Dorcas

Part I. Letty Vol

I. B DORCAS.

Chapter I. II

1 R. TRELAWNEY Avas in his garden, -L*J- Avalking up and doAvn beside the beech-tree hedge. There was a pathway there that had been Avorn by his feet, for both in winter and summer it Avas the spot of all his garden that he loved the best : a favourite Avalk, sheltered by this thick hedge from the east Avinds, yet standing high, and open to the west, and commanding on that side a pleasant view across a cultivated country, rich in meadow land and trees. There were few days of the year on Avhich, b DORCAS. for half an hour at least, if for no more,. you might not find Mr. Trelawney here, deliberately pacing to and fro ; for he Avas a man avIio liked the companionship of his OAvn thoughts, and the sense of security that is lost when we Avalk in the haunts of other men. He Avas a reserved, gentle, studious man of forty, or a little under ; simple in manners and in mind ; one Avho did not knoAv much of the Avays of the Avorld, but lived quietly absorbed in his OAvn world of books — Homer and Horace, Plato and Sophocles, being nearer and more familiar friends to him than the men whose living faces he saAv round him, and Avhose voices sounded in his ears.

Often, Avalking up and doAvn the patlnvay by the beech-tree hedge, he Avould entertain his solitude by reciting aloud from the authors that he knew so Avell — " talking gibberish to himself — poor dear — by the DORCAS. 5 hour together," as his housekeeper Avould sometimes say, shaking her kind head com passionately while she described her master's Aragaries to some neighbour over a cup of tea. " And yet as quiet a gentleman, and as civil," she would add, " as any ten miles round, and one as never says so much as a quick word to you. It's ahvays — ' Just as you please, Mrs. Markham,' and — ' You knoAv best, Mrs. Markham,' from one year's end to another." It Avas about fifteen years ago since Mr. TrelaAvney had come from Oxford to this house in Shepton Avhere he now lived, and though then only three or four and tAventy he had almost at once begun to adopt the retired habits of a student.

At that time his mother Avas alive, a high bred and rather cold-natured woman ; and the mother and son had lived together for twelve years. During all these years the DORCAS. house, in spite of its having a mistress at the head of it, had scarcely been a less dull or quiet one than it was now. Mrs. Trelawney Avas a Avoman who held herself rather above her neighbours. She had been a dean's daughter ; she was the AvidoAv of a man Avho, though not rich, had been of good family, and it pleased her to look down upon the village society amidst Avhich circumstances had given her herabode, — upon the common place vicar and his buxom Avise, — upon the gossipping country doctor, — even upon the few magnates of the place, Avealthy and for the most part unintellectual, Avhose neighbourly hospitalities she had rarely con descended to receive.

Such a woman of course could not be popular in a country village, and Mrs. TrelaAvney accordingly had had few friends in Shepton Avho either enjoyed her so ciety much Avhile she Avas living, or mourn- DORCAS. ed her greatly Avhen she Avas dead. But yet in a certain Avay she Avas regretted, for she had been felt to be a credit to the place ; and when a short time after her death the question of whether, now that she Avas gone, her son AA'ould seek another home for him self Avas laid to rest by his application to the vicar's Avise for help to provide himself with a housekeeper, the hearts of the Shep tonians felt quite a little glow of gratitude, and Mr. Trelawney, had he chosen, might have made himself, for a time, at any rate, the favourite of the village. But unfortunately he did not care for popularity.

It Avas in vain that the vicar and half-a-dozen other kind-hearted neigh bours told him Avith well meant cordiality that he must mix a little more with them now : he thanked them for their hospitality, but left their invitations unaccepted. "My dear sir. you ought to get a Avise to DORCAS. stir you up a little," the vicar said to him Avith a laugh one day ; but at this suggestion Mr. Trelawney 's self-possession fairly left him. " God forbid !" he hastily ejaculated ; and the vicar, I regret to say, was so tickled at the reply that by the time four and twenty more hours Avere over there Avas hardly a pair of ears in Shepton that had not heard it, nor a fair bosom that it had not caused to swell Avith indignation. I am afraid that after the utterance of these inexcusable words Mr. TrelaAvney fell terribly in public estimation.

