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GERALD VOL. I, NEW THREE-VOLUME NOVELS AT ALL LIBRARIES. "I SAY NO." By Wilkie Collins. THE LOVER'S CREED. By Mrs. Cashel Hoey. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. By SARAH TirLER. BY MEAD AND STREAM. By Charles Gibbon. FOXGLOVE MANOR. By Robert Buchanan. "THE WEARING OP THE GREEN." By Basil. GERALD. By Eleanor C. Price. PHILISTIA. By Cecil Power. FARNELL'S FOLLY. By J. T. Trowbridge. (2 vols.) LONDON: CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY. GERALD BY ELEANOR C. PRICE Author of" Valentiua," "Mrs. Lancaster's Rival," "The Foreigners: etc. IN THREE VOLUMES VOL. I. HonDon CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY 1885 [ The Right of Translation is reserved] CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL -PALACE PRESS. TO GERALDINE MAUDE. I OFFER THIS STORY TO YOU, WITHOUT WHOSE HELP IT COl'I-D NOT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Three Cousins

Linwood St. John is one of the quietest little towns in the south of England. Its only excitements are a county election, a fair once in the year, and any special event in the Fraser family. The Frasers have been squires there for generations, and the London road runs for a long way under the shadow of their high red garden-wall, just outside the town. Between clustering tree-tops one catches a glimpse of weather-beaten, moss grown old chimneys ; and presently, at a turn VOL. I. B GERALD. 2 in the road, one looks back and sees the great comfortable house itself, set squarely in the midst of lawns and gardens, with sloping meadows much shaded by trees, leading down to a slow, quiet river. Most of Linwood belongs to the Frasers, as well as a good deal of land in the neighbourhood. People supposed that Helen Fraser, who for a long time was the Squire's only child, would be a great heiress, but in these calculations they reckoned without her father.

Helen's mother died while she was still very young, and she was about twelve years old when Mr. Fraser married again. Then came a large family of boys and girls ; then came long bills, bad times, falling rents, and difficulties threatening on all sides. Mrs. Fraser was extravagant, she was also worldly and ambitious, and she did not at all like to meet these troubles by reducing her ex penses. Mr. Fraser was weak, and did not insist ; so everything went on as usual, except that the little Squire grew smaller, and paler, and more careworn every day, and that Helen, now a fat, placid, pretty creature of two-and-twenty, with long eyelashes and beautiful fair hair, calmly accepted the rich man her stepmother found for her, and on a certain day in April was to be married to Mr. John Goodall. Even her stepmother was surprised, though quite pleased and satisfied.

She had never got on very well with Helen, who was not demonstrative, and took no interest in the younger children. Not that they had quarrelled, for both were good-tempered, but Mrs. Fraser always felt that Helen's marriage would be a happy thing for the whole family. They had met this man in the winter at B GERALD. 4 Torquay ; she had taken him up at first for fun, then seeing his admiration of Helen, had encouraged it partly for fun. But things grew serious very soon. The man was rich ; there was nothing against him ; he and Helen, who was an odd girl in some ways, and fond of talking like a Radical, got on remarkably well together. At the end of a month all was settled, and Mr. Fraser gave a reluctant con sent ; he was fond of his eldest child, and thought a good deal of his pedigree. " But in times like these, what can you do ?

" he said in apology to his nephew, Captain North, who was disturbed, and thought that Helen was throwing herself away. For many years Linwood had not had such an excitement as this — the wedding of its chief young lady. The inhabitants stood about the wide, quiet street, in the light of a yellow sunset, and watched the preparations for a triumphal arch at the churchyard gate, and stared with satisfaction at the Squire's visitors as they drove from the station. Far away from the bustle of arrivals and from all signs of to-morrow's festivity, in a solitary part of the garden, where a grand old cedar stood at the end of a terrace-walk, and overlooked the peaceful view of meadows, and river, and distant hills, now in a glow of gold and purple that deepened every moment, Helen Fraser was having her last talk, as a girl, with the girl-friend who had belonged to her all her life.

Helen's head was resting on Theo's shoulder, and Theo's arm was round her, and she was looking down with a sad gravity in her dark eyes which was hardly suited to the occasion. " My dear, what are you doing ?" she said. " Don't you care for him, then ? " GERALD. 6 Sometimes I hate him," said Helen in a whisper. " I wish I had not been kept away from you all this time. It is too horrid. Actually to think that I have never seen him ! But I can't stand this, Nell, you know. It is not too late to stop it, even now. Come along, we must go to my uncle at once." " Nonsense, Theo. Don't be silly ; it is a great deal too late." " What ! when you say you hate the man ? " said Theo, frowning. " You should not take hold of one's words like that. It is only sometimes, when he bothers me, and I have to pretend I like it, or when he is most particularly unlike Hugh and all the rest of one's people.

