miss mackenzie had been three weeks at littlebath when the day arrived on which she was to go to mrs stumfold's party, and up to that time she had not enjoyed much of the society of that very social place. indeed, in these pages have been described with accuracy all the advancement which she had made in that direction. she had indeed returned miss todd's call, but had not found that lady at home. in doing this she had almost felt herself to be guilty of treason against the new allegiance which she seemed to have taken upon herself in accepting mrs stumfold's invitation; and she had done it at last not from any firm resolve of which she might have been proud, but had been driven to it by ennui, and by the easy temptation of miss todd's neighbouring door. she had, therefore, slipped out, and finding her wicked friend to be not at home, had hurried back again. she had, however, committed herself to a card, and she knew that mrs stumfold would hear of it through miss baker. miss baker's visit she had not returned, being in doubt where miss baker lived, being terribly in doubt also whether the median rules of fashion demanded of her that she should return the call of a lady who had simply come to her with another caller. her hesitation on this subject had been much, and her vacillations many, but she had thought it safer to abstain. for the last day or two she had been expecting the return of mr rubb, junior—keeping herself a prisoner, i fear, during the best hours of the day, so that she might be there to receive him when he did come; but though she had so acted, she had quite resolved to be very cold with him, and very cautious, and had been desirous of seeing him solely with a view to the mercantile necessities of her position. it behoved her certainly to attend to business when business came in her way, and therefore she would take care to be at home when mr rubb should call.
she had been to church twice a day on each of the sundays that she had passed in littlebath, having in this matter strictly obeyed the hints which mr stumfold had given for her guidance. no doubt she had received benefit from the discourses which she had heard from that gentleman each morning; and, let us hope, benefit also from the much longer discourses which she had heard from mr stumfold's curate on each evening. the rev. mr maguire was very powerful, but he was also very long; and miss mackenzie, who was hardly as yet entitled to rank herself among the thoroughly converted, was inclined to think that he was too long. she was, however, patient by nature, and willing to bear much, if only some little might come to her in return. what of social comfort she had expected to obtain from her churchgoings i cannot quite define; but i think that she had unconsciously expected something from them in that direction, and that she had been disappointed.
but now, at nine o'clock on this appointed evening, she was of a certainty and in very truth going into society. the card said half-past eight; but the sun had not yoked his horses so far away from her tyre, remote as that tyre had been, as to have left her in ignorance that half-past eight meant nine. when her watch showed her that half-past eight had really come, she was fidgety, and rang the bell to inquire whether the man might have probably forgotten to send the fly; and yet she had been very careful to tell the man that she did not wish to be at mrs stumfold's before nine.
"he understands, miss," said the servant; "don't you be afeard; he's a-doing of it every night."
then she became painfully conscious that even the maid-servant knew more of the social ways of the place than did she.
when she reached the top of mrs stumfold's stairs, her heart was in her mouth, for she perceived immediately that she had kept people waiting. after all, she had trusted to false intelligence in that matter of the hour. half-past eight had meant half-past eight, and she ought to have known that this would be so in a house so upright as that of mrs stumfold. that lady met her at the door, and smiling—blandly, but, perhaps i might be permitted to say, not so blandly as she might have smiled—conducted the stranger to a seat.
"we generally open with a little prayer, and for that purpose our dear friends are kind enough to come to us punctually."
then mr stumfold got up, and pressed her hand very kindly.
"i'm so sorry," miss mackenzie had uttered.
"not in the least," he replied. "i knew you couldn't know, and therefore we ventured to wait a few minutes. the time hasn't been lost, as mr maguire has treated us to a theological argument of great weight."
then all the company laughed, and miss mackenzie perceived that mr stumfold could joke in his way. she was introduced to mr maguire, who also pressed her hand; and then miss baker came and sat by her side. there was, however, at that moment no time for conversation. the prayer was begun immediately, mr stumfold taking this duty himself. then mr maguire read half a chapter in the bible, and after that mr stumfold explained it. two ladies asked mr stumfold questions with great pertinacity, and these questions mr stumfold answered very freely, walking about the room the while, and laughing often as he submitted himself to their interrogations. and miss mackenzie was much astonished at the special freedom of his manner,—how he spoke of st paul as paul, declaring the saint to have been a good fellow; how he said he liked luke better than matthew, and how he named even a holier name than these with infinite ease and an accustomed familiarity which seemed to delight the other ladies; but which at first shocked her in her ignorance.
