The Love that Lived

Front matter

THE LOVE THAT LIVED. X jtobcl. BY MRS. EILOART, AUTHOR OF " THE CURATE'S DISCIPLINE," " MEG," "JUST A WOMAN," ETC, etc. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II. SAMUEL TINSLEY, 10, SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND. 1874. [All rights of translation and reproduction are reserved.] CONTENTS OF VOL. II. HAPTER PACE I. AN EVENING AT ONE'S CLUB 1 II. BOBERT REED GETS OUT OF DEBT 29 III. THE HERO IN HIS HOME 47 IV. HOW ROBERT REED WAS BROUGHT TO WYCHE- HOLME 56 V. SIBYL CHEYNE FINDS THAT SHE HAS PLATED WITH FIRE 69 VI. MRS. REED AT WYCHEHOLME 80 VII. HOW TONY BYNG SPENT HIS SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY 89 VIII. MRS. RIVINGTON AS HOSTESS 112 LX. AFTER MANY YEARS 138 X. TEA AT THE RECTORY 165 XI. ROBERT REED'S DARING 196 XII. MR. RIVINGTON's DEFEAT 209 XIII. NO HOPE NO HELP 218 XIV. TRY AGAIN 2.39 XV. SIBYL CHEYNE OWNS SHE HAS SEEN FIT TO CHANGE HER MIND , THE LOVE THAT LIVED.

Chapter I. An Evening At One's Club

A large, panelled room with a low ceiling, which would have been the better for a coat of whitewash, a carpetless floor, dirty with the tread of feet which came there after the day's labour in factory or workshop was at an end, some shelves at one end, covered with books, most of which bore marks of being well read, as well they might, the generality having been purchased second hand, and since their purchase been in pretty frequent request. There were Shakevol. it. speare and Scott, several of Dickens's books, some stray volumes of Household Words, Thackeray's Vanity Fair, Josephus, Macau lay's Essays, Schiller's Wilhelm Tell (a translation), Shelley, Keats, De Quincey's works, and several volumes of a scientific nature, treating chiefly of astronomy, geo logy, and chemistry. These, with some books of an inferior class, made up the library of the Wychester Working Men's Club.

There were newspapers on the bare deal table, and two or three periodicals, and the gas from the ugly three-armed iron burner above threw its light on a dozen faces gathered round the table, all more or less bearing the stamp of thoughtfulness and intelligence. Pale faces mostly, and look ing like those of men not too luxuriously nurtured ; some of them homely, sensible, kindly ; others harsh, and with a soured, embittered expression, but one and all looking as if they were men to whom life was not a particularly easy, nor perhaps a very pleasant thing, only while some bore their burthens lightly, others could never for get that they had a burthen to bear, and were disposed to complain of the jus tice of its being laid on their particular shoulders. Tony Byng was at the head of the table, •with writing slope and paper before him.

Robert Reed stood by his side. He had come in there but five minutes before, and Tony Byng had introduced him to the club. " I don't see," he said, " why those who work with their heads shouldn't be one with those who work with their hands. So my young friend here has come to night to see us, and how he likes us and our ways, and if we get on well together, there 's no reason why we should n't go on side by side for a bit. Reed here is a better scholar 1—2 than I am, or, indeed, any of us, and it would be very easy for him to give us just the help that we need." There was a murmur of approval from the majority. To be Tony Byng's friend was something, but they all knew, by this time, that Robert Reed was working on the Liberal side. They had read, you may be sure, some of those short articles of his in the Wychester " Pioneer," the insertion of which had first brought him into contact with Tony, who just at that time was com positor in its printing office ; and therefore, in spite of his black coat and the gentility of his appearance, they were disposed to be friendly with him.

" We 're glad to see you, sir," said a short, spare man. He was a shoemaker and mender, but of rather a different stamp to Watty Griffiths. " And if you 're not too proud to work with us, we won't be too proud to work with you. I do n't see why smooth hands and rough should n't join to gether to make the world a little better than they find it." There was a general assent to this pro position. The speaker, Jacob Blount, was, after Tony, the best spokesman present. Ptobert Reed said frankly — " I shall be very glad to help you. I have n't been long in this country, as I hail from Canada, but I know enough, and have seen enough, of the working men here to know that there's plenty of room for im provement in their position, and if in any way I can make myself useful to you, I shall be very glad to do it."

