Fresh from the Fens: a story of three Lincolnshire lasses ... With ... illustrations

Front matter

0/2 4 3/./67^ AVONM'.NSTER. Fresh from the Fens A STORY OF '1HREE LINCOLNSHIRE LASSES By E. WARD With Eight Illustrations LONDON SEELEY AND CO., LIMITED ESSEX STREET, STRAND CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. THE BLACK KITTEN - - - - I II. AN EXPLANATION - - - - - 12 III. AT RAVENSTHORPE - - - - 22 IV. UNCLAIMED - - - - - 32 V. AT AVONMINSTER - - - - - 45 VI. A TROOP OF COUSINS - - - - 56 VII. TARNSIDE - - - - - 67 VIII. THE HUT IN THE WOOD - - - - 80 IX. THE SQUIRE'S PEW - - - - 93 X. THE CAVES BY THE SEA - - - - 1 08 XI. DOLLY TO THE RESCUE - - - - 1 26 XII. THE TARNSIDE MYSTERY - - - - 140 XIII. TH_ PANELLED CHAMBER- - - - 152 XIV. BROTHER DUKE - ... XV. THE PARISH - - - - - l8l XVI. THE GREAT HALL ----- 194 XVII. HECTOR - - - - - - 206 XVIII. A CANOE VOYAGE - - - - - 222 XIX. A VISIT FROM THE BISHOP - - - 236 XX.

CHARLEY'S ROOM ----- 248 XXI. THE CANON OF AVONMINSTER - - - CONTEaYTS. VI CHAPTER PAGE xxn. st. Lawrence's - - - - 276 XXIII. AUNT DOROTHY - - - - 290 xxiv. st. Ursula's - - - - -304 XXV. THE CLOSE AT AVONMINSTER - - - 32 1 XXVI. IN THE CATHEDRAL - - - - 336 XXVII. FAREWELL ... . Fresh from the Fens

Chapter I The Black Kitten

It was such a surprise. Nothing the least bit like it had ever happened before. And surprises came so seldom to that quiet Lincolnshire. Rectory that the children there hardly *knew what to make of one. So the three small round mouths were opened in astonished wonderment, and the six big gray-blue eyes were fixed immovably on mother's face. None of the quaint-looking trio attempted to speak, the whole attention being concentrated on the gentle face smiling down upon them. But Patty, the eldest of the three little maidens, was old enough to notice that there was a shade of anxiety upon mother's brow which betokened some unwonted care, and she fancied there was something almost pleading in the tones that concluded the explanatory speech she was addressing to her children. ' And so, darlings, I am sure you will all try to be very good, and give as little trouble as possible, but remember always how kind it is of Aunt Hilda to invite you all, and give you such a charming holiday.

It will seem strange at first, being without father or mother, or even nurse ; but you will soon get used to it, and try to be happy — will you not, little daughters ? — so that I may hear good accounts of you, to cheer me up whilst you are all away ?' Patty tried to meet mother's smile by another, like the brave little woman she was, though the attempt was not a great success ; but Dolly's face was turned away, for she could not quite keep back the tell-tale tears which the thought of the parting from mother had brought, and yet she did not want to seem fretful or ungrateful when Aunt Hilda had been so kind. As for Letty, the youngest, who was more ready of speech than either of her sisters, she summed up the public sentiment in the following terse sentences : ' I don't think it will be at all nice to go away and stay with Aunt Hilda.

We've none of us ever seen her. She never comes to see us. I don't like strangers. I'd rather stop at home.' ' So would I,' whispered Dolly, under her breath, ' unless mother went with us.' ' But we will try to like it if mother wants us to,' added Patty quickly, for she saw the quiver that passed over mother's face, and knew that it was as hard for her to send her darlings away, as it was for them to go. Mother gave her eldest little daughter a quick smile of gratitude, and then stooped and laid a gentle hand on Dolly's bowed head. ' You cannot stay at home, my darlings, just now. I must send you all away somewhere : and as neither father nor I nor even good nurse can possibly leave the parish at such a time, it is better for you to be with relations, even though you do not know them, than with strangers, who would know nothing about you.' ' But why must we go, mother ?' asked Letty, nestling up close to her. ' You never had to send us away before.

