‘we are past the season of divided ills.’
if any one had asked maurice clissold why he had bared old wounds in the dreamy restfulness of that june afternoon in the hayfield, and why he had chosen martin trevanard for his father-confessor, he would have been sorely puzzled to answer so natural a question. that inexpressible longing to talk of himself and his own sorrows which seizes upon men now and then had laid hold of him, and there had been a kind of bitter pleasure, a half-cynical enjoyment in going over that story of the dead past. there was something sympathetic about martin, too, a man who might have been crossed in love himself, maurice thought, or who at least had a latent capacity for sincerest passion. friendship had proved a plant of rapid growth in the utter solitude of borcel end. maurice felt that he could talk to this young trevanard very much as he had talked to james penwyn, knowing very well that he might not be always understood when his flights of fancy went widest, but very sure of sympathy at all times.
that afternoon was saturday, and on the following morning perfect rest reigned at borcel end. even the ducks seemed less noisy than usual, as if their own voices startled them unpleasantly in the universal silence. mr. and mrs. trevanard came down to the eight o’clock breakfast, luxurious sabbath hour, in their best clothes, the farmer seeming somewhat embarrassed by the burden of respectability involved in sleek new broad cloth and a buff waistcoat starched to desperation, mrs. trevanard stern and even dignified of aspect in her dark grey silk gown and smart sunday cap.
‘would you like to go to church?’ martin asked, with some faint hesitation, lest his new friend, being something of a poet, should also be something of an infidel.
‘by all means. you drive, i suppose, as it’s so far?’
penwyn church, that lonely church among the hills, was the nearest to borcel, a good four miles off at least.
‘yes, we drive to church and back. mother says it goes against her to have the horse out on the sabbath, but the distance is more than she could manage.’
the morning service began at half-past ten, so at half-past nine the dog-cart was at the door, for there was a good deal of walking up and down hill to be allowed for, driving in this part of the country being not altogether a lazy business. the two young men, who occupied the back seat, were continually getting up and down, and had walked about half the distance by the time they came to the quiet old church whose single bell clanged over the green hill-side.
‘i’m blest if the squire and mrs. penwyn haven’t come back!’ cried martin, descrying a handsome landau and pair in front of them as they drew near the church.
‘are you sure that’s the penwyn carriage? they were not expected three days ago,’ said maurice.
‘quite sure. we’ve no other gentry hereabouts, except the morgrave park people, and they hardly ever are at home. there is no doubt about it. that is mr. penwyn’s carriage.’
‘then i’ll renew my acquaintance with him after church,’ said maurice.
the old grey church, which he had explored two days ago, had quite a gay look in its sunday guise. the farmers’ wives and daughters in their fine bonnets—the villagers, with their sunburnt faces and sabbath cleanliness—the servants from the manor, occupying two pews under the low gallery, within which dusky recess the livery of churchill penwyn’s serving-men gleamed gaily, while the bonnets of the maids, all more or less in the last parisian fashion, made the shadowy corner a perfect flower-bed. and most important of all, in a large square pew in the chancel appeared the manor house family—churchill, gentlemanlike and inscrutable, with his pale, thoughtful face, and grave grey eyes—madge, looking verily the young queen of that western land—and viola, fair and flower-like, a beauty to be worshipped so much the more for that frail loveliness which had a fatal air of evanescence.
‘i’m afraid she won’t live long,’ whispered martin to his companion, in one of the pauses of the service, while the purblind old clerk was hunting for the antiquated psalm, tate and brady, which it was his duty to give out.
‘not mrs. penwyn? why, she looks the picture of health,’ replied maurice, in a similar undertone.
martin coloured like a schoolboy justly suspected of felonious views in relation to apples.
‘i meant the fair one,’ he gasped, ‘her sister.’
‘she! ah! looks rather consumptive,’ replied maurice, heartlessly.
the borcel end and manor house families met in the churchyard after the service—borcel end respectful, and not intrusive—the manor house kindly, cordial even, with no taint of patronage. in sooth, michael trevanard was the best tenant a landowner could have; a man who was always improving his holding, and paid his rent to the hour; a man to take the chair at audit dinners, and stumble through a proposal of his landlord’s health.
‘you didn’t expect to see us so soon, did you, mrs. trevanard?’ said madge, with her bright smile; ‘but we all grew tired of town in the middle of the season.’
‘we’re always glad to see you back,’ said michael, screwing up his courage, and jerking out the words as if they were likely to choke him. ‘the place doesn’t seem homelike when there’s no family at the manor house. you see we were accustomed to see the old squire pottering about the place from year’s end to year’s end, and entering into every little bit of improvement we made; and as familiar, you know, as if he was one of ourselves. that spoiled us a bit, i make no doubt.’