But he is a nice satisfactory old thing, and tremendously kind, and much better, I can tell you, than all your officers that you think so agreeable. Yes, you always. used to be held up to me as such a pattern of sense, but I am wiser than you now, Theo." She ended laughing, and glancing up into her cousin's face ; but Theo was not to be so easily pacified. "Unlike one's own people!" she repeated in low indignant tones. "Well, I supposed something of the kind, but your ideas on those subjects are always so funny, that I thought you cared for him in spite of that. You wrote to me as if you cared for him, Helen. Do you know, I think you are very wicked. You are deceiving this man, and yourself, and everybody else." " Except you, dear," said Helen, with pro voking amiability. " But you take things up, and exaggerate, don't you see.

He is quite satisfied, so it doesn't matter, and when you come to stay with me in the autumn, you will see it is all right." GERALD. 8 But why did you do it ? " said Theo. " Oh, I don't know. How is one to answer such an absurd question ? As if those things could ever be explained." But she did her best to explain, and Theo listened with thorough sympathy, though with growls of impatience now and then. An old, strong, constant tenderness kept her from being very angry with her cousin, whatever she might do. If these two girls had met now for the first time, it is probable that they would not have made friends. Theo, seeing Helen's weaknesses clearly, would have scorned them and her ; and Helen would have shrunk from a person so different from herself in every way. But they had been friends almost from their cradles ; both their mothers had died early, and they had been brought up almost together.

Theo's father, too, had died young, and her lot in life would have been a lonely and sad one, if she had not been taken possession of by Colonel North, the kindest of uncles, the brother of her mother and of Helen's. His wife, too, was dead, and he was left with one son, a few years older than these girls, who had gone into the army and cared very much for his profession. While Helen and Theo were children, they were together a great deal at Linwood House, but soon after Mr. Fraser married again Colonel North retired from the army, and took Theo to live with him entirely. He did not like Mrs. Fraser, who on her part dis approved of his way of educating Theo, and thus through the following years, though the cousins still loved each other dearly, they were not so much together, and grew up in very different atmospheres.

They had now been separated for some months by Colonel North's illness. He had GERALD. 10 been ill all the winter, and Theo, his constant companion, could hardly bring herself to leave him, even for Helen's wedding. Perhaps her coming from a house of suffering may partly account for a certain sadness which weighed on Theo at this time. It was not all disap pointment at Helen's choosing this man, who was evidently unworthy of her ; though that was bad enough, and a subject of melancholy puzzle to Helen's oldest friend. No explanation could be really satisfactory. Helen might not care for her stepmother, she might be tired of living at home ; Mr. Goodall might be the kindest and most generous man living, his defects such as would only be minded by foolish little prejudice. It was all very fine ; these were not reasons, to Theo's mind, for marrying Mr. Goodall.

No doubt he was very fond of Nell, and Nell liked people to be fond of her ; no doubt she would be well THREE COUSINS. 11 spoilt all her life, never be troubled with money cares, have every fancy carried out, be treated like a lazy little princess ; all that would suit her thoroughly. At the end of their talk Theo realised that Helen would not on any account have the marriage broken off now, though she could say that she sometimes hated Mr. Goodall. And Theo also realised, with a mental shiver, that her old Helen was dead, or perhaps had never existed, and that her own high-flown ideas on these subjects had better be kept to herself in future. Presently some one came from the house to call Helen, and Theo let her go, and went alone along the terrace, watching the western sky. The sadness of coming twilight seemed to make it right to be sad.

Theo had taken off her hat, for her head ached with vexation, and she stood there against the yellow sky, tall and straight and graceful, her head lifted, GERALD. 12 and her dark eyes looking away into the distance. The curves of her mouth and nose were very handsome, and very proud and scornful ; her cousin once said that he never saw so much scorn in any profile as in Theo's. Her front face was much more amiable, partly from the beauty and softness of her eyes, and it was so at this moment, when Helen no longer needed her sympathy, and had gone away and left her to a solitary fit of disgust. " Well, Theo, my dear," said a man's voice, soft and grave, and her cousin, Hugh North, came down the terrace steps and joined her. " Are you hating anybody ? You don't look so cheerful as you ought on this happy occasion."

