Gertrude Ellerslie ... New and revised edition

Front matter

PRINTED BV MORRISON AND GIBB, EDINBURGH, FOR OLIPHANT. ANDERSON, & FERRIER. LONDON HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. a £tor\> of Œwo IPears BY MRS. MELD RUM NEW AND REVISED EDITION EDINBURGH OLIPHANT, ANDERSON, & FERRIER CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. THE FORT, ...... 9 ii. rose's world, ...... 19 in. Gertrude's longings, ..... 27 IV. the family coach, ..... 36 V. SCIENCE EXPOUNDED, ..... 40 VI. BEHIND THE SCENES, ..... 45 VII. PEAK ABOVE PEAK, ..... 60 VIII. CLOUDS AND MIST, ..... 71 IX. MISS MAITLAND'S STORV, .... 91 X. GLEAMS OF LIGHT, ..... IO4 XI. NEW NEIGHBOURS, . . . . IIO XII. A FAMILY CONFAB, . .. . . . 115 XIII. BROTHER AND SISTER, . . . . . Iig XIV. AUNT DOROTHY, ...... 124 XV. CLOTILDE, ...... I29 XVI. A HEAVY HANDFUL, ..... I35 XVII. BRUCE AND THE BOYS, ..... I46 XVIII. WORK AND PLAY, ..... l6l XIX.

KATE, ....... I65 XX. TIRED, ....... CONTENTS. VI chap. page XXI. THROUGH THE STORM, . '88 XXII. ROSE, ....... '99 XXIII. EGERTON, ....... 2I5 XXIV. PARIS, . .. . .. - . • 23' XXV. RETRIBUTION, ...... 254 XXVI. THE REVENGE — PROGRAMME, .... 262 XXVI s. REST, . . . . . . 26 p XXVIII. SUNSHINE, ........ 287 XXIX. FRED, . 298 XXX. CHRISTMAS, ......... . 312 XXXI. THE LOST LETTEK, ...... 330 XXXII. CHATEAU VERT, ......... 347 XXXIII. SON AND HEIR, ...... 360 XXXIV. WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN MAY BE, .. . . 36S XXXV. 'DARE TO DO THE RIGHT,' ..... 377 XXXVI. HEARTS AND HOMES, . ... 'A life is measured not by years, So many or so few, But by the truth it strives to reach. The good it tries to do.' GERTRUDE. ■o-

Chapter I

' By fits, moreover, hide them as we may. It frets us all, this tedious every day ; A longing throb, a germ of bold romance, Is deep in every bosom ; thirst for chance And change. ' ' I have immortal longings in me. jf|n||IELL> Gerty?' Mifl ' What — does — your ' — g|K«ig!| < qj1j y0U needn't ask ! What's the use of wasting words ? What do you want ? ' The young man thus addressed felt snubbed severely ; but then he was used to it, — from his cousin Gertrude, at least, — so he meekly said : ' Are you to go abroad ? ' ' Of course not, Bruce ; whoever thought I was ? ' A gleam of ill-concealed satisfaction lit up Bruce's pale face, as he tried, however, to mutter something like condolence for his cousin's disappointment ; but Gertrude swept down upon him like an eagle upon a fluttering bird, exclaiming : ' You do look sorry for me, truly !

All the same, you have a queer way of showing it, sitting grinning there ! What do you want ? You have the oddest way, Bruce, of turning up at the most inconvenient times. I am nearly stupid with a headache, brought on — by — by — the cold, I suppose.' Gertrude Ellerslie had drawn a low seat by the fire in the cosy drawing-room at the Fort, having just parted with Mrs. Heywood, who had been for the past hour closeted with her father, Colonel Ellerslie, in the library. The subject of the confab was a proposal on the part of Mrs. Heywood, whowas going abroad for the winter with her daughter, to take Gertrude with her. Gertrude's health needed no flight to a warmer climate, she did not know the meaning of delicacy ; but the mere possi bility of being in Germany, where she should have facilities and stimulus for the prosecution of music and languages, had opened up a vista in the girl's mind which the sentence of the past half-hour had clouded and closed. ' Your father won't hear of it, my dear,' said Mrs. Heywood, coming into the drawing-room, where Gertrude, too excited to do anything but pace up and down the room, waited for her. ' He says he doesn't wish you to become foreign, that he likes you best as you are ; and, in short, after an hour's entreaty and expostulation on my part, he has ended as he began, by civilly yet resolutely declining to let you go.' ' Oh, Mrs. Heywood, how can ' — but Gertrude checked herself ere the word crossed her lips,, for the vision of a sweet face, now dead, as it committed to her care the father who would be so dependent on his child's sympathy and love, rose to her mind's eye. ' Won't he really ?

