Lady Maud

Front matter

A Digby's Popular Novel Series Crown 8vo, handsome cloth, price 2s 6d each. THE MYSTERY OF CLEMENT Dunraven. By Jean Middlemass. Author of 'A Girl in a Thousand,' etc. {Second Edition) A HIDDEN CHAIN. By Dora Russell. Author of 'The Other Bond,' 'Footprints in the Snow,' etc. {Second Edition) DR JANET OF HARLEY STREET. By Dr Arabella Kenealy. Author of ' Molly and her Man-o'-War,' etc. {Sixth Edition with Portrait.) THE JOLLY ROGER. By HumeNisbet. Author of ' Her Loving Slave,' ' Bail Up,' etc. With Illustrations by the Author. {Fifth Edition) t *„ Other Works in same Series in due course. DIGBY, LODfG & CO., London BY BEATRIX BRANDON LONDON DIGBY, LONG & CO., PUBLISHERS 18 Bouverie Street, Fleet Street E.C. CONTENTS CHAP. pAGE I. HOME, SWEET HOME, 7 II. MISS tomlinson's CRYSANTHEMUMS, . . 15 III.

AT THE RECTORY, 23 IV. SOCIAL DUTIES, 32 V. A DREAM, 40 VI. LADY MAUD THINKS SHE HAS CAUGHT THE SHADOW, ...... 47 VII. A SUNDAY AT BRAMSLY, . . " . 57 VIII. LADY MAUD IMITATES THE CHAMELEON, . 65 IX. STARTLING NEWS, 74 X. POOR SIR JOHN, . . . . ., 83 XI. A COMPACT, 88 XII. LADY MAUD GETS THE BETTER OP BRAMSLY, 94 XIII. HOW LADY SOMERS HAD THE HONOUR OF CHOOSING THE CURATE, . . . IOI XIV. BRAMSLY IN COMMOTION, . . . 107 XV. LADY MAUD AND THE REV. S. JACKSON ARE MOST USEFUL TO EACH OTHER, . . 115 XVI. BRAMSLY IN PENITENTIAL RETIREMENT, . 1 23 XVII. JUSTIN AND JUSTINE IN SAFE HARBOUR, . 130 XVIII. LADY MAUD AND DOCTOR MORGAN SEE THEIR WAY AT LAST, I36 XIX. THE GOAL, 144 XX. CONCLUSION, . . . . . . LADY MAU D

Chapter I Home, Sweet Home

! Lady Maud Whyte was sitting before her looking glass in a state of great agitation. Her maid Justine, a smart soubrette, imported from the Continent, was making vain attempts to dress her mistress's hair. ' Dear me ! what can be the matter with milady, this morning ? ' said Justine to herself. ' What has put her out ? Funny creatures these grand ladies ! I am sure that letter she put in her pocket con tained some unpleasant news ? There she is moving again ! It's enough to try the temper of a saint ! and goodness knows, I am not a saint. I shall never dress her, if she goes on in this fashion . . . and there is the bell. 0 dear ! dear ! . . .' Yes, it was the bell, the bell which rang every morning at nine, for prayers. ' Justine ! Justine ! ' cried her ladyship, ' what a dawdle you are !

Don't you hear the bell, or are you deaf ? ' ' I beg your pardon, milady, I am not deaf, I hear it too, plainly enough.' ' I wish you would make haste then. I am not nearly ready, and you know how dreadfully punctual Sir John is. It's too bad of you ! ' 'I am very sorry, milady, but it's not my fault.' ' Be quiet, and be as quick as you can.' 'If your ladyship would only remain still a second.' ' A second ! Do you intend keeping me here for the rest of the day ? ' ' No, milady, only a few minutes without moving, that's all.' But her ladyship was not in a humour to sit still, and Justine began to despair. The bell rang for the second time, and Lady Maud had the mortification of sending Justine down, with an apology for not appearing herself. When she entered the dining-room, half-an-hour later, she found her lord and master comfortably eating a hearty breakfast.

