Lynton Grange. A novel

Chapter I. The Railway Carriage

rPHE warm dght of the setting sun was falling through the ■*- window of a down thdd-class carriage, lending a glow to the pale but dedcately moulded face of Alice Vaughan, who, shrinking into a corner, now furtively glanced at her fedow-passengers, and now fixed a full rapturous gaze on the great fiery bad that was sinking fast through bands of purple and golden tinted clouds. It was Alice's first escape out of the vast city. Seven teen years of weary streets and dark lanes and smoky air ; now exchanged for green fields and nodding trees, in thed sud summer glory, flying past, and fresh breezes sweeping in ! It was not only the sunlight that lit up her countenance and brightened her eye : she bad before her the earnest of that free beautiful nature which her spdit had longed for and painted in so many shapes and hues ; though only the flowers that she had at times seen on window-sills, or tbe flap of a bird's wing over the roofs of the houses, had fed her fancies.

She was hurrying into the dream-land. Quiet meadows, bubbling brooks, shady groves, swelling hids, sloping vales, were fast separating her from the great city B LYNTON GRaINGE. which, to her mind, held only the crowded dens in which misery, poverty, and vice were caged. To that city her thoughts wandered back, and her dark eye lashes fed. That sad strange home she had left — that one poor room beneath the tiles of a squadd house — was visible to her, where she had lived from her earliest years untd now. She saw before her that stern, sdent mother, whom alone she had ever known as a companion ; who had worked so hard to keep off starvation, but who had ever tended her as d only from a hard sense of duty ; from whose lips had never passed words of sympathy or tenderness ; upon whose heart some weight ever seemed to crush ■ in whose mind one thought alone seemed to dwell, and whose eye ever seemed to be straining after some far-off object.

Her lips moved in prayer for that mother, whom she had never un derstood ; whose sorrow, she was sure, was so deeply rooted in some remote past, but what she knew not. And then she thought of the soft step which she had so often listened for at the top of the dark stairs, but which had never been suffered to enter her mother's room ; and of the low sweet voice and the gentle eye of that lady, so young and yet so grave, who sought out ad who were poor and sad, to com fort them ; who had prevailed upon her mother, at chance meetings upon the stairs or in the streets, to allow her to go to the school where she had gleaned her scanty knowledge; and who had watched over her so carefully and kindly ever since. And now, this situation, to which she was going, had been obtained by this same dear faithful friend, who had seen the advertisement in the newspaper, and answered it for her; and who had moreover provided her little outfit.

Wbat would this new experience of lde upon which she was entering be like ? ' Wanted, a nursery -governess in a gentleman's famdy required to take charge of two little girls, ages, three and four.' These words rang in her ears. Would they be pretty, loving dttle girls ? Would her mistress be like the lady she had been thinking of ? Would the gentleman be like the harsh-voiced parish doctor ? — almost the only gentleman she had ever spoken to, and the solitary stranger that had ever entered their poor room ; though even he had come but once, when her mother had fallen in a fit from her arm-chair, where so often, w*ith hands clasped upon her knees, and eyes fixed with a glassy stare upon tbe wall, she would sit for hours. That fit, too, with the strange cries that broke from between her mother's grinding teeth — ' It i — s he,' ' Cur — se him' — while the spasms lasted, came back to Alice's mind, and made her shudder.

