His Last Stake

Front matter

To be had at all the Libraries, in 3 vols. ALL FOR HERSELF BY SHIRLEY SMITH. ©pinions of % |tes. " ' All for Herself ' is a novel of considerable promise, clever, and well worth reading, whilst the style is easy and good The novel abounds in scenes which are well and, sometimes, even powerfully written ; perhaps the best of all is the parting between the heroine and Frank Lumley." — Morning Post. " The reader is carried on by the pleasant, crisp style." — Times. " A well told story, of very great interest. The work stands out considerably above the ordinary run of novels. The personage whose character is labelled in the title is drawn with a verisimilitude which the plainness of the style and the homeliness of the moralising render all the more vivid and startling. If this character is not a close transcript from life, it shows very high powers of invention on the part of the author." — Examiner.

" In ' All for Herself ' we have a brilliant novel, distinguished by an excellent plot, most ingenious iu its conduct, pure in language, of moral benefit in its tendency, aud abounding in incidents of a deeply interest ing character We have no hesitation in pronouncing ' All for Herself ' as the work of one who possesses a great talent for writing, as well as a thorough insight into character. The story will satisfy all readers ; it is well considered and well worked out." — Court Journal. " The fate of ' Cecilia,' the woman who was ' All for Herself,' is told with power and without exaggeration. " — Spectator. " This book is vigorously written, and shows considerable fertility of invention." — Scotsman. " All these and many more incidents are made palatable by a charming and engaging style that cannot fail to absorb the reader in the tale." — Dorset County Chronicle.

" The skill and keenness with which the heroine is literally dissected, and her unredeemed selfishness shown, never suffer the attention of the reader to flag for an instant ; and although the study is not a pleasant one, it is certainly useful, and may act powerfully as an antidote to the evil wrought by the false and misleading pictures of modern society presented in too many novels by women. The writing is clear and lucid, and the workmanship throughout is such as can be honestly and heartily commended ; from first to last there is not a dull page." — Derby Mercury. " One does not lay down the book without feeling warned of quick sands which beset the commonest events and careers in everyday life. To read it is to receive a powerful lesson to pursue the higher paths of honour." — Irish Times.

Chapter I. The Lincluden Amateurs

T INCLUDEN being but twenty miles -*"■■ from the scene of the disaster, felt itself specially called upon to do something for the suiferers. In winter, storms at sea and loss of life are events which always excite sorrow and sympathy, but we are, in a certain degree, prepared to hear of them, and, unless the catastrophe is unusually appalling, we do not seem urgently called upon to ascertain if money is needed to VOL. I. B relieve those who may have been bereft of property, or, worse still, been left to mourn over the loss of the hardy bread-winners. But when a storm occurs in the tranquil summer-time, or during the autumnal equi nox, and there is shipwreck and loss of life upon the coast in the neighbourhood of which happy people have been enjoying themselves — people to whom the sudden tornado, with the thunder and lis-jitum" and the deluge of rain meant nothing more serious than a hurried rush from the croquet-ground into the shelter of a charming house, it is a very different matter.

When the sad story gets abroad that fathers, brothers, and lovers have been drowned, and that wives and little ones, sisters and sweethearts are weeping for "those who will never come back again," the happy people feel that something must be done to help the bereaved ones. The little town of Lincluden in H shire was all astir with excitement. Twenty miles off there was misery and lamentation ; two fishing-boats had gone down in a summer storm, not a soul amongst those on board had been saved, and widows and orphans were crying for bread. A public subscrip tion had been got up in Lincluden ; Mrs. Welby, the Lady of the Manor, had headed it with fifty pounds, but it was felt on all sides that sympathy was not yet exhausted, and that it was incumbent upon the towns people still further to exert themselves.