Every one said he wouldn't, but somehow I thought he would have given in to you.' ' No,' said Mrs. Heywood testily, for she didn't like the notion of not being given in to. ' He is as firm as a rock, no moving him ; but I am horribly disappointed, and Rose will be wild when she hears it. How you would have revelled in the music at Stuttgart, and the paintings at Munich, and the'— CROSSED 1 1 ' Oh, please, stop ! it almost drives me crazy to think of it ; and then to stay on here, moping through the winter, — oh, it is disgusting ! ' ' Most ; but then there'sno help for it.' ' None. Papa is immoveable.' ' You might try ; perhaps you would have more power of persuasion.' ' I ! Thank you; You don't know Papa. He will never allude even to the subject with me, nor I with him. I shall just have to go on here in the most resigned, snail-gallop kind of way I can muster up.' Mrs. Heywood was a Job's comforter sort of person, and continued for the next half-hour to enlarge on the fascinations and advantages of continental life as contrasted with the flat humdrum of a country house in the depth of winter.

Nor had she been altogether sweetly disinterested in her desire to have Gertrude Ellerslie with her abroad ! Her own daughter Rose, the idol and hope of her heart, was nevertheless so selfish and exigeante that she was often as much of a trial as a treasure ! Besides, the advantage of having the handsome and generous daughter of one of the first county families in Lonshire, with plenty of money at her command, was not far to seek. But even her pertinacity had been forced to draw in by the courteous but cold determination of Colonel Ellerslie to keep hi9 daughter at home. 'SOj my dear, our castles in the air are demolished,' she wound up with, as she rose to go. ' I have done mon petit possible for you, I can do no more ; ' and with a shrug of her graceful shoulders, and a pretty little grimace, she glided away.

Gertrude went with her to the door, where her faded little pony-carriage was waiting for her • and as she tucked the white antelope-rug round her friend's mother, she could not help envying one who seemed able to go about the world at the dictates of her own sweet, if capricious, will, sans peur et sans reproche. Gertrude had not recovered her equilibrium, as the reader must have perceived, when Bruce Morell entered. He had a knack somehow of turning up at wrong times, and his gaunt, angular figure, and awkward, stammering ways, were the reverse of soothing. Had an ordinary visitor been at this moment ushered in, Gertrude would have summoned to the rescue her well-bred self-control ; but for Bruce she would not trouble herself. He was her slave, her patient, long-suffering adorer and cousin, and her at present chafed feelings let themselves out upon him. ' Couldn't I read a little to you ? ' he said presently. 'Read!

I should think not! It would drive me mad, with this headache, to hear you pounding away. Besides, it's too dark.' ' Let me ring for the lamp ; ' and he pulled the bell. ' I don't want the lamp ! ' exclaimed Gertrude, who dreaded the revelation of her flushed and agitated face. ' How tiresome you are, Bruce ! ' ' My mother hopes that you and my Uncle Ellerslie will come on Thursday evening. A friend of Jack's has come to stay a day or two, and he is extremely musical, and will enjoy hearing you play.' 'I'm not well enough to go out to entertain visitors just now,' said Gertrude. ' Besides, I'm beginning rather to dislike music. One never hears any here, and it's stupid always playing oneself. But here is Papa ! ' she added, rising as her father entered. ' You can see what he says,' and she vanished from the room.

She flew up-stairs to her room, locked the door behind her, and, throwing herself into a low rocking-chair by the fire' buried her burning face in her hands, and burst into a passion of tears. 'Hard lines!' she muttered; 'the one golden prospect of my life dashed from me; shut up here with hardly a soul— a new soul, I meanto see or rub ideas with; and all the CROSS. 13 glorious music, and German, and travelling, and everything lost ! ' She abandoned herself to gloomy thoughts over her ' miserable fate,' and had just succeeded in persuading herself that she was the innocent victim of a cruel destiny, which was steadily opposing all her wishes and bright prospects, when a knock at the door roused her from her musings. ' Is it time to dress already ? ' she exclaimed, as she opened the door and found her maid outside. ' Yes, Miss.