Instead of scolding her, as she expected he would do, he murmured something unintelligible, unfolded the Times, and took no further notice of her. Home ! sweet Home ! Oh ! they were a happy pair ! Such a disparity HOME, SWEET HOME 9 in years between them, and such a difference in their tastes and feelings ! Sir John followed his own pleasures without reference to his wife, who would willingly have done likewise ; but never was wife kept so entirely in subjection to her husband ! ' She is my property, my most beautiful piece of furniture,' said Sir John with all the cynical assurance of a selfish despot. He cared less for her than for his horses, and he took a real pleasure in tyrannising over her. Like all vulgar natures, he delighted in playing the master. His servants feared and hated him ; his neighbours flattered and detested him ; his wife dreaded and despised him ; and all secretly wished him more harm than good.

Lady Maud poured herself out a cup of tea, took a letter out of her pocket, read it, and uttered an exclamation of astonishment, nay, almost of horror, which evidently startled Sir John. 'Have I frightened you?' she asked, 'I am sorry . . .' ' Frightened, indeed ! You have disturbed me ! ' ' Oh ! that's a great deal worse, I beg your pardon.' ' But what on earth did you scream for ? What has happened ? ' ' Oh ! nothing at all, nothing that would interest you.' 1 But what is it ? I wish to know.' ' Supposing I don't wish to tell you ? ' 1 How dare you speak so impertinently to me ? Tell me at once why that letter made you yell like a cat ? From whom is it ? ' And the red face, and the quivering voice of Sir John, made Lady Maud hand him the letter without further resistance. 'Woman's scribbling,' he said, scornfully, and without reading the missive, he tossed it across the table and almost flung it at his wife's head. ' I beg your pardon,' he said, ' I did not mean it.' He took up his paper again, and she read the letter for the second time.

A dead silence followed. Suddenly her ladyship folded up the letter rather violently, and in so doing she upset her cup of tea. ' What the deuce are you about ? ' roared Sir John. 'You are the most provoking female on earth, the most clumsy, the most unpunctual ! Missing prayers, upsetting your tea! what next, pray?' ' I am very sorry to have been late this morning ; it won't occur again ; and I am sorry to have been so clumsy. Pray, excuse me. If you knew what Geraldine says in her letter.' ' May she go to Jericho, and you with her ! ' 'How polite you are. If you were not my husband, I — ' ' Well, turn me out of the room ' How stupid you are !' HOME, SWEET HOME 11 ' Stupid ! pray go on, what next ? Five years ago your ladyship did not think so. Oh, no ! we were a rare catch then ! Ha ! ha ! ha ! ' ' Was I stupid five years ago ? ' 'Yes, I think very stupid, exceedingly stupid, devilishly stupid, for I married you ! ' Lady Maud blushed deeply, and said in a trembling voice : 'You forget that I was very young, that I scarcely knew what I was doing, and that my mother — ' ' Your mother !

Lord, bless the worthy creature ! She was not too young, she knew perfectly well what she was doing. Clever woman ! devilishly clever ! She had not her match in arithmetic ! Upon my honour, she knew my fortune to a farthing. She drummed into my ears till I was sick of it. " Sir John, you are worth so much in pounds, shillings, and pence." Ha ! ha ! ha ! If a poor devil of a man wishes to know what he is worth, let him refer to a high born, beggarly, designing dowager who has an only daughter in the market.' ' Sir John, really, it is too bad of you ! How glad I am that my poor mother cannot hear you ; she—' The door opened and the butler announced that his master's horse had come round. Sir John occasionally kept his wife waiting, but never his horse. So he rose quickly, and went off like a shot. ' What an odious man,' said Lady Maud to her self, wiping a tear away, and taking up the papers, she retired to her boudoir.

Comfortably seated in an armchair, before a bright fire, she read first the Times, then the Morning Post, and finally the letter that had provoked the domestic storm, for the third time. Let us read it with her. It ran thus : — ' My Dear Maud — I am writing to say that I am engaged. It is a love match ! Father, mother, brothers, all of them wouldn't hear of it at first. But I was firm as a rock, listening patiently to their clamours, and persisting in my choice. My patience and perseverance have been rewarded. Mother came round first, the others followed of course, and I am the happiest girl in the world. Now guess whom am I going to marry ? Captain Sullivan ? No, Lord Fitz John ? Wrong again — Mr Cole, M.P., certainly not — you give it up then ? Well, my dear, it is wise of you, as you will never guess.

