The Love that Never Dies: a study

Front matter

THE "GREENBACK" SERIES POPULAR 3/6 NOVELS. BY AUTHORS OF THE DAY. Uniform with "The Love that Never Dies." 1 LOUIS DRAYCOTT. By Mrs. Leith Adams. 2nd Edition. 2. GEOFFREY STIRLING. By Mrs. Leith Adams. 5th Edition. 3 BONNIE KATE. By Mrs. Leith Adams. 2nd Edition. 4. A NEW OTHELLO. By Hon. Iza Du. fus Hardy. 2nd Ed. 5 THE MAID OF LONDON BRIDGE. By S. Gibney. 3rd Ed. 6. EVELINE WELLWOOD. By Major Norris Paul. 3rd Ed. 7. OLD LATTIMER'S LEGACY. By J. S. Fletcher, and Ed. 8. THAT LITTLE GIRL. By Curtis Yorke. 5th Edition. 9. DUDLEY. By Curtis Yorke 7th Edition. 10. THE WILD RUTHVENS. By Curtis Yorke. 6th Edition. 11. THE BROWN PORTMANTEAU, and other Stories. By Curtis Yorke. 2nd Edition. u. HUSH 1 By Curtis Yorke. 4th Edition. 13. ONCE! By Curtis Yorke. 3rd Edition. 14. A ROMANCE OF MODERN LONDON.

By Curtis Yorke. 3rd Edition. 15. HIS HEART TO WIN. By Curtis Yorke. 2nd Edition. 16. DARRELL CHEVASNEY. By Curtis Yorke. 3rd Edition. 17. BETWEEN THE SILENCES. By Curtis Yorke. 2nd Ed 18. THE PEYTON ROMANCE. By Mrs. Leith Adams. 3rd Ed. 19. THE GOLDEN MILESTONE. By Scott Graham. 3rd Ed. 20. A RECORD OF DISCORDS. By Curtis Yorke. 3rd Edition. -1. "CHERRY RIPE!" By Helen Mathers. 8th Edition. 22. STORY OF A SIN. By Helen Mathers. 5th Edition. 23. EYRE'S ACQUITTAL. (Sequel.) By Helen Mathers. 4th Ed. 24. JOCK O' HAZELGREEN By Helen Mathers. 4th Ed. 25. MY LADY GREEN SLEEVES. By Helen Mathers. 6th Ed. 26. FOUND OUT. By Helen Mathers. 103rd Thousand. 27. THE MEDLICOTTS. By Curtis Yorke. and Edition. 28. THE HEART OF A MYSTERY. By T. W. Speight. 29. MAN PROPOSES. By Mrs. A. Phillips. 2nd Edition. 30.

THE LAST OF THE HADDONS. By Mrs. E. Newman. 31. ALLANSON'S LITTLE WOMAN. By Eastwood Kidson. 32. LINDSAY'S GIRL. By Mrs. Herbert Martin. 2nd Edition. 33. WRONGLY CONDEMNED. By Mrs. Bacot Harte. 34. THE THIRTEENTH BRYDAIN. By Margaret Moule. 35. THROUGH ANOTHER MAN'S EYES. By Eleanor Holmes. 36. MRS. WYLDE. By Linda Gardiner. 37- A PRINCE OFCOMO. By E.M.Davy. 2nd Edition. 38. RUTH FARMER. By Agnes MaRCHbank. [Thousand. 39- THE LOVELY MALINCOURT. By Helen Mathers. Sixth 40. A GARRISON ROMANCE. By Mrs. Leith Adams. 3rd Ed. 41 HARUM SCARUM. By Esme Stuart. 3rd Edition. 42. A BOLT FROM THE BLUE. By Scott Graham. 43- IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT. By T. W. Speight. 44- BY VIRTUE OF HIS OFFICE. By Rowland Grey. 45- BRITOMART. By Mrs. Herbert Martin. Shortly. 46. MADELON LEMOINE. By Mrs. Leith Adams. OTHERS IN PREPARATION.

