Joanna's Inheritance; a story of young lives

Front matter

■ • The sun, as he neared the hills, threw the clouds from him on either side, and presents there whs revealed one of those goryeuus sunsets lor which the Bristol Channel i: c elebrated :—Pntj- 24! I. Joanna's Inheritance; a &tor» of goung ftibtjs. BY EMMA MARSHALL, AUTHOR OF "MRS. MAINWARING S JOURNAL, " LIFE S AFTERMATH," ETC, ETC. " Children of God ! and each as he is straying Lights on his fellow with a soft surprise ; Hearkens, perchance, the whisper of his praying, Catches the human answer of his eyes. " Then having met, they speak, and they remember All are one family, their Sire is one ; Cheers them with June and slays them with December, Portions to each the shadow and the sun. "Therefore his children hold to one another, Speak of a hope and tarry till the end ; Strong in the bond of sister and of brother, Safe in the fellowship of friend and friend."

F. W. Myers. SEELEY, JACKSON, & HALLIDAY, 54, FLEET STREET, LONDON. MDCCCLXXVII. The Right of Translation is Reserved. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. BROTHERS AND SISTERS I II. PAST AND PRESENT 27 III. LESSONS OF LIFE 53 IV. GERTRUDE'S TROUBLES 80 V. NEXT OF KIN Io6 VI. THE BEAUCLERCS 133 VII. A WINTER'S WALK AT NOON 1 63 VIII. DUCK-SHOOTING ON THE MOOR 193 IX. RESTORATION 221 X. THREE YEARS LATER ... 248 XL PERPLEXITIES 275 XII. CROSS PURPOSES 3IO

Chapter I. Brothers And Sisters

"JOANNA Coninghame will be here to-morrow at this time ; can you fancy it ? I know she will be stuck up and prim, and give herself airs. However, there are six of us to act as an antidote, and she will find that won't answer here ! Come, Cecil, I wish you would speak, and not sit there so mild and meek, but draw to the fire and let us be cosy, and toast our cheeks till they are quite rosy. Two rhymes im promptu, ah ! how proud you will feel when I dedi cate a volume of poems to you, or perhaps to the Honourable Joanna Coninghame : that will be the thing. Honourable indeed ! If I had a handle I would at least be Lady Gertrude. Cecil, if you don't speak — here goes." And presently a shower of fine sand fell upon the dark head which was bowed over the German dictionary, and liberally sprinkled the book, and powdered the glossy raven hair which Cecil Prender gast always prided herself was neatly coiled round her head.

" Truda, how shameful it is of you to disturb me every day in this way ! How can I possibly get my lessons ready ? how can I do anything with such a provoking creature always bothering me ?" " Come now, Cecil, I have blown it all off, it will only dry the ink of your exercise ; fine sand on your head is like water on a duck's back. Now if it had been on mine it would be different. Don't be cross. old Cecil, but let us relieve our minds about Joanna. Such a hideous name, such a frightful name !" " I rather like it," said Cecil ; " it reminds me of one of the most beautiful characters in history." " Stop now ; don't rush off to history. Joan d'Arc you mean, a sentimental young woman who heard voices, and chose to dress up in men's armour, and " " Died a glorious death," said Cecil, her dark eyes kindling; "but it is useless to talk to you, Truda, you make fun of everything."

" I ! my dear Cecil. I am a poet : did I not tell you so, five minutes ago ? But put away your books, and let us talk over Joanna before the boys come in from school. Charlie has an imposition to finish, so he will be here directly. How short the days are getting !" Truda exclaimed, as she stirred the fire vigorously, and seated herself on a low stool, her elbows on her knees, and her round cheeks resting on two very fair, white little hands. " It is so unlike papa to bring this girl here," Gertrude began ; " as to old Lady Beauclerc being a patient, fifty old ladies are his patients." " But they may not die and leave their grand children alone and friendless in the world. I think it is just like papa to take this girl and be kind to iler ; besides, Lady Beauclerc begged him to do so." " Yes, but to be so secret about it, never to tell us till the day before yesterday, and to make such a fuss about our being kind to her, and to order us not to gossip about her, j'ust as if we should gossip."

Cecil smiled. Although the autumn twilight was deepening she was not idle like Gertrude ; but having put her books neatly away, she was knitting vigor ously, as she leaned back in the well-worn arm-chair which had borne the rough treatment of many years in the Priory schoolroom. " I don't think we are above gossip, Gertrude, in this house." " Oh ! I know what you mean. We all talk at I — once, at least I and the boys and Aunt Helen do ; and we like to discuss things with each other. But that is not gossip. To-day when Lottie and Mary Cuthbert came with ears wide open to the German class, and were sweeter than they have been for ages, and wanted to know all about this plan of having Lady Beauclerc's granddaughter here, didn't I shut them up ? Don't I know how they will kiss her, and tell her she is lovely, and make no end of fuss with her, just because of that stupid title before her ugly name !