It is Charles Morgan, the milage doctor, as my people call him contemptuously. Blame me, if you like, but for Heaven's sake don't pity me. I am not to be pitied. They tell me I am going down in the world. I don't think so, It is true HOME, SWEET HOME 13 that my fiance* is neither well-born, nor rich ; but he is clever, honest, handsome and charming, and I ask no more. Oh ! I hate the world, its pomps and its vanities. Never shall I be reckoned among the smart girls of the fashion. To be the devoted wife of a hard working, useful good man, that's my ideal ! ' ' What a strange girl, Geraldine is,' said Lady Maud to herself, folding up the letter. ' What a match, and how I pity Sir William ! What eccentric people these Vernons are ! Charles Morgan, the village doctor ! the mother first, the daughter next !

A love-match, indeed ! as if love matches did not mean " misalliance 1 " And yet are not love matches after all the best ? People may blame Geraldine, but who is foolish enough to pity her ? Is it not a thousand times better to marry the village doctor, who is quite a gentleman, than a fat, ugly, greedy, tyrannical, stupid, odious, vulgar baronet ? Oh ! mother, mother, I am afraid Sir John speaks the truth when he says you were clever in arithmetic' Here Lady Maud fell into a deep reverie ; but suddenly she rose as if in a paroxysm of passion. < Oh ! it is of no use. I cannot get over it ! Geraldine, I hate you ! You came between us. What right had you to separate us ? I loved him long before you, although he never knew anything about it. But he would have known about it . . . yes ... in time !

And you have destroyed all my hopes . . . ! Oh ! what a miserable creature I am ! and what a wretched life this is 1 ' And she sobbed bitterly. ' But it's all nonsense. I must not give way to it. It won't do. Scandal is not my line. I must get over this little weakness. I must for the sake of my honour, my name, my position. Lady Beatrix Vernon is an old fool ; her Geraldine a silly goose. A girl related to the highest aris tocracy of the land marrying the village doctor ! It is scandalous ! it really is ! I wonder Sir William gave in; I must talk to him seriously about it. Dear me ! what will the world say ? What will Bramsly say ? I must find out. That will be a charming occupation for the next week or two.' Meanwhile she sat down and wrote the following note : — ' Dearest Geraldine, — Your communication startled me ; but set your mind at rest ; I shall not blame you, nor shall I pity you, although you deserve perhaps to be pitied as much as to be blamed.

I have not had time to think over your engagement. There is much to say in favour of a love-match, and still more against it. But what ever is in store for you, I shall remain your most devoted friend.'

Chapter II Miss

tomlinson's chrysanthemums Three days have passed since Geraldine informed Lady Maud of her engagement to Charles Morgan, the village doctor, and her ladyship does not yet know what the world, or even Bramsly says about it. Poor thing ! it's not her fault. Sir John has been confined to his room with an attack of gout, and Lady Maud has been forced to stay indoors with him, and to play chess all day long. Unlike most women, she was a first-rate chess-player. Oh ! those three days ! they seemed three ages of perfect misery to her ! No pen can describe her feeling of relief, when, at last, on the fourth morning, Sir John told her he was going out hunting. ' Now to work,' said Lady Maud to herself, as soon as she was alone. ' Whom shall I visit first ? That wicked old gossip, Lady Somers, that well informed, but tiresome Mrs Fitz-Patrick, or that silly Mrs Murray ?

No, they are not to be trusted, let them come to me and I shall listen with great pleasure to them ; but, to make le premier pas, no ! not I ! Well, shall I call at the Rectory ? It would be an excellent idea, if we were better friends, or, if I had some reason to allege, some business. Having none, I must give that up. What shall I do? I have it! Miss Tomlinson is the very person for me. She knows all the gossip of the place, and as she is not in my set, it does not matter what I say to her. I may take her up, or drop her as I please.' Soliloquising thus, Lady Maud got ready. Bramsly Park, the country residence of Sir John Whyte, was close to the village of that name. A beautiful avenue of oaks and elms led from the village to the house which was an historical building. Lady Maud was quickly out of the avenue gate.

