Violet Osborne

Chapter I

" Even at that age she ruled, a sovereign queen Over her comrades." The Excursion. " Which of all those charming girls is your daughter, Mrs. Osborne ?" inquired a gentle man of a lady, in whose house a small party was assembled. " But no, do not tell me ; I like to make people out for myself." " Thank you," repUed Mrs. Osborne, who was a little deaf, and of all this speech, having only heard the word charming, applied it to her party. VOL. I. B The gentleman smiled, and, aware of her infirmity, raised his voice. " I am trying to make out Miss Osborne. It amuses me to guess people's situations from their actions, and their characters frd'hi their looks. It is Miss Osborne's birthday to-day, is it not?" " Yes. Violet begins her life to-day. God grant it may be a happy one ! " There was something touching in the warmth of this speech, contrasting as it did with the calm and inanimate repose deafness had given to Mrs. Osborne's manner. ** We will at anyrate anticipate it for her," replied her companion kindly ; " she is good, I am sure, and, unless for some special purpose it is otherwise ordained, happiness comes to the good."

" She is good, certainly," said Mrs. Osborne, Avith the same eagerness of speech ; *' she lives only to make others happy." " I have found Miss Osborne !" cried the gentleman, a feAv moments afterwards. " Is she not the young lady Avith red roses in her hair ?" . " Yes, that is Violet. How did you make her out ?" " Because of what you told me. I saAv somebody — I had remarked her for some time — thinking first of others and last of number one. I congratulate you on your daughter, Mrs. Osborne ; she is charming. Beautiful, and still more good than beautiful." ** You are very kind to say so," said Mrs. Osborne, much gratified. At this moment, Violet rushed up to her mother. " We are not going to dance, mamma. I find the Lovels think their mother might not B like them to dance so soon after their grand mother's death, and it would be a pity for them to have to sit down."

" But you will be disappointed, dear." •' Oh no, mamma ; it does not matter. I was thinking of what we could do. Albert Avishes to act charades. I suppose, mamma, you have no objection?" It Avas evidently Violet who made arrangements, for she hardly Avaited for a reply before she kissed her mother's brow, and was hurry ing aAvay, when Mrs. Osborne detained her, to introduce her to Mr. Woodrowffe. " An old friend of mine, Violet, though he has not been in England oi late." Violet did not bow, but frankly gave him her hand. " A charming girl indeed !" exclaimed Mr. WoodroAvfie as she left them ; for he Avas of that age Avhen a little show of gratification in making his acquaintance — from the young and beautiful at least — pleases a man. " I am glad you will see her act," said Mrs. Osborne, who, by this appreciation of her daughter, was Avon to be confidential.

" Violet acts very well." ** So I should guess. There is life, intelli gence, and confidence in her face. She does not look as if she could be afraid ; and she is right. Why should she ? Who is that tall youth beside her ? Is that Albert ?" " Yes, he is my nephew. He is an orphan, poor boy, and his only sister, who is married, is lately gone to India. We have him con stantly with us. He comes, indeed, whenever he pleases." " He has a pleasant countenance, but not a great deal in it ; not like Miss Violet. She has a whole history in those dark blue eyes and that brdliant smile. Your daughter's beauty would drive an Italian painter mad, Mrs. Osborne. What a skin, and Avhat per fect auburn hair ! The very tint the old painters liked, only Avith a touch more of gold than red." Of this rhapsody upon her daughter Mrs. Osborne heard little, but she saw by the direction of his eyes that he was commenting on Violet.

She therefore smiled and thanked him. " I am afraid," she added, " that I have been rather unjustifiably praising my own child, but the truth is she is our only one, and we have very few thoughts that are not con nected Avith her." " No praise so valuable as a mother's !" said her companion, kindly ; "for Avho can knoAv a child as well ?" ** True," said Mrs. Osborne, with a slight smile, " but I believe a wise mother should leave her child's virtues to be discovered. See, they have arranged a charade ! I hope Violet avUI act," she added, forgetting her late sage observation. " We think she acts so well." Violet did not act in any of the scenes of the charade. It was weU done, but, to Mrs. Osborne and her friend, it was tedious, be cause the individual they wished to see did not appear. "Did you like it, mamma?"

