Woman's Wrong

Front matter

WOMAN'S WRONG. BA MRS. EILOART, AUTHOR OF "ST. BEDE'S," "THE CURATE'S DISCIPLINE.' HI IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON. 1872. \Al. Rights Rcsciied.\ CONTENTS OF VOL. III. CHAPTER ; PAGE I. MASTER HAROLD IS INTRODUCED TO HIS FAMILY I II. "I COULD n't GIVE HIM UP " . . .21 III. NOT GUILTA- ...... 3G IV. IS THE PRICE PAID IN FULL? . . -53 V. LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM . . . -67 VI. HAROLD SEES MORE OF HIS FAMILY . . 76 VII. MRS. RUSHTON'S ILLNESS . . . -93 VIII. "IF EVER HE SHOULD KNOW " . . . 104 IX. HOW CAN SHE TELL HIM? . . .124 X. HOW HAROLD HEARS IT TOLD . . . 142 XI. HIS MOTHER'S SOX THROUGH ALL . .163 XII. "YOUR BURTHENS NOW ARE MINE" . . 186 XIII. THE COMING BATTLE .... Contents. IV CHAPTER PAGE xiv. w ai rixc ....... 214 XV. " WHAT ELSE COULD I DO?" . . . 234 XVI. LADY CHARLESTON TAKES HER GRANDSON TO TASK . . . ... . 252 XVII. HELP FOR THE BATTLE .... 264 XVIII. "it was a lie" ..... 295 XIX. THE REST THAI' CAME AT LAS! . . 32O

Chapter I. Master Harold Is Introduced To His Family

§£|t7œ||HERE was a pleasant little nook W? bc^ at the foot of the East Tor at <s&x-&\ Combe Leigh ; a sort of small table-land, to which it was very easy to gain access by the path which wound round the rocks when the tide was low, but not so easy to leave when the tide was high ; and here, the day after Mr. Rushton's return to Combe Leigh, two boys had found their way — it might be to VOL. III. I look for seaweed or anemones, or it might be because from there they could Avatch the ships sailing past on the broad ocean, Avithout being disturbed by the little crowd Avith Avhich the beach Avas ahvays alive ; but there they Avere, the one reading, the other flinging stones into the Avaves Avith a pertinacity that Avas sometimes trying to his more quietly disposed companion. The reader Avas Reginald Charleston, so named after his maternal grandfather, the tenth Earl Orville.

He looked even noAv, after a fortnight in the soft, but bracing, air of Combe Leigh, so Aveak and delicate as fully to justify Lady Charleston in her persuasion that he Avould never live to manhood. He Avas not a handsome boy either, his hair had the dull red colour of his mother's — not auburn or golden, but a dull, ugly red — and his complexion, like hers, was of a colourless Avhite, Avithout a particle of glow or bloom upon it. His head was too large for his body, and his hands — it Avas enough to make any one's heart ache to see them — thin, Avasted, white, and slender, Avith the blue veins shining through the pale skin, to all appearance the hands of a boy Avho had never held a cricket bat, or climbed a tree, in his life ; hands that seemed only fit for Avhat they were doing noAv, to turn over the pages of a book Avhich Avas fitter for a grown man than for a boy in his teens.

He had, too, that saddest look of all, on a child's face — the look of one whom familiarity with pain has made old before his time ; but still there was a patience and a gentleness about the Avorn, pale features, that made them, on the Avhole, pleasanter to look upon than were the lineaments of the boy with him, who bore in his every look and movement the impress of health and robustness overfloAv ing even to coarseness. He was not pleasant to look upon, this latter young gentleman. He was short, red, vulgar — a boy, you might be sure, who would 1 — be a bully in school, and, one way or another, be a source of almost as much annoyance to his masters as to his junior schoolfelloAArs. This Avas William Charleston, Lady Charleston's protege, the lad Avho Avas to take the place that the poor little Aveakling by his side Avould, according to her, \yacate in a year or tAvo.