‘it shall not be my fault if you do not come to consider me one of yourselves in good time, mr. trevanard,’ said churchill kindly—kindly, but without that real heartiness which makes a country gentleman popular among his vassals.
maurice was standing in the background, and it was only at this moment that mr. penwyn recognised him. something like a spasm of pain changed his face for a moment, as if some unwelcome memory were suddenly brought back to him.
‘natural enough,’ thought maurice. ‘the last time we met was at his cousin’s funeral, and it is hardly a pleasant idea for any man that he stands in the shoes of the untimely dead.’
that momentary flush of pain past, mr. penwyn welcomed the stranger in the land with exceeding cordiality.
‘how long have you been in cornwall, mr. clissold?’ he asked. ‘you ought not to come to penwyn without putting up at the manor house.’
‘you are very good. i have been to the manor house, and ventured to put forward my acquaintance with you as a reason why your faithful old housekeeper should let me see your house. i dare say she has forgotten to mention the fact.’
‘there has been scarcely time. we only arrived last night. let me present you to my wife.—madge, this is the mr. clissold of whom you have heard me speak; mr. clissold, mrs. penwyn, her sister miss bellingham.’
madge acknowledged the introduction with something less than her accustomed sweetness. although churchill was so thoroughly convinced of the man’s innocence, madge had not quite made up her mind that he was guiltless of his friend’s blood. he had been suspected, and the taint clung to him yet.
still when she looked at the dark earnest eyes, the open brow, the firm mouth with its expression of subdued power, the countenance on which thought had exercised its refining influence, she began to think that churchill must be right in this opinion as in all other things, and that this man was incapable of crime.
so when, after questioning mr. clissold as to his whereabouts, churchill asked him to go back to the manor house with them for luncheon, and to bring his friend martin trevanard, madge seconded the invitation. ‘if mrs. trevanard can spare her son for a few hours,’ she added graciously.
mrs. trevanard curtseyed, and thanked mrs. penwyn for her condescension, but added that she did not hold with young people keeping company with their superiors, and thought that martin would be better at home in his own sphere.
‘if i had ever seen good come of it i might think differently,’ said the farmer’s wife with a gloomy look, ‘but i never have.’
martin looked angry, and his father embarrassed.
‘i hope you’ll excuse my wife for being so free-spoken,’ mr. trevanard said, in a rather clumsy apology. ‘she doesn’t mean to be uncivil, but there are points——’ here he came aground hopelessly, and could only repeat in a feeble tone—‘there are points.’
‘thanks for your kind invitation, mr. penwyn,’ said martin, still flushed with shame and anger, ‘but you see i’m not supposed to have a will of my own yet awhile, and must do as my mother tells me.’
‘come along, old lady,’ said michael, and after making their salaams to the quality, the borcel end party retired to the dog-cart. the horse had been tethered on the sward near at hand, browsing calmly throughout the hour and a half service.
maurice drove off with the penwyns in the landau.
‘what a very disagreeable person that mrs. trevanard seems!’ said madge. ‘i should think it could be hardly pleasant staying in her house, mr. clissold.’
‘she is eccentric rather than disagreeable, i think,’ replied maurice, ‘a woman with a fixed idea which governs all her conduct. i had hard work to persuade her to let me stop at the farm, but she has been an excellent hostess. and her son martin is a capital fellow—one of nature’s gentlemen.’
‘yes, i liked his manner, except when he got so angry with his mother. but she was really too provoking, with her preachment about equality, more especially as these trevanards belong to a good old cornish family. do they not, churchill?’
‘yes, love. by tre, pol, and pen, you may know the cornish men. i believe these are some of the original tres. admirable tenants too. one can hardly make too much of them.’
‘do you know anything about their daughter?’ asked maurice of mr. penwyn.
‘yes, i have heard of her, but never seen her. a poor half-witted creature, i believe.’
‘not half-witted, but deranged. her brain has evidently been turned by some great sorrow. from what i can gather she must have loved some one superior to her in rank, and been ill-treated by him. i fancy this is why mrs. trevanard says bitter things about inequality of station.’
‘an all-sufficient reason. i shall never feel angry with mrs. trevanard again,’ said madge.
the manor house looked much gayer and brighter to-day, with servants passing to and fro, great bowls of roses on all the tables, banks of flowers in the windows, new books scattered on the tables, holland covers banished to the limbo of household stores, and two pretty women lending the charm of their presence to the scene.
never had maurice clissold seen husband and wife so completely happy, or more entirely suited to each other than these two seemed. domestic life at penwyn manor house was like an idyll. simple, unaffected happiness showed itself in every look, in every word and tone. there was just that amount of plenteousness and luxury in all things which makes life smooth and pleasant, without the faintest ostentation. a certain subdued comfort reigned everywhere, and churchill in no wise fell into the common errors of men who have suffered a sudden elevation to wealth. he neither ‘talked rich,’ nor told his friends with a deprecating shrug of his shoulders that he had just enough for bread and cheese. in a word, he took things easily.
as a husband he was, in viola’s words, ‘simply perfect.’ it was impossible to imagine devotedness more thorough yet less obtrusive. his face never turned towards his wife without brightening like a landscape in a sudden gleam of sunlight. there was nothing that could be condemned as ‘spooning’ between these married lovers, yet no one would fail to understand that they were all the world to each other.
viola had long since altered her mind about mr. penwyn. from thinking him ‘not quite nice,’ she had grown to consider him adorable. to her he had been all generosity and kindness, treating her in every way as if she had been his own sister, and a sister well beloved. she had the prettiest possible suite of rooms at penwyn, a horse of churchill’s own choosing, her own piano, her own maid, and more pocket-money than she had ever had in her life before.
