Ruth Rivers. A story, etc

Front matter

BOOK IV. ST.

HILDA'S ABBEY. (Continued. ) CHAPTER PAGE II. — MR. ARTHUR CHATTERTON 1 III. — AMELIA AND EDITH 19 IA'. NEXT TO THE GHOST CHAMP'".; . ... 31 V. ST. HILDA'S ........ 42 VI. GODFREY BARTON ...... 49 VII. — IN LADY CHATTERTON'S ROOM 57 VIII. — MORE ABOUT THE CHATTERTONS .... 06 IX. — CLARIBEL ........ S2 X. — STRANGE NEAVS 92 XI. — ANOTHER FACE . 99 XII. A QUIET EVENING AT ST. HILDA'S . . .109 XIII. — IN CLARIBEL's CHAMBER . . . . . 110 xiv. — ruth's letter ....... 120 XV. — GUY HARDAVICK.E'S MOTHER . . . 127 XVI. — GUY HARDAVICKE 147 XVII. — GODFREY BARTON AND CLARIBEL . . . . 160 XVIII. — A LETTER FROM "MY LORD" .... CONTENTS. VI CHATTER PAGE XIX. — AN UNPLEASANT NIGHT . . . . . 179 XX. — LOVE AND STRANGE NEWS ..... 1S9 XXI. — SOME OF LADY CHATTERTON's OPINIONS . . . 227 XXII. HAPPINESS .....■• 241 XXIII. — OLD FRIENDS AND FOES . . . • 24G XXIV. — DESOLATION ....... 262 XXV.

ADRIENNE DU CHATEL . . . . . 282 XXVI. — A CHAPTER OF HORRORS ..... 295 XXVII. THE INN ON THE MOOR . . . . 303 XXVIII. — EXPLANATORY . . . . * . . . 323 XXIX. — THE STRANGER IN THE LONG ROOM . . . BUTH BIVEBS. BOOK THE FOURTH [Continued).

Chapter II. Mr

ARTHUR CHATTERTON. The drawing-room at St. Hilda's was a long, wide, lofty room, with three great mullioned bay windows, looking out upon the flower garden at the right side of the house. Curtains of bright yellow satin hung before them; the chairs and couches were of the same ; and the tables and other furniture were of ebony, inlaid with gilding. Great gold-framed mirrors, whose white marble slabs were covered with numbers of elegant and costly trifles, were seen everywhere. Im mense China vases were filled with hot-house flowers ; one or two statuettes in white marble VOL. III. B were conspicuous : altogether, giving an air of grandeur to the room. All the panels of the wall Avere fided in with paintings, some of them of exquisite workmanship; the ceiling was a gem, being the work of an Italian artist, whose name Ave have forgotten.

It represented Proser pine gathering flowers in a grove, her dark lover Avatching her from behind a thicket : groups of Cupids were sporting among the floAvers ; the figure of Proserpine herself was enchanting, her beauty ravishing; while the floAvers and trees and the background of woody vistas were marvellously painted. Ruth was quite dazzled by the splendour of this room. We are quite confident that in many cases the outAvard paraphernalia of Avealth and rank is more imposing than is the rank itself in the abstract. Ruth had talked to Lady Chatterton without reserve ; and received her in her own humble house without shame ; but there was something in ad this material evidence of the distance that existed between them that made her shrink into herself. They were not impressed with aAve of this beautiful room, these talkative Chattertons.

Proserpine, and the vases, and the rich carpet, and the great mirrors, and the satin curtains were only the every-day accompaniments of their toast and muffins : they thought nothing of them : whereas Ruth felt humiliated and abashed, as though she had suddenly found herself at Windsor Castle Avhen she had only expected to be drinking tea Avith Mrs. Sturge. She was so open to impressions, so easily moved to fear, or awe, or Avonder, that you must forgive what perhaps you -will cad her vulgar admiration of the magnificence of the Baronet's drawing-room. There Avas a young man standing by the fire place, talking loud and fast, when Ruth entered, and he paused to boAV to her as she timidly approached the table ; then he went on talking again, and his sisters, Amelia and Constance, burst into repeated fits of laughter.

