Bryanston Square

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BRYANSTON SQUARE. BY NOELL RADECLIFFE, AUTHOR OF '■ALICE WEXTWORTH," "THE LEES OF BLENDON HALL," " WHEEL WITHIN AVHEEL,' &o. " Son of my Uncle, if thou ask rae for the eye out of my forehead, I will give it thee!" Lane's Arabian Nights. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1862. TJte right of Translation is reserved. LONDON : PRINTED BY R. BORN, GLOUCESTER STREET, REGENT'S PARE. -jo THE H0NB^E EMILY EDEN THIS TALE IS INSCRIBED, WITH FEELINGS OF THE DEEPEST RESPECT, BY THE SINCERE ADMIRER OF HER WORKS AND OF HER TALENTS, NOELL RADECLIFFE.

Chapter I

One evening in early spring, between five and-tAventy and thirty years ago, a young girl sat alone, in the back room of the ground-floor, in one of the largest houses in Bryanston Square, then belonging to her uncle, James Stainforth, a wealthy London merchant. The handsome furni ture, and well-filled book-cases which the apartment contained, appeared to point it out for a library ; but the presence of a small piano, of a reclining-board, and of desks both for drawing and writing pur poses, betokened that it had also been used ArOL. I. B as a school-room ; a fact to which a set of small open book-shelves, with ranges of ill matched and uneven volumes, bore yet further witness. But a school-room, pro perly speaking, it was no longer ; and Ida Stainforth (at this moment the only tenant of the place) was certainly engaged in no deeper study than that of her own thoughts.

To judge by outward seeming, she was early emancipated from educational control ; for, though close upon seventeen, the ex treme slightness of her figure, and the childishness of her very small features, made her look still younger. Her AAThole appearance was interesting, from the extreme gentleness of her countenance, and from the delicacy of a skin whose ivory whiteness com pensated for the lack of all brilliancy of com plexion ; Avhile the eye could not rest without admiration on the richness and beauty of her fair hair, smoothly braided on her forehead, and wreathed behind in heavy coils round her small and graceful head. There was no light in the room, save from the still glowing embers of the fire, which shed a fitful brightness within a certain verge, and especially on the little sofa near it, where Ida sat, gazing fixedly on the ground.

At length a slight noise Avas heard ; she turned her head, and looked eagerly towards the door, which was opened by a tall, handsome young man, with dark eyes, hair, and moustaches. " Oh ! Walter," she exclaimed, as he drew near, " I am so very unhappy ! — I am going to lose Laura 1 " " So that is it ! and Laura Whitmore is o-oinoto be married at last ! But I should not have thought," continued the young man, laughing, as he seated himself fami liarly beside his cousin, " I should not have thought you Avould have made me such a solemn request for a private inter vieAv, merely to tell me that. Perhaps, though, you Avanted to beg pardon for having been so mysterious about it, and b for keeping me in the dark so long? Con fess ! " said he, playfully laying hold of both her hands. " Oh ! no such thing ! if Laura were going to be married — happily married, that is, I could bear it ; though I am afraid I should be selfish enough to be A~ery sorry at first.

But I should get over it in time, because it would be a necessarA" — an inevit able separation ; whereas now her leaA-ing us will make her miserable as well as me, and will do nobody any good." " Then why does she go ? — has she displeased my father in any Avay ?" "Not the least; it is all Mrs. Rigby 's oing. "Mrs. Rigby's!" repeated Walter, in astonishment ; " Avhat business is it of hers? " "None in the world; except that she hates Laura, like all the rest of our — of your mothers — relations, I mean." "And why do they hate Laura Whitmore?" " For no reason. I believe they dislike her only because they disliked her mother, and objected to my uncle's having had her into the house, to put Mary, and Emma, and me under her charge, as he did on your mother's death. The Earles and Hamiltons, as you know, ended by turning their aversion for Mrs. Whitmore into a doAAmright quarrel Avith Uncle Stainforth ; but Mrs. Rigby never went such lengths, or meddled as the others did.

Besides, she showed kindness to us all when poor Mary was first taken ill. Then again when ive went, Avithout my uncle, to spend a Avinter at Naples, for Emma's sake, Mrs. Rigby's being there was of great use to us ; and Avhen all was over, she admitted that, ' if Emma had been Mrs. Whitmore's own child, she could not have been more devoted to her.' She AATOte Laura a kind letter, too, eight months ago, on her mother's death ; so I little thought, when she came to stay with us six weeks back, that she Avould work, as she has done, to drive dear Laura out of the house." "But how can she, unless my father wishes it ? I thought he was fond of Laura ■or ' used to her ' at any rate." " And so he is ; but Mrs. Rigby has said so much to him about its being ' more for Laura Whitmore's own advantage ' to live with her relations — her equals — than with us.

