Noel or, It was to be

Front matter

NOEL; OR, IT WAS TO BE. BY ROBERT BAKER AND SKELTON YORKE. 'Tis beauty that doth oft make women proud, 'Tis virtue that doth make them most admired, 'Tis government that makes them Beem divine. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. 1865. [The right of Translation is reserved.] CONTENTS. CHAP. Pi0E 1 I. New Acquaintances II. A Clouded Life I4 III. An Adventure 24 IV. Deep Waters 34 V. Social Meetings 51 VI. A Promising Character "•* VII. As the Old Cock Crows so Learns the Young 89 VIU. A Woodland Scene 104 IX. Web-making and Un-making 122 X. The Reading of the Riddle 146 XI. Wheels within Wheels 168 XII. The Stort of a Life 181 190 XIII. Ruth and Boaz XIV. The Responsibilities of Property 214 XV. Soliloquies 232 XVI. A Merry Christmas 246 XVII. Part in Earnest, Part in Play 275 XVIII. Never Too Late to Mend

Chapter I. New Acquaintances

Celia. — Bon jour, M. le Beau, what's the news ? Le Beau.— I will tell you the beginning, and, if it please your ladyships, you may see the end ; for the best is yet to do ; and here, where you are, they are coming to perform it. As You Like It. The Manor House at Overstone was an antiquated looking building, especially on the north side. Shaded on the west by a grove of firs, among which the rooks kept up a continual cawing, and on the right by well-grown evergreens, and fine old beeches, the quaint gable over the principal entrance wore an air of calm superiority, as if the vol. I. slated roofs peeping up here and there among the distant trees were parvenus too insignificant to engage its attention. The pointed windows light ing the large entrance-hall, which was open to the roof, were filled with coloured glass, containing the arms and quarterings of many generations of the Squires of Overstone ; but these were not at present held in value, for the owner of the property was an absentee, and the house and grounds had recently been let to a widow lady, who, with her four daughters, had just come into residence.

It is a bright morning in the early summer, and a single gentleman past the prime of life stands at the hall door, and by an authoritative pull sets the bell in motion, its silvery sounds awakening all the echoes of the old house. The visitor glances up and down eagerly ; the approach, the trees, the busy rooks, the aspect of the house, are all noted. His dress bespeaks him a clergy man, but his rotund person, high colour, and eager curious air, do not attract our sympathy. On entering the house, the same searching look is cast at everything, the oak chairs in the hall, the handsome Turkey carpet which partially covers its old oak floor, the case of croquet lying in a corner, the aquarium in the one window, and the Wardian case in the other, are all entered in his inventory ; and as he is ushered into the drawing room, he is fully as much interested in the articles of vertu, the easel, and harp, and books lying on the table, as in the two handsome women who receive him as their guest.

" It is kind of you to call so early," Mrs. Ham merlye remarked ; " we are entire strangers, and do not even know whether we belong to the parish of Overstone or to that of Irskill." " I am sorry to tell you, madam, that the Manor House is undoubtedly in the Overstone parish. I am rector of Irskill, and would fain have reckoned you among my parishioners. But facts are stubborn things." " Of course, Dr. Vansettle, you know this neighbourhood well ? " " I ouo-ht to do so ; I have been here for twenty years. It is a good neighbourhood, but 1—2 not so good as it was, scarcely so hospitable as of yore, and spoiled by new-fangled notions." " You surprise me. We were assured that the hospitality of the people here was unprecedented. The sociability of the neighbourhood was our chief inducement to settle here."

" Ah, you will not be disappointed. The fair and young and beautiful will be sought on every side. It is those who begin to seem a little passe who miss old companions and old customs." The old rector smiled bewitchingly as he uttered this sentence, bowing towards the comely widow at the first compliment, and towards her daughter at the other two. Mrs. Hammerlye looked depre catingly, and Miss Hammerlye had to feign a troublesome cough to hide her amusement. " Do tell us who inhabit the houses we see in the distance. From the upper rooms we catch a glimpse of a red gable, among some splendid oak timber." " That is Elliott's Cray, madam. It is a fine old manorial residence, and stands in a noble park. The oaks are the finest in the county, and the estate includes nearly all the parish of Irskill.