Chapter I

It was some time in the early seventies that Marion Dorset made an imprudent marriage. In becoming Mrs. Fred Hurst she committed the great folly of her life ; and this fact was not lessened by the other fact that she herself failed to recognize it. The folly was many-sided and far-reaching. Dire, grinding poverty alone is a terrible thing ; it is also a terrible thing for a sensitive girl to fling herself against the mailed bosom of a hostile family. These aspects of the case could not escape her ; but others of more vital importance lay hidden for ever under the veil of glamour, and the succeeding darkness of self reproach. The danger is always grave when a strong woman marries a weak man ; but catastrophe is almost inevitable when a clever woman marries a fool. Marion Dorset was both strong and clever, but her opportunities had been limited, and she had made no estimate of her own capacities.

The new woman had not yet been invented ; and those pioneers who groped dimly after the undiscovered ideal had not learnt to make themselves attractive. When Marion gave her heart to Fred Hurst, who was a fool and weak, albeit harmless, and of a sweet disposition, she gave it in the old generous fashion, believing that any gifts and graces she might possess, were but insufficient offerings to lay at the feet of her idol ; and thereafter, for the scant satisfaction which followed on the death of early passion, she blamed herself, not him. Moreover, through all the troubles that closed upon her life, she never allowed her husband to be aware of anything lacking in either him or her, and indeed believed in the depth of her gentle soul that only happier circumstances were needed to restore the magical infatuation of first love.

The thought was cruel not to be true, she clung to it with such faith. But that was later. In the beginning trouble came from without ; and the makers of it were they who believed that the imprudence of the marriage was all on the side of Fred Hurst ; these being, as a matter of course, Fred's nearest relations, his mother and his mother's sisters. The Hurst family lived at Pentarven, a charming seaside town, where every prospect pleased, and only man — that is to say, an odd, occasional man — was vile. It was a delectable place, large enough for great gaiety, and small enough for great gossip ; and the air agreed with Mrs. Hurst and her sisters, Mrs. Lauderdale, Mrs. Burroughs and Miss Sarah Pym. No one in Pentarven thought of giving Mrs. Hurst a nickname, or of interfering with her in any other way ; but her sisters had been duly supplied with aliases, all of which originated in remarks made by these ladies concerning one another.

Miss Sarah Pym had been heard to call Mrs. Lauderdale a Worldly Woman ; in a moment of irritation, probably not unwarrantable, Mrs. Burroughs had been known to stigmatize Miss Sarah Pym as a Pious Cat ; and the whole family, more in sorrow than in anger, made constant allusions to Mrs. Burroughs as an Imagi native Person. These terms, by the force of absolute appropriateness, fixed themselves in the mind of the neighbourhood ; and many a sore heart was eased by the use of them, for many had been wounded by the worldliness, the piety, and the imagination. Mrs. Hurst, who was the eldest of the sisters, escaped public censure chiefly by reason of the expression of her counte nance, which was fierce and repellent. People felt afraid to speak much evil of her, however carefully hidden behind her back, because no outsider had ever been brave enough to make her acquaintance thoroughly.

The only people who knew her intimately were her sisters, and they were not in * the least afraid of her. Mrs. Lauderdale and Miss Sarah Pym lived in the house with her ; and the discomforts of mind and body which they encountered in the course of daily life were certainly not occasioned by Mrs. Hurst. Mrs. Burroughs, who had a home of her own, visited her with much frequency and no fear ; and Fred had often marvelled in his youth at the extra ordinarily familiar attitude which his aunts adopted towards his mother. He himself stood in quite as much awe of her as he was intended to stand in ; and the Worldly Woman, looking on, smiled to herself the slow, superior smile, peculiarly her own, for which many, who might otherwise have been indifferent, hated her with a deadly hatred. There lived also in Pentarven a certain Miss Emily Malcolm who was a distant cousin of the Hursts, and likewise a cousin of Marion Dorset's. It was while staying with her that Marion, a newly made orphan, just thrown penniless on the world and caught first by that friendly hand, met her fate in the person of Fred Hurst, and fell from sorrow unto sorrow.

