66 Don't you think one ought to be severe against evil-speaking, lying, and slandering ?" "Oh but nothing of that kind goes on among us, I assure you. We are not a scandal-loving community. And if you think there is no truth in the report about Miss Hastings and my Lord Carleton-Now "-and here the accomplished gossip lowered her voice still more-"now, as you were the countess's governess, I feel sure I may tell you my own private feeling on this subject I should be very sorry to have Miss Hastings in her place. The countess is a favourite with everybody. Such a sweet creature! so young and pretty, and with such an air of fashion about her! Then she is so affable and condescending; and talks to every one so pleasantly. Miss Hastings, though she is only a merchant's daughter, carries herself very high: she will scarcely condescend to open her lips to one. She is a very superior woman, very learned and accomplished, and all that —but there is something about her I don't like. I'm sure she thinks a great deal of herself!-Now, don't think so ?" "On the contrary-judging from the little I have seen, I should say she does not think so much of herself as others think of her." you The countess passed close by, at this moment, on her way towards the door. The affectionate old lady guessed whither she was bound, and trying to smile, said, "They are both asleep; but don't forget to tell nurse to have them ready at seven o'clock ! The carriage will be here :-and I think I go with them. They have had rather more excitement than usual to-day, and I should like to see them comfortably in bed." will "You shall do nothing of the kind, my dear Miss Price! They are perfectly well; they want no one but the nurses to take them home. I will trust them without either you or me for three hours. Never scold me about over-anxiety and fussiness again!" And she patted Miss Price's shoulder playfully, and left the room. Mrs. Grey was enthusiastic. "What a charming creature! How fond you must be of her! I declare I never saw any one with such pretty, fascinating ways. And her lovely children, too! Quite pictures! How proud and fond of them she must be ! And the earl, too-what a happy man! It is quite enough to look at those noble twins to see that there is no fear of hereditary disease there. Indeed, as my husband says, there never was a man more in his right mind than the present earl. And perhaps his father was never really mad; it might have been nothing but a dreadful temper and a good deal of eccentricity. You know, all the Rabys, for the last hundred years, have been very odd, and some have been quite mad. My husband has studied the family history a good deal. He says the Rabys have all been naturally very clever, and having had stupid people to deal with, and uncontrolled power to deal with them, they have, as a matter of course, been often half mad with anger. Do you know, I think there is a touch of the old earl about little Master Arundel. Something in the eyes. Very fine eyes they are, to be sure; but a little wild;-don't you think SO ? "Think what ?" asked Mr. Hastings, who seeing Miss Price evince unmistakable signs of impatience under the terrible infliction of Mrs. Grey's long tongue, came forward benevolently, to victimise himself and allow her to escape. "Can there be any truth in the things that silly woman says?" was a question which haunted Miss Price all that evening and the next day, till she saw Miss Hastings come to the castle. CHAPTER VI. A MORNING VISIT AND A WOMAN'S MISSION. "Not for this Faint I, nor mourn, nor murmur-other gifts WORDSWORTH. "THERE is a property of good in all things evil," said Miss Hastings to her sister-in-law at breakfast, the day after the christening, à propos of that lady's complaint that "Lady Carleton still retained one of her evil London habits, and never left her dressing-room till twelve o'clock." "Why, what good can you possibly see in that ?" asked Mrs. Hastings. "This good: that I wish to learn something more of Miss Price than I could do, except en tête-à-tête; and if I go up to the castle by eleven o'clock, I shall have an hour's talk with her before I see Lady Carleton." Miss Hastings set off to walk to the castle alone. She laughed at Mrs. Hastings' fears that she would be alarmed at the red deer, or dislike the feeling of being alone. As she proceeded across the park, she stopped often to gaze from the tops of the wood-crowned eminences. Many a view seemed quite familiar to her, though she had never been at Carleton before. They brought back to remembrance the days when they had been described to her so eloquently, that this, the reality, seemed but a shadow of that description. There came also to her mind a sweeter and bitterer recollection-a recollection of whispered hopes that she might one day stand, as she did then, on these hills, and say: "Yes; this is just what you told me!" And those words then came to her lips. "Yes; this is just what he told me !"