Glancing along the village street, her keen eyes beheld Miss Tomlinson walking rapidly towards Rose Villa where she lived. Rose Villa was situated almost opposite the avenue gate. ' How do you do, Miss Tomlinson,' said her ladyship, looking agreeably surprised. ' I see so very little of you now, except in church, and church is not precisely the place for — ' ' Excuse me,' interrupted the old maid, ' the church is precisely the place where everybody sees every body, and I know many persons who only go to MISS TOMLINSON'S CHRYSANTHEMUMS 17 church to have a good stare at their neighbours. But I must not detain you any longer. My humble respects to you. Delighted to have seen you else where than at church.' ' Oh, you old viper,' said her ladyship to herself, but added aloud, ' I beg your pardon, Miss Tomlin son, but if you won't detain me, I must detain you.

I came out on purpose to see you. Will you do me a favour ? ' ' A favour,' repeated Miss Tomlinson, looking at Lady Maud with such a comical air of defiance, that her ladyship almost burst out laughing. ' Don't be afraid, I am not going to ask you to fetch me down the moon from the skies, as I used to request my nurse to fetch it; my petition is more easily granted. My gardener tells me that you have several fine specimens of chrysanthemums. I adore chrysanthemums : will you kindly show me yours ? ' ' With pleasure,' answered Miss Tomlinson, who at Lady Maud's request became as gentle as a lamb. Chrysanthemums were her weak point. 'May I trouble your ladyship to walk in?' and running on in front, she held the gate of her garden open. ' Really, Miss Tomlinson, you are too kind,' said her ladyship, smiling sarcastically, ' I shall not stay longer than five minutes, just one glance round your little greenhouse, and I'll be off!' B But her ladyship multiplied the five minutes by almost twelve, admiring the flowers, discussing horticulture, and asking Miss Tomlinson's advice as though she had been the greatest living authority upon the subject.

Miss Tomlinson was so pleased with her ladyship's condescension that she asked her into her best parlour, and offered her the most comfortable armchair in the room, adorned with the smartest of her antimacassars. Lady Maud admired the parlour, praised the armchair, fell into rapture over the antimacassar, and then suddenly fixing her sharp eyes on Miss Tomlinson's ruddy face, she said : 'Have you heard, Miss Tomlinson? . . . But I need not ask you, who know all about everybody, if you have heard ? . . . Now, just tell me what you have heard ? ' ' What have I heard ? ' repeated Miss Tomlinson, almost mimicking her ladyship's voice, ' What have I heard?' 'Dear me! don't look so solemn,' said Lady Maud trying to look pleasant ; ' people will talk, and the less they know about things, the more they'll chatter about them.

Some say yes and some say no, and some say yes and no. It is enough to puzzle the wisest among us. For my part, I think they are all fools together.' ' Including yourself, my lady ? ' ' Indeed ! how frank you are ! ' MISS TOMLINSON'S CHRYSANTHEMUMS 19 ' How rude you are ! That's what your ladyship means to say. Well, frank or rude I am, rude and honest as nature has made me. Old Jessie Tomlinson does not boast of a high descent, nor of a brilliant education, she is plain spoken, rigid in her principles, true in her dealings, and does not know how to pump people, and dislikes being pumped herself- So, if your ladyship wishes to ask me a question you must put it in black and white, for I do not understand you.' ' But you shall understand me,' answered Lady Maud, trying to look amused, although she was in wardly boiling with rage. ' I like your originality, your sans gine.

It is quite refreshing. Now tell me frankly because I ask you straightforwardly : Have you heard something about Geraldine, Miss Vernon, I mean ; do you know about her engagement ? ' ' I understand you now ; yes, I have heard a lot, as fashionable ladies talk about it. Everybody is full of it.' ' Indeed, everybody ! Whom do you mean ? ' ' I mean everybody, of course.' ' Specify, please.' ' Villagers, ladies, and the gentry generally.' ' Dear me, how amusing ! But don't you think, dear Miss Tomlinson, that it is only a false report, spread about by some mischievous person.' Well, it may be, but, if so, the mischievous person is Geraldine herself. I beg your pardon, Miss Vernon, I mean.' ' Well, I am surprised ! * Why should you be ? No one else was.' ' Such a mesalliance ! Good Heavens ! in what queer times we are living !