Although well endowed with self-reliance and good judgment in the ordinary affairs of life, Marion allowed herself to become possessed by a dread of her lover's family. She feared the ferocious countenance of his mother, the smile of Mrs. Lauderdale, the tongue of Mrs. Burroughs, and the aggressive righteousness of Miss Sarah Pym ; and, through a foolish indulgence of it, the fear grew upon her. Then Fred, who was not more remarkable for strict truthfulness than the generality of moral weaklings, misrepresented several circumstances connected with his prospects and independence ; and, being himself rather more afraid than Marion to declare their intentions openly and brave the inevitable opposition of the family, he persuaded her easily into a private marriage, be lieving with much simplicity that, when the matter should be brought to light, that which could not then be cured would be endured passively.

He had never given a greater proof of foolishness than in this belief. The Worldly Woman, who was the person of by far the most consequence in the household, was too furiously angry even to care about irritating mankind by her inscrutable smile. The Pious Cat, having spoken of Fred as a lost youth, and Marion as an abandoned woman, retired to her room to pray for both delinquents ; and Mrs. Burroughs dipped so freely into the realms of romance, that Pentarven found, at first, some difficulty in deciding whether or not Marion and Fred had been married at all. It was finally concluded that, however imprudent, they were at least quite respectable ; but the Imaginative Person helped no one towards that conclusion. There was a general impression abroad that Mrs. Hurst had received the blow in silence, severe and awful.

As a matter of fact she had cried her eyes out, and behaved like an ordinary woman ; but, when the tears were dried, the mask of repellent severity covered her features again, and no one was the wiser, except her sisters who knew her. Emily Malcolm's position was not an enviable one. Without the satisfaction of being able to suppose that she had done the least good to poor Marion whom she loved, she was fully aware that she had brought down upon her devoted head the exe crations of all the Hurst family, with the exception ot Fred who counted for nothing. She cared as little for the smile of the Worldly Woman as for the prayers of the Pious Cat ; but to the tongue of the Imaginative Person none might declare himself im pervious ; and so freely did that deadly evil wag that it was years before Emily occupied her old DIES. 13 place in the regard of many of her friends.

By these things, however, she was not very greatly troubled ; and if her good heart ached, it was because of fore bodings anent the future of the two young people who had met fatefully beneath her roof.

Chapter II

As soon as Fred realized that his offended relatives were unaffectedly obdurate, and perfectly serious in refusing to receive either him or his wife, he went straightway and did the thing which he supposed would give them the greatest amount of additional annoyance. He took exceedingly shabby lodgings in Pentarven, and besought a friend of his who was a solicitor to allow him to sit on a stool in his office. The solicitor, filled with pity, and actuated by a weak good nature which was remarkable in a man of law, engaged the poor young fellow whose services he did not in the least require, and paid him fifty pounds a year for execrable copying, which his other clerks could have done easily — and better — without neglecting any more important work. He had a good heart, a thoroughly respectable reputation, and a full purse ; but his name was Hodges, and his father had been a greengrocer, therefore that part of society in Pentarven to which the Hurst family belonged did not acknowledge his existence.

The Worldly Woman was consumed by fires of inward rage which burned to whiter heat the more that outward signs of their fury were suppressed. The disgrace of Fred's position appealed to her strongly — as, indeed, he knew it would — and, through her, to her sisters, with the exception of the Pious Cat, who professed a contempt for social distinctions, although she never allowed her convictions to lift her uncomfortably from accustomed grooves. If Fred had taken his wife and his poverty to some unknown region whence news of his doings would never reach civilization — more particularly the civiliza tion of Pentarven — he might have herded swine without disturbing the peace of the Worldly Woman. Even, if nothing would move him from Pentarven, had he been content to starve decently and without effort to the contrary, she could, perhaps, have partly forgiven him in time ; but — "An attorney's clerk," she said to Mrs. Burroughs, " is no better than a shop-boy ; and when once a gentleman allows himself to sink to such depths, he must never hope to recover his position in society.

No self-respecting person could possibly associate with him on terms of equality. He has sacrificed his birthright — like Esau." Miss Sarah Pym groaned over the profanity of the comparison. She herself never alluded to a scriptural character without a shake in her voice as a mark of respect. The Imaginative Person suggested a variety of evil motives by which Mr. Hodges might have been actuated in helping Fred. Mrs. Hurst con demned everybody concerned in the transaction, with a countenance in which battle, murder, and sudden death seemed to fight for the pre-eminence, and then went to her room to weep in solitude for an hour or two. But Fred and Marion lived on, although they had no business to do so ; and, notwithstanding their degradation, they were happy. Moreover Mr. Hodges made life possible for them by many unobtrusive kindnesses which bestowed a remarkable quality of elasticity on the fifty pounds a year.