In fact he Avas an unsocial man ; very gentle, meaning well to everyone, but essentially a man avIio loved his kind best at a distance. Possibly society of a better kind than could be got in Shepton might have had charms for him, but he Avas too indifferent to go in search of it. He had groAvn accustomed to the life he led, and felt no desire for a keener or more DORCAS. 9 exciting happiness than Avhat it gave him. He had been fond of his mother and his mother's company. Her refined manner and clear calm mind had been pleasant to his taste. In the years that they had lived to gether she had become his ideal — the only one he had — of Avomanhood, and he had felt her loss more than he had ever felt the loss of any other living thing. But as for supplying her place Avith some other Avoman — a Avise chosen from amongst the be flounced and bedizened maidens of Shep ton, a flighty girl Avho Avould chatter nonsense to him, and strum on the piano, and meddle Avith his Avriting-table, and, Avorse than all, perhaps bring screaming in fants into the world — the thought, if he had ever for a moment entertained it, would have made him shudder.

Better eternal solitude than a companion such as this ! He was a man who wanted no Avise, avIio had no DORCAS. right indeed to marry, for he had married whatever he had of heart already to the books upon his library shelves, — to the life of a past Avorld, — to some classic Avoman, or score of women (if to anything womanly at all), dead a thousand years ago. The Greek plays over Avhich he pored, and to Avhich he Avrote notes that one day, Avhen his hair should be grey, he hoped would see the light, Avere more to him than Avise and children. He Avas thinking out some knotty point in his work to-day as he paced up and down his favourite Avalk, ranging evidence in his mind, weighing probabilities, hardly conscious that the sun Avas shining on him, or the Avest Avind bloAving. It Avas ten o'clock in the morning of a summer day.

The postman had come up to the house a little while ago, but he had brought no letter for Mr. Trelawney : he had only brought one DORCAS. 11 letter for Mrs. Markham, the housekeeper, Avhich had contained ill news apparently, for the poor soul began to cry as she read it. She Avas still crying, standing at the open door Avith her apron every feAv moments go ing up to her eyes, when half an hour later Mr. Trelawney came in from his Avalk. She Avas Avaiting to intercept him as he re-entered the house, and with red eyes and a face full of grief she accosted him as he came up. " I'm sorry to trouble you, sir, but — but I've had some bad news," she said, apolo getically, with a catch in her voice. " Bad news ? I am sorry for that," Mr. Trelawney ansAvered kindly, standing still at once. " Yes, sir. I've had a letter from my sister — or at least not from my sister (poor dear, I Avish it was !) ; it's my niece that DORCAS.

Avrites, and — and — " Avith a burst of tears, "her poor mother's dying !" " Your niece's mother ?" said Mr. Tre laAvney, hesitatingly, not quite folloAving the relationship. " Yes, sir, that's my sister — my youngest sister. She and me — we're the only ones left. She's a Avidow, sir. She had a nice little milliner's business in the Borough, for her husband, you see, died the year that Letty was born " It was a little confusing to Mr. Trelaw ney, but he Avas very sorry. " You Avould like to go and see her, would you not ?" he said at once. " Yes, of course ; go as soon as you can. And Avhatever money you Avould like " But Mrs. Markham did not Avant any money. Her only two troubles Avere lest she might not find her sister still alive, and lest Martha, her help in the kitchen, should DORCAS. fail during her absence in cooking chops and steaks.

From one of these anxieties Mr. TrelaAvney did Avhat he could to relieve her ; for the relief of the other he could only give her his grave good Avishes. " She is a valuable Avoman — a very ex cellent Avoman. I am really very sorry for her," he went on presently to his study thinking to himself. Perhaps in a general Avay he kept the troubles of this mortal life at a considerable distance from him ; but yet his nature was a kindly one, and distress Avhen it Avas brought close to him made him uneasy. " I hope she will be in time to see the poor creature. There Avill be no good in it, of course, but she will look upon it as a consolation. People in her class ahvays do, I believe. It is natural, no doubt, very natural," he said to himself, gently and pityingly, but yet with a certain feeling almost of contempt.