"but i'm not going to have anything more to say to peter and paul at present," he declared at last. "you'd keep me here all night, and the tea will be spoilt."
then they all laughed again at the absurd idea of this great and good man preferring his food,—his food of this world,—to that other food which it was his special business to dispense. there is nothing which the stumfoldian ladies of littlebath liked so much as these little jokes which bordered on the profanity of the outer world, which made them feel themselves to be almost as funny as the sinners, and gave them a slight taste, as it were, of the pleasures of iniquity.
"wine maketh glad the heart of woman, mrs jones," mr stumfold would say as he filled for the second time the glass of some old lady of his set; and the old lady would chirrup and wink, and feel that things were going almost as jollily with her as they did with that wicked mrs smith, who spent every night of her life playing cards, or as they had done with that horrid mrs brown, of whom such terrible things were occasionally whispered when two or three ladies found themselves sufficiently private to whisper them; that things were going almost as pleasant here in this world, although accompanied by so much safety as to the future in her own case, and so much danger in those other cases! i think it was this aptitude for feminine rakishness which, more than any of his great virtues, more even than his indomitable industry, made mr stumfold the most popular man in littlebath. a dozen ladies on the present occasion skipped away to the tea-table in the back drawing-room with a delighted alacrity, which was all owing to the unceremonious treatment which st peter and st paul had received from their pastor.
miss mackenzie had just found time to cast an eye round the room and examine the scene of mr stumfold's pleasantries while mr maguire was reading. she saw that there were only three gentlemen there besides the two clergymen. there was a very old man who sat close wedged in between mrs stumfold and another lady, by whose joint dresses he was almost obliterated. this was mr peters, a retired attorney. he was mrs stumfold's father, and from his coffers had come the superfluities of comfort which miss mackenzie saw around her. rumour, even among the saintly people of littlebath, said that mr peters had been a sharp practitioner in his early days;—that he had been successful in his labours was admitted by all.
"no doubt he has repented," miss baker said one day to miss todd.
"and if he has not, he has forgotten all about it, which generally means the same thing," miss todd had answered.
mr peters was now very old, and i am disposed to think he had forgotten all about it.
the other two gentlemen were both young, and they stood very high in the graces of all the company there assembled. they were high in the graces of mr stumfold, but higher still in the graces of mrs stumfold, and were almost worshipped by one or two other ladies whose powers of external adoration were not diminished by the possession of husbands. they were, both of them, young men who had settled themselves for a time at littlebath that they might be near mr stumfold, and had sufficient of worldly wealth to enable them to pass their time in semi-clerical pursuits.
mr frigidy, the elder, intended at some time to go into the church, but had not as yet made sufficient progress in his studies to justify him in hoping that he could pass a bishop's examination. his friends told him of islington and st bees, of durham, birkenhead, and other places where the thing could be done for him; but he hesitated, fearing whether he might be able to pass even the initiatory gates of islington. he was a good young man, at peace with all the world—except mr startup. with mr startup the veracious chronicler does not dare to assert that mr frigidy was at peace. now mr startup was the other young man whom miss mackenzie saw in that room.
mr startup was also a very good young man, but he was of a fiery calibre, whereas frigidy was naturally mild. startup was already an open-air preacher, whereas frigidy lacked nerve to speak a word above his breath. startup was not a clergyman because certain scruples impeded and prevented him, while in the bosom of frigidy there existed no desire so strong as that of having the word reverend attached to his name. startup, though he was younger than frigidy, could talk to seven ladies at once with ease, but frigidy could not talk to one without much assistance from that lady herself. the consequence of this was that mr frigidy could not bring himself to love mr startup,—could not enable himself to justify a veracious chronicler in saying that he was at peace with all the world, startup included.