‘it comes rather hard upon churchill to have two young women to provide for instead of one.’ viola remarked to her sister; ‘but he is so divinely good about it—she was a young lady who delighted in strong adverbs—that i hardly realize what a sponge i am.’
and then came sisterly embracings and protestations. thus the penwyn manor people were altogether the happiest of families.
maurice thoroughly enjoyed his day at penwyn. after luncheon they all rambled about the grounds, churchill and his wife always side by side, so that the guest had the pretty miss bellingham for his companion.
‘it might be dangerous for another man,’ he said to himself, ‘but i’ve had my lesson. no more fair soft beauties for me. if ever i suffer myself to fall in love again it shall be with a girl who looks as if she could knock me down if i offended her. a girl with as much character in her face as that actress poor james was so fond of. of the two i think i would rather have clytemnestra than helen. i dare say menelaus believed his wife a pattern of innocence and purity till he woke one morning and found she had levanted with paris.’
thus secure from the influence of her attractions mr. clissold made himself very much at home with miss bellingham. she showed him all the beauties of penwyn, spots where a glimpse of the sea looked brightest through a break in the pine grove, hollows where the ferns grew deepest and greenest, and proved a very different guide from elspeth.
‘i have been through the grounds before,’ said maurice, ‘but on that occasion my companion did not enhance the beauties of nature by the charm of her society.’
‘who was your companion?’
‘the granddaughter of the woman at the lodge. rather curious people, are they not?’
‘yes, i have often wondered how my brother came to pick them up, for they are not natives of the soil, as almost every one else is at penwyn. but churchill says the old woman is a very estimable person, well worthy of her post, so one can say no more about it.’
when maurice wanted to take leave, his new friends insisted that he should stay to dinner, mr. penwyn offering to send him home in a dog-cart. this favour, however, the sturdy pedestrian steadfastly declined.
‘i am not afraid of a night walk across the hills,’ he said, ‘and am getting as familiar with the country about here as if i were to the manner born.’
so he stayed, and assisted at mrs. penwyn’s kettledrum, which was held in the old squire’s yewtree bower on the bowling-green, an arbour made of dense walls of evergreen, cool in summer, and comfortably sheltered in winter.
here they drank tea, lazily enjoying the freshening breeze from the great wide sea, the sea which counts so many argosies for her spoil, the mighty atlantic! here they talked of literature and the world, and rapidly progressed in friendliness. but not one word was said of james penwyn, who, save for that shot fired from behind a hedge, would have been master of grounds and bower, manor and all thereto belonging. that was a thought which flashed more than once across maurice’s mind.
‘how happy these people seem in the possession of a dead man’s goods!’ he thought, ‘how placidly they enjoy his belongings, how coolly they accept fate’s awful decree! only human nature i suppose.’
‘“les morts durent bien peu, laissons les sous la pierre.”’
he stayed till ten o’clock, and left charmed with host and hostess.
churchill penwyn had been at his best all day, a man whose talk was worth hearing, and whose opinions were not feeble echoes of saturday’s literary journals. after dinner they had music, as well as conversation, and madge played some of mozart’s finest church music—choice bits culled from the masses.
‘how long do you stay in cornwall?’ was the question at parting.
‘about a week longer at borcel end, i suppose. but i am my own master as to time. i have no legitimate profession—for i believe literature hardly comes under that head,—and am therefore something of a bohemian: not in a bad sense, miss bellingham, so please don’t look alarmed.’
‘why not come to us instead of staying at borcel end?’ asked churchill.
‘you are too good. but i could hardly do that. when i offered myself to mrs. trevanard as a lodger, i said i should stay for a week or two, and she is just the kind of woman to feel wounded if i left her abruptly. and then, martin and i are great friends. he is really one of the best fellows i ever met, except—except the friend i lost,’ he added, quickly and huskily, feeling that any allusion of that kind was ill-judged here.
‘well, you must do just as you please about it, but give us as much of your company as you can. we shall have a dinner next week, i believe.’
‘saturday,’ said madge.
‘you will come to us then, of course. and as often in the meanwhile as you can.’
‘thanks. the dinner-party is out of the question. i travel with a knapsack, and am three hundred miles from my dress suit. but if you will allow me to drop in now and then between this and saturday i shall be delighted.’