These mingled memories and anticipations had so ab sorbed her, that she had failed to notice the crimsoning of the purple clouds as the sun sank lower in tbe west. She had lost the sound of the rattling of the carriage, the creaking of tbe wheels, the panting of the engine ; she had become unconscious of the passengers ; even the two com mercial travellers, who, at the other end of the carriage, talked so loudly, and leered at her so coarsely, bad vanished. Alice, at an earlier stage of the journey, had been glad to look away at the white clouds and the blue sky, from him with the squinting gray eyes, and bristly red hair, that looked as if it had been raised in a fright, from the effects of which its owner had not yet recovered ; who declared, 'pon his honour, that he had the finest taste for female beauty of any man upon the road, and assured his hearers that every morning the postman brought love-letters to him from all parts of the kingdom : and she had been fain to think how b much more sensible the lowing cattle, tbat looked wonder ingly up at the train, were, than the tall, cadaverous, whis kerless young man, who told bis red-headed companion what innumerable ' braces' be had shot last season, and the season before, and indefinite seasons before that, at tbe shooting boxes of innumerable lords, who were ' nice fel lows.' The old widow-woman, with tbe flabby red face, who sat opposite, and who had poked her knees to the fudest possible extent against Alice, declaring, as she settled down there, before the train started, that when she paid her mo ney she always' formed a solemn resolution to ' have her money's worth,' and ' wasn't going to give way to nobody,' had ceased to inconvenience her.

But suddenly a rough voice made all again visible and sensible, by roaring out, — ' Now, my dear, don't 'ee sit there, like patience on a monnyment ; come and sit over here, by I, and have a drop wi' us. I likes to be sociable, when I sees a pretty girl, and my old woman ain't by.' And then a loud laugh came from the same throat, which belonged to a stout, ruddy far mer, who had got in at the last station, unnoticed by Alice. ' Thank you, sir, this will do very wed,' she replied, timidly. ' Do, ay ; but you may be better, you know,' cried the yeoman. ' Young women, now-a-days, are a great deal too con ceited, and cock up their noses at even a friendly offer ; that's my opinion,' chimed iu the old widow. ' Well, old woman, don't you make a row : I ain't going to make the said friendly offer to you, so don't think it,' said the farmer, looking across at her. ' I should be obliged, sir, d you would use becoming language to a respectable afflicted female ; and as to your low-dved drmk, I wouldn't^so much as touch it, if there were gallons before me at this here minute,' answered the widow, indignantly. ' A very virtuous sentiment,' cried the red-haired travel ler, with a wink : ' It exactly expresses my own feelings upon the subject.' ' I am very glad to see that there's one gentleman here, at any rate, sir,' replied the old lady, with a bob of her head, and a firmer clutch at her umbrella. ' Wed, and I'm glad you are both o' the same mind, 'cos there's more for me, you see,' rejoined the farmer, with a chuckle, tossing off what was left in his flask.

Alice was congratulating herself upon having the attention of the passengers drawn off from her, when she felt the touch of a hand upon her shoulder ; and turning round, saw a pair of twinkling black eyes, deeply set in a small sallow face, round which hung long greasy black hair, and was saluted with the words .- — ' Ah, you ish de vary young voman, dat Moshes de pro phet told me in a dream to make a pair of earringsh for, and to give dem away to her at half-prish, and it'sh a great mishfortune for me dat I vash naturally sho piush, dat I musht do vat de blessed prophet tellsh me. But dere, I am de Ducbesh of Nomanland'sh own vatch-maker, and she shez, shez she to me, de lasht time I had dinner vith her at her own housh in Park Lane, " You shall never come to vant, Mishter Ishaacsh, vilst I've a bit to give you, because it vash your diamondsh vich made de duke look at me firsht."

Now, my dear, if you vantsh a hushband, you musht have deshe vary pretty little earringsh ; let me put dem againsht your dear little earsh, and I'm sure all de gentlemen in de carriage vdl go down on dere kneesh to you ; ' and, suiting the action to the word, he began to stretch out his snakey little hand towards her. With a half-shriek, Alice jumped away, and in her fright, fell back upon the widow. ' Well, young woman, you needn't come a-making me your cushion,' was the sharp remonstrance. ' Indeed, I beg your pardon, but I ready don't want to buy anything of the man, and I didn't like him to try the earrings on me,' said Alice, as she found a place next to the old lady. The farmer, who had previously roused her from her reverie, and brought all eyes upon her, now came to her rescue, by crying . — ' I say, Master Porker, I think I've seen you before to day,' and, springing up, he seized the Jew by his coat collar with a strong grasp, and twisted his face towards the fading dght. ' Why, yes, you are the scoundrel that passed that flash fi' pound note on farmer Jackson, at Brodborough fair, last Michaelmas,' he added, after taking a good look at the Jew. ' Oh, no ; I'sb never been out of London before dish vary day ! 0 Eather Abraham, deliver me from dish unshdcum shised Phdishtine ! ' cried tbe writhing* pedlar.

