His Excellency's English Governess

Front matter

HTS EXCELLENCY'S ENGLISH GOVERNESS His Excellency's English Governess BY SYDNEY C. GEIEP. AUTHOR OF 1 IN FURTHEST IND,' ETC. WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MPCCCXCVI AU Rights reserved CONTENTS. CHAP. PAOE I. A GIRL GRADUATE ..... 1 II. "there was a sound of revelry by night" 13 III. A most advantageous offer . . .25 IV. THE SHINING EAST ..... 38 V. A NEW EXPERIENCE .... 50 VI. A PERIOD OF PROBATION . . si3 VII. " IN INMOST BAGDAT " .... 78 VIII. A PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE . .93 IX. LITERATURE AND POLITICS .... 109 X. A CUP OF COFFEE ..... 124 XI. A DIPLOMATIC INCIDENT .... 138 XII. IN SEARCH OF HEALTH .... 151 XIII. INSTRUCTION AND INTROSPECTION . . 165 XIV. A SPOKE IN HIS WHEEL .... 179 XV. AFTER ALL . . . .192 XVI. A MURDEROUS INTENT .... 206 XVII. AN IDYLL, AND ITS ENDING .... vi CONTENTS.

XVIII. GATHERING CLOUDS . . • 233 XIX. "BETWIXT MY LOVE AND ME " . . . 248 XX. INTERCEPTED LETTERS . 261 XXI. CONFEDERATES ..... 274 XXII. A TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION .... 287 XXIII. THE END OF EVERYTHING .... 300 XXIV. PRISONERS ...... 313 XXV. "THE VOICE OF ENGLAND IN THE EAST" . . 326 XXVI. A DREAD TRIBUNAL ..... 340 XXVII. PRACTICAL JOKES ..... HIS EXCELLENCY'S ENGLISH GOVEENESS.

Chapter I

A GIRL GRADUATE. It was Presentation-day at the University of London. The date was somewhere in the latter half of the present century, — not this year, nor last year, nor the year before that, when you, clear reader, or your brother or cousin, may have graced the scene in cap and gown — but so long ago that the graduates and undergradu ates of to-day were still in the nursery taking practical lessons as to the value of tactual perception, or forcing an undesired entrance into the realms of knowledge by way of the spelling-book and the Latin Primer. The day was a lovely one in May, and the spring sunshine poured in through the high windows of the theatre on the Chancellor in his Court suit and gold-embroidered gown, on the members of the Senate in their crimson and scarlet robes, and on the reporters scribbling away A for dear life at their table.

There was the usual throng of admiring friends and relations in the gallery and the back seats, and the usual inner semicircle of presentees, looking like a bed of gorgeous and not always harmonious flowers, from the vivid colours of their gowns and hoods. A modern observer would have noted only one point of marked difference from a similar scene to-day, and this was the absence of the serried ranks of lady graduates. There were only two or three women to be presented, and they looked pale and nervous, but dauntlessly resolved to do their duty to the end. In those days it was an achievement to gain possession of a London degree, and these girls felt that the eyes of England and of the world were upon them. They were conscious also of furnishing the sensation of the day, for a woman had obtained the prize for French in the B.A. Final, and the second place in Honours for Mental and Moral Science, for the first time on record, and the friends of female education were jubilant.

Miss Arbuthnot, the principal of the South Central High School, in which Cecil Anstruther had received her education, looked fully two inches taller than usual as she led her pupil up to the Chancellor's dais, and the little knot of friends and teachers in the gallery applauded frantically, while even the men who had been ignominiously left behind in the race were magnanimous enough to do their share of clapping. The parliamentary representative of the University referred especially to Miss Anstruther in his regulation speech, and the noble Chancellor himself pressed her hand and congratulated her with even more than his ordinary paternal suavity of manner. As for Cecil's own feelings, she was so much embarrassed by the cheering, the publicity, and the difficulty of carrying her cap, her diploma, and her prize, and finding a hand to give the Chancellor at the same time, that she did not breathe freely until she was safely back in her seat, with her companions in misfortune eagerly in specting her new possessions.

