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Preface

In sending out another volume, the result of many years’ interrupted work and thought, the Authoress would do so with many fears and doubts were its “popularity” her aim and object. A work of didactic fiction des¬ titute of all artistic pretensions is likely to offend the serious, because f.-iftj:is “ light,”— the gay, because it is “heaVy^’—and the critic, because of its \.transgr£ssions of the rules of art. She sendsHt-forth, however, no¬ thing fearing,—because she has endeavoured to say what she had to say in the form she believed most suitable, and most according to her ability ; and casting it in faith and with prayer “ upon the waters,” she looks for a blessing “ after many days.”

PREFACE.

In sending out another volume, the result of many years’ interrupted work and thought, the Authoress would do so with many fears and doubts were its “popularity” her aim and object. A work of didactic fiction des¬ titute of all artistic pretensions is likely to offend the serious, because it jis “light,”— the gay, because it is “heaVy^’—and the critic, because of its; transgressions of the rules of art. She sendsot forth, however, no¬ thing fearing,—because she has endeavoured to say what she had to say in the form she believed most suitable, and most according ability ; and casting it in faith and M* 1 upon the waters,” she looks for ■r 11* i^days."

VI

PREFACE.

The principal design of this Volume is to portray the progress of a mind educated in exclusiveness and ignorance, and the many influences which awake it to a sense of its social unhealthiness, of which, however, the grand and only cure must ever be the Gospel. Many other topics and evils are touched upon, and an attempt made to indi¬ cate the errors of various classes; but nothing has the writer had more at heart than the hope of even this feeble instrument being blessed by Him who alone can bless, to the impressing upon women of the upper ranks a sense of their vast responsibilities, as the holders of gifts and talents, of which they must soon give in their account.

Contents

PAGE

Chap. I.—the Corner House, .... 3

II.—DR. BROWN’S BREAKFAST-TABLE, . 19

III. - LADY ELINOR’S TURRET, ... 33

IV. —DOING GOOD,.50

V. —LADY ELINOR’S DIARY, .... 71

VI. —A SICK-ROOM,.82

VII.—TURRET-TALK,.98

VIII.—THE TOUR,.121

IX.—SALTAIRE,.140

X.-COLTON,.172

XI.—GOOD PEOPLE,.196

XII.—THE RAILWAY,.222

XIII.—LESLIE NORTH IN SHADOW;

. 238 viii CONTENTS.

PA(iK

CHAP. XIV.—LADY ELINOR IN SUNSHINE, . . 261

XV.—UNEXPECTED EVENTS, . 283

XVI.—WHAT IS DOING, AND WHAT RE-

MAINS TO BE DONE, .309

XVII.— LANGCROFT,.336

XVIII.—MORE WORK,.359

XIX. —RESULTS,.388

XX. —CONCLUSION.410

APPENDIX,

ITabjj (&lxwx HJcrbawnt

OR

SUNBEAMS IN THE CASTLE,

" It is good for me that I have been afflicted.”—Ps. cxix. 71.

“ True, it may seem a moment.

As though thou wert forgot,

As though He were unmindful Of thy peculiar lot.

As though thy grief and anguish Reached not th’ Eternal Throne,

And thou wert left to languish In sorrow and alone.

“ But if, though much should grieve thee. Thy faith shall ne’er have ceased.

Be sure He will relieve When thou expect’st it least.

Then hail to thee, victorious !

Thou hast, and thou alone,

The honour, bright and glorious,

The conquest and the throne.

PAUL GERHARDT.

Chapter I. The Corner House

<e Oh, the auld house, the auld house!

What though the rooms were wee ;

Oh, kind hearts were dwelling there.

“ The baimies are a’ scattered noo,

Some to the Indies gane,

And some, alas ! to their lang hame ;

Not here we’ll meet again.

“ Oh, the auld house, the auld house !

Lanely though it be.

There ne’er can be a new house

Will seem sae fair to me.”— Lady Nairn.

“Hester! Hester!” shouted Dr. Browu through the bay window of the Comer House, “ Leslie North is coming on Tuesday!”

“Oh!” exclaimed the invalid within, sit¬ ting upright for the first time that day, her expression of pain changing into one radiant with delight. “ Tell me all about it. Come in; do come in.”

