The Vicar's Governess. A novel

Front matter

% UobcL BI DOEA RUSSELL, author of "the jiiner's oath," etc. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON : TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND. 1874. [All rights of Translation and "Reproduction are reserved.] LONDON : SAVILL, ED W A. BDS AND CO., PAINTERS, CHANDOS STREET, COVENT GABDBN. CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. CHAP. P.YGfc i. captain Clayton's wife 1 n. sin Hugh's advice 2o III. PARTED 38 IV. LAURA CLAYTON 56 v. "oh! lonely, lonely moorland !' 77 vi. " vexation of spip.it" 79 VII. the mounseys' governess 115 viii. sir Hugh's letter 132 IX. AT WINDSOR STREET 147 x. MR. peel's house 158 XL GEORGE'S RETURN 168 XI I. A LITTLE DINNER IN WINDSOR STREET . . . .185 XIII. ONCE MORE VI CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE XIV. AN INVITATION 218 X . MR. peel's F_TE 233 XVI. FLIGHT . . ... 255 XVII. cfEORGE . REQUEST 271 XVIII. HUGH CLAYTON . .... ...

Chapter I

captain Clayton's wife. DELAIDE MANNERS was waiting on the platform when the four o'clock train reached Narbrough station on the following afternoon, and when George got out of it she advanced quickly towards him. " You have come," she said, holding out a trembling hand, but even in her excitement she noticed how cold his felt to her touch. " I am sorry to pain you," she said, in a low tone ; but he only made an impatient gesture in reply, and in silence the two walked out of the station, and went on the high road together. " What is it, Adelaide ?" then George asked, nervously. " You surely would not have written as you did unless you had some powerful reason ?" " What more powerful one could I have," vol, n. answered Adelaide bitterly, " than to save my only brother from the toils of one of the vilest women upon earth ?"

" What do you mean ?" " This, George — look," and she drew out the copy of Miss Williams's letter to Sir Hugh ; " this is from the woman you thought so highly of — to Hugh Manners." " It is not her handwriting," said George sternly, after he had read it. " What do you mean, Ade laide ? What schemes are you planning ? Take care what you do, for I will bear no trifling." "It is no scheme," replied Adelaide, pas sionately. " It is true — too true ; these very words came to him, and I copied them, and even now this is why I sent for you ; but come with me, and you shall see with your own eyes that I am not. telling you a lie." " I will be no spy — no spy on any one ; and how came this into your hands ? How did you see the original ?" Adelaide blushed a burning crimson all over her face. " Papa came," said she, after hesitating a moment, " and told me a correspondence was being carried on between this woman and Hugh.

He had seen a letter to her from him ; I would not believe it." (George gave a kind of groan as she spoke. . " I was even beginning to like her ; they said she had been so attentive to Mrs. Manners and that little girl ; but in the afternoon after papa was gone, they brought in a letter and gave it to me. It was for Hugh, who was out, and was from Miss Williams. I knew her handwriting in a moment — and — and George I thought of you ; I could not bear you to be any longer deceived ; I opened it, and these here are the exact words." " It was a shameful action," answered George, looking at his sister with the strongest indignation written on his face. " A low, mean, vulgar action ; I am ashamed of you, Adelaide." " It was for your sake." " For mine ! Don't lie to me, girl ; it was be cause you were jealous of Hugh Manners."

" And if I were ?" said Adelaide, bursting into passionate tears, " what then ? Have I not known him long enough ? Has he not been near enough and dear enough to me ? George, you are cruel, very cruel, to taunt me with this !" " Hush — don't cry — don't, Adelaide. I am sorry if I have vexed you, but before I would have opened another person's letter I would have " " I did it, so there's an end of it. Hugh will never know ; and, George, you will come ? You will come round by the links, and see these false two meet ?" 1—2 George hesitated. "Why should you not?" continued Adelaide. " What honour do you owe them ? They have both tricked and deceived you." " There is some mystery," said George, gloomily. " Yes . and both intend to make a fool of you." George reddened and bit his lips. " It is an unmanly action," he said ; " yet when I think how this girl has " " Pretended she loved you," put in Adelaide.

