Benedicta

Front matter

I ■ I ■ ■ I ■ Back again already, papa ! " — p. BENEDICTA. K\ MRS. ALFRED PHILLIPS. LONDON: FREDERICK WARNE AND CO, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND i BEN EDICTA da- MRS. ALFRED PHILLIPS. Fate steals along with ceaseless tread, And meets us oft when least wc dread ; Frowns in the storm with threatening brow. Vet in the sunshine strikes the blow." Cowper. LONDON: FREDERICK WARNE AND CO BEDFORD STREET, STRAND. Jlciiratcl. TO .MAJOR ALFRED PHILLIPS, BY HIS AVI1-E. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. MRS. BLAKE RECEIVES A VISITOR . . I II. gresham's studio . . . .12 III. MR. HEATHCOTE BREAKS THE NEWS . .21 iv. eenedicta . . . . 32 V. GRESHAM BLAKE CALLS ON MR. LUFTON . 46 VI. MRS. GRIMSHAW . . . . -55 , VII. HAROLD BLAKE STUDIES MR. LUFTON . 67 VIII. BENEDICTA GOES TO HOLLY LODGE . . 80 IX. GRESHAM SUGGESTS AN IMPROVEMENT . 0=5 X. BENEDICTA MAKES A DISCOVERY . .106 XI.

AT THE HIGH WOODS . . • IJS XII. BENEDICTA PLEADS GUILTY . ■ . .126 XIII. "A BABE IN THE HOUSE" . . . 136 XIV. OLIVIA . . . . .148 XV. AT FENTON PARK . . . .158 XVI. AUNT GRIM'S DIPLOMACY . . 170 XVII. THE WORTH OF A KISS . . .186 XVIII. CALLED TO ACCOUNT . . . 1 99 XIX. TWO DEPARTURES .... VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE XX. THE POWER OF A GLANCE ". . .219 xxi. olivia's other lover . . . 230 XXII. GRESHAM's REPLY: AND WHAT CAME OF IT 241 XXIII. A REGISTERED LETTER . . . 25 1 XXIV. MR. GRIMSHAW SPEAKS HIS MIND . . 261 XXV. CHECK ! . . . . ■ 273 XXVI. FATHER AND DAUGHTER . . .284 XXVII. POOR MRS. BLAKE .... 295 XXVIII. AVHERE IS OLIVIA? .... 305 XXIX. DISCURSIVE . . . . .314 XXX. UNEXPECTED AND UNWELCOME . . 324 XXXI. THE FETE ..... 334 XXXII. GRESHAM BLAKE .... 344 XXXIII. OLIVIA'S STORY .... 348 XXXIV.

AUNT MADGE PRESCRIBES . . . 360 XXXV. FORGIVEN ! . . . . . 369 XXXVI. CLUB-LAW .' . . . . 378 XXXVII. HOW THE SURPRISE ACTED . . . 387 XXXVIII. HUSBAND AND WIFE . . . 397 XXXIX. A FEW WORDS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION . 410 XL. " SWEET LIFE" .... 422 XLI. ALAS ! . . . . . I BENEDICTA

Chapter I. Mrs

BLAKE RECEIVES A VISITOR. IK^S^i&Kf OMETHING unusual was going on this morning ftj^"^S3| at Holly Lodge that stirred the atmosphere ot cr^'vSM, rePose m which Mrs. Blake habitually dwelt. EBfc^Bi Her house and her person were, as always, faultless. The former, a pretty dwelling hidden from the road by trees, was three-quarters of a mile from the town of Stainesbro'. It stood on a velvet lawn inlaid with flower beds, which was arranged with mosaic effect; for Mrs. Blake was a woman of taste. In the drawing-room, the French windows of which opened on the lawn, sat the presiding genius of this pretty home. Choice ornaments and rare engravings were placed with studied care where they would appear to the best ad vantage. Dainty morsels of old lace were suspended from brackets on which stood some choice bits of old china.

