Roy's Wife. A novel

Front matter

EOY'S WIFE. VOL. I. ROY'S WIFE % lobtl. BY G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193 PICCADILLY 1878. [All Rights reserved.] gnngag: CLAY AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHIP. PAGE I. A PINT OP PORT ... ... ... ... 1 II. A PAIR OF BOOTS ... ... ... ... 22 in. no. 46 ... ... ... ... ... 30 IV. PEEPER AND DEEPER ... ... ... 44 v. a woman's reason ... ... ... ... 56 vi. so like a man ! ... ... ... ... 69 vn. warden towers ... ... ... ... 83 VIII. ROYSTON grange ... ... 97 IX. STRANGERS YET ... ... ... ... 113 X. MRS. MOPUS ... ... ... ... ... 125 XI. A WALKING DICTIONARY ... ... ... 139 XII. BURTON BRAKE ... ... ... ... gnngag : CLAY AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAP. PAGE I. A PINT OF PORT ... ... 1 II. A PAIR OF BOOTS ... ... ... ... 22 III.

NO. 46 30 IV. DEEPER AND DEEPER ... ... ... 44 v. a woman's reason ... ... ... ... 56 VI. SO LIKE A MAN ! ... ... ... ... 69 VII. WARDEN TOWERS ... ... ... ... 83 VIII. ROYSTON GRANGE ... ... 97 IX. STRANGERS YET ... ... ... ... 113 X. MRS. MOPUS ... ... ... ... ... 125 XI. A WALKING DICTIONARY ... ... ... 139 XII. BURTON BRAKE ... ... ... ... CONTENTS. VI CHAP. PAGE XIII. SWEET SYMPATHY ... ... ... ... 171 XIV. SO FAR AWAY ... ... ... ... 184 XV. THE LITTLE RIFT ... ... ... ... 203 XVI. THE MUSIC MUTE ... ... ... ... 216 XVII. BAFFLED ... ... ... ... ... 236 XVIII. DO YOU REMEMBER 1 ... ... ... 248 XIX. IN THE WILDERNESS ... ... ... 265 XX. A BLUE-JACKET ... ... ... ... ROY'S WIFE. CHAPTEE I. A PINT OF PORT. None of your Scotch pints, dear to hard-headed North Britons of the last century, not even an imperial pint, containing only one-fourth of the former measure, but an hotel pint, in hotel limits, of hotel vintage, at hotel price.

Sound, no doubt, though rough and fruity ; strong, full-flavoured, and exceedingly restorative to body and mind. An open wine-book propped against an uncorked bottle offers the produce of many European vineyards at the highest possible tariff. In its first page alone the varieties of VOL. I. B HOTS WIFE. 2 champagne and claret might stock the cellar of a duke. But he is a man of unusually trustful nature who drinks wine in a coffee-room at the rate of one hundred and twenty shillings per dozen, and experienced traveders wisely content themselves with pale ale, brandy-and water, a glass of brown sherry, or a pint of port. Neither wine nor wine-card have yet attracted attention from the visitor who ordered both. A waiter, banging hot plates down under his nose, to serve " a bit of fish," notices nothing remarkable in this unit among many guests.

Chapter II

A PAIR OF BOOTS. The smoke-room, as the waiter caded it, was empty; our friend felt pleased to find that uncomfortable apartment at his sole disposal. Devoid of drapery, floored with od-cloth, bare of ad furniture but wooden chairs, horse-hair sofas, and spittoons ; this retreat offered few temptations to a smoker, and such guests as were devoted to the practice usually chose to consume their tobacco out of doors. It was a bright night, with a clear sky and a rising tide, yet Roy seemed to prefer the flicker of gas in this dim, desolate apartment, to the fresh briny air and a moon-lit sea. To be under the same roof with her was a strong point ; it would be his own fault if he could not, in some way, make the acquaintance of this fascinating stranger before she left the hotel. He was a man of the world, but he had seen a great deal of that world with his own eyes, and travel, no doubt, tends to simplify the character while it enlarges the mind.