A little later, and the grand function was over. The Chancellor and the members of the Senate had filed off solemnly, like the chorus of a Greek play, the reporters had closed their note-books and decamped with much less ceremony, and the theatre was deserted, save by a few presentees who were displaying their medals and diplomas to impatient friends. Cecil paused at the door on her way to the robing - room with Miss Arbuthnot. "I'm quite sorry to say good-bye to the dear old place," she said ; " I have been here for the Matricula tion, the Intermediate, and the B.A., and now again to-day, and I know the pattern of the ceiling and all the mouldings on the walls by heart." " I only wish you would come here again for the M.A. and the D.Lit.," said Miss Arbuthnot. " That is my one sorrow with regard to you, Cecil, that you are ending your academical course at this point."

" But, you see, I have really no choice," said Cecil. " The children at home are getting older, and I must either teach them myself or earn money to help with their education. And you know, Miss Arbuthnot, I do so much dread going among strangers, and I want to stay at home if I possibly can. If I could have got a post in the School, of course " "That would not be good enough," replied Miss Arbuthnot with decision. " Public opinion has yet to be roused on the subject of High School teachers' salaries. No, Cecil, what I should like for you would be something quite different. As for teaching your little brothers and sisters, I believe it is a task at once beyond and beneath your powers. You are much better fitted to instruct older children, and you are not at all suited to cope with very naughty ones, such as I understand them to be.

I can't prophesy success for you." " But what could I do ? " asked Cecil. " I think you should try for a post as finishing governess in some good family, where you would be properly treated," said Miss Arbuthnot. "Abroad, perhaps ; I believe the Russians treat their governesses very well. You are not a specialist, Cecil- — that is another thing I regret, you would have gained the University scholarship for Mental and Moral Science if you had been — but you are good all round. Well, we mustn't stay talking here. I will see you to Vic toria, and then I must hurry back to the School. Only remember, if you do not succeed with the chil dren, let me know. I am often asked to recommend thoroughly first-class governesses, and I will do my bc*t for you, dear child." Miss Arbuthnot's voice trembled a little as she con cluded, for she had grown very fond of her head pupil, and honestly believed that she could have done any thing she liked in the way of passing examinations.

It had been a great pleasure to the elder lady to have this ardent young disciple always at band, to sym pathise with her plans and to become imbued with her views, nor was Miss Arbuthnot at all unmindful of the honour reflected on the School by the girl's success. The cause of female education in general, and the South Central High School in particular, were the objects to which Miss Arbuthnot's life was devoted, and the cause gained no small lustre from the ovation Cecil had received at the Presentation, and the comments which had been made thereon in the various speeches, and which might be looked for from the Press. The principal's expectations in this respect were not disappointed. The London dailies remarked on Cecil's success in a style halfflattering, half-con temptuous, and at greater or less length according to their interest in the subject, and the country papers took up the strain, and carried it on in their several ways.

In particular, the ' Whitcliffe Argus,' the chief organ of Cecil's native place, devoted nearly half a column to setting forth, rather late in the day, in a dialect of journalese peculiarly its own, the honours gained by the " daughter of our esteemed fellow - townsman the much respected Vicar of St Barnabas'. " The paper was pounced upon, and the paragraph read aloud in a stentorian voice by one of Cecil's younger brothers, a particularly rampant speci men of that troublesome race, when the ' Argus ' was delivered at St Barnabas' Vicarage. No subject had been further from Cecil's mind as she sat at the head of the dinnertable, with flushed cheeks and rather dishevelled hair, and a worried look which contrasted sadly with the hopeful aspect she had worn when she bade farewell to Miss Arbuthnot little more than a month before.