Violet in quired, rushing up to her mother when it Avas concluded. " Yes, dear, it was very nice ; but Ave Avished, that is, I hoped you would act. You must next time." " I don't know, mamma. There are a great many good actors here to-night, and I am at home, you know. Perhaps, by-and-by, but don't expect it." And again kissing her mother's brow, an action which seemed so habitual as to be un consciously done, she hastened back to her companions. Two more charades were performed, and in the last Violet did appear ; but it was in the character of a decrepid old woman, and though the acting was certainly excellent, the dis guise was too complete to satisfy her mother or Mr. Woodrowffe. When the party, with the exception of this old friend and Albert, had dispersed, Mrs. Osborne complained, with some warmth, of her disappointment.

" But, mamma, it could not be helped," said her daughter. " I was at home. You Avould not have had me take the best parts ?" " Your mamma Avould have you please yourself, sometimes, darling, instead of always pleasing others !" was her father's fond obser vation. " As to that, papa, I please myself best in my own way. How well Margaret Lovel looked as Queen, didn't she ?" "Yes," said Albert. "And," he added, with a boyish wink, " I know somebody who thought she did." " Who ?" cried Violet, eagerly, expecting some revelation of interest. " Miss Margaret Lovel," was his reply, very dryly given. " If young ladies could but know how I see them through and through, they would either leave off deceiving, or practise a little harder to learn how to deceive." " Margaret Lovel does not deceive in the least," said Violet, quickly, " and you are un just to say so, Albert.

If she thinks she is handsome, how can she help it ? She can see as well as others." " Oh ! very well, then, I suppose I am all Avrong. /thought the modest thing Avas for young ladies not to know they were handsome. I thought they Avere to hang their heads like a humble violet ; but that's evidently all trash. Come now, Violet, Avhat do you think of your self ? Are you handsome or not ? Come, speak, I AviU haAre an answer." " It is a very unfair question, Albert," she said, angrily; "and before a stranger, too; but I don't mean to teU any stories about it. I don't think I am wonderfully handsome, but I know I am not ugly." "Well, to be sure, the vanity of girls !" " And their truth," observed Mr. Wood rowffe. " Miss Osborne, I congratulate you on being courageous enough to tell the truth, without regard to consequences."

" You are very kind to take it in that way," said Violet, blushing ; "of course I knew to Avhat I exposed myself ; but I think a story is a story, and I never mean to tell one for anything or anybody." " A wise resolve, Miss Osborne, and a brave one. But I fear I am keeping you all up. Good night." He made some kind speeches to Mrs. Osborne, and took his departure. " I avUI walk with you," cried Albert, following him ; " I've a good way to go, and I like company." " What a fascinating girl your cousin is," observed Mr. Woodrowffe, with energy, as they walked along. " Yes," he replied, carelessly ; " she's a very good girl, but she's terribly spoiled. That father and mother of hers let her govern the house exactly as she pleases." " Perhaps because she is the fittest person to govern it. If you observe, government usually falls into the hands of the most fit."

" Does it ? I am not at all sure of that. Certainly neither my uncle nor aunt will ever die of over-exertion of the intellectual powers ; but for all that I think it a great pity that Violet should be ruined." " She will not be ruined. You may make your mind quite easy on that point. Good natures are never ruined by freedom, and no one can look in her face and fail to see that she is good." " Oh ! yes, she's a good girl, but she's terribly wilful. But Avhere do you live? This is my Avay. I'm going to Lincoln's Inn." " I will go a little farther with you. Are you a barrister ?" " Not yet. I am only studying for the bar at present. I live down there to be in the way, not being fond of early rising." " Your studies are dry enough, are they not ? Hoav do you like them ?" " Not very much ;• but they wish me to be a laAvyer, and it's all one to me."

" Who are they ?" "My uncle. Because he's a rich banker, he thinks I shall get on at the bar, though what connection the things have together has ahvays passed my comprehension. However, as I said before, it's all one to me. I make myseU agreeable to anything." " But it will not be all one if you don't get on. There's a future to be considered." " To tell you the truth, I don't intend to be a slave aU my life. In a few years I shall marry, and have done Avith it." " An heiress, of course ?" "Yes, of course." " Your cousin, Miss Osborne ?" " Oh ! dear no, no one in particular. You don't suppose Violet would ever marry me ? She's one of the fastidious ones. Does not mean to marry unless she finds every perfec tion under the sun. 1 shall find her a husband one of these days, but not for three or four years.

I think it's a bad plan for girls to marry too early ; besides, it's much better fun to have her at home." " True. I suppose Miss Osborne is so far fortunate that she need not consider fortune a necessary perfection." " So far from it, that one of her great per fections is poverty ; but then you know Violet has plenty of money, and I must say she likes to have the upper hand." " Most women do, they say in the old ballad." " Then if most like it in a degree, Violet likes it four times over that degree. I suppose you have a right to knoAv all the family affairs?" he asked, suddenly. " Well," said his companion, smiling, " I don't Iœoav that I have any right, and perhaps I ought to beg your pardon for my inquisitive ness. It is a quality that is ahvays excited Avhen I take a fancy to a person, as I did to your cousin to-night.

