The House of Halliwell. A novel

Front matter

a W. MRS. HENRY WOOD'S NOVELS Sale nearly Two Million Copies. EAST LYNNE. 430.A Thousand. THE CHANNINGS. 160./. Thousand. MRS. HALLIBURTON'S TROUBLES. 120W Thousand. THE SHADOW OF ASHLYDYAT. goth Thousand. LORD OAKBURN'S DAUGHTERS. 90th Thousand. VERNER'S PRIDE. 65th Thousand. ROLAND YORKE. 115M Thousand. JOHNNY LUDLOW. First Series. 50./. Thousand. MILDRED ARKELL. 68./- Thousand. ST. MARTIN'S EVE. 60M Thousand. TREVLYN HOLD. 54CA Thousand. GEORGE CANTERBURY'S WILL. 65.A Thousand. THE RED COURT FARM. 60./* Thousand. WITHIN THE MAZE. 85*7. Thousand. ELSTER'S FOLLY. 5oth Thousand. LADY ADELAIDE. 5o*7* Thousand. OSWALD CRAY. 52nd Thousand. JOHNNY LUDLOAV. Second Series, 3yd Thousand. ANNE HEREFORD. 45W Thousand. DENE HOLLOW. 45rA Thousand. EDINA. 25M Thousand. A LIFE'S SECRET. 48*7* Thousand.

COURT NETHERLEIGH. 26th Thousand. BESSY RANE. 3oth Thousand. JOHNNY LUDLOW. Third Series. New Edition. THE MASTER OF GREYLANDS. 30M Thousand. ORVILLE COLLEGE. 33rd Thousand. POMEROY ABBEY. 30M Thousand. JOHNNY LUDLOW. Fourth Series. New Edition. LONDON : RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, New Burlington Strekt, {.Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty tke Queen.-) & gotol BY MRS. HENRY WOOD, AUTHOR OF " EAST IANNE," " THE CHANNINGS," " JOHNNY LUDLOW," ETC. NEW EDITION. jptftecntS ŒfjousaniJ. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, publishers in ©rtinarg to $ct fflajestg tJjt ©utm. 1896. (All rights rturoed.) LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. TO THE READER. " The House of Halliwell " is the earliest of Mrs. Henry "Wood's Avorks. Though not published until after her death, it was written some years before " East Lynne."

If it does not possess the matured power of the Author — impossible in a first effort — it distinctly possesses the freshness and realistic qualities Avhich distinguish all the succeeding novels : making the scenes of those novels dramas in which we feel ourselves eye-witnesses, and realize their characters as people of flesh and blood, who move and have their being in the common round of daily life — friends in whose fate and fortune we are interested and closely concerned. As the Athenæum has said : " The poAver to draAv minutely each character with characteristic individuality in word and action is Mrs. Henry Wood's especial gift. This endoAvs her pages with a vitality which carries the reader to the end, and leaves him with the feeling that the veil which in real life separates man from man has been raised, and that he has for once seen and known certain people as intimately as if he had been their Guardian Angel.

Chapter I

the major : AND AUNT copp. A family party Avas gathered round the drawing-room fire in the house of Major Halliwell : a handsome residence situated in the village of Seaford, some twenty miles' distance from London. It was a fine, warm evening in the beginning of September, and there was little need of a fire ; but the Major had passed some of his days in India, and always took to evening fires before any one else thought of them. The Major was the chief representative of the name and House of Halliwell. A noble and renowned and loyal house it had been in its palmy days ; but the earldom had become extinct in the early time of George the Third, and its descendants had since been dwindling down in the scale of grandeur. The Major's eldest girl was named after one who had been a heroine in her generation — the Lady Hester Halliwell, sister of the last Earl Halliwell.

