Caught in the Toils. A novel

Front matter

CAUGHT IN THE TOILS. A flobcl. BY MRS. MACKENZIE DANIEL, AUTHOR OF "MY SISTEE MINNIE," "THE OLD MAID OF THE FAMILY," "JAMES WYTEEN'S SIN.'^ETC. ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: CHAELES J. SKEET, 10, KING WILLIAM STREET, CHAEINa CEOSS. 1871. [All Bights Reserved.\ CONTENTS OF VOL. I. HAPTEE PAGB I. THE TELEGRAM 1 II. GREY DARRELL 12 III. FRIENDS IN NEED . . . . .24 IV. THE NOTE FROM THE CITY. . . 49 V. GREY DARRELL'S OFFENCES . . .64 VI. " IF ONLY — " 79 vn. grey's mother 89 VIII. about the legacy . . . .100 IX. the evening at the darrells' . .114 x. a lover's scruples . . . .122 XI. MR. LISTER AT HOME . . . .133 XII. GEORGE OLIVER 145 XIII. NELLIE GIVES HER OPINION ON PRAC- TICAL MATTERS . . . .159 XIV. PROSPECTIVE GREATNESS . . .172 XV. CHARLIE'S SENTIMENTS . . . .189 XVI. MRS. LISTER'S ATTEMPTS AT DIPLOMACY CONTENTS. iv CHAPTER PAGE XVII.

LAST DAYS AT NO. 5 . . . .213 XVIII. ONWARDS 225 XIX. FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF HAZELCOMBE . 238 XX. THE REVEREND DUNCAN HARKNESS . 249 XXI. NELLIE'S CURIOSITY . . . .261 XXII. "MY DAUGHTER EMILY" . . . 277 XXIII. THE GENTRY OF HAZELCOMBE . . CAUGHT U THE TOILS. CHAPTEE I. THE TELEGRAM. ATALEGKAPH for master, and the imperent boy a scraping of his nasty dirty boots all along my clean door steps, and sixpence to pay, and he hopes he won't be kep' waiting." So saying, the speaker vanished, either to look after the interests of her recently whitened door-steps, or, what was more probable, to indulge in a passing gossip with the reckless and wanton offender, whom she had accused of marring their purity. " A telegram for master !" repeated, in a half-incredulous and wholly nervous tone, a pale, worn-looking woman, sitting at a round table in that somewhat dingy parvol. i. lour, and busily engaged in washing up the breakfast things.

" Nellie, dear, do come here and see if there is no mistake. Your papa has never had a telegram in his life that I know of, and there's nobody in the world at all likely to send him one. And yet " — holding the large yellow envelope in her only half-dried right hand — " there is no doubt as to the address. ' Charles Lister, Esquire, 15, Fortiss Terrace, St. John's Wood, London.' I am not aware of there being any other Listers in this neighbourhood, are you, Nellie ?" " There is sixpence to pay, mamma," replied a slight and very pretty girl, turning from the window, where, with a blunt pair of scissors, she had been endeavouring to improve the appearance of some sickly looking plants in a shabby green stand. " Had we not better settle the debt before we speculate further concerning the pro bably unimportant matter that bas entaded it on us V " Oh, I had quite forgotten the money !" exclaimed the elder lady, with a sudden drooping of the eyelid, which was habitual to her whenever her daughter adopted a bitter or a sarcastic tone.

Chapter II. Grey Darrell

GREY DARRELL,— a young man of whom we shall hear plenty by and bye, and concerning whose personal attractions it will be sufficient to say here that he was tall and well-buUt, and had a face which was agreeable to the eye, denoting as it did, health, energy, and a cheerful temper, — Grey Darrell was working dili gently in his small front-garden this bright spring morning, and having his back turned to the gate, which was partially open, and his whole attention absorbed in the trenches he was digging for some new standard roses, he neither saw nor heard anything of Helen Lister, tdl, with her lips tightly pressed together, and a crimson flush of vexation on her fair face, she had advanced noiselessly up the middle pathway, and was standing close behind him. Then, detecting rather by an instinct than by the aid of his senses, that some thing was near him which had a tendency to quicken his pulses more than aU the hard labour in which he had been engaged, he turned abruptly, and dropped the heavy spade from his hand, as he recognised his early visitor.