Some of the young ladies, of course, pro posed a bazaar, but that idea was negatived by Mr. Longley, the vicar, seconded by his widowed sister, Mrs. Harcourt Sims, who lived with him and managed his house, and, ill-natured people said, himself also. It must be confessed that he had very little character, but then Mrs. Sims had more than b enough for two, so if he rarely interfered in his own affairs he knew they were in good hands. He was, in every sense of the word, all things to all men ; never had he been known to disagree with anyone, and, in consequence, as may be supposed, there was not much value set upon his opinions. •' Oh ! Longley thinks so, does he ?" — that was generally enough. If there was any uncertainty in the public mind upon any matter, to quote the vicar's opinion never helped anyone to settle the question.

Mrs. Harcourt Sims, on the contrary, was decided, not to say dictatorial ; if she said black was white, it was in whispers only that other people ventured to differ from her. Even Mrs. Tollemache, the doctor's wife, who, in her own family, was high spirited and imperious, was as meek as a mouse before Mrs. Sims. Very soon after she came to the Rectory as mistress, Mrs. Sims saw that Mrs. Tollemache had designs upon the bachelor vicar for one of her twins. The Misses Tollemache had had the misfortune to be born on the same day; their mother had been proud of them as babies, but when they grew to be little girls, then big girls, and finally young women, she was not so elated. She was fond of novelty, and it distressed her to see two human beings so exactly alike. There seems to be an unalterable law that twins should wear clothes of the same pattern and colour, and it never occurred to Mrs. Tollemache to be an innovator, and to dress her Lucy in pink and her Fanny in blue.

As a matter of fact, they never wore either pink or blue ; they were well-grown damsels of four-and-twenty, in whom a love of pretty bright colours would have been natural, but they always appeared in drabs, or greys, or slate-colours. They were rather common-place girls, but they had one accomplishment — I call it one, for it was the same in each— they sang and played. Lucy led the choir in the parish church, and Fanny composed a set of waltzes, which she called the " Linclu den," in honour of her birthplace. On hearing them played for the first time, you might have fancied that you had heard them before, but Fanny Avas very proud of them. Lucy was the one for whom Mrs. Tolle mache hoped to obtain the hand of the Vicar of Lincluden, but the arrival of Mrs. Harcourt Sims frustrated all her plans, and it seemed probable that the twins would wither together on the virein thorn.

In the midst of the excitement respecting the shipwrecks, and the most effectual mode of augmenting the subscription-list, Mrs. Sims gave an evening-party. It was not an unusual thing for her to do by any means,. but on this occasion everyone felt that there was something special to be looked for. It was quite a large party — Mr. and Mrs. Tollemache and the twins, and Mr. Gregg son, the Lincluden lawyer, who was man of business to all the leading people in the county, including, of course, Mrs. Welby, the Lady of the Manor aforesaid. Mr. Greggson was universally respected — I can but give him the praise that will inevitably appear upon his tombstone when he departs this life — and being a genial little man, with grey hair and spectacles, even those who had occasionally to pay him long bills liked him, and thought well of him.

His only son, Arthur, who was also his partner, and his daughter, Kate, came with him. Mr. Arthur Greggson was considered very hand some ; he had a clear pink and white com plexion, and light primrose hair and whis kers. It may, perhaps, seem ridiculous to say that he was not unlike a blossom of pink and white sweet-pea, but then that is, as everyone knows, a very pretty flower. He was a modest, retiring youth, which is, after all, only a delicate way of indicating that he was shy. His sister Kate was a pretty, bright girl, full of fun, and a great contrast in every way to Mr. Arthur. Mrs. Tollemache called her " fast," and did not encourage any close intimacy between her and the twins. Came also Miss Lavinia Smith, a spinster of uncertain age ; for although by daylight she looked forty-five, or even fifty, it would have been a malicious libel to say more than thirty under the gas.

