when egbert dormer died he left his two daughters utterly penniless upon the world, and it must be said of egbert dormer that nothing else could have been expected of him. the two girls were both pretty, but lucy, who was twenty-one, was supposed to be simple and comparatively unattractive, whereas ayala was credited — as her somewhat romantic name might show — with poetic charm and a taste for romance. ayala when her father died was nineteen.
we must begin yet a little earlier and say that there had been — and had died many years before the death of egbert dormer — a clerk in the admiralty, by name reginald dosett, who, and whose wife, had been conspicuous for personal beauty. their charms were gone, but the records of them had been left in various grandchildren. there had been a son born to mr dosett, who was also a reginald and a clerk in the admiralty, and who also, in his turn, had been a handsome man. with him, in his decadence, the reader will become acquainted. there were also two daughters, whose reputation for perfect feminine beauty had never been contested. the elder had married a city man of wealth — of wealth when he married her, but who had become enormously wealthy by the time of our story. he had when he married been simply mister, but was now sir thomas tringle, baronet, and was senior partner in the great firm of travers and treason. of traverses and treasons there were none left in these days, and mr tringle was supposed to manipulate all the millions with which the great firm in lombard street was concerned. he had married old mr dosett’s eldest daughter, emmeline, who was now lady tringle, with a house at the top of queen’s gate, rented at ￡1,500 a year, with a palatial moor in scotland, with a seat in sussex, and as many carriages and horses as would suit an archduchess. lady tringle had everything in the world; a son, two daughters, and an open-handed stout husband, who was said to have told her that money was a matter of no consideration.
the second miss dosett, adelaide dosett, who had been considerably younger than her sister, had insisted upon giving herself to egbert dormer the artist, whose death we commemorated in our first line. but she had died before her husband. they who remembered the two miss dosetts as girls were wont to declare that, though lady tringle might, perhaps, have had the advantage in perfection of feature and in unequalled symmetry, adelaide had been the more attractive from expression and brilliancy. to her lord sizes had offered his hand and coronet, promising to abandon for her sake all the haunts of his matured life. to her mr tringle had knelt before he had taken the elder sister. for her mr progrum, the popular preacher of the day, for a time so totally lost himself that he was nearly minded to go over to rome. she was said to have had offers from a widowed lord chancellor and from a russian prince. her triumphs would have quite obliterated that of her sister had she not insisted on marrying egbert dormer.
then there had been, and still was, reginald dosett, the son of old dosett, and the eldest of the family. he too had married, and was now living with his wife; but to them had no children been born, luckily, as he was a poor man. alas, to a beautiful son it is not often that beauty can be a fortune as to a daughter. young reginald dosett — he is anything now but young — had done but little for himself with his beauty, having simply married the estimable daughter of a brother clerk. now, at the age of fifty, he had his ￡900 a year from his office, and might have lived in fair comfort had he not allowed a small millstone of debt to hang round his neck from his earlier years. but still he lived creditably in a small but very genteel house at notting hill, and would have undergone any want rather than have declared himself to be a poor man to his rich relations the tringles.
such were now the remaining two children of old mr dosett — lady tringle, namely, and reginald dosett, the clerk in the admiralty. adelaide, the beauty in chief of the family, was gone; and now also her husband, the improvident artist, had followed his wife. dormer had been by no means a failing artist. he had achieved great honour — had at an early age been accepted into the royal academy — had sold pictures to illustrious princes and more illustrious dealers, had been engraved and had lived to see his own works resold at five times their original prices. egbert dormer might also have been a rich man. but he had a taste for other beautiful things besides a wife. the sweetest little phaeton that was to cost nothing, the most perfect bijou of a little house at south kensington — he had boasted that it might have been packed without trouble in his brother-in-law tringle’s dining-room — the simplest little gem for his wife, just a blue set of china for his dinner table, just a painted cornice for his studio, just satin hangings for his drawing-room — and a few simple ornaments for his little girls; these with a few rings for himself, and velvet suits of clothing in which to do his painting; these, with a few little dinner parties to show off his blue china, were the first and last of his extravagances. but when he went, and when his pretty things were sold, there was not enough to cover his debts. there was, however, a sweet savour about his name. when he died it was said of him that his wife’s death had killed him. he had dropped his palette, refused to finish the ordered portrait of a princess, and had simply turned himself round and died.