Mrs Anstruther was away on a visit, and to Cecil had fallen a task sufficient to appal the stoutest heart, that of keeping in order the seven small half-brothers and sisters who sat round the table, and whom no one but their own genial, boisterous Irish mother had ever succeeded in managing. The Anstruther children were the terror of Whitcliffe. Their mother said that they had excellent hearts, and this was very possibly true, but it was also painfully evident that they had no manners, and a very small amount of conscience. Add to this the possession of tremendous animal spirits, splendid lungs, and most inventive brains, and it will be seen that the life of a conscientious elder sister, who held pronounced views of her own on the subject of education, was not likely to be an easy one among them.

Of all those who tried to govern them Cecil was perhaps the least successful, for she was gentle, methodical, and some what old-maidish in her ways, and each of these tendencies militated strongly against her. She got on very well with Mrs Anstruther (indeed, no one who knew that stout, untidy little lady, with her blue-grey eyes and her soft, drawling brogue, could do otherwise), and loved her almost as much as if she had been her own mother, but the children did not take to her. Even now, after a morning spent in wild efforts to clear away the things they left about, undo the mischief they had done, and efface generally the traces of their baleful existence, she could not eat her dinner in peace. Patsy was spilling his pudding on the carpet, Loey feeding the cat from his plate, and when Cecil leaned across the table to rescue Eily's glass of water from imminent peril of destruction, Terry seized the opportunity of pulling out all her hair-pins.

And all this time Fitz was roaring out the paragraph from the ' Argus ' in his loudest tones. " Fitzgerald ! " came in a stern voice from the lower end of the table, where sat Mr Anstruther, with a book propped up against the dish in front of him ; "don't make that noise. Why don't you keep the children quiet, Cecil ? My dear ! " and Mr Anstruther's eye-glasses went slowly up, to be focussed on Cecil's dishevelled tresses, " what have you been doing to your hair ? It is in a most disgraceful state. What is all this row about ? " " Why, daddy," cried Loey, otherwise Owen, " it's what we'll do with Cissie's money we're talking about." "You will do nothing with it," returned Mr An struther, severely, for the point was rather a sore one with him. " Your sister will spend the money as she likes, without consulting a set of little dunces like you."

" Oh, papa, but I mean to do something for them," cried Cecil. " I have been so glad ever since I heard I had got the prize to think that I should be able to help you with it. The money will pay the boys' fees for one term, or help with their books, at any rate." " You are very good, my dear child, in wishing to be of use, but what can fifteen pounds do towards educating four boys, who have not brains enough among them all to get a ten-pound scholarship, nor steadiness and sense of honour enough to go to and from the Grammar- School like gentlemen ? What with their school-fees, and the bills I have to pay for the damage they do, it needs a millionaire to look after them." And Mr Anstruther rose abruptly from his seat, said grace, and departed to his study. It was a constant disappointment to him that only his eldest daughter had inherited his own scholarly tastes, and that his younger children, although dowered with their mother's splendid bodily health, had inherited also her distaste for steady mental work.

Sometimes the disparity made him a little unjust to Cecil, as if his disappointment were her fault, and the sense of this struck her to-day so keenly that, worn-out and discouraged, she pushed back her chair from the table and burst into tears. The children stood around in impotent alarm ; then, their consciences no doubt pricking them, one after another crept softly from the room. For a little while Cecil sobbed hopelessly; then a sudden resolution came to her, and she started up. Miss Arbuthnot's words had returned to her memory, and she saw that if she could not be useful with the children at home, she might at any rate help to provide the money necessary to give them the education they so greatly needed. With ferocious haste she twisted her soft auburn hair into a rough knot, secured it by sticking in the pins in handfuls, and dashed away the tears from her brown eyes, now blurred and piteous with crying.

Without giving herself time to repent, she sat down at the writing-table in the window, and began to write. The chair and table shook with her sobs as she did so, but she scrambled through her letter as fast as she could, sealed and stamped it, and then, snatching up her hat, rushed across the road to the pillar-box with the im portant missive, determined not to trust any of the boys. All this afternoon Cecil, to use Biblical language, "went softly in the bitterness of her soul," for the step she had just taken marked the downfall of many hopes. Throughout her school career, which had cost her father very little, owing to the number of prizes and scholarships she had won, her aim had been to make use of her knowledge in instructing her half brothers and sisters. Recollections of past failure in holiday - times had not deterred her from setting to work again with enthusiasm, but after rather less than a month's trial she was compelled to admit that the result was unsatisfactory.