“ The Norths don’t go abroad till November,

LADY ELINOR.

and Leslie’s coming to us for two months! Can’t come in; everybody’s wrong to-day, and expects to be put to rights. Good-bye!” And in another minute the old Scotch doc¬ tor of the old English village of Woodleigh Mordaunt, had darted into his Brougham with the activity of youth, and was off on a , long professional round.

Hester Morris rang her hand-bell. She never liked to keep good news to herself.

“ Oh, Susan!” she exclaimed to the thin, elderly waiting-maid, “ who do you think is coming V’

“ Yes, ma’am, I know. Sally, who’s been in the sulks for a week, has stepped across all right to say that Miss Leslie’s coming on Tuesday; and Flora’s hard set at the cookery book, for new dumplings ; and Bar¬ ney’s standing on his head in the back-green, for he says Miss Leslie will be sure to appreeshate him—that boy’s just a dictionary, ma’am 1”

“ Won’t she^ke the new sofa, Susan, and the new shelf of books 1 and think of hear-

THE CORNER HOUSE.

ing Leslie sing again! It’s a weary two years since we’ve had her! ”

“ Indeed, ma’am, Sally and Flora and me were just- saying that Miss North had better stay altogether, when you and the Doctor are so fond on her. There’s Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Yates, and Mr. Whiteford would all be proud if she looked the way they’re in; and there’s young Lord D’Arcy—but maybe he’s too grand”—

“ Nonsense, Susan,” replied her mistress in sharper tones than she generally used in reply to the indulged old servant’s confused maunderings; adding in an under tone, “ As if anybody could be too grand for our Leslie!”

From that day till the eventful arrival there was an air of joyful expectation in the Corner House and its opposite neighbour; from drawing-room to kitchen, everything that was said and done had reference in some way or other to “ Tuesday.”

“ Anybody would think that Leslie was a piece of perfection, to hear the way we talk of her,” said Hester to Dr. Brown, laughing ;

I.ADT ELINOR.

“ yet the child is fall of faults; and I’m sure I scold her from morning till night. Nobody can say that I spoil Leslie!”

“ She takes it so winsomely; it’s a pleasure to scold her!” answered Dr. Brown fondly.

“ So it is,” said Hester with emphasis.

What a pleasant old dwelling-place is that ivied Corner House of the principal street of Woodleigh Mordaunt! Quaint and charming is its little turret, popularly called the “ Roundel,” which forms the tiniest of book-rooms. It is seldom used now, for Hester cannot walk up stairs, but Leslie North is very fond of it, and it is again an inhabited room during her visits. On one side, the Comer House looks out on a fine avenue of lime trees—the pride of the village, which shade the picturesque ruins of an old chapel and unused grave-yard of ancient tombs, while beyond stretches a rich smil¬ ing country, watered by the quiet river Leigh, and bounded by low swelling hills, which in the dewy mornings and sunset evenings take every shade of lilac, purple,

THE CORNER HOUSE.

and gold. Fantastic shapes, too, those hills assume when the mist falls on them, or dreamy eyes gaze out in the dim twi¬ light. It used to be so very often long ago, for like many other old houses, the Corner House had worn many different aspects in its day, and had not always been the abode of a solitary invalid. Nobody looked out and dreamed and hoped, and smiled and wept, from those western windows now ex¬ cept Leslie North. Flora, indeed, the fat cook, and Susan the thin house-maid, who had been in the Morris family for twentyseven years, looked out regularly when they aired' the rooms ; but no tales did the lime trees, and the ruins, and the distant hills, whis¬ per to them. I believe that they were more communicative to Barney, the small Irish boy fresh from a ragged school, whom Miss Morris was training to be a tiger, or “ a beast of prey in buttons,” as he confidentially explained to Flora, greatly to her horror and dismay. Yes, Barney sometimes crept up to those pretty windows, and felt himself “ grow

LADY ELINOR.

queer all over,” to use his own phraseology, when the last evening glories faded and died away.