the ladies were too many for miss mackenzie to notice them specially as she sat listening to mr maguire's impressive voice. mr maguire she did notice, and found him to be the possessor of a good figure, of a fine head of jet black hair, of a perfect set of white teeth, of whiskers which were also black and very fine, but streaked here and there with a grey hair,—and of the most terrible squint in his right eye which ever disfigured a face that in all other respects was fitted for an apollo. so egregious was the squint that miss mackenzie could not keep herself from regarding it, even while mr stumfold was expounding. had she looked mr maguire full in the face at the beginning, i do not think it would so much have mattered to her; but she had seen first the back of his head, and then his profile, and had unfortunately formed a strong opinion as to his almost perfect beauty. when, therefore, the defective eye was disclosed to her, her feelings were moved in a more than ordinary manner. how was it that a man graced with such a head, with such a mouth and chin and forehead, nay, with such a left eye, could be cursed with such a right eye! she was still thinking of this when the frisky movement into the tea-room took place around her.
when at this moment mr stumfold offered her his arm to conduct her through the folding doors, this condescension on his part almost confounded her. the other ladies knew that he always did so to a newcomer, and therefore thought less of it. no other gentleman took any other lady, but she was led up to a special seat,—a seat of honour as it were, at the left hand side of a huge silver kettle. immediately before the kettle sat mrs stumfold. immediately before another kettle, at another table, sat miss peters, a sister of mrs stumfold's. the back drawing-room in which they were congregated was larger than the other, and opened behind into a pretty garden. mr stumfold's lines in falling thus among the peters, had fallen to him in pleasant places. on the other side of miss mackenzie sat miss baker, and on the other side of mrs stumfold stood mr startup, talking aloud and administering the full tea-cups with a conscious grace. mr stumfold and mr frigidy were at the other table, and mr maguire was occupied in passing promiscuously from one to the other. miss mackenzie wished with all her heart that he would seat himself somewhere with his face turned away from her, for she found it impossible to avert her eyes from his eye. but he was always there, before her sight, and she began to feel that he was an evil spirit,—her evil spirit, and that he would be too many for her.
before anybody else was allowed to begin, mrs stumfold rose from her chair with a large and completely filled bowl of tea, with a plate also laden with buttered toast, and with her own hands and on her own legs carried these delicacies round to her papa. on such an occasion as this no servant, no friend, no mr startup, was allowed to interfere with her filial piety.
"she does it always," said an admiring lady in an audible whisper from the other side of miss baker. "she does it always."
the admiring lady was the wife of a retired coachbuilder, who was painfully anxious to make her way into good evangelical society at littlebath.
"perhaps you will put in the sugar for yourself," said mrs stumfold to miss mackenzie as soon as she returned. on this occasion miss mackenzie received her cup the first after the father of the house, but the words spoken to her were stern to the ear.
"perhaps you will put in the sugar yourself. it lightens the labour."
miss mackenzie expressed her willingness to do so and regretted that mrs stumfold should have to work so hard. could she be of assistance?
"i'm quite used to it, thank you," said mrs stumfold.
the words were not uncivil, but the tone was dreadfully severe, and miss mackenzie felt painfully sure that her hostess was already aware of the card that had been left at miss todd's door.
mr startup was now actively at work.
"lady griggs's and miss fleebody's—i know. a great deal of sugar for her ladyship, and miss fleebody eats muffin. mrs blow always takes pound-cake, and i'll see that there's one near her. mortimer,"—mortimer was the footman,—"is getting more bread and butter. maguire, you have two dishes of sweet biscuits over there; give us one here. never mind me, mrs stumfold; i'll have my innings presently."
all this mr frigidy heard with envious ears as he sat with his own tea-cup before him at the other table. he would have given the world to have been walking about the room like startup, making himself useful and conspicuous; but he couldn't do it—he knew that he couldn't do it. later in the evening, when he had been sitting by miss trotter for two hours—and he had very often sat by miss trotter before—he ventured upon a remark.
"don't you think that mr startup makes himself a little forward?"
"oh dear yes, very," said miss trotter. "i believe he's an excellent young man, but i always did think him forward, now you mention it. and sometimes i've wondered how dear mrs stumfold could like so much of it. but do you know, mr frigidy, i am not quite sure that somebody else does like it. you know who i mean."
miss trotter said much more than this, and mr frigidy was comforted, and believed that he had been talking.
when mrs stumfold commenced her conversation with mr startup, miss baker addressed herself to miss mackenzie; but there was at first something of stiffness in her manner,—as became a lady whose call had not been returned.