We haven't been naughty, have we ? It isn't for a punishment ?' The words were so anxiously spoken that they evoked a little laugh from mother. ' No, no, darlings, it is not that. It is because some thing has happened in the parish that makes father and me very anxious. There have been several cases of illness there — a bad kind of fever — and I am very much afraid we shall have a great many more : and I want my little girls away as soon as possible, partly for fear they should fall ill themselves, partly because we shall be so very busy, looking after the poor sick folk, that there would be often no one at home to care for you. So father and I turned it over in our heads, and then I wrote to Aunt Hilda, and her answer came this morning. She is going next week to her beautiful house amongst the mountains and lakes, and she will take you all away with her.

You will join her party at the big junction, where she will have to change carriages. She will be there first, and will be waiting for you when you arrive. It will be all quite easy for you.' Dolly's head was resting by this time on mother's shoulder. Her words were the merest whisper. ' I suppose you could not come, too ?' 1—2 ' No, darling. Think : how could I leave the parish, with so many cases of illness there ?' The answer was a long-drawn sigh ; but the claims ofthe parish were too well understood by the clergy man's little daughters for there to be any thought of disputing them. Indeed, Patty volunteered at once that of course the parish could not spare them, and only added, with a little diffidence and hesitation : ' Only you know, mother dear, if you would let us stay with you, I do think we could be useful too.

We could gc about to the sick people with soup, and we could make the bads and lay the table, and make tea and toast and boil eggs for you and father at home. We should be so much happier helping you and the parish, if we only might stay — though of course we will do just what you like best.' There was a sparkle almost like that of tears on mother's eyelashes as she looked into the three faces turned so pleadingly towards her, and it was easy to see what the answer would have been had she consulted her wishes alone. As it was, however, there was no faltering in the tones which pronounced the final deci sion. ' My darlings, you must go ; it is quite decided. It would not be right to keep you here, though the house will lose its sunshine, I think, when our little girls leave us. So now I will go down and send a letter to Aunt Hilda, thanking her for her great kindness, and telling her that you will be at the big junction on Tuesday, by the train she named in her letter.' ' Tuesday !

Oh, mother dear, so soon as that ?' ' Yes, Dolly, my pet, it is better to go as soon as you can. Aunt Hilda asks me to choose either Tuesday or Thursday, whichever suits us best, as the day for the journey, for she does not mind which it is, and I have settled in my own mind for Tuesday, for the sooner you get away out of these low fens, the better father and I will be pleased. And I feel sure that when once the strangeness has worn off, you will enjoy the beautiful country, so different from anything we see here, and the companionship of your cousins, though they are most of them older than any of you.' ' I don't want to see none of them — not one bit,' asserted Letty, with sturdy independence. Letty was strong in negatives, especially when at all excited. ' I don't care for other children — especially when they are big.

I like grown-up people best.' Mother laughed a little as she stroked Letty's head. It had been noticed before this by those in authority that Letty was developing a strength of will and an originality of expression beyond that of her elder sisters. Not that the child was self-willed or difficult to manage, but merely seemed endued with a latent force of char acter greater than any that had so far been observed in the others. This individuality seemed to assert itself in ways over which the little one certainly had no control : for whilst the cropped heads of the elder pair were always smooth as the softest silk, Letty's was covered with rebellious little curls, that no amount of brushing ever made quite tidy, and which clustered round her brow almost down to the eyes, and gave a character of its own to the mobile little face beneath.

Then the eyes themselves were so very bright and sparkling, that they drew attention at once. For whilst Patty's were intent and thoughtful, and Dolly's soft and trusting, Letty's were full of mischievous glee, or, in other moods, alight with eager interest, or even with mutinous resistance. So that Letty was in one sense of the word the leading spirit in that nursery, though Patty held nominal control, and was looked up to by both her juniors with a considerable amount of respect. For it was no un common thing for mother to confide little secrets to her dependable eldest daughter, and Patty was in many ways older than her years. There was never the least struggle for supremacy amongst the three little sisters : they loved each other dearly, and the atmosphere of their home was one that promoted all gentle feelings and held in check the worse ones.

If Letty led the van in the play-hours, and on occasions when there was any innocent mischief in the wind, Patty ruled in lesson-time, and kept order in the quaintest possible way, helping Letty up the steep hill of learning, and playing the part of mother's coadjutor in a hundred little nameless offices. That lonely Rectory amongst the flat fens was a wonderfully peaceful and happy home, and the children had never found it dull, or longed to see the world that lay beyond the parish boundaries. In father, mother, and the all-important parish, their whole lives seemed to centre : and the very fact that they had no playmates of their own generation in the place, and had always associated with people older than themselves, had given rise to the feelings that now prompted Letty's remark. ' Well, Letty, there will be plenty of grown-up people as well,' answered mother, still smiling, though her face was not without traces of anxiety ; ' there will be Uncle Marmaduke and Aunt Hilda, and then there will be the dear grandfather, about whom you have heard so many stories.' Letty looked up quickly, and so did the other two. 'Oh, will grandfather be there?