On the other side, the Corner House looked out into King Charles’s Street, or King Street in modern brevity, which was full of odd gables, and quaint chimney-tops, and old beams of painted wood, conspicuous amongst which were those belonging to Dr. Brown’s comfortable mansion. The entrance to the Corner House was from the street by a low, wide, arched passage, through which might be seen the velvet turf and rich sweet September flowers of the old-fashioned shel¬ tered garden. Then if you ascended a few steps to the ivied porch, and traversed a broad matted passage, you would find your¬ self in Hester’s sitting-room of many years, with its low invalid sofa, and its wide south window looking out upon the pleasant garden, and its books and vases of flowers, and few choice pictures and precious likenesses of friends. Well did Hester know and love every leaf and thread, and pattern and featare within those four walls; for, except to move slowly and gently to and from the adjoining chamber, which was her bedroom, she had rarely been without their range during ten years.

Hester, when a girl, had been remarkably shy—very silent, very grave, and with no pretension to beauty. Her pretty sister, and a family of merry cousins next door, all had lovers and proposals, but none came to Hester. She never expected any. However, one day a friend of the merry cousins came to pay them a long visit, seeking change of air, for he was in delicate health, and had studied too hard at Cambridge. First he took a great fancy to the Corner House garden, with its clipped hedges, and sun-dial, and old moss-house beneath the elm tree, and its path down to the quiet river-side. Then he took another strange fancy, which was to have Hester beside him in the garden, and among the meadows, and where the water plashed in the reedy nooks. She could not help being very glad and grateful, for few in those days

LADY ELINOR.

thought much of Hester. Then it became still stranger, for he discovered that shy Hester had sentiment and feeling, and wit and knowledge, when they could be wooed out of their violet-like retirement. Many an hour’s reading of Milton and Wordsworth they had in the moss-house, or in Hester’s own favourite “Roundel,” and other books, too, of still higher meaning, of still deeper depths. Neither was the Book of Books forgotten between those two, for they were both seek¬ ing, and one had found—the one who was soonest to need their help—the riches of its hidden treasures. It was a strange courtship that of Walter Gower and Hester Morris! Nobody talked about it, or even thought of it, for the pretty sister and the merry cousins were accustomed to absorb all the admiration, and Walter talked and laughed more with them than with Hester, so they were quite satisfied. At last, Walter Gower was called abroad by family business of importance. No lover’s word was said between them at parting, but both felt that

THE CORNER HOUSE.

their two hearts had merged into one. He promised to write, and to come back soon. He did neither. But Hester read, “Died suddenly at Ostend, from heart-complaint, on his way to England, Walter Gower, aged twenty-nine.” She wondered at the strange thing which had come to her; and her spirit was agonized with a great agony. She never knew why he had not written. Perhaps the letter was lost; perhaps he was too ill; but Hester trusted with the sure trust, which is as good as knowledge, that he had not for¬ gotten her, and thus was spared the bitterest drop in life’s cup of sorrow. Hester came forth from her great tribulation a changed woman. In that time of sorrow the Word of God had come to her as a reality, and all things had become new. Before, she had sought peace, but she had never found it. Before, she had tried to be saved in her own way, but now she took the “ more excellent way.” Before, she had wondered at and scorned the strange word “ conversion,” but now she acknow¬ ledged that the “ change” was as great and

LADY ELINOR.

certain as light shining into thick darkness ; as order emerging from wild chaos ; as free¬ dom coming to the ironed captive. God’s Spirit has many ways of manifestation, and to her bleeding, bereaved heart the Saviour came gently as Friend and Elder Brother, first saving, and then comforting. In His finished work she found peace, which nothing could take away, and love which was allsufficient, even for such a lonely, yearning heart as hers. The outward change showed itself speedily; the suffering as well as the cure had worked its appointed work. Every phase of life had new and more beautiful meanings. “ What do they know who have not suffered 1 ” There was more dignity, more just self-appreciation, more love, more capa¬ city for action; an aim had arisen in her life —a goal to her journey, which had been wanting, even in her brief time of earthly happiness.