" You, Helen ? and at this hour. How thankful I am now to my mother's rose trees, which have kept me from getting off to the city at my usual time. It is surely permitted to a poor feUow to say as much as this to an old friend and a near neighbour?" For Helen Lister's reception of Mr. Dar rell's greeting was of anything but an en couraging nature, and the vainest puppy in the world must have seen that the flush on her cheeks had not the faintest thi£"e of pleasurable excitement in it, whde the tightly shut lips gave stdl more unequivocal token of the annoyance under which she was labouring. This Grey Darrell, though a devoted son, a kind friend, a pleasant companion, and indeed an exceptionally good fellow altogether, was guilty of two unpardonable sins in Helen's somewhat jaundiced eyes. He lived in a much better house than that occupied by the Listers (for Fortiss Terrace was aristocratic at one end and nearly ple beian at the other), and, in spite of his com parative youth, he was several grades above her father in the extensive commercial busi ness which gave [employment to them both.

How could she, in her galling poverty, and with her cruelly sensitive pride, look with favour, or even ordinary benevolence, upon an offender to so desperate an extent ? The fact that he was warmly attached to all her people, and disposed to lay at Helen's careless feet as true and honest a heart as ever throbbed in a man's breast, detracted not in the slightest degree, in the young lady's estimation, from the very grave de merit aforesaid, and consequently either to ask the smallest favour of him, or to appear to seek his society voluntarily, was such bitter gaU and wormwood to her, that she could not help making very wry faces over it, utterly reckless of whether he was pained by her demonstration of disgust or not. " Pray don't think I have come out wdlingly, or on my own account," she said haughtily, in reply to his guarded acknowledgment of pleasure at her sudden appearance.

"Here is a stupid telegram arrived for papa, and as mamma thinks it may be of consequence, and we had nobody to send it by, she suggested my bringing it to you, and asking the favour of your carry ing it into the city with you. I am awfuUy sorry to trouble you, and would have taken it myself, if mamma had not objected. How is Mrs. Darrell this morning ?" He had been looking at Helen earnestly, and with a troubled countenance all the time she was speaking. Her concluding question, though it related to a mother he dearly loved, fell on unheeding ears, as was proved by his making no sort of answer to it. "Anyone would think, Helen," he said, in a hurt though not unkind tone, "that you had no pleasure in obliging your fellow creatures, to hear the profuse apologies you generally deem it necessary to make when you are asking any of them to oblige you — even in the smallest way.

Will you never learn to believe how I rejoice in every opportunity of being of the slightest use to you or yours ? I only wish you had come to ask me to go a hundred miles for you instead of so absurdly trivial a matter as this, which indeed is not worth alluding to. Won't you come indoors and see my mother ?" " Not this morning, thank you," replied Helen, still stiffly and coldly, though she was quite aware of the pain she was giving. " We are very busy at home to-day — poor folks, you know, are always busy — and I promised mamma I would be back imme diately to dress Minna." " And how is my little friend Minna by this time V asked Grey, with genuine interest both in voice and look. " It seems an age since she and I have had a romp together. Does your homœopathic treat ment stdl answer with her, Helen ?"

" Oh yes — why should it not ? I have studied homœopathy thoroughly to save the expense of doctors' bids, and mamma is never likely to be prejudiced against it again, now that she has seen it succeed in Minna's case. You may believe I must have felt pretty sure of my ground before I tried it on her, especially in an illness where there was unquestionable fever. If I had injured the precious darling's little finger, mamma would have had me up for vol. I. manslaughter. Anyhow she would never have forgiven me." " There would have been quite as much danger of your never forgiving yourself, Helen," said Mr. Darrell gravely ; " and this you know as well as I do, though you talk at random. I am certain your love for your sister is only a shade less in degree than that of Mrs. Lister for her youngest child — if it were otherwise, Minna would not cling so fondly to you."