She dressed young, and was rather gushing and senti mental, but people used to say that her '* heart was in the right place," and, looking at the matter from a purely medical point of view, it is to be hoped that so it was. The vicar had a nephew, a Mr. Clement Longley, who, on party nights, kept wan dering: about his aunt's drawing-room like an unquiet spirit ; he was supposed to be '* reading " with his uncle, but he was much more given to read novels by himself than classics with the worth}* vicar. He was onby nineteen, he was decidedly gawky, and he was desperately in love with Kate Greggson. But the great "uns amoncrst the Lincluden G G G bachelors were decidedly Mr. Parker, the manager ofthe local branch of the London O and County Bank, and Mr. .Mellor, a young squire in the neighbourhood.

Mr. Parker was a good-looking man, with an off-hand, pleasant manner ; he could tell a good story, and sing a good song, and he was, therefore, exceedingly popular ; he was also taken some notice of by the county people, who were known to be very exclusive ; he had even stayed from Saturday until Monday, upon one occasion, with old Lady Adderley and her son — the latter was a schoolboy — at Adderley Court, so, quite unconsciously to themselves, he was treated with great re spect by the townspeople. The other bachelor, Mr. Mellor, kept hunters, and was a J. P. He was consider ed in the town to belong to the county people, and by the county people to belong to the town, so the Lincludenites very naturally thought they were highly honoured when he came amongst them in quite a friendly manner.

Mrs. Harcourt always made a point of asking him to her parties, and although he thought they might have been more lively, he always came. They had been less dull since a certain Mrs. and Miss Smedley — a widow and her daughter— had settled in the neighbourhood. Mrs. Smedley, although, happily for herself, not a "decayed gentle woman," had evidently seen better days, but she was pleasant and agreeable, and her daughter Amy was almost pretty enough to ensure her own unpopularity in the little town ; indeed, it was some time before Messrs. Parker and Mellor, who ought to have known better, were forgiven for having called her the " Belle of Lincluden !" With Mrs. Smedley and her daughter lived a Scotch lady, called Macleod. She looked old in any light, but she was not without hope of becoming Mrs. Longley, for the vicar always spoke to her quite affectionately, she said, at the Sunday school, at which she had a class.

Of the other guests two only need be mentioned briefly — the Broad Church curate of a neighbouring parish, and Mr. Saunders, the editor of the Lincluden Chronicle. Both of these gentlemen were regarded with some awe by the Lincludenites, the one from his advanced opinions, and the other from his connection with literature. It was impos sible not to feel a little embarrassed in the presence of a man who openly denied the personality of Satan, or to talk very familiarly with one who was known to be on the free list of the Times and Punch, and who called the editor of the World, in an off-hand manner, by his name. Mrs. Harcourt Sims' parties ought to have been pleasanter than they were ; she made excellent tea, and her guests gathered com fortably round the table ; that is, as many as could find room sat round the table, but there were some who had to content themselves at other and smaller tables, and if Mr. Clement Longley spent a great part of his life lying on the sofa in his uncle's study, he got exercise enough on party nights, for he had to carry about plates of muffins and crumpets from the centre to the side-tables, as well as the ornamental card-basket, filled for the time with seed and plum cake, and fancy biscuits.

Clement looked gloomy over this compulsory immolation of himself upon the altar of society, but he found compensa tion in devouring more than his fair share of the cakes. It was while her guests were in the full enjoyment of the cup that cheers, that Mrs. Sims unfolded her project for the increase of the fund already collected for the widows and orphans of the drowned fishermen.

Chapter II. The Amateurs In Conclave

"T PROPOSE," said Mrs. Sims, "that -*- we "ive an amateur concert in the town-hall," and the proposal was received with acclamations. The vicar said that there was nothing like music for drawing the hearts of the people together ; at least, he had always found it invaluable for that purpose. "It is not heart we want, Longley, but money." said Mr. Greggson, taking off his spectacles to wipe them ; the steam from his cup of tea had blurred them. " Of course, of course ; I know that," the vicar answered. " But you know money comes from the heart." "Then let us hope that the L. and C. Bank is the heart of Lincluden," said Mr. Parker. " What is the first banking transaction on record, Mr. Parker?" asked Miss Lavinia Smith. She had an inexhaustible store of riddles, and she never lost an opportunity of propounding one.