No, Cecil, no one can say I gossip ; to talk to you is quite another thing. But to go back to Joanna. Dear me ! Every time I say the name I think it is more frightful. Aunt Helen has been fidgeting about the spare bedroom all day, and papa says Joanna is to have the dressing-room too, and put her books and possessions there. I know we shall find her a dreadful nuisance, and I am determined to keep her at a distance." " You will be her dear friend before this day week, Truda ; but I think it is not right for us to set our selves against papa's wishes, and from what he says I do not think he could do otherwise than take Joanna till she comes of age, and can be her own mistress." " Will she be enormously rich I wonder ?" Truda said. " Well, of course not so rich as if she had been a boy. The estates and money go with the title, but she is to have Ashton Court, which she inherits from her grandmother, and money also.

But really, as papa said he did not wish us to talk to her about all this, of course we must not do so. We will make up our minds to like Joanna, and I hope you won't tease her out of her life, Gertrude." " Oh, she will Lfare no better than you do," said Gertrude ; " don't expect it. Here are the boys, and now there is an end of peace." The sound of heavy boyish feet upon the stairs was followed by the bursting open of the schoolroom door, and a loud voice exclaimed : " All in the dark"! why can't you light the gas ? where's a match ? Look sharp, Gertrude !" and Charlie Prendergast, seizing a piece of paper, twisted it up, and thrusting it into the fire held a blazing torch up to the chandelier, which he pulled towards him with a rough hand. " Take care, Charlie ; there, only look !" and as the chandelier swung back with violence one of the glass shades, the screw of which had been loosened, quivered and toppled off with a loud crash.

" There !" said Charlie, and he drew a chair to the table with his foot, and began to write upon a sheet of foolscap paper, dipping his pen into the inkstand at every other word, and inking his first and second fingers till each had a black cap on it. Cecil meantime had rung the bell that the frag ments of glass might be swept up, but Gertrude took no notice of the accident ; such breakages were, I fear, too common in the Prendergast family to excite much astonishment. " How many lines, Charlie ?" Gertrude asked presently. " Two hundred more ; do hold your tongue." " When have you got to show it up ?" " This evening at preparation ; the old gaffer did it to spite me of course." " I cannot imagine what can be the pleasure of so many impositions," Cecil said quietly. " You have one every day."

Charlie muttered, " Say twice a day, one is as true as the other ;" and he went on scribbling in hot haste. The door now opened again, and a boy of sixteen came in, followed by the housemaid. " What are you ringing for ?" the latter asked sharply. She was an old servant, and privileged to express her opinions to the children. " Ringing and ringing, just as one is trying to get forward with one's work ! What is it ?" " One of the shades fell off the gas," Cecil said, "' and the floor is covered with bits of glass." " I wonder what next," said Jane in an injured voice. " I am sure I never saw such a house as this ; and now, as if there were not enough to do already, here's another child coming. Of course this is Master Charlie's doing." " It was nobody's doing exactly," said Gertrude ; " the screw must have been loose, or the shade would not have toppled over."

" Some of you children's meddling ; it was all right this morning when I dusted it. Well, I shall tell Miss Prendergast." " You need not trouble yourself, Jenny, I shall tell her myself," said Charlie ; " though if the thing had not been loose it would not have happened. Now shut up." " What is wrong with you, Oswald ? you look like a mute at a funeral," Gertrude said, as her elder brother sat down to the table with a book. " Oh, he is glum because he has lost his place in the sixth. That fellow Harper major has done it at last. Cheer up, old boy! Here am I, nearly bottom of the third, and as merry as a grig." " You," said Oswald contemptuously ; " as if any one cared for what you said or did. But you need not say what is untrue for your own amusement, at my expense." " Does your head ache, Oswald ?"

Cecil asked. " It always aches," growled Oswald. " Then you ought to tell papa ; he said you were on no account to work when you had a headache. You ought not to go to preparation to-night." Oswald's reply was to shut his book hastily and leave the room. " He is fagging himself to death," said Charlie, " and I hate to see it, and that grinning idiot Harper will keep ahead of him now, I expect ; and old Birchall is as pleased as Punch. He always likes the boarders to be before day boys." " That is nonsense," said Cecil. " I believe Mr. Birchall is strictly just. But I really must tell papa about Oswald. Gertrude, have you prepared your lessons for Miss Scales ?" " I have done two lines, or perhaps three ; I may do two more after tea." " How provoking Truda is !" Cecil sighed as she left the room.