" I don't know about the happiness," said Theo sorrowfully. " Hate ? Oh yes, I hate the world, and marriage, and men, and women, and money, and all the consequences." THREE COUSINS. 13 " A good wide sphere," said Hugh, smiling faintly. He was fair, stiffly handsome, and very seldom amused. " I met Helen just now. Has she given you these nasty feelings ? " As Theo did not answer, he went on after a minute : "Is she offensively happy, or what is the matter with her ? " " Everything — nothing," said Theo im patiently. " She makes me miserable, and I think, Hugh, you might have stopped this at the beginning." "What! this marriage? It was no affair of mine. I did what I could, you know. I said something to Uncle Dick, but as he was inclined to make the best of it, of course I could say no more.

I would not vex myself, Theo, if I were you ; she will do very well, I dare say." " You don't feel about it as I do." GERALD. 14 "Perhaps not. It is a pity to be too senti mental on these occasions. They come in the course of nature, and we may as well take them easy. I have heard of much worse marriages than this of Helen's. The man is a stodgy sort of man, and thinks a good deal of his money ; but he's solvent, he's respectable, and appears to be good-tempered. Helen doesn't dislike him, does she ? " " Could she marry him if she did ? " said Theo. The question was asked as much of herself as of Hugh. She did not feel inclined just then to answer for Helen in any way, and of course she could not tell Hugh what Helen had said. " No, I don't think she would," said her cousin, after a moment's consideration.

"We may trust Helen, I think, to follow her own inclinations. So don't distress yourself. You may find the man better than you expect." THREE COUSLNS. 15 " He is not a gentleman," said Theo, with so much pain in her voice that Captain North smiled again. " My dear, excuse me, that is Helen's affair, and you will be wiser if you accept the in evitable, and don't talk about it. If you pull a long face to-morrow, it will be unkind to Helen, and rude to Mrs. Fraser." The effect of these grave words was to make Theo smile and soften suddenly. Captain North looked at her with approval, which from another man might have been affectionate ad miration. " Men never understand," she said. " I will just tell you this. I think we all have something low and something high in our natures, and we may follow one or the other.

I think Nell But I won't say any more." " Better not. I would rather you kept clear of metaphysics. And as to your hard GERALD. 16 judgment of Nell, I'll observe, Theo, that a girl may have a low motive for marrying a duke, and a high motive for marrying a tradesman." "Yes, if the tradesman was poor," said Theo. " Do you think I am so hard on Nell, though ? Poor dear ! I didn't mean to be. Don't let us talk about it any more ; only please do me this favour, Hugh. If you ever see any signs of my following Nell's example, please lock me up in some safe place till I have recovered my senses." " You promise, then," said Hugh very gravely, looking at her under his sleepy eyelids, " never to marry without my consent." "Yes; I think you are a good judge of people. I think I may safely promise that," said Theo.

" Good-bye." She went away towards the house, and Captain North looked after her till she was THREE COUSINS. 17 hidden among trees. Theo, who from her childhood had regarded him as a kind elder brother, sometimes prosy and always parti cular, would have been perfectly astonished at the thoughts and calculations in his mind as he watched her that evening. He was think ing of a certain wish of his father's, which at first had not been his own, so that he had let time pass on, and he was now thirty-one and Theo twenty-three, without any sign of change in their relations to each other. His father knew that he was not in love with Theo ; he may perhaps have had a story of his own, which was not confided to his father ; but Colonel North knew, and so did he, that he could offer her an affection, already existing and strengthening every year, which might do almost as well.

Theo, with her high-flown ways, was this quiet Hugh's model of a woman ; she was a little wild, and very obstinate, and vol. 1. c 0> GERALD. had been a tomboy in her younger days ; but he rather enjoyed all that, which his father had certainly encouraged, and quite understood the gentleness underneath. He had many safe and excellent opinions, one of which was that cousins ought not to marry ; but yet the idea of Theo's marrying any one else was hardly bearable. Theo was so used to him and his fidgety ways, which she and her uncle often laughed at together, that she would not have been surprised at his anxious consideration of her future, much as his conclusion would have shocked and startled her. Captain North felt very serious that evening. He did not think his father would live long, and then what was to become of Theo ?