The tAvo boys did not get on very well for they had nothing Avhatever in common, but at Combe Leigh they Avere throAvn very much together, and Lady Charleston seemed at times to have a perverse, almost a cruel, delight in enforcing their com panionship. It Avas by her Avish they had gone out together this morning. " William will take care of Reginald, poor thing !" she had said, in a tone Avhose contempt for her boy's Aveakness Lady Emily understood but too Avell ; and so Master William, Avho liked the little resting-place at the foot of the East Tor, just because it called out his OAvn poAver of climbing, and let his cousin see what a miserable Aveakling he Avas, had brought him there, and was noAv amusing himself as I have described, and varying the occupation by recounting some of his ex periences to his cousin in a manner that he thought Avas likely to fill that weaker boy's heart with envy.

Presently the group was joined by a boy smaller and younger than either of these tAvo. A bright, merry-faced, hand some youngster, Avho came climbing down the Tor by a path Avhich would have puzzled a goat, and made William Charles ton look on enviously. It was Harold Charleston. Master William knew him at once ; his mother had pointed the boy out to him, and told him something of his story, and therefore William, Avho knew pretty Avell what his mother's own hopes were for him, in spite of the meekness Avith which she always accepted the position Lady Charleston assigned her, was not prepared to look upon him in the friendliest manner. Master William was not a clever boy — at any rate his masters ahvays said so — but he Avas a cunning one, and he had the instinctive dislike, Avhich cunning people are apt to feel for those Avho may supplant them in their rights, or Avhat they imagine to be such, for Harold Charleston.

He gaAre him a look, therefore, Avhich Avas meant to express surprise at his intrusion, and muttered something to his cousin about wondering Avhat "that beggar" Avanted here. Reginald Charleston kneAv nothing of the boy before him. Lady Emily Charleston Avould not have thought his story one to tell her son, Avhose quiet, secluded life had kept him, in innocence at least, years behind William Charleston. " Why should n't he come ?" he said, and turned and looked at him Avith a little envy, and a little sorroAv. If only he could have sprung doAvn the Tor like that ! If only he could have stood as this boy was doing, Avith health and strength in every limb, looking out on the sea fast coming in, as if defying and Avelcoming it, so sure that the moment it came too far, he could ascend out of its reach !

" You'd better take yourself off, young one — no one told you to come here," said Master William, insolently. Harold looked at himAvith a little amaze ment. He Avas pretty Avell the enfant gate" of the place, and as much a favourite with his schoolfelloAvs as with every one else. He made no answer, and William Charles ton repeated his command in a yet more in sulting tone. " Let him alone," said Reginald Charles ton ; then, turning to Harold, he said, " If you wanted shells, there's heaps round that corner, but you must be quick, or the tide will be in ; and they do say, that, for those who can hunt about and look for them, amongst the pools here there are no end of anemones." Harold had come there for shells, knowing very well that the spot Avhich Reginald Charleston had indicated to him was the best in all Combe Leigh to find them ; but he thanked Reginald all the same, and, without taking any further notice of William Charleston, Avent off to fill a bag he had brought with him.

Kate Rushton wanted shells for some piece of work she had in hand, and Harold — the best-natured little creature in the Avorld — had come there to get them for her. Presently he returned Avith his treasures, and sat doAvn by Reginald. He felt at tracted by this big, pale, quiet boy, Avho seemed as if he could only enjoy the sea by looking at it ; he spread out his treasures before him, and offered him some, William Charleston looking on superciliously the while. " You'd better leave that," he said, presently ; " there's the tide coming in. I say! we 're cut off! There's nothing for it but to wade back, or else climb up the Tor there ; and neither Avill suit you, I reckon," he said, contemptuously, to Reginald Charleston. The tide had crept round them, and they were shut off from the mainland.