He did not at once suspect evd of her, because journeying unpro tected and alone ; nor did he feel that so attractive a woman must be in a false position, without a companion of her own sex. Again and again he rehearsed the little scene that he hoped to bring about next day. The meeting on the stairs, the profound and deferential bow, repeated on the pier, so unobtrusively that to offer a newspaper, a novel, a handful of fresh flowers, would seem a tribute of homage rather than an unauthorized impertinence ; then, by slow degrees, morning greetings, afternoon conversations, perhaps at last a walk by the sea, an explanation of motives, a hint at covert admiration from the first, and so on — and so on — to the end — - Here a memory of Lady Jane made him catch his breath like the shock of a cold bath.

There was something of triumph, nevertheless, in the consciousness that he had hoisted the flag of freedom at last, and found, perhaps to-night by the merest accident, far more than he looked for in those young days of weakness, folly, and despair. How delightful it would be to instal her at Royston, to take her to London, to introduce her to Lady Jane ? No. Already he had so far forgotten the ghost of his departed love, that he felt perfectly indifferent whether Lady Jane grudged him his happiness or not ! A man must marry some time, he decided. Would he ever see a woman so likely to suit him, supposing, of course, that she proved as charming as she looked? And why not? The face was surely an index to the character. Such soft and beautiful hair, too, must necessarily accompany an amiable disposition and well-stored mind.

His thoughts were running away with him, galloping headlong down-hill, and had reached altar and honey moon, when they were suddenly pulled up by a consideration that ought to have presented itself sooner. "What if she were married already ? " How he cursed his stupidity not to have scrutinized her left hand for the plain gold ring that tells its' respectable tale. Yes, of course, she must be married ; that accounted for her travelling by herself, her quiet independence of manner, her dining alone in the coffee-room of an hotel. She came to meet her husband, who would, probably, arrive by the last train, and there was an end of the whole thing ! As he dashed the stump of his cigar into the fireless grate, he could not help laughing aloud to think how quickly he had planned, built, furnished, and annihdated his castle in the air !

Yet passing 46 in the passage on his wTay to bed he could not help looking wistfully at the closed door, with its painted numerals, wondering the while how he could be such a fool ! Roy was an early riser. The habit, acquired in warmer climates than our own, is got rid of with difficulty, even in England, where many of us lose something like fourteen hours, or one working day, in the week, by persistently lying in bed till eight o'clock. On his dreams it is needless to speculate ; sleep does not always continue the thread of our waking thoughts, but he turned out at seven, and by half-past was shaking the cold salt water from eyes, ears, and nostrds, as he came up after a glorious "header" and struck out for the open sea. He was a fair swimmer, but distances are deceiving for a naked man in the Channel, so that a few hundred yards out and in again were as much as he cared to accomplish before breakfast.

Climbing into his machine, he experienced that sensation of renewed vigour in body and mind, which is never so delightful as after the first of our morning dips, if we are prudent enough not to stay in the sea too long! Walking home, through the market, with a furious appetite for breakfast, all the despondency of yesterday had vanished, and even the infatuation of last night seemed but a dream. Royston was no longer a dull and moated Grange, in which life meant stagnation; a country gentleman's duties and occupations assumed the importance which everything really possesses that is done heartily and for a good motive. John Roy himself had become an enviable person, with far better luck than he deserved ; and this fresh, quiet Beachmouth a charming little watering-place where he would remain just long enough to enjoy his holiday, and return to homely duties refreshed, in vigorated, altogether a new man.