The Lady Hester had refused to marry, but had won fame and love for her good and nob'e and charitable deeds. Her B portrait AA*as reverently hung in the Major's drawing-room, and its face certainly bore a remarkable resemblance to that of her namesake, the present Hester. Major Halliwell was a good-natured, merry, somewhat easy-going man, who had made money in India, had sold out of the King's service, and come home to enjoy it. Then the Major married. He is a man, you see, of about six and sixty now, whilst his children are young. Mrs. Halliwell — who sits on the opposite side of the fire to the Major, and wears a grey satin gown — is a stately, handsome woman, with a thoughtful countenance. Five children remain out of a large family. Alfred, a fine young man of tAventy ; Hester, just eighteen, who does not seem inclined to be tall, but has the Lady Hester's grave, kindly face and reflective eye ; Jane, Avho is not here to-night ; Lucy, a merry girl of fifteen ; and Mary, the youngest born.

When dusk came on, Mrs. Halliwell rang for lights. The servant who entered with them was turning to close the inside shutters and draw the crimson curtains, but Mary stood there. " "Wait a minute, John," said the child ; " I Avant to see Avhat that is at the gate." The man being taller than the child, could see over the hedge at the foot of the garden. " It is the stage-coach, Miss Mary," he said. " The stage-coach ! " echoed Alfred. " At our gate ? " Hester and Lucy folloAved him to the windoAV. A lady, as far as they could see through the gate and the twilight, had stepped from the coach, and an enormous box was being taken doAvn from the roof. "Oh!" cried Mary, in delight; "suppose it is Jane come back for something ! I hope it is." " You little stupid ! " retorted Alfred. " As if Jane would come back again !

" : AND AUNT COPP. 3 "That looks like a sea-chest," persisted Mary, "and Jane's " " I think it is Aunt Copp," interrupted Hester. " Aunt Copp ! " echoed the Major, springing to the window, whilst Alfred flew out to the gate. He returned triumphantly, Aunt Copp on his arm ; the guard, and John, and a man who was passing and volunteered help, followed, carrying the sea-chest. " Aunt Copp," as she was universally called in the family, was the Major's only sister, but quite young enough to be his daughter. She was short and stout ; a pale, round, complacent face, and black eyes. Their father, Colonel Halliwell, had likewise spent a large portion of his life in India ; his son was born before he went there, his daughter after his return ; and that was not for many, many years. Aunt Copp was a wonderful woman, positive and con tradictory in manner, kind, like the Major, at heart, and so good-natured that people used to say she would give aAvay her head if it were loose.

She had been self-willed, not disobedient, in the matter of her marriage, and had wedded a sailor, a captain in the merchant service. The match, of course, was beneath her. She might have done so much better, every one told her. Of course she might, was her ansAver, had she chosen to do so, but she did not choose. She was wont to accompany Captain Copp on his voyages, and they had thought iier absent on one now. They all gathered round her and took her things off, overwhelming her with questions, whilst Mrs. Halliwell ordered tea to be brought in. " Where and when did you land ? " inquired her brother. " Got into Liverpool three days ago. An eight months' run we have had of it home ; contrary winds all the Avay." " Where from last ? " " China," returned Aunt Copp. " Brought in a cargo of tea.

Right glad was I to touch land, for young Sam was getting worse than a monkey on board, climbing up the rigging, and holding on by one foot, and the more I called to him the more he'd stop there. He has learned to swear : you should hear him." " I advised you not to take him," said the Major. " I wish we had not taken him. But the Captain would, and I would ; and there's an end of it. As soon as we landed, I inquired for a good, sharp boarding-school, and heard of tAvo. I took my young gentleman to an outfitter's, rigged him out, clapped him into a postchaise, and drove him off to the nearest." " Without inquiries or references ? " demanded Mrs. Halliwell. " What's the good of them ? " asked Aunt Copp. " I saw it was a respectable place, with forty boys in it. They live well, and that's the chief thing : plenty of good roast meat and pudding, for I saw the lads at dinner.

Sixty pounds a year, and seventy if he stays the holidays. The master asked me what he was to be, and young Sam spoke up for himself, as bold as possible. ' A sailor,' said he ; ' and it's no use mamma saying I shan't be.' " "You cannot expect him to choose anything else, Rebecca," cried the Major, " after letting him taste salt water for eighteen months." " As good take to salt water as stop where there's nothing but fresh," replied Mrs. Copp ; " only I don't say so before young Sam. We don't have half the bother at sea that you do on land." " Where have you left the Captain ? " " With the ship. She wants a deal of overhauling, and of course old Sam must be in the midst of it, or it wouldn't be him. Six or eight weeks the men will be about it, and : AND AUNT COPP. 5 the Captain busier than they all the time.