-The scene was indeed the same as her lover had depicted, but under what different circumstances from those fondly dreamed by both did she now gaze on it! Alas, for the vanished hopes of youth! He was not there, to say "All that you see is yours-is ours.' He was not there to fling a glory over all she looked upon. He He was now nothing to her but a recollection-a volume of sweet thoughts and fair imaginings, which had been taken from her, and which was now irrevocably gone. "Gone!-Alone !-Always alone!" How often, in the dull sleeplessness of night did those words ring through the soul of Margaret Hastings! She had learned to stifle the dreary echo they made there. Now, as she stood leaning against an varied beauty that spread around her, oak-tree, to note the these words seemed to creep through her veins; "Gone!—Gone! —Alone !—Always alone!" She looked at the noble castle-the emblem of power and social greatness—of memorable times and memorable men—the fountain from which high ensamples and gracious help flowed down to the world around. “I might have been a queen there!" she thought. "More than that-I might have devoted my life to him—my heart's dearest treasure! I might have made him and myself happy." "Yes," whispered an evil spirit within; "and why did you not? Because you sought to raise yourself above the generality of women. And in what have you been above them? You bowed down before a chimera you called Right; which was nothing but the fear of a remote possibility; and you gave love, and pity, and generosity, and true womanly nature to the winds." "Down, demon, down! I will not hear you. It is false false! I am weak now, but you shall not overcome me. Have I wrestled with you so often and gained the mastery, to be conquered now?" And the strong woman sought more strength where alone she had ever found it. Beneath that old tree whose struggles with ten thousand storms had made him nobler and better fitted for his Maker's purpose, she prayed that God would help her to resist the wickedness of her own heart, and to do bravely and unselfishly the work allotted to her that day. The winds sang a Benedicite above her head, and she became calm and refreshed. Margaret Hastings, the world, who knew you not, said you were hard! It would be a blessing for the world if more women hardened themselves in this fashion! On she went, with a steady step, over the sunny grass, soothing her perturbed soul with the music-wisdom of an old poet:* "Knowing the heart of man is set to be The centre of this world, about the which * Daniel. Epistle to the Countess of Cumberland. Predominate; whose strong effects are such Erect himself, how poor a thing is man!" It was the middle of July, and the lime-trees were in blossom. All along that glorious avenue they shook out their perfume as she passed; and Miss Hastings, in whose nature nothing was defective; who, far from despising, cherished pure sensation, as she cherished the intellectual faculty within her, felt her spirit rise and her step become more buoyant under the gladdening influence of the rich summer-time. She arrived at the castle; and the question then was, how to get in. On that side there seemed no entrance; all the windows, too, were shut up-it was evidently uninhabited. There was a broad terrace here, and the view from it was magnificent. As she passed before a large bow-window of one of the deserted rooms, she thought within herself: "If I lived here, I would have this for my morning room." And that room became, in after-years, the one with which the reader is already familiar-her new-born niece's, my Aunt Margaret's parlour. Finding that she could not gain admission on this side, she turned a corner of the building, and stood in the great front court, with its fountain designed by the celebrated Bernini. As Miss Hastings cared for art as well as nature, she stopped to examine the fountain, and found that it was as fine a work as it was reported to be. Then she turned round to inspect the front of the castle. It was massive and grey; a large central building, flanked by two great turreted towers. In the middle a broad flight of steps led to the great hall-door. One valve was open, and she passed through it into the hall. No one was there. Miss Hastings was not in a hurry, and set herself to examine that beautiful hall while she waited for the appearance of a servant. It was then, as it was in my time, light and very lofty-paved with alternate squares of black and white marble. It had large gothic windows, looking into the front court, partially adorned with painted glass, |