" Yes !" said George, breaking forth suddenly and passionately ; " yes — a hundred times — a hun dred times ! Adelaide, she has let me kiss her and hold her to my bosom ; she has lain her cheek against mine. If she is anything to Hugh Manners now, anything to another man, she is false as hell !" " Come and see," said Adelaide ; " satisfy your self — and if I have done wrong, I at least will have saved my only brother." George made no answer, and Adelaide, putting her arm through his, led him rather a circuitous walk round the opposite side of the links to that nearest the sea, and then passing beneath one of the hillocks, pointed to a little valley in the sand banks, where they could sit and very distinctly see the end of the crossing through the links, which Miss Williams had in her letter indicated as the spot where she wished Sir Hugh to join her.

" I saw this place this morning," said Adelaide ; " we can wait for them here — they wdl never see us." " It is an honourable post," said George, bitterly, " but for the first and last time I'll satisfy myself. If she comes I will never see her more — if this is a scheme of yours, Adelaide " " Well ?" " You and I will say a long good-bye." " You will see — perhaps you will believe me be fore — before long." It was a cold, biting afternoon, and George shivered as he sat. " What motive has she ?" he thought ; " what possible motive — except perhaps Hugh Manners is tired of her, and I, poor vain fool, had to be the victim. I had to marry my cousin's mistress ;" and even Adelaide's heart misgave her, as she saw the tierce look of mingled passion and despair which her brother's strong features showed as he sat there, turning his face with restless misery to the sea.

They did not wait long, not more than five minutes had elapsed, before a slight, girlish, droop ing figure emerged from the crossing through the links which Adelaide was watching, and came slowly down towards the sands. " You see," whispered Adelaide, laying her hand on George's in her excitement ; but he flung it back, as if her touch was hateful. " I told you," said she, with a sort of triumph glittering in her dark eyes ; but the next minute her face changed, for she had seen the dull, leaden hue which had spread over her brother's, and with some kindness in her voice she added — " she is not worth grieving for, George." " It is easy to say so," he answered, turning away his head, and with feelings of overpowering bitterness swelling in his heart. " There is Hugh," said Adelaide faintly, the next minute, and George once more turned round his head.

They were close to them, at least close enough to see every attitude . yet neither Sir Hugh nor Miss Williams on the sands below could possibly see them, so hidden were they by the sand-banks, and it struck George, even in his misery, that it was cowardly thus to watch them. " I've seen enough," he said ; " let us go home, Adelaide." " Oh ! stay — stay — a few minutes ; look how earnestly she is asking him to do something — see, he is taking her hand !" "Come home," said George hoarsely, starting to his feet, and striding rapidly away without cast ing another look behind him ; while Adelaide, who would fain have lingered, reluctantly rose also, and followed him as he went. "Adelaide," said George, pausing for her to overtake him, " let this be a secret between you and me." " What ! Do you not mean to resent it ?"

" I mean I shall never willingly see her again — yet neither willingly would I take the bread from her lips." " You mean — you cannot mean, you wish her to stay on at Narbrough ?" " Fix it yourselves ; as long as she is here I shall come home no more ; but I want you to re member also, Adelaide, that she is dependent — that whatever she is " " Let Hugh Manners provide for her," scorn fully interrupted Adelaide ; " when I go home to-morrow, I shall teU papa either she or I do not sleep beneath his roof." " Would you, then, fling her back on her sin ?" said George, sternly ; " on her sin or her folly — God knows which — but -would you cast a poor weak woman out on the mercy of a heartless world — or worse, on that of a heartless man ?" " See to it yourself, then," said Adelaide, sullenly; " I wash my hands of it."

" You forget the means you have used ?" Adelaide was silent. "Adelaide," said George in a few minutes, in a different tone, "among this man's many wrongs, has he injured you ?" " Oh ! don't, George — oh ! don't," she answered, with much emotion. " Has he sought to make you love him ?" went on George, his eyes flashing dangerously as he spoke. " Has he won you, and flung you away — as he has done others — as he is doing now to that lovely fisher-girl, Peggy Richardson ?" But Adelaide made no reply to her brother's questions— only putting her hand in his, as if imploring his forbearance. "Tell me, Adelaide," said George, earnestly, "for your wrongs I can resent. You have a brother . you are not a poor, friendless girl, whose feelings he can excite and trample on. He shall answer to me, at least, for you."

"No, no," said Adelaide, "no, dear George. Think, he is the only one of that family left — the only one of those who were as brothers to us ; and think, too, of poor aunt and uncle. Let me make no quarrel between you." George looked at his sister long and silently, and then, with some gentleness, he said " You know best what has passed between you. But, Adelaide, leave his house at any rate ; you wdl surely leave his house ?" " It was fixed we should stay till to-morrow," she answered ; " would it not be better, if nothing has to be said, at least to remain till then ? In the meantime may I see papa ? May I urge him to ask Miss WiHiams to leave ?" " I will write to her," said George, gravely, " and then she will understand. No, Adelaide, you had better say nothing to my father." " But if she does not go ?"