And then he sat down DORCAS. at his desk, and brought out his manuscript from its draAver. Of Avhat moment Avere the lives and deaths of a hundred milliners in the Borough, compared with the settle ment of that great question about the use of Greek points ? He took up his pen, and be gan to read over the last sentences that he had written ; and Mrs. Markham had made her journey up to town, and Avas sitting and crying by her sister's bed, before a second thought of her or her troubles had crossed Mr. TrelaAvney's mind. About a Aveek had passed after this day, Avhen one afternoon a knock came to the study door, and, on Mr. TrelaAvney calling to the knocker to enter, a black-robed figure came mournfully into the room, and dropped a curtsey Avith a tragic face. "Oh, Mrs Markham!" exclaimed Mr. TrelaAvney, a little startled by this appari tion.

DORCAS. " Yes, sir, it's me," said the housekeeper, faintly. " Did you find ? But I am afraid I need not ask " He looked at her black gown, and stopped. " No, sir. She's gone." Her handker chief went to her eyes. " Poor thing. I hope you saw her ?" " Oh yes, sir, thank God ; me and Letty, we were both Avith her. It was a very happy ending, sir." " Well, that Avill be a comfort to you, Mrs. Markham." " It is, sir, it's a great comfort. She suffered so that, if it wasn't for Letty, one would hardly have wished to keep her. But it's hard to lose a mother, sir." " Very hard — very. Is Letty your sister's child?" " Yes, sir, and a good girl, poor thing." DORCAS. " And is she — Avhat does she do, I mean ? Does she go out to service ?" " Ah, sir, that's the difficulty. She's delicate. She's not fit for a common service.

She's been helping her mother, you see, sir, with the millinery." " Well, can she not go on Avith that sort of thing ?" "I suppose she must, sir, — but she's young — she's only fifteen, and a child of that age alone in London ButI mustn't bother you Avith our troubles, sir." "You don't bother me, Mrs. Markham. I am only sorry that I — that I am so little able to give you any help. Unless there Avas anything you could think of your self?" "Well, sir," Avith a little hesitation, "I almost had it in my mind — if you'd not think it a great liberty — I Avas Avanting very much to ask you if you thought you'd mind my DORCAS. 17 having her here for a week or tAvo, just till we had time to look about us." " Certainly not, Mrs. Markham." " I'm sure, sir, you're very good. You see, sir, if I could get her into some place in Shepton it Avould be such an ease to my mind."

" Of course it Avould." " She's a genteel-looking girl, and if Mrs. HarroAvby, or Mrs. Gillott, or any of the ladies Avere to be Avanting a maid ■" " I have no doubt you will be able to hear of something after a little Avhile. Her coming here is a very good thought of yours. I am glad it has occurred to .1 you. " I am sure, sir, I don't know how to thank you." " You had better send for her at once. Where is the poor girl now ?" " Well, sir, there vvere some kind neigh- VOL. I. c DORCAS. bours that offered her a bed for a night or two, and she's gone to them." " If you Avrote to her by this evening's post perhaps she Avould be able to come to you to-morrow ?" "I'm sure she Avould, sir, and glad to do it. And I thank you gratefully — I thank you Avith all my heart," said the housekeeper, and brought the interview to an end with a relieved face.