However, you may be quite easy. All your secrets shall go back with me to India, and there be buried." " Thank you ;. not that I have said anything I Avould not say to their faces ; but it's not pleasant to have remarks on one's relations repeated back again." " I quite agree with you. And now good night, and my best wishes regarding the heiress you mentioned." " That avUI not be for some years to come ; but I am very much obliged to you all the same. Good night." And they went on their separate ways. " A good-natured old soul, with a yellow face !" was Albert's soliloquy as he sauntered along. " In love with Violet, evidently — all old men are !" " A well-meaning boy, with an empty head," was Mr. Woodrowffe's. " He'll never do at the bar." J

Chapter II

" A mind by nature indisposed to ought So placid, so inactive as content." The Excursion. " I heard you say you were going to the Exhibition of the Royal Academy to-morrow afternoon, Violet," said Albert to his cousin one evening, two years after the date of the last chapter. " May I go Avith you ?" " Certainly. We shall like it, shall we not, mamma ? Be here at four o'clock, and we wUl take you. But this is a neAv fancy, Albert ? I never knew you to care about pictures before." " One need not care because one wants to VOL. I. c go. Everybody is going. Besides, I suppose one may sometimes fancy a new thing. People don't always run in the same track. They would be nice ignoramilsses if they did." " You have no reason, then, for wishing to go ?" Violet persisted, looking as if she was convinced he had.

" None in particular. Leicester went the other day, and talked about the pictures, and so I thought I should like to go." Violet laughed and nodded ; but Albert, not observing her, went on — " He says there is a little picture there that nobody seems to notice, Avhich is worth all the others put together." " And Avho made Mr. Leicester a supreme judge of pictures ?" Violet asked, ironically. " His own good taste, I suppose. I cannot tell Avhy it is, Violet, but you seem to have no pleasure so great as cutting up Leicester. I see no fun in it at all." " Mr. Leicester does provoke me, I own. Always forming strange opinions, and setting up his opinion against the Avorld." " Leicester setting himself up against the Avorld !" exclaimed Albert, in surprise aud in dignation. " What extraordinary fancies you do have !

Leicester, who is too shy, poor fellow, to express his opinions at all, and only neglected because he is too humble and diffi dent to allow his merit to be seen." " Mr. Leicester shy and diffident ! My dear Albert, I am quite tired of hearing all the strange things he says." " He talks to me because I like to hear him ; but he talks to very feAv besides, because most people are too full of themselves to draAv him out. He never says strange things, and if I tire you, it is my fault, not his. He never 0 tired anybody, poor fellow ; and since you are so unjust, Violet, I will never mention him — though he is my best friend — any more." He spoke with so much Avarmth, that Violet's interest Avas excited. " Why do you say neglected, Albert ?" she asked. " Mr. Leicester is a lawyer, is he not ? I suppose he will get on in his turn as others do."

" He is neglected because he is too shy to put himself forward. I don't suppose there is such a modest, retiring man in Europe ; but it's only for a time. He's too clever to be overlooked, and some day, poor fellow, he will be appreciated as he ought to be." During Albert's last tAvo speeches a very singular change took place in Violet's mind. She had hitherto — Avithout knowing Mr. Lei cester — indulged in an antipathy to him, simply because her cousin appeared to look up to him. She had set him down in her A*ivid imagination as a young, intolerable prig ; and as such, a proper object for her dislike and sarcasm. But there was that in her nature Avhich ever stood up for the oppressed, and stooped down to the neglected. Observers, who were very desirous to discover the flaws in human virtue, would have said this disposition sprang from the love of patronizing and of power ; and undoubtedly this was Violet's temptation.

But the fault had wound about the virtue after it had groAvn up ; the root was in her own generous and kindly nature. Al bert's feAv words regarding the fortunes of his friend, dispelled him from her fancy in his first priggish form, and a new vision of a young retiring genius springing up in its place, all her sympathies became enlisted in his favour. In less than a minute the transformation from dislike to interest was effected, and she began VIOLET OSBORNE. to plan kindnesses to encourage modest merit. " Do you think Mr. Leicester would go Avith us to the Exhibition to-morroAV, Albert ?" she inquired, after a short silence. " We could take him as well as you, and it would be a means of making acquaintance. I feel sorry for him after Avhat you have said." " I am sure he Avould," said Albert, de lighted.

