Seventeen to Twenty-one; or, Aunt Vonica ... With original illustrations

Front matter

Jfc .wi SEVENTEEN TO TWENTY-ONE PRINTED BY BMLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. EDINBURGH AND LONDON Front. " Adam, is she dead?" — p. SEVENTEEN TO TWENTY-ONE OR AUNT VONICA. M. M. BELL,, Jj^ AUTHOR OF " SEVEN TO SEVENTEEN," " DEEDS NOT WORDS," ETC. " She hath done what she could." OTttJ ©ttfltnal Illustrations. LONDON: FREDERICK WARNE AND CO. BEDFORD STREET, STRAND. NEW YORK: SCRIBNER, WF.LFORD, & ARMSTRONG CONTENTS. VAGE Chapter I. Retrospective ........ i Chapter II. Go at Once ........ 20 Chapter III. Old Friends and New 32 Chapter IV. The Lost Gordons ....... 43 Chapter V. Woodend Revisited ....... 59 Chapter VI. Eastmouth Churchyard ...... 72 Chapter VII. Misfortunes never come Single . . . . , 81 Chapter VIII. The Palace 071 Wheels 92 Chapter IX. The Lawyers Office ....... VI CONTENTS. PAGB Chapter X. A Relapse 115 Chapter XI.

The Goodnatured Guard . . ; . . . 127 Chapter XII. The Man in the Frieze Coat 142 Chapter XIII. The Night Journey . . . . . . . 156 Chapter XIV. The Mains of Damye . . . . . . 166 Chapter XV. Peggy Moir 181 Chapter XVI. Preparations . . . . . . . . 198 Chapter XVII. Home-coming . . . . . . . . 221 Chapter XVIII. The Lumber Room . . . . , . , 2zz Chapter XIX. The Registered Letter . . . . . . 2,, Chapter XX. Neui Friends . . . . . . , . 2 - . Chapter XXI. Alice's Bower ........ 264 Chapter XXII. Birthday Guests 2y CONTENTS. VII PAGE Chapter XXIII. More Surprises 303 Chapter XXIV. Difficulties to be Solved . . . . , . 324 Chapter XXV. Settling Down . . 339 Chapter XXVI. The Buried Lintel 356 Chapter XXVII. Bruce's Trouble . 373 Chapter XXVIII. Odds and Ends . 392 Chapter XXIX. Alick Petrie 408 Chapter XXX. Grissel Jamfray . . . . . . . 421 Chapter XXXI. New Lights 435 Chapter XXXII. Tlie Phœnix

Chapter I. Retrospective

' We wandered to the pine forest That skirts the ocean's foam : The lightest wind was in its nest, The tempest in its home, The whispering waves were half asleep, The clouds were gone to play, And on the bosom of the deep The smiles of Heaven lay.' UCH a picture as these lines of Shelley pourtray was the landlocked bay of Eastmouth one lovely evening in May 186 — . The pungent fragrance of the pine-trees filled the air, the sea glittered in the sunshine, which made pools of light in its glassy mirror ; all was soft, soothing, and dreamlike, and even the spire of the old church on the other side of the bay, 'pointing its finger up to heaven,' enhanced the tranquillity of the scene. In short, it was one of those sweet evenings which seem as A if their influence must tell on the most troubled of human souls, when even the mourner's heart must sink into a pleas ing melancholy.

But in the pretty bow-window of Beach Villa, Veronica Gordon sat writing, totally regardless of the exquisite scene before her. At last her busy pen was still, and she gathered together the sheets of her foreign letter, but paused a moment before she placed them in the envelope. 'Have I done wisely?' she murmured half aloud. 'God help me if I have not. And yet it seems to be my duty for his — for his sake;' and she leaned her bowed head on her hands, and one or two tears fell from her eyes and dropped upon the letter. ' This must not be,' she said, hastily wiping them away ; ' if I give in I shall break down altogether, and shall not send the letter, though it ought to go. I know, I feel, it ought. But oh, it is a sore wrench ! ' As she said the last word she hurriedly folded the sheets one within the other, and thrust them into the cover, as if she distrusted her power of sending them should she delay an instant longer; then addressing the letter ' To the Lady Anna Bruce, care of H.B.M. Consul, Rio Janeiro,' she rose, walked to the window, and looked out.

