Aims and ends, a novel, by C.C.G.

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Chapter I

** Brilliant hopes, all woven in gorgeous tissues, Flaunting gaily, in the golden light, Large desires with most uncertain issues.**

Midsummer had come full of its usual witcheries, the trees being in their grandest foliage, and the air filled with the fragrance of summer flowers, and the sweet notes of its numerous songsters, when the important morning of the wedding arrived. There had been rain in the night which refi^eshed the air, but it had left its traces in some remaining

VOL. II. B

Z AIMS AND ENDS.

clouds, which combated witht he rising sun, causing some apprehension to the early waters that morning ; however, at length his majesty arose in fiill splendour from his bed of cloud, and joyfully shone on the pretty village of Norrington, and by an early hour the inmates of Oak Cottage were astir in order to put the finishing touches to the preparations for the wedding festivities.

I hope our readers will not be disappointed in finding no catalogue of lEiesLUor^ s trousseau ^ which had been prepared in London, without much trouble on the part of the bride herself, and which was already packed for the journey, as that semi-barbarous custom of making a display of the wardrobe had been rejected with determination, although Mrs. Ferne seemed to lament that so many splendid dresses, and so much exquisite lace should be hidden frbm view, more especially as her friends and acqtiiaintance around Norrington would have but little chance in the future of seeing thesa on Lad,y Thombury, and those rare and

AIMS iSD KNDfi. 3

costly jewels too — such a pity ; would not Eleanor allow these, at all events, to be placed on a Jptble in the corner of the drawing-room for inspection ? but all her efforte were vain, as Lord Thornbury was a man too much accustomed to live in the atmosphere of diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, to wish to see his valuable gifts to his bride elect arranged as if in a jeweller's shop— to be looked at, admired, and perhaps coveted.

This custom of making an exHbition of the bridal trousseau always seems to me quite unworthy of the dignity of marriage, and to be a relic of less civilized times, or, at all events, a revival of them.

Lord Thornbury and Sir Andrew Bolton had taken up their quarters at the DoljMn Hotel, in Ashwell, on the previous evening, and Augusta Lennox had been spending the last week with her friend, in readiness for the eventful day*

Arabella Bolton had promised to act her

B 2 part as bridesmaid, and had also given shelter to a mutual friend of Eleanor and herself who was required as the fourth bridesmaid ; and Captain Wyncroft arrived at Ashwell by an early train, and reached Norrington before eleven o'clock.

The three girls appeared in their usual morning costume, at an early breakfast, which, however, was a very light one to each of them, for Maude soon suggested that it was quite time for Eleanor to commence dressing, when all three adjourned to her room, and the critical process began, glances and words of admiring love being freely bestowed by Maude and Augusta, who seemed to vie with each other in their expressions of rapture, as the toilette advanced.

A rich white satin, with an upper skirt of superb Brussels lace, with its high body fit • ting without a wrinkle, being her wedding dress, with its crowning wreath of orange blossoms, contrasting well with the raven bands beneath.

Eleanor's usually bright face was a shade paler than usual, which perhaps added to its nobility of caste, and she received the tender caresses of her fair lady's maids more silently than her ordinary liveliness of repartee would have suggested ; but the last fairy touch was given, when, in accordance with the entreaties of her friends, Eleanor surveyed herself in her bridal array in the pier glass, and a gleam of mingled pleasure and satisfaction flitted across her brow, and voluble thanks for their valuable labours of love poured forth in abundance.

We will leave her for the next half hour, reflecting on the momentous period which has now really arrived, and striving to banish a phantom which will occasionally throw its shade over the brightness of her prospects. Both Maude and Augusta looked particularly nice in their robes of white crepe, with trimmings of delicate pink, as they conducted the queen of the day down stairs, having preb AIMS AND END8.

viously made those mysterious arrangements of a splendid Brussels veil, which swept the ground in its elegant folds, and which always puzzles an inexperienced eye so greatly,

Mr. Feme had almost forgotten his pet stock of imaginary maladies, as be handed her to the carriage after some complimentary remarks on her wonderfully becoming attire ; but he pointed with much concern to some very black clouds which were coming up against the wind, with prognostications of evil.