A loud whistle indicated that they were nearing a station. ' Out you come here, anyhow,' exclaimed the farmer, as be jerked the Jew over into tbe compartment where Alice sat, the wares in his box jingling in most frightfid discord at the sudden tumble. ' I think, at any rate, he need not be treated in that bru tal manner,' ejaculated tbe afflicted female, evidently not having forgotten her previous difference with the farmer. By this time the train had stopped, and the farmer got out, dragging the Jew after him, amidst cries of ' Serve him right,' ' Thought he was a thief,' and such-like from travellers who stood up in their compartments, and looked over the partitions. Calling for a policeman, the farmer disappeared with his captive, followed by a dttle crowd of porters and passengers. Alice's thoughts, again, in the succeeding pause, began to revolve round hersed.

A gleam of light flashed through the door upon an advertisement beneath the opposite win dow in the compartment, announcing some 'celebrated tea,' with a dst of agents in the various towns ' on that line of radway.' She wondered d, in each of those places, there were stern sad mothers, and daughters leaving them to become nursery governesses. Another whistle, and the train dashed again into the country, which the night had now heavdy shadowed. At the next station she was to be met. As the slackened speed told of its proximity, she took her bandbox from beneath the seat, and prepared to go forth to the unknown scenes of Lynton Grange. The station, at which she was to get out, was but a shed. One solitary lamp lit it up. The vdlage was three miles distant. She was the only passenger who got out.

On the platform was walking a stout, good-humoured-looking young man in livery, who, coming up to her, said : ' Are you, miss, for Lynton Grange ? ' ' Yes. I have come to take the vacant situation.' ' All right, miss. Where's your luggage ? ' replied the man. Her little box was soon got out of the van contain ing the passengers' luggage. The man-servant shouldered it, and crying, ' Now then, miss, this way,' led her round the corner of the shed, and through a wicket, at which stood the only porter of the place, who looked in the gloom as d he were taking tickets from the ghosts of departed travellers. In the road was standing a carriage with lamps lit, and horses steaming in their light. A dim form on the box cried : — ' Is that the young woman, Tony ? ' ' Yes,' answered the footman. ' Step in, miss,' he con tinued, opening the door at tbe same time.

Alice sprang in, and sank upon the soft cushions with a feeling of relief ; while Tony, having banged the door to, handed her box up to the coachman, and then jumped up beside him. Tbe carriage rattled away, but the red lights of the train were adeady far off. Eor some time the way was quite dark. By-and-by, through a faint haze, hedgerows and plumy foliage began to show. Another quarter of an hour, and the clear moon light shone forth, showing rising woodlands, and meadows dappled with sleeping cattle. The perfume of wild honey suckles came upon the faint pulsations of the night air. The village was soon* reached. A few cottages with lights glimmering through some of their windows ; one or two houses, walled in ; a massive church tower ; a corner shop or two, with their small stocks displayed to the best advan tage by flickering candles ; the village inn, with a smock frocked group talking in the glare of its red curtains, — Adce rolled by them all into the country again.