She knew that under ordi nary circumstances she was an interesting teacher and a good disciplinarian, — experience in teaching classes at the South Central School had assured her of this, — and she had not reckoned on the opposing influence which was to render all her efforts nugatory. The children were the only subject on which Mrs Anstruther and Cecil were gravely divided in opinion, but on this one point they differed exceedingly. Mrs Anstruther insisted that Cecil was trying to break the children's spirits, and she made it her business to rescue them from this untoward fate on every possible occasion. Derided by her pupils and unsupported by their mother, her rules set aside, and her punishments continually remitted, it is little wonder that Cecil decided to give up the contest in despair.

There seemed to be something iii her that aroused all the wickedness of which the children were capable ; and only this morning a final touch had been put to her misery by a remark of her father's, to the effect that he wished Cecil would leave her brothers and sisters alone, for they were always far worse with her than with any one else. That Mr Anstruther should say this was the most unkindest cut of all, and Cecil felt that her last support in the home was gone. The next morning, just as breakfast was over at St Barnabas' Vicarage, great excitement was caused among the children by the sight of a telegraph-boy coming up to the house. Six of them met him at the door, and conveyed the missive in triumph to Cecil, to whom it was addressed, offering meanwhile various suggestions as to the nature of the contents.

It was with some difficulty that she succeeded in rescuing the envelope untorn, and in acquainting herself with the message. "M. Arbuthnot to C. Anstruther, " Come to me at once for two or three days. Have heard of something for you." Cecil read the words in astonishment, with all the children dancing and yelling round her like wild Indians. They were still in the hall, and Cecil was too much engrossed by the telegram to try to calm them, until the study door opened, and her father's tired face looked out. " Really, Cecil," he began, " I think, when you know I am preparing my sermon, you might " But his voice was drowned by the children. "Daddy, Cissie's got a telegram. We wouldn't go to school until she would tell us what it was. She's going to London, isn't she ? " " What does all this mean, Cecil ?

" asked Mr An struther, wearily, and his daughter put the telegram into his hand. "Well," he said, when he had read it, "you have asked Miss Arbuthnot to find you a situation, I suppose ? After all, perhaps it is the best thing you can do." "And you must let me help with the boys then, papa," said Cecil, eagerly. " I think I am pretty sure to get a good salary, you know, and I can take one of them, at any rate, off your hands." " Very well, my dear. It is impossible not to feel grateful for such a proposal. Patrick, leave off teasing that cat, and go to school with your brothers. If you can get your things ready for the 11.55 train, Cecil, I will walk down to the station with you." Cecil dashed up-stairs, and spent the next hour in wild efforts to get her box packed, which was a work of difficulty, with Eily, Norah, and Geraldine standing around, advising, touching, criticising, meddling in a way that nearly drove her mad.

Happily Mrs An struther was to return before lunch, and she therefore felt less compunction than she would otherwise have done in leaving her flock to their own devices. By dint of superhuman exertion she managed to be ready by the appointed time, and kissed the children all round, admonished them not to quarrel, rushed into the nursery to remind the nurse to put on their clean pinafores before their mother's return, and gave hasty parting directions about lunch to the cook. Then there was a hurried walk down to the station, in which she endeavoured vainly to keep up with her father's long strides, and a brief farewell on the platform. Cecil shook hands with Mr Anstruther (he had an invincible objection to being kissed in public, principally owing to the fact that his wife and younger children were especially given to the practice), and he put her into a ladies' carriage just as the train was about to start.