Mrs. Feme had been prevailed upon to send for a new dress for the occasion, and for once appeared in presentable condition, and, she, too, looked her best, as she and Augusta took possession of the second carriage, leaving Maude and Tom for the last

The drive to the church was very soon accomplished,, and in the vestry the three gentlemen and Mr. Hastings were awaiting them, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Bolton, Arabella, and

Miss Clifford from the Park ; wheu the usual service proceeded, Mr. Hastings officiating.

Before its conclusioa, some of the party were much startled by a sudden clap of thunder, which was soon followed by torrents ot rain, and the bridal party were detained by its violence in the vestry, for nearly half an hour after the necessary signatures had been made, which was not very animating to the spirits of either the bride or her attendants.

We trust such a beginning to her married life was not in any degree ominous for her future career. At length, however, the storm abated, and the sun gave forth a fitful gleam as they drove back to Oak Cottage in due form, when Eleanor graceftilly acknowledged the congratulations of those around her, receiving their good wishes with a dignity suited to Lady Thornbury.

Oh ! those tedious speeches, which always mar the cheerfulness of a wedding breakfast. Will they ever come to an end ? For ever the d AIMS AND ENDS.

same stereotyped edition of meaningless nonsense I However, a hint to Eleanor that the long delay in the church had made it very late, sent her up stairs accompanied by her bridesmaids to finish her preparations for the journey; and half an hoar afterwards she came down in an elegant travelling dress, and after taking an affectionate leave of the company, and more especially of Maude, she stepped into the carriage, which had been waiting some minutes at the door, and Lord and Lady Thombury were rapidly conveyed by four splendid greys to a railway station a few miles distant, on their way to Folkestone, en route for the continent.

There are few things more gloomy than the house from which a wedding has just taken place, after the departure of the principals, and though Frank Wyncroft exerted himself to the utmost to raise the drooping spirits of both Augusta and Maude, it was impossible to restore them to their usual standard of brightness and mirth. Arabella carried off Sir Andrew Bolton in her train, as all the party returned to Bolton Park immediately after the departure of the bride and bridegroom, and Mr. Hastings took his leave at the same time. Tom was in wild spirits, and had insisted on throwing the lucky slipper after his cousin as the carriage moved off, but a fortunately erring aim sent it to the coachman's head instead of its entering the window as intended.

Mr. and Mrs. Feme could not help rejoicing in the prosperous marriage which Eleanor had made, and all through the day Mr. Feme forgot to dose himself with sal volatile, or even to prescribe remedies to Captain Wyncroft, though strangers were rarely allowed to escape this infliction under ordinary circumstances.

Mrs. Feme careftiUy watched Maude as she

moved about, lest that fragile dress of hers

should come to grief against dangerous cor-

B 5

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10 AIMS AND ENM.

ners of chairs or tables, and was quite rejoiced when night came to enable her to fold up her own delicate coloured silk.

Frank Wyncroft and Augusta returned to London the following day, and Oak Cottage regained its usual serenity^ after its short period of excitement — or, at all events, to all outward appearance ; but Maude's mind was in a state of great perturbation, revolving between fears which had begun to suggest themselves to her on a former occasion, and which had assumed a more definite form on the day of her cousin's marriage, in regard to Mr, Hastings ; and thoughts of pity for Charles Stafford, when he should receive tidings of the inconstancy of his Jianeie^ and this heartrending intelligence was in store for him in a different manner and at an earlier period than her conjectures had fixed upon, the object of her pity and sympathy being much less distant than she could have imagined. Yellow fever had been raging with extraordinary fatality in Barbadoes, and though a surprisingly good constitution enabled Mr. Stafford to struggle through a most severe attack, followed by many slighter relapses, so that he hovered between life and death for some weeks, his health had been much shattered by the protracted illness ; and a voyage to England was considered the best remedy for his case, and one which he, in his ignorance of the stunning news awaiting him there, most readily accepted,