" When Lady Chatterton enters the breakfast room, and attempts to take a chair, I shall cry, ' No, madam, not so. The institutions of this country are a disgrace to civilisation. Let us go abroad, madam — let us consent to learn sonie- B thing from the subjects of the Sublime Porte, —let us learn of the Turks, whom Ave in our ignorance term infidels, how to treat women. Lady Chatterton, learn that the husband is the head of the wife, and the wife emphatically the footstool. Do you hear, madam ? the footstool of the husband ! ' Then I shall force her to go upon her knees, and I shad sink back in my arm-chair in this fashion, and I shall put my feet upon her in my power, and there she shall remain whde I refresh myself with my coffee and cold pheasant. Afterwards I shall allow her to rise, to partake of the bones which I have left, and of the dregs of the coffee-pot."

" Oh, Artie ! — you cruel boy," exclaimed Miss Edith. " Miss Rivers will think you mean it." "I have been giving my sisters a slight sketch of the conduct I mean to pursue toAvards my Avife in embryo, Miss — ah •" " Rivers," put in Edith. " Oh, yes, thank you ; thank you, Edith," and he made Edith a flourishingly extravagant bow. " My wife in embryo, Miss Rivers— is that it ? " in a loud whisper. "Yes." "All right. At which time my respected father shall be quietly reposing in the family vault at St. Hilda's chapel, and I, his son and lawful heir, shall be, as Thackeray expresses it, reigning in his stead. I have a great idea, Miss — ah — Rivers — (Is that it ? " sotto voce to his sister. — " Yes." — " Ad right) — a great idea, that our women are used too well. Don't you agree with me?" " No," said Ruth, who felt, secretly enraged against this pet son, because his badinage ap peared to her like insolence, and she fancied he was making a laughing-stock of her, — " I dont think so at all."

" Don't you, — or rather do you not ? Ab breviations, my mother says, are detestable, although everybody uses them. Of that anon, as the novel AATiters say. I had hoped that a lady who has entered the house in the capacity of instructress to my sisters would have acted with me, and have endeavoured to show them that woman occupies a very low place in the scale of creation, so that in embarking upon the sea of matrimony they Avould do Avell to look out for squalls." " I am a woman myself," said Ruth, sulkily. She kneAv he Avas joking, but his way of ad dressing her was so carelessly patronising that ad her pride Avoke up in rebefliou against the Baronet's heir. His sisters laughed at every Avord he uttered, even Avhen there was nothing particular to laugh at. Evidently his poAver in small things was equal to that of the Great Mogul's. " I forget that you are a woman ?

Do you bring that charge against me ? " "Yes." "You are right, I forget. I recognise in you a genius — a poetess " " An artist," muttered Edith. " Artist is it ? " "Yes." " An artist, a genius— one who rises above the common standard of women, and therefore one from whom I expect to find sympathy for, and with, the scheme I wish to set on foot for the regeneration of mankind. Eirst and foremost : woman — that upstart, — not referring to you as an authoress — " " Painter, Artie," cried Edith. " Well, it 's ad the sape ; — not referring to you, Miss — ah — " " Miss Rivers," said Edith. " Oh, yes, Miss Rivers, — women must be kept down!' Hereupon he seized his sister Edith, forced her upon her knees, and held her there for an instant, Avhde she, Constance, and Amelia laughed longer and louder than Ruth saw any reason for.

Ruth had no right to sit in judgment upon the manners of this family, so infinitely above her in the social scale ; and it by no means follows that the Misses Chatterton's worship of their brother Avas fulsome and overstrained, because she thought it so. But she felt a strong inclination to judge, or perhaps misjudge, Mr. Arthur Chatterton from that, the first moment of her introduction to that talkative, self-satisfied, clever, perhaps rather brilliant young man. We hardly think it would have been possible for anybody in a subordinate situation — any governess, companion, or poor relation— to have tolerated Arthur Chat terton, or thought of him with patience. There Avas a display of superiority, an assumed right of taking precedence in all things, a continual delight in the sound of his own voice, that made this young man odious.

