On the edge of a moor

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By the Author of ‘‘‘ Probable Sons/

The Odd One* Profusely Illustrated. Small 4to, decorated cloth $1.00

Another of the charming dhild stories by this now well-known writer. The title describes the characteristics, and prepares the reader for the experiences, of the little girl who is the heroine of the tale, which is a graceful and touching story, full of Gospel teaching. The bo(^ is furnished with wide-margined pages, which are decorated with numerous drawings in Miss Lathbury’s best style.

A Thoughtless Seven* Profusely Illustrated. Small

4to, decorated cloth .50

A record of the doings of seven youngsters, brothers and sisters, who spend their summer vacation at the seashore. One of them becomes impressed with the idea that they should not waste their time so entirely, and endeavors to bring the others to her way of thinking.

Teddy^s Button* Illustrated. Small 4to, decorated cloth 50

“A captivating story. Teddy and Nancy win our hearts. Teddy’s brave fight with himself commands admiration, and stout-hearted, handsome Nancy, a real girl in all her doings, conquers the heart.” — The Christian Intellige7icer.

Probable Sons*^^ Illustrated. 60th thousand. Small

4to, decorated cloth, 50c.; lamo, cloth 35

Paper 15

“We do not know the author of this very touching tale. It is equal to ‘ Fishin’ Jimmy’ in its way, while as an illustration of the text, ‘ A little child shall lead them,’ it is the most irresistibly pathetic tale we remember to have seen. Among the brightest, most charming and irresistible of child-creations in our recent literatur#.”— 7"^^ Independent.

Ericas Good News* Illustrated. i2mo, boards, .30 A story of the iniuence which Eric, a little invalid boy, had upon the life of a world-worn young man with whom he became acquainted at a seaside resort.

On the Edge of a Moor* Illustrated. lamo^ cloth, 1.00

An interesting narrative of the means by which a city girl, living among a number of rough, untutored country people, became an influence for good to her entire neighborhood.

Dwell Deep* Illustrated. i6mo, cloth 75

“ A story of a girl who, being left without a home, went to live with her guardian, who had a number of children. Hilda Thorn was trying to be a Christian, and her associates were very worldly, which made it hard for her. It is an interesting story, with the reality of experience.” — The Religious Herald.

Fleming; H* Revell Company

Toronto : 154 Yonge St.

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MAN SPRANG OUT AND SEIZED HER BRIDLE.’’ — (Page 159.)

By

THE AUTHOR OF

‘Probable Sons^’ “The Odd One,” “Dwell Deep,** etc.

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' AUeB6U87)

New York Chicago Toronto

Fleming H. Revell Company

TAe Religious Tract Society^ London

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Copyright, 1897, by Fleming H. Revell Company

Cast thy bread upon the waters^ for thou shalt find it after many

days,'

The land was still, the skies were grey with weeping.

Into the soft brown earth the seed she cast.

“ Oh, soon,’’ she cried, will come the time of reaping.

The golden time, when clouds and tears are past.”

Then came a whisper through the autumn haze —

‘‘ Yea, thou shalt find it after many days.”

Hour after hour she marks the fitful gleaming Of sunlight shining through the cloudy rift ;

Hour after hour she lingers, idly dreaming To see the rain fall, and the dead leaves drift.

« Oh for some small green signs of life ! ” she prays.

Have I not watched and waited many days? ”

At early morning, chilled and sad, she hearkens To stormy winds that through the poplars blow.

Far over hill and plain the heaven darkens —

Her field is covered with a shroud of snow.

“ Ah, Lord,” she sighs, « are these Thy loving ways ? ”

He answers, « Spake I not of many days ? ”

The snowdrop blooms : the purple violet glistens On beds of moss, that take the sparkling showers.

Half cheering, half doubting yet, she strays and listens To finches singing to the shy young flowers.

A little longer still His love delays

The promised blessing — “ after many days.”

« Oh, happy world,” she cries, ‘‘ the sun is shining !

Above the soil I see the springing green !

I could not trust His word without repining ;

I could not wait in peace for things unseen.

Forgive me. Lord ! My soul is full of praise.

My doubting heart prolonged Thy < many days.’ ”

Contents

CHAP. PAGE

I. A Family Council 9

II. First Acquaintances 17

Chapter I A Family Council

It is only let to him for ten years/*

Ten years ! It*s a perfect age. Don't talk of it ! "

** Years slip by fast enough as one gets older."

I don’t suppose we shall meet again like this at the end of it."

No ; I expect most of you boys will be married."

And what about yourself, Tabby ? "

Oh, I shall have developed into a strong-minded spinster."