There was still the path up the Tor, down which Harold had come, but it would be almost impossible for Reginald to climb that. "What's to be done?" asked William. " I suppose," he added, "there's nothing for it but for me to get back and send some one to fetch you, Reginald. Shall you be afraid of staying here by yourself ?" " No," said Reginald, quietly, though his cheeks flushed beneath the taunt implied in his cousin's manner ; " but please not to frighten mamma. If you were to meet with a boatman about he might come and help me, and then she need know nothing of it at all." " As if she would n't find it out ! Why, she '11 be sure to go feeling your feet to see if they 're wet. I often wonder hoAV you stand the coddling, but I suppose you 've been so used to it from a baby that you 've made up your mind to be a baby all your life."

" I do n't Avant any more of that sort of thing, William. If you 're going, go, and send some one to me ; if not, I dare say this little fellow will." "If he goes, I'll stay Avith you," said Harold, feeling a greater Avish than he had ever felt for anything in his life, to be strong enough to give the young bully before him a thrashing ; " it '11 be lonely for you, you knoAv, to be left Avithout any one." Master William went back by the path up the Tor, preferring to do that instead of wetting his feet, although by taking the other course he might much sooner have obtained help for his cousin. " Do n't you think you could climb after him if I Avere to help you ?" asked Harold. " I could n't — I should fall ; there's a gid diness comes over me Avhenever I am on a height. I'm not like other boys, you knoAv," said Reginald, with a faint blush ; he had had so many taunts about his Aveakness that he was almost ashamed of it.

"I never was strong ; I Avas never expected to live — sometimes I think it's a pity I did, only there's my mother." " Would you mind wading back ? The tide's coming in very fast." " It Avas so slippery coming doAvn ; I should never have done it only my cousin almost pulled me along. It Avould be Avorse noAv — I could n't keep my feet ; I feel afraid to try it. My ancles are so weak — they seem to turn under me at times ; and, if I were to slip in the water, it is so deep that I do n't know hoAV I should get up again. No, I must Avait here, but I wish you'd go. Why should you stay and get Avet on my account ?" "I can't leave you," said Harold, simply. That Avas just it. He could fit leave this pale, gentle, suffering boy, so much older than himself, and so much weaker. " I shall take no hurt, and I'll stop with you till some one comes."

The tide came in fast. Reginald Charles ton looked at it anxiously. " You must go," he said ; " I Avon't have you stay. Climb up the Tor, and get out of this as fast as you can." " I'll climb up the Tor, but not Avithout you," ansAvered Harold. " I'm sure you can get up just a little Avay, so that Ave may keep out of the Avet till help comes. Do n't you see that ledge ? We can reach that, and there's room enough for us both. You get up and try now. Give me your book ; I'll put that out of harm's way, and then come back and help you." Harold carried the book up to the ledge of which he had spoken ; then returned, and gave Reginald his hand to help him up. The other went on toAvards the foot of the Tor, then painfully and laboriously tried to ascend. It Avas the only chance for them both. The tide Avas coming in fast, and Reginald did his best, not only for his own sake, but for that of his brave little friend.

Harold Avas first on the ledge ; then he held out both his hands to pull up the other, and Reginald, in another second, was on the ledge too, and looking round in triumph that even his feebleness had left the foe behind, Avhen his foot slipped — or it might have been that the Aveakness of Avhich he had spoken to Harold came over him — and he fell heavily on the ground. He must have fallen off the ledge — and in that case it is very likely Master William Charleston might have been recognised at once as the future baronet — -but that Harold caught him, spraining his arm, however, in the doing so, as Reginald fell on it, almost a helpless Aveight. He succeeded in recovering his balance, and then looked anxiously at Harold. " You 're hurt ; did n't I hurt you just in now r " It's only my arm ; it feels as if I could n't use it somehow," said Harold, trying hard not to cry.