" I think I can ansAver for that. He knows you all too well from my description to be shy about it ; or if he is, I can soon per suade him. All he Avants, poor felloAV, is for people to come forward to meet him. Do you knoAv, Violet, I have so often wished you would notice him." " Then Avhy did you never say so ?" she asked with quickness. " Because I did not choose. He is a great deal too good to force upon anybody. If you did not like to know him, I did not wish you VIOLET OSBORNE. to know him. But I am very much obliged to you now." " Mamma," cried Violet, approaching her mother and kissing her, " you will not mind our taking Albert's friend with us to-morroAv, shall you ? I have told him you will." The question was asked with Violet's accustomed dutiful attention to her mother ; but it was a mere form.

Mrs. Osborne had no Avill but her daughter's. The two years that had passed had brought its natural changes to both Violet and Albert. The manners of both had lost their first marked freshness, and been toned into the softer manners of common life. With Albert the change ended here. He was in mind still a boy ; careless and wayward, yet with good dispositions, and some shrewd perceptions into men and things. He had lately been called to the bar, and he dawdled away a large portion of his time among laAvyers and law books ; attending trials and propounding questions ; snatching up, Avith instinctive quickness, many pieces of valuable information, but eschewing all the profounder parts of the profession on which he had entered. With Violet the changes had gone deeper. At seventeen she had been a lively, sweet tempered, Avilful girl — a spoilt child, unspoilt; at nineteen she was a woman, with a woman's thought and feeling ; lively, sweet-tempered, and wilful still, but thinking much, and ques tioning her thoughts.

She had passed through the severe ordeal of tAvo seasons as a reigning beauty ; rich, lovely, and inviting in manner ; sought, flattered, and loved. But the spoiled beauty was like the spoiled child, unspoilt! She did not think little of herself ; she knew she was very charming ; thought so, and re joiced in the thought; but the knowledge exercised no influence on her mind and manners. She was as simple and honest as when a child ; as careless of herself, as thought ful for others, as earnestly desirous to do Avhat she considered right, and to be all that she ought to be. If her standard was not high, it Avas true, and truth is the best of founda tions. Violet expected, with some interest, the arrival of Albert and his friend. She was at the age when fancy is busy, and of the tempera ment when it is vivid ; and fancy gives to the simplest events of life an importance of its own.

With a disappointment, therefore, most disproportioned to the real importance of the circumstance, she saw Albert arrive alone. " Well, Albert, and Avhere is Mr. Leicester?" she said eagerly. Albert, not having given to the invitation A'lOLET OSBORNE. as much thought as Violet had, ansAvered, in differently : " Oh ! he was very sorry, Violet, but he could not come." Violet coloured. " Of all things I hate," she said, with warmth, " it is for people to break their en gagements !" " It was no engagement, Violet ; that is, it was none of his. He was very sorry, and very much obliged, and would have liked it, but he was particularly busy to-day, and could not help himself. You must ask him another time." The vision of the modest youth and bashful genius faded from Violet's fancy, and the in tolerable prig resumed his place.

"I see Mr. Leicester is just Avhat I thought lie was !" she observed, quickly; "gives him self airs to make his importance felt. I am very glad he did not come, for I know I should hate him." " Leicester give himself airs! Poor fellow! What extraordinary fancies you do have ! I say, Violet, I think you are the oddest mix ture I ever knew ! There is nobody more good-natured than you can be, but, at the same time, I knoAv nobody so ill-natured, or so easUy vexed, if people don't receive your kindnesses just as they are meant. You should learn to be more calm, and not flurry about trifles." Violet's truthful conscience told her he Avas right. She could not bear the shadoAV of in gratitude, and was certainly prone to expect large returns for her kindnesses. She coloured angrily, but refrained from the sharp words she would willingly have returned to this plain spoken admonition.

Without being a connoisseur, Violet was fond of painting, and had an instinctive ap preciation of what was good. She and her mother — the eyes of the latter instructed by her daughter — Avent sloAvly through the rooms of the Exhibition, leisurely examining such good things as were to be seen. Albert lounged about by himself, discovering what was good and what was bad, Avithout one rule of art to guide him. " Come here !" he exclaimed, suddenly coming up to Violet in the second room. " I have found the thing Leicester likes, and I want you to look at it. It's a very good thing, and you AviU like it too." Assuring him she should not like it, Violet folloAved him. The picture was called in the catalogue, " Ruth's First-born Son ;" and the subject was treated Avith a grave simplicity and pathos, Avhich, Avhile it glaringly attracted no attention, riveted attention when once it was caught.