I don't think I knew that. Is he going to stay with Aunt Hilda, too ?' ' He lives with Aunt Hilda. Did you not know that, children ? I must have told you before, I think.' 'Yes, mother dear, I knew,' answered Patty readily; whilst Letty, after a moment's thought, cried out : ' Why does he always live with Aunt Hilda ? Why doesn't he sometimes live with us ? I don't think it's fair. I shall tell him so when I see him. I shall bring him home with us. I think it might be rather nice to have a grandfather living on the premises : and he could go and see the old people in the parish. He would like to do that, I should think.' Mother smiled faintly : there was a little pink flush in her cheek that was not usually there. ' Grandfather is getting to be an old man now, Letty, and old gentlemen are not fond of travelling about and paying visits.

They like to have their own things about them, and to stay quietly at home.' ' So do little people, too — only they can't always do it,' answered Letty in her shrewd, arch way. ' And I suppose grandfather was not always old, yet he hasn't never been here. If he can go away up to the pretty house in the mountains with Aunt Hilda, I don't see why he can't come and see us too sometimes.' Mother did not answer. The pink flush had deepened i in her cheek, and she rose up, putting Dolly on her feet, and holding out a hand to Letty. ' Now suppose we all go downstairs together. Letty can help me to write my letter to Aunt Hilda, whilst Patty makes some toast for father's tea, and Dolly finds his slippers and puts them to warm. Fanny has lighted a little fire in the dining-room, because the rain has made the air so chilly to-day.' The children rose eagerly to do their mother's bid ding.

In the Rectory, where only two servants were kept, and where means, always narrow, had grown more so than ever in these years of bad harvests and agricultural depression, the little daughters were used to perform many small offices of love for their parents and the household generally. Patty was a thorough little housekeeper already, and could be trusted to look after a roasting joint or a boiling kettle as well as many a girl twice her age. It was her great pleasure to be entrusted with any little duty of the kind for her parents, just as it was one of Letty's special delights to watch her mother write a letter, and help her by sticking on the stamp and fastening down the envelope. It seemed to her such a wonderful thing that the letters always seemed to travel safely. She could not rid herself of a secret admiration for their cleverness and independence in finding their way all about the country without any blunders.

She sometimes won dered whether she should manage as well if she were popped into a letter-box with a stamp stuck on her forehead. She wondered, too, what the effect upon a letter would be, if the words were all shaken together and pieced out differently. To-night she thought t more than ever about this, as she stood watching mother's pen flying over the paper. It would be so nice if she only knew some way of getting the words all jumbled up, so as to mean that they would not come, instead of that they would. But, unluckily, Letty knew of no way in which this transformation could be effected, and she no longer had any hope that the letter would lose its way. Aunt Hilda was sure to get it next day, and they would be obliged to go away on Tues day for a long, long time and not see father or mother again till they got back.

Letty was so absorbed in these thoughts that she loosed her hold on the little black kitten she had picked up from the hearth, and so puss, making the most of her opportunities, sprang upon the writing table, and made a dash at the quickly moving pen, smudging the word ' Tuesday' right across, and evok ing a shriek of laughter from the child. Mother put the offending paw back with a playful pat. ' Oh, naughty kitten, to smudge my letter, just as the post is going, and I have not time to write another !' ' Kitty doesn't want you to write it. She won't like us to go away. She'll have nobody to play with : she will be so dull. She'd like to blot it all over, and then you couldn't send it.' ' I should have to send a telegram in that case,' answered mother with a smile, and that sent Letty off into a brown study, for she saw that things had got quite beyond her now.

And neither mother nor child noticed that Kitty's mischievous paw had turned the word ' Tuesday' into something much more like ' Thursday,' for mother was in a hurry to catch the post, and sealed her missive up without reading it over again. So Miss Letty, who had so often specu lated as to the consequences of altering a written letter, was about to become involved in just such a result her own small self. But no one would surely have guessed at the strange train of circumstances which commenced with the blot in mother's letter from kitty's restless black paw. But father had now come in, and Letty ran off to meet him and drag him to his easy-chair, laughing at the idea of having a fire in July, and finding it so nice and cosy. The thin careworn face of the clergyman brightened and softened as his little daughters clustered round him, bringing him his tea to his comfortable chair, and vying with each other who should first anticipate his wants.