They spent a long honeymoon in the wretched Pentarven lodging ; and in due time there came to Marion the great joy of motherhood. With this the face of all the world was changed to her. If she had been happy before, existence now was a perpetual rapture ; a soft, hovering smile was always upon her lips, and in her eyes a sort of wonder at the intensity of her own delight. Fred looked on, well pleased at the sight of her happiness ; but he understood no more than most men, and less than many. Fortunately for her, she did not require that any one should understand ; her own consciousness was sufficient for her. When little Gerald lay in her arms it was enough, and sympathy would have seemed almost an interruption to the course of her joy. The child was not like Fred. Even in his earliest infancy there was a suggestion of strength in the cast of his tiny features which was wholly lacking in his father's. Fred's eyes were soft and brown, like those of the dangerous maiden known to song ; his mouth was undecided, and his chin slightly receding.

It was a handsome, unsatisfactory sort of face, with a sweet expression. Gerald inherited the sweetness, but no more. His big grey eyes seemed already to be looking deeply into the poetry and pain of life ; his soft, round chin obtruded itself aggressively ; and his little lips had a trick of firmly closing which was entirely delightful. It was Marion's boast that he objected to keep his mouth open even to breathe through it when he had a cold in his head. He was a spare, strong child, never at any time weighted with superfluous flesh, and always perfectly healthy. There were times when Marion's bliss, becoming too great, changed its character perforce, and her love for the child grew momentarily into a sort of agony. A fear of losing him would take possession E of her soul and shake it to the dizziness of swooning ; an intolerable longing to know for certain that he would live and thrive would overwhelm her with a sense of insecurity, and rend her heart with fancied realizations of possible calamity.

When he lay very still beside her in the dark, she would touch him and listen for his breathing, her own breath suspended, and a weight of terror on her breast. But with it all, she never once disturbed his sleep by a passionate caress, or pressed him too tightly in her arms. Always the child stood before her own emotions, and never a taint of selfishness soiled her adoration. For a time she almost forgot the existence of her husband's relations ; but they did not forget hers, and did not cease not to resent it. Left to herself, Mrs. Hurst would never have taken the initiative in any matter more important than the dismissal of a servant, and most evils wrought by her had their origin in the mind of the Worldly Woman ; but of this Mrs. Hurst was unaware. She was a person of unwavering obstinacy, and if she suspected an attempt at either leading or driving she would stand stock-still ; and from the spot on which she chose to take up her position no power on earth could move her.

Therefore Mrs. Lauderdale needed all her worldly wisdom for the purpose of arranging everything in the family exactly according to her own DIES. 19 wishes — as she invariably did. She was a clever woman, and the strongest proof of it lay in the fact that all belonging to her believed her to be much more clever than she really was. Her husband had been released from bondage when Fred was a lad ; and from that time forth she had lived with Mrs. Hurst, who was also a widow, and showed herself prepared to fill the place of the missing parent in the training of the boy. He hated her cordially, and she knew it ; but she was superior to the petty weakness of desiring affection, and would not willingly forego the pleasure of inspiring awe, even though she might be clever enough to rule without it.

Brooding much over Fred's iniquities, she now conceived a plan the con templation of which afforded her immense satisfaction ; and nothing was necessary to its perfection but that Mrs. Hurst should be brought to adopt the idea as her own. The plan was calculated to accomplish many desirable things, and included the punishment of Fred, the rending asunder of Marion's heart, and the possibility of re-establishing the dignity of the family. The sudden death of Mr. Hodges, and the refusal of his successor to retain the services of Fred, presented Mrs. Lauderdale with an earlier opportunity than she had dared to hope for ; and she resolved to delay action no longer. Thc Imaginative Person brought matters to a climax. In family conclave, she stated as a positive fact, upon the best authority, that Fred had concluded an arrangement to serve behind the counter of the principal linen-draper in Pentarven ; and two days later she announced that her information had not been entirely correct, but it was an indisputable fact that Fred was now hired to drive the baker's cart, at twelve shillings a week.