I have knocked at least five times. Are you ill, Miss?' she added, as the tear-stained face and tumbled hair of her young mistress met her eye. 'No — yes, very — at least, rather,' answered Gertrude, as she rapidly began dressing, for punctuality was the soul of life at the Fort. ' What o'clock is it ? ' ' A quarter to seven, Miss,' and mistress and maid, roused alike to the gravity of their position, proceeded to the per formance of a very hasty toilette. Gertrude entered the drawing-room this evening with a beating heart and a flushed face. She had schooled herself into outward self-control; she had almost as great a hatred as men have of ' scenes ; ' and yet under all this self-restraint there was a deep current of angry irritation surging up against her father, who was the cause of her bitter disappointment He, as she entered, calmly laid down his magazine, glanced at the timepiece, and led the way to the dining-room.

Her brother Fred, who was spending his autumn holidays at home, and Bruce, who had ' hung on,' as was not uncommon with him, made up the little party. Fred rattled away, with a mental conviction that he had the task of four to do this evening, for his three companions were each absorbed apparently in thought. Colonel Ellerslie grumbled over the dishes, and called for his slate to note down the various defections for the edification of the cook next morning. The dinner-hour was usually a nervous era in Gertrude's day, for her father's fastidiousness about his food was trying to a degree. But even she seemed to-night quite impervious to the muttered anathemas over the faulty sauces, the under-done beef, and the roasted-to-a-cinder condition of the blackcock. Bruce had an anxious, burdened expression, not usual with him, and kept dropping words into Gertrude's ear, which he intended to have a soothing effect on her ruffled spirit, but which in reality were as oil to the burning fire within her. ' You'll see,' he murmured.

No answer. ' I'm quite sure you will, Gerty. Gerty ! ' in a louder tone. 'What?' ' You will see !'' 'What are you talking about?' with a not very gracious glance. ' You'll see that all this — that some good reason will come up for your' — in a hushed tone — 'sore disappointment.' ' Ridiculous nonsense ! Do be quiet ! How can you tell such lies, Bruce ? ' with a scornful glance from her dark blue eyes. 'You should have seen the gallant forty to-day, Bruce,' said Fred, dashing to the rescue. ' Which forty ? ' asked Bruce, rallying his scared wits. ' The forty thiev — 'The forty blackcock away up on the ridge at Crosgair. There they are, each blessed day we go, with their scouts out, and sentinels posted all over the place ; and just before you get within shot, the signal is given, and off they all fly ! ' ' How clever they are ! ' exclaimed Gerty, rousing into interest. ' I should just think so !

Collins and I had a time of it to-day after them. We dodged behind stooks, crept on all fours, manœuvred, so that we really thought the beggars had never spotted us ; when, lo ! just before we started up, the ' A FAMIL y dinner: 15 out-posts gave the signal, and away they all flew back into their stronghold, clean out of sight. A most horrid sell, I can tell you, for we lost the whole day.' ' Take this away,' Colonel Ellerslie is saying to the butler. ' What in the name of wonder is it ? ' 1 Brained coquettes [brain crockets], sir.' Colonel Ellerslie laid down the spoon, and, glancing across the table to Gertrude, said, 'I shall be obliged if you will tell Mrs. Cookson to teach Simmonds to give decent Christian names to her dishes.' No reply. ' Did you hear, Gertrude ? ' i ' Perfectly. I shall tell her.' ' What is the concern ? ' asked Fred, as Simmonds presented the dish to him. 'Mrs. Cookson told me, sir,' said Simmonds stoutly, his official dignity being much wounded by this public declaration of his ignorance, — ' Mrs. Cookson told me, sir, that it was brained coquettes.' • Well, wicked creatures though they be,' said Fred, stifling down his merriment, 'the dictates of my conscience, to say nothing of the dictates of my taste, forbid me to eat the mutilated remains of my greatest enemies.