" How can any one be of use to a girl like her ? And Aunt Helen is always saying I am the eldest of the family, and ought to do this and be that, and says I am useless and self-absorbed. I scarcely know whether to tell papa about Oswald ; it may only make Oswald angry if papa interferes. And yet how ill he looks ! perhaps papa will notice it at tea ; I hope he will, if only Aunt Helen does not talk his fever all over, he does so hate it." So Cecil thought, as she went slowly along the corridor towards the drawing-room, from which a sound of voices reached her ear and warned her that Miss Prendergast had visitors. As she was hesi tating whether to go in or not, the door opened and her little sister Daisy came out. " I was sent to call you, Cissy," she said. " Aunt Helen says you are to come.

There's all the Cuth berts there, and Mrs. Stuart, and Mr. Hastings. They have had afternoon tea, and they are all talking at once. Mrs. Stuart is a widow like Aunt Mary, only so pretty, and " " What a chatterbox you are !" exclaimed Cecil. " Have you and Sibyl been in the drawing-room all the afternoon ?" " Since we had our tea," said Daisy, a child of eight years old, who was in the conscious glory of a new blue merino, over which clouds of fair hair rested. " And do you know, Mr. Hastings says I am like Gertrude, and that Sibyl is like you, and " It was as the child said : every one seemed to be talking at once ; and when Cecil entered the drawing-room it was difficult to understand how any connected thread could be carried on amidst the strife of tongues. Miss Prendergast's voice was above all others ; it always was.

Just the gossip which the Doctor had forbidden was now holding undisputed sway. Cecil heard her own name. " She is about Cecil's age, but a mere child, ignorant of the simplest things, I believe. Poor old Lady Beauclerc had a perfect horror of schools or of governesses, and poor Joanna has been brought up in complete seclusion." " Cecil dear, here are Lottie and May Cuthbert ; why did you not come before ?" " I was in the schoolroom, Aunt Helen," Cecil said shortly ; and then Cecil became disagreeably conscious that Mrs. Cuthbert was kissing her, and she had to go through the same ceremony with Lottie and May. Gertrude's outspoken opinion recurred to her ; this sudden outburst of affection from the Cuthberts, after many months of coldness, must have reference to Joanna, and yet Cecil hated herself for the thought.

Next came Mr. Hastings' greeting, which was always kindly, and he turned to the widow lady who had excited little Daisy's admiration, and said : ■" May I introduce my sister to you ?" Cecil turned and met the glance of a pair of beautiful eyes, beautiful in their expression and defying all description. An instant feeling rose in the young girl's heart of liking and admiration ; and indeed that calm, sweet face, looking out from under the widow's bonnet, was one in which was written the story of chastened sorrow and abiding love which is so attractive to young and old. " My sister, Mrs. Stuart, is come to take care of me in St. Mary's Vicarage," Mr. Hastings said. " Now I hope you and your sisters will often find your way there. Constance will be very glad to see you ; and we want you to come to spend the evening with us to-morrow."

" Oh ! thank you," Cecil said, and then hesitated. " To-morrow I am afraid we can't come, for we ex pect Joanna Coninghame, and I think papa would not like us to be away when she arrives." " Well then, we will say Saturday ; and we shall hope to see you at tea at half-past six — you and Gertrude, and Miss Coninghame and the boys." " I don't think the boys can come to tea ; they go to the school-house for preparation every evening from seven to nine ; but perhaps they may come for us afterwards." " That will do capitally," Mr. Hastings remarked, and then turned to answer a question from Mrs. Cuth bert. She had been listening to the conversation, and rather hoped Lottie and May might be included in the invitation given to Cecil. But Mr. Hastings and Mrs. Stuart soon went away, and nothing was said about it, much to the two Cuthberts' disappointment.

" How nice looking the eldest girl is, Henry !" Mrs. Stuart said, as she and her brother walked home wards together. " Yes, poor child ! I always feel for her, the eldest of that motherless family, and the place of the mother supplied by that most provoking Miss Prendergast. I do believe she talks night and day. How people can go on at an even pace in that way without being exhausted I can't conceive. She is my terror in the parish. If little Jane or Mary Smith has the measles, I hear of it till I am weary of their name. If John Stubbs plays the truant, or Mark Preston is flogged by his drunken father, Miss Prendergast makes each event a theme for ten minutes' talk whenever I meet her. And yet she is very good, and does her duty by those poor children as far as she sees it." " Has their mother been dead long ?"