She might have married, but she never did ; so after the dear father and mother died, and the brothers went to India, and the

THE CORNER HOUSE.

pretty sister married and settled in the far West, and the cousins married too, Hester lived on in the Corner House alone. Next came a mysterious illness, and great agony of pain, which none of the doctors under¬ stood, so it was called neuralgia, and nothing did it any good; sometimes she was better, and sometimes she was worse, hut almost al¬ ways in pain, or in painful languor. I could not say that the ten years of such a life came and went without carrying with them much faithlessness, much struggle of heart, many almost hopeless tears when there were none to see, many wayward, nay, rebellious moods.

At first Hester thought that the terrible pain would either pass away quickly, and leave her free to carry out that growing capacity for action of which I have spoken, or that it would open the door wide into the blessed peopled home, where all love fully and work nobly. When she found that she was neither to die nor to recover, that was the time of her trial.

J4

LADY ELINOR.

“ There is a secret in the ways of God,

With His own children, which none others know,

That sweetens all He does.”

And Hester used often to say afterward, that though she had passed through the great change, yet she had required just such a course of training and teaching to bring her into the full liberty and rejoicing of those who have no will but the will of their God. Her will had been to live and work: her Father’s will for her had been to live and wait. She came through this time of trial, however, supported by nothing but the great strength of her Saviour; and thus Hester’s heart was set at leisure to swell and quiver with gratitude for all the blessings left to hfer: that dear old home ; those simpleminded, attached old servants; Dr. Brown, her faithful friend from earliest years, pastor too as well as physician; and Leslie North, who, as child, girl, and woman, had been the joy of her heart, nursing her in illness, cheer¬ ing her by those vividly graphic letters which nobody but Leslie knew how to write, and

THE CORNER HOUSE.

even, by her very faults, turning Hester’s thoughts from her pain and her despondency.

“ So many blessings in heaven and earth,” said Hester, “ how shall I show my grati¬ tude ? not by doing great things as I once hoped, but by doing small things faithfully. Let me Hve and love.” As love to God and man is like the sweet ointment which soon bewrayeth itself by sweetening all around, so it came to pass in this manner that Hester’s love won others to love, and many were the hearts that thus learned to love the Corner House. Those in sorrow loved it, for no mother’s sympathy was tenderer, few mothers’ coun¬ sels so wise as Hester’s. Those in gladness loved it, for Hester’s pale, bright face grows ever the brighter when she hears of her neighbours’ happiness. The young! Oh, how the young love it! especially on Satur¬ days, when they listen to “ stories ” from “ Aunt Hester,” as they all learn to call her, or romp in the old garden, or in the low odd-shaped rooms, where there is nothing to spoil, and where the mistress thereof dearly

LADY ELIKOR.

lores a noise; “ It really does my pain good, Susan," she would say apologetically. The poor loved those white, low steps, and that readily opened door. Hester could not go to seek them out herself, but she had many emis¬ saries, while her cheerful giving heart, and her thoughtful head, were of as much use to her on her sofa, as if she were a strong woman. I must confess, however, that Dr. Brown never could get Hester cured of the bad habit of allowing herself to be cheated occasionally; indeed, he declared angrily, that he believed she liked it 1 Many were the lectures he gave her on the Poor Laws, and on the crime of encouraging beggars.

Others had still higher reasons for loving the Corner House. Hester’s care for souls was greater than her care for bodies. Frankly and bravely did she speak, putting aside false shame and real timidity, as those speak who call the slumbering from tlie ruins of a falling house. Many said on earth, and doubtless many will say in heaven, “ Hester Morris showed me the way to eternal life.” One

THE CORNER HOUSE.

class of persons loved the Corner House, who seldom are found within the range of an old maid’s influence. The great sorrow of Hester’s girlhood was scarcely sorrow now ; but it had not withdrawn from her life its grave yet beneficent shadow ; it had become one of those

“ Griefs which lie in the heart like treasures,

Till time hath turned them to solemn pleasures.”