Bruce,' nodding across to his cousin, ' I commend to you these slain enemies. It will be a tasteful reminiscence to you all your life that fiery destruction does sometimes overtake these enemies of our peace.' 'And this?' asked the Colonel, glaring at the next entree which Simmonds presented. 'Frisky chickens [fricasseed chickens], sir.' 'The scene is changed,' murmured Fred in a low tone, glancing at Gerty and Bruce with a world of fun in his eye. ' Battle and murder give place to life and fun ! ' But the undercurrent of merriment was checked by the sound of Colonel Ellerslie's voice, tremblingly uttering some scathing soliloquy on the ' idiocy ' generally of all his servants, and of Simmonds in particular, followed by what Fred called ' a written prologue ' on the slate for next morning's drama, on ' the sins and shortcomings of last night's dinner-table ! ' At last dinner was over, and Gertrude, alone in the drawing room, abandoned herself to her melancholy musings.

There were some letters to write for next morning's early post, a library book to finish, and the accompaniment of a song for Fred to practise ; but she silenced their mute appeals by assur ing herself that, in her present crushed state, ordinary humdrum duties would be self-inflicted cruelty. She therefore sat gazing dreamily into the fire, nursing the chafed feelings, which a little dutiful exertion would have helped to kill ; and when the gentlemen joined her, they could scarcely recognise in the cross, gloomy creature before them, the usually charming presiding genius of their home. ' Now for The Pirate, Gerty ! ' said Fred, lifting his new song and placing it on the piano. ' I really can't,' she answered snappishly. ' Bruce wants to hear it' ' Bruce can't get everything he wants, any more than other people.' ' Oh, never — never mind,' said poor Bruce apologetically. ' It doesn't matter.

Cousin Gerty has a headache, I fear.' ' Never had a headache in all my life, and hope I never shall What makes you think that ? ' 'Oh, because' — ■ 'Shall I have my revenge at chess to-night, Gertrude?' asked her father. The Colonel disapproved of abbreviations in names. The girl started. Was it possible that her father could expect her to sit and play with him just as if nothing had happened, without, too, a word of explanation for all his despotic crushing of her hopes ? ' It's my turn to have revenge,' she answered coolly. ' I'm very tired. I'm going to bed.' Her father glanced keenly and anxiously at her as she bade A RAY OF LIGHT. 17 him good-night, but he merely said, ' I hope a night's rest will set you all to rights.' ' Are you ill, Gerty ? ' said Bruce, who, having said an abrupt good-night to his uncle and Fred as they seated themselves at the chess-board, followed her to the hall.

She was lighting her lamp, and as its flame fell across her face, the young man was startled at its paleness. ' Gerty, I'm so very, very sorry, but I'm sure, yes, quite and certain sure, that it will all — all turn out for your good, if only you — you would ' — Softened by the pathos of his voice, Gertrude pressed her lips together to keep back the words which rose to them. She held out her hand, and looked the question which she would not speak, — ' Would what ? ' ' I know what I mean, Gerty,' stammered poor Bruce. ' But, you know, I cannot say it always, but,' and his voice quivered, ' when Alice died, I got such a great calming here,' placing his hand on his beating heart, ' when the words came into my mind, " What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." ' He spoke the words firmly, and with an inspired sort of look, Gertrude thought ' Who do you mean said that ? ' she asked eagerly. ' Himself,' answered Bruce, as he reverently pressed his lips upon her hand, and was gone.

The words rang in Gertrude's ear, vibrated through her throbbing frame, looked out upon her from the pages of the book she tried to read. While Arnot brushed her long golden hair, and when she laid her head upon her pillow, they seemed written on her very eye-balls, for she saw them when her eyes were shut. Next morning, long before her usual time for rising, she awoke with a start. She had been dreaming that she was strolling along the banks of a river, gathering flowers and ferns ; that imperceptibly the path led her higher and higher ; that treacherous rocks, covered with tufted moss, fringed the banks of the precipice ; that her eye caught sight of a fern she longed B to possess, perched on the edge of what proved to be a crumb ling rock ; and that, as she sprang forward to seize it, Bruce dragged her back.