The voyage, aided by bright anticipations of the delight he should experience in astonishing the inmates of Oak Cottage by his unexpected arrival, tended to restore his exhausted energies, and by the time he had reached Liverpool, he had almost shaken off his invalid habits, and after one night's rest at an hotel, he hoped to be able to take the journey as i^r as London, on the way to Oak Cottage, the following day, when on his arrival at the hotel, a waiter brought him the

" Times " for the day, as an amusement for the evening. He laid the paper aside until after he had dined, when on resuming it, the first words which arrested his attention were startling indeed !

" Marriage in high life !" preluded the paragraph announcing thelate wedding of Lord Thombury with Miss Eleanor Leigh, who was described as being a lady of surpassing beauty and elegance, and crowned with all the graces and accomplishments usually bestowed on brides of all circles, and especially so, when they have won the glory of a coronet.

At first Charles Stafford scarcely realized the astounding intelligence, and again and again his eye eagerly scanned that fearful paragraph. Could it be his Eleanor; the being who had exchanged such willing vows of eternal constancy with him only ten months previously, and who had so frequently renewed the assurances of her undying attachment in the interval ? It could not be ! There

AIMS AND EKDS. 13

must be some mistake. He was doing her grievous injustice in having for one moment doubted her sincerity, and of course she would have written to him to claim a release, had her affection for him waned !

Such were the conflicting thoughts which rapidly shot through his mind, as the paper still remained in his hand ; but another perusal of the sentence opened his eyes cruelly to the impossibility of any mistake in the matter, and bitter indeed were the moments which ensued, reflections crowding upon each other in overwhelming confusion as he leant back in his chair, heedless of the passing hours that flew by.

He now remembered his disappointment in having received no letters by the two or three last mails, and the idea struck him that Eleanor's late despatches had been much more brief and hurried than usual, and the latest received epistle being in his pocket, he opened the envelope to see if he could trace any di-

14 AIMS AKD ENDS.

minution in the tenderness of its tone, and in his present state of enlightenment he wandered that he had not previously detected a want of ease in its style, and a chilliness of expression very diflferent from the few first warm eflFosions he received from her, but which at the time of its arrival he had attributed to the extreme haste in which the letter was evidently written.

Suspicion formed no portion of our hero's character, or it might have been more easily aroused, but judging of others by hiB own high standard of principle and honour, he had not suflficiently weighed the fickleness to which human nature is so prone, nor had his acquaintance with Eleanor's character been sufficiently intimate to discover her powerful feeling of ambition.

The midnight hour had resounded from many a church clock, before he aroused himself from these musings, and the extreme pallor of his countenance betrayed the inter-

AIMS AND £NDfl. 15

nal anguish of those first hours of blighted hopes, which contrasted so painfully with the previous anticipations of bright and surprised welcomes to Oak Cottage 5 but before retireing to rest, his mind was fixed on one point, namely, that he would return to banishment in Barbadoes without any of his friends or relations being aware of his having been at all in England, and he would spend the intervening fortnight in London, where he would find lodgings in some obscure comer removed from all chance of meeting any of his acquaintances.

The next morning he carried out his resolve, and the evening of the last day of June found poor Charles Stafford disconsolately occupying some rooms in a retired, but clean and comfortable lodging-house ; not venturing far beyond its precincts, lest he should encounter any of his former friends, and with no heart for any kind of amusement. The mental shock he had sustained coming on an already weakened frame threw him back considerably, and obliged him, nolens volens, to resume many of his invalid habits, and not until he had reasoned himself into calmness and a philosophical view of things, was there much improvement in his health ; however, the fortnight passed away, and found him still disinclined to resume his labours as secretary in the West Indies; moreover his medical attendant, who had been called in the day after his arrival in London, warned his patient against venturing on a return to so trying a climate until his health was more ftdly reestablished, and he did not give him hopes of being really fit to face the enemy for many weeks to come.