In one recess hung a "Venetian mirror. In another a Dresden candelabra. Statuettes of Parian commemorated Grecian beauty in various odd corners. Priceless old Chelsea lent distinction to the mantelpiece and its reflecting mirror. The whole of the arrangements gave token of a high order BENEDICTA. 2 of taste, rendering buhl and marqueterie superfluous, and eclipsing in simple elegance many a costly mansion fresh from the hands ofthe gilder and upholsterer. For the furniture of the room was unpretentious enough. A few Chippendale chairs alone Avere in keeping with the ornaments. The rest was simple, consisting of a cretonne covered couch — Mrs. Blake's favourite seat — and other articles of the ordinary drawing-room kind. The rarities above described were of great value, and had been bequeathed to Mrs. Blake by a maternal great aunt, Avho had spent her small fortune in searching for antiquities.

The legacy was to be held as an heirloom ; for this reason the old lady had selected her niece Charlotte Blake, whose family of eight children were her security that her treasures would never pass into alien hands. Mrs. Blake was a well-preserved woman of forty-three. Her finely-proportioned figure was usually displayed to ad vantage in a close-fitting black silk. The details of her toilette would have satisfied the most fastidious. Her glossy dark hair showed no signs of yielding to the silvery Aveakness of age. She had reached that stage of life Avhere expression asserts itself over beauty, and her face revealed a woman whose self-indulgence, unsuccessful in its earlier aims, had taken refuge in apathy. Calmness — repose some Avould have called it — gave a languid droop to her eyes that lent charm to her handsome face.

Circumstance had been her tutor, she grew passive under the inevitable, and her manner now wore the teacher's impress. Given the external agencies of life, which to her were dearly-earned necessaries, she now asked for nothing but permission to enjoy them in unruffled calm. She was the widow of a barrister Avhose early death cut short a promising career. He left her heavily weighted with a numerous family of young children for whom he had made but small provision. In the first early years of her widowhood — AA-hen Time had conA-erted her sorrow into a nourishing soil for hope — she, being a handsome woman, had indulged in the idea of marrying again. But Avith eight children it Avas too much to expect. Gradually she faced her position and accepted it with apathy. She did her duty with dead indifference.

It was well for her that her nature rendered her so far insensible to her trials that they ravaged neither her appearance nor her calm; for the struggle in those early days must have furrowed the brow and blanched the hair of a sensitive nature AA-hich finds in the difficulty of making insufficient ends meet, pain as wearing as any to which flesh is heir. It was a pain, however, Mrs. Blake always called upon her relations to bear for her, and not without success. '■' Only to think of the eight hats, and pairs of boots, and gloves, and clothes of all sorts I" exclaimed one childless relative, Mrs. Grimshaw, AA-hen importuning her well-to-do husband to share the burden. But his benevolent pockets had so often been obliged to take his wife's view of the case that his patience gave way at times, and he saw but one potent if ungrammatical Avay out of the difficulty, which Avas : " That if the Lord Avould only take some of them Blakes, it would be a great blessing !"

But there being no response to this form of prayer, the young Blakes lived on and throve. Furthermore— for this was Mrs. Blake's Aveak point — they presented frequently an appearance far in advance of their resources. Now when Mr. Grimshaw saw that "the Lord" would do nothing for "them Blakes" (an obstinate adherence to hap hazard verbs and pronouns being his weak point) by removing them from a Avorld of fixed and inelastic incomes, he sum moned a council of relatives who undertook the education and maintenance of the young Blakes by subscribing a yearly income for the widow. Mrs. Blake had no longer to resort to the annual mortification of submitting her deficit I BENEDICTA. 4 to their benevolence ; and the " terrible eight," as her children were called by their kindred, were provided for.

It is a fact worth recording here that hearts expand in pro portion to what they part with. This Mrs. Blake learnt by experience ; for her friends had often flung her a ten-pound note Avith ill-suppressed Aveariness at her importunity, Avhile they yielded readily to the fixed annual sum, regarding her more favourably when looked at in the larger demand. But the supporting relatives deserve a word. Contributing to the enforced maintenance of others for long, robs charity of all satisfaction ; for charity that issues from the heart's spontaneity is so much to the giA'er's benefit in present goodwill and future treasure that it promotes satisfaction and enhances amiability. But charity demanded and accepted as a matter of course is at once robbed of all heavenly flavour, since it promotes nothing but an irritated sense of disqualification for reward produced by conscious reluctance to give.