I hardly understand what she means by it all ! / think her relations are not her equals, for they are uneducated and vulgar, and she, like her mother, is the very reverse. But Mrs. Rigby 's talk has weighed a good deal with my uncle, and she tells Laura ' that he agrees with her on the main point ' — that is, that he thinks it right she should accept her aunt, Mrs. Mathews', offer of a home in her house at Weymouth, to the neighbourhood of which Mrs. Rigby is going Avhen she leaves us, and Avhere, she says, 'she shall be most happy to escort Miss Whitmore.' When it came to that, Laura was too proud to hesitate a moment ; and for all she believes, as / do from my heart, that Uncle Stainforth Avould never have even thought of such a thing of himself, she said immediately, ' that since such was the case, she would undoubtedly avail herself of the kind offer.' So if you can't help me, Walter, I must lose the only companion I have left !

" " Why, Avhat can I do for you, my dear Ida ? If my father has settled it so, I can only suppose that, for some reason or other, he thinks it best — and " " Oh, I don't believe that !— I know he'll be sorry when she's gone ! i" can't venture," added she, after a pause, " to say so to him myself, because — though I really never felt before that it made any difference — I am his niece, and not his daughter. But if you would, dear Walter ! That's what I wanted to say to you." "And so I will: Mrs. Rigby has no business to meddle in this way. Y"ou shan't be made unhappy if I can help it. I'll go and speak to my father this minute! — I'm afraid I can't enter very learnedly into the merits of the case, or into Laura Whitmore's ' advantages ' either one way or the other; but I'll tell him it will break your little heart to part with her, and if things are as you believe, that will decide him."

" Oh, thank you ! — thank you, Walter ! I shall be so grateful to you ! But," pro ceeded she, hesitatingly, and laying her hand on his arm, as he Avas about to rise — " don't speak yet — wait till we are all gone to bed ; he might talk it over again with Mrs. Rigby, and then " "An oration from her might undo the effect of all my eloquence ! I believe you are right ; the last speaker often carries the day with him — so I'll take your advice ; and what's more, if you'll be a little longer than usual going to bed, I'll tap at your door to tell you the result of my negotiation. Then if, as I hope and believe, I am successful, you will be able to say what you like to Laura this very night, and every thing Avill be so settled before morning, that we may defy even Mrs. Rigby to unsettle it again."

" Yes, if that can be done all Avill be safe," replied Ida ; and neither cousin spoke for a minute or two, till Walter broke the silence by asking " How old Laura Whitmore AA'as ?" " She Avill be five-and-twenty in June," answered Ida. "Not quite three years older than I," observed her cousin. " I thought she was a good deal more ; not that she looks it, but she was a ' grown-up young lady,' and a beauty besides, when I first set eyes on her — an evening I remember well, for' the excellent reason that I went to Eton next day." "But for all that," said Ida, "she was not quite sixteen then. She was more than a year younger than I am now." " At that rate there was only a year be tween her and Mary ! But she and I, and you and Emma, had all been play-fellows together, in spite of the difference of our ages ; whereas Laura was so very tall, and so very well-mannered, when I was a little school-boy, that I never felt familiar with her till I Avas groAvn up myself; though I don't think she ever left the house again (for any time, that is)."

" No, she never did. L'ncle Stainforth had her here at first out of kindness, to be Avith her mother, while looking out for a situation as governess ; but then she was so young, and there were objections to many things that offered, and Mary grew so fond of her, she could not bear the thought of parting ! And then she taught Emma and me many things we must otherwise have had masters for ; and so it went on, from day to day, till she became more like a sis ter, Avho kindly helps the little ones with their studies, than either a teacher or a Adsitor. She went with Mary, too, to the few balls she ever was at. Hoav beautiful they both looked ! Emma and I used to lie awake, that we might see them when they Avere dressed. But that did not last long, you knoAv ; and afterwards one loss came upon another ! — I cannot think what Avould have become of me, if it had not been for Laura!