" It wdl be time enough then ; and now, Adelaide, good-bye. I have changed my mind, and will not go home to-day. I will catch the next train back, and let this miserable afternoon be a secret between us." " Oh ! George, I am sorry to part with you," said Adelaide ; " come home, or let me go with you." " No," and he stooped down and kissed her cheek ; " no, Adelaide. Good-bye, and take care of yourself ;" and, once more shaking her hand, he went on his way to the station, while Adelaide returned slowly to the hall. In the meantime, Sir Hugh and Miss Williams were still talking together on the sands. They had met with some embarrassment, on the side of the lady at least, and Sir Hugh noticed immediately how greatly changed she was in appearance. " I trust you are better ?" he said, with some kindness in his manner.

" I was truly sorry to learn from your note of yesterday that you had been ill." " I am better," said Miss Williams, looking at him with her sweet and touching face, " but I could not come on Friday afternoon, as I first fixed, for on that day I was very ill." " I thought something must have prevented you coming," said Sir Hugh, " for I went, of course, as in duty bound. By-the-bye," he added, with a sort of laugh, " George Manners saw the boy give me your note ; and I was sorry for him, poor fellow, he looked in such a rage." A deep burning blush spread over Miss Williams's face as Sir Hugh said this. " He saw that ?" she said, nervously. " Yes, but I said it was about some books you wanted. Honour among thieves, you know, Miss Williams." " Sir Hugh," she answeied, " I have long, very long, wished to speak to you; ever since the night when you left no doubt in my mind that you had met me before."

"And you really did not recognise me?" asked Sir Hugh. " No, certainly not ; no, I cannot even now recall your face ; but I suppose you know " and she hesitated. " I suppose it was not a chance guess ?" " I have the honour," said Sir Hugh, with a kind of mock courtesy in his tone, " to be speaking to the lady whom I frequently saw — and once or twice met in Calcutta— as Mrs. Clayton." " What do you know of my miserable story ?" Sir Hugh shrugged his shoulders. " India is a sad place for gossip, you know, Mrs. Clayton," he said. " Hush," said Miss Williams, looking nervously round, " hush, Sir Hugh ; do not breathe that name. I hate its very sound." " You mean Captain Clayton's ?" " Yes," she answered, and the bright colour which had flushed her face during the excitement of the interview died completely away as she spoke.

" I knew him but slightly," said Sir Hugh. " Where is he now ? Do you know ? I never dare to ask. It would kill me, I think, if I were to see him now." Sir Hugh looked at her curiously. " What have you heard of me ?" said Miss Williams, noticing his expression. " What shameful tales, Sir Hugh ? Will you tell me the truth ?" " Why revive old scandals ?" " Because I wish you to know my story ; to know I am not quite unfit at least to be in your uncle's house." " Why, dear girl, I've no objection in the world to you being there, though I must own I would be sorry if " " If what ?" "Well, don't be offended, but if George Man ners " " What of poor George ? Do you mean you would be sorry if George Manners were to marry me?" " Well— yes." " It is hard, very hard," said Miss Williams, turning away her head, whde tears rose in her eyes, " to be so cruelly wronged as I have been."

" What was it ?" said Sir Hugh. " Don't cry pray, Miss Wdliams. What was the story of the other wife, or the other lady ? What, in fact, was the truth of the story, for most likely I don't know it?" " But what did they say of me ?" " They said — but I daresay it was a pack of con founded lies — that Clayton, who was known, or at least supposed to be, a married man separated from his wife, when he joined the regiment went to England and brought back a new and very pretty wife, of whom he was excessively jealous ; and he then gave out the first wife was dead, or at least insinuated, I believe, that she had never been his wife at aU ; but she was dead, he said, and one fine morning at Calcutta — but, by Jove, I needn't tell you your own story." " Shall I tell you it, Sir Hugh ? shall I tell you the truth ?" said Miss Williams, much agitated, and sitting down on a piece of rough shingle at her feet, for she felt as if she were unable any longer to stand.