The position of Naomi, bearing away the child as her own ; the glad thank fulness in the eyes of the young mother ; and something of awe and prophecy in those of Boaz as they foUowed it — were depicted Avith a master's hand ; yet such a master's hand as seemed unconscious of the effect he produced ; homely and harmonious, without effort or caprice. Violet looked, and was touched. She had expected some eccentricity of genius, some strange thing which the young prig had chosen to patronise. She could not conceal her surprise. " Yes," she replied, in ansAver to Albert's inquiry, " it is very pretty, but I don't under stand Avhy Mr. Leicester likes it. It is not at all the sort of thing I should have expected a young man to choose." " A young man, my dear Violet, has quite as good taste as a young woman, I can assure you," said Albert, Avith dignity.

" I mean that I Avonder at the subject in teresting him. It is all so simple, and all about a baby." " But there may be particular thoughts about the baby, and there are. I can see that myself. The baby was something or some body, I am pretty sure ; and they seem all to be thinking about it." " Yes — so he was," said Violet, thought fully, " the grandfather of David, and there fore .... yes — I see what you mean. StUl I am surprised. It is not at all what I should have expected Mr. Leicester to like. And I am very sorry, too," she added, laughing, " because I agree with him in liking it best, and that is very disagreeable to me." " Why ? — I don't see why," said stupid Albert. " Because I hate him, and I don't want to agree with people I hate. But come Avith us now to the miniatures ; we have not much more time, and Ave must look at them before we go."

In the miniature room another surprise awaited her, regarding the individual Avho seemed suddenly destined to engage her thoughts. " Who is that, Albert ?" she exclaimed, pointing to a crayon head above the rows of miniatures ; "I think it must be somebody, and I like it." It was the head of a man ; not an intellec tual abstraction, not a poetical study, but a man, seeming to live and breathe on the canvas. The features of the face were marked and strong, yet the expression of countenance was very soft, and there was something in the grave sAveetness of the dark eyes which arrested the spectator with a force he could not Avithstand. " Why, it's Leicester ! — it must be !" cried Albert, seizing the catalogue. "Yes — sure enough — - John Leicester, Esq.' Well, this is the most extraordinary thing I ever knew!"

" That Mr. Leicester ?" exclaimed Violet, almost stupefied with her surprise. " Yes, and a capital likeness — the very man ! But what I can't understand is, how it comes to be here. I should have thought he was the last man in the world who would have made an exhibition of himself." " That is true," said a voice behind them, proceeding from a pale, clever-looking young man ; " but Mr. Leicester never refuses a boon to a person in distress. I asked him to sit to me, and he consented ; and having succeeded beyond my hopes, he alloAved me to make of my study such use as I could." Violet was startled at this sudden explana tion ; but Albert, who, with the exception of this picture's appearance, was never surprised at anything, quietly replied, " Thank you ; that is just like him. I hope it has been of use to you."

" It has already in some degree ; and as, since its appearance here, it has been approved by very competent judges, I have good hope that it wiU be still more so. But do not let me interrupt you," and bowing,, the young man disappeared. " We ought to be careful how we speak in a crowd," said Albert, composedly. " So I have been quite wrong !" said Violet. " I thought Mr. Leicester was a young man." " Young ! — why, so he is. Do you call two and-thirty old ?" " I caU it a very good age ; not the least VOL. I. D bit of a boy," and there Avas contempt in the emphasis. " But, Albert, what puzzles me is this : if Mr. Leicester is, as he seems to be, such a very superior person, how does he come to be your friend ?" "Ah! Violet," said Albert, nodding his head, "you are quite in the Avrong box. It is uot your clever people who appreciate superior characters — they are too full of themselves to care.

I may not be very clever, but I knoAv Avhat is worth liking better than clever ones do." " I believe you mean to give me a hint," said Violet, laughing. " I daresay I am a great deal too full of myself, and think myself much cleverer than I am ; but if you suppose I do not appreciate superior people, you are Avrong. Goodness and worth is what I look for, as a jeAveller hunts for diamonds ; and Avhen I find a grain of goodness, I feel as elated as the jeweller does. So noAv I want to make ac quaintance Avith Mr. Leicester, and you must bring him to us." " I avUI manage it," replied Albert, with dignity. " But you must remember he is shy, and not be surprised if you find him dull at first." " He wiU not be shy with me. No one is. So, Albert, it is a settled thing, and don't let me be disappointed.