" Sit doAvn here," he said, helping Reginald Avith his unhurt hand. They had to Avait for some time — Master William did not hurry — and at last they heard voices above, and Reginald said, " That's old Scott !" Avith evident pleasure. Scott Avas the coachman at Wroxend House. He Avas a good, fatherly kind of man, and tAvo or three years back, Avhen Reginald Charleston had been so Aveak that he had to be carried doAvnstairs, and lifted in and out of the carriage Avhen he Avent for an airing Avith his mother, no one seemed able to do it so Avell as Scott. He Avas large and tall — far more imposing in appearance than his master — but he was good-natured and kind-hearted, and much more attached to his mistress and his Aveakly young master than servants of the present day are apt to be to their employers.

Scott had come noAv Avith one of the footmen, Avithout Avaiting for the carriage Avhich a groom Avas to follow Avith. He had gone to the summit of the Tor, and as from there he could see no chance of de scending Avith any hope of safety to his portly frame, he had, after first suggesting to the footman that he should go down — an offer Avhich Avas promptly declined — secured the services of a couple of boatmen who were near. There was no chance of ob taining a glimpse of Reginald from the top of the Tor, and therefore, after some consi deration, Scott went round the more cir cuitous path that led over the boulders to wards the little spot of table-land where William Charleston said he had left his cousin. The tide had covered it by this time, as Scott saAv Avith a momentary dismay, but the sound of Reginald Charleston's voice reassured him.

He Avas sitting on the narrow ledge at the side of the Tor, and a boy with him, whom Scott, at least, recognised at once, if his young master had failed to do so. " That's a queer sight," said Scott to himself, for the Avhole story Avas knoAvn to him ; " I wonder Avhat the old lady A\rould say if she saw it." Scott hated Lady Charleston Avith all his heart ; she Avas ahvays unpopular Avith ser vants, although she paid her OAvn domestics liberally, and fee'd other people's Avell, and therefore to see these tAvo boys on such friendly terms together was a gratifying sight to Thomas Scott, just because he thought it Avould be exactly the reverse to Lady Charleston. " I'm so glad you're there, Scott," said Reginald to him across the water ; " but is there any one coming to us ? I've had hard work to get here, and should never have done it but for this little felloAV, and I'm afraid he has hurt himself in helping me."

" There's two men coming from shore to help you out, Master Charleston, and my lady, herself, will be here in the carriage as soon as it can be got ready." "My lady" Avas Lady Emily. Scott never applied the designation to any one else. Lady Charleston was Lady Charles ton when he had to speak of her to ears polite ; in the servants' hall, or the privacy of his own thoughts, she Avas generally styled " the old 'un." " I Avish William had not told my mother," said Reginald anxiously ; then he turned to Harold, " I'm afraid you're more hurt than you'll say." " I do seem to have hurt myself a bit, and my arm does feel queer ; I do n't know what's the matter with me," said Harold faintly. But the matter was that in helping Regi nald up the Tor as he had done, he had very considerably overtaxed his strength, and this, joined to the pain of the sprain of his arm, conduced to make him do Avhat he had never yet done in his short life, faint VOL. III. quietly aAvay ; Reginald saw it, and put his arm tenderly round him.

" That 'ud be a queer pictur' for the old 'un to see," said Thomas Scott to himself; then he raised his voice and directed the boatmen Avhich Avay to come toAvards the boys, feeling that he Avas giving some assistance in that way, though, there being but one path doAvn the Tor, it really Avas not of much service. Presently he saAv one lifting Harold in his arms ; Reginald said he should go first, and then the other led, or rather carried Reginald himself up the steep path of the Tor. Thomas Scott joined them at its summit, and led them towards the carriage, Avhich Avas draAvn up as near as practicable. Lady Emily Avas in it, looking terribly alarmed and anxious ; so Avas Lady Charleston, Avho had come because she thought nothing could go right without her, and Avas scolding her daughter in-law, first for letting Reginald go Avithout her, and next for feeling uneasy about him ; so was Mrs. Joseph Charleston, Avho had brought a large smelling-bottle Avith her in case it should be Avanted, and held it all ready in her hand, much as if it had been a pistol she Avas prepared to fire off.