" Shall I tell you a cruel story, a miserable, guilty tale ?" " Yes," said Sir Hugh, " but don't distress your self; my lips are sealed ; you may trust me ; and had it not been that old George and I are like brothers, you might have treated him as you pleased." " You need not have been afraid ; yet how dare I say it ! You are right, Sir Hugh ; I have treated your cousin at least foolishly." " He's horribly spoony on you, you know." " I have wronged him," said Miss Williams, bitterly ; " but I too was wronged more cruelly than any man could be." " Did you not know about Clayton's first wife ?" " Did I not know, Sir Hugh !" retorted Miss Williams, with much indignation; "for what do you take me ?" Sir Hugh smiled. " People said you knew," he said, " and — well, that your marriage was a humbug from beginning to end." ' ' Oh ! my God ! this is too much," cried Miss Williams, rising excitedly.

" This is for my weak folly in not proclaiming my wrongs from one end of India to the other. Mrs. Ross urged me vainly to defend myself, but I was so crushed, so utterly crushed, I only sought to hide myself for ever." " You never guessed Clayton was married then ?" asked Sir Hugh, with much interest. " How could I dream of such a thing ? I met him in society — at a military ball first, and after wards he used to come to Westport, where we lived ; and till that wretched day, when that un happy woman came, I looked upon myself — how could I do anything else ? — as his wife." " It was a d piece of scoundrelism on his part, then !" " It was worse than if he had murdered me," said Miss Williams ; " more cruel, more bitter than death !" " I never cared for him," said Sir Hugh ; " but how odd you have so entirely forgotten me ?

To be sure, I had only been a few weeks in Calcutta ■when it happened." " I remember, I think, hearing of a Mr. Man ners in the regiment ; but it is not an uncommon name, and there were so many officers always about, and my — and Captain Clayton hated for me even to speak to any one — so I could never have noticed you." " Not very flattering," said Sir Hugh, half annoyed. " I remember so few — only Captain Donovan and Captain Lowry, I think — and there was a Mr. Norman ; but they are the only ones I should know again." " You weren't very often to be seen, certainly, except driving or riding with Clayton." " He was mad, I think. Yes," and she shuddered, " when I think of those days, I feel grateful, even in my shame and degradation, to have escaped from him for ever." " He was like a madman, certainly, after you left, they said."

" I know — I was not so far away. Did any one ever guess — a month after I left my home I was stiU in Calcutta — I had one friend there, and she gave me shelter?" " Mrs. Ross ?" " Yes ; she and Colonel Ross at least believed iu my miserable story. They secreted me in their house, for Captain Clayton swore to me that if I left him he would take my life, and it was not safe an hour — I feel sure of that." " They said he was in a frightful way, I remember." " I stole out. Oh ! I remember my dread and fear in the dead of night. I had contrived to convey a note to Mrs. Ross, and she was waiting to receive me, and the next morning — when — when he awoke, I was gone. And oh ! my God, one thing I ask," continued the unfortunate young lady, covering her face, " one prayer I make, that I may never see his face again."

" But was that woman really his wife ?" "That is it. That is the horrible doubt and dread which haunts me like a nightmare. He swore on the Bible to me that she was not ; and she knelt down and called God to witness that she was. She produced papers, and registers too, and I know not what ; yet he declared it was not legal. It was, I think, that she was a Romanist and he a Protestant, and they had only been married in a Catholic chapel by a priest ; but I believe she was his wife. I believed it at the time — I believe it now. " I truly pity you," said Sir Hugh, " truly and really." " Perhaps I do not deserve much," said Amy Williams, as we must stdl call her, sorrowfully. " I wronged him too : I know that now — I married him without love." " You were but like many other girls, I fear, then."

" I had some excuse — yes, I had some excuse ; but I will go back, if it will not weary you, to when I was a girl. I want you to understand how I was driven as it were into a marriage which my soul abhorred — yes, even then ; but now — now, when I have seen and known " " George Manners," said Sir Hugh, in a low voice ; " Miss Williams, I truly pity you." " You have some reason," said she, weeping ; " but most — most that I have wronged the noblest — most generous heart on earth. Oh ! Sir Hugh, you cannot judge me more harshly than I have judged myself." " You love him then ?" She made him no answer, but her whole frame shook with the violence of her emotion. " I ask you to forgive me," said Sir Hugh ; " I have judged you wrongfully — I believe now you really care for George, and he shaU never learn your story from me."