By plough ing deeply, or perhaps even superficially, into the fields of logic, or by carefully and patiently studying the rules of cause and effect, it may be possible to account for this general dislike in a manner that will not serve to exalt human nature in our OAvn opinion. Arthur Chatterton made you feel, or strove to make you feel, that you were in the presence of a superior being when in his company, — that whatever talents you or anybody else possessed, were as nothing in his eyes, be cause he was himself an incarnation of in tellectual power. Such wealth of knowledge and wit was his, that your poor little mites, your meagre gifts, your learning, or your puny genius, Avere as much beneath his recognition (except in a half contemptuous, jocular style, which was more irritating than silence) as the glow-worm's light is beneath the full glory of the queen of night, — to use a hackneyed simde.

To be joked at by a gentleman who believes himself so far above you —to be caded " a genius," " a profound thinker," " a second Rosa Bonheur " if you happen to be a female artist, by a person Avho wid not trouble himself to remember your name — is, to say the least of it, gading to human feeling, human pride, and human egotism. Here then was the simple reason of Mr. Arthur Chatterton's unpopularity with inferiors in the social scale, those to Avhom it was not necessary that he should make himself agreeable. He wounded their self-love, he was a kind of refined scourge to their innate vanity; he made them smad in their own eyes. We have often called Ruth Rivers " this very human Ruth : " she had enough, then, of human egotism, and human pride, and human feehng, to conceive the very strongest distaste to Mr. Arthur Chatterton.

" Are these the manners of a gentleman ? " she said to herself. " Give me those of Widiam Sturge, the city clerk, in preference." William Sturge had always treated her with deference, amounting to reverence. You see how very human Ruth Rivers was ; Iioav imperfect ; how much she had to learn, to suffer, and to do, before she could achieve excellence, subdue self, learn patience. "Now," said Miss Constance Chatterton, " shall we sit round the table, and partake of this meal, that appears to be awaiting us ? " Ruth looked at the eldest daughter of the house — the Miss Perfectway, as her peculiar mamma had caded her; the young lady aat1io knew enough German, and not too much, was good-looking, &c. &c. She was a middle sized young lady, Avith black hair, large, fine dark eyes, and long thick eyelashes, a neat small nose, nice-looking white teeth, and a clear brown colourless complexion.

She Avould not strike you as pretty, and yet when you knew her you might pronounce her handsome. Her forehead Avas rather narrow, and certainly be tokened no great powers of mind. However, perhaps that made her more charming. Powers of mind in women are often considered out of place ; a baronet's daughter with a handsome provision for life, and with good looks, can be quite as well thought of without brains as with them. Only, at St. Hilda's brains were in the ascendant, and those of the young Chattertons whom their mamma did not consider clever were certainly but little esteemed at home. However, we are looking at Miss Chatterton as the world looked at her, and not as the home chxle regarded her. " Is there any seed-cake ? " inquired Mr. Arthur Chatterton. " I do not see any." " Your cake, Artie dear, was not made," said Miss Constance.

" We did not expect you home untd to-morrow." " I must content myself with muffins. It is a singular thing that my known weakness in favour of cake is scarcely ever pandered to in my ancestral home ; it is a terrible evidence of the fadacy of human hopes and expectations, and of the shallowness of human promises. Here have I been fondly deluding myself with the hopes of seed-cake, Miss — ah — " " Rivers," again put in Edith. " Quite so. I have," looking at Ruth, " a great difficulty in remembering names ; let that plead my excuse if I hesitate slightly over that of so distinguished and talented an artiste as yourself." Here was a nice little stab for a totally un knoAvn aspirant, who could not sell her water colours for fifteen shillings each. Ruth, how ever, sAvalloAved the annoyance with a patient and sickly smile.

What else could she do, except to avow to herself, with inward fervour, that Arthur Chatterton was detestable ? " I have a great predilection for cake, and naturally suppose when I return from the great Babel to the bosom of my family, that I shad find what I seek — a warm enthusiastic welcome, the affection of my mother, the rapturous greet ings of my lovely sisters, and last, not least, my cake. I repeat emphatically, my cake. I hiss it out with impotent rage — my cake. I again repeat, that here, in the bosom of my famdy, I expect my cake. The bosom of my famdy heaves — palpitates — and — refuses me the boon I demand." Here the three sisters laughed so immo derately, that Ruth was obliged to join, in some sickly sort, or her gravity Avould have looked like sullenness. " The last time," resumed Arthur Chatter ton, " that I entered these time-honoured wads it was not so.