It Avas tAvo days after this that, as Mr. TrelaAvney Avas Avalking in his garden, his eye Avas caught by an unfamiliar sight — the slight figure of a girl dressed in black, standing Avith a basket on her arm gather ing peas. "Who is this?" Avas his first thought as his attention was arrested by her, and then, " Oh, it must be Mrs. Markham's niece," he recollected, and meeting the housekeeper presently as he was returning to his study he asked her if the girl had DORCAS. come. During these tAvo days the matter had slipped entirely from his memory. He was at most times too absent to retain small unimportant domestic facts and dates in his mind, and sometimes, being a kindly-natured man, umvilling to give pain, his unintention al forgetfulness vexed him ; for he did not despise his felloAV-creatures, nor \7oluntarily AvithdraAV himself from taking an interest in them, but merely forgot them (being at the same time rather ashamed of forgetting them) because his mind Avas full of other things.

" Yes, sir. She came last night," Mrs. Markham replied, in ansAver to his question ; and a feAv hours afterwards he met the girl Avalking Avith her aunt on the road to the village, and stopped to speak to her. Letty was going to pass him with a curtsey, and Avith her eyes upon the ground, when his address arrested her. " This is your niece, Mrs. Markham ?" he c2 DORCAS. asked. And then he turned to her. "lam glad to see you. It will be a great pleasure to your aunt to have you here," he said. " Thank you, sir," the girl ansAvered, simply, lifting a pair of gentle and timid blue eyes for a moment to his face. "I'm sure, sir, if she could tell you, you'd knoAv she thanked you," Mrs. Markham struck in, quickly. " You don't look very strong," Mr. Tre lawney said. " I hope it may do you good to be in the country."

And then Avith a little bend of his head he passed on. "Noav it hasn't been very formidable, has it?" exclaimed Mrs. Markham, triumph antly, as soon as he Avas out of hearing. " No, — not exactly. What a nice gentle man he seems !" said Letty, half under her breath. " Yes, he's a nice gentleman, and a quiet one ; and just as he is now you'd find him, DORCAS. 21 Letty, if you Avere stopping here from the beginning of the year to the end of it. But of course you won't know much about that," added Mrs. Markham, quickly. " No, of course not," Letty meekly an- SAvered ; and they Avent on to the house. She Avas a neat-handed and quick-footed little maiden. Before many days had passed Mr. TrelaAvney began to notice her light step about the house. Mrs. Markham's OAvn footstep Avas not a light one, for Mrs. Markham was of a portly figure, as it was right for a housekeeper to be, and Mar tha's movements in the kitchen Avere elephantine ; the springy step that began to come upon the stairs was quite unlike that of either of these excellent Avomen.

A light step going to and fro, a childish voice that sometimes broke into merry laughter, and sometimes into little bursts of song (arrested uoav and then by sudden reverent recollec- DORCAS. tion of the place in which she was, or of the mother so lately dead, yet never so arrested long), these Avere the things that, as the days Avent on, Mr. Trelawney began to hear about his house. And, as they fell upon his ear, he rather liked them. To have had the burden laid upon himself of in any degree looking after a creature of Letty's age Avould have indescribably embarrassed and perplexed him, but the simple con sciousness that a bit of young happy life Avas in the house gave him a certain sense of pleasure. Sometimes, though not often, he would come personally across the girl, and Avould speak a feAv Avords to her.

She Avas pretty in a fragile, delicate Avay, and when he addressed her the colour Avould shyly flush to her face, and generally, a little afraid of disturbing her, he Avould merely say a sentence — a brief " Good morning," — DORCAS. a comment on the Aveather, and then pass on. But once or twice, during the first Aveeks that she spent under his roof, he spoke a little more to her than this. One day he found her sitting in a retired corner of the garden Avith a book upon her knees, and the sight of the book rather than of herself drew him a feAv yards out of his way tOAArards her. " Are you fond of reading ? What book is that you have got?" he asked her, and stretched his hand out to take the volume. She flushed as usual, and resigned it to him Avithout speaking. " Oh, Don Quixote," he said.