Mrs. Blake on this morning Avas slightly anxious and dis turbed. She glanced round her pretty room to see that everything was as it should be, for her temper was such that she could bear calamities with heroism, but Avas ruffled by a speck of overlooked dust. In this her shrine no menial hand Avas ever suffered to touch an ornament. As she looked around she was satisfied. The feeling was not ex tinguished as her eye finally rested upon her own reflection in the opposite mirror. She paused to regard this full length portrait, and Avas gratified as she saAV exactly the impression she was likely to create on the expected visitor, whose letter she now took from her pocket and perused while waiting for his arrival. A look of interest Avas upon her face as she read. AVonder and expectancy also stirred feebly long-dormant ideas with a feathery touch of anticipation, as though the stagnant Avaters of her life were to be moved at last, and evolve widening circles.

AA'hat after all was the circumstance capable of producing this quickening of dead hopes ? Nothing more than a few courteous lines from Mr. Heathcote, the Member for Stainesbro', requesting the favour of an intervieAv Avith Mrs. Blake. There was not much in that. But then Mr. Heathcote was wealthy, and Mr. Heathcote was a widower ! And Mrs. Blake would have been less than a woman had her imagination hovered round these two facts without a certain degree of anticipation when specula ting on the nature of the desired interview. The letter before her gave her no hint. Can we Avonder then that Mrs. Blake's surmisings took a personal turn ? For women, unhappily, are so prone to conclusions that tend towards personalities. Shall we blame them ? Hardly, without doing violence to their sweetest virtue — that tenderness of nature Avhich finds or loses a world in an individual !

Denied as they are, moreover, that catholic range of the affections arrogated by the stronger sex, they learn the power of concentration in its noblest form. Mr. Heathcote, as the leading man and Member for Stainesbro', was well known to all the inhabitants. As the representative of the Liberal portion of his brother-towns men in the High Court of Parliament, his exits and en trances, his speeches and addresses, Avere duly recorded in the Stainesbro' Herald. This greatness had been thrust upon him, not simply on account of his wealth as a large mine owner in the neighbourhood, but also because, as a man, the people loved and trusted him. Ever lenient to ignorance and misfortune, he Avas the relentless foe of crime that went hand in hand with culture. In all else he met men with that candour and trustfulness that Avere but the reflection of his own honest nature.

Every human being had the chance of a fresh start from the bank of his charity, so loath was he to charge mankind with motives of which he Avas himself incapable. BENEDICTA. This was what the people thought of him ; and Mrs. Blake, whose large family and limited means alone pre vented her from mixing in the fashionable word of Stainesbro', knew him only by sight and repute. The former had been gained chiefly during the odd minutes spent in church before the service begins, Avhen the mind holds its carnival of speculation among the assembled worshippers, Aveaving histories, or writing poems to illustrate the different ex pressions time has etched on the faces around. Often had Mrs. Blake speculated on the Member ; wondering, as she watched him walk up the middle aisle, holding his little girl and only child by the hand, why he had never married again.

But this was a speculation Avhich had been shared by every spinster and widow in Stainesbro' any time these fourteen years; it is so impossible for humanity in the aggregate to cease feeling an interest in humanity in the atom, as the laws of attraction teach. Thus, with Mr. Heathcote's note in her hand, Mrs. Blake may be excused for the interest she felt. Her life at least had been a monotonous one ; so much so that it had now become second nature to her to ask nothing better than to sit undisturbed on her favourite sofa, neatly dressed, of course, working endless strips of embroidery. Her friends declared that she must have Avorked Avhat Avould have covered acres, as she had never been seen Avithout a strip, when occupying her favourite corner with her Avork-table open at her side. This mild amusement she diversified by the purchase of a new dress — ahvays a matter of interest to her — or an occasional evening spent with her friends, when the chronicles of Stainesbro' underwent full discussion.

This was the unrippled surface of her outer life. Her inner life was formed of hopes and memories Avhich were silent, as she rarely warmed in talkativeness. Inertness had taken possession of her until speech AA-as used with economy. She dwelt in silence, finding her brightest hopes in the suture of her children, most of whom were now grown up and out in the A\-orld. But her thoughts lingered most fondly on her oldest son Gresham, a young man now twenty-five years old, and as handsome as a mother's heart could desire. He was full of talent, from Avhich she hoped great things now that he had come home and was preparing to settle steadily to work as an artist. Outside this kernel of maternal affections revolved the rest of the " eight." Gerald and Herbert, both fine lads, had passed for the Army and were with their regiments in India.