A general laugh followed this statement, and seven pairs of eyes rested critically, or otherwise, on the figure of the girl in their centre.

Reclining in an old oaken chair, her face just raised enough to show her white, softly-moulded throat, her hands idly clasped round her knees, Rhoda Carlton met her brothers’ gaze with calm equanimity.

At first glance she might not strike one as a beauty, though there was something in the poise of her head, and in the upright bearing of her tall, slender figure that demanded attention from all who met her. Dark rippling lo On the Edge of a Moor

hair surrounded a broad, white brow, but a pair of soft brown eyes did not alter the natural severity of her classical features in repose, and it was not until she spoke or smiled, and the sudden sunshine softened and radiated her whole countenance, that one realized how beautiful she was. Turning from her to the young men around her, no stranger would have doubted their relationship for an instant. Seven of the finest looking men in the county they were called, and if length of limb and breadth of shoulder, as well as determined regular features were to be taken into consideration, then no doubt the average Englishman would be at a disadvantage.

Howard, the eldest, stood against the chimney-piece, his dark brows knitted, and he alone of the little group seemed ill at ease.

Edgar ^s whole bearing, as he leaned back in an easy-chair, smoking a cigar, proclaimed him to be a soldier; whilst lying on the hearthrug in front, there was no mistaking the sailor in the family, his tattoed wrist and sturdy figure standing out in bold relief against the blazing fire. In the background were three others, one of them a dreamylooking curate, and lastly, the youngest of all, a youth in shooting jacket and knickerbockers, was lying full length on a low couch, looking the picture of health and content. They were all grouped round the smoking-room fire, — the cosiest corner in Verners Manor.

But if we leave them there together and venture into the servants' hall, a voluble old housekeeper, discoursing to Captain Carlton’s soldier servant, may supply us with all necessary information about them.

‘‘Do you want to know what this family gathering is for, Mr. Nicholls ? Then no one can tell you better than

A Family Council 1 1

myself, which have nursed the eight from their infancy, and never saw finer babies anywhere. It*s been a long time coming. Since the old master broke down and told Mr. Howard the strain of keeping the old place together was too much for him, and Mr. Howard finding out that cunning rascal of a Lock, which was the agent and which was thieving and ruining the whole property, why, I knew it would come to this ! But Mr. Howard, he*s a wonderful gentleman for business, and he gets the reins in his hands, and he cuts down the timber, and he pulls the place together, and I believe it would have been well to this day, if it hadn't been for them ’lections. He must stand for his county, he says, and so all the neighborhood said ; and the money was got in hand, and he flung it out right and left ; and then, when all’s said and done, a little bow-legged, bald-headed ironmonger comes in at the top of the poll, and Mr. Howard finds he has wasted his goods for nothing. Then his lawyer persuades him to let the whole place to a cousin of his who’s a man of money, and says if he’s allowed to have it ten years he’ll bring it back to the old style again. And that’s where we stand now, Mr. Nicholls ! and what Miss Rhoda will do, and where she’ll go, is past my knowledge ! But she’s a wonderful young lady ; I believe she has excited her brother to this degrading business. And he is going up to London, and is actually going into a house of business for a time, till he can get his affairs in better order — he the heir, and the head of the family, Mr.

Nicholls ! We’ve been proud of them up to now. Captain Carlton is a credit to us, and Mr. Robert, he’s following on in the Navy, though it do take a long time for an officer to get his title there ! Then there’s Mr. Herbert, he’s an elegant preacher, and has been highly complimented on his sermons by the bishop himself, though what he must needs take a curacy in the East of London for, I can't imagine! Mr. Walter, he had high honors at the Oxford University, and has a lot of letters after his name ; he is one of the head masters at the Eton school for young gentlemen, and will doubtless take full charge before long. Mr. Edmund wears a wig and gown, and is as eloquent and persuasive in his speaking before the judges, I believe, as Mr. Herbert is in his pulpit. And as for Mr. Rodney, he’s a fine young country gentleman, who can hunt the hounds, or land a salmon, or get the biggest bag of game that you ever see a gentleman bring in. And he is off to Australia to do some farming, he says. But there, Mr. Howard, he quite spoils all with these plans of his ! And it’s just a good-bye all round to-night, for most of them go their different ways to-morrow, and it’s chiefly to settle what becomes of Miss Rhoda they’re here. She’s a fine young lady, and could have been married over and over, but no one seems to touch her heart, she’s that indifferent to them all ; whether it’s a titled gentleman or a poor curate, it’s all the same, and I always feel sorry for them when she gives them the cold shoulder ! She’s not so fond of gaiety as she ought to be at her age, and she’s as strong a will as any of her brothers. I don’t know what will become of her I ”

If the old housekeeper could have been a listener to the conversation in the smoking-room at that moment, she would have been truly horrified at her young lady’s plans.