" I haven't the least idea, Miss Smith, but I daresay it has something to do with the ark or the patriarchs ; riddles generally have." "No; it's Moses and the Red Sea this time," said Mellor. " I know it, for Miss Smith told it to me the other day." " Now, Mrs. Sims," said Mr. Saunders, who had taken out a note-book and pencil. " We are all impatient to hear more about your project." Mrs. Sims, accordingly, began where she had left off, when her brother began to moralise; she was quite a woman of business, and she had the whole thing arranged in her own mind with the exception, of course, of the programme of the music. " You gentlemen," she said, "must form a committee to arrange all the details, and we must publish a list of lady-patronesses. I have already written to Mrs. Welby, and had a most kind reply from her ; we may head the list with her name, and she will make a point of attending.

I mean to call upon old Lady Adderley and one or two others to-morrow." "D.V, my dear Harriette," put in the vicar. " You, my dear girls," Mrs. Sims continued, turning to the twins, "are our mainstays." " I am sure they will be delighted to do their best, if their papa has no objection," said Mrs. Tollemache. " Who— I? I have no objection. They may sing all night, if they like it !" cried Mr. Tollemache. " Miss Smith," Mrs. Sims went on, " I count upon you for at least two of your charming ballads ; the ' Three Fishers ' would be sadly appropriate on the occasion." " Bring down the house," murmured Parker. "And you, and you," turning respectively to Kate Greggson and Amy Smedley. " And now what can you gentlemen do, or, rather, what will you do ?" " I can play the French horn — divinely !" said Mellor — " at least, if you don't mind a few wrong notes now and then."

"And I," said Parker, "am first-rate in a chorus ; I go on until some one tells me to stop, for I haven't much ear." vol. i. c "What is the difference between my head and a barrel organ, Mr. Parker ?" said Miss Smith. But before the much-puzzled Parker could confess his ignorance, Mrs. Sims broke in ruthlessly — " I must beg that you, gentlemen and ladies, will be serious ; everyone must do his or her best. Even Clement" — every eye was immediately turned upon that re markable youth, who, just at the moment, was abstracting the last bit of cake from the card-basket. " If you eat that piece you will never be married, Longley," said the irrepressible Mellor ; but, unabashed by the awful warn ing, the youth carried the cake in triumph to his mouth. " Even Clement," continued his aunt, " will get up his flute-playing, and give us a solo."

But Clement muttered, with his mouth full, " Not if I know it." " What does the rising sun say to the rosebuds, Mr. Mellor ?" asked Miss Smith. " You be bio wed !" answered Mellor ; and those who did not know that he had given the correct answer stared at him in amazement. " Now, dear Miss Lavinia," said Mrs. Sims, in her sweetest manner, "yourconun drums are delightful, and so original, but pray keep them for us until we have this weighty business disposed of. I want to know if you young people will kindly set to work and make out a rough sketch of your programme — I mean, just decide how many songs we can count upon. It cannot be finally arranged this evening, I know, but let us feel that we have made a beginning. " Then suppose we all show off our paces c2 this very moment!" cried Mellor.

" If the Misses Tollemache will open the campaign with a duet." The twins began at once to unbutton their gloves, and Clement, at a sign from his aunt, opened the piano, and very awkward ly he did it, too, letting the lid fall back with a loud bang. It may be here mentioned that the Lin cludenites considered themselves decidedly musical. Unlike the majority of amateurs, however, they were not ambitious, but were perfectly satisfied if they went through a whole yellow book of Christy Minstrel sons;s in an evening. To those who can go to the Monday Pops and the Ballad Con certs at St. James's Hall, such a selection may appear rather tame, but it must not be supposed that, if the audience wished for variety, they were unable to get it. The twins could sing the most astounding duets and the most difficult solos, and as their father was well off, and not stingy, they could afford to order from town all the songs from the new "operas which the news papers had pronounced to be "gems;" so, you see, it could be said with truth that all the new music came to Lincluden, although the " Christys " held their ground at the parties for which the little town was so famous.