Helen laughed a short, half-mocking laugh, as she replied lightly — " Oh, children of Minna's age and affectionate temperament bestow their love anywhere and everywhere. Of course I like her as my sister, and would not injure the poor little trot for the world — but you know whether I welcomed her advent or not, and mamma thinks I ought to adore her a thousand times more than I do, and not be one bit jealous of aU the love of which she has naturaUv robbed me." " And you consider such an excess of disinterestedness impossible to human nature ?" said Mr. Darrell with a smile which had no condemnation in it for the fradty he was imputing to the pretty creature beside him. " Impossible to my nature at any rate," answered Helen candidly. — " I was first with mamma too long to submit meekly to being dethroned in favour of another — a golden-haired baby too like Minna, who can as yet give neither sympathy nor com panionship, nor help of any kind in return for all the lavish idolatry she receives — but I am sure I don't know why I talk to you about these things — it is wretched taste I am aware, to bore one's friends with one's individual grievances. — What fine healthy-looking rose trees those are.

Pray go on with your gardening now, for I have done my errand and must be wishing you good morning." " Five minutes, Helen " — ■ pleaded the young man as he stooped for the fallen spade, but showed no inclination to resume his work — " I should like to tell you why you talk to me sometimes about the things that press heavy on your heart. It is just because you feel instinctively that there is nobody in the world who can more readily and entirely sympathise with your lightest sorrow than myself, — it is because you know with a most accurate knowledge, however indifferent such knowledge may be to you, 2 that every shadow on your path must be reflected on mine, and that my interest is real and deep in the very minutest concerns that interest you. Don't be angry with me, Helen, for saying this, for assuming that I can guess the feelings you are ignorant of yourself.

The coldest hearted mortal in the whole world will occasionaUy look with favour even upon a poor dumb animal who expresses affection and sympathy to wards him when he is in trouble. I only ask to occupy towards you the position of that dumb beast, Helen, and shall esteem myself amply rewarded by a friendly pat and a word of kindness from time to time." Helen Lister turned away for a minute and struck her foot, either impatiently or nervously, against some gardening tools that were lying on the short grass beside her. Then she lifted her fair face, quite pale and serene again now, and said in a weary and considerably softened voice — " If everything did not go so horribly wrong with me, I daresay I should be grateful for your kindness. I am grateful after a fashion as it is ; but really and truly I feel nothing very much that is uncon nected with the detestable question of pounds, shdlings, an d pence.

In a home like ours I defy anybody to be otherwise than hard and cold and practical — and intensely disagreeable. " Grey laughed aloud, as who could help it, at the thoroughly bond fide tone in which his companion announced so sweeping and unflattering a conviction regarding herself and her belongings ; but after his mirth had subsided, observing that the young lady had not shared it in any degree, he said seriously enough — " Those are strange adjectives to connect with a woman like Mrs. Lister, Helen, and you | know whether I could ever consider one of them as justly applicable to yourself." " Oh, I was not thinking of poor mamma," replied Helen quickly, — " She is beyond all dispute an angel, minus the wings. No amount of scourging, or trampling on, or fiery discipline of any description could convert me into the meek creature she has become.

Charlie and myself take more after papa, unfortunately, and can never, as regards goodness, be burning or shining lights in our generation. The burning with us is all within, and not of a nature calculated to warm or benefit our fellow sinners — but good morning now, Mr. DarreU — I have kept you too long already, and mamma wdl really be expecting me back." " When may I come in and see you, Helen, if I let you go quietly now ? " " You usually come without any special permission from me," said Helen with a smad satirical smile this time. " Our * at homes' are of perpetual duration, and not in danger of being interfered with by any claims of society which I can foresee at present. Mamma you know is always charmed to see you, and her enjoy ments, poor dear ! are not of a multifarious kind." And, in his humility and dumb-beast character, Grey Darrell was abundantly satisfied with this negative consent on the part of the fair Helen to his spending an early evening at number fifteen.