^‘The question is,” Rhoda was saying as she looked round upon her brothers with an amused twinkle in her eye, ‘‘ what is to be done with me? My private income

A Family Council is ;^i30 a year. It has just been enough to keep me in clothes, but when a house and food has to come out of it as well, it is rather a puzzle.”

There was silence, which Howard broke at last by saying,—

‘‘ I have told you before, that if you will put up with London lodgings I will make arrangements for both of us.”

‘‘And that offer I have declined with many thanks, for you will be far more comfortable making your home with Uncle Harvey, as he suggests.”

“ Come to me,” proposed Herbert; “you will have a vast scope for your energy in the work in our East End parish,”

Rhoda shook her head. “You are too High Church for me,” she said ; “we should spend our time in arguments, the Bible versus the Prayer Book and the Holy Fathers. Now don’t look hurt. I appreciate your thought for me, but it wouldn’t answer, old boy ! ”

“ I am afraid,” put in Edgar, with a slight drawl, “that even if I had quarters to offer you, the cavalry barracks at Aldershot would not be much to your taste.”

“That they would not be,” and a clear laugh rang out from the girl as she turned to her brother Robert ; “ Well, Bob, are you going to offer me a cabin in the Invincible ? ”

“Walter is the most likely one to suit you,” Bob replied, taking up a fallen cinder from the rug and aiming it with true precision at that individual’s head ; “he has awfully snug quarters at Eton, and wants some one to keep down that old virago of a cook of his ! ”

“She won’t have anything to say to me,” responded Walter, drily.

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“ She has already planned a life for herself,” said Edmund, ‘‘so I shall not suggest her coming into chambers with me, even if it were practicable. Now then. Tabby, out with it ! ”

“ I shouldn’t mind taking her out with me to the Bush,” Rodney put in, with a grandfatherly air ; “she can fish and shoot fairly well, and it would be awfully handy to have a person to mend one’s socks and cook a dinner, to say nothing of cleaning the house down ! ”

“That is really a liberal offer, Rodney. I am overpowered with gratitude. Now will you all listen to me ? Howard, do you remember that tiny cottage on the moor that you and I went to a couple of years ago, when you hired a piece of grouse-shooting ? I intend to live there, if possible. I have calculated it all, and think I shall really be comfortable in it, if I can persuade old Hannah to come with me.”

“ Preposterous ! ” exclaimed Howard ; “ how on earth would you get through a winter snowed up there ? And the accommodation is awful. It is all very well to live picnic fashion for a week or two in the height of summer, but it is a mere workman’s cottage. You must think of something better than that.”

“ That is where I intend to live,” she said determinedly, “ and I shall go over next week to see about it.”

“ And what will Mrs. Grundy say to a girl of your age setting up house for yourself like that ? and what society would you have ? Don’t talk such arrant nonsense. Tabby ! ”

And Edgar lost his drawl in his vexation at such an idea.

“That is just the point. There is no society there, therefore there is no Mrs. Grundy. You ail know how I

A Family Council dislike society ; and truth to tell, I am longing for real work. Now, boys, listen ! This is no mere Quixotic fancy of mine, it has been a desire for a long time past. That place is benighted ; the village down below has no resident clergyman, but one comes over on Sunday from another village three or four miles off. I love the country, and I love the poor. And it is a grand opportunity to live amongst them and try to make their lives happier and brighter. I mean to do it. It will be ten years before there is a chance of our returning here, and perhaps longer. By that time Howard may be ready to bring a bride home here as mistress. You need not shake your head. I have been mistress here for five years, and beyond it being our home, and a place where we have had every comfort, I do not know that it would break my heart to live elsewhere.*^

‘‘ Well, Tabby, I for one heartily approve of your plan,** exclaimed Rodney ; ‘Mf you won*t come out with me, it*s the next best thing to it, and I’ll tell you what I’ll do ! I will see you settled in your cottage before I go abroad. You will want a man to arrange things for you, and I’ve nothing to do for the next month.**

But the objections of four or five brothers are not so easily overruled, and Rhoda*s plan was a distasteful one to most of them. If she had not had a very strong will, she would not have conquered, but at the end of all the protestations made against it she leaned back in her chair with quiet determination in her dark eyes, and said slowly, with a placid smile, ** I like to hear your different objections and opinions, but I have not spoken without thought. I am not a mere girl ; I am under no one*s control, and I have my income per annum to do exactly as I like with.