He did not know much of the working men, nor of the rights and wrongs of which he had written so fluently in the Pioneer. But he felt inclined to side with the weak er, and his acquaintance with Tony Byng had deepened that inclination, and perhaps that dislike of his to Lionel Rivington had had something to do with it. What was this man that he should let him see, with such studied insolence, that it was not for him to talk as with an equal with Sibyl Cheyne. Why should he not talk to, her if she was a lady born and he a manufacturer's clerk ? What had all these vile prejudices of class and caste to do with him or her ? He had no thought of love ; he told himself as much whenever he spoke of Sibyl Cheyne, which mip-ht have convinced him that he had such thoughts ; but why should he not speak to her if their tastes and likings were such as to give them pleasure in each other's society?

Tony Byng had done a good deal towards the completion of Ptobert Reed's political education, which was pretty far advanced in a certain direction, thanks to his study of English newspapers and the class of English with whom he had been brought in contact before he left Canada, but his slight ac quaintance with Sibyl Cheyne and the two or three encounters he had had with Lionel Rivington had done a greatdeal more. Only, what an insufferable thing it was that to the man for whom he felt that deepest hatred of all, the antipathy of class to class, he should be indebted for his life. Indebted without the slightest chance of ever beino; able to return the obligation. There were not many members of the Wychester Working Men's Club. Tony Byng had started it, and he had given as his contribution to the society " Combe's Constitution of Man," the volume of Schil ler's poems, and Scott's novels, all of which he had acquired from time to time second hand.

Other members had found some thing to spare from their small book-shelves, and Tony, as treasurer, had the disposal of a small sum to be laid out in books, as he met with them cheap. A turner who had joined the club had made it a couple of chess or draught boards, and two sets of men. A bookbinder patched and repaired the books, as they got worn, for nothing. The rent of the room was low, and gas was not dear in Wychester, so that altogether the club, although its subscriptions were small, and its members few, and it had not, and never had had, the slightest assistance from any outsider, managed to struggle on, pay its way, and give those who composed it a better way of spending their time than they would have had in the beer-shop or the skittle-ground The men were Liberals, every one of them ; perhaps something more, and they had come together this evening to discuss the coming election, and the possibility of defeating the Conservative side.

Some of them had small freeholds in Flatlands, others hoped to acquire them, for there had been some talk of starting a new building society on the ashes of the old. Tony, how ever, had no vote at all ; he had never been able to acquire one; it was not that he was improvident, or a spendthrift, but there were two luxuries in which Tony could not help indulging. The one was so expensive that a great many of Tony's betters are content to forego it — the right of speaking his mind; and the other was the pleasure of helping his neighbours whenever they fell into any of those troubles from which, Tony always said nothing but a single fife had kept him free. There was a good deal of discussion about Mr. Rivington's chances of success. One thing was clear : his having worked his way up, risen from the ranks, as one of his pla cards appealing to the working classes had stated it, much to Mrs. Rivington's annoy ance, did him no good with these men.

They believed that was only a cry to serve a purpose, and they made no scruple of saying so. " He'll forget all about the ranks when he's in the House," said one of them, " and be harder on the working men than ever, if only to prove he's a gentleman." " There's no missis so hard, I've heard my missis say," said another, " as the one who was in service herself before she got raised in the world ; it's the same with such as Mr. Rivington ; he'd keep us under if he had his way, with a heavier hand than e'er an old-fashioned Tory squire of them all." " The Liberals are half of them a poor sort — table-beer spoilt in the making," said another, " and the Conservatives are a regular bad lot, every one knows ; but there's nothing like a Liberal Conservative for a downright thorough-going tyrant under a genteel name."

" I wish we'd known of this sooner," said another, " we might have done something by getting a lecturer from town ; Arton would have come, or Rogers, and stirred folks up a bit by telling them the rights of it." " I thought Arton was coming," said Tony. " Weren't you to write to him ?" " So I did, and he's coming," said West, who was a clock-maker by trade. " He'll give us three lectures in three weeks' time — he don't see his way to coming sooner. He's agreeable to the subjects I named (those we agreed upon), but if he could come sooner of course we'd ask him to go in for something about the present matter ; but every night's taken up till then, and we can't ask him to put other people off — a man with a family, and his living to earn — for a chance job like ours." " You've asked Arton to come !" said Robert Reed with a little surprise.