" Do you like Don Quixote ?" " Yes, sir," she answered, shyly. "You find it very funny, I suppose? Well, it is a very great book ; perhaps you may understand it some day. You can't do better than read good books ;" and he gave DORCAS. it back to her. " Do you like sitting reading out here ?" "Oh yes, sir!" she answered, eagerly. " You never lived in the country before, did you ?" "Never, sir." " Then everything must be very neAv to you. I hope you will enjoy it, and get stout and strong." And then he nodded and turned away. "She has a pretty, delicate face," he thought to himself. " It seems almost a pity to turn her into a lady's-maid. I should think it Avould be a great deal better for her to stay here quietly Avith her aunt." He thought this to himself; and a few days later he said abruptly to the housekeeper — "Mrs. Markham, why should you not keep Letty here with yourself, for a time?

It Avould be a great deal better for her, I DORCAS. should think, than being throAvn amongst strangers. I suppose, if she Avere to stay, you could find something for her to do?" " Oh, sir, you're too good ! It would be the making of her," replied Mrs. Mark ham, earnestly. " She seems such a nice deft little thing. It is pleasant to see her about the place. I should be very glad to have her stay, if you Avould like it ; and — I don't knoAv about Avages, but Avhatever you think she ought to have " " We needn't speak of that yet, sir. It will be plenty of time presently to think about that." "No, no — let her have something to begin Avith, Mrs. Markham. She will like to feel that she is earning." " Well, I don't knoAv Iioav to thank you, sir. I think she'll be so happy she Avon't know Avhat to do Avith herself."

DORCAS. " I shall be very glad to make her happy. It seemed to me that she Avas such a child to be sent out amongst strangers." " So she is, sir. It has gone to my heart to think of it — for she's not strong, poor thing. I Avish she was." " No, I am afraid she is not strong — to judge by her looks. Well, you will take care of her. Let her have more play than Avork for a time. She will be all the fitter to work presently for playing noAv." " I knoAv she will , sir. And God bless you, sir, for giving her such a home." " She is a grateful Avoman, and a good woman, too," Mr. TrelaAvney thought to himself, as she closed the door. He Avas pleased Avith what he had done, and grati fied by Mrs. Markham's appreciation of it. " With how little trouble, sometimes, one can give pleasure !" he thought, and possibly it crossed his mind, with something like re- DORCAS. morse, that the self-absorbed life he led Avas not one calculated to encourage the groAvth of much loving-kindness tOAvards his neigh bours.

But the reflection, as such reflec tions generally do, only touched his con science for a moment ; and then he took up his book, and resumed the reading of it — and forgot alike Letty and Letty's pleasure, his OAvn satisfaction and his self reproach.

Chapter II. Tt

was all like a neAv Avorld to Letty *- Dawson. This quiet cottage embosom ed in its trees, the pretty garden Avith its abundant floAvers, the light, the space, the silence, the sunshine, were all so many de lights and Avonders to the girl avIio had lived till iioav cooped up in tAvo or three small rooms of a croAvded house — a narroAv street and narroAver yard her only daily outdoor sights, the noise of Avheels and the shouts of street-criers almost the only sounds she heard from sunrise to sunset. To have left all these behind her, and to bave come to this pure country air, and to DORCAS. such rest as this, seemed to the child, in her first wondering, charmed gladness, almost like exchanging earth for heaven. " Oh, if only mother could have been here !" she cried again and again, during the days when it Avas all a neAv and pure delight to her.

This peaceful life, in which there was no struggle, no disunion, no care, no poverty — if her mother could but have known it, as Letty knew it noAv ! " My dear, your mother was none so fond of the country," Mrs. Markham would sometimes say, shaking her head. " She and me Avere of different minds. She al- Avays liked a bit of something lively. Bless you, she'd have pined here. She might have liked it Avell enough for a Aveek or tAvo in the summer, but in the Avinter time, whyr Letty, she'd no more have stood it than she'd have stood starving." But yet, though Mrs. Markham told her DORCAS. this, the girl could not take it in, and a hundred times the thought of the mother who had died and never knoAvn the glad ness that she kneAV Avould Avring her heart, and sometimes Avhen she Avas happiest would take the edge off her joy.