Now the road lay up a hill, and then a sharp turn brought them past a Gothic lodge, in the light of whose doorway stood a fresh looking matron with the trimmest of caps. A grove of trees was now passed, and a stately Elizabethan budding rose in the bright moonlight at the end of a broad sweep of sward. A solitary light was burning at a drawing-room window. The carriage soon reached the mansion. The door was opened by a pretty, smart servant-girl. Adce alighted, and went up the steps into a cold, spacious, lofty hall. ' The housekeeper wid see you, miss, to-night, in her room,' said the servant ; adding, as she took hold of Alice's bandbox, and motioned Tony, who had followed with tbe little trunk, to put the latter down in the hall: ' I will take care of your things, and have them put in your bedroom.' Adce, having thanked her, was conducted from the hall into a dimly dt passage ; and thence, after a knock at a side-door, to which a shrill, quick voice replied, ' Come in,' was shown into a small, snug room, where, in an arm chair, sat a diminutive, precise, and rather elderly woman, who at once jumped up, and cried, — ' Miss Vaughan ? glad to see you safe.' Then, turning to the girl, said, ' You may go: shut the door.' And again addressing Alice, as the door was closed, continued, ' Take off your things, and have your supper, and go to bed at once, there's a dear.' Alice, in a few words, remarked, that she was glad she had arrived at her journey's end, and inquired d Mr. and Mrs. Lumsdon and the dttle girls were well. ' Oh yes ; quite, quite — at least Mrs. Lumsdon is as well as usual.

But you mustn't talk — you are too tired, I can see;' saying which, the housekeeper placed a chair at the table, on which supper was laid out, and having rubbed her glasses with her apron, returned to the reading of the book, which on Alice's entrance she had laid down, adding, 'I don't take supper, but I thought you might like some, and so got it ready.' The incidents of the day, and the novelty of her present circumstances, combined to take away Alice's appetite, and she therefore ate but slightly. As soon as she gave signs of having done, the old lady, with a bounce, rushed to the bed and rang it ; and as the same servant-girl entered the room in answer to the summons, cried, ' Jenny, you can show Miss Vaughan to her room. Good-night, good-night.' Alice simply rejoined, ' Good-night,' and followed her guide up a back staircase, to the third floor, where the girl opened a door that led into a plainly furnished bedroom, and putting the light down on the top of a chest of drawers, said, — ' The children are sleeping in tbe next room, with the young person whose place you have come to take ;' and re marked further, as she turned to go, ' I hope you are not nervous, miss, because you'd have enough of it with missus.' ' Oh no,' Alice answered with a smile; 'I am not afraid of anything, which I suppose nervous people are.

I try to do what is right, and nothing, I am sure, wid hurt me.' ' Well, I dare say not ; good-night,' with which Jenny went out and left Alice alone. She went over to the window, and drew aside the blind. The moonlight was cresting the distant woods, silvering over the gray church tower, and frosting the meadows beneath. But she has tened into bed, and being tded and worn, was soon asleep. Her fevered brain, however, still wrought in dreams. There came a face, glaring at her witb the cold fixed eye of her mother, but gibbering with the wily mouth of the Jew in the railway-carriage. That vanished. A dark form, with averted face, seized her, and hurried her along to a precipice, down which it dashed her. Horror of horrors ! she was fading ! She felt a clutch behind — she was saved ; and turning, saw that her deliverer had the face of the lady who had always been so kind to her, but wore the THE RaULWAY CARRIAGE. 11 gdstening robe of an angel.

With a cry of joy she awoke. It was densely dark. Was her dream heaven's premoni tion of the struggle of good and evil for each earthly pil grim's heart ? She fell now into a dreamless slumber, and awoke from it with the sunlight of the first day at Lynton Grange shining softly upon her through the blind.

Chapter II. Lynton Grange

A S she awoke, Adce heard sounds from tbe next room, in -£■*- which were the children. Quietly dressing hersed, she went out of her own room, and entered the other. A stout, blooming, sparkling-eyed young woman, was washing the chddren, who were dedcate, flaxen-haired, little girls. ' I heard you rising, and thought I would come in and make acquaintance with the children, as I am to have the care of them for the future,' said Alice. ' Oh, that's right ! come in. So you are going to take my place ; I'm glad to see you,' replied the young woman. ' Yes ; I came last night,' answered Alice, and bending down to kiss the little girls, said, ' Now, my dears, let me kiss you. You know I am going to live with you ; you will try and love me, won't you ?' The younger one pouted, but the elder said : ' You are pale, like mamma, who is a lady.