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You may not fancy the idea at first, but you will soon get accustomed to it, and next summer, if all is well, I shall not be at all surprised if you Londoners will not be very pleased to accept an invitation from me for a week or two of pure fresh moor air. What I really want to do, is to ask you, Howard, to go over the house with me to-morrow, and help me to pick out a few bits of furniture that I may want. I believe all my mother’s things are mine, are they not?”

‘‘Yes,” assented Howard, a little gloomily. “ Are you going to take the grand piano and the harp from the drawing-room ? You will have to get the cottage wall taken down to admit the piano, but I suppose that will be a trifle.”

“ No,” Rhoda said quietly, “ the cottage piano in the morning-room will answer my purpose. Now we will change the subject. You are all looking cross, and I am not going to have our last evening together spent in gloom. Let us have some music.”

“ She ought to marry,” observed Edmund, as his sister moved across to the piano ; “a single woman with opinions and a will of her own is sure to come to grief sooner or later.”

“ A year of cottage life will teach her what all our objections fail to do. Let her buy her experience.”

Edgar spoke with assurance.

“ We give you a year. Tabby,” called out Bob, “ and then we shall see you creeping back thankfully to civilized society.”

Rhoda laughed, but would not be drawn into further arguments on the subject.

Chapter II

** There, Hannah ! now what do you think of our new home?"

Indeed, mum, it's a queer place for you."

Rhoda laughed at the look of perplexity on Hannah West’s face, as she surveyed for the first time her young mistress’s choice of a dwelling-place. She had been maid to Rhoda’s mother, and was deeply attached to the family ; but five years ago had married their coachman, who died shortly after, and since then she had kept one of the lodges. She had always begged Rhoda to let her live with her if she married, and there had been no difficulty in getting her to come with her now.

It was a month after the family gathering at the Manor, and it had been a busy time with Rhoda. Pier untiring energy, and determination to overcome the many obstacles raised in her path, had served her in good stead. She had gone down to the village of Ashampton, and had taken lodgings there with her brother Rodney. There had been difficulty at first about the cottage ; the old couple that had been put in as caretakers during the winter had first to be provided for ; then the landlord who owned a large straggling property on the moor was abroad, and his agent was not sure whether he would like a permanent tenant, and be willing to undertake the necessary altera- 2 (17)

tions to make it habitable for a lady. But when these preliminaries were at last satisfactorily arranged, Rhoda and Rodney set to work with a will, and when she brought Hannah out and showed her over the tiny domain, she said laughingly, I almost feel as if I have built the place myself, I have made so many improvements.”

The cottage was of rough grey stone. It stood on the side of the moor, and commanded one of the finest and most extensive views of the country; there was a small enclosure in front, just large enough to hold a few hardy shrubs and flowers; behind were two or three wooden outhouses which were dignified by the name of stables. Inside, the cottage certainly had a very cosy appearance. The front door opened into a large low room which, though originally meant for a kitchen, Rhoda had converted into a very pleasant sitting-room. A large old-fashioned open hearth faced you, as you stepped in ; on either side of it were two deep recesses, filled with shelves reaching to the ceiling, one containing Rhoda’s books, the other some valuable old china. At the opposite ends of the room were two low casement windows, one facing east, the other west, and their recesses were filled with cushioned window seats. The cottage piano, a screen, a comfortable couch and two or three easy-chairs, a quaint old escritoire and one or two smaller tables and seats, completed the furniture of the room. Two doors led to the other part of the house, one into Rhoda’s bedroom, the other into a bright little kitchen; and beyond the latter lay a nice pantry and dairy and two small rooms, one of which was fitted up as Hannah^s bedroom. The other one was intended to be a spare room for any visitor, but at present it remained unfurnished. Hannah was delighted with the kitchen ; it was tiled underfoot, but had a warm rug laid down by the fire, and the neat dressers and large kitchen range comforted her soul.

It’s a poor place for you, mum,” she said with a shake of her head ; ‘‘but I’ll be bound I can make it comfortable for you, and if the ovens are as good as they look, I shall be satisfied.”

“ We will bake our own bread, Hannah,” Rhoda went on cheerfully,- “and milk our own cow, and make our own butter. Do you know that Mr. Howard has given me a ^10 note to buy a cow and two pigs? I mean to have a poultry yard too, and if we can only get a nice spot close to the house for a kitchen garden, we shall have all that we need.”

“I’m afraid of the cold, though,” the old servant pursued, looking round her doubtfully; “I’ve heard tell the wind sweeps down from the top of the moor like a hurricane, and the snow nearly buries one alive.”