Children, I have brought you all a present from China ; seven presents have I got locked up in my chest. If it had not been for those presents, I don't know that I should have dragged the chest here ; a regular fight I had Avith the guard about bringing it." " There are not seven of them now, Rebecca," said Major Halliwell, dropping his voice. " No ! Where are they, then ? " " Two are taken, and one we lost to-day — in a different manner.' ' " Bless my heart ! " ejaculated Mrs. Copp, the latter part of the sentence rendering her oblivious of the former. " Lost one to-day ! How ? " " Jane was married this morning." Aunt Copp's mouth opened with astonishment, and she looked from one to the other. " Married ! Jane Halliwell ! Your daughter Jane ? " "And there's such a splendid wedding-cake," cried Mary.

" Then, Major, I can only think you and Mrs. Halliwell have both lost your senses. A little thing like Jane ! Why, she was in short frocks when I left." " That is two years ago, Aunt Copp," interposed Hester. " Jane is young, too young," sighed Mrs. Halliwell. " She was seventeen last week. But Mr. Pepper to whom she was engaged was going out to India, and wished to take her with him. Had Ave refused, they might have worn out their lives waiting for each other." " I should have refused," said Aunt Copp, positively ; " and boxed Jane's ears for thinking of such a thing. I only wish I had been at home. Who has she married ? " " Lieutenant Pepper. A very worthy and delightful young man." "Possesses nothing, of course," groAvled Aunt Copp, " but his pay and his uniform." " Indeed, he does," laughed the Major ; " he made a very fair settlement on Jane."

" I don't care," persisted Aunt Copp. " If he had settled all Calcutta and the Ganges on her, she ought not to have married. ThroAving a child like that on Indian society Avith no one to look after her ! " " I do not fear for Jane," said Mrs. Halliwell. " We did propose that they should Avait for a year or tAvo, and Mr. Pepper proceed without her ; but he Avas much against it, and " "To be sure," interrupted Aunt Copp. "Children are against taking physic, but it's good for them." " I am glad we did not separate them," said Mrs. Halli well, musingly. " Those delayed marriages are so frequently frustrated for good. Had it turned out so in this case, Jane might have blamed us all her life." "Well, it's done, and it can't be undone," concluded Aunt Copp. " How can I send Jane's present after her ?

" " Don't attempt it," advised the Major. " They sail at the end of the week, and Jane has a van-load of fine things as it is. Give it to Hester instead." " I must say one thing," resumed Mrs. Copp, " that, for a wedding-day, you are desperately quiet. I never heard of such a thing as remaining quietly at home, with not a soul but yourselves. When I was married, girls, we had a ball in the evening, and I and my husband, your Uncle Sam, stopped and opened it." " We said we had lost two children besides Jane," said Mrs. Halliwell, in a half-whisper. " We have only throAvn off our mourning for to-day, and shall resume it to-morroAv. Hoav could we have any rejoicing ? " " Tell me about it," said Mrs. Copp. : AND AUNT COPP. 7 "It was darling little James and Frederick," ansAvered Lucy, Avith tears in her eyes.

" They died last May." " Both died ? " " Both. Only two days apart from each other." " My patience ! Poor httle dears. AVhat was it ? " " Scarlet fever," cried the Major ; " it Avas raging in the neighbourhood, and the three young ones took it. Mary recovered, but the poor boys died." " Ah ! " groaned Aunt Copp, " that was bad management. I AAish I had been at home. What doctors did you have ? " " Mr. Davis, the medical man here. They were only ill, one four, the other five days." " I tell you, then, it was bad management took those boys, and nothing else." " I think it was not quite that," sighed Mrs. Halliwell. " What else, pray ? " snapped Aunt Copp. " God's will." "Aunt Copp," Avhispered Hester, later in the eA'ening, " will you not tell our fortunes ? You knoAV you never would." " Because, child, I have told some that have come true, and then folk have turned round and blamed me for frightening them."