She flung him off, but he held her fast, and, leading her a few steps higher up, showed her the danger she had escaped, as the thin, deceitful-looking ledge, which must have yielded to her weight, would have carried her into a yawning gulf below. And as she gazed down the giddy depth, the river seemed singing the words into her astonished ear, ' What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.' Gertrude tried to remember who had uttered these words and where they were to be found, and began to search her Bible for them. Her quick, intelligent mind gleaned many a truth as she glanced through the pages of the New Testament, till at last her eye lighted on the memorable verse. As she laid her Bible back on the shelf, she resolved henceforth to tiy to read it with more patience and interest.

Chapter II

• She reads, converses, studies, for applause ; And therefore all that she desires to know Is just as much as she can fairly show.' Crabbe. IRE the Colonel and Gerty coming to dinner on Thursday, Bruce ?' asked Lady Morell of her son next morning. Bruce started, and stammered out that he had given Gerty his mother's message, but that — that he could not remember, in fact, what the answer was. Lady Morell suppressed a look of annoyance, and said pleasantly, laying her hand on Bruce's shoulder : ' Well, my dear fellow, you will just have to go and get an answer now. Captain Egerton,' turning to her guest, ' says he can only give us a very short visit at present, and I should like him and the Colonel to meet, and have a talk about Trichinoply and Bellary ! ' Captain Egerton expressed politely the pleasure it would give him, and Lady Morell explained the dislike, the positive antipathy, she had to writing notes and letters, and how she made all possible use of her obliging son instead.

Just as Bruce, nothing loth, was starting for the Fort, he spied Mrs. Heywood and Rose coming up the avenue. Could he have got out of their way he certainly would, but it was too late ; he must, as he said to himself, ' face the enemy.' ' Is Lady Morell at home ?' asked Rose. ' I hope she has not yet started on her morning walk.' ' My mother was — is in the — hall, I believe — at least, she was when — I left !' answered Bruce. ' Will she still be in the hall ? ' asked Rose mischievously. How that girl delighted in making fun of Bruce ! ' Couldn't you just run back and see?' 'I would, but I am going a message — going to the Fort' ' Oh, Rose,' said Mrs. Heywood, ' don't let's keep Mr. Bruce. He is going to the Fort; we know the loadstar there, Mr. Bruce. But tell me, who is that splendid-looking man who came yesterday to visit you ?

An officer, I am sure.' ' Oh, it's Captain Egerton ! He's in the Artillery. He's a friend of Jack's ; at least, Jack knows him ; not a friend exactly, but he once saved Jack's life when he was all but drowned, and so my mother wanted to know him.' ' Naturally, in the circumstances ! ' said Rose. ' Is he of the Egertons of Egerton ? ' But aside to her daughter, ' He won't know anything about that. Well, we mustn't keep you, Mr. Bruce. Adieu.' And they moved on to the house. They found her ladyship in the drawing-room, and were introduced to the very distinguished-looking visitor. The real object of their visit was thus satisfactorily accomplished, although some fanciful questions about the best means of potting ferns and mosses were put. ' So nice that you should have happened to call this morn ing,' said easy, hospitable Lady Morell ; ' it will save me a note.

We are asking a few friends to dinner on Thursday, Mrs. Heywood. I hope you and Rose will kindly come at seven ? ' ' We shall be delighted,' answered Mrs. Heywood. ' It is always a pleasure to come to the Hall.' While the elder ladies plunged into a little gossip, very dear to both of them, Rose and Captain Egerton struck up a brisk talk. It is wonderful sometimes how much two persons can gather of each other's history in a few minutes. A pretty CAPTAIN EGERTON. 21 accurate estimate of the existing circumstances of each was arrived at by the time Mrs. Heywood rose to go. ' When do you go abroad ? ' Captain Egerton asked, as he shook hands with Rose. ' Not for a week or a fortnight yet,' said Rose. ' Mamma has business which will keep her at home indefinitely till it is settled' ' Who is he, mother ?

Is he rich ? ' asked Rose of her mother as they walked down the avenue, for she had caught snatches of the talk of the two ladies. ' He is an orphan, has scarcely a relative in the world, Lady Morell understands, and has inherited a large patrimony, but no estates. His father was whimsical, and left in his will that his lands were to be sold, and the capital divided among his four children — this Captain Egerton being only a second son. But his elder brother was killed in the hunting-field, and his two sisters have since died, and he has come in for everything.' ' Has he retired ? ' ' No ; Lady Morell says he doesn't mean to, and that he is as brave and good as he is wealthy.' ' Did you ask him to come to Garnlee ? ' ' No, it doesn't do to rush at people, my dear. He is sure to be at the Yorke Ewing's dinner party to-night.