If No. 46 crossed his mind, it was only that he might picture her to himself eating prawns with her legal mate at a coffee-room breakfast, smiling and comely, no doubt, but not half so pretty as she looked the night before. Proceeding upstairs to his own apartment he necessarily passed her door. On its threshold rested a dear little pair of boots, left out last night to be cleaned, and brought back this morning, in company with a can of warm water. It was obvious they belonged to a very pretty foot, slim and supple, hollow and arched, that trod, light and even, on a thin sole and a low heel. For a man who admired pretty feet it was impossible to pass these boots without further examination. John Roy could not resist the temptation, and stooped to pick one up. Now the chambermaid, not wishing to go more errands than necessary, had left a letter for No. 46, cunningly balanced on that lady's chaussure : was it quite inexcusable that Mr. Roy should have turned it over in his hand, or that his heart should have made a great leap when he read the address — "Miss Burton, Imperial Hotel, Beachmouth,' written legibly enough in a plain, clerk-like, current hand ?

Miss Burton ! She was free then, this goddess, unmarried at any rate, though it would be too much to suppose that she could be without suitors. Still, give him a fair field and no favour, why should his chance be worse than another's ? All the folly of last night, that he thought had been washed out by sea-water, came back with a rush ; he lifted one of the little boots in a tender, almost a reverent hand ; but for footsteps in the passage he would have defied blacking, and pressed it to his lips. Instead of kissing, he dropped it like a hot potato, and hurried off to complete his toilet, with a light tread and a bounding pulse, but the fine appetite for breakfast completely gone.

Chapter III

no. 46. He was just in time. His own scarcely closed, before the door of 46 opened, and a bright, handsome face peeped out, followed by a round white arm, that drew letter, boots, and water can into the room. Miss Burton then desisted from the sleeking of her dark locks, and proceeded to read the fodowing communi cation : — " Monday evening, " Corner Hotel, Corner Street, Strand. "My dear Nelly, — " You were disappointed. In course you must have been disappointed, though I make no account of disappointments myself, being well used to them. But you are young, which makes it different. Wed, my dear, the NO. 46, 31 cabman was sulky, and his poor horse lame, and I had very little time to spare, there's no denying it, so we missed the train. Why didn't I come by the next? I'll tell you. The moment I got home, meaning to take a cup of tea and a fresh start, what should I find at the door, but four arrivals, and one of them a family of eight, with a baby not short coated, bless it, as hungry as a little hawk.

Nothing ready, not so much as a mouthful of toast for the lot. Maria is no more use than a post; and when I think of how you wTould have helped me, my dear, in such a muddle, I could sit down and cry. Why, in your time, a queen might have eaten off the kitchen floor, and now, I declare, I am ashamed for the strange servants to go into the offices. Even them foreign couriers turn up their noses when they pass in and out ; and to be untidy, as well you know, is the one thing that makes me mad. However, I am such a one to bustle when I'm really put to it, that I had them all settled and comfortable before the gas was ROY'S WIFE. 32 turned on; but it was too late to start for Beachmouth then. I never believed much in telegraphs since the Government took them in hand, so I thought I'd drop you a line by post, my dear, to tell you all, how and about it.

"I made sure of being off first thing in the morning, but we're poor blind creatures, the sharpest of us, and half-an-hour back, Fanny, that's the new under-housemaid, and a precious lazy one she is, comes tapping at the door, and ' If you please, ma'am,' says she, ' Miss Collins is took bad,' says she ; and will you believe it, my dear, there was Maria fainted dead away on the stairs, and forced to be put to bed at once, and a doctor sent for and all ! Tdl he has been, I don't know what's the matter, nor how long a job it will be, nor when I shall get down and join you, no more than the dead. That's why I'm writing in such a hurry to save the post, so please excuse mistakes, and always believe me, Your affectionate aunt, Matilda Phipps. NO. 46, 33 " P.S. My head isn't worth twopence, I'm that worried and put about.

Now I've forgot to say, you'd better keep your mind easy, and stay where you are, — the change will do you good. If things go well, I might be with you as Saturday, at soonest. I can tell you these fine autumn days make me long for a blow of the sea breezes and a walk by the sea-side ; good-bye." After reading the above production more than once, Miss Burton pulled her purse from under the pdlow, and counted her money, gold, silver, copper, and a bank-note. She then completed her toilet, took in a breakfast-tray left at the door, disposed of its contents with a healthy appetite, arranged her writing-case on the lid of a trunk, and, in a most uncomfort able attitude, produced the following reply : — " Tuesday morning, " 'No. 46, Imperial Hotel, Beachmouth. "Dear Aunt Matilda, — " Mind you ask for No. 46 when you arrive.