It was true that she had a grandmother, Lady Redcliff, who might not object to having her for a time, but she was a horrid, disagreeable old woman, like all the THREE COUSLNS. 19 Redcliffs. Theo's father, George Meynell, should be excepted. He was Lord Redcliffs younger son. He ran through all his money, lived a wild life, and died early in consequence of his wildness ; but he was so charming that everybody loved him. His death broke his father's heart, and thoroughly soured his mother. She quarrelled with her elder son's wife. He, too, was now dead, and the present Lady Redcliff and her children saw nothing of the grandmother, who had now lost every one she cared for, and lived a savage, solitary life alone in London. The thought of her, as Theo's only resource, was very distressing to Captain North. Yet he could not make up his mind just yet to ask Theo to marry him. Perhaps, not being a stupid man, he felt some doubt of her answer. c

Chapter II. In The Chancel

A wise woman wrote once, in a letter to somebody who was going to be married : "Congratulation on such occasions seems to me a tempting of Providence. The triumphal procession air, which, in our manners and customs, is given to marriage at the outset — that singing of Te Deum before the battle has begun — has, ever since I could reflect, struck me as somewhat senseless and somewhat impious. If ever one is to pray, if ever one is to feel grave and anxious, if ever one is to shrink from vain show and vain babble, surely it is just on the occasion of two human beings binding themselves to one another, for better and for worse, till death part them ; just on that occasion which it is customary only to celebrate with rejoicings, and congratulations, and trousseaux, and white ribbon ! " Theo Meynell did not suppose herself to have a deep, or clever, or reflective mind, but these were very much the feelings which went to sleep with her the night before Helen's wedding, and woke with her the next morning.

She sighed, and wished to go to sleep again, but her maid would not allow her to do that ; so with a few yawns and groans she got up, and soon found that in broad daylight, with bells ringing, and sun shining, and a lovely bridesmaid's dress hanging in the wardrobe, it was impossible to keep up these feelings of cynical philosophy. Everything and every body seemed so happy, though Helen Fraser GERALD. 22 was going to be married to John Goodall, that Theo, in spite of herself, begaii to feel happy too. She never thought much of her appear ance, but it was satisfactory to know that she was looking particularly well that morning. Combe said so, and Theo saw that she was right. Captain North need not have warned her against pulling a long face on this joyful occasion, for she did not feel at all inclined to do so, and when Helen came to her room a little later, she received her with all the cheerful affection that could have been expected.

" That's a dear old Theo," said Helen, who was in her usual placid spirits. " You look quite jolly this morning. Do you know, Combe, last night in the garden she was scolding me like anything ? " "You don't seem much the worse for it, Miss Helen," said Combe, who had come to Theo as her nurse twenty years ago, and had stayed with her ever since. She was an im portant person in Theo's life ; she told her home-truths, and knew all her tempers. Once she said that she would die for Theo, and there came a time when she was not far from proving the truth of her words. Mrs. Combe was an aristocrat in her notions, with a supreme con tempt for money and all possessions which had not descended at least from a grandfather. She could not for some time get over the shock of Helen's marrying a man who had made his money in pottery works.

" It's a style of thing we're not accustomed to," said Combe. " Not for millions and billions would my young lady so demean herself." " Theo dear," said Helen, when Combe was gone away, " you hope I shall be happy, don't you ? And you know quite well that my being married will never make the smallest difference to you ? " GERALD. 24 "How could it?" said Theo. "Yes, I hope you will be very, ver)- happy." " I believe you will like him a great deal better than you expect." " So Hugh told me last night." " Did he ? What a good old fellow ! I wonder if he would care to come and stay with us some day. You might come at the same time, and then you can amuse each other. I shall want you this summer, Theo, or early in the autumn." " I can't leave Uncle Henry so long, as he is so ill." " Oh, he must get better.

What a pity he can't be here to-day ! " " Yes, a dreadful pity ! " " I believe he and John would get on together ; they are both so straightforward. Uncle Henry is simple, like John, and hasn't so many prejudices as some people." ' You don't hate John this morning ? " No, not this morning. I am rather in a good temper," said Helen with a pretty smile. " By the way, there's one bore I must tell you about. You know I told you that John had a friend, a nice clergyman, who was going to be his best man. Well, in his letter this morning he says that Mr. Langton is ill, and can't come, and he must bring somebody else instead." " That doesn't much matter, does it ?" said Theo indifferently. " Don't you think so ? You are the person most concerned, for he will have to take you in to breakfast, I suppose, and that was why I told John most particularly that he must bring his very nicest friend."

" Thanks ; you need not have bothered him," said Theo, smiling. " Oh yes, I thought it was best at once to give him the right impression of you. But I GERALD. am afraid he has made rather a mess of it ; men are so stupid. This is what he says : ' When I got Langton's letter I was at my wit's end, for I have very few friends, especially in London. But this morning I happened to meet young Fane, a colliery manager in our neighbourhood,' " here Helen stole a glance at her cousin, who looked quite unconcerned, " 'and I asked him to come down with me to morrow. He made some difficulties, but at last consented. He is a nice boy, and I hope you will like him ; though of course we should both have preferred Langton.' Fane is a good name," said Helen after a moment's pause, "but I suppose a colliery manager can't be anybody.