If you lived at home, Walter, I suppose I should not feel so entirely dependent on Laura for all happiness ; but uoav Emma is gone, and you are always away, Avhat should I do if I lost her?" " Oh ! you will not lose her ; you may be sure my father will say everything necessary to let her see she is welcome to stay here as long as she pleases. And now I have made you a little more hopeful," continued he, taking something out of his pocket, "I may as Avell give you this, as I shan't be at home to present it the day after to-morrow." " Oh ! how kind ! — Iioav kind of you, Walter!— what a beautiful birth-day pre sent ! " exclaimed she, as she examined the bracelet her cousin had put into her hands. " But I am so sorry you are going away ; and not only on account of my birth-day, but because of Mrs. Crosby's baU on Thurs day.

You know it is my first, and if you went too I should be sure of a partner for the Galoppe. It is the only thing I should haAre enjoyed." "Nonsense, Ida! — you AA'ill haATe the Ga loppe (if that is what' you have set your heart on) wdth somebody else ; and if you want a little practice, we'll make Laura play the ' Post-horn ' to-night, which will be bet ter than any dance we could have in Mrs. Crosby's crowded rooms." " No, it's not the same thing; and besides, I should not like to ask Laura to play this evening." " Ah, Ida ! I see what it is !— you think nothing of my kind offer to give you a Galoppe, because you have not got on your ball-dress, nor that wreath of lilies of the valley I saw in your hand this morn ing. Suppose you put on the wreath now — merely for practice, you knoAv — would that do ?

" Ida laughed, and there was even a tinge of colour in her cheeks, as she admitted that there might be "something" in what he proposed, though she would not plead guilty to it all, and repeated again "that she could not ask Laura to play that evening, and indeed had little heart for dancing herself." It soon occurred to them that Mr. Stain forth would shortly haAre finished his news paper ; and that if they did not hasten to join Mrs. Rigby and Laura in the drawing room, before he adjourned thither himself, their conspiracy ran some risk of detection ; so after Ida had again admired her bracelet, and again expressed her gratitude to Wal ter for that, and all his kindnesses, they left the library together. The evening passed wearily enough; but Ida's feeling of impatient suspense did not reach its full height till she was alone in her bed-room, listening to every sound below, and count ing the minutes as it grew later.

At length she heard Walter's step on the stairs — her door was already half opened when he reached the landing-place, and she saw by his face that he had pleaded successful^. j "All right," said he, in a low voice; " and you may tell Laura 'that it is my fathers Avish she should remain an inmate of this house as long as she finds herself happy in it.' Is that properly put ?" " Oh ! yes ; I am sure it is ! Thank you, dear Walter, thank you a thousand times ! " "I have earned your thanks cheaply — -that is all I can say," returned Walter. " My father did not want much persuading. You know he does not like changes ; but Mrs. Rigby had talked a lot of stuff to him, till I suspect he grew tired of arguing, and agreed with her for the sake of peace. Between you and me, what he dislikes the most is having 'to unsay himself to the good lady to-morrow morning.

Now good night, my dear little Ida, and make haste to bed ; for I expect you to be up at early breakfast. I must be off at nine." He kissed her cheek as he spoke ; and the moment he was gone, she flew into her friend's room, to explain all, and — if need wrere — to combat the objections which, as she now feared, pride might conjure up against a sudden change of purpose. Laura Whitmore was sitting before her toilet, in an attitude of hopeless dejection, when Ida entered, to give her uncle's mes sage, in a voice trembling with emotion, and then to urge all that her own heart could suggest, in addition to Mr. Stain forth's Avords. Laura clasped her young friend in her arms ; and the large dark eyes which a moment before had expressed the deepest melancholy, beamed instanta neously Avith all their accustomed brilliancy.

But the bright gleam soon vanished, and Ida Avas forced to repeat her entreaties, her prayers eAren, before she could fully overcome the reluctance Avith which Laura yielded to what she admitted to be her own feeling — her own strongest desire. Before they parted, however, her scruples had been vanquished, and after embracing her again and again, Ida laid herself to rest in the happy certainty that Laura was not to be taken from her. All were downstairs next morning at Walter's early breakfast, and a word or two was exchanged betAveen Mr. Stainforth and Laura, as they shook hands, signifying that he understood she would stay — was pleased it should be so settled, and wished nothing to be said to him on the subject. This arrangement Avas, perhaps, the best that could be devised ; for his vacillation, and the Avay in which he had talked back wards and forwards, made the Avhole affair awkward, to say the least ; and if, as his son had said, " he dreaded the explanation with Mrs. Rigby," it was not greatly to be wondered at, inasmuch as he was inAvardly con scious of having been so thoroughly won over to her opinions, as to make the re tractation of them appear somewhat lu dicrous.