" He's a popular man, and commands a good price, I should hardly have thought — " " That we could get enough together to pay him," said West, finishing the sentence, which Robert Reed had found it difficult to do. " Well, I don't know that we shall ; not as he's a right to expect to be paid, but we've been fair and aboveboard with him, and I'll just tell you what I said when I wrote — these were something like the words, as near as I can remember — ' We shall be main pleased to see you here, if you can spare the time to come ; some of us have .a great wish to hear you, and we believe there are many in the town of the same mind. We're going to club together, and take the large room in North Street, that holds five hundred people. We'll pay all expenses, and give you all the profits ; but if the thing should turn out a dead loss we've settled that we'll find you in a bed, and your bite and sup, at one or other of our houses, and we'll subscribe a sove reign for you among us.' " " And what are the subjects ?" asked Robert Reed.

"Hamlet — Tom Hood — and the Pilgrim's Progress," said West. "Arson's a rare clever fellow, and we all of us want to hear what he's got to say about them. I only wish we could have had him sooner ; he'd have given us a lecture that* would have showed up some of the muddle-heads in this place." " If it had suited Mr. Shafto to have died a year or two later it would have been a real good thing," said Tony Byng. " If we could once get hold of the rest of Flatlands, and cut it up into forty-shilling freeholds, we might make ourselves felt. There's a piece of land too outside Aireslie that's likely to be in the market, only those Aireslie folks are such duffers, that as like as not they'll let it fall into the hands of some man with more land than he knows how to do his duty by already. You're a cool hand, young fellow, and from your very business must be a good hand at reckoning.

This was just a matter in which I thought you could help us;" There was a knock at the door, loud, sudden, and imperative. It had been secured from the inside when the last man had entered. On ordinary occasions during club hours it was left with no other protec tion than a latch. The low whine of a dog was heard outside as well, and as there was a short delay the knock was repeated, and the voice of Watty Griffiths, with its accents not quite so clear as they might have been if Watty had not been spending the last half hour at a"neighbouring public house, was heard. "Let me in I tell you, I've got some thing — I've got something ter say that you'll be none the worse for hearin'. I come o' purpose ter say it ter you, an' you ought ter be main obliged to me instead o' keepin' me shiverin' here."

" It's that blackguard Watty Griffiths," said Tony, looking round. " What's to be done ? Shall we keep him the other side of the door or let him in ? There'll be a stop to business either way." Watty had been a member of the club when it started. As he said, he was as good a Radical as any going, and went a little further than many people did, and so in an evil moment the original founders of the club were induced to admit him amongst their number. They soon had cause to repent the doing so ; Watty's Radicalism was undeniable, so was its thoroughness ; he would have trampled down and rooted up everything that was at all above or beyond his own tastes. According to Watty a fellow was a stuck-up noodle if he es chewed swearing or plain — very plain — speaking, he might as well go in for a parson at once ; he wanted to be a gentle man, but didn't know how, if he indulged in a clean face when his day's work was over, and shaved more than once a week.

Then Watty's habits were not conducive to the promotion of the objects for which the club was formed ; he was too fond of argu ment, and of clenching his argument with his fist if he found himself unable to do so in any other way. Added to which, when ever Watty came into the town to attend the club, he was sure on leaving it to get into some dispute or trouble on the road home, more frequently than not causing Mrs. Grif fiths the liveliest uneasiness through being detained in the police station all night. And when Watty was brought before the magis trates in the morning he was wont to asse verate loudly, that his habits and ways were of the most unexceptionable character, state the club he belonged to as a sufficient proof of the fact, and request the gentlemen on the bench to call any of its members before them to corroborate his asser tions, or to stand bail if need be.

It was then resolved neni. con. to request Watty to withdraw, and to tender him his entrance money of half a crown. Watty was furious at the slight ; and if Job West, a man of physical power quite equal to his own, had not taken the matter in hand, and threatened to eject Watty by main force if ever he made his appearance again at the club, Watty might still have chosen its chimney corner as a snug resting-place whenever he had made the Chequers or the Blue Boar too hot to hold him. " He'll stand knocking there till mid night if we don't open the door," said Tony. " I 'm quite agreeable to throw him in the gutter," said Job West, "only let me take my coat off first, or I'll may be crack it in the seams." " He may have something to say," said Tony, " that would be worth hearing. We did n't make him so comfortable when he was here last, that he 'd come for naught.