" I shall not blame you. I wish you Avould tell mine. Do. We ought to have some fun this evening." " If I tell you bad luck, you will not call it fun." " Oh yes, I shall." " You will promise to stand it, Avithout being afraid ? " " That I will," laughed Hester. "Well, get the cards then. I suppose it is allowable, Major ? " " Allowable ! such trash as that ! You may tell them all night, if you like." "If you can really find amusement in anything so nonsensical," added Mrs, Halliwell, with an imperceptible curl of the lip. " Do not ridicule too soon," replied Aunt Copp. " Shuffle and cut the cards, Hester." "Shuffle well, Hester," said her brother, as he leaned over Aunt Copp's chair and laughed. " Let us hear what sort of a husband you are to have." "Hollo, Master Alfred," broke in the Major, with a comical expression of countenance ; " a staunch Churchman, as you are to be, has no business to watch the dealings of the black art.

When you come to be ordained, how will you face your bishop, sir ? " "Major," interrupted Mrs. Copp, "you will oblige me by not talking." " Silence all," cried the Major. " Children, we are in the hands of an unknown power." "Well," exclaimed one of them impatiently, as Aunt Copp's process appeared to grow rather tedious, " what is Hester's fortune ? " " Hester, child, it is nothing good," said Aunt Copp. "Shall I tell it you?" " Oh, please do," laughed Hester. " Well then, child, to begin Avith, you will not have a husband at all. You'll be pretty near it, but somehow it will slip away, and you'll never marry." " What a dreadful thing ! " uttered Lucy, with a long face. " I will not have mine told." " I don't know that Hester will care much about it though," resumed Aunt Copp, her eyes following the cards.

" For it seems as if you would be in the midst of business, child, all your life ; the business of others : some good some bad. I should say you would be full of usefulness my dear, so console yourself." AND AUNT COPP. 9 "Ay, do console yourself, Hester," mocked tbe Major. " I hope you will be able to sleep to-night." Mrs. Copp was nettled. " You may make as much game as you like, James, but I know the cards tell true, and that Hester will be an old maid. You'll see." " I shan't live to see," responded the Major ; " it will be beyond my time. Hester, how many cats shall you keep ? " " Shall I tell yours ? " exclaimed Mrs. Copp, with anima tion. " Come, Major ; and then you will prove whether I tell true or not." " Prove away ! " laughed the Major. " Hand over the cards. Shuffle first, isn't it ?

" Hester stole round the table and laid her hand on the pack. " Papa," she said, " do not have it done." The Major turned and put on his spectacles to stare at her. " Why, Hester ! you are never such a goose ! " " I do not believe in what Aunt Copp has told me, or care for it," was the remark of Hester. " But if she said anything bad to you, I might think of it." " Be quiet, Hester," said Aunt Copp. " I'll tell him his fortune, and then he'll remember not to mock at me in future." The Major nodded at his children, and they looked on Avith a smile. All, accepting Hester, Avho stood, grave and quiet, one arm folded over the other. " If I did not know to the contrary," began Aunt Copp, studying the Major's " fortune" in the cards, as they were arrayed out before her, " I should say you were immersed in business, James.

Here you are, you see, up to your eyes in Avorry." " Ho, ho, ho ! " laughed the Major. " Go on." " I had rather not go on," replied Aunt Copp, after another pause. " It is the worst fortune I ever told in my life. Here's perplexity, disappointment, loss of money, not only to you, but to all who surround you ; and there's something worse than that." " Tell it out," cried the Major. " Death," said Aunt Copp, solemnly, " and very speedy. It follows you ; it Avill folloAv you, place the cards as I may." The Major laughed till his eyes watered. " Alfred, boy, run for a lawyer. I'll make my will Avithout delay." Aunt Copp pushed the cards together, and threw them on a side-table. " I am sorry I told it," she said. " Look at Hester ! " exclaimed Alfred, Avho Avas making merry of the whole thing, like his father.