Then my cake was awaiting me, simultaneously with my mother's smdes, my sisters' dimples and caresses," he continued, raising his voice in a theatrical manner, — " There it was — there was my cake in the centre of that table ; and now, there's only the empty memory of that cake — the actual ghost of that confection remains to mock me ; a mere hodow phantasy. ' Ob, memory ! thou fond deceiver, Still importunate and vain ; To former cakes returning ever, Turning all the past to pain.' Can anybody present inform me from Avhence I have borrowed that quotation ? " " It's from Coleridge, is it not, Artie ? " cried Miss Amelia, the second daughter. "Amelia, did you ever knoAv Avhere a verse was quoted from ? " inquired Arthur, almost severely, and becoming grave. " You can tell, Edith?" " I'm sure I shall know to-morroAv, dear," said Edith, in a fussy, anxious voice.

" I know it is not Coleridge ; " and the poor thing began to ransack her memory, in the vain effort to find the author of the well-knoAvn lines. She knew Arthur Avould tell his mother if she pitched upon the right name : then Edith Avould be called careful ; be told that her memory Avas improving ; be cited as an example to her volatile sister; and that alone was delight to Edith. " You can't guess, Conny, I suppose ? " said Arthur to Constance, avIio was pouring out the tea. " No, dear," said Constance, lauehino- • " I never heard them before. I can never remember the right name at the right time." " Miss Rivers knows, of course ? " said Arthur, looking at Ruth, and remembering her name for the first time. " Goldsmith," answered Ruth, shortlv. " Right," said Arthur. " Miss Rivers has now told you the name of the poet ; don't forget it again, Amelia."

" Ah, my dear boy," said Amelia, " if every body had your memory ! " " Why, in that case," cried Constance, AAdth a little giggle — and it Avas the least pleasant thing about poor Constance, for she hardly ever spoke without that giggle — "in that case the world would be so wise, that there would be no use in colleges or studying. People would just be told things once, and remember them ever after. There Avould be a most alarming Avar of Avits ; it would be a terrible Avorld, I think, if everybody were as clever as Arthur." Artie passed his cup to his sister to be re plenished, observing complacently, " Imagine a world brimful of geniuses ! What a peculiar aspect society would present. You give a dinner ; or, rather, you seiid invitations to forty people — all the families about St. Hilda's, for 5. example.

The guests arrive, the dinner hour arrives, but the dinner does not arrive. You impatiently summon Marsh, the footman, who has ad the Avisdom of a politician, the imagina tion of a Byron, and the learning of a Cicero. Marsh extends his hands and exclaims, ' Sir, Avhat you request is impossible ; we should have been delighted to have furthered your Avishes in any Avay ; the disappointment of this august company (bowing profoundly to the guests) is a source of deep regret to us ad ; but Simonds has at this moment a scientific, literary, and political reunion in the housekeeper's room; all the do mestics from forty mdes round are assembled; he purposes delivering a short address on the late discoveries he has made in connexion with the planet Jupiter. After that, Lord Morley's coachman is going to propose some nevv scheme in relation to the Schleswig-Holstein difficulty ; and then I myself shall have the honour of addressing the meeting, and lecturing on the Analysis of Government, monarchical, con stitutional, and autocratical.

You wid agree with me, that under these circumstances the dinner is a thing impossible.' Whereupon the guests pack off in twos and threes, hungry, savage, but completely foiled; and (I am by that time Sir Arthur Chatterton) I hide my diminished head, and resolve never to attempt to give a dinner again on the evenings when the servants hold these scientific and literary reunions." Arthur Chatterton spoke so rapidly and in cessantly, that it required a person to keep his ear and attention alert, or he was in danger of losing much of this continual flow of words. The heir of St. Hdda's never paused for breath, and never appeared to take the least thought or care about what he was going to say. It ready seemed then to his hearers, that this young gen tleman was possessed of considerable quickness and brilliancy.

Written down, his principal say ings then read something like nonsense, but they did not sound so, enunciated with his clear loud voice, and accompanied by his excited and nervous gesture. Arthur Chatterton was cut out for an actor ; he was always acting — always showing off. From his cradle he had been VOL. III. c accustomed to the slavish adulation of those around him. Loud laughter, forced or other wise, had always followed every essay of his wit, and noAV at twenty-five he expected the world to fodow in the footsteps of his mother and sisters. Hehto a baronetcy and an unencumbered if smad rent-roll, there was little danger that he would find himself considerably " sat upon " in the fashionable Avorld. At the same time there were those avIio did not bend the knee, meta phorically speaking, to the young gentleman; and for such people he entertained a pitying contempt.