The Worldly Woman knew better than to believe a word of these state ments, but it suited her to appear as though she did ; and Mrs. Hurst felt touched by a kinder display of sympathy than had ever before taken place in her favour.

Chapter III

" What can be the meaning of this ? " asked Marion of Fred who had no answer ready. She held an open letter in her hand, and the letter was signed by Mrs. Hurst and contained an invitation. The delinquents were bidden to lunch with their relatives on the following Tuesday, and given to understand that, if they behaved well and adopted the suggestions of the family, past offences might in time be overlooked. There was indubitably a mystery in the background. " Better go there and see, I suppose," said Fred ; " that is, if you are ready to accept their advances. You have been infernally treated, and, if you say so, I will put the letter into the fire, and take no further notice of it." "Oh, no!" said Marion hastily. "Don't think of it. Dear old Fred, I don't pretend to be more forgiving than I really am.

Nothing could ever make me love your mother or your aunts. I think," with a little stamp, and a movement of repulsion, "they are absolutely detestable women. I would not say it if they had not forfeited their rights in you ; but they have, and they deserve no tenderness of speech. But we must not trifle with our future — for Gerald's sake. Look at him, Fred ! One could bear any humiliation to do him even a little good." The boy lay sleeping on a blanket folded upon the hideous horsehair sofa, and his beauty stood out in contrast to his surroundings. Fred looked, as he was told, and saw a very pretty child of whom he was extremely proud ; but Marion saw the soul of the child, and the trailing clouds of glory. She grasped Fred's hand tightly, and whispered, " We must always put him first." Fred kissed her.

It was his invariable custom, when her mood was beyond his reach, and words were difficult ; and it covered a multitude of limitations. Marion had a strong desire that the child should not be taken with them to Mrs. Hurst's. She felt as if she could not bear to place him under the eyes of these women lest there should be a blight somewhere. He had not been especially mentioned in the invi tation, and she thought it would be allowable to take for granted that it did not include him ; so she went to Emily Malcolm, and begged that the child might DIES. 23 shelter under her wing for the day. Emily was only delighted to have him, and more so when she was told the reason of Marion's intended absence. " Everything will come right now," she cried joy fully. " People are never so bad as they seem, dear.

And if they show that they are sorry for past unkind nesses, and try to make up for them, you must be ready to forgive, and meet them half way." " I suppose," said Marion dryly, " that if I don't allow any unforgiveness to be seen it will do as well." "Hardly," said Emily; "but I can quite understand the difficulty. Do the best you can, anyway, for the sake of Fred and the boy." " Neither Fred nor I would take a single step to meet any advance," she answered flushing, " if it were not for Gerald. I wonder how you can suppose it, knowing what you do." " I know they have been odious to us all, dear ; but if they are sorry, if they mean to behave differently in future " " I shall know better what they mean when I have been there," said Marion. "At present my belief in their good intentions is not unlimited.

No doubt they are ashamed to let Fred starve before their eyes. Even they might feel that much compunction. He does not want their charity ; but I suppose you know that he has legal rights of which they have defrauded him." Emily said nothing, because she knew perfectly well that he had not. It was repugnant to her to let anyone rest under a false imputation, but she felt she would be choosing the greater of two evils if she made it clear to Marion that her husband had inherited a portion of his Aunt Burroughs's vivid imagination. " I don't understand much about business," she said, seeing that Marion paused for comment ; " but, at all events, go there in as amiable a frame of mind as you can possibly command. It is all very well to strike an independent attitude, my dear girl ; but when you face the naked truth, it is just this, that you will all starve together unless Fred's family help you."