She was standing in the same position, every vestige of colour having forsaken her face. Mrs. HalliAvell indignantly reproached ber. Hester aroused herself. "Mamma, I do not put any faith in it ; I don't knoAV what made me look as I did. It is only nonsense." " Of course it is," haughtily responded Mrs. Halliwell. '• Take the keys, Hester, and eend in the Avine and the Avedding-cake. Your aunt has not yet wished prosperity and happiness to Jane." Hester took the keys, and departed on her errand. But her face was still white. " Aunt Copp, where did you learn to tell fortunes ? " demanded Lucy. " On my first voyage to India, Lucy : that is, coming home. We had an Indian Avoman on board, an ayah, as they are called, Avho Avas nursing a sick lady, and I learnt it of her. She was a wonderful woman, and could tell fortunes in more Avays than one.

Everything she prophesied came true." " Is it the way they do it in England ? " " Do what ? " returned Mrs. Copp, sharply. " That they tell fortunes on the cards in England," ex plained Lucy. : AND AUNT COPP. 11 "Certainly not," indignantly replied Mrs. Copp. "As if I would trouble my head with such child's play as that." Lucy coloured and hesitated. "Aunt Copp, does your Avay ahvays tell true ? " Aunt Copp, in her turn, hesitated : it was a home question, after what she had just promised the Major. " I do not know that it ahvays tells true, Lucy ; it does sometimes. It is very rarely that I can be persuaded into telling a fortune. I was foolish to have been so persuaded to-night. What a magnificent wedding-cake ! " "It was when it was whole," laughed Mrs. Halliwell. " Jane took some of it with her for the voyage."

" For the voyage ! " echoed Aunt Copp. " Ah ! Jane is like a young bear, just now — all her sorrows to come : as she will find, when she is in the midst of sea-sickness. I know I wished the ship would go to the bottom and I, poor soul, with it, Avhen I went my first voyage. Wedding-cake at sea ! " " I could eat wedding-cake even if I were ever so sea sick," cried Lucy, hoping her mother was going to cut her a goodly slice then and there. " Could you, my dear ? " significantly returned Aunt Copp. "Major, how came you to let them sail at this season of the year ? They will come in for all the equinoctial gales." " Pepper could not choose his time. He had to go when he was ordered." " Poor Jane ! a fine sick bear's life she will have of it. I'd rather stand a hurricane than the winds of the equinox." And, Avhat with talking, drinking healths, and eating Avedding-cake, the evening came to a close, and the young people retired.

Chapter II. The Major's Investment

" Now for a bit of cosy chat all to ourselves, according to old custom," cried Aunt Copp, drawing her chair to the fire between Major and Mrs. Halliwell, and putting her feet on the fender. "What a good-looking young fellow Alfred grows ! " " He'll do," said Major Halliwell. " Do ! I should think his looks would do. Why in the Avorld do you make a parson of him ? " " He did not like the army. And one could not put a Halliwell to trade." " But a parson ! " remonstrated Aunt Copp. " Poor creatures, if they do get into any little scrape or peccadillo, it must put such a weight of responsibility on their heads. And men are not saints all their live3 long, parsons or no parsons." " Oh, he will get along, just as other parsons do," laughed the Major. " He is an excellently disposed lad," added Mrs. Halliwell, and has not a vice about him."

" Mothers always think that," responded Aunt Copp, in her provoking way. " I hope he'll get a good living : not one of your paltry starvation things, at a hundred a year." " I expect to leave him something worth having, Rebecca," said the Major. " More than I once thought for." " Hoav's that ? " cried Aunt Copp, pricking up her ears. " They'll have — noAV there are only five of them — four or five thousand each, I suppose." " Double that, I hope," said the Major. " Your fortune telling cards were not far out to-night, when they said I Avas up to my ears in business. I am not, but my money is." " What on earth do you mean ? " questioned Aunt Copp. " I withdrew my money from the Funds about fourteen months ago, to invest it. It brings me in larger interest, and the capital — whenever I like to AvithdraAv it — will also be doubled in the shape of a bonus."