He even ventured, on the strength of it, to hold for a few seconds longer than mere friendly acquaintanceship warranted, the little neatly gloved hand which his young neighbour had felt herself obliged to offer him ; and then, after she had withdrawn it with a slightly impatient movement, and again said good bye, he stood watching her re treating figure tdl she was quite out of sight, and felt that it would be worth the labour and the patience of a lifetime to win that proud girl's love.

Chapter III. Friends In Need

MR. CHARLES LISTER had not always been in the state of extreme and depressing poverty which appeared to be casting so grave a shadow over the life of his young and handsome daughter. When he had married Mrs. Lister, twenty five years before the commencement of this story, he was junior partner in a thriving commercial house which had branch estab lishments both in Manchester and Liver pool. It was in this latter city that Mr. Lister made the acquaintance of the lady who subsequently became his wife, and through the influence of whose uncle — the head of the Liverpool firm — he obtained, on his marriage with Edith Scott, the partner ship aforesaid. For a few years after this, everything went pretty smoothly, for though Mrs. Lister, having been brought up in a home of plenty, and accustomed to the ease and lavish expenditure which ample means seem to justify, was not in the beginning much of a manager, stdl she had no per sonaUy expensive tastes, and her husband's income at that time allowed a good margin for the improvidence and fondness for luxuries which at an early stage manifested themselves hi him.

But soon after the birth of their first child, — Charlie, — Mrs. Lister's uncle died, and this was the beginning of their dl luck : for the young man, never cordiaUy accepted by the firm on account of his somewhat careless business habits, which increased when his wife's relation was no longer there to keep him in order, was speedily given to understand that his place would be better filled by another ; and although the junior partner felt himself horribly ill-used, he was quite aware that the articles of the partnership justified the conduct of his seniors, and had no choice but to accept the handsome compensation they tendered, and to withdraw. As nothing else in the way of a lucrative appointment offered immediately, the Listers had to manage for several months upon Mrs. Lister's small income of a hundred a year, and the money received by Mr. Lister from the firm.

When this was nearly all spent he set himself to look for more work in earnest, and eventually obtained a head clerkship in another Liverpool house, where he might have done very weU had it been possible for him to have measured his re quirements by his means. But unfortunately Mr. Lister, besides having luxurious tastes, and being totally unacquainted with the virtue of self-denial, was a very proud man — proud in the lowest sense of that much abused word — and would have esteemed it the height of degradation to live in worse style as a clerk, than he had done as a partner. Consequently, in spite of the remonstrances of his wife, in whom other instincts had awakened with the maternal one, he persisted in keeping up appearances which his present income by no means warranted, and as a natural result found himself in a very few years, hope lessly in debt.

It was from this time that poor Mrs. Lister's life of trial and patient endurance really commenced. In her estimation, debt was a far greater humiliation and shame than living in the most humble way would have been ; and when, after many earnest but vain expostulations and entreaties, she discovered that her husband intended to go his own way, she accepted the heavy burden it entailed on her as women of this stamp do accept whatever they recognize as their appointed cross ; and thence forth walked meekly and sorrowfuUy in the clouded path which had not even the advantage of leading to anything brighter or pleasanter beyond. By and bye when another child came, Mrs. Lister developed new energies and capabdi ties in the way of management and self denial ; and Mr. Lister, who was still fond of his wife when her claims suggested themselves to his careless remembrance, was shamed for a little whde into a spas modic effort at retrenchment and economy, frankly accusing himself (these sort of men can be wonderfully heroic in bespattering themselves with mire on occasions, only un fortunately no result ever follows it) frankly accusing himself of having been a thoughtless, good-for-nothing fellow, and not in any way deserving of the admirable patient Uttle wife who for love of him (he should have said for love of the ideal she had believed to be him) had given up a happy luxurious home, and many substantial pros pects.