It means me. I'm like a convict, only VOL. 1. D HOY'S WIFE. 34 without a brass ring, and the people of the hotel wouldn't know me by any other name. I hope you will be here soon ; you would enjoy it. From my window I have such a lovely view of the sea, and this morning I was woke by the tide coming in. It sounded so fresh and healthy. I wonder anybody lives away from the sea-side; not but what I was very happy with you in Corner Street. I hke to think I am of use, and one is very useful, I suppose, managing an hotel. If poor Miss Collins keeps bad, I will come back whenever you wish. I don't want to be independent, dear auntie, and the money left me by Cousin William I would willingly join to yours, if you thought it a good plan, as I told you from the first. However, in the mean time, we will hope to enjoy ourselves for a fortnight at least, in this beautiful and romantic place.

Not that I have seen much of it yet; but directly I have posted this, I mean to be off for a long walk by the sea. It seems like another world, and yet I am sure I don't know why. This hotel NO. 46 35 is comfortable enough, but I could teach them a few things, I dare say, though to be sure we Londoners are apt to expect too much. Country folks must be a little behindhand, I suppose. How you would laugh if you were to find me settled in the bar, taking the orders and posting the books. Wouldn't it seem like old times ? " I was glad you told me to travel first class, as I had a carriage all to myself, except for two gentlemen, who got out half-way. I never was much of a one to take notice of the men, and though they stared more than was polite, we scarcely exchanged a word. I dined in the coffee-room, where there were very few people.

If it wasn't for the sea, I should be dud enough ; but I hope to have you here in a day or two, when we wid take some famous walks, and perhaps, if it is very smooth, go out for a sail. In the mean time I shall stay where I am, dear auntie, till I hear from you again, and remain always, Your grateful and affectionate niece, Elinor Burton." Having stamped her letter, Miss Burton put on a hiding little straw hat, armed herself with an umbrella, and sallied forth to the post office, light of step and blithe of heart, little knowing, like the rest of us, what a day might bring forth. It must not be supposed that this lady, though filling a social position no higher than the management of an hotel, owned and superintended by her aunt, was therefore deficient in education, or unrefined in feehngs.

Her father was a bookseller, her mother a governess. Such a combination inferred a moderate share of education and accomplish ments. She could play the pianoforte, speak French, calculate figures, order dinner, see that it was properly cooked, check trades-people, manage servants, and wrote, moreover, the most beautiful Italian hand imaginable — clear, precise, and fluent, it seemed no unworthy index of her character. She was now near thirty, and had of course received a fair amount of attention. She NO. 46 37 might have counted her offers as tumblers of punch are counted in Ireland, on the fingers of both hands. Hitherto she had escaped without a wound, almost without a scratch. Well-to-do tradesmen sued in vain. A rising artist, a popular actor were rejected, kindly but firmly, and Nelly, in the prime of womanhood, could as yet find nobody exactly to her taste.

Mrs. Phipps, the aunt who had taken care of her since her mother's death, began to fear that she was destined for an old maid. Recalling her own youth, and its comparative scarcity of suitors, she wondered how her niece could be so impenetrable, and when, under the will of a cousin deceased, Miss Burton became possessed of a smad independent fortune, the elder lady, arguing against her own interests and convenience, urged on the younger the propriety of at last settling in life. Nelly did not seem to see it. When she could find leisure, and occasion offered, she was a reader of novels and a dreamer of dreams, though clear-headed and firm of purpose.' She was also a thorough woman, and cherished deep in her heart those generous impulses of affection and romance which make much of a woman's pleasure in life, and all her pain.