"i hope you like littlebath," said miss baker.
miss mackenzie, who began to be conscious that she had done wrong, hesitated as she replied that she liked it pretty well.
"i think you'll find it pleasant," said miss baker; and then there was a pause. there could not be two women more fitted for friendship than were these, and it was much to be hoped, for the sake of our poor, solitary heroine especially, that this outside crust of manner might be broken up and dispersed.
"i dare say i shall find it pleasant, after a time," said miss mackenzie. then they applied themselves each to her own bread and butter.
"you have not seen miss todd, i suppose, since i saw you?" miss baker asked this question when she perceived that mrs stumfold was deep in some secret conference with mr startup. it must, however, be told to miss baker's credit, that she had persistently maintained her friendship with miss todd, in spite of all the stumfoldian influences. miss mackenzie, at the moment less brave, looked round aghast, but seeing that her hostess was in deep conference with her prime minister, she took heart of grace. "i called, and i did not see her."
"she promised me she would call," said miss baker.
"and i returned her visit, but she wasn't at home," said miss mackenzie.
"indeed," said miss baker; and then there was silence between them again.
but, after a pause, miss mackenzie again took heart of grace. i do not think that there was, of nature, much of the coward about her. indeed, the very fact that she was there alone at littlebath, fighting her own battle with the world, instead of having allowed herself to be swallowed up by the harry handcocks, and tom mackenzies, proved her to be anything but a coward. "perhaps, miss baker, i ought to have returned your visit," said she.
"that was just as you like," said miss baker with her sweetest smile.
"of course, i should have liked it, as i thought it so good of you to come. but as you came with mrs stumfold, i was not quite sure whether it might be intended; and then i didn't know,—did not exactly know,—where you lived."
after this the two ladies got on very comfortably, so long as they were left sitting side by side. miss baker imparted to miss mackenzie her full address, and miss mackenzie, with that brightness in her eyes which they always assumed when she was eager, begged her new friend to come to her again.
"indeed, i will," said miss baker. after that they were parted by a general return to the front room.
and now miss mackenzie found herself seated next to mr maguire. she had been carried away in the crowd to a further corner, in which there were two chairs, and before she had been able to consider the merits or demerits of the position, mr maguire was seated close beside her. he was seated close beside her in such a way as to make the two specially separated from all the world beyond, for in front of them stood a wall of crinoline,—a wall of crinoline divided between four or five owners, among whom was shared the eloquence of mr startup, who was carrying on an evangelical flirtation with the whole of them in a manner that was greatly pleasing to them, and enthusiastically delightful to him. miss mackenzie, when she found herself thus entrapped, looked into mr maguire's eye with dismay. had that look been sure to bring down upon her the hatred of that reverend gentleman, she could not have helped it. the eye fascinated her, as much as it frightened her. but mr maguire was used to have his eye inspected, and did not hate her. he fixed it apparently on the corners of the wall, but in truth upon her, and then he began:
"i am so glad that you have come among us, miss mackenzie."
"i'm sure that i'm very much obliged."
"well; you ought to be. you must not be surprised at my saying so, though it sounds uncivil. you ought to feel obliged, and the obligation should be mutual. i am not sure, that when all things are considered, you could find yourself in any better place in england, than in the drawing-room of my friend stumfold; and, if you will allow me to say so, my friend stumfold could hardly use his drawing-room better, than by entertaining you."
"mr stumfold is very good, and so is she."
"mr stumfold is very good; and as for mrs stumfold, i look upon her as a very wonderful woman,—quite a wonderful woman. for grasp of intellect, for depth of thought, for tenderness of sentiment—perhaps you mightn't have expected that, but there it is—for tenderness of sentiment, for strength of faith, for purity of life, for genial hospitality, and all the domestic duties, mrs stumfold has no equal in littlebath, and perhaps few superiors elsewhere."
here mr maguire paused, and miss mackenzie, finding herself obliged to speak, said that she did not at all doubt it.
"you need not doubt it, miss mackenzie. she is all that, i tell you; and more, too. her manners may seem a little harsh to you at first. i know it is so sometimes with ladies before they know her well; but it is only skin-deep, miss mackenzie,—only skin-deep. she is so much in earnest about her work, that she cannot bring herself to be light and playful as he is. now, he is as full of play as a young lamb."