She was a tall, handsome girl of twenty, with good features, dark grey eyes, and masses of rich chestnut hair gathered in thick coils round her shapely head. But the great charm of her face was its expression, the depth of her eyes, the look of intellect in her broad white forehead, and, above all the great sweetness of her mouth. Even now, when the slight compression of her lips showed that she had gone through a severe ordeal, the mouth retained its sweetness, although the other features betrayed the struggle she had gone throucrh. RETROSPECTIVE. 3 What that struggle was, may be imagined when I say that the letter was one in which she gave up her engagement to a man she dearly loved. And this from no fault on either side, but simply because circumstances seemed to point it out as a duty.

It was, as I have said, addressed to her dearly-loved friend, Lady Anna Bruce, the mother of her betrothed, who had accompanied 'Ned' to Rio soon after he had pledged his troth to Veronica. Both were looking forward to the happy day when they should meet again to part no more on earth j but a change had passed over Veronica's life during the last few months, and she had at last taught herself to believe that to main tain her engagement was now no longer possible. When she promised her brother Louis's wife on her death bed that she would not forsake that broken-hearted brother or his children until the eldest girl could fill her mother's place to them all, Veronica little foresaw the responsibili ties which she incurred. She knew they were grave, but at nineteen a girl does not realise all that such a promise may imply.

It is true that in a twelvemonth or so Edward Bruce might return to claim the immediate fulfilment of their engagement. But a year was a long time to look forward to, and it never occurred to her that her promise to her dying sister-in-law would prove incompatible with that she had made to Ned. It had always been understood that the young couple were to live with General Gordon at his old family-place in Tayshire. They were to inhabit the Maiden Tower, and Louis would settle quite near them, possibly at the ' Mains ' or home farmhouse of Damye, which was close to the Tower, and which the General meant to turn into a comfortable dwelling-place; — thus Veronica would — she fancied— be quite able to superintend both households. Louis, too, had given up the army; for, though stronger than he had been on his return from India, his health had been too much impaired by the terrible experiences which they had gone through in the mutiny, to make him again able for active service.

And he was peculiarly fitted to act as both father and mother to the children. Alice was more staid and capable than girls of fourteen generally are, and as the boys of course would go to school, she would be quite fit to look after Frances and Katherine with a very slight supervision from Veronica herself. Such had been her impression when she gave the promise to Kate, but the experience of the three months that followed Mrs. Gordon's death made her alter her opinion. Brought up as, alas ! too many Indian-born children must be — apart from all family ties, Veronica knew very little of what was required from the head of the complicated establish ment of which she was now the head. She had indeed assisted Mrs. Gordon for the last few months of her life in 'house keeping,' and the servants had yielded so readily to her authority that she never suspected that it was to her sister's deputy and not to herself personally that they gave their obedience.

But when Major Gordon caught cold at his wife's funeral, and lay for weeks between life and death, when the General, bowed down by grief for the loss of his daughter-in law, and by anxiety for the fate of his only surviving son, lost much of the strength he had regained, and the cold winter winds brought back the cruel neuralgic pains in his wounded limbs, Veronica found unexpected responsibilities gather round her, and her heart began to sink. Legg, her father's soldier-servant, was in constant attendance on Major Gordon, RETROSPECTIVE. 5 so that his duties had to be supplied from other sources, a necessity which, in her inexperience, she had neither fore seen nor provided for, so that the domestic machine insen sibly got out of gear. But this was only the beginning of troubles. Major Gordon was in such imminent danger, that his two boys had to be recalled from school; and being at the age when boy nature requires a certain amount of noise and activity, their presence introduced a new element of anxiety into the household.