Marion took these words as a text for meditation on the way home ; and, as a result, came to the conclusion that Fred had his right to consideration as well as Gerald, and that she would honestly do her best for both if any decision lay with her. She and Fred were received by Mrs. Hurst with a sort of cold courtesy that might have been extended to rather undesirable strangers, and Marion was decidedly relieved to find that no formal reconciliation was to be gone through. During the greater part of the visit Miss Sarah Pym sat in the attitude which she always adopted when most troubled either by religious feelings or indigestion — a little sideways in her chair, her elbow resting on the arm of it, her hand raised to her head, and two fingers pressed against the side of her long nose. On such occasions she never spoke except to give monosyllabic answers to direct questions ; and at each one she lifted her eyebrows, as though in extreme surprise at the lightness of the world.

Mrs. Lauderdale spoke just as much as was necessary and consistent with good breeding ; but every measured accent conveyed an infinity of con tempt for all those unhappy individuals whose names were not Clarissa Lauderdale ; and her manner gave a continual indication of weighing the social world in the balance, and finding it wanting. Looking at all the sisters, Marion felt that she could have made her peace more easily with any one of them than with the Worldly Woman. Mrs. Burroughs, as a matter of course, had been invited to meet them, and was also present at the gathering; and she alone — albeit in an off-hand manner — showed occasional signs of kindly feeling ; for there were times when the emotional side of her nature gave as much evidence of strength as did the imaginative. Mrs. Lauderdale's coldness often fell upon her with a resented chill.

Lunch was not a jovial meal, and the topics discussed were by no means absorbing in interest ; but an hour later the real object of the meeting transpired. "Fred," said Mrs. Hurst suddenly and severely, "now that your employer is dead, and you are thrown out of work, how are you going to live ? " " I don't know," said Fred. And that was the exact truth. " Do you know ? " asked the old lady, with a swift turn of the head in Marion's direction. " No," said Marion quietly ; " but I hope Fred may be able to find something else to do." " Standing behind a counter, or driving a baker's van," said the Imaginative Person. " Good Heavens, Aunt Phœbe ! " cried Fred. " What put that into your head ? " And Marion, speaking simultaneously, said, " He has not been offered either of these positions, Mrs. Burroughs ; but if he should be, don't you think it would be more respectable for him to accept one of them than to go to the workhouse ?

" " It would have certainly been more respectable," said Mrs. Lauderdale, with ladylike brutality, " if he had controlled his passions and remained unmarried until such time as he could afford to do so without dragging a wife into poverty, and disgracing his family by engaging in occupations unfit for a gentleman." " I can't afford to emigrate," said Fred sullenly. "It would be easier for you to leave Pentarven than for me." " Well, that brings us to the point," said Mrs. Hurst. " I need hardly say that my sisters and I have no intention of allowing our arrangements to be disturbed by your proceedings, or of changing our place of residence to suit your caprices ; but we have an offer to make. I say ' we,' because your Aunt Clarissa has generously agreed to give a con siderable sum of money to defray expenses.

We propose to send you and your wife to California. Your Aunt Phœbe has friends there who assure us that an active man can always make a good living either by mining or fruit-growing. Your passage will be paid, and you will be given a sufficient sum of money to start you in business, as well as a sufficient outsit." Fred's face cleared, and he muttered a few inco herencies about kindness and gratitude. Marion, too, ejaculated a word of thanks, but there was a sound of uncertainty in it, for she felt instinctively that there was more to come. "You must of course clearly understand that your claims upon your family end there," Mrs. Hurst went on. "You have cut yourself off from us by your own act, and you must expect nothing more, either during our lives or at our deaths. However, we wish to have an heir of our own blood ; and I am willing to forgive you to the extent of adopting your son."

She spoke, and paused as though the last word on the subject had been said ; but Fred had been awakened to a sense of danger, and Marion was on her feet, white with anger and fear. "You won't give our child away, Fred?" she called to him breathlessly. " You can't. I never will." "You have to consider, Fred, that it is a condition of your mother's offer." The cruel, thin voice of the Worldly Woman threw in the words. " So far as I am concerned, I shall withdraw from my part of the agreement if you cannot be made to see the matter in a proper light." " Having brought the child into the world," said Mrs. Burroughs, "with no prospect before him but one of poverty, the least you may do, in justice to his interests, is to accept a provision for him when it is offered. If you refuse, you cannot go to California ; and wouldn't it be more comfortable for you to know that the little fellow was being well taken care of than to keep him with you and see him die of starvation?