William Charleston Avas on the box, and he turned round as the procession approached ; Tho mas Scott coming first down the narrow path that led from the summit of the Tor to the carriage road, one boatman carrying, and the other leading a boy, and the foot man following. " A nice to-do !" said Lady Charleston. " What a fool that son of yours must be, Emily ! and who on earth is that brat they're carrying ?" Thomas Scott came to the side of the coach, and, looking his mistress in the face, said respectfully, but very earnestly, " My lady, I've heard that young gentleman called Master Harold Charleston about here, and by what Master Charleston's been telling me, I should say if it had n't been for him, 2 — little as he is, the sea Avould have had Master Charleston by this time." Lady Emily held out her arms — it was an involuntary action, but she was a mother, and this child, she Avas told, had saved her boy — and before Lady Charleston could interfere, or Mrs. Joseph interpose, even with her smelling-bottle, Thomas Scott had placed Harold in them, and she Avas kissing his unconscious face Avith her Avhite trembling lips almost as fondly as if he had been her own boy.

Chapter II

" I COULD N'T GIVE HIM UP." OU are a send the great fool, Emily, child home to his mother," said Lady Charleston, eyeing the senseless boy, while she spoke, with almost a passion of hunger. He looked, even in his paleness, such a bonny, bright little fellow, and he had shown himself so brave a one. Why had his mother kept him from her ? That was the grievance of Lady Charleston's life. This boy was her son's, and therefore ought to be hers ; she never thought of the claim his mother had upon him. " You do n't know Avhat he has done, grandmamma," said Reginald eagerly, and then he told hoAv Harold had helped him to escape the tide, and climb up the Tor. " I could never have done it but for him," he said, " and yet he is such a little one, and I knoAv I should have fallen back and been washed aAvay, had he not put out his arm to save me.

No, I never could have climbed where I did if it had not been for him." " I do n't suppose you could," said Lady Charleston, Avith that inveterate contempt for her Aveakly grandson, Avhich filled the heart of even gentle Lady Emily Avith bitterness unutterable, and then she looked again upon the boy whom her daughter-in law held in her lap, Avith a curious mixture of love and hatred. Why Avas he not hers ? Why had he been withheld from her ? Would not this have been a descendant Avorth her husband getting Avealth and honour for ? She envied Lady Emily the "I could lit give Him tip." 23 kisses that she had given him ; she would have liked to kiss him too, but there was a strange rising in her throat Avhich Avarned her that she might " make a fool of herself," and give Avay to hysterical sobbing ; it was a little outlet for her vexed, irritated feelings Avhen Mrs. Joseph Charleston said, in the humble, deprecating Avay, Avhich, poor thing, seemed to have become second nature to her since she entered Lady Charleston's household, " Dear Lady Emily, that boy's boots will soil your beautiful silk dress ; do give him to the footman to carry ; and really, you know, it is such a child for your ladyship to demean yourself by holding."

" Hold your tongue, Sarah Charleston!" said her patroness fiercely. " Let the boy's mother be what she may, his father Avas my son, and you do n't know yet Avhat he may come to, after all ; his mother can't persist in that audacious lie of hers for ever." Mrs. Joseph collapsed into nothingness, and, Avhatever uneasiness Lady Charleston's speech might have cost her, she thought it safest to show no sign ; and presently they Avere at the door of Tor Beach Cottage, and there stood Sir George. He had Avritten that he Avould come down in a day or two, but they had not expected him that day, and his wife's pale cheeks flushed Avith a little pleasure at seeing him. He Avas some protection to her from her terrible mother-in-laAv. " Your son has had a narroAv escape from droAvning, George," said Lady Charleston.