This announcement threw our invalid into a dilemma, as he did not relish the idea of preserving an incognito in London for such an indefinite period, when a trip to St. Leonards suggested the idea of a pleasant change of thought and scene, with the prospect of benefit from the cool sea breezes^ whicli abounded at that place even in the hottest summer ; and to St. Leonards he accordingly went, finding relief to his wearied thoughts in wandering by the sad sea waves, as he at first shunned the gay scenes usually frequented by visitors in the season, and preferred communing with his own crushed heart, as set to the melancholy music of the waves, as they rolled on towards him, or as they receded with that peculiarly soothing, seething kind of sound over the shingle.

There is a charm in the ever-changing sea to most minds, and a bruised heart finds relief in its varying note of pity, especially such as have been shipwrecked in first love and faith.

Charles Stafford was no exception to the general rule, but it would be impossible to chronicle all his memories of the past, or his forebodings for the future. However this morbid state of feeling was not destined to last very long, as one morning when occupying a favourite seat near the beach, the soand of a familiar voice arrested his attention, and on looking up he perceived a party of ladies, amongst whom he speedily recognised the friend and cousin of the one who had been occupying so many of his thoughts of late.

Maude Feme started with amazement as Charles arose to greet her, but one glance at that woe-worn face convinced her that he knew all, and a rapid sketch of his unexpected return to England, and the events which followed was soon given, and with a promise to call on Maude at her friend's house in the afternoon, they parted, Charles having begged her to guard his secret, having easily detected from her sympathetic manner how much she had felt for him, and a ceitain quiet charm of manner about Maude had always rendered her an object of much interest, during the few meetings which had taken place between them before his departure to Barbadoes.

Maude's fiiends were somewhat curious about the subject of her having so speedily met with an acquaintance, and observed that they had frequently remarked the handsome but melancholy stranger, and were quite eager to learn who he would prove to be.

Maude merely spoke of him as an acquaintance whom she had met in the neighbourhood of Norrington, but said that he was coming to call in the afternoon. Maude had left home on a very short notice, having had an invitation from some ladies, who had once been staying at the Rectory, to pay them a visit at St. Leonards, where they had taken a house for a few months, and though the plan had often been talked of, it was eventually carried out almost suddenly, and on many accounts it was a great relief to poor Maude to leave Oak Cottage just now, so that she gladly availed herself of her parent's consent to accept so tempting an invitation ; and she had only arrived the evening before the unexpected meeting on the beach.

i

She half dreaded the promised interview with Mr. Stafford, and yet looked forward to it with an interest keener than she often indulged in, respecting any one. How could she console him ? What would be his feelings towards her faithless cousin ? But the afternoon at length arrived, and with it the being who would dispel these wonderings and doubtings.

On his first arrival nothing but general conversation took place, as Miss Rivers was with Maude in the drawing-room when Mr. Stafford was announced, but after a time she remembered an unfinished letter for the post, and begged to be excused for going down stairs to finish it, courteously inviting Mr. Stafford to remain and partake of their dinner at six o'clock, which, however he declined for that day, though promising to come on some future evening for that purpose.

The door had closed on Miss Rivers, and with some degree of shyness, Maude found herself destined to a tete ct tite with Lady Thombury's fonner lover. A silence of two or three minutes ensued, but was broken by Maude, who enquired with some agitation :

" When did you last hear from my cousin ?"