then there were the two daughters, lucy and ayala. it should be explained that though a proper family intercourse had always been maintained between the three families, the tringles, the dormers, and the dosetts, there had never been cordiality between the first and the two latter. the wealth of the tringles had seemed to convey with it a fetid odour. egbert dormer, with every luxury around him which money could purchase, had affected to despise the heavy magnificence of the tringles. it may be that he affected a fashion higher than that which the tringles really attained. reginald dosett, who was neither brilliant nor fashionable, was in truth independent, and, perhaps, a little thin-skinned. he would submit to no touch of arrogance from sir thomas; and sir thomas seemed to carry arrogance in his brow and in his paunch. it was there rather, perhaps, than in his heart; but there are men to whom a knack of fumbling their money in their pockets and of looking out from under penthouse brows over an expanse of waistcoat, gives an air of overweening pride which their true idiosyncracies may not justify. to dosett had, perhaps, been spoken a word or two which on some occasion he had inwardly resented, and from thenceforward he had ever been ready to league with dormer against the “bullionaire”, as they agreed to call sir thomas. lady tringle had even said a word to her sister, mrs dormer, as to expenses, and that had never been forgiven by the artist. so things were when mrs dormer died first; and so they remained when her husband followed her.
then there arose a sudden necessity for action, which, for a while, brought reginald dosett into connexion with sir thomas and lady tringle. something must be done for the poor girls. that the something should come out of the pocket of sir thomas would have seemed to be natural. money with him was no object — not at all. another girl or two would be nothing to him — as regarded simple expenditure. but the care of a human being is an important matter, and so sir thomas knew. dosett had not a child at all, and would be the better for such a windfall. dosett he supposed to be — in his, dosett’s way — fairly well off. so he made this proposition. he would take one girl and let dosett take the other. to this lady tringle added her proviso, that she should have the choice. to her nerves affairs of taste were of such paramount importance! to this dosett yielded. the matter was decided in lady tringle’s back drawing-room. mrs dosett was not even consulted in that matter of choice, having already acknowledged the duty of mothering a motherless child. dosett had thought that the bullionaire should have said a word as to some future provision for the penniless girl, for whom he would be able to do so little. but sir thomas had said no such word, and dosett, himself, lacked both the courage and the coarseness to allude to the matter. then lady tringle declared that she must have ayala, and so the matter was settled. ayala the romantic; ayala the poetic! it was a matter of course that ayala should be chosen. ayala had already been made intimate with the magnificent saloons of the tringles, and had been felt by lady tringle to be an attraction. her long dark black locks, which had never hitherto been tucked up, which were never curled, which were never so long as to be awkward, were already known as being the loveliest locks in london. she sang as though nature had intended her to be a singing-bird — requiring no education, no labour. she had been once for three months in paris, and french had come naturally to her. her father had taught her something of his art, and flatterers had already begun to say that she was born to be the one great female artist of the world. her hands, her feet, her figure were perfect. though she was as yet but nineteen, london had already begun to talk about ayala dormer. of course lady tringle chose ayala, not remembering at the moment that her own daughters might probably be superseded by their cousin.
and, therefore, as lady tringle said herself to lucy with her sweetest smile — mrs dosett had chosen lucy. the two girls were old enough to know something of the meaning of such a choice. ayala, the younger, was to be adopted into immense wealth, and lucy was to be given up to comparative poverty. she knew nothing of her uncle dosett’s circumstances, but the genteel house at notting hill — no. 3, kingsbury crescent — was known to her, and was but a poor affair as compared even with the bijou in which she had hitherto lived. her aunt dosett never rose to any vehicle beyond a four-wheeler, and was careful even in thinking of that accommodation. ayala would be whirled about the park by a wire-wig and a pair of brown horses which they had heard it said were not to be matched in london. ayala would be carried with her aunt and her cousin to the show-room of madame tonsonville, the great french milliner of bond street, whereas she, lucy, might too probably be called on to make her own gowns. all the fashion of queen’s gate, something, perhaps, of the fashion of eaton square, would be open to ayala. lucy understood enough to know that ayala’s own charms might probably cause still more august gates to be opened to her, whereas aunt dosett entered no gates. it was quite natural that ayala should be chosen. lucy acknowledged as much to herself. but they were sisters, and had been so near! by what a chasm would they be dissevered, now so far asunder!
lucy herself was a lovely girl, and knew her own loveliness. she was fairer than ayala, somewhat taller, and much more quiet in her demeanour. she was also clever, but her cleverness did not show itself so quickly. she was a musician, whereas her sister could only sing. she could really draw, whereas her sister would rush away into effects in which the drawing was not always very excellent. lucy was doing the best she could for herself, knowing something of french and german, though as yet not very fluent with her tongue. the two girls were, in truth, both greatly gifted; but ayala had the gift of showing her talent without thought of showing it. lucy saw it all, and knew that she was outshone; but how great had been the price of the outshining!
the artist’s house had been badly ordered, and the two girls were of better disposition and better conduct than might have been expected from such fitful training. ayala had been the father’s pet and lucy the mother’s. parents do ill in making pets, and here they had done ill. ayala had been taught to think herself the favourite, because the artist, himself, had been more prominent before the world than his wife. but the evil had not been lasting enough to have made bad feeling between the sisters. lucy knew that her sister had been preferred to her, but she had been self-denying enough to be aware that some such preference was due to ayala. she, too, admired ayala, and loved her with her whole heart. and ayala was always good to her — had tried to divide everything — had assumed no preference as a right. the two were true sisters. but when it was decided that lucy was to go to kingsbury crescent the difference was very great. the two girls, on their father’s death, had been taken to the great red brick house in queen’s gate, and from hence, three or four days after the funeral, lucy was to be transferred to her aunt dosett. hitherto there had been little between them but weeping for their father. now had come the hour of parting.
the tidings had been communicated to lucy, and to lucy alone, by aunt tringle — “as you are the eldest, dear, we think that you will be best able to be a comfort to your aunt,” said lady tringle.