He had a very fine noble head, and a face which inspired love and trust wherever he went. The little girls were quite certain that such a father and mother as theirs never lived before, and perhaps they were not far wrong. Letty had a great deal to say about the piece of news they had just been told, and was eager to enlist father's sympathies on their side. ' I should have thought you would like us to be at home. I should have thought you would miss us if we all go away. Don't you like us to be here to take care of you, when you come in tired from the parish ?' And father's answer — if answer it could be called — was one of the close, warm kisses that all his children had learnt to prize so well. And as he looked first at the faces of his little daughters, and then across at mother, Letty became aware, in a sudden and unexpected fashion, of a fact new to her childish mind — which was that grown-up people sometimes have to do things that neither please themselves nor anybody else, but are imposed upon them by circumstances over which they have no control.

At least she was quite sure that neither father nor mother at all enjoyed the prospect of living without their three little girls for a somewhat indefinite period. As for the three little Lincolnshire lasses themselves, they could not imagine what life would or could be like, lived apart from father and mother, and that familiar and well-loved parish, away in that lonely land of fens.

Chapter II An Explanation

The very last evening had come. The three little sisters lay in their small white beds, side by side in the long, low attic room that had been their night nursery ever since they could remember ; and it had been so hard to realize that next night would find them in quite a different place that some natural tears had been shed, whilst good, faithful nurse had been hugged almost to death by the bear-like embraces of her nurslings. True, there had been moments when the projected visit to Aunt Hilda had brought laughter instead of tears, when, under the influence of mother's smiles and judicious words of encouragement, the little girls had begun to look forward to the new sights and wonder ful changes in a spirit of pleasurable excitement. They were not quite impervious to the fascinating attraction of novelty, only they were such regular little home birds that the dread of leaving their own nest was almost too much for the pleasure of seeing the world, and meeting with the adventures which Letty was certain would fall to their lot.

Letty was gifted with a vivid imagination of her own, and she was quite sure that a great many strange things would happen to them if they went away from their home, and lived in a house right up among the mountains. The little Lincolnshire children had never seen a mountain — had seen nothing steeper or higher than the hill on which part of Lincoln stands. So they naturally felt that there must be something very romantic in living in a hill-girt house; and as Letty argued with characteristic earnestness, wherever places were romantic, people were sure to have a lot of adventures. Dolly's thoughts ran more upon the new people she -was to meet, for she was the shyest of the trio, and it seemed very formidable to be going amongst strangers, when there would be no mother to nestle up against — no kind hand to hold hers fast when the moment of the dreaded introduction came.

Fortunately for Dolly, she had great confidence in Patty, and was tolerably happy so long as she had her sister to depend upon ; but then Patty was not free from nervousness herself, and she confided to Dolly that she was sure Aunt Hilda would be very different from mother. ' Mother would have written another letter after her invitation had been accepted,' remarked the shrewd little maiden — ' a nice long letter, with loving messages in it. Aunt Hilda only sent a post-card to say, " All well : will meet children as arranged." Mother says that people who have lots of servants and things to look after, and are accustomed to travelling, do not think anything of a journey, and are too busy to waste words over it ; but I know that she would always be just what she is now, if she had all the servants and all the money in the world.' Dolly of course was of the same opinion, and was rather nervous at the idea of facing this grand aunt, who was called ' Lady ' instead of ' Mrs.,' like their mother and most of the people of their acquaintance.

They all knew that mother had been a Miss Tremain before she married father, and that her uncle had been called Sir Marmaduke, as her brother-in-law and their uncle was now ; but they had never thought much about these grand relations before. They had not seemed to belong to them except in name, and Patty was old enough to wonder why this was, and to puzzle her head over the notion that there was something curious and secret about it all. But these three little maidens, dearly as they loved their parents, and entirely as they confided to them all their own innocent secrets, hopes and fears, had not been brought up to think they might ask all kinds of inquisitive questions of those older and wiser than themselves upon subjects with which they were not directly concerned. They grew up in the happy con fidence that whatever was good for them to know they would be told without any asking, and it had only occurred to Patty during the last few days that the family history was one of those things that had never been talked about.

The children knew a good deal about their mother's childhood. There were many fascinating stories, known by heart, in which the unknown grandfather and uncle played conspicuous parts; but why there had been so little communication of late years between the two houses— why letters to Aunt Hilda or Uncle Marmaduke were so few and far between, and why there was no interchange of visits between the two families, was one of the puzzles that had been working in Patty's brain for the past five days, and had gradually communicated itself to her shadow, Dolly. Letty was not of an age to be troubled by such conjectures, and the elder sisters had said nothing to heron the subject. They had an idea that sometimes the little one was too outspoken to be an entirely safe confidant. And on this last evening, as Patty lay in her narrow bed, she could not manage to get off to sleep, though Letty had been slumbering for an hour or more, and Dolly's blue eyes had closed at last, though at first she had been wakeful too.