She had formed her ideal hero, who in no way resembled the men she was in the habit of meeting in her aunt's private sitting room, or at the bar of the Corner Hotel, Corner Street, Strand. She had not settled exactly what he was, but had made up her mind what he was not. In business? No. A mere idler? No. Young, slim, and genteel? No. Short, stout, and well - to - do ? A thousand times no. Rather, a man of a certain age, a certain standing, who had seen the world, and thought things out, and been unhappy — perhaps about some other woman. She wouldn't mind that, a sore heart was better than none at ad ; and — and — she felt if she really loved him, she could console him for anything ! When we think of a woman's nature — excitable, imaginative, and in its affections NO. 46 39 wholly unreasonable; when we think of a girl's dreams — tender, unselfish, and thoroughly unattainable — the wonder is, not that here and there we shall find an unhappy marriage, but that any two people, thoroughly disappointed and undeceived, should be able to tolerate each other kindly and comfortably to the end.

Even for men there is an awakening from the rosy dream, usually within two years ; but they have so many interests and occupations into which the affections do not enter, that they prosper well enough without these super fluities, and prefer, I believe, the bracing air and enforced activity of the working world, to an oppressive atmosphere and irksome repose in a fool's paradise. But it is far different with their wives. Piece by piece the woman sees her knight stripped of his golden armour ; feather by feather does her love-bird moult its painted plumes, and the lower he falls in her estimation, the higher this disappointing mate seems to rise in his own. He kissed her feet while she thought him a prince, he tramples on her now she knows him a clown. After earning an eagle, it does seem humiliating to be coerced by an owl.

And there is no salvage,; ad her cargo has gone down in one ship. Is it wonderful that she looks abroad over the dreary waters, with a blank face and a troubled eye ? Women are deceived over and over again. They like it ; but even the pure gold never rings quite true in their ears when they have once been cheated by the counterfeit coin. It seems an ungenerous sentiment, but I think that man is wise who does not allow his wife to know him thoroughly ■ who keeps back a reserve of strength, of authority, even of affection, for the hour of need, causing her to feel that there are depths in his character she has not yet sounded, heights she has not scaled. Thus can he indulge and keep alive her feline propensity to prowl, and pounce, and capture ; thus will he remain an object of interest, of anxiety, of devotion; thus wdl she continue to see him through the coloured glass of her NO. 46 41 own imagination, and it will be the happier for both, because when affection goes to sleep in security, it is apt to forget all about waking, and those are the most enduring attachments in which the woman loves best of the two.

In the mean time Nelly has posted her letter, and paid the penny that entitled her to inhale sea-breezes on the pier. It is an autumn day— delightful at the sea-side — with a bright sun, a crisp air, and a curl on the shining waters. All the visitors at Beachmouth seem to have turned out, though it is hardly eleven o'clock ; but in the hundred or so of strangers who constitute this accidental population, there are none to be compared with Miss Burton. Even the ladies stare at her as she walks on, and admit, frankly enough, that she " has a fine figure for people who admire that style. What a pity she must become coarse, even blowsy, in a year or two ; and after all, it's very easy to be good-looking, with dark ROTS WIFE. 42 eyes, and all that quantity of hair, probably false ! " The approval of the men, however, is unanimous.

One youth, wearing a complete shooting-suit, that will never go out shooting, passes, re-passes, looks, leers, and seems about to speak ; but Nedy is used to admiration, considering it, like beef or mutton, unpalatable unless properly cooked, and looking straight before her, gives him to understand by her bearing that she is the last person wdth whom he may presume to take a liberty. Then she establishes herself at the extreme end of the jetty, as far out at sea as she can get, perhaps three hundred feet, and pulling some work from her pocket, gives herself up to the full enjoyment of air and scenery, with no more self-consciousness than the grey gull flapping and fishing not a cable's length from where she sits. Meanwhile, John Roy, deceived by a dress and a chignon, has walked two miles along the beach in pursuit of a figure that sets his heart beating whde he NO. 46. 43 overtakes it, but on nearer inspection turns out to be an elderly lady, ordered strong exercise for her health, who meets his disappointed stare with a perfectly unmeaning smile, and a face shining in perspiration under the noon-day sun.