“i will do the best i can, aunt emmeline,” said lucy, declaring to herself that, in giving such a reason, her aunt was lying basely.
“i am sure you will. poor dear ayala is younger than her cousins, and will be more subject to them.” so in truth was lucy younger than her cousins, but of that she said nothing. “i am sure you will agree with me that it is best that we should have the youngest.”
“perhaps it is, aunt emmeline.”
“sir thomas would not have had it any other way,” said lady tringle, with a little severity, feeling that lucy’s accord had hardly been as generous as it should be. but she recovered herself quickly, remembering how much it was that ayala was to get, how much that lucy was to lose. “but, my dear, we shall see you very often, you know. it is not so far across the park; and when we do have a few parties again — ”
“oh, aunt, i am not thinking of that.”
“of course not. we can none of us think of it just now. but when the time does come of course we shall always have you, just as if you were one of us.” then her aunt gave her a roll of bank-notes, a little present of twenty-five pounds, to begin the world with, and told her that the carriage should take her to kingsbury crescent on the following morning. on the whole lucy behaved well and left a pleasant impression on her aunt’s mind. the difference between queen’s gate and kingsbury crescent — between queen’s gate and kingsbury crescent for life — was indeed great!
“i wish it were you, with all my heart,” said ayala, clinging to her sister.
“it could not have been me.”
“why not!”
“because you are so pretty and you are so clever.”
“no!”
“yes! if we were to be separated of course it would be so. do not suppose, dear, that i am disappointed.”
“i am.”
“if i can only like aunt margaret,” — aunt margaret was mrs dosett, with whom neither of the girls had hitherto become intimate, and who was known to be quiet, domestic, and economical, but who had also been spoken of as having a will of her own — “i shall do better with her than you would, ayala.”
“i don’t see why.”
“because i can remain quiet longer than you. it will be very quiet. i wonder how we shall see each other! i cannot walk across the park alone.”
“uncle reg will bring you.”
“not often, i fear. uncle reg has enough to do with his office.
“you can come in a cab.”
“cabs cost money, ayey dear.”
“but uncle thomas — ”
“we had better understand one or two things, ayala. uncle thomas will pay everything for you, and as he is very rich things will come as they are wanted. there will be cabs, and if not cabs, carriages. uncle reg must pay for me, and he is very very kind to do so. but as he is not rich, there will be no carriages, and not a great many cabs. it is best to understand it all.”
“but they will send for you.”
“that’s as they please. i don’t think they will very often. i would not for the world put you against uncle thomas, but i have a feeling that i shall never get on with him. but you will never separate yourself from me, ayala!”
“separate myself!”
“you will not — not be my sister because you will be one of these rich ones?”
“oh, i wish — i wish that i were to be the poor one. i’m sure i should like it best. i never cared about being rich. oh, lucy, can’t we make them change?”
“no, ayey, my own, we can’t make them change. and if we could, we wouldn’t. it is altogether best that you should be a rich tringle and that i should be a poor dosett.”
“i will always be a dormer,” said ayala, proudly.
“and i will always be so too, my pet. but you should be a bright dormer among the tringles, and i will be a dull dormer among the dosetts. i shall begrudge nothing, if only we can see each other.”
so the two girls were parted, the elder being taken away to kingsbury crescent and the latter remaining with her rich relations at queen’s gate. ayala had not probably realized the great difference of their future positions. to her the attractions of wealth and the privations of comparative poverty had not made themselves as yet palpably plain. they do not become so manifest to those to whom the wealth falls — at any rate, not in early life — as to the opposite party. if the other lot had fallen to ayala she might have felt it more keenly.
lucy felt it keenly enough. without any longing after the magnificence of the tringle mansion she knew how great was the fall from her father’s well-assorted luxuries and prettinesses down to the plain walls, tables, and chairs of her uncle dosett’s house. her aunt did not subscribe to mudie’s. the old piano had not been tuned for the last ten years. the parlour-maid was a cross old woman. her aunt always sat in the dining-room through the greater part of the day, and of all rooms the dining-room in kingsbury crescent was the dingiest. lucy understood very well to what she was going. her father and mother were gone. her sister was divided from her. her life offered for the future nothing to her. but with it all she carried a good courage. there was present to her an idea of great misfortune; but present to her at the same time an idea also that she would do her duty.