" Oh yes ! when little Sibyl was born. And about two years ago the eldest boy, Oswald, had a bad at tack of typhoid fever. It touched his brain a little, poor fellow ! I mean he was a boy of extraordinary BR0THER3 AND SISTERS 13 promise, and now any strain or overwork knocks him up. The next boy is a fine, handsome fellow, but a regular pickle, and always in mischief. The second girl, Gertrude, is like him and lives in scrapes. But, Constance, I think you may do a great deal for them, poor children. You will like to have a special interest, and here is one. Those children want to be set going in the right direction ; they want to be shown that religion is not a thing for Sundays and services only, but that it should be the leaven of daily life ; coming in to quicken joy and smooth trouble, and to keep us hopeful and humble at the same time.

You know what I mean, Constance." " Yes, Henry ; and you must help me to rouse myself, and give me heaps of work, and make me useful in all ways. What should I have done if I had not had your house to come to ? God is very good to provide me with such a home." " And me with such a sister and companion," he said. "A week's trial has shown me what a mistake bachelor life is ; one must have somebody to whom one can say solitude is sweet." " Where is Rose now, Henry ? You have never mentioned her in your letters, and since I have been at the other side of the world I have lost many links, especially since our mother died." "Rose is married," Mr. Hastings said abruptly. "I cannot speak of her, Constance. She never loved me ; it was all delusion, but please let the dead past bury its dead. Let me be thankful that I have you."

" And let me be thankful in my great sorrow that I am where Francis wished me to be. He did not wish me to remain at the mission, and judged rightly as he always did, I know. My health might have failed without his tender care, and I was not fit to struggle with many difficulties alone. I often feel him very near me, Henry, and I like to think I am where he wished me to be ; and may God help me to do His will." It was nearly dark when the brother and sister reached the Vicarage, and a blazing fire in the square hall sent out a cheerful welcome as they went in together. Two or three poor people were waiting, and Mrs. Stuart took down their names from her brother, and then listened patiently to the story each had to tell, promising to come to-morrow and see the sick child of one and the old mother of another.

Then Mrs. Stuart went to the kitchen to investi gate the condition of some beef-tea she had been preparing for another invalid, and in a quarter of an hour she was in the dining-room presiding over her brother's " high tea," and talking pleasantly on anv subject which interested him. It was the precious gift of sympathy which had made Mrs. Stuart sa useful in her work as a missionary's wife in India ; it was this same gift which acted as a talisman upon all with whom she was brought in contact. For the time she threw herself into the concerns and interests of others, and it was in this that Mr. Hastings hoped she would prove so useful a friend to the young Prendergasts. For every one who was associated with the household at the Priory was struck with the want of harmony that prevailed there.

The children all loved each other, and the loss of one of their number by death would have been felt as a great sorrow ; but there was not amongst them the keen participation in each other's joys or little troubles which is as the salt of daily life. Cecil would lament over Oswald's headaches, and feel sorry for him to a certain extent ; but she had no idea of entering into the bitterness which often filled the boy's heart, as he saw his once brilliant prospect of success clouded, and those who were at one time so far behind him in the race winning upon him with very little effort. It was the same about Gertrude. Cecil's idea of influencing her wild impetuous sister was in con stantly remonstrating with her, and repeating that she was unladylike and rough, and imitated Charlie in everything; while Gertrude took a delight in teasing Cecil by her pranks, and setting her opinion at defiance.

Charlie and Gertrude had more in common ; but it is to be feared the words of the old servant were true, and that there was often " not a pin to choose between them." The two little girls were, as Ger trude said, the ornamental tail to the family. They were petted and admired perhaps more than was good for them, and Daisy and Sibyl knew their power with their aunt and their father, and exerted it. Miss Prendergast was great in afternoon teas, and the drawing-room at the Priory was a favourite re sort for unoccupied people, between four and five, especially in winter. The meal, which was partly dinner and partly tea, was nominally at half-past six, and the two boys went straight from the table to their evening preparation at seven o'clock at the Head-master's house, which was very near the Priory.

Dr. Prendergast seldom came in till nearly the end of the meal, and then the bell was rung, and a hot dish was brought in for him, just as the boys were starting for the school-house. Dr. Prendergast had all the principal practice of Minsterholme and the neighbourhood, and was the acknowledged friend of rich and poor. He was often preoccupied and distrait, and the amount of talk at the table only represented to him a confusion of tongues, and a still greater confusion of ideas which he did not trouble himself to disen tangle. This evening, however, Oswald's heavy eyes attracted his notice. " Working too hard, Oswald," he said, as the boy pushed back his chair, leaving an egg untouched by his plate and his scone barely tasted. " Stop," he said authoritatively as Oswald was leaving the room : " you quite understand that you are not to try for the University scholarship this year.