Society is such a mixture of nobodies ! ' ' Truly, my lady, times have sadly changed. In my young days we never heard of such mesalliances. A Miss Vernon, grand-daughter to the Duchess of Boville, and daughter of Sir William and Lady Beatrix Vernon, engaged to Charles Morgan, an insignificant village doctor ! Such a match would have been more astonishing than if your nurse had really fetched you down the moon from the skies. But let me tell you also that in my young days the retiring Lord Mayors did not always carry with them the rank of a baronet, and their sons were not so eagerly run after by the impecunious daughters of noble peers. Times have changed indeed !' Lady Maud bit her lips, and was on the point of leaving, but she thought better of it, and remained, taking no notice of Miss Tomlinson's rude allusion, for was she not a poor earl's daughter, married to the son of a Lord Mayor who had been made a baronet ! 'Miss Vernon has been the herald of her own engagement, has she not ? ' MISS TOMLINSON'S CHRYSANTHEMUMS 21 ' Yes, my lady.

Lady Somers, Mrs Fitz-Patrick, Mrs Murray, Mrs Jackson — she told them all.' ' And who told you ? ' ' Our good, worthy Mrs Jackson, my lady.' ' And what do all these good people say about it ? ' 'Oh, I see! You wish to know what the world says!' ' Of course ; Miss Tomlinson, don't you know that every woman is in one sense a true daughter of Eve!" ' Well, I am afraid I cannot tell you what all these good people say. But will you take a piece of advice ? ' ' Well, let us hear it ! ' ' Order your carriage, and call on all these good people. No doubt, in the course of the conversa tion, they will let out all their opinions on the subject.' ' You are not very communicative, this morning, Miss Tomlinson, I must say, I expected more of you. However, it doesn't matter, and I will not detain you any longer.

Thank you very much for having allowed me to look at your beautiful chrysanthemums. Good-bye ! ' And Lady Maud was off with great celerity. As for Miss Tomlinson, she burst out laughing. ' What fun,' she said, ' it was as good as a play. How angry she was, and how she tried to conceal her anger, and could not ! Feigning ignorance ! Geraldine, Miss Vernon, I mean, Oh ! you im pudent ladyship ! Admiring my chrysanthemums in the hope of getting out of me what she does not dare to ask the others ! who knows ? perhaps she is going to the Rectory ? Yes, she will go there as impudently as she came here. I must warn Mrs Jackson.' And Miss Tomlinson scribbled a few lines, and despatched them to the Rectory at once. Her little maid brought back the following answer: — ' Thank you very much. We shall be on our guard. Come to tea.'

Chapter III

at the rectory Lady Maud went home furious. Miss Tomlinson's impertinence, and the feeling of having made a fool of herself, roused her temper to such a pitch that she scarcely knew what she was doing. She broke the finest piece of china in her boudoir, and abused Justine shamefully. Justine faced the storm without uttering a word ; and when Lady Maud had raged to her heart's content, she went down to the dining-room, smiling and serene, as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile her mistress invited Dash, a fine retriever, and her favourite dog, to lunch with her. While Lady Maud amused herself with Dash — we may almost say entertained the animal — Justine having first cried her eyes out, wrote a long letter to her ladyship, giving her notice at once. She charged the butler to deliver it without delay.

Lady Maud opened it reluctantly, read it, shrugged her shoulders, threw it into the fire, and said : — ' Silly woman ! We'll let her go, Dash, my pet, won't we . Now-a-days it seems one dare not even abuse a servant. Hurting their feelings ! I never knew they were plagued with any. Well, well, it is not worth while thinking about it. Is it, Dash, my pet ? ' And Lady Maud rang the bell. ' The carriage at three,' she said to the butler. And punctually at three, she drove to the Manor House, the residence of Lady Somers. All her scruples about applying for information to that old gossiping lady had vanished, and she antici pated with pleasure hearing her vulgar talk. But she was greatly disappointed, Lady Somers was not at home. How provoking ! She orders her coachman to drive her quickly back to Bramsly, home . . . .