Chapter IV. Deeper And Deeper

Events seldom come off exactly as people anticipate ; yet the odds are longer than we think on the success of a man who expends ad his energies in pursuit of any one object, great or small. The old foxhunter's advice, " Keep your temper, and stick to the line," is a golden rule for the conduct of more serious affairs than bringing " the little red rover " to hand after all the delights and uncertainties of a run. If we carry on the metaphor into a love-chase, we shall find it even more appropriate to the gardens of Venus than the woodlands of Diana. Command of temper is everything in dealing with a woman's caprice, and that undeviating persistency which men call pigheadedness, and gods perseverance, seldom fails, sooner or later, to come up with and capture its prey. John Roy resolved to keep his temper, though he had overrun the line ; and like a thorough woodsman, adapting his tactics to the habits of his game, he determined to " try back " without loss of time.

But the pier was deserted when he arrived there, and he sat down to consider his next move, disappointed rather than disheartened. As he told himself, with some thing of sarcasm, " He was only hotter on it than before." The tide would be out in the afternoon. He reflected that no woman, on her first day at the sea-side, could resist the temptation of wetting her feet in the little pools of salt water left, as if on purpose, by its ebb. So after luncheon he watched, patiently enough, and having seen his friend of the morning packed into a watering-place fly, felt confident he would be deceived by that staunch pedestrian no more. Presently he was rewarded. Not ten paces HOY'S WIFE. from the rock where he had settled himself. Forty-Six came stepping jauntily by, looking steadfastly seaward while she drank in the fresh briny air with a thirst engendered by long months of London smoke and gas.

He could not but observe how true were the lines of her undulating figure, how firmly she planted her foot, how nobly she carried her head, how smooth and level was her gait, as she stepped bravely out across the sand. "Watch, and your chance comes ! " muttered Roy, throwing away the cigar he was in the act of lighting ; for an occasion offered itself when least expected, and he seized it without diffi dence or hesitation. Two children enjoying, as only children can, the delight of wooden spades and low water, had wandered, I need hardly say, to the extreme verge of safety, and far beyond dry rocks, in pursuit of the receding waves. Bare-footed and kilted high above their fat little knees, they shouted, screamed, and splashed to their hearts' content, whde the nurse, seated under an umbrella with her back to them, was lost in the pages of a novel.

They were boy and girl, the latter being the younger, and, if possible, the wilder of the two. In her frolics she found herself parted from her brother, and to her young perceptions cut off from society in general by a runlet of water nearly two feet deep. Becoming gradually alive to the horrors of her situation, she grasped her frock tight in both hands, and roared with ad her might. The boy, who perhaps was turned four, made some slight offer at a rescue, but the intervening gulf seemed too much for him, and he also set up a hideous outcry, while the nurse read calmly on. Nelly loved children. Glancing on each side to make sure she was unobserved, but neglecting in her hurry to look back, she pulled her boots and stockings off in a few seconds, caught up her garments as best she might, and was wading knee-deep to the rescue before John Roy could interfere.

How handsome she looked, hugging the frightened child in hef arms, and soothing it ROTS WIFE. with that beautiful instinct of maternity which pervades her whole sex from the first moment they are big enough to handle a doll. With hurried apologies and some blushing on both sides — for Roy was already hard hit, and Nelly had certainly been caught in deshabdle — he took possession of the little girl, now completely reassured, and carried her safe to the nurse, studiously turning his back on Miss Burton while she resumed her stockings. " He is a gentleman," thought Nelly, " every inch of him. I dare say he's a good fellow, too, he seems so fond of children." Such an introduction was equivalent to a wTeek's acquaintance. With a little shyness, a little hesitation and incoherence of speech, the gentleman and lady managed to communicate their respective names, and to digest the startling intelligence that they were staying at the same hotel, that it was comfortable but might be cleaner, that the sea-air made one hungry, and the roar of the tide kept one awake — all which facts were self-evident, and in no way accounted for the low tones, grave accents, or downcast glances with which they were propounded and received.