I will not hear of it." Oswald's thin sensitive lips quivered, but he an swered in a proud cold tone : " You need not trouble yourself about the scholarship. I can hardly keep a place in this little school. I know where I should come out if I did try. Be quiet !" he said sharply to his little sister Sibyl, who came skipping in to sit by her father while he eat his dinner, and as she ran against her brother a book fell from his hand. He gave the little girl a rough push, which made her knock her head against the door. Tears followed more than the occasion required ; and Dr. Prender gast said sharply : " How can you be such a coward as to vent your ill-temper on your little sister?" taking the child as he spoke on his knee, and soothing her tenderly. " Papa, Oswald is not well," Cecil began, and he has lost his place to-day in the sixth he has held so long against Harper.

Pray, don't let Sibyl spoil your tea, papa. Do put her down," and Cecil took hold of Sibyl's arm to remove her. " Leave her alone, Cecil," Miss Prendergast said. " Poor little thing ! she always enjoys this time more than any other, and your father likes having her." " Papa ought to have his dinner in peace," Cecil murmured, " and he ought never to be troubled with these children at all. He ought to dine at seven by himself." Cecil, I really must beg you not to interfere with my household arrangements. The burden of house keeping for this family is quite enough without having to think of two dinners. The Cuthberts* hours are precisely the same as ours, and so are the Birleys'. Unless the establishment is very large, late dinners as a rule are impossible. It was only the other day that I was speaking of this to Miss Birley, and she quite agreed with me."

A long discourse now followed from Miss Pren dergast, on the merits of late dinners and luncheons, and early dinners and high teas. Then Gertrude broke in with the request that she might go and practise, which Miss Prendergast was granting, when her father said : " Wait a minute, Truda. I want to speak to you. I had a note to-day from M. Le Bras, complaining of you." " I don't wonder," chimed in Cecil. " Gertrude makes all the girls in the class laugh, and is so silly." " I shall never get a good word from you, I know," said Gertrude ; " but fire away, papa." " Gertrude, what a disrespectful way to speak to your father !" Aunt Helen interposed. " I told M. Le Bras a little time ago that my remon strances were useless, and that the next time he had any complaint to make, it must be to your father."

" Send Sibyl upstairs, Helen," Dr. Prendergast said : " I think she had better not hear all this." " I am sure I don't want to hear it either," said Cecil ; " so I will take Sibyl away. And if you are good," she added, addressing the child, " I will read a chapter of ' Susy ' to you and Daisy." This was a temptation not to be resisted, and Sibyl went off in the best temper imaginable. " Look here, Gertrude," her father said, looking very grave, and producing a letter from his pocket book. " M. Le Bras is greatly annoyed at this stupid caricature which, he says, you employed yourself in producing at the last German lesson. All personal attacks are vulgar and ill-bred. Any thing that may hurt the feelings of another, whether written, spoken, or drawn, is an offence against good manners. I should think any girl would be ashamed of this." 2—2 Gertrude laughed as her father held towards her a sheet of paper covered with pen and ink sketches, but the laugh was forced, and she was blushing crimson.

" Papa ! it was only fun, and I never meant the old creature to see it." " M. Le Bras is young enough to be my son," her father said ; "the adjective is misplaced. I am sure your aunt will agree with me that some apology is due to M. Le Bras, and that a stop must be put to all the nonsense which seems to go on at this class. I don't care to pay M. Le Bras two guineas a quar ter for a result like this." And even as he spoke there was a shadow of a smile hovering round the Doctor's mouth, and Gertrude was too sharp not to see it. The sheet of paper about which this discussion had arisen was divided into two parts or sections. On one was represented Joan d'Arc with her hands clasping the cross, and beneath it was written "The Joanna of the Past." On the other side was the fi gure of the French master, his waxed moustache, spectacles, and pose excellently done.

His eyes were glaring at a small crouching figure of a girl whose long black hair he had seized, apparently in an ecstasy of wrath, and beneath was written " The Joanna of the Future," and in German the sentence from Schiller's play coming from M. Le Bras's mouth : " Bist du es, wunderbares Mddchen." The ghost of a smile on her father's face emboldened Gertrude, and she was further encouraged by seeing Miss Prendergast hiding her laughter behind her pocket-handkerchief. " Papa," Gertrude said, " is Joanna's likeness as good as M. Le Bras's ? Do tell me. It is exactly what I fancy she is like, a little black elfish thing, with dark hair all over her shoulders." Gertrude had now put her arm round her father's neck, and was looking down into his face as he leaned back in his chair, with her blue frank eyes.