" I had been making all kinds of conjectures as to her silence for two or three mails before I started for England," replied Stafford ; " but you know. Miss Feme, one thinks no ill of a beloved one, so that I had quelled any great amount of anxiety by finding a hundred different reasons which might have caused her silence, and letters are occasionally lost in the transit, and I knew you would have written had she been ill ; but tell me, dear Miss Feme, when Eleanor first met Lord Thombury ?"

" Last September," replied Maude, *' when he came down to shoot over Sir Andrew Bolton's preserves."

" What 1 so soon — ^within a few weeks of those tender adieuxl" exclaimed Charles, when Maude quickly rejoined :

22 AIMS Am) ENDS.

" Oh, I do not mean to say she regarded Lord Thombury as more than a common acquaintance at that time."

" How often did they meet?" asted Charles.

" We happenod just then to see a great deal of our neighbours, I remember," replied Maude.

" But do tell me all you can remember of that period," implored her companion.

" I wefll remember the first time we met him, was in the Ashwell fields, as he and Sir Andrew Bolton were returning from shooting. Mr. Bolton and Arabella were riding by, and introduced us, when the gentlemen turned and walked liome with us. Lord Thombury is passionately fond of music, and he and his friend came one morning to hear Eleanor

sing.

A flush of pain passed over Charles Stafford's brow as he said :

" Ah 1 that lovely voice gome forever 1 but please tell me all."

AIM^ AND ENDS. 23

"Then/' continued Maude, "came the Harvest Home, and some other meetings, but nothing of any note occurred until Eleanor went to the Lennox's, where Lord Thombury seems to have been constantly in attendance, and then her correspondence with you ceased/'

" Ah ! I remember," observed Mr. Stafford ; " her last letter was written on the eve of her journey to London." And a deep sigh escaped liim.

Here the conversation came to an abrupt conclusion by the entrance of Mrs. Rivers, who renewed her daughter's invitation to dinner for the next day, and a promise on Maude's part being given to be on the beach immediately after breakfeist the next day, Charles Stafford took his leave, full of longing to hear more on a subject which was still of such deep interest to him.

Chapter II

** O mj cousin, shallow hearted ! O my Amy, mine no more I O the dreary, dreary moorland! O the barren, barren shore."

Tenhtson.

The clock had scarcely struck ten on the following morning, when the three ladies set out for their early walk, and as Mrs. Rivers and her daughter had some shopping to do, Maude proposed waiting for their return, on the beach, according to her promise of the previous day, to which they readily agreed, and at this moment Mr. Stafford was seen advancing to meet them, when Mrs. Rivers entrusted Maude to his care until their return from the town, which was an arrangement most suitable to their wishes.

Maude was shocked to see the traces of agitation which the conversation of the previous afternoon had left on her companion's countenance, and she began to doubt the wisdom of probing the wound in his heart so deeply as it was evident her recital of the particulars of Eleanor's defection had done ; but on the other hand she could not refuse to answer any of his inquiries, and he had assured her that a full and complete enlightenment as to the whole proceedings would prove the best remedy for him. He immediately began by lamenting the abrupt conclusion of the subject uppermost in his thoughts, by Mrs. Eivers' entrance into the room the day before, and added his hopes that they should be more fortunate from interruptions then, to which Maude replied that her friends had a great deal to do in the way of shopping, and would not return under half an hour at the least.

" But tell me. Miss Feme, if I bore you

with my inquiries? as I do feel it is very VOL. ir. c selfisli in me to make others share my miseries/'

Mande answered pensively, "It would indeed be a sincere gratification if I thought I could defend poor Eleanor in any degree from the extreme heartlessness with which her conduct appears to have been invested, but I fear any defence beyond that of youth and inexperience is nowhere to be foimd."

A melancholy smile passed over Charles Stafford's features, as he said : —

" It is quite clear that her more youthfiil, and still more inexperienced cousin would have acted quite differently, had she been placed in similar circumstances ; but far be it from me to judge that young heart by my own embittered feelings; but do you think she really loved Lord Thombury ?"