Mr. Elliott is the most important landowner in the neighbourhood." " Indeed," replied Mrs. Hammerlye, with as sumed indifference. The report she had received of the master of Elliott's Cray had had far more to do with her renting the Manor House at Over stone than the general sociability of the neigh bourhood ; but that was not a move to be shown to Dr. Vansettle. So she looked absently at the view, and then added, " Is Mr. Elliott a very old man ? " The rector could not suppress his merriment, which was the more overpowering, because, with the cunning of a practised old fox, he suspected the widow's frame. His voice was rough and wheezy, and, therefore, unattractive, but his boisterous laugh was disagreeable in the extreme. The mother concealed her annoyance, but an im patient toss of the head revealed the daughter's vexation, and the doctor entered in his mental note-book, " Miss Hammerlye showy, wide-awake, and with a temper." fi NOEL; OR, IT WAS TO BE.

" Haw, haw ! " he continued, with unabated vigour. " Excuse me, ladies, I fear I seem rude ! But the idea of Noel Elliott being a very old man is too, too rich ! Haw, haw ! Why, madam, he is the beau of our circle ; all the ladies are setting their caps at him." Miss Hammerlye walked to the window, and, taking up a book, conveyed a broad hint to the visitor that he was at liberty to take his departure, but he had no intention of doing so yet. He wished to find out more concerning the new comers, and Mrs. Hammerlye wished for more information from him ; so she drew her chair a little nearer, and a hand-to-hand fencing match commenced between well-trained combatants, in which the victory was likely to remain long undecided. " Tell me of the other neighbours, Dr. Van settle. I do not care to hear more of Mr. Elliott, as you say he is a ladies' man, and so spoiled."

" Your pardon, madam, I did not say that he is a ladies' man ; but that each of the fair creatures would fain make him her man. If Elliott is spoiled at all, it is in his temper, and that is owing to a sour-natured philosopher who sticks to him like a leech." " Dear me, how painful ! " ejaculated Mrs. Hammerlye. " Can he not rid himself of such a torment? I suppose the person is poor, and works on Mr. Elliott's compassion ? " " Haw, haw ! no ; not exactly, madam. Mr. Jans is not poor, nor pitiable. He is ten years older than Elliott, at the very least ; but, by some accident, he went very late to college, so he and Noel were at the University together. There they formed a romantic friendship, by right of which Mr. Jans acts as a kind of tutor at Elliott's Cray." " But I understand Mr. Elliott has aunts living with him — how do they bear this interference ?

" The parson's eyes sparkled: he had gained an advantage ; for Mrs. Hammerlye had professed to believe Elliott an aged man, yet she evidently knew of his aunts. But he suppressed his wish to laugh out, and answered cautiously, " He has aunts, but they don't live with him. There is a pretty house about a mile south .of the Cray, behind those woods, overlooking the heautiful valley of the Meander: the Misses Elliott live there." " Oh, indeed ! They, at any rate, are far advanced in years, I presume ? " " No, madam. Miss Elliott is about five-and forty, but Miss Margaret is a dozen years her junior. The last Mr. Elliott but one had a large family, and the eldest son married while his youngest sister was a baby in arms. A comparatively small number lived to maturity, and of the two now remaining the elder has very frail health.

From my own poor observations, I should say that Miss Margaret does anything but object to Mr. Jans' tutorship of her nephew." " Intolerable interference both in the one and the other," exclaimed Sophy Hammerlye, without look ing up from her book, and Dr. Vansettle chuckled, for he had already noted that she had not turned a page, so he knew that her abstraction had been feigned. Her two sisters, entering at this moment, created a diversion, but the widow presently turned the conversation back into its old channel, asking, — " Who occupies the pretty modern house which we passed as we came here ? It is within a mile ofthe village of Irskill." " That is the residence of Lady Mary Morton." " Dear ! a titled person. Pray, who is she ? " The rector made round eyes, and pursed up his mouth, attempting no answer for several seconds, then he said, slowly, — " She is Lady Mary Morton."