Leaning back in her place, Cecil spent her time during tbe journey in speculations as to the situation found for her. Was she to be principal of some newly founded High School, where the extent and freshness of her acquirements would counterbalance the defects of her youth and comparative inexperience ? Or was she to be governess in a private family, possibly on the Continent, possibly in some stately English home, where she would be treated with frigid courtesy, and shunned and criticised as a " learned lady " ? She sighed as she revolved these possibilities in her mind, and wished once more that she might have remained at home. But regrets were vain, the train was nearing Victoria, and on the platform stood Miss Arbuthnot, to whom Mr Anstruther had telegraphed from Whitcliffe that Cecil was on her way.

" I am glad you have come at once, Cecil," she said, as they left the station in a cab, " for I can give you a rare treat for to-night. What do you think of tickets for both of us for the Conversazione at Burlington House, to meet all the great people ? " "How splendid!" cried Cecil, with sparkling eyes. " And the situation, Miss Arbuthnot ? " " Oh — ah — the situation. Of course that is the chief thing, after all. Well, you and I are to meet the lady and gentleman at Daridge's Hotel to-morrow, and lunch with them afterwards." " Oh, then it is a private family ? " asked Cecil. " Private ? Oh, well — yes. Not a school at all." Miss Arbuthnot seemed not to wish to say anything more, but presently she began to question Cecil as to her dress for the evening, betraying a solicitude as to her appearance which surprised the girl.

" Of course, I ought to have told you to bring your best evening gown," she said, "but I never thought of it, and it would have been rather awkward to mention it in a telegram. What have you? the black velvet with your mother's lace ? It is rather old for you, but after all that is no drawback. You see, Cecil," smiling at her pupil's puzzled face, "we are all very proud of you. You have done the School great credit, and I should not wonder if you were to find yourself a little bit of a celebrity in a small way to-night. So you see why I want you to look well, that you may uphold the honour of the South Central."

Chapter II

"THERE WAS A SOUND OF REVELRY BY NIGHT." Miss Arbuthnot's well - meant solicitude had the effect of making Cecil very nervous as the evening approached, and at last she actually entreated to be allowed to stay behind at the School and spend a quiet hour or two with the governesses, instead of goin" to Burlington House. But Miss Arbuthnot would not hear of this, and insisted on supervising her dressing personally, almost hustling her into the carriage at last. " Nonsense, my dear, nonsense ! " she said, vigorously, when they were fairly started. " You really must get rid of this foolish timidity, or you will be fit for nothing. I should have been seriously displeased if you had not come. Not only would it have been very rude, for it is a great favour to get a ticket, but there are several people I want you to see, a very old friend of mine for one.

You have heard me speak of Elma Wargrave ? " " One of the pioneers ? " asked Cecil. In Miss Arbuthnot's circle the early workers in the cause of female education were always designated by this respectful term. "Yes, I see you know whom I mean. She and I were great friends when we were girls, and we had almost decided to start school-keeping together. She was most enthusiastic about it, and used to talk of the joy of devoting her whole life absolutely to the great work. But, unfortunately, she went to stay with some relations, and while with them she fell in with a young Scotch soldier, Sir Dugald Haigh. He was ridiculously poor, for his father had spent every thing he could lay his hands on, and mortgaged the estates, so that Sir Dugald had scarcely more than his Artillery pay upon which to support an empty title and two people.

But Elma married him and went out to India at once, and she has travelled about with him ever since in all sorts of outlandish places and horrible climates. I believe they have been very happy, and Sir Dugald is high in the Ser vice, and has lately been made Consul -General and political agent at Baghdad, so I suppose they are not pinched any longer now. I don't grudge them their happiness, my dear," added Miss Arbuthnot, slowly, "but I have never been able to help regretting that Elma should have given up such a work for the sake of that very ordinary little man." " I am quite anxious to see them," said Cecil. " Is Sir Dugald in England as well as Lady Haigh ? " " No, she is here alone. Some trouble broke out in tbe country just as they were starting, and Sir Dugald would not take his furlough.

