The Hand of Ethelberta

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'Is she happy with him?'

'She is very sharp with the pore man--about happy I don't know. He was a
good-natured old man, for all his sins, and would sooner any day lay out
money in new presents than pay it in old debts. But 'tis altered now.
'Tisn't the same place. Ah, in the old times I have seen the floor of
the servants' hall over the vamp of your boot in solid beer that we had
poured aside from the horns because we couldn't see straight enough to
pour it in. See? No, we couldn't see a hole in a ladder! And now, even
at Christmas or Whitsuntide, when a man, if ever he desires to be
overcome with a drop, would naturally wish it to be, you can walk out of
Enckworth as straight as you walked in. All her doings.'

'Then she holds the reins?'

'She do! There was a little tussle at first; but how could a old man
hold his own against such a spry young body as that! She threatened to
run away from him, and kicked up Bob's-a-dying, and I don't know what
all; and being the woman, of course she was sure to beat in the long run.
Pore old nobleman, she marches him off to church every Sunday as regular
as a clock, makes him read family prayers that haven't been read in
Enckworth for the last thirty years to my certain knowledge, and keeps
him down to three glasses of wine a day, strict, so that you never see
him any the more generous for liquor or a bit elevated at all, as it used
to be. There, 'tis true, it has done him good in one sense, for they say
he'd have been dead in five years if he had gone on as he was going.'

'So that she's a good wife to him, after all.'

'Well, if she had been a little worse 'twould have been a little better
for him in one sense, for he would have had his own way more. But he was
a curious feller at one time, as we all know and I suppose 'tis as much
as he can expect; but 'tis a strange reverse for him. It is said that
when he's asked out to dine, or to anything in the way of a jaunt, his
eye flies across to hers afore he answers: and if her eye says yes, he
says yes: and if her eye says no, he says no. 'Tis a sad condition for
one who ruled womankind as he, that a woman should lead him in a string
whether he will or no.'

'Sad indeed!'

'She's steward, and agent, and everything. She has got a room called "my
lady's office," and great ledgers and cash-books you never see the like.
In old times there were bailiffs to look after the workfolk, foremen to
look after the tradesmen, a building-steward to look after the foremen, a
land-steward to look after the building-steward, and a dashing grand
agent to look after the land-steward: fine times they had then, I assure
ye. My lady said they were eating out the property like a honeycomb, and
then there was a terrible row. Half of 'em were sent flying; and now
there's only the agent, and the viscountess, and a sort of surveyor man,
and of the three she does most work so 'tis said. She marks the trees to
be felled, settles what horses are to be sold and bought, and is out in
all winds and weathers. There, if somebody hadn't looked into things
'twould soon have been all up with his lordship, he was so very
extravagant. In one sense 'twas lucky for him that she was born in
humble life, because owing to it she knows the ins and outs of
contriving, which he never did.'

'Then a man on the verge of bankruptcy will do better to marry a poor and
sensible wife than a rich and stupid one. Well, here we are at the tenth
milestone. I will walk the remainder of the distance to Knollsea, as
there is ample time for meeting the last steamboat.'

When the man was gone Christopher proceeded slowly on foot down the hill,
and reached that part of the highway at which he had stopped in the cold
November breeze waiting for a woman who never came. He was older now,
and he had ceased to wish that he had not been disappointed. There was
the lodge, and around it were the trees, brilliant in the shining greens
of June. Every twig sustained its bird, and every blossom its bee. The
roadside was not muffled in a garment of dead leaves as it had been then,
and the lodge-gate was not open as it always used to be. He paused to
look through the bars. The drive was well kept and gravelled; the grass
edgings, formerly marked by hoofs and ruts, and otherwise trodden away,
were now green and luxuriant, bent sticks being placed at intervals as a
protection.

While he looked through the gate a woman stepped from the lodge to open
it. In her haste she nearly swung the gate into his face, and would have
completely done so had he not jumped back.

'I beg pardon, sir,' she said, on perceiving him. 'I was going to open
it for my lady, and I didn't see you.'

Christopher moved round the corner. The perpetual snubbing that he had
received from Ethelberta ever since he had known her seemed about to be
continued through the medium of her dependents.

A trotting, accompanied by the sound of light wheels, had become
perceptible; and then a vehicle came through the gate, and turned up the
road which he had come down. He saw the back of a basket carriage, drawn
by a pair of piebald ponies. A lad in livery sat behind with folded
arms; the driver was a lady. He saw her bonnet, her shoulders, her
hair--but no more. She lessened in his gaze, and was soon out of sight.

He stood a long time thinking; but he did not wish her his.

In this wholesome frame of mind he proceeded on his way, thankful that he
had escaped meeting her, though so narrowly. But perhaps at this remote
season the embarrassment of a rencounter would not have been intense. At
Knollsea he entered the steamer for Sandbourne.

Mr. Chickerel and his family now lived at Firtop Villa, in that place, a
house which, like many others, had been built since Julian's last visit
to the town. He was directed to the outskirts, and into a fir plantation
where drives and intersecting roads had been laid out, and where new
villas had sprung up like mushrooms. He entered by a swing gate, on
which 'Firtop' was painted, and a maid-servant showed him into a neatly-
furnished room, containing Mr. Chickerel, Mrs. Chickerel, and Picotee,
the matron being reclined on a couch, which improved health had permitted
her to substitute for a bed.

He had been expected, and all were glad to see again the sojourner in
foreign lands, even down to the ladylike tabby, who was all purr and
warmth towards him except when she was all claws and nippers. But had
the prime sentiment of the meeting shown itself it would have been the
unqualified surprise of Christopher at seeing how much Picotee's face had
grown to resemble her sister's: it was less a resemblance in contours
than in expression and tone.

They had an early tea, and then Mr. Chickerel, sitting in a patriarchal
chair, conversed pleasantly with his guest, being well acquainted with
him through other members of the family. They talked of Julian's
residence at different Italian towns with his sister; of Faith, who was
at the present moment staying with some old friends in Melchester: and,
as was inevitable, the discourse hovered over and settled upon
Ethelberta, the prime ruler of the courses of them all, with little
exception, through recent years.

'It was a hard struggle for her,' said Chickerel, looking reflectively
out at the fir trees. 'I never thought the girl would have got through
it. When she first entered the house everybody was against her. She had
to fight a whole host of them single-handed. There was the viscount's
brother, other relations, lawyers, ladies, servants, not one of them was
her friend; and not one who wouldn't rather have seen her arrive there in
evil relationship with him than as she did come. But she stood her
ground. She was put upon her mettle; and one by one they got to feel
there was somebody among them whose little finger, if they insulted her,
was thicker than a Mountclere's loins. She must have had a will of iron;
it was a situation that would have broken