Soon after Helen's birth, Mrs. Lister's father died, — without forgiving his dis obedient daughter her stolen marriage with the handsome but ineligible young man who, but for the good nature of that mater nal uncle, would have had nothing but a clerk's salary on which to support his young and gently nurtured wife — but leaving her a legacy of one thousand pounds, not tied up in any way, but to be at her own absolute and immediate disposal. Poor Edith was greatly affected at this, for she beheved that her father had heard of their debts, and rightly judging of the sore burden they would be to her, had thus, on his deathbed, given her a token that for all his anger he sympathized with the evd she had brought on herself. Whether Mr. Scott had so intended his small legacy or not, his con scientious daughter never for a moment hesitated as to the manner of its applica tion.

Mr. Lister was now, to his own un bounded astonishment, the one to argue and entreat in vain, for mad as he esteemed his wife and scrupled not to call her, she carried her point triumphantly, freeing her unappreciating husband from all his embar rassments, and stdl keeping a little residue in her purse against any especially rainy day in the misty future. There can be no doubt that a two-fold good was brought about by this unlooked for firmness on the part of that usually gentle and submissive wife. In the first place it really increased her husband's respect for her, though he was far from acknowledging the fact, and in the second place it made him inwardly resolve against getting into debt again, lest any future legacies should be laid hold of, and applied in the same unsatisfactory manner.

Many troublous years had gone by since then, bringing no other legacies, large or small, to the struggling couple, who, on the faUure of the house where Mr. Lister had been employed after he lost the partnership, had removed to London, and experienced rather more than the usual ups and downs of fortune, which usually attend those who have no settled profession and no interest in that wonderful city. Sometimes for months, occasionally for above a year, Mr. Lister would be without employment of any kind, and then they had only Mrs. Lister's poor little income wherewith to keep the wolf from the door, and to sustain the hope and energy which, truth to tell, were fast dying out of them both, though the woman stdl contrived to wear a patient smile over her pain, whde the man loudly railed at destiny, and talked so much about his own " hard lines " that one would have supposed him under the de lusion that the lines of all his feUow creatures were smooth and soft, and he alone of the whole human race a victim to the doom which Adam's sin has entaded upon all his hapless descendants.

Amongst other precarious ways of adding to their scanty means, the Listers had once or twice stooped to the degradation (so at least Mr. Lister considered it) of taking lodgers hito their small London house, and the wife being willing to work to the very extent of her physical strength, and to submit to the utmost limit of her moral capacity, they might have made this answer tolerably well, had not the husband's pride been continually thrusting itself forward, and spoding everything. People who paid for their accommodation were apt to expect as many advantages and as much civility for their money as if their landlord had let apartments all his life, and did not esteem himself upon an equality with the finest gentleman in aU England. They had no patience with the airs this city clerk assumed, and if there were some amongst them who felt a little sympathy with the uncomplaining wife, it was not of a sufficiently active nature to induce them to put up with the insolence or intolerance of her husband.

Why indeed should they, when better lodgings, with civility, were to be had in nearly every street in London ? But though, speaking in a general sense, this attempt to make money by taking lodgers, had proved a complete failure, there was one bit of good luck which grew out of it that may be mentioned here. When Charlie was about seventeen and Helen nearly fifteen (both of them having got their education in a most irregular and incomplete fashion), a widow lady applied for the vacant rooms in the Listers' house, and offering more liberal terms than they had been accustomed to receive, was ac cepted at once as a tenant, and even by Mr. Lister (who could recognise a gentlewoman when he saw one) treated from the first with the courtesy and consideration due to her. This lady had announced in the beginning that she had a son coming home to reside with her, and that one of her objects in choosing the Listers' rooms had to do with the fact of theh being situated near the office which her dear Grey would have to attend, now that he was removed from the Continental house of business, to fill a more important and lucrative post in the English one.