I do n't suppose he 'd have come here if it did not serve his turn to tell it, but none VOL. II. the less it may be worth our hearing it_ The shortest way will be to open the door, and see what he has come about. West can but let him see we do n't want him, if we find he has nothing to say." This was assented to, and West was de sired to open the door in order that Watty might be made aware of his presence. " I '11 take my coat off, anyhow," said the clockmaker, evidently regarding the gar ment — a very decent one — with great respect. " There may be a tussle, and there 's no rea son that should come to harm; besides, Watty may as well see I 'm ready, if need be." All this time Watty had been keeping up a persistent knocking at the door, with the thick end of his stick, and when West slowly opened it he stepped in, and looked round defiantly.

"Yew 've been a long time thinkin' about it. 'T would ha 'been a bad thing for you if I had gone away without telling you my news." His dog, the black, one-eyed terrier, followed him, glaring round as sullenly, with his one eye, as his master did with his two. " We do n't have dogs here," said Job West. " It 's against the rules." " Darn the rules," said Watty, " where I goes my dog go, ay, an' these little beau ties, too," and he pulled out one of his ferrets from his loose coat-sleeve. The creature twineditself round his fingers, and he stroked its lithe, sinuous form with more tenderness than he had ever shown to wife or child. " I ha' got that ter tell you may make you put up wi' my dog and my ferrets too — pretty creature," he cried, as he flung himself into the first chair that he came near, with as much force as if he meant to break it.

He was evidently the worse for liquor, but still in full possession of his senses, and the general sentiment was that it would be better to wait patiently, and hear what 2—2 Watty had to tell, ignoring the presence, if possible, of his dumb companions. " I hev had a rare fight ter day," said Watty, looking round with impressive gra vity, " one an' all; every one o' you at least, as hev' votes, ort ter be thankful ter me. I got the better, yes, I may say, I got the better on it, though it war n't such a thorough out-and-out victory as I should wish. Young Muster Rivington and Muster Brooke, the agent from Lonnon, came a temptin' o' me, but I war firm, I war — I stood by my rights, and the rights o' all o' you, an' I would n't be done by him — now, an' by now one as doa n't know an honest man when he see him."

The club in general listened with interest. That Mr. Brooke, from London, and young Rivington, should have gone to Watty's house to tempt him, did not surprise them. But Watty, in the character of an " honest man," indignant at such tempta tion, was something new. " Let 's hear the rights of it, man," said Tony Byng. " You were another St. Anthony, only there was not a lady in the way." " I do n't know anything about saints — nor much about ladies, but I know the way those gentlemen tried to get over me was a disgrace to them. What do you think now of their offering me only five pounds for my free and independent vote ? Did you ever hear anything like that ?" " Oh, they offered you five pounds, did they ?" said Tony, his face brightening up ; and Robert Reed, and the club in general, showed a lively interest in what was going on.

There seemed a prospect of a petition for bribery before the Conservative candi date. " Only five pounds !" said Watty, indig nantly. "Did you ever hear the like o' that ? Ter come ter a man's own place, and insult him wi' such a pitiful offer." " How did they put it ?" asked Tony. "Eh, bor, you needn't think ter catch they nappin'. 'T were my furrit I sold, not my vote," said Watty, with a grin ; "they bought him, at least the chap from Lonnon did, on account of his sameness an' cuteness, as a pet for his lady in Lonnon. 'T were this pretty cretur' he bid for, an' he giv' the Lon noner such a sore taste of his quality before he parted wi' him, that I 'm thinkin' he won't be in a hurry tew send for him to Lonnon. Anyhow, a bargain 's a bargain ; he must go if he 's wanted ; but I reckon as long as I 'm at the pollin' -place in good time, an' give a plumper for Muster Rivington, they wo n't be wanting Whitewash here, up in Lonnon," and then Watty, as he played with the animal, recounted the trick he had played the London agent, and looked round for ap plause.

" Anyhow I hev' raised the market penny — doa n't none of you be sich flats as to let your votes go under seven. Seven 's the figur', an' Whitewash here fixed it." " I hope," said Robert Reed, looking round, " that no man here is inclined to profit by your example — no, nor to benefit by the exertions of Whitewash in their behalf." " Let they speak as hev' votes ; I never heard o' your having any, Muster Reed," said Watty, sullenly, Robert's summary ejectment of him from the Rectory evidently rankling in his mind. " A vote 's a man's property, that he 's a right tew dew as he loikes wi', jist as he do wi' his dog or his worse, or any other piece o' goods belong in' to him. I doa n't say sell tew Muster Rivington, if the other side 'nil pay as good a price, on'y remember seven 's the figur'.