I shall know all those terms better presently, though. Do you mind, Theo ? " " Not in the very least," said Theo earnestly. " I shall never see the man again ; what difference can it possibly make to me ? " Helen looked at her rather oddly. " None, of course," she said after a moment. " But you will be conscious of his existence for this one day, won't you ? " She went away smiling, a little piqued by Theo's grand indifference, and wishing, as she did sometimes, that her pet cousin was more like other girls. But then she would not be old Theo, with all her oddities and originalities, finest when she was most absurd. " I hope I shall live to see Theo in love," thought Helen. " Her ideas about it are so splendid — but the man will want a little courage, poor fellow ! " Helen was in no agitation about herself, that important day.

She made no fuss, or hurry, or delay ; she looked very pretty and quite con tented, and kissed her stepmother and the children with placid sweetness. Mrs. Fraser had certainly tried to do all honour to Helen's GERALD. marriage. She had asked half the county, and did not show the smallest outward sign of bein? ashamed of Mr. Goodall. She smiled agreeably on all Linwood, which had assembled in the street leading to the church, with flags, and flowers, and welcomes, and wishes of joy. The sun shone on the crowd in its Sunday clothes, on the children in blue and white who were to throw flowers in the bride's path. All the rejoicing seemed to be very hearty, for though people rather disliked Mrs. Fraser, and laughed a little at the Squire, they all liked Helen, who had a pleasant manner with them, and knew how to admire their babies.

The church was old, and low, and dark, with heavy pillars, and high pews blocking up the nave. The chancel was of a later date, a high raised space with three or four great perpendicular windows which, having lost their ancient glory of colour except a few fragments, let in a full flood of sunshine on the wedding party. This was where Theo first saw her new cousin and his friend, as she, with the other bridesmaids, followed Mr. Fraser and Helen up the church. John Goodall looked much more nervous than his bride. He was a tall young man, rather fat, and very pale, with a short reddish beard and keen, honest dark eyes. He had an expres sion of the deepest and most anxious solem nity, which cleared up a little when Helen was actually standing by his side, and the old rector was beginning the service.

Theo was glad to feel that she rather liked him, though he gave her a trembling inclination to smile. It appeared to her that the man was very fond of Helen, and would think a great deal about making her happy. And though he looked solid, he did not look GERALD. 30 vulgar. Theo perceived that Hugh was right. Though of course very different from Hugh, John Goodall was not of an absolutely inferior creation. Theo had a free way of looking about her at the most inappropriate moments, and not with quick slight glances, but with a grave deliberate stare, which no person could en counter without feeling it. Mrs. Fraser had often complained of this trick, one of the results, she said, of Colonel North's system of no education, and copied exactly from him. But Theo unfortunately never troubled herself about Mrs. Fraser's opinion while she was a girl, and Mrs. Fraser had now given up as hopeless any idea of training her to better manners, so she stared about her as usual at Helen's wedding, noticing in a vague sort of way the people's dresses, the effects of light and shade, the beauty of Helen's fair bent head under her veil, the sturdy breadth of John Goodall's shoulders.

She was in one of her most absent moods, but it was a tender mood too ; she did not look at all scornful ; her face was full of gentle thought, not exactly arising from the service, of which she did not hear a word. She was thinking of Nell's childhood and her own, pitying and loving her cousin, perhaps all the more because she had disappointed her. She was thinking also of their talk last night, and pitying Mr. Goodall, and wishing that Nell had not said those things about him. If the man had been much worse than this, surely Nell, having promised to marry him, ought not to have allowed herself to see or mention any defects in him. Poor Nell ! Everybody does not see things in the same way, and it now seemed possible that she might be happy after all. Many people in the church that day looked GERALD. 32 at Theo as much as at the bride.

There was something so noble and unconscious in the way she stood — closer to Helen than any of the others — the flowers drooping carelessly from her hands, her head held very erect, with her own little air of spirit and splendour. One of the lookers-on said afterwards that she " took away his breath." Another, that she was "a magnificent young woman." Theo thought of nobody's opinion. She stood a little sideways in the chancel, in a broad sunbeam, and looked about her with the absent, deliberate coolness which so deeply irritated Mrs. Fraser. But the Fates were lying in wait for Theo, and her happy uncon sciousness did not last long. She had been gazing intently at one person in the little group near her, and had just roused herself to wonder who he could be. She certainly had never seen him before, at Linwood or in the county.