But before the young man arrived Mrs. DarreU (somewhat of a nervous invalid even then) and Mrs. Lister had become quite intimate and friendly, for the widow, though well educated and inteUigent, had not sufficient mental resources to be greatly in love with solitude, while at the same time her taste for quiet refinement in those about her found ample gratification in the unobtrusive gentleness and repose of her thoroughly well-bred hostess. Also she was interested in the young people of the family, in Helen especiaUy, — and Mr. Lister, inordinately proud of both his children because they were his, gave his final verdict in favour of Mrs. Darrell's claims to respect when he saw that his pretty wayward Nellie was fast winning their lodger's heart, without so much as a caressing word or look on the girl's part having been specially directed towards this object.

For even at that eaidy date the shadow of their cruel poverty was pressing heavily on Helen Lister's girlish spirits, and the mere fact of Mrs. Darrell being in a position to pay for lodgings, while her own mother had to let them, would have sufficed to keep her at an immeasurable distance from the former, had not the elder lady willed it otherwise, being interested rather than chilled by the pride of the younger Listers, which, ex aggerated as it was, assumed as yet a less ungracious aspect than that of the dis appointed and embittered father. When Grey arrived, the habits of inti macy already established were not inter rupted. He was several years older than Charlie Lister, and had seen much more of the world, butthe boy'sfresh and uncorrupted heart was there still, in spite of his half foreign education, so he was delighted to find companions waiting for him at his own fireside, and would have smded in amazement or derision had anybody sugvol.

I. 2-ested that Charlie and Helen Lister filled a lower position in the social scale than the one occupied by himself and his mother. From the very first Grey Darrell had taken an amazing fancy to Mrs. Lister. Her gentleness, her patience, her unselfish de votedness to her children — devotedness carelessly accepted, and often repaid by sharp and satirical words on the part of these thoughtless young people — touched him deeply, and made him esteem it the greatest privilege and happiness to be allowed to do anything for her, to con tribute in the very smallest degree towards her comfort or gratification. It was because he believed it would please Mrs. Lister that Grey first offered to teach Charlie and Helen French and German, stedfastly persevering in the task through all Charlie's indolence and inattention, as weU as through all Miss Nellie's poutings and reluctance on account of the vast obligation she persisted in de claring they were thus incurring.

The very kindness she constantly received from Grey Darrell — such kindness as a young man of his generous and affectionate nature would have lavished on a dear provoking sister — appeared to make Helen shrink from him, and to dehght in thwarting and contra dicting him whenever a chance of doing so without rebuke from her elders occurred — but Grey bore it aU with the utmost good humour, laughed at her little tempers, ralhed her on the subject of what he con sidered her morbid pride, and only ventured to reprove her in the gentlest manner, and with the authority he thought his additional years might well give him over such a mere child as Helen, when she behaved petulantly or unbecomingly to her mother, which in those days was a thing of pretty frequent occurrence, though nothing enraged the self-willed daughter so much as being told of it, her own conscience no doubt having always been the first accuser.

Once, when Grey Darrell, with a courage that did him honour, considering how he was usuaUy paid for it, had taken Nellie aside, and earnestly remonstrated with her concerning some hasty and passionate ex pressions he had overheard her addressing to Mrs. Lister, the young lady had suddenly flown at him hke an enraged tigress, had flashed upon him all the lightnings of her scornful eyes, and had forbade him ever 3—2 again to dare to speak to her of her con duct to her mother. " As if you, a stranger," she cried, passionately and rudely, "could be a judge between mamma and me ! Does mamma herself complain ? does she doubt the extent and intensity of my love for her ? Why, I would die for her any day, that I would, and she believes it, and everybody believes it, and I defy you, who know nothing at all about me or my feel ings, to say that it is not so !"