But here we are. Now, my dear child, forget yourself, and think of the people you will see." In spite of this excellent advice, Cecil still felt very nervous when they had laid aside their wraps and she was following Miss Arbuthnot's sweeping satin train up the steps and into the crowded and brightly lighted rooms of the Academy. She did not know that she made a very pretty picture herself, with her fresh colouring and coils of bright hair set off by the black velvet dress, with its deep cuffs and standing collar of old lace, but Miss Arbuthnot perceived this and rejoiced to know it, not caring at all that her own plain, sensible face, adorned with the inevitable pince nez, formed an excellent foil for Cecil's girlish charms. At first Cecil wanted to stand aside in some quiet corner, and watch the throng of noted people moving about, and learn all their names, but Miss Arbuthnot was a celebrity herself, and was, moreover, a woman of many acquaintances, who had all some kind or complimentary word for her young companion, when they recognised her or heard who she was.

Still, it seemed to Cecil that her friend was watching anxiously for some one who had not yet appeared, and that she was manifestly relieved when a stout elderly lady, chiefly remarkable for the possession of a very pro minent set of teeth, made her way through the crowd and joined them, greeting Miss Arbuthnot with effusion, and turning an expansive smile on Cecil. " And this must be our young friend the lady graduate," she said, looking at her kindly. " You must introduce us, Marian. I should like a talk with Miss Anstruther." " Cecil," said Miss Arbuthnot, rather nervously, " I want to introduce you to Lady Haigh. We were speaking about her just now." Cecil was nothing loth to make acquaintance with the lady who had given up so much for the sake of her young Scotch soldier, and whose defection Miss Arbuthnot still mourned so bitterly, and she acquiesced at once when Lady Haigh suggested that they should retire to a quiet palm-shaded seat among the statuary, and have a chat, while Miss Arbuthnot was taken possession of by a distinguished cleric who had also been one of the pioneers of the education movement.

Lady Haigh proved to be as kind as she looked, and showed herself very much interested in Cecil's career. She asked as many questions as though she wanted to write her biography, and asked them, too, as if she were really interested in the answers, and not asking merely for politeness' sake. Then she inquired all about the girl's home circumstances, and learned all that Cecil would tell her about Mr and Mrs An struther and the rest of the family at St Barnabas' Vicarage, and then she changed the subject of the conversation abruptly, and began to talk about her own doings in Baghdad. It seemed to be a fairly pleasant life on the whole, and Lady Haigh showed herself by no means desirous of underrating its at tractions. " You see, my dear, although it is dreadfully decayed since the days of the Khalifs and the 'Arabian Nights,' yet it is a very interesting place still.

The society is really not bad, for there are nearly always travellers or officers of some sort passing through, and they all come to the Residency. Then the assistant political agent comes up sometimes from Basra, and of course there are clerks and secretaries, but they are mostly Armenians or East Indians. There is generally a gunboat in the river, too, and when it is lying off' the Residency we are really quite gay. Then there are the officials at the other consulates, but socially speaking, and between you and me, they are rather a dull set. But there are a few of the Jews and Armenians in the place who are travelled and cultivated people, and quite friends of ours. Then, of course, it is very interesting when you get to know some of the Turkish ladies, and it is curious to study the mixture of nation alities in such a place as Baghdad.

I often say that it reminds me of nothing so much as of Nuremberg or one of those German cities of the Middle Ages, at the time of their annual fairs." " I should love to see it," said Cecil, drawing a long breath, "but I shall never be able to afford an Eastern trip until I am quite old. When the boys are all off my hands, I mean to save up, so that I can travel about wherever I like when I am an ancient spinster. It would scarcely do for me to go out now and set up a girls' High School under the shadow of the Resi dency, would it ? " " Scarcely," laughed Lady Haigh ; " and I am afraid, too, you would hardly get pupils enough to make it pay, except possibly among the Greeks and Armenians. The Turkish ladies are kept very closely secluded, and although the Pasha is very anxious to do what he can to introduce European customs, yet he is not even backed up by his own harem."