" Invest it in what ? " was the sharp question. " In a Company. The Perpetual Aid Fire and Life Insurance Company." Aunt Copp gazed at the Major. " What possessed you to do that ? And you," she added, turning sharply round to Mrs. HalliAvell, " how could you let him do it ? " " Did any one ever do a thing yet that you did not find fault with, Rebecca ? " testily demanded the Major. " Because I have my Aveather-eye open, and can see into things clearer than some folk," responded Aunt Copp. " Mrs. Halliwell, I say " — laying her hand on that lady's — " how came you to let James risk his children's money in this way ? " " If we must tell you the truth, Rebecca, I did not knoAV of it until it was done," was the reply. " If there's a nuisance in the world, it is for women to interfere in business matters," chimed in the Major.

" It's what they don't understand, and they get worried and fidgety. I knew my wife would be afraid and say, ' Don't risk it ; ' so I just did it, and told her when it was all over." Aunt Copp paused. "James," she resumed in a very grave tone, " if I were to tell you you have committed a sin in doing this you would not believe me ? " The Major Avhistled. " Just as much as I believed you Avhenyou told me I Avas going to die." " What did you do it for ? " " To make more money, of course." " You had plenty. Plenty for comfort, and a nice little fortune for each child after you." " There is no law against making money, is there ? " " There is no law that will bring you up to be tried for it by judge and jury ; but I knoAV this, I'd rather be bound to the figure-head of our ship and be sent adrift in her Avithout a helmsman, than I Avould Avickedly risk the little money that belonged to my child.

Do you suppose these reckless schemes don't bring their OAvn punishment with them ? Of course they do." " That's right," cried the Major. "Go on, Becky." "Suppose the thing fails, this precious fire company, Avhere ■ " " It's not going to fail," interrupted the Major ; " it's paying heavy dividends." " Suppose it fails," persisted Aunt Copp, " and the money disappears doAvn Davy Jones's locker, you will have committed a crime against your OAvn children. You will, James Halliwell." " Rubbish ! " answered the Major. "And the children will pass their lives expiating your sin. I tell you, James, it is a sin ; some may call it imprudence, but it is nothing less than sin : and they must struggle and fight their way through life, and so expiate it." " It is time to go to bed," said the Major. " Bed can wait.

The very fact of your having to conceal the transaction from your wife ought to have proved to you that it was a piece of wrong-doing. When a man takes to deceiving his wife, good-bye to prosperity. Mrs. HalliAvell, tell me — had James consulted you about using the money, Avould you have consented ? " " No," was the reply. " I should have dreaded the risk." " Nor any other woman in her senses. You talk about Avomen not understanding business, Major ; they are a great deal clearer-sighted than men. Now, do you knoAV Avhat you must do, James ? " " Well ? " " Go up to London without a day's delay, and take your money out of the fire. If you can't get the doubled capital, held out as a bait, take the single, and put it into the Funds again." " Impossible," laughed the Major. " There must be three months' notice of withdrawal first."

" How much notice ? " returned Aunt Copp, in very sharp tones. " Three months." "Then give notice to-morrow, and take it out at the three months' end. Will you do this ? " "Not if I know it, Becky. It pays me too good interest." " Then just see if you don't repent it. And Heaven help your poor vfronged children ! " The Major rose, stretched himself, and spoke good humouredly : " You are brighter at sea than you are on land, Becky, think of it as you will. Good night ; pleasant dreams to you." " Pleasant dreams to you, if your conscience will allow of them," retorted Aunt Copp. "Make him do it," she Avhispered to Mrs. Halliwell. This was on the Tuesday. On the following Monday, as they were seated at breakfast, the Major said he was going to London. " To do Avhat I recommended ? " asked Aunt Copp, eagerly.

" Not I," said the Major, while Mrs. Halliwell gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head as her sister-in-laAV glanced at her. "I am going for a feAv hours' pleasure. Will you go with me, Becky ? " "Not to-day," replied Mrs. Copp. "How do you go?" "Harkaway coach. It leaves here at eleven, and gets back at nine. Alfred, Avhen you have finished breakfast, you can run to the Wheatsheaf and secure me a place. Box seat, mind." "You had better return inside," said Mrs. Halliwell to her husband. " What for ? A fine evening, as this Avill be ! " " If you once catch your Avinter's cough, you knoAV there's no getting rid of it until spring." "I am not likely to catch it in September, Jane," returned the Major. " Box seat, Alfred, both Avays." " We are breakfasting later than usual," remarked Lucy.