" Ah I there I must beg you to excuse me ; as who can tell the innermost feelings of another's heart ?"

" That reply is tantamount to a confession

AIMS A^t> ENDS. 27

of doubt in your own mind, Miss Feme ; but surely no other inducement would have been of sufficient weight with Eleanor, to lead her to seal her fktfe for life."

A sigh from Maude * was the only reply ; when Charles Stafford begged to know something of Lord Thombury's history and position, and from his companion's manner of describing him and his possessions, a light broke in upon his brain, which resolved itself into the simple enquiry:—

'*• Do you think, then, that it'was his title and wealth which proved too powerful a magnet to Eleanor ? and yet I should never have suspected her of ambition; should you. Miss Feme?"

A faint stnile accompanied her response.

"You had scarcely time to discover Eleanor's ruling passion, in the few interviews you had with her before you left her, and^ such points of character do not often transpire in a correspondence between two people

c 2

28 AIMB AND ENDS.

" Ah, tnie, our real acquaintance was too slight ; but one feels as if one glance of love was equal to many years of mere acquaintance, when the heart is untouched ; and this may have been the root of my error in forming so hasty an engagement ; but tell me, Miss Feme, did Eleanor express no regrets on my account ?'*

" Oh, it would indeed be doing her terrible injustice to imagine that she could be so devoid of all feeling as that/' exclaimed Maude. " She said she could not write to you herself, so deeply she felt for you ; and many were the struggles in her own mind between first love and ambition ; but, alas ! the idea of a coronet prevailed."

" Why did not some one write to me before the marriage took place ?"

*' My uncle did write to you to announce the bare fact of the engagement ; but Eleanor was not content with that, but made me also write a long letter to you, with many messages and attempts at explanation/'

*' I wonder these despatches never reached me in Barbadoes ; but I conclude they must have arrived there very soon after I set sail, the end of May ; as I came in a sailing vessel, in preference to a steamer, which gave me a much longer voyage/'

A great many more enquiries and replies had been made, when Mrs. and Miss Eivers put an end to the conversation so full of interest to them both, by joining the party, and after some general remarks on the beauty of the day, the exquisite colour of the sea, and such trivialities in which we English do delight, Charles StaiBEbrd expressed his intention of visiting a point of attraction at some distance ; but bade them adieu with .a promise of being punctual to six o'clock for dinner, and all the ladies having letters to write, they returned home, and were soon busily occupied at their desks, or writing portfolios.

Maude was careftd not to allude to her unexpected meeting with Charles Stafford, in

30 AIMS AND EHD8.

her letter to her mother; but with her thoughts BO fiill of the matter, she found it a task of some difficulty to enlarge on other subjects, and fill her envelope to the amount which eibe knew would be expected at home ; however, time brings all things to an end, whether pleasant or disagreeable, trifling or important; and by luncheon time her lucubrations had come to an end.

A long drive with her friends in the afternoon tended to change the current of hear thoughts in some measure, and she exerted herself strenuously to throw oflf the intruding memories wldch would occasionally render her somewhat distrait, being very anxious that her friends should not have any suspicions raised in regard to her meeting with Charles Stafford so soon after her arrival in Hastings.

Within a few minutes of the clock striking six, Mr. Stafford was announced, as the three ladies were sitting chatting over their work in

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the drawing-drooin ; and dinner passed over as such things usually do, only that Mr. ^taflFord preferred accompanying the trio as they retired afterwards, to being left in solitary possession of the dining-room, and having gained the requested permission, he followed Maude to a balcony in which some plants were arranged at iin open window, and offered to assist her in her occupation of plucking off some withered leaves, which had attracted her notice as she entered the room.

** Each faded leaf is an emblem of my withered heart," whispered Charles, with an accompanjdng sigh; when Maude, on perceiving that Mrs. Rivers and her daughter were engaged in conversation quite at the other end of the room, ventured to reply, with some animation.