" I never kneAv a boy of his age so little fit to take care of himself." She was full of bitterness just now. The sight of the boy that had been withheld from her made her so. Lady Emily, in a feAV hurried words, told her husband Avhat had happened, and asked Avhat should be done. " Put him to bed, and send for a doctor," said Sir George, looking Avith a little anxiety " / could n't give Him up." 25 and some curiosity at the child in her arms, perhaps Avishing that God had given him a son to help others, instead of one who, all his life, must be helped by them. But Lady Emily had sent a groom for the doctor, and he Avas coming now. Harold was laid upon her bed, and she watched by him till he opened his eyes, and asked for his mother, and the medical man, after looking to his arm, pronounced that the hurt Avas no worse than a sprain, and, though his little patient should be kept quiet, still, if Lady Emily liked to send him home to his friends, there Avould be no harm in doing so.

Of course the doctor knew who Harold's friends Avere, and something of the position of Lady Emily towards him. Was there ever a country doctor who did not know the village politics, chapter and verse ? He honestly thought this advice the best he could give, and there was no question but that the boy could bear the move very well, and Avould be better Avith his mother than Avith strangers. And Harold murmured faintly, " I want to go ! I Avant to go to mamma !" " Better let him," said the doctor. " I think, my lady, it Avould be better for him." Lady Emily bent over the child and kissed him, and he kissed her back. She had nothing of his mother's beauty — in Harold's eyes his mother Avas just the love liest thing in all the Avorld — but sheAvas very gentle and tender — she looked good, as he said afterwards, a Avoman Avhom such a child as Harold Charleston Avould instinc tively turn to, anda Avoman like Mrs. Rush ton long to take under her protecting Aving, not only for the kindly gentleness of her face, but for the long-suffering Avritten in its lines.

" Please let me go home," he murmured. " Mamma will be so uneasy." " I will see about it, dear," said Lady " / could n't give Him up!' 27 Emily. Then she left him in the charge of her own maid, and Avent down stairs to consult her husband. She found him in the drawing-room Avith his mother, and Reginald was giving another version, and a still more gloAving one, of his escape, and Harold's assistance. Lady Charleston was looking out of the AvindoAV, perhaps to hide the angry light in her eyes. She grudged the child upstairs his friends, and yet she was so proud of them. Mrs. Joseph was begging Reginald not to excite himself, and interrupting his narrative every two minutes Avith earnest entreaties to him to lie down and rest. Harold Charleston's praises were even more distasteful to her, now, than they were to his grandmother.

" George, the child wants to go home," said Lady Emily. " Some one ought to take him — not a servant — some one who could tell her- Avhat he has done, and how the accident happened." Womaris Wrong. 28 " Let me go, mamma," said Reginald. "You have done enough for to-day," said Sir George. " Just keep quiet, as Mrs. Joseph tells you." Then he thought of what had better be done. If Harold had been any one else's child, he Avould have taken the boy back himself, and to his mother ; but, although he firmly believed that mother to be the Avife of his late brother, he Avas not quite brave enough to do anything that Avould appear like recog nising her in sheer defiance of Lady Charleston. He turned to that lady. "What do you think had better be done ?" " Send Mrs. Joseph Avith him," said Lady Charleston, promptly.

Perhaps, hoAvever, she felt the task to be about the most dis tasteful she could assign to that long-endur ing Avoman. But Lady Emily Avas not disposed to assign the task to Mrs. Joseph. " I — I — think I should like to go myself," she said, timidly, appealing to her husband. Mrs. " / could tit give Him up!' 29 Joseph lifted up hands and eyes in horror. " My lady — and the Avoman's character !" " What's that to do Avith you, Sarah ?" asked Lady Charleston, sharply. " At the same time, James, I do n't think it fit for your Avife to visit a woman who has given herself out to be no better than she should be. She, at any rate, has no right to com plain, if decent folks take her at her own valuation." Sir George looked cross, and he felt cross Avith everybody. He had come down to Combe Leigh for peace and quiet, and he seemed to have stumbled upon a very hornet's nest of troubles and perplexities.