Olivia, a charming girl of twenty, had but just returned from Paris, Avhere she had been sent by the Grimshaws to gain grace and accomplishments, and something more that the good people never bargained for. Two other lads had gone to seek their fortunes in Australia as sheep-farmers, and there remained but the two youngest, Harold and Meta, who Avere still in the schoolroom. To each and all of these had Mrs- Blake done her duty after a fashion ; that is to say, she had allowed them to bring themselves up to a great extent, and the result was not altogether unsatisfactory. But even weak Avomen have their firm corners : the firmest spot in Mrs. Blake's character being the determination that method and neatness should preside in her house. No younger child had ever ventured unbidden into the room in which she now sat.

A few stringent rules as to time and place had resulted in the repose necessary to herself; and this habit of conforming others to her own comfort was now established by long use. At length the sound of carriage-wheels warned her of the approach of the expected visitor. Mr. Heathcote Avas soon announced. As he entered the drawing-room his whole person and demeanour represented one word : Success. Affluence and good descent had given him a noble bearing. He was tall, robust, and fresh-look- BENEDICTA. 8 ing, Avith chestnut hair and whiskers sprinkled with grey. His manner AA-as genial, and in his expressive grey eyes theie lurked no subtleties to haunt with distrust those that looked at him ; his face, as a whole, was fine and full of power. He AA-as now past forty, and in the prime of life and thought.

He had married early, and under romantic circumstances, a beautiful French girl, who the short while she lived had been the idol of his life, and was now its most sacred memory. She died, leaving him one child who she prayed might never be sent from the shelter of home to be educated in a school. Faithful to her dying wish, he had kept the girl always at home, satisfied that if in the limited companionship of her old nurse and himself she lacked certain advantages, she vvas at least a gainer in other respects; and local teachers, the best Stainesbro' afforded, gave her instruction in a desultory fashion ; for the girl was not patient, and would learn only AA'hen or what she liked. Thus had matters drifted on ; love blinding Mr. Heathcote's eyes to the fact that she was growing up into womanhood without being prepared to fill the place she would be called upon to occupy as his daughter.

She Avas in her seventeenth year before he could realise that she had ceased to be a child to look at ; and then he saw Avith regret that in carrying out his dead Avife's Avishes he had not done justice to the living child. He at once determined to make [a change and find her suitable com panionship. In the emergency he did not, for certain reasons, consult any of his own family, but confided his diffi culty to his trusty friend and land-agent, Mr. Grimshaw, inquiring if he kneAv of any family in Stanesbro' Avhere his daughter could have the advantage of cultivated female companionship combined Avith education. And Mr. Grim shaAV, now that Olivia Blake had returned, at once suggested Mrs. Blake. "Yes; to be sure !" was Mr. Heathcote's reply. "He had often seen Mrs. Blake. She had brought up a large family most creditably."

To Mrs. Blake accordingly he wrote the note we noAv leave him to explain, having already sIioavii the effect it has had on Mrs. Blake — the hopes it has aroused, the anticipations it has called forth. Mrs. Blake was alone in the room. Both Gresham Blake and Olivia were at home ; but she had told them that the _Member had asked for a private intervieAV, therefore they Avere not to intrude unless sent for. AA'hen Mr. Heathcote walked into the room he boAved to the widow and took the chair in Avhich she begged him to be seated. After a feAv preliminary remarks, he said : " I am extremely obliged to you for your kindness" — here the widow boAved graciously — " in granting me an interview. I have a daughter, as of course you knoAv ; well, she is now seventeen, and I am anxious to place her Avith a family Avhere she will have girl companionship, and continue her studies.