" Exactly ; but who was her father ? Is she married or unmarried ? Is she friendly or proud ? What age is she ? " Again the strange expression on the rector's face. " She is a nervous lady," he said ; " delicate and fretful. She lives with a companion, and she is a mystery." His eyes said plainly, " I could explain all, but I don't choose," and the curiosity of the family was piqued, but they did not venture to question further. " Are you fond of music, doctor ? " asked Mrs. Hammerlye. " Very, madam ; and still more devoted to pictures." Mrs. Hammerlye smiled — "Julia, my dear, come and let Dr. Vansettle hear your last song, with the harp accompaniment ; and, Emma, bring round your portfolio, and show your sketches." Julia took her place obediently, she had a more pliable expression than either of her sisters ; but Emma looked worried, as she laid aside a board she had been drawing upon, and the rector saw she considered him a bore.

But the drawings were good, and he enjoyed turning them over, until he came to a grotesque figure, and asked its history. Mrs. Hammerlye looked displeased. " It is a foolish drawing that Emma made of her writing master at school. I have twice expressed a wish that it should be destroyed. Don't let me see it again, Emma." The girl laid the caricature aside ; but, from her defiant air, she evidently did not mean to destroy it. Julia's voice was sweet ; and when her song was finished, the mother bade Sophy accompany her on the piano. Dr. Vansettle was well amused, and was surprised, when a servant brought in wine and biscuits, to find he had been in the house two hours, and this his first visit! Mrs. Hammerlye made him take a second glass, and then he bade them farewell, and hastened away. " Mamma !

" exclaimed Sophy, as his footsteps died away along the corridor, " how could you let that odious man bore us to such an extent. It is an abominable shame, for I know you can get rid of troublesome visitors when you choose ! " " How short-sighted you are, Sophy ; it is well for you that you have me to manage for you. Don't you see that that man, truly odious though he be, is the newsmonger of the neighbourhood. He knows everything about everybody ; and in first coming to the place it is worth a great deal to stand well with him. He will blaze forth your accomplishments and my hospitality far and wide. I only fear that he may also men tion Sophy's impatience and Emma's caricature. Where is Charlotte ? " " Playing croquet alone in the garden. We are going, too. Come out, mamma ; we will all wear our new hats, and then, if visitors come, we can ask them out."

" Do so, my dears. Dress yourselves very becomingly, for who can tell whether or no Mr. Elliott may call, or perhaps some of the officers from Overstone." " How I wish it was leap-year, or that the privileges of leap-year could be extended to other years ! " exclaimed Emma, as she and Sophy arrayed themselves in their newest costume. " I get so weary of these covert attempts to get a husband. I would rather put a pistol to a man's head, and say, ' Marry me or die,' than spend my life in touting." " You are a fool, Emma. You can't throw out a distinct line for yourself ; you can only imitate my tactics, and so, of course, your plans being second-hand, fail." " It is not my fault that I am like you in character. I would be different if I could. I am sure I don't admire you, Sophy." " Thanks, many, for the compliment.

You are unlike me in two things : you have a much worse temper and no invention. Mine is a marked cha racter, yours is not. Try on some new pattern." " Then I'll read spirit-books, and be senti mental." " Bravo ! Then you'll create a diversion, and come to profit. Julia and I talk plain. You had better set up a lisp." " Come, then, and I'll practith. Will you have the kindneth to begin the game." Sophy cheered her, and Emma soon became familiar with her new form of speech.