" I should tell him, but I cannot — I cannot. I know too well what would be my doom — too well how he would act. Even if it broke his heart, I know he would part with me for ever." " Then what do you intend to do ?" " What do the weak do, Sir Hugh, always ? vol. n. TnE VICAR'S GOVERNESS. Put off — procrastinate — cling to some vain hope — some deluding shadow — anything, anything, I think, but never to see your cousin more !" " I can but repeat how much I feel for you ; I wdl gladly be your friend." " But George is jealous about you already," said Miss WiUiams, turning her tear-stained face towards him with a mournful smile. " He fancies we were lovers once, and he and I have only been reconciled for a very short time." "Poor George!" " Poor George, indeed ; what evil fate I wonder drove me to this quiet spot ?"

" Our feelings are certainly unaccountable," said Sir Hugh. " Yes ; if any one had told me that here— here, where I came for shelter and for peace — came, in fact, to hide myself more securely than I thought I could anywhere near my old home, that I would have — for the first time in my life — have felt as I now feel, I would have laughed at them as mad." " I think we are all rather mad." " I think I was when — when I married PIu°-h Clayton." " You were going to tell me about that." " Yes ; but you — a man like you, born in a different station of life, will scarcely understand the struggles of such people as we were. I remember from my earliest childhood our home troubles. It -was always debts — always poverty ; always striving to keep up a good appearance to the world ; and so it went on — our expenses increas ing as my sisters grew up and went into society, and my father's business (he was a solicitor in Westport) by no means doing so.

But I need not trouble you with all this ; first one thing happened, and then another, and at last poor papa failed, and our old home was broken up. After this we went to live in a shabby lodging in one of the little suburbs of the town, and my two elder sisters began to look out for situations as governesses or companions, and, after some difficulty and delay, succeeded in procuring them ; whilst I, whom they considered too young to go into the world, remained, with papa and mamma, and as we had still some kind friends left, used to go out occasionally, and in spite of shabby dresses and gloves, con trived, too, sometimes to be very happy. " One old friend, a Mrs. Pocock, was especially kind to me. She used to buy me dresses and hats, and liked to see me look well ; and in an evd hour planned a great treat for me ; she offered to take me to a military ball at Fordbury, at which place she had a young relation quartered, who had sent her the invitation.

" I remember what a flutter of girlish delight o and vanity I was in at the prospect ; how proud of my new white dress and flowers, and how pleased at all the compliments and attentions which were paid to me during the evening. I remember the very dance for which I was introduced to Captain Clayton ; he never scarcely left my side after that, I think, during the whole night, and young Pocock began teasing me about my conquest, as he called it, and I heard Mrs. Pocock inquiring of him as to Captain Clayton's prospects. " ' Oh, he was a rich fellow, Clayton — a rich fellow, and a good fellow, too,' said the careless boy ; and on these idle words my miserable fate I be lieve turned, for my chaperone invited him before we left the ball-room to visit her at Westport, and fixed a day for him to come and dine with her there.

" He came very often after this. He used to ride or drive over from Fordbury, using his own carriage and horses, sometimes twice or thrice a week, and all this impressed Mrs. Pocock and my mother with the desirability of the marriage. I heard of nothing now but Captain Clayton — how handsome he was, how rich and how generous ; and he used, indeed, to shower the most expensive gifts both on Mrs. Pocock and myself; but though he sometimes attempted very ardent love making, he never, for some time at least, made anv regular proposal, and both my mother and Mrs. Pocock began to grow uneasy about this. I did not then understand her motive, but presently Mrs. Pocock began to encourage her nephew Fred Pocock to come also frequently to West port, and in a very short time Captain Clayton grew furiously jealous of this young boy.

It was only, however, a little scheme on Mrs. Pocock's part. She had no idea of having a penniless girl for her niece, or of allowing things to go so far as young Pocock now wished ; but it had the effect she desired, and one day — one day when I was dining there, for Captain Clayton had never yet been at our poor home — he asked me to marry him ; and I, half frightened at his excitement, scarcely knowing what I said, or what I did not, found myself half an hour afterwards being congratulated by Mrs. Pocock on my engagement, and heard them to my consternation begin to dis cuss together the prospect of my immediate marriage." " He had joined the 3rd, then ?" asked Sir Hugh. " Oh yes ; he had been in India some time with the regiment before this, but was with the depot when I first met him ; but no sooner were we engaged, than he began to talk of returning to India, though both my family and my friends were astonished and annoyed at this, as there was no motive of economy to be considered, for from the first it had been understood that Captain Clayton was a rich man, and, as far as money was con cerned, he certainly was a generous one.