Arthur Chatterton was a short, slight, fair complexioned young man, with fine hazel eyes, but insignificant plain features; his forehead, however, Avas excellent, and he had completely the air of a gentleman.

Chapter III. Amelia And Edith

Mademoiselle du Chatel came gracefully into the room in her bronze silk evening dress. Her rich dark hair was arranged exquisitely. She wore a thick gold chain and massive gold cross, with a magnificent diamond in the centre, close to her swan-like throat. She seemed dressed for a party, and poor Ruth, with her dishevelled tresses and tumbled, travel-soiled dress, felt herself a very shabby person by the side of the calm, elegant governess. She ad vanced to Ruth and took her hand, smiling kindly. " You found your way, then, to St. Hdda's ? " "Yes, Mademoisede du Chatel." " I hope you will like it," said the governess, advancing towards the window, and drawing the curtains more closely. c " Constance, are you ready ? " "No." " You must make haste ; you know the car riage will be here very shortly."

" Oh ! " thought Ruth ; " then they are going to a party of some kind." Arthur Chatterton left the table, and advanced to the fire, where Mademoiselle du Chatel had seated herself. " There will be room for me in the carriage, Miss du Chatel ? " " Certainly, Mr. Chatterton." " I suppose I ought to go and array myself in fitting habiliments ; I ought to summon Peters, and get him to ' get me up ' in proper style ; in short, I ought to ' tog to death/ to use slang, Avhich is unfortunately popular. Slang is a shocking thing, is it not, Miss Rivers?" " No." said Ruth ; " I think slang gives point to conversation." She would have said piquancy, had she mixed more with the polite world. " I am much obliged to you," said Arthur Chatterton, gravely ; " the approval of a lady of genius like yourself is worth having.

I shall now use slang in your presence without fear, nay, with courage, even with relish, confident that not only I do not offend your taste, but that you absolutely honour me with your approval." The sisters laughed in concert, but Ruth wished she could ted Arthur Chatterton that she thought him a conceited, insulting creature ; as it was, she coloured, and looked down, feeling far from amiable. Then Mr. Chatterton quitted the room. Constance followed to cad her maid, for she and her brother, and the divine Claribel, were going to dinner at Lord Morley's, Avith Made moisede du Chatel as their chaperone. Then Amelia and Edith came to the fire. Amelia almost shouted ; " I was asked to this 'ear dinner. The Countess of Morley's note said the two eldest Miss Chattertons, and the eldest and the third are going ; it's what I cads a downright shame."

" Amelia, you get into such habits of speaking bad English in joke, that in time you will not know when you speak correctly," said Miss du Chatel. "My dear creature," cried Amelia, with a burst of laughter, that made her round face crimson — (she was, as her mother had said, a little red-faced, almost vulgar-looking thing ; but she had bright eyes, a pretty smding mouth, and the tone of her voice was remarkably pleasant) — " My dear creature, can't you think of anything more original to say? I've heard that there observation at least a dozen times from you this week." Miss du Chatel did not smde. Edith looked severe, and Ruth was the only one who mani fested any appreciation of the joke ; she laughed a little at round-faced funny Amelia, who con tinued, — " My respected mother has prejudices : one of them is, that she does not acknowledge my talents ; she keeps me at home, and sends Clary in my place, 'cause I ain't 'andsome.

Lor' bless you, it's nothin' but that, nothin' but jest 'cause I ain't so 'andsome." "Amelia, my dear, just recollect what you are talking about," said Edith, in an admonitory tone." Amelia made an absurd grimace. "Thank you, Miss Edith, I-m sure it's a blessing to see you open your pretty mouth, and to hear you giving vent to them there peculiar observations; but I said afore, and I says it again, as if I'd been 'andsome my mother would have let me go to his 'ear party." Amelia, in her dark sdk dress, snowy codar and cuffs, smad fair jeweded hands, and outAvard accoutrements of a lady — Amelia, the daughter of a baronet, standing in her father's sumptuous drawing-room, and expressing herself Avith her soft refined voice in the most vulgar idioms of the Midlands, was a sight so rare to Ruth, that she was greatly amused by it, and she laughed until her eyes glistened.