Chapter II

A CLOUDED LIFE. Heaven is rain-clouded ; Earth is a fog. In wet forests shrouded Lieth a log : So lieth weary My soul within, My brain so dreary, So dreary, so weary, With thinking and sin. Within and Without.— George Macdonald. The rector of Irskill returned towards his own parish, his countenance full of satisfaction and expressive of eager and partially gratified curiosity. It still wanted an hour and a half to his dinner-time, so he determined to look in upon Lady Mary Morton, and entertain himself by a further investigation of her affairs. Notwith standing the heat of the weather, the drawingroom at Fairlawn was carefully closed, and not a breath of air admitted. Lady Mary reclined in an easy chair, some wool-work lay beside her, but she seemed too inert to hold anything but a bottle of eau-de-Cologne.

She was a handsome woman, or, rather, there was latent beauty in her face and figure ; but, at the present moment, nothing in her appearance called forth admiration, and if any who met Lady Mary on the rare occasions when she entered into society had become interested enough to think of her at all afterwards, their speculations would have turned rather to what she might have been, than to what she really was. A young lady was seated on the other side of the room, busied in setting to rights some bungled knitting. She rose on Dr. Van settle's entrance, but did not advance towards him, and when he bustled across to say, in a patronizing tone, as he took her hand, " I hope you don't find the hot weather too much for you, Miss Wallstein ? " she merely raised her eyes while replying, " Thank you, I do not," and then busied herself in her task again.

NOEL ; OR, IT WAS TO BE. The rector placed himself near Lady Mary, and entered on ingratiating preliminaries, before pro ducing his new gossip, or prosecuting his desired investigation. " Your ladyship seems very languid ! " he ex claimed, sympathetically. She looked gratified. " I feel as if I had no life in me, Dr. Vansettle. I can hardly walk across the room. It is an amazement to me how other people can move so rapidly and easily. Miss Wallstein's rude health is quite oppressive to me." The doctor glanced at the lady in question ; she did not look up, or betray by the slightest move ment, or by any accession of colour, that the remark had reached her. Certainly, no term could have been selected less suitable to her than " rude," for every act of her life, the smallest and least noticeable, was replete with consideration.

Now, as she bends over that most troublesome of tasks — the gathering up of dropped stitches in fine knitting — she has not at all the aspect of being bored. Her dress is of simple material — white muslin, thickly beset with a tiny mauve figure ; it could only have cost a few shillings, and the crisp, fresh-looking ribbon confining it at the throat and waist had not materially increased the expense ; but all looked so faultlessly clean and bright, the abundant drapery falling in such easy folds, and so setting off the well-developed yet graceful figure, that even Dr. Vansettle's gaze rested on her with pleasure. Little as her appearance indicated that she was bored, still less was there aught of the martyr in her expression. When she lifted those large dark eyes, they told you that she had suffered — nay, more — that she was marked by suffering, and still under its discipline ; but her countenance was full of patience — that acquiescence in God's will which so effectually bends the submitted mind, that small worries are henceforth powerless to annoy.

Her features were beautiful in form ; the straight delicate nose, the curved lips, and the pencilled eyebrows had undeniable claims to admiration ; but, lovely as her face was in its settled repose, it was actually glorified by a smile. It was not vol. \. _, only the charm of the lips, nor of the beautiful teeth, which their parting revealed, but it was every feature that glowed in that rare smile. The eyes seemed then to overflow with womanly tenderness. Hers was pre-eminently a smile of love. Dr. Vansettle was not conscious of such re flections as these on his attention being called to Miss Wallstein's " rude health ; " but he did reflect, notwithstanding, and his thoughts might be thus rendered. " What a pity she is penniless. Lady Mary is too poor and too selfish to give her a high salary, or she might save ; and when a hundred or two should be gathered, I should not so much mind doing a disinterested thing, and marrying her.

She is a charming little thing, or would be if she had money. But there is a queer pride about her, which I can't make out." These inner thoughts were no hindrance to tho conversation, only they made the rector somewhat absent ; and in his absence he suggested an open window as a relief to the lassitude of her ladyship. " An open window ! Oh, doctor, you quite forget my dreadful tendency to bronchitis ; and just now especially I feel I am in great danger, for I hear diphtheria has appeared at Irskill ! Miss Wallstein gave me quite a shock a while ago, by proposing a far less risk, that of going into a room with an east aspect, instead of this, where the sun is upon the windows. She meant it well ; but young people are so overpoweringly healthy and inexperienced ! " The doctor fidgeted. " You are rendered so super-sensitive by having lived in a hot climate," he said, with desperate daring.