She Avas one of those fragile, gentle girls, Avith little bodily strength, and, except in the direction of loving, perhaps Avith little strength of any kind, who ahvays seem so out of place as children ofthe poor. " Mr. TrelaAvney's housekeeper has brought a niece, it seems, to live Avith her," Mrs. Penrose, the vicar's Avise, said to her hus band one day, soon after Letty came to Shepton. " A pretty, genteel enough looking girl, but no more fit to be a servant, I should say, than I am. I don't know what they mean to make of her. I thought at first that the plan Avould be to send aAvay Martha, but Mrs. Markham says no, DORCAS. Martha is to be kept just the same as ever, and Miss Letty is to live, I suppose, like a lady." And the vicar's Avise gave a little snort, for she had no notion of encouraging; the poor to take their ease.

" If she is not fit to be a servant, perhaps her aunt means to make something else of her," the vicar replied. " I saw her yesterday, — a pretty slip of a thing. She came to the door and let me in, and I thought she was as neat a little maiden as I had seen this long time." " Oh, of course if Mr. TrelaAvney thinks it necessary to keep a maid simply to open the door, I daresay she will do for that," answered the lady, sharply; "but for my own part I think it's a bad bringing up for a Avorking girl. If you give a girl of that age nothing to do, how can you expect that any good will come of her ?" " Well, but perhaps Mrs. Markham does DORCAS. give her something to do, my dear," said the vicar. And in truth the vicar Avas right, for Mrs. Markham was too sensible a woman by far to permit her niece to pass her days in idleness.

It Avas true she did not set her to do Martha's Avork : had Martha gone aAvay she Avould herself, I think, have scrubbed the floors and cleaned the sauce pans, rather than have made that rough labour over to Letty : yet Letty had by no means an idle time of it. Her aunt taught her to cook and churn and bake, to do light house maid's Avork, and make and mend. For half the day or more she was kept busy enough. With her nimble fingers she made Mrs. Markhain's caps for her more becom ingly than the village milliner ; she made her own bonnets and her oavu gowns, and before the first Avinter had set in Mrs. Mark ham bought calico and linen, and through DORCAS. the Avinter evenings Letty used to sit stitching for hours together at a set of shirts for Mr. Trelawney. The Avork was meant to be a little offering of gratitude, and the girl as she sewed put her heart into her fin gers.

Had she not cause to be grateful to her master ? — cause enough to make her glad to do any service for him ? He used, as 1 have said, to speak a feAv Avords to her sometimes, and as time Avent on these days on Avhich he did this came to be red-letter days to Letty. In various trifling Avays he Avas kind to her. One day Avhen Mrs. Markham told him Iioav fond the child Avas of reading he promised to lend some books to her, and often afterwards he kept his Avord. Her innocent untaught pleasure in Avhat she read gave him, passionate lover as he Avas of books, a certain instinctive feeling of interest in her. He became half curious to know Iioav an uncultivated mind A'OL. I. D DORCAS. like hers Avas affected by the food that she devoured so eagerly. One day, when she had been reading the "Bride of Lammer moor," he asked her what she thought of it, and the intense emotion Avith Avhich she an- SAvered, or rather tried to ansAver, him struck him with a curious sense of surprise.

He had not supposed that the story, or any story in a book, Avould have taken such a hold of a girl Avho had had her upbringing. " It is strange. I should not have thought it," he said to himself; and he began more and more to have a kindly feeling to Letty. She was only a child, with a child's almost blank mind, but the recipient power at least Avas in her, and, when he AvithdreAv his thoughts from other things, it became at times an amusement and interest to Mr. Trelawney to take note of the kind of literature that gave her most delight, and to Avatch the effect it had upon her. DORCAS. Poetry and romances — these, I am afraid, Avere the things that Letty loved the best ; but Mr. TrelaAvney was kind enough not to put too large a supply of them in her Avay. Often, Avhen in her heart she Avanted a story, he Avould give her a book of travels ; when she Avould have liked one of Scott's poems he gave her a biography.