I like you better than her,' pointing to the ex-governess. 'Now, Carry, that's very naughty,' said the object of her invidious comparison. Dressing operations were soon over, and they went out along the passage to the nursery, which was upon the same floor. Breakfast was being laid by Jenny. Alice sat down upon a low chair, playing with the children, but feeling very nervous as she became conscious that both the servant and the governess were taking full observations of her. However, breakfast was soon ready, and ' Now then, Miss Vaughan, come along ! ' was the invitation to partake of it of the young lady upon whose office she was about to enter, and who had in a rattling good-natured way, been telling her, that her name was Sarah Lewton, that she was the daughter of a farmer in Somersetshire, and tbat she had thought she should like to get away from home a bit to see the world; but that she had had enough of this dead-alive place, and was not sorry that she was leaving.

To which Adce rejoined, that she thought it would prove a pleasant change to her, as she bad always dved in a city. Having sat down to breakfast, the warm tea seemed to render Miss Lewton yet more loquacious and affectionate. ' Well, my dear, I hope you will be able to stand it,' she said in reply to some expression of quiet confidence on the part of Alice ; ' but what with my lady, who is full of whims and fancies, and does nothing but read novels or bear me read them to her, and who takes Dr. Ilchester's pills and draughts all day, — and night too, for the matter of that, — and who goes into hysterics d you speak too loud, and bas a depression of spdits d you don't talk to her ; and what with Mr. Lumsdon, who does nothing but twirl his long mustaches, and yawn out " what a bore" to everything ; and what with the fidgety old housekeeper, whose little nose is poking everywhere, and who thinks she must teach everything to everybody, — it's enough to drive one crazy.' Alice laughed, and answered, ' No doubt, if the lady is a nervous invadd, she is very trying ; but I will do my best.' Miss Lewton then began to speculate upon how she should enjoy herself when she got home, and the number of rustic admders who would cluster round her. ' There's one young fellow, whose father has just stocked a farm for him, and I know he's desperately in love with me, but then he's so stupid,' she continued, 'I don't think I shall have any thinoto do with him.

I like Charley Webb a deal better. I danced with him in the town-had of our market-town once, and he cut such a dash, and was so polite, and would have hardly anything to say to anybody else. He's a rich far mer in the next parish, and he often comes over to have a pipe with father, and perhaps just to have a little look at me too. Now, my dear, you must tell me who your sweet hearts are.' ' Really, I haven't one,' said Alice ; ' I have dved a very secluded life with my mother.' ' What ! and you live in London too ! Well, I never ; I should have thought you'd have had a dozen young men. I only wish I was there. But I think you're a deep one, and won't ted.' An hour or two passed in similar conversation, occasional romps with the chddren, and glances out of the window across the lawn, over the copse that bounded it, and beyond the roofs of the village houses, and the old, square, lichen-stained church-tower, to the distant hills which were now ad radiant with the bright sundght.

Alice was just exclaiming, after such a look, ' How beautiful and quiet the country is ! ' when a bed in the room rang. ' That's Mrs. Lumsdon's ; I'd see what she wants,' said Miss Lewton, going out. After a minute, she returned, saying, ' Oh, she wants to see you, Miss Vaughan ; I will show you the way.' They went down to tbe drawing-room floor, and stopped at a door, which at the same instant opened. Tbe little housekeeper came out, exclaiming, ' Yes, yes, ma'am, I'll see to it ; you keep quiet ! ' and then, seeing Alice, cried, with a nod of her head, ' Oh, good-morning,' and hurried downstads, with little bounds. Alice now entered, whde her conductor went back to tbe nursery. She found herself in an elegantly furnished boudod, which a half-opened door showed to be connected with the lady's bedroom.