"he seems to be very pleasant."
"and he is always just the same. there are people, you know, who say that religion is austere and melancholy. they never could say that if they knew my friend stumfold. his life is devoted to his clerical duties. i know no man who works harder in the vineyard than stumfold. but he always works with a smile on his face. and why not, miss mackenzie? when you think of it, why not?"
"i dare say it's best not to be unhappy," said miss mackenzie. she did not speak till she perceived that he had paused for her answer.
"of course we know that this world can make no one happy. what are we that we should dare to be happy here?"
again he paused, but miss mackenzie feeling that she had been ill-treated and trapped into a difficulty at her last reply, resolutely remained silent.
"i defy any man or woman to be happy here," said mr maguire, looking at her with one eye and at the corner of the wall with the other in a manner that was very terrible to her. "but we may be cheerful,—we may go about our work singing psalms of praise instead of songs of sorrow. don't you agree with me, miss mackenzie, that psalms of praise are better than songs of sorrow?"
"i don't sing at all, myself," said miss mackenzie.
"you sing in your heart, my friend; i am sure you sing in your heart. don't you sing in your heart?" here again he paused.
"well; perhaps in my heart, yes."
"i know you do, loud psalms of praise upon a ten-stringed lute. but stumfold is always singing aloud, and his lute has twenty strings." here the voice of the twenty-stringed singer was heard across the large room asking the company a riddle.
"why was peter in prison like a little boy with his shoes off?"
"that's so like him," said mr maguire.
all the ladies in the room were in a fever of expectation, and mr stumfold asked the riddle again.
"he won't tell them till we meet again; but there isn't one here who won't study the life of st peter during the next week. and what they'll learn in that way they'll never forget."
"but why was he like a little boy with his shoes off?" asked miss mackenzie.
"ah! that's stumfold's riddle. you must ask mr stumfold, and he won't tell you till next week. but some of the ladies will be sure to find it out before then. have you come to settle yourself altogether at littlebath, miss mackenzie?"
this question he asked very abruptly, but he had a way of looking at her when he asked a question, which made it impossible for her to avoid an answer.
"i suppose i shall stay here for some considerable time."
"do, do," said he with energy. "do; come and live among us, and be one of us; come and partake with us at the feast which we are making ready; come and eat of our crusts, and dip with us in the same dish; come and be of our flock, and go with us into the pleasant pastures, among the lanes and green hedges which appertain to the farm of the lord. come and walk with us through the sabbath cornfields, and pluck the ears when you are a-hungered, disregarding the broad phylacteries. come and sing with us songs of a joyful heart, and let us be glad together. what better can you do, miss mackenzie? i don't believe there is a more healthy place in the world than littlebath, and, considering that the place is fashionable, things are really very reasonable."
he was rapid in his utterance, and so full of energy, that miss mackenzie did not quite follow him in his quick transitions. she hardly understood whether he was advising her to take up an abode in a terrestrial eden or a celestial paradise; but she presumed that he meant to be civil, so she thanked him and said she thought she would. it was a thousand pities that he should squint so frightfully, as in all other respects he was a good-looking man. just at this moment there seemed to be a sudden breaking up of the party.
"we are all going away," said mr maguire. "we always do when mrs stumfold gets up from her seat. she does it when she sees that her father is nodding his head. you must let me out, because i've got to say a prayer. by-the-bye, you'll allow me to walk home with you, i hope. i shall be so happy to be useful."
miss mackenzie told him that the fly was coming for her, and then he scrambled away into the middle of the room.
"we always walk home from these parties," said miss baker, who had, however, on this occasion, consented to be taken away by miss mackenzie in the fly. "it makes it come so much cheaper, you know."
"of course it does; and it's quite as nice if everybody does it. but you don't walk going there?"
"not generally," said miss baker; "but there are some of them who do that. miss trotter always walks both ways, if it's ever so wet." then there were a few words said about miss trotter which were not altogether good-natured.
miss mackenzie, as soon as she was at home, got down her bible and puzzled herself for an hour over that riddle of mr stumfold's; but with all her trouble she could not find why st peter in prison was like a little boy with his shoes off.