The servants complained that it was impossible for them to do their own work when called upon for other services, and the poor young housekeeper began to find that it was a very different matter to manage a well-ordered establishment under the superintendence of an accomplished housewife, and to guide its affairs unassisted in such a crisis as the present. And with this consciousness upon her she made a very fatal mistake ; for she allowed the reins of government to slip from her own fingers into others far less capable. It was the worst crisis of her brother's illness. She had been up for several nights watching by his pillow, almost expecting that each breath he drew might be the last, and exhausted by fatigue, she had flung herself on the couch in the drawing-room while the doctor was with her brother, and had closed her eyes, aching and weary from too long wakefulness, when Baker, Mrs. Louis Gordon's maid, came into the room. ' Oh, Miss Gordon,' she said kindly, ' I am so glad to see you lying down.

You need rest, my dear.' Baker had known Veronica for years, and had a very great admiration and love for her. 'Thanks, Baker; I am tired, but too anxious almost to feel that I am so. 'How are the children getting on ? I have not seen them to-day.' ' Pretty well, miss, but ' And Baker, unable to resist the temptation, launched forth into sundry complaints of the carelessness of the nurses, the inattention of the house maid, the grumblings of the cook, and the iniquities of Legg. ' Oh, Baker,' Veronica said, ' I am too miserable to think of these things. Louis is so very ill, and my father — my poor father — it breaks my heart to see him so utterly hope less. He loved Kate very dearly, and he feels — as we all feel — that now she is gone her husband's life is doubly valuable to the poor children.' ' Yes, Miss Gordon,' Baker answered, with tears in her eyes; 'but somebody must look after things, or they will all go to rack and ruin ; indeed they will, miss.' 'What can / do, Baker — my father will not let me out of his sight unless I am with Louis.

I must let all take its chance. The servants are attached to us. Surely they will be more careful than usual just now.' Baker shook her head. ' I wish it were so, miss ; but it is not. They have been accustomed to take their orders from Mrs. Gordon, and expect to be looked after, miss.' ' Could not you look after them, Baker,' Veronica said, with despairing rashness, for she heard the tap of her father's stick in the passage leading from her brother's room, and knew that the doctor was taking his leave, and that she must see him before he went. ' Well, miss, if you give me authority I will,' said Baker with a self-sacrificing air. ' Thank you — thank you ; I am so grateful to you,' Veronica RETROSPECTIVE. 7 said, and rushed out of the room just in time to receive the doctor's final directions.

Had she been a little older or more experienced she would not have acted so rashly, for servants are, as a rule, infinitely jealous of having one of themselves put in authority over them ; and poor Baker, though a good creature in the main, was alike narrow in her views and prejudiced in her opinions ; for, having lived for years as the ' own maid ' of Mrs. Gordon's mother, an invalid old lady accustomed to have everything in the most exact order and routine, she had neither the tact nor the knowledge how to adapt herself or others to the very different regime at Beach House. Veronica, however, was too ignorant of the ways of the world, and too miserable about her brother and father, to take this into account, so she quite unconsciously inaugurated a state of things which rendered the confusion down-stairs worse con founded, and by no means relieved herself from resposibnility.

She was constantly appealed to to strengthen the feeble hands of her lieutenant, and soon found that instead of having made the management easier than before, it had become more difficult. A single incident will suffice to show the incapacity of poor Baker. They had been speaking of the children, and, as usual, the nurses came in for disapproval; but at last Baker, after rubbing her hands softly together, said, ' I am sure I love them all, the pretty dears ; but I have been thinking, miss, would it not be well that Master Robert and Master Bruce should go back to school ? Master Robert is an uncommon good boy, I must say, but Master Bruce is masterful, Miss Gordon; he really is.' Veronica stopped her with tears in her eyes. ' It cannot be, Baker. I could not send them so far from their father just now.