Whitewash here has settled it, an' I think 't wou'd be on'y proper to git up a subscription for him or his marster, in token of your respect for his valuable services." "If that's all you've come to tell us, Griffiths," said Jacob Blount, " you might have stayed the other side of the door — I do n't think we 're any of us likely to follow your example — I hope not," he added, looking round. " I hope not, too," said Tony. "Gold 's a good thing enough in its way, but like everything i else it may be bought too dear." Watty glared at him contemptuously. " If you 'd a vote o' your own, you 'd know the vally o' one. It 's allus they that have nuthin' ter sell that are for lettin' things go cheap. However, that was n't all I came ter tell yer. Flatlands is in the market, and Marster Rivington is biddin' for it."

There was a general feeling of dismay through the club. How should they out buy such a bidder, and what could he want with the land they coveted, unless it was to prevent their making use of it. " That 's about it," said Watty, " you 've hit the right nail on the head, my man," when some one had suggested as much. "He doan't want Flatlands for pride or plea sure, but just that we may n't hev' it, darn him. He 's a taking of our property — robbin' us of our rights, that 's what it is — I heard say that he meant to turn it into a park, an' give it ter the people. Why could n't he thro w his own open to the folk of Wychester, and let Flatlands be for those who want ter turn a honest penny by it — park, indeed, if he git that thar' bit o' land, the Tories '11 have it all their own way at the next election, whatever they may do this.

There 's scarce another bit o' ground in the county that a poor man 's a chance o' gettin' hold on." " How did you hear of this ?" asked Robert Reed ; " if it is true it 's possibly only a good-natured thing on Mr. Riving ton's part. He 's free with his money by all accounts, and it's not so unusual a thing nowadays for a rich man to do." "Free!" cried Tony Byng, "yes, he's free to give, and takes precious good care to get famous interest for his money. — I won't say he may have thought that if Flatlands were turned into a park it would be the best thing for his party that could very well be, but it looks uncommonly like it ; but he '11 make the park pay, anyway. It will give him good interest, in the shape of po pularity and praise — it will please his party — Flatlands has been a sore thorn in their side.

What did he build the wing of the hos pital for, but with a view to something of the sort? they know how to lay out their money, they do, those rich folks that are so kind — and if it does n't bring them good interest in this world, why, it will in the next. I sometimes think rich folks fancy poor ones are only made to serve them as stepping stones to heaven." But the genera] opinion was that Flat lands woidd not be purchased to serve as a stepping-stone to heaven. It was to keep it out of the people's hands, to win popu larity from those who did not see what the real object was that the banker had in view. Watty's story was believed — Watty him self said he had chapter and verse for it — had n't he overheard the steward talking about it to his crony, Farmer Tribe, while he, Watty, was clearing the farmer's hay stack of rats for him that afternoon?

Were n't they discussing its value, and what it would cost to drain and lay out ? It was clear Mr. Rivington must have been discussing the matter with his man of business, or he would never have had it all so pat — and had n't Watty hurried off as soon as he had made a satisfactory clearance of the intru ders in the farmer's hay-stack, to tell his friends of the Wychester Working Men's Club what treason was meditated against their better claims to the land ? He had not lost a moment, except to take a pint or so at the Blue Boar, with which, after his ex ertions that day, he had found it impossible to dispense — but had come to them at once. " It '11 bring votes down that they won't be wurth the trouble o' register ing," said Watty ; " make as much as you can while they dew fetch a decent price, an' do n't let one o' em go for less than seven pound this time.

Deal fair wi' both sides alike, an' then neither will hev' no cause to complain. But git your seven pounds ; 't won't be seven shillin', next time ; an' you may thank Whitewash here for raisin' as much as he hev' done for you."

Chapter II. Robert Reed Gets Out Of Debt

" That fellow 's the biggest rascal in all Wychester," said Tony, " and yet I believe he has told the truth, and that Rivington 's going to buy Flatlands ; partly that we shouldn't have it, and partly by way of a good investment that's sure to pay one way or another. Now, I did think of trying myself to get a bit of land there, and may be building ahousethere some day. That'sdone with. I never could lay money by ; some body's sure to turn up that wants it more than I do ; you would n't believe it, but I had got ten pounds together a little while back, and thought that was the beginning of my estate in Flatlands — my estate in the air ! — an old friend of mine with a wife and half a dozen children wanted to emigrate, there was no room for him here, there was no room for the children, he was short of cash, so I lent him my ten pounds, and whether I shall ever see it again or not, is more than I can tell, but I said when he took it, ' That puts Flatlands as far off as ever ;' and now it's clean gone altogether.