It is so much more easy to be pleased than to be critical. Miss Macleod and Miss Lavinia Smith were the ballad singers par excellence, and when the "Christys" were a little out of favour, the latter would sit down, and in form the company in a plaintive soprano that she could " not sing the old songs," and when she had given the reasons for her inability, she would proceed to tell Maggie's Secret, and she would be importunate, if not actually undignified, in her calls upon somebody or something to love her. Miss Macleod generally sang Scotch songs, but she wanted fire for the Jacobite airs, archness for the comic, and sweetness for the pretty plaintive melodies of her native land, and it was surprising to see the air of resignation with which her audience prepared themselves to listen when she began tamely to reject all the offers made by a most persevering old gentleman, who wanted her to marry his youngest son Frank, she all the while letting the " tear down fa' for Jock o' Hazeldean."

There was much secret rejoicing when she and Jock at last took the law into their own hands, and got safe " O'er the Border and awa;" but everybody said, 9 "Thank you. How pretty those old son^s are !" O Arthur Greggson generally sang the solos of the Christy songs, but Parker, in an evil moment for the poor young man, declared that his powers were not restricted to negro minstrelsy, as he (Parker) had heard him sing " My Queen " with great effect. It was in vain that Greggson protested, he was then and there obliged to obey the unanimous call. Miss Fanny Tollemache offered to accompany him, but he broke down igno miniously on the high note in the refrain, and retired, looking more pink than white. "Never mind, old fellow," said Parker, encouragingl}*. " It was all my fault. I see you are a born Christy.

I say, Mellor, suppose you and I and Saunders and Greggson blacken our faces, and go in for the thing properly. What do you say, Mrs. Sims?" But Mrs. Sims would not commit herself to an opinion ; she thought burlesque of any kind would be undignified, but she must consult the ladies patronesses. So the question was left open. Then the twins burst into a well-known duet from "Norma," and the performance would have been very good indeed, if they had not had a little argument in the middle of it about the time of a certain passage. While they were at the piano, Mrs. Sims went to her writing-table and began to write; then, when the duet was finished, she went over to Mr. Saunders, and read aloud as follows : — " It is intended to give a concert in Linclu den, in aid of the sufferers from the late ship wrecks, at an early date.

Ln our next issue ive hope to be able to give the names of the gentle men who have consented to act on the Committee of Management, as well as the names of the Ladies Patronesses. The singers will be ladies and gentlemen amateurs, and we feel confident that a rich musical treat is in store for the public." " You must put that in the next Chronicle," she said. "It will let the people know that something is going to be done. Mrs. Welby told me that her son will be at the Prior}* next week, so no doubt we shall see him at the concert." " If he is not too high and mighty," said Parker. " Men in Mr. Welby's position generally do the right thing at the right time," returned Mrs. Sims, reprovingly. ** By the way," said Mellor, " I wish we could get that handsome governess of Miss WTelby's to sing.

She's an out and outer, they say. Couldn't you ask her, Mrs. Sims ? " " I fear not," replied that lady, shaking her head. " Mrs. Welby might not like it. But there is no doubt she would be a great acquisition; she sings splendidly. Her mother was a professional, they say." "I know," said the vicar, who rarely spoke in his own house, " that if I were Mrs. Welby, I should be afraid to have that handsome governess in the house with my son." The party was beginning to break up, and Mrs. Sims was too much occupied with her guests to administer a proper rebuke to her brother for his extreme levity. Amidst the good nights and the thanks to the hostess for the delightful evening, Miss Smith was heard asking Mr. Mellor why " first love was like a potato," and Parker, with a wicked look in his eyes, whispered to his friend Saunders, "Hark to the bleat of that innocent lamb !"