Upon a couch was lying Mrs. Lumsdon, with eyes had-closed, and hands listlessly clasped upon her dress, which was a morning one of rich tex ture. She seemed, in the soft light that came through tbe blinds, which were drawn down, to be about forty-five years of age, and of a fair complexion. There was but little expression in her pale and thin but well-formed face, save that of weariness and weakness. Alice stood waiting for her to speak. After some minutes, the lady languidly raised her eyes, and said, ' So you are the young person that Miss Prosser wrote about ? ' ' Yes, ma'am ; I am Alice Vaughan.' ' Sit down, and I wdl try and collect energy enough to speak to you presently ; but you see I am in a very ex hausted state. Please to look, Alice, at my watch, upon the mantlepiece, and see the hour.

It is strange the doctor hasn't come yet.' Alice did as she was bid, and replied, ' It is bad-past eleven.' ' Ob, very wed ; then sit down again, and don't make a noise,' the lady feebly drawled out. The latter injunction seemed a very unnecessary one, as Alice's soft step could not be heard as she glided across the thick carpets ; and her voice was but as a whisper floating through the subdued dght of the room. But the lady seemed to think that everybody was born with a decided bias towards breaking her repose, and needed to be checked before the evd ten dency developed itsed. Presently, she again allowed her eyes to fall on Alice, and said, ' I've no doubt you are a very proper person. Miss Prosser, I believe, looks after deserving poor people, and all that sort of thing. It is very good of her, I am sure ; but I could not do it.

No doubt, her opinion of you is quite correct. Have you seen the children?' 'Yes, ma'am, I have just left them. I think they will soon grow fond of me ; and I am sure I wid do everything I can to afford satisfaction,' Alice timidly answered. ' There, that will do, tbat wdl do. I do wish the doctor would come.' Just then, a succession of distant knocks announced some one at the ball-door. ' Oh, there he is at last,' faintly murmured the lady. Alice rose to go ; but tbe invabd lady cried, ' No, stop ; I should dke Doctor Ilchester to see you ! ' and she resumed her seat. The next minute, the footman who had met Adce at the railway-station opened the door, and announced — ' Doctor Ilchester.' A portly, rubicund old gentleman stalked in, making a stately bow. His nearly whitehad was brushed up from every side of his head, so that the hads seemed ad to tend towards the apex of a cone, which had been abruptly trun cated.

There was a quaint solemnity about tbe fixed ex pression of his gray eyes, not without a touch of humour. Very oracular was his mouth. Not a speck was on his faultless black suit ; while bis vast shdt-frid cropped out in snowy folds. In one hand, with his gloves, he carried a massive gold-headed ebony cane ; in the other, his hat. As the footman closed the door, the doctor marched up to the table, and deposited his hat carefully on it ; then placed his gloves within bis hat ; and lastly laid his cane across its rim. He then wheeled round in a very precise manner, and with two strides reached the sofa, upon which the lady was lying ; and for the first time spoke. ' How do you find yoursed, my dear madam, this morn ing?' The lady, who had not opened her eyes since he came in, whispered : ' Oh, I'm sinking rapidly ; it is very cruel of you to neglect me so, I have been expecting you these last two hours.' ' My dear madam, when I am away from you, your case is ever uppermost in all my studies and researches.

By careful observation and comparison of all the diagnostics of your complicated disorders, I hope yet to render you effectual relief.' The doctor gave a profound nod at his patient, who was now looking up at him, evidently excited by learning tbat she was the subject of such scientific pro cesses. Having given a professional slope of his head to one side, the doctor felt her pulse amidst profound silence. ' Ah,' said Dr. Ilchester, releasing her hand ; and drawing a chair to the side of the couch, he sat down, but very erect. The exclamation of the doctor seemed to be interpreted in a consolatory manner by Mrs. Lumsdon, who said, with an apparent revival of strength, ' Then you ready think I am not worse ? ' The doctor, witb his left band, drew out of his waistcoat pocket a large silver snuff-box, tapped it, opened it, c and deliberately took a pinch between tbe fore-finger and thumb of his right hand; then advanced the pinch half-way to his nose, keeping the three unemployed fingers erect, and very widely spread.