But Miss du Chatel and Edith remained grave and dig nified. Ruth saw that Amelia was under check when that Great Mogul, her brother, was present, but that she cared nothing whatever for the elegant Erench governess. Amelia seated herself upon a low footstool near the fire, observing, " Everybody does not think Claribel so hand some as mamma thinks her." " They must," cried Edith, hastdy j " if they don't, it's jealousy." " Absurd ! " cried Amelia. " Lord Pigott's daughters, the greatest belles and heiresses in London, Avho have refused fifty offers a-piece, — just as if they would be jealous of a country girl like Claribel. They told me they did not admire her half so much as they admired Conny." " Bad taste, then," said Edith, hastily. " People avIio have no eye for beauty, no ap preciation of art; people Avith no notion of proportion, and who are colour-blind, perhaps, would find no loveliness in a rosebud.

There are people Avho have no eye for the charms of a landscape, and who prefer town to country ; who can see nothing to admire in a sunset ; or care about painting or sculpture. I know heaps of people Avho hate music, to whom it Avould be a dreadful punishment to be compelled to attend an Oratorio at the Crystal Palace, even if they might hear Adelina Patti, Titiens, or Sims Reeves. I should say the Lady Pigotts had no taste at all. I should call it an extra proof of Clary's beauty if such people did not admire her." Amelia burst out into a mocking laugh. " Miss Rivers, did you ever meet with such a set of chatterboxes as we are in this house ? Once set any of us off, and there's no stopping us under a quarter of an hour. We take it from our parents. Mamma, you know, is a tremendous talker ; and papa is one of the longest-winded Conservatives in the Lower House.

We all talk. Artie talks, though you don't knoAv always what about. Conny can go on by the hour when she likes, only, the worst is, Conny repeats herself like — like — '(here Amelia exploded into laughter) — " like the clergyman, Mr. Mill, in his Sunday evening sermons that he preaches extempore. Clary is as long winded as any of us, but Edith hasn't a single observation of her own to put forward : every word she says comes direct from mamma; her mind is like a mirror to reflect mamma's. I never care much to hear her observations, be cause I always know I can get them first-hand up-stairs, and much better expressed into the bargain." " Amelia," said Edith, with an assumption of calmness, " you know mamma would not like to hear you giving Miss Rivers, who is a stranger, such a notion of the family.

Let Miss Rivers form her OAvn opinion of us ; but I hope she Avill not value us at your estimate." " Up-stairs again," laughed Amelia ; " that there speech never came from that there pretty mouth of yours, Miss Edith, until your ears had imbibed it first from her ladyship up-stairs. Thank you, my dear mamma at second hand, but I don't Avant any more of that there." Edith had tears in her eyes by this time. " Amelia starts conversation," she sobbed, " and then, if I attempt to talk, she puts me doAvn, and makes me look foolish." " Edith, ma chere ! je te plains sincerement," cried Amelia ; " ne pleurez pas, enfant cherie. Je suis bete noir. You know that I am very sorry to cause you to shed tears." But Amelia's face never lost its mocking smde. She was a hard little thing, and had a peculiar faculty for hurting people's feelings ; but it was not owing, I think, to a spiteful disposition.

Per haps it came from an irritable temper, and a total want of sympathy. She had astonishing thoughtlessness and forgetfulness, which made her sometimes appear almost like an idiot. Ruth perceived that jealousy of the fair Claribel lay at the bottom of this attack upon Edith, and that Edith in her slavish submission to her mother's opinions, had drawn upon herself something resembling dislike from Ameha. Edith rose with her pocket-handkerchief to her eyes, and left the room. " There go three hours' conversation for mamma wrapped up in Edith's handkerchief." Edith had put her mouth into the handkerchief, and Amelia's remark was meant for wit. " I think it a pity, Amelia, that you give vent to your feelings in that manner; you express every wdd thought that comes into your head. You get yourself into trouble, — that is the first thing; and then you do yourself no good by going direct against your mamma's known dogmas.