Mr. Grimshaw mentioned you to me. Is it too much to ask you to undertake the charge ?" he inquired, coming straight to the point. " You are very good," she stammered, taken aback by a proposal for which Mr. GrimshaAV had in no Avay prepared her. " Not at all. My daughter will be the gainer. She needs the refining influence of a home presided over by a Avoman. AA'ith me it has been different — only an old nurse and a man's society, not the best training for a girl ; but it is not too late to repair the mischief, if she can be Avith a person like yourself, for instance — a mother accustomed to girls. Mr. Grimshaw led me to think the arrangement Avould not be objectionable to you ; a mutual convenience, in fact, in point of terms." " Yes, I have no objection to receive her," she replied, colouring at the mention of terms.

" My daughter has just BENEDICTA. 10 returned from Paris, and is in every way competent to give her the instruction she Avould require." " Exactly," said Mr. Heathcote. " Paris ! just the very thing ! French accent, and all that sort of thing, Avhich Ave English can't hit off somehow without sending abroad for it. Little niceties of dress, too, that make a FrenchAvoman's cotton gOAA-n look better than an Englishwoman's silk one ;'' and he sighed and was silent for a short while, as if indulging in a reminiscence, and then suddenly he burst out AA'ith : " My poor Avife AA'as a Frenchwoman !" " Oh, indeed !" and Mrs. Blake looked sympathetic, as though she Avould like to have heard more ; but Mr. Heathcote rarely spoke of his poor Avife to anyone. It AA-as only the mention of Olivia and her Parisian accomplishments that surprised him into the abrupt disclosure, for he relapsed into formality, and began the subject of the " mutual convenience," Avhich Avas liberal past mention on his part, and far beyond Mrs. Blake's most sanguine expectations.

She felt as if she could never be poor again AA'ith such a store of Avealth in view. At once her mind travelled off in the direction of Mr. King the draper, who had tempted the soul out of her, almost, by offering her a bargain in black silk, to be had a shilling a yard cheaper if she Avould only take the Avhole lot ! " And Avhen Avould you like to send your daughter ?" she inquired. "As soon as ever you can have her. The sooner the better. I'll tell her old nurse to get her things packed at once. Could you accommodate the nurse as well ?" " Oh, no ! I think it far better she should come alone, and learn to be independent. Don't you think so ? Besides, I should object to strange servants ; you must see yourself that it Avould never do." " Of course, of course. Then we'll consider that point settled.

By-the-way, you have seen my little girl, have you not ?" " Yes, frequently ; she is a fine girl." " But wants what I hope you will give her — finish, grace, style, such as you seem to possess yourself in such abun dance," he said bluntly, as he glanced at her superb figure and Avell-fitting dress, AA'hich he regarded as the index to her AA-hole nature, and AA-hich AA-as such a contrast to the girl she AA-as about to receive. "There's another thing" — and here he hesitated. "I wish you Avould infuse some womanly ideas into her; at present she is a perfect child in some AA'ays ; she has not the mildest notion that she ought not to do just exactly as a boy might. You see, it is OAving to her having been so much with me, and never having had a mother's care. She must be taught there is some distinction between boys and girls.

It did not matter Avhile she AA'as younger, but now ■" " I see exactly. AA'ell, she could not learn it better than here, for I am A-ery strict with my girls, and allow no de parture from the rules of society and com-entionality. 'One cannot be too particular Avith one's girls ' is my maxim." " And not at all a bad one ; only don't pull the reins in too much at first, as young colts are apt to kick over the traces, and I look upon my girl as nothing more than a colt. AA'ell, good-bye," he said, rising. " I am very much obliged to you ;" and he put out his hand to take leave. " You may be sure I will do my best for her," said Mrs. Blake, shaking hands. " I am sure you will ; and she needs it, my poor Benedicta !" BENEDICTA. 12

Chapter II

gresham's studio. " SPSSBfeESHAM, come upstairs and see what I have /wM done for you, my idle fine gentleman," said II 122? J OhVia Blake, the governing spirit of the IHliioj house, as she peeped into the dining-room with a clean white duster pinned bewitchingly over her head. " What is it now ? How you disturb a fellow. I was just dreaming out a splendid idea which you have sent flying." " That is just it, you ungrateful boy. I Avant to get hold of a feAV of those splendid ideas before they fade. Come up Avith me, and then you will see Avhat a good angel I am to your holiness — no, sir, not that ; your laziness, I mean — so come." " Don't you see hoAv comfortable I am ?" said Gresham, from the depths of an easy-chair, stretching out his legs and displaying his feet in gorgeous slippers, such as only un married curates and the beloved of women are blest with.