Often on the sweet Sabbath, that “ gleam of glory after six days’ showers,”—or when the calm moonlight brings other spheres and other intelligences so very near us, Hester would murmur softly and yearningly “Wal¬ ter, dear Walter! 1 shall see him soon.” When, and how, and where she knew not, but joyfully and surely did she know that so it was to be ! People often remarked that Hester never, even in jest, said a word in disparagement of the sterner sex. Tenderly and reverently she always judged them, greatly to the disapprobation of certain dis¬ contented wives and elderly maidens. Those who knew her best, knew that it was for the

B

LADY ELINOR.

sake of the dead lover of twenty years before. She had seen what man could be, and she loved to believe that there were many like “him.” It may have been this very point in Hester’s character, that drew to her so much cordial regard from those whom she thus trusted and defended. Many young men entering upon life, came to her for advice and sympathy; many in far away lands counted their friendship with Hester Morris as one of the few bright spots in their lives which would still look bright from the great clear mountains of eternity.

“ I’m sure I wish all * good ladies’ were like Hester Morris,” said Dr. Brown, “and I don’t know why they are not. If only she understood the Poor Laws !”

Dr. Brown was right. Hester Morris was nothing that every woman “ good” from the only right principle of goodness might not, and ought not to become, according to the varied circumstances of life.

CHAPTER II. DR. brown’s breakfast-table

“He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory : but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no un¬ righteousness is in him.—J ohn vii. 18.

“ But if greatness be so blind.

As to burst in towers of air;

Let it be with goodness lined,

That at least the fall be fair.

“ Then, though darken’d, you shall say.

When friends fail, and princes frown ;

Virtue is the roughest way,

But proves at last a bed of down.”i

“ Oh ! true nobilitie, and rightly graced,

With all the jewels that on thee depend,

Where goodnesse doth with greatnesse live embraced, And outward styles on inward worth attend.

“ Where ancestors* examples are perused,

Not in large tomes, or costly tombs alone ;

But in their heires ; and being dayly used,

Are like their robes more honourable grown.”

William Basse.

As Dr. Brown looked from behind his news¬ paper one September morning, he thought that nothing could possibly be brighter than

1 Part of an old poem addressed to Lord Bacon, when falling out of favour .—Author unknown.

LADY ELINOR.

his little breakfast-table, with the clear sun¬ shine sparkling upon the snowy table-cloth, and white china, and silver urn. Now, for the last two years the same sun had shone through the same window, upon the same table ; yet somehow it had looked quite dif¬ ferent. The fire had burned dingily; Sally, the cross housekeeper and cook, had locked up the “ best thingsthe toast used to be black and the tea bitter, and above all—for the Doctor was not a man who thought much of these small externals,—there had been the lack of the moral sunshine that now flashed and beamed behind the tea-cups from the eyes of Leslie North, his darling niece. It was a week since “ Tuesday,” that day when Leslie had well-nigh extinguished dear, happy, Aunt Hester with the vehemence of her greet¬ ings ; when she had danced and glanced into every old nook and corner of the Corner House, when she had rejoiced Flora’s heart with a new cookery book, and Susan’s with a “ Lady’s Companion,” and, through the medium of an illustrated Pilgrim’s Progress,

DR. brown’s breakfast-table.

made friends with Barney, who decided on the spot that she was “ an angel intirely, barrin’ the wings.” Since then she had stepped into her own old “ niche,” reading and singing to Aunt Hester, studying very hard and somewhat mysteriously in the little Roundel, scolding and laughing at cross old Sally, who made a point of going about the world like a thunder-storm, except when Leslie’s bright face dispelled the clouds, and, as we have seen, making even the cups and saucers, and tea-spoons, and toast-rack, brighter and better in the eyes of Dr. Brown.

Most people said that “ Miss North was just the same as everso said the admiring servants, so said the blind woman and sick girl in the village, who were under Leslie’s especial charge. Only one person said “ our Leslie is not quite our own Leslie,” and that was Aunt Hester in a private colloquy with Dr. Brown, who had replied indignantly, “ It’s all nonsense, — one of your silly fancies; she’s identically the same, except perhaps a bit thinner and paler. I daresay

LADY ELINOR.

she’s bilious,” added he with professional acu¬ men. But Hester was not so easily satisfied. If the western windows and the Roundel walls could have spoken, I suspect they would have said the very same thing as Aunt Hester. Reserved by nature, Leslie North, like all growing and deepening characters, was more reserved year by year, so Hester said to herself, “ Whatever it is, I must trust for her; it will all come right,—she is in better hands than mine.”