Patty knew that mother always came up during the course of the evening to see if her darlings were all safe, and the little girl thought that she would be able perhaps to sleep after she had received the last kiss from mother's lips. So when Mrs. Rose came up for a peep at the sleep ing children, she found one pair of eyes wide open, and one tumbled head was lifted eagerly at her approach. ' Awake still, Patty dear ? That is a bad preparation for to-morrow's journey. Is there anything the matter, little daughter ?' ' No, mother ; nothing but going away. But it seems as if I couldn't get to sleep to-night; I have such lots of thoughts.' ' Thoughts about what ? What has my darling got on her mind'? Anything mother can put right ?' ' I should like to talk to you about it, mother, only I don't want to seem inquisitive.

I don't want to ask anything that would be not quite nice for me to know. Only I can't help my thoughts, can I, mother dear V ' Well, it would be rather hard to expect you to have learnt that most difficult of all lessons at your age, little daughter ;' and though mother smiled, Patty detected the underlying shadow as of anxiety or sadness in her face. She sat down on the side of the bed, and her child nestled up into her arms. ' I can't think what we shall do when we have no mother near to say things to,' said Patty reflectively. ' It doesn't seem natural for children to go away from their mothers.' ' And what is the special thing that you want to say to-night, my child ? You have mother to talk to just one night more.' ' I may say it, mother ? You won't mind my asking ? You know you need not answer unless you wish.' Mother mused a few minutes, and then said in her gentlest way : ' If it is something puzzling your little head, dear, I think it would be better that I heard all about it.' 'Oh, thank you, mother dear; it does so help always to talk things over with you.

It is about grandfather and Uncle Marmaduke and Aunt Hilda that Dolly and I have been wondering. We do wonder so why they never come here, or ask you to go and see them. You know you have such nice stories about them long ago. Why are there no more now ? Why did they all stop such a long time ago ? Grandfather is your father, is he not ? and Aunt Hilda is your sister ? Isn't it funny you never see her ? especially when she married your cousin, who was almost like a brother : you know you always say that Uncle Marmaduke was like a brother to you. What should I do if I never saw Dolly and Letty any more ? I should be so miserable !' Mother was smoothing Patty's head all this time with gentle touch. It was some little time before she spoke, and the child waited very patiently, for she was content to wait mother's time, or to go without an answer to her question if mother should think that she was too young to be taken into confidence.

It was a relief in itself that she had unbosomed herself of her thought. Now she could rest certain that all would be right, whether or not her natural curiosity was to be relieved. But when at last the mother spoke, it was not to check the little girl in her impulse of confidence. ' Patty dear,' was the gently spoken reply, ' I had not intended to tell you anything about what is troubling you, but as it has come into your own head, I think it will perhaps be better to let you a little bit into the secret — if secret it can be called. But if I take you into my confidence, dear, I must trust you not to say a word to anybody else.' ' Oh no, mother — indeed I will not. Must I keep it a secret from Dolly, too ?' Mother smiled at the appealing glance which accompanied this timid request, for Dolly was often called in the family circle Patty's ' second self.' ' Well, dearest, you shall tell as much as you please to Dolly — as much as you think she will, understand.

But I think I would say nothing to Letty. Her tongue wags rather too fast sometimes.' ' I will only tell Dolly— because we have talked about it together. We didn't say a word to Letty. We don't tell her quite everything, you see, because she does not like secrets ; she only likes to know things she can talk to anybody about. She often says so herself — so I don't think it's unkind.' ' No, darling, and it certainly would not do for Letty or anybody else to chatter about what I am going to tell you now. And to begin at the beginning, I suppose I need hardly remind you that father was not always a clergyman, but began life as a soldier.' ' Oh yes, mother dear, of course I know that. I do so like hearing people say that he looks " every inch a soldier" as they so often do — especially when things happen like the fire at Farmer Ryecroft's stack-yard, when father ' ' Yes, yes, darling, we all know how well father can play the part of general when the need for it arises, and how we all love and admire him for it : and yet it was just this very talent that once brought so much trouble to us both.' ' Oh, mother, how could that be ?' ' I will try and explain it, Patty.