But he was not likely to retract again. Ida and Walter had taken their measures too well for that; and indeed their united wishes, or even those of either (if they were but strongly expressed), were more likely to be considered by him than any arguments, however weighty in them selves, founded on mere reason and expe diency. The breakfast was hurried, and the whole household soon fell into that state of commotion invariably produced by the approaching departure of one of its members. Mrs. Rigby had begun to look out of the dining-room window at the trunk and portmanteau on the cab, which vol. i. c Mr. Stainforth was contemplating simul taneously from the street-door, when Walter came in alone to bid the ladies good-bye. He shook hands with Mrs. Rigby, then with Miss Whitmore, bestowed a brotherly kiss on Ida, and was almost out of the room, when Laura, moAdng hurriedly toAvards him again held out her hand, saying in a low voice as she did so, while a look of inex pressible emotion came over her beautiful features, " I owe you more than you can tell ! — you cannot appreciate my gratitude ; but it Avill be as lasting as it is deep !"

He grasped the proffered hand, and the pressure was mutual though but momentary, for Mr. Stainforth exclaimed from outside that it was getting late, and Walter was out of the house and in the cab in an instant. "I am glad I have made them all happy by speaking a couple of sentences in season," said he to himself, as he was dmTen off; "it would have been a pity for Ida to lose the companion she is so much attached to. That Laura is certainly a most beauti ful creature! What eyes she has! And what soul there was in them Avhen she said those few words !" Mr. Stainforth stayed later than usual from the City that day, and apparently found some means of making Mrs. Rigby aAvare of the alteration of his views ; for Avhen, later in the morning, Ida found herself alone with her visitor, the latter began — " So you and Walter have entered into a league against me and my advice !

Yrou are dear children, and I am very fond of you both, or else I could be very angry with you ; but I can only say sincerely, as people sometimes do in the extremity of malice, that I hope you know your oaa'ii affairs best." It was so difficult for Ida to frame any suitable reply to this address, that she gave up the attempt, and Mrs. Rigby went on. " I daresay you think me very prejudiced, c and Walter thinks what you think (which is natural, perhaps), and prejudiced in a certain sense I may be ; for I have never yet seen anything to alter my opinion, that it is seldom for the happiness of a family to receive, as a permanent inmate, one who is wholly unconnected with it by blood ; more especially when that inmate is thereby taken out of her proper sphere. It is gene rally an unfortunate experiment for both parties."

" I don't quite understand the reason," said Ida, with some effort ; " but even if it be so in general, our situation is rather peculiar — and why make ourselves unhappy now, through fear of chances one cannot foresee, or even guess at ?" " I confess," returned Mrs. Rigby, " that my conversation with your uncle has so far modified my feelings as to make me less anxious on the subject than I was. There are little under-currents in families that one is not always aware of; and," proceeded she, Avith a smile which puzzled Ida con siderably, " I believe there are circum stances in this case which may prevent what I thought, and still think, an evil, from becoming of much importance to you. But Laura Whitmore will reap nothing but disappointment from this victory, for she will fail, depend upon it, in her hopes of making such a match as she thinks alone Avorthy of her beauty and her powers of fascination."

These last words, bluntly spoken by Mrs. Rigby, as she folded up her spectacles and put them into their case, touched Ida to the quick ; and there was not a little indigna tion in her tone when she replied : " Oh, Mrs. Rigby, indeed you do Laura injustice ! You believe what Mrs. Hamilton and Mrs. Earle have said about 'Laura Whitmore and her mother being both com pounds of art and ambition.' There never was anything so untrue !" " No, indeed, my dear — I never imbibed their opinion of Mrs. Whitmore. I do not think that she was (owing to her con nections) precisely the person to haA^e been put so entirely at the head of this establish ment; but I ahvays thought her a very uncommon woman, superior in mind as in manners (how she came by the latter I never could conceive), and she well de served at your uncle's hands the proof of esteem and gratitude he gave her in making her daughter independent for life.

It is no want of appreciation of her, or of the way in which she bore up against her misfor tunes, that makes me see objections to Laura Whitmore's remaining here ; neither have I made any ATery heinous charge against her herself, though I should deceive you if I pretended to think as highly of the daughter as I did of the mother. But is it wronging her very deeply to believe that so long as she remains in this house she will cherish the hope of becoming, one dav mistress of a similar establishment ?" " I don't think Laura is merely bent upon an ' establishment ' ; but, if she were, why should she not meet with such ? Her relations are very inferior — very disgraceful people; but she is beautiful, accomplished, charming in conversation, in manner, and in disposition. Our friends and acquaintance are our equals — not people of distinc tion, nor like those German noble families to which my poor mother belonged !"