" Yes, I see you, my fireside Alexander ; and if I don't shake you out of that it will be your ruin. I never kneAv bravery equal to yours AA'hen there's nothing to conquer; but the moment you come to a stile, tilt over you go ! I declare good looks to a man are little short of a curse !" " You blasphemer ! Avhat do you mean ?" " AVhy, that we can't help loving you for them, and then Ave let you do just as you like ; but I am not going to spoil you. I mean to be firm, so get up and folloAv me." " Have AA'e to go far ?" " Only to the top of the house." "Gracious!" he ejaculated; "that reminds me of the GRESHAM'S STUDIO. 13 savours I used to ask you all to do for me when Ave Avere children." " Oh indeed ; I remember ; your need not recall them. 'Olivia, or anybody, who will do me a favour?' We all kneAv what that meant— that Ave had to go to the top of the house to fetch you a book, or a string, or a pencil.

Hoav you used to make us fag for you ; but noAv I mean you to fag for me ; so come." He arose Avith a yawn, stretching out his fine limbs like a cat roused from sleep. But what a goodly sight he Avas to look on ! Tall and muscular, AA'ith a dreamy s\A-eetness in his blue eyes that hid all meaner qualities, and prepossessed at once in his favour. His beard Avas short and silky, and he had a habit of stroking it Avhen thinking. Hair, Avhiskers, aud complexion, alike AA-ere fair; on his lips noAv and then there hovered a smile of gladness, as though he kneAv that life Avas good, and held joys for him he must surely inherit. He AA'as an idealist in most things, but chiefly in the matter of love. For him love Avas still an undreamt dream, into the sleep for which he had yet to fall, as he scorned to dignify by such an exalted name the passing fancies that had hitherto occupied his Avaking moments.

Being of a philosophical turn of mind, he dwelt much on life and its failures, and had a dread of making his own life liable to that calamity by a premature choice of profession. He ran steadily over his capabilities Avith the eye of a mer cenary, to discover in Avhat particular he could best, as he termed it, fulfil his nature. An æsthetic altogether in mind and person, he paused and pondered on the choice of his investment for life, and wasted years in coming to a con clusion. Having tried first the Indian Civil Service, for Avhich he failed, he then thought of the Bar, but finally de termined to become an artist. Here at last he was in earnest, and his choice Avas not at fault. It Avould have been the right groove in which Nature BENEDICT.!. 14 had intended him to run, if only his capricious mother had given him at the same time a fortune sufficient to enable him to pursue art as a dilettante.

But Avhile she had created this gifted child of hers Avith epicurean powers of appre ciating and contributing to the beautiful, she unfortunately had forgotten to provide him AA'ith the means of enjoying or doing it justice. The omission in his case Avas a blunder and a calamity. AA'ith much head-shaking on the part of the supporting relatives, and "pishing and faughing" on that of practical, hard-headed Mr. GrimshaAV, Gresham Blake, after failing to find his vocation either in the Civil Service or the Bar, AA-as furnished with means to go to Rome. Olivia was sent to Paris at the same time. After spending tAA-o delightful if not profitable years at Rome, Gresham returned home determined to settle doAvn steadily to Avork ; but as yet he had not made a start. He was thinking out his subject, as Ave have seen.

Olivia had broken in upon one of these intangible visions, that had, she noticed, so often ended in a doze. " Shall Ave break our passage en route by a visit to the draAving-room ?" he said, yaAvning again. " No, don't. Mamma is in there receiving Mr. Heath cote, the Member." " AVhat in heaven's name does he Avant ?" " That remains to be seen. She will tell us, no doubt, Avhen he is gone." They had noAv reached the top of the house, and on a door to the right, Avritten in large letters, AA-as the Avord " Studio." "There, Gresham," said Olivia, ushering him into a garret, " that is Avhat I have been doing for you ! I could not get rid of some of the lumber, so I have stowed it away in a corner, and covered it up AA'ith a crimson curtain ; and here I have put a table Avhere I mean to come and sit GRESlI.A.M'S STUDIO. 15 presently, and every day for awhile, to see that you paint, and make you AA-ork.