“We shall weather it. I am going to have very thick curtains put to all the windows and doors. I am having two layers of thick felt put down in my sitting-room, and I have lots of old Persian rugs to go on the top, and if you find the tiles cold in the kitchen we will cover it all over with cocoanut matting. I am determined that we shall be warm at all costs.”

And then Rhoda went back to her brother in the sitting-room. “The only thing that puzzles me,” she said, as she drew a chair to the fire, “ is whether Hannah and I shall be able to do all the work of the house together. Hannah will work until she drops, I know, and she can turn her hand to anything ; but if we have a garden and poultry, I cannot expect her to attend to it all.”

Get a boy/’ suggested her brother; you could have one up from the village for very little, and he need not sleep on your premises — unless you need him for protection at nights.”

Rhoda laughed. Who would visit us up here at night, do you think ? Burglars must be unknown in this part of the country, and even they would hardly think this poor cottage could produce enough to make it worth the risk.”

You have some of the plate here.”

** Only my own, and that is a very small quantity, I assure you. But I will certainly get a boy; he will be able to take a lot of the rough work off our hands. What I should like to get into order before you go, Rodney, is my garden. I saw one further down the moorside, which was so sunk in the ground that it was sheltered from the wind. Do you think mine could be managed so? ”

*‘1 will see about it to-morrow,” was her brother’s reply. And Rhoda went to sleep that night, feeling that a new life was opening out before her.

A few weeks later, when her brother left her, she began to realize the strange isolation of her position.

But what to others would have been a keen deprivation was real enjoyment to her. She was out in the fresh breezy air, bringing in treasures of nature to adorn her rooms : bits of lichen, golden bracken and heather, bright red berries of all sorts were deftly and beautifully grouped together. Sometimes she would bring in an armful of sticks to add to their little store of firing, occasionally bunches of watercress from the neighboring stream ; and her bright laugh, and sweet clear voice so constantly caroling out some quaint ditty as she helped Hannah in the household work, was music in that faithful servant’s ears.

But Rhoda was soon intent on the work that she had come to do. As she stood at her door on a fine frosty afternoon, looking down to the valley below, with the village clustering under a thickly wooded height of firs, and a little farther on the grand old ruins of Ashampton Castle, looking so picturesque in their comfortable cloak of evergreen and ivy, she called Hannah to her.

How am I to begin, Hannah ? she said ; I am shy of visiting my neighbors when they don’t know who I am. I want to be friends with them ; how shall I start? ”

Them stiff formal visits aren’t much to any one’s liking, I’m thinking,” rejoined the old woman, thoughtfully. “If you want to be friends, mum, keep on the lookout to do them some neighborly action, and you’ll get a better welcome than going to their door like a parish visitor.”

“ But I don’t see any one,” objected Rhoda. “I go down to the village on market days, and every morning for my letters, but no one seems to notice me, or care for my coming and going.”

“ I shouldn’t be in a hurry, mum, only keep a quick lookout, and the opportunity will come. I’m thinking that Jock may have some belongings that might like to hear how he’s getting on in his place.”

“ Oh, Hannah, how dull I am ! I will go and see his mother to-morrow. Is he in the garden ? I will speak to him now.”

“She never lets the grass grow under her feet,” muttered Hannah, as she went back to the kitchen. “ It’s patience ought to be more to the fore : she’s such a one for dashing straight off at a thing and stopping to think after, but there isn’t any one her equal with it all ! ”

With swift steps Rhoda turned toward her little garden plot, which Rodney had successfully sunk in the ground, and which was already planted for the coming spring.

Jock Chalmers, a red-headed boy of fourteen, looked up with a vacant stare from the weeds he was hoeing, upon her approach.

Jock,*’ she said brightly, ** do you think your mother would like to see me ? I thought of calling on her to-morrow and telling her how nicely you got through your work here.”

Jock gave a kind of grunt.

Rhoda continued, Tell me where you live. Can you see your home from up here ? ”

‘‘ Na, yon big trees hideth of *un ! ” and a dirty forefinger indicated in which direction to look.

** Would you like me to go and see your mother ? ”

There was eyidently nothing to be got out of Jock, Rhoda turned away a little discouraged, and went back to her position at the door. As she gazed away from the wild moorland around her, down to the cultivated valley below, and up again on the other side to long stretches of ploughed land, with farms scattered here and there surrounded by the red rich earth, she said to herself with a sigh, ‘‘It takes a long time, and much labor to cultivate the earth. I expect I shall not find it easy to reach the hearts of these people ; it will be hard ploughing perhaps at first.”