Who knows how long ' and she fairly broke down and sobbed aloud. ' Don't say another word, dear Miss Gordon,' Baker eagerly interrupted. ' I'll do my best to put things straight and to keep them so.' And she did do her best, poor woman ; only, unfortunately, that best was extremely injudicious considering the peculiar elements with which she had to deal. First came Legg, General Gordon's soldier-servant, a clever, active fellow who had shared all the perils of the Mutiny with his master and Mrs. Louis Gordon, the latter of whom he had actually worshipped. He called her a ' hero-woman,' and to her orders he had always given implicit obedience, although he would bow to no other woman's rule. He was almost sub missive to Veronica, because she had been for many months the ' aide-de-camp,' as he said, of Mrs. Gordon, but even to her he was by no means deferential.

Thus, when Baker presumed to give him orders he simply laughed in her face and doggedly refused to obey; and as to the rules she laid down for the better government of the servants' hall, he went out of his way to set them at defiance. ' What ! did she expect him to be tied down by her laws and commands ? Not if he knew it ! ' And, alas ! he was so capable and experienced a nurse, that Baker knew as well as he did that for the pre sent his services in the sick-room were indispensable. It was the same with the rest of the household. All claimed immunity from common rules in consequence of the disorganised state of the family ; so that very soon after her installation, the new housekeeper found it necessary to place her resignation in Veronica's hands. 'I could get on well enough, Miss Gordon,' she said RETROSPECTIVE. 9 piteously, ' if it were not for Legg.

He is at the bottom of everything ; he is really, miss. He will smoke in the kitchen, and he will have unlimited beer, and he wont' ' Yes, Baker ; yes,' Veronica said wearily, pushing back the hair from her hot forehead. ' I know you have much to complain of. But he was up all night with my poor brother, and we must not be too hard on him.' ' Perhaps not, miss. Still when he openly defies me before the other servants, I ought not to submit, ought I, miss ? ' ' I suppose I must speak to him myself,' Veronica said re luctantly. ' But, Baker, you really must try to make allowances for him.' ' Indeed, I do, miss ; but '• At this moment Legg entered the room with a message from the General to Miss Gordon, and Veronica, signing to Baker to leave them, nerved herself to speak to Legg. He listened civilly enough, and even promised to be care ful; but intimated his opinion that when a man was worn out by many sleepless nights, it was just a trifle hard on him not to get leave to have a quiet pipe to refresh him.

Veronica confessed that a pipe was an allowable indulgence when not smoked in the kitchen or servants' hall, but Legg hinted that nowhere else could he hear the Major's bell. Veronica had no answer to give to so plausible an excuse; so she only said, ' Well, Legg, don't make your pipe more disagreeable to others than you can help;' and Legg, quite conscious that he had won the victory, answered, 'I won't, miss,' and with a military salute passed on. But when it was settled that Baker was to go, Legg's arrogance and 'independence' became more and more pro minent. On one occasion he forgot himself so far as to be insolently insubordinate to Veronica herself. He never, however, ventured to do so a second time, for there was an innate dignity in the girl that, when she chose to exert it, quelled even Legg ; and the gleam of her eye and the tone of her voice as she said, very quietly, 'Legg, you forget yourself,' brought him at once to respect and submission.

These were trifles in themselves, but the repetition of trifling annoyances comes in the end to be worse than things of real importance, and day by day it became more strongly impressed upon Veronica that she was but ill-fitted for the duties that had come upon her so suddenly. And if so, how could she presume to add to them the still more onerous ones of a wife ? When first this thought crossed her brain, she shrunk from it with terror, and tried to persuade herself that it was only during the present crisis that she could be called upon to undertake so much. When Louis got well — and the doctors seemed at last to believe that he was in the way of recovery — everything would go right. She would not, could not believe that it would be necessary for her to think of giving up her engagement to Ned, nay, nor even to delay her marriage to him.