We shall improve our acquaintance there, I hope.' ' I shall, anyhow,' retorted Rose. 'Well, try and play your cards better than you did with Major Charlton. We are in desperately low water, you know. I am thankful Garnlee is let, and for a couple of years too. It will clear off some of our debts, and pay our way abroad ; but it won't last for ever.' ' How disgusting it is to be poor ! ' said Rose ; ' it's too bad. There's Gertrude, she can get whatever she wants — whatever — her father's so proud of her ; and she has just to tell him she is getting such and such a thing, and send in the bills to him.' ' Yes, but she is the reverse of extravagant, Rose.' *' Is she ? ' with a sneer. ' Yes, her father told me so himself yesterday, and said he wished her to retain her straightforwardness and simplicity, and not get continental vagaries into her head !

She is a splendid looking girl, and so true and naive ! ' 'Do you think so, mother? I shouldn't wonder if she became a great over-grown woman some day.' ' I should, her figure is so exquisitely moulded ; besides which, her graceful bearing will never change.' Now, if there is one person in the world of whom Rose Heywood is jealous it is Gertrude Ellerslie, yet they are intimate's par excellence ; and if there is not much sympathy of love, or pursuit, or taste, — such as form the elements of real friendship, — there is early association and companionship, and a community of interests, to make a strong and usually happy intimacy. No greater contrast than exists between the two girls in appearance and disposition could be conceived. Gertrude, from her vantage-ground of wealth and position, looks kindly and feelingly on Rose, whose life is so hampered by straitened means ; while Rose casts an envious eye upon Gertrude, grudging her the admiration she receives, and is inwardly resolved to eclipse her some day, by the splendid match she shall make and the position in the world to which she shall attain.

Was this Captain Egerton, she mentally soliloquized, as she relapsed into silence during the rest of the walk home — was he to be her fate ? She should have to find out a little more about him, as to the prospect of titles and honours, as well as riches, and then she would set to work. Two things helped to raise Rose's spirits during the course of the day — the one being that Gertrude was not to be at the Yorke Ewing's dinner party, and the second that Captain Egerton was next heir to a baronetcy. Fred Ellerslie, who rode over in the afternoon to Garnlee to see Rose and break to her the unexpected news of his sudden recall to Edinburgh next day, was able to give her some of the LA TOILETTE. 23 information for which she thirsted, but which she contrived to ask for in a tone of quite disarming indifference.

She ex pressed her surprise and regret at Fred's sudden start in a most becoming way, while she secretly congratulated herself on this convenient turn of affairs, as leaving her unobserved and un challenged by her guileless but ardent lover, to manufacture and carry out her little game with this interesting stranger. Poor Fred — bright, generous Fred! single-hearted and unsuspicious — believed not more in his own true love for the artful girl before him than in the truth of her protestations of affection for him. She held him between herself and want in the matter of a husband, but had not the faintest intention of ever exalting him to such a connection. She condescended to take the fresh pure flowers he had brought her, and promised to wear them in the evening at dinner, adding as she bade him farewell, that all the heart of the party was taken out of it since he was not to be there.

A prettily worded little invective against early trains and cross, fidgety 'governors,' who insisted on having everybody at home the night before a start, closed the interview ; Fred, amid his own regrets, remarking that he couldn't make out the governor about journeys and departures, he always seemed so nervous when any of them left. As soon as he had ridden away, Rose flew to her room, fluttering with expectation and hope, to make preparations for the dinner party. Infinite were the pains she took over her toilette for the eventful evening, and the effect was, to say the least, striking. Rose was petite, but elegant in figure, and her face was beautiful. She had dark eyes, and a profusion of rich wavy black hair, which to-night was very carefully arranged, and in the thick tresses of which she artistically arranged artificial sprigs of scarlet geraniums. ' If only I knew if Captain Egerton goes in for art or nature,' she pondered, as she surveyed the effect of the flowers, and held in her hands one of the white camellias from Fred's bouquet. ' If only I knew !