" When you have lived in the Avorld as long as I have, my dear, you will see that the sons of merchants and bankers think as much, in their way, of the connections they form, as greater folks. Now, it is perfectly well known in all your world that Laura Whitmore's relations are, on the father's side, not only low, but infamous ; and though her mother's family is perfectly re spectable, they are all too vulgar to be pro duced. Mrs. Mathews is bearable, but peo ple don't inquire into details, and content themselves with saying, as George Beckford did (aside to me) the other evening, ' Laura Whitmore is the handsomest girl I see any where : it's a pity one can't forget her relations ! ' He admires her excessively, that is plain ; and an old habit of meeting in the Square renders them intimate; but unless she were suddenly endowed with a very large fortune, instead of the moderate inde pendence your uncle is known to have bestowed on her, neither George Beckford nor any of his set are likely to be anything to her but ' danglers.' She has had offers, I am AATell aware — and some good ones too, in a certain sense ; but those have been in variably from people who have risen from nothing, and AA*ho, having, like old Mr. Crofts (who dined here last Thursday) made themselves rich AAdthout being able to make themselves refined, are encouraged to address a young and beautiful woman, by the very fact which deters others, namely, that they know she has been your gover ness !

" " Yet all men cannot feel so," observed Ida. " My mother was on her way to this country, hoping to earn her bread here as a governess, when my father saw her and feU in love with her." " Yes, my dear child, but your mother's connections were not ofthe same sort as Laura Whitmore's ; and though Walter Stainforth, (your father, I mean) Avas headlong enough in his fancies, it is just possible that the same melancholy tale about an orphan girl whose relations would offer her no asylum but a convent, might not have affected his imagination so strongly, had the young lady in question been only the poor cousin of the kind German merchant who told him the story. Don't misunderstand me, my dear ! I am not meaning that your father was so foolishly vain as to marry your mother for the mere honour and glory of being con nected with the Counts of Sternfels, who, as might be expected, considered her marriage with a young English merchant as putting the seal to her degradation.

I only mentioned her birth to point out the difference between the cases. Your mother's noble name added a sort of romance to her friendless situation — Laura's extraction carries shame with it." " Yet," said Ida after a pause, " I believe the recollection of my mother's story has in a manner increased my affection for Laura — has made me feel a deeper interest in one AAdio, from wdiatever cause, is severed, as my mother was, from all natural ties, and who, like myself, has found a refuge in this house, where I am so happy as to have a home AAdth the only relations who would not disown me." The entrance of the person on whose position and prospects Mrs. Rigby had been so harshly commenting, put a stop to all further discussion, and the conversation Avhich followed between the three ladies was someAvhat constrained ; for Mrs. Rigby 's an tipathy to Laura was rather increased than diminished, by being forced to listen to Ida's expressions of devotion to her ; and Laura, on her side, could not feel easy with one whom she justly regarded as her enemy.

Mrs. Rigby shortly retired to her own room, and there considered, as she busied herself in a search for some trifle of Avhich she Avas by no means in immediate want — " that she had been very foolish to stir in such a matter. Walter," proceeded she to herself, "is too boyishly full of his dogs, and his horses, and his brother-officers, to think of anything else now; and Ida is as yet too young of her age for her heart to be thoroughly awakened — but they love each other very dearly for all that, and when they are a little older they will ' fall in love' So, as James Stainforth has no objection (I never saw a man chuckle more at his son's eagerness to do a young lady's bidding!), they will marry in due season; and since Ida's destiny is to be worked out in her own home, Miss Laura Whitmore may in the meantime rule the house, and dazzle the eyes of aU mankind at her pleasure! It Avill do no one any great harm ! "

Chapter II

Two years had elapsed since the period when the last chapter closed. Ida Stainforth was still an inmate of her Uncle's house in Bryanston Square, and again sat alone, as when first introduced to the reader. But the old school-room was no longer the scene of the meditations or employments she now habitually carried on in the large and richly furnished drawing-room, where — at the present moment at least — she had the pretext of an occupation, in the form of a tale she was attentively perusing. She was so far outwardly changed that her figure was more developed, and that she either was, or looked, something taller. The ex pression of her face was as calmly mild as formerly ; but her clear blue eyes had now a look of reflection Avhich betrayed more of sensibility than of the childlike serenity which had distinguished them tAvo years back, though her general aspect remained as it had ever been — attractive rather from its grace and softness, than striking from positive beauty or play of feature.