But with Louis's convalescence came a fresh trial, and one in a shape she had never thought possible. Her father, the most genial and unselfish man who ever lived, whose temper, fiery as it was by nature, had hitherto been so perfectly under control as to be remarkable only for its sweetness, began to show signs of restlessness and irritability. He chafed at the constant presence of the children, he spoke sharply to the ser vants, and once or twice to Veronica herself; but it was not till he blamed Louis for giving way unnecessarily to weakness, that she felt the full misery ofthe change in him. So long as Louis was in actual danger, nothing could exceed RETROSPECTIVE. 11 his father's tender care of him ; no woman could have been more gentle in his ministrations, or more ready to comply with his sick fancies.

But when he was pronounced convalescent, a strange reaction took place, General Gordon's sanguine temperament expected a rapid return of health and strength ; and when day after day passed with no perceptible improve ment in either, he was bitterly disappointed. Veronica had lived too little among men, to know that with even the best of them anxiety often shows itself under the guise of irritability. She was, therefore, deeply wounded when her father, in answer to some remark she made upon her brother's condition, said quickly — ' Why does not the boy exert himself more? If he goes on as he is doing now, he will die from sheer want of energy.' Veronica looked at him in blank amazement. ' Papa, I don't think you know how weak he really is. I doubt whether exertion is possible for him ' ' Nonsense ! ' ' And,' she continued, ' Dr. Brown said only this morning, that we must save him from all that was possible, for the slightest over exertion might bring on a relapse, and that ' •she paused.

The General frowned till his eyebrows met. ' Nonsense, Ver! don't believe that old twaddler; a man must exert himself or he will succumb at once. Why ! do you suppose I should be here now had I given in when lying faint and wounded at Kajeepara? Do you think if I had, I should ever have reached England again ? No, no ; it is a man's own spirit that keeps him alive, not doctors and coddling.' ' He is to be carried down to the drawing-room to-day if we can manage it without fatiguing him,' was the gentle answer. 'Ah! that's good. We'll manage it, we'll manage it, Legg and I,' said the old man eagerly, and the tears that sprung to his blue eyes showed how soft his heart was even under the semblance of harshness. ' Send Legg to me at once, dear. Our experience will be of use here, Ver. When one has had to move men wounded to death from the battle-field, surely we can turn our experience to account in so simple a matter as this.' And in a few moments the two old soldiers had taken counsel together, and Major Gordon's first move down-stairs was accomplished without difficulty.

The success of this attempt suggested to General Gordon, who had a great mechanical turn, the manufacture of an invalid portable chair, in which his son could be carried down to the beach. Already the mid-day sun made it a tempting resort, and there was one sheltered nook not fifty yards from the Beach House garden, where Dr. Brown said it would be safe for his patient to spend an hour or so in the warmest part of the day. So the next week was devoted to the making of a little palanquin, and the General's interest in his labour of love was intensified when he discovered that his grandson Robert, as yet scarcely thirteen, entered into his scheme with such a ready perception of what was wanted, and so much practical knowledge, that the old man was fairly taken by surprise. ' Robert, my fine fellow,' he said, patting his head fondly, ' we must make you an engineer.' ' Yes, grandpapa.

I am to be apprenticed to Ned Bruce as soon as I am old enough. We settled that years ago when we were all at Overton together.' General Gordon made an involuntary grimace. 'You did, you young monkey? But that won't do. No RETROSPECTIVE. 13 civil engineering for me. We must send you to Woolwich. You'll make your fortune in India, my boy.' Robert looked up doubtfully, but he was a canny Scot, young as he was, and answered — " We'll see when the time comes, grandpapa.' At which cautious reply the General laughed and pinched the boy's ear. The subject dropped there ; but already a bond had been formed between the old man and the young child, to which in after years Robert looked back with pride and gratification. The palanquin his father and son had contrived for Major Gordon was soon put to use, and the invalid enjoyed the sweet, fresh, mild air intensely, as reclining at ease on the comfortable cushions, he was carried each afternoon to the edge of the bay, and could look across the narrow inlet that separated it from the God's Acre, where the love of his life lay in her peaceful rest.

