up in his face with a smile.
“are you going up the mountain to-day, uncle ralph?” he asked.
“not to-day exactly, but very early to-morrow,” he replied.
“what you going to do early to-morrow?” asked lady severn, who had not heard sybil’s question.
“i am going to ascend the ‘pic noir’,” he answered. “i think i mentioned it some days ago. there is a whole party going; rather more than i care about, but poor price and vladimir nodouroff were very anxious for me to join them. we dine at the lion d’or today, and start this evening, if fine. i shall not be back till the day after to-morrow, but i suppose that will make no difference to you?”
“oh, dear no,” his mother, “but by-the-by, do not stay away longer than that. i want you on friday to take us all to berlet. it is rather too far to go without a gentleman, but the view, i hear, is lovely.”
“i shall be very glad to take you,” said ralph, quite pleased at lady severn’s wish for his company; “you must all come. the children, too, may they not?”
“we shall see,” was the reply. oh, how provoking a one to childish ears.
“by-the-way,” said ralph, “a mr. chepstow has arrived here lately, who is anxious to make your acquaintance, mother. he is a friend of the bruces, at brackley, they told him of our being here. he has lately lost his wife. he seems an honest, stupid sort of man. shall i tell him you hope to see him? he is going with us tonight.”
“any friend of the bruces, of course, i shall be glad to see,” said lady severn, in a rather formal voice—(in her heart she disliked the bruces; her eldest son’s wife had been one of them)—“but i must say, ralph, you manage to describe people and things in a most peculiar way.”
“in a most characteristic way, i should say,” murmured florence, as just at that moment her aunt rose from table and led the way from the room.
she could not tell if ralph heard the little compliment. he gave no sign of having done so. truly, his manners were very objectionable!