It may be that Mellor learned the answer to the riddle before he slept, for it fell to his lot to escort Miss Lavinia to her lodging, which was over the shop of the principal draper in the town — "Most respectable people," she was wont to say, "with a private door." She was quite unaware that those three wicked young men — Messrs. Parker, Saun ders, and Mellor always drew lots in order to select an escort for her. By unblushing sleight of hand, Saunders used, five times out of six, to make the lot fall upon good-natured Mellor ; but the latter never suspected foul play, and the consequence was that he knew nearly all Miss Smith's conundrums by heart.

Chapter III. The Welbys Of The Priory

" FT is of no use for you to say 'Oh, -■- Mary !' and to shake your head at me in that way, mamma," cried out a pretty girl of about sixteen, as she paused for a moment in a waltz she was performing in and out amongst the furniture of the drawing-room. " How can you expect me to sit still and read history, or to count one, two, three, one, two, three steadily for an hour when Raymond is coming home." " But he cannot be here until six o'clock, and surely it will make the time pass more quickly, if you occupy yourself? I am quite as glad as you are at the prospect of seeing our dear Raymond, but you see I am work ing as usual." " Oh, yes, I see your big basket ; it looks bigger than ever to-day, I think, but I can not do anything, so you must please let me be idle for once." Mrs. Welby smiled "Very well, dear," she said; "but had you not better tell Miss Keppel that you are going to take a holiday, and tell her, too, that if she wishes she can bring her work or her book here and sit with us ; we shall be very pleased to see her."

" You may be pleased, mother, I wo " Mary, go directly and give Miss Keppel my message, and give it nicely ; you know what I mean, child." Mary, unabashed by the rebuke, danced out of the room, and in a few minutes she danced in again, saying, " She does not wish to come, thank you, mamma ; she has some new music to practise. Are you very sorry ?" and the saucy child stooped and peered into her mother's face. "Now what shall I do? It is only eleven, and I have at least a hundred hours to spend before six o'clock comes ! All the vases want fresh flowers in them, that's what I'll do." *- Do not go out without your shady hat, child — you will come in as brown as a gipsy !" cried Mrs. Welby; she was as prim and precise as her daughter was bright and volatile. " Oh ! what a bother it is to have a white skin !" cried the young lady, dashing out of the room, and into it again the next moment with a large, wide-brimmed hat upon her pretty head.

" I wish I was dark, like Miss Keppel. She looks handsomer than ever this morning, mamma, in that old buff print, and it is not a very pretty dress, is it ? I do like her face ! I wonder if Ray mond will." " He admires fair people, dear," said Mrs. Welby. "Then he's a goose!" cried energetic Mary. " Just look at my pink and white dolly face beside hers ! He must admire her, but I do not want him to like her, for I don't. What shall we do if he falls regu larly in love with her, mamma ? Wouldn't that be a jolly lark ?" " Mary, Mary, you naughty girl, where do you learn such dreadful slang ? — and you must not talk vulgar nonsense about your brother, child. Raymond fall in love !" " But, mother," cried the irrepressible Mary, " are not men always falling in love? I heard you say so yourself once, and why should not he ?"

" Because he is — he is not a common man, dear. But run and pick your flowers, child, and do not talk about things of which you are quite ignorant." Mary retreated through the window, silenced, but not convinced ; she was quite sure that she was not ignorant upon the subject of love. Mrs. Welby was a widow of independent fortune, with two children only ; her family had been a large one, but the boys and girls born between her first child, Raymond, and her last child, Mary, had all died in infancy, consequently, when Raymond was a man of thirty, his sister was but sixteen. By her husband's will Mrs. Welby had been left, besides her jointure, a life-interest in the whole of his property, his home in H shire. Lincluden Priory was also hers while she lived, and there she had spent the whole of her widowhood, a period of ten years.