It was only a guess, but he saw at once that the arrow had gone home. Lady Mary started straight up, her eyes flashed, the colour rose to her face ; but in a few moments she sank back again, closed her eyes, and exclaimed languidly, " No, you are quite mistaken, my throat weakness arises from relaxation. Miss Wallstein, please to ring for a glass of water." The girl glided to the bell ; but as she laid her small hand upon it, Lady Mary stopped her. " No. •2—2 no, you are too sudden in your movements. I can do without it. Go and fetch those books I have got for parish lending, I want to show the rector my free library." Miss Wallstein obeyed ; the rector cared nothing about the parish, and dreaded Lady Mary on that head ; so he at once played his trump card. " I have been calling to-day on our new neighbours, Mrs. Hammerlye and her daughters."

"Indeed! And what are they like? Ham merlye is a name I have never before heard." "Nor I. But I think they will be an acquisition. The old woman is wide-awake, and on the alert for the main chance. Miss Hammerlye is a showy girl, and has plenty in her, but she has a temper. No. 2 is clever, sarcastic, high-tempered, and a caricaturist ; No. 3 is meek and mild, and sings like a seraph: I bet on her as the first bride. I see there is a dead set intended on Elliott's Cray, and I shall recommend our friend Noel to sur render at discretion, for mother Hammerlye is not a woman to be outwitted." He uttered the latter part of this opinion in a louder tone, for Miss Wallstein had entered with the books, and there was matter evidently intended to move her. But Joanna Wallstein's calm eyes met his unflinchingly, and her pale cheek gave as little indication of awakened jealousy as of rude health.

They continued to discuss the Hammerlyes for some time, and Lady Mary questioned eagerly about their appearance. The rector could not decide whether they were light or dark, but they were fine girls, and not shy, and the mother in "capital repair." " A widow, I suppose ? " said Lady Mary. " Why, yes, I suppose so. She does not wear a widow's cap ; but one naturally supposes that a married lady, living alone, is a widow." Lady Mary flinched, and returned to the sub ject of the parish library. The rector could not escape ; and declared he thought the less the poor read, the better for their employers, as it only made them discontented. Lady Mary got excited beyond endurance ; she forgot her languor, threw off her shawl, sat quite erect, and her real beauty and power shone forth. Dr. Vansettle had the worst of the argument ; and when he did succeed in effecting a retreat, it was with lowered colours.

" What a grand woman she is when fairly roused," he soliloquized, as he passed through the garden. " If she had a household of servants and unruly children to manage, she would be quite well directly, and beautiful too. I would give a dozen of my oldest port to know if her husband is living or not, and why she is not with him." The old man jolted on towards home, only turn ing in to the public-house for ten minutes, and coming out with heightened colour, and his hand on the shoulder of mine host. Those calls, en passant, were too frequent to be prudent, con sidering the rector's rotundity of figure. He, however, thought it most unnecessary to allude to such a visit on returning home, so called to his strong-minded, hard-featured housekeeper, " Martha, bring me my dinner quickly, for I have been on my legs all day, and I'm like to die of thirst."

" The dinner has been ready this half-hour," bawled Martha, in reply. " So don't go drinking spirit before it comes. It '11 be the death of you, see if it isn't ! " Was she not a shocking rude servant? My readers will be sure never to keep such a one in their house for a single day !

Chapter III. An Adventure

Thc knight, approaching nigh, of him inquired Tidings of warre, and of adventures new ; But warres, nor new adventures, none he heard. Spenser's Faery Queen " Hold back," exclaimed the elder of two men,. who were walking together along a park path, and were about to pass through a wicket-gate out into the high road ; and, suiting the action to the deed, he drew his friend under the shelter of the park paling, while the rubicund rector of Irskill passed by on his return to his home. " Safe out of that danger ! " ejaculated the younger man, with a low laugh, as he watched the doctor take the turn towards the village. " Your instinct of self-preservation is very strong, Jans ; in a former state you must have been a terrier dog, and Vansettle a rat; your newly acquired gift of reason alone withholds you from hunting and worrying him !