“Now, Uncle George,” said Leslie North, as she was pouring out the tea, “ why don’t you ask me what I thought of the people at the Castle last night \ ”

“ Why don’t I ask fire and water, or cats and dogs, what they think of each other ? ” answered the Doctor with a smile, but his expression changed as he added, “She’s a fine creature though.”

“ Do you mean Lady Elinor Mordaunt, uncle 1” was all that Leslie said, but it had rather a doubtful sound.

dr. brown’s breakfast-table.

“Ay, ay, I knew how it would be,” grumbled the Doctor; “ the silly girl would be for showing off, and so your vanity has taken the pet!”

“ Not a bit,” answered Leslie, laughing; “ though Lady Elinor certainly delivered me from ‘ the delusion of thinking myself inter¬ esting,’ which Miss Keltie says, 1 is one of the greatest blessings that can be bestowed upon us ! and I returned the benefit, for I thought Lady Elinor one of the most uninteresting girls I ever met.”

“ Leslie, Leslie, don’t be hard on the motherless lassie ; she has a noble energetic nature, and a craving after the unseen mother, noble-hearted woman that she was. HI never give up the hope that

* He who saved the sainted mother will Redeem the child.* ”

“ Dear Uncle George, if I were but as good and as hopeful as you are,” said Leslie; but an impatient “ Tut!” warned her that she was on dangerous ground, for the Doctor was

1 Miss Keltie’s Reminiscences of Thought and Feeling.

LADY ELINOR.

always on the defensive against what he called “ flummery so she went on to say, “ I wish I could see anything to like about her ; I assure you I tried very hard, for it is so disagreeable not to like people. Why, she is not even pretty!”

“When you’ve lived a bit longer, darling,” said the uncle, “ you’ll learn to be a better digger into the mines that lie all around us. There’s a deal of gold hidden under many a heap of rubbish in the world. This poor child thinks much, though she thinks wrongly. To my mind. Lady Elinor is like the bonnie bits of glass in a kaleidoscope before they are shaken into a pattern. It’s the grace of heaven she needs, and nothing less will doit.”

“The expression of her countenance struck me as that belonging to a clever though un¬ educated mind, and I must say there was a look in it as if she needed to be loved,” said Leslie thoughtfully.

“ Yes, yes, poor thing, she is quite unedu¬ cated except by foreign governesses and Londb. brown’s breakfast-table.

don masters; of the real education of life and circumstance,, she has known nothing. How¬ ever, I think that there is a growing sense of need and ignorance, and a conviction of the falsity of everything that is of the earth earthy, and that is the first step.”

“ Poor Lady Elinor!” and a wistful, tear¬ ful light, came into Leslie’s eyes as she added, “ Education is a hard thing.”

“We make it as hard as we can,” said Dr. Brown; “especially you women. You are always making idols of something or other.”

Leslie’s eyes filled with tears.

“ Is that worship of the ideal, indeed, such a common thing with us 1”

“ I believe it to be part of the education of women ; many of the best of you won’t come to the Real, till you’ve had the False laid in dust and ashes.”

Dr. Brown read his newspaper, and drank his tea for about the space of five minutes, during which silence Leslie’s thoughts were far, far from the sunny room in Woodleigh Mordaunt. It was with a start and a look of

LADY ELINOR.

pain that they came back, and she said with an effort, “ It never decreases the pain of all real education to hare it said, as one says to a child, ‘ Very disagreeable, but very good for you, my dear.’ Still, it is a comfort after¬ wards, and I hope that poor Lady Elinor, with her wealth and rank, may be educated into being a blessing in the world.”

“ Her rank!” exclaimed the Doctor. “ Whew! sets the wind in that quarter 1 is this my radical Leslie V

“ Oh, uncle 1 I never was a Radical, though I dearly love the ‘ people but I Ve heard Uncle Charlie talk a great deal about the balance of social power, and the want of proportion, either in a wholly aristocratic or wholly democratic mind, and I see now that rank and station are good and great gifts, because they influence such myriads of minds.”

“Ay,” said the Doctor, “there’s enough of folks who catch up the words of the great, as if they spoke rubies and diamonds, like the good girl in the fairy tale.”