Oh ! dear no ! Can you believe it ? To the Rectory ! Oh ! Miss Tomlinson, you may well rejoice ! Comfortably tucked up in the corner of her carriage, Lady Maud tries hard to invent a plaus ible excuse for her visit, but alas, her imagination, as a rule very suggestive, is completely at fault. Already the steeple of Bramsly appears on the horizon before her. She began to despair. And that goose of a coachman ! why does he obey her orders so strictly ? And yet she does not dare to ask him to slacken his pace. The nearer she gets to the Rectory, the more uncomfortable she feels. ' What am I to say, good gracious ! I wish there were some more chrysanthemums to admire.' Suddenly a light flashed through her brain. ' I have it ! ' she said almost aloud, and with a smile of triumph on her lips, she arrives at the Rectory gate.

To her great delight, Mrs Jackson and her two daughters were at home. As we have already hinted, there was no good understanding between the Park and the Rectory, not that there had been an open quarrel ; but Lady Maud detested the Jacksons. Why, she scarcely knew herself. She detested them, that was enough. Far from concealing her dislike, she took pleasure in showing it. She avoided all unnecessary inter course with them, and only invited them once a year to an enormous lunch to which all the world and his wife were bidden. The presence of my lady at the Rectory would certainly have aroused astonishment, not to say suspicion, had it not been for Miss Tomlinson's friendly warning. But thanks to her, Lady Maud's entrance in the Rectory drawing-room did not create the least stir. If somebody was astonished, it was her ladyship herself, nay more, she was alarmed.

But she was too much a woman of the world to betray her impressions. Calmly and quietly, as if she were monarch of all she surveyed, she took possession of an armchair, and said, ' I am quite ashamed when I think of what ages it is since I was here last. But I hope I am not intruding ? ' ' Not at all,' answered Mrs Jackson, rather stiffly, 'may I ask your ladyship to what I owe the honour of this visit ? ' * Why did I come you may well ask. Suppose you guess why ? ' Mrs Jackson looked maliciously at her daughters. Lady Maud caught Mrs Jackson's look, and guessed at once that there was an understanding between mother and daughters. However, without betray ing her suspicion in any way, she continued : — ' It seems to me ages since I had the pleasure of talking to you. But don't you think for a moment that I neglected you wilfully.

Oh ! dear no ! The duties of my social position are so — ' ' Never mind, Lady Maud,' interrupted Mrs Jackson, not very politely, 'we understand the duties of your position. You have not neglected us.' ' It is very charitable of you to say so. I do declare you are as original and as frank as my friend, Miss Tomlinson.' What possessed Lady Maud to make that remark aloud, she wondered, and what possessed Mrs Jackson to answer : ' It is better to be as frank as Miss Tomlinson. than double-faced as many others.' ' Oh ! oh ! ' said her ladyship to herself, ' what does she mean, I wonder ? . . .' and aloud : ' You are quite right. I hate hypocrisy as much as you do, and can only get on with frank, unpretentious people,' and seeing that Mrs Jackson looked any thing but pleased, she went on — ' I hope you are quite well, you look rather ye — pale ? ' She was going to say yellow. ' Thank you,' answered Mrs Jackson, angrily, ' I never was in better health.' ' I am delighted to hear it.

A robust constitution is a priceless treasure. I envy your good health, for it enables you to do so much. Where would the parish be without you ? and apropos of that, I wish to thank you most warmly for the beautiful singing in church last Sunday. It was perfect. How divinely you played the organ ! I never enjoyed the service more.' 'Indeed, Lady Maud, how strange ! If I remember well, you were not in church.' ' You are quite right. A bad headache kept me at home. I didn't mean last Sunday, but the Sunday before, when you played so beautifully.' ' If I remember rightly,' said Mrs Jackson, looking straight in Lady Maud's face, 'the Sunday before last, I was myself kept at home by a headache.' ' Oh ! well then ! let us take any other Sunday, when neither you nor I were kept at home by a bad headache,' answered Lady Maud, with all the daring resolution of a person unaccustomed to being contradicted.