But even yet his advances to conval escence were pitiably slow, and as no further outlet for General Gordon's restless impatience could be found, he began to fret at the monotony of his life at Eastmouth, and to resent with unaccustomed jealousy Veronica's almost complete absorption in Louis. ' Child,' he said at last, ' this must not go on much longer. I cannot stand it. We must go off to Tayshire. I have written to M'Vicar to try to come to terms with that fellow Beckford, and to offer anything in reason to let us have possession of Damye without delay. ' Have you, papa ? ' Veronica answered in a startled voice. 'You do not mean to go north before summer?' 'Why not, Ver? This is April— I don't see why we should not go to Tayshire next month.' ' Louis ! — the children ! ' she gasped. TWENTY- ONE. 14 ' Pshaw ! ' he said, turning away with an impatient gesture.

But Veronica saw his eyes were full of tears, and she added gently — ' I do not think, dear, that even you ought to risk going north so early in the year.' ' Nonsense, child, it would do me all the good in the world, and you too ! Would put some colour into those pale cheeks, and some spirit into those languid steps of yours.' ' Ah, papa, it is not of myself I am thinking,' she began. ' I know that, darling, you do not often think of yourself,' he said fondly, ' and I believe if I were to do the right thing, I should leave you here with Louis and go alone to Damye, but,' with a tender softening of his voice, ' I feel myself an old man now, Ver, and Kate and you have so accustomed me to a woman's gentle tendance that I feel as if I could no longer do without it. Well, well ! I must wait a little longer, but not very long, my child — not very long, for I have a presenti ment that my time on earth is limited, and I would fain establish my darling in the home of her forefathers before I go hence, and am no more seen.' ' Oh, papa, do not speak in that tone.

It goes to my very heart, and I thought you were so much stronger of late.' ' Ay, so I am, my child ! Still, I often feel as if it were but a flash in the pan, the last blaze up of a fire that will soon be extinguished. But don't look so sad, my dear lassie. I'll live as long as I can for your sake, and I just wish Louis had as much desire to live as I have. If he had, he would get better all the sooner. What he wants is some stimulus to exertion. He needs rousing, poor fellow,' and with these words General Gordon left the room. All this time a sense of her own insufficiency to fulfil her RE TR OSPE CTIVE. 15 complicated duties had been growing upon Veronica. Each day some new incident arose which sent the conviction more home to her heart, and with it came back the idea, at first so hastily thrust from her, that if it were so it would be madness indeed to undertake others in addition to those already beyond her powers.

But the last straw to make her burden greater than she could bear was her father's ever-increasing irritability. All else she fancied she could have struggled with, and per haps in time have overcome, but this was beyond her. She could not impose upon Ned the peculiar hardship of daily intercourse with one who had no longer control over his temper, nor could she bear the thought — even were Ned willing to run such a risk — that her husband should have to make allowances for her father — the father she so idolised ! No, no ; it were better to part entirely. During many a sleepless night she considered the question in all its bearings; she weighed one against the other, her promise to Ned, her filial duty, and that she had undertaken at Kate's request, and found that nothing could alter her sense of the wrong she should do her betrothed, were she to permit him to enter on his married life weighted by such family cares.

She remembered that on one occasion, when discussing together a somewhat similar but less complicated case, Ned had said decidedly, that no man was entitled to marry a whole family unless he were a millionaire. Now Ned was by no means a millionaire. He was only beginning an arduous profession, yet if he married her, he must marry her whole family, and in so doing lose every hope of the peaceful domestic life which is so necessary to recruit the energies of a hard working professional man. But why go through all the details of that struggle between love and duty ? No one suspected what was going on in her secret soul. Her lonely childhood had taught her to 'pon der things in her heart and be still ; ' but night after night, in the solitude and darkness of her own chamber, she wrestled with her trouble and prayed for strength to fulfil the sacrifice she meditated.