" " The man is repulsive to me ; it is only his sly curiosity which distinguishes him from a mere animal. It is penance enough to have to hear his pompous sermons on a Sunday, no word of which he cares to understand himself, though their turn comes round so frequently, that I am beginning to know his stock, few years as I have been afflicted by his ministry. There can be no need to meet him on week days also ! " " You philosophers imbibe strong prejudices, and I shall not be surprised if you take to a tub at last. However, I trust that time is far distant, for my tub would be dismal without your snarling. But what have we here ? A horse without a rider ! " Noel Elliott glanced behind him, and seeing some labourers returning from their work, he called to them to catch the horse that was tearing madly towards them.

He and his friend pressed on, hoping to gain traces of the missing rider ; they had not far to seek. Lying upon the ground, insensible, if not actually killed, was a tall man ; there was a deep gash across the forehead, but, notwithstanding that, they could see the colourless face was very handsome. He had fallen within a hundred feet of the park gates, so it took but a few minutes to get aid, and the injured man was laid gently on a gate, and carried to Elliott's Cray, while a servant hastened to the village to secure the assistance of the surgeon of the district. The doctor soon appeared, dressed the wound, assured Mr. Elliott that there were no other external injuries, and prescribed absolute quiet. No one was to speak to the invalid, or encourage him to speak, should his power to do so return.

Leaving the old housekeeper in charge, Noel Elliott and his friend Jans proceeded to discuss their dinner. " Please, sir," said the butler, " would it not be well to send to Overstone, to say as how a military gentleman has met with a accident, and is housed with us? He must be the new capting there, for he has a great moustache, and looks quite a grand gentleman." " For goodness sake, Duffield, don't presume that every man with a moustache is a soldier or a gentleman. Every conceited prig mounts one now-a-days, and I measure a man's brains in inverse proportion to the hair on his face." " So far you have some reason on your side, O Socrates. But I can entertain no doubt that the poor fellow is an officer, his dress proves that. We can consider after dinner whether or no it is advisable to send to Overstone to-night ; all is done for him that can be, and we might as well wait for a new day before drawing down upon ourselves a herd of locusts in the shape of the newly arrived detachment now in barracks in the self-sufficient little town.

That morning the officers constituting the mess at Overstone had discussed plans for killing their time after the papers had afforded their share of amusement. The officer in temporary command was a Major Manyacre, but he was known to have applied for foreign service, and was seeking no introductions at Overstone. He was a noble looking man, with a sadness in his tone too often turning to bitterness; he was respected by his subordinates, though seldom forming any intimacy with them. Captain Welsh was next in command, then Lieutenant Dalzell, Lieutenant Byrne, and Ensign Penrose. We shall see more of Dalzell than of the other officers, so the reader may care to have him more fully described. Henry Dalzell was now only son and heir to Sir Ronald Dalzell of Braidside, Aberdeenshire. It was a fine estate, but so mortgaged by the pre sent owner, that little more than the title would be handed down to the lieutenant.

Shabby as he considered the allowance now made him by his father, he could little guess how difficult it was for the baronet to spare even so much. Henry was Sir Ronald's fourth son, and he had been educated for diplomacy, not for the army. But the elder brothers, inheriting their mother's consumptive diathesis, died in childhood or early youth. His was a stronger constitution ; mentally and phy sically he was a thorough Dalzell, and it remained to him to hand down the baronetcy to posterity, and, as an equally high duty, to add by a monied marriage to the estates which, by his father's self indulgence, had been so lamentably encroached upon. Henry Dalzell was what even men call handsome. He had a showy figure and polished bearing, good complexion, and lustrous eyes. And if the men could admit his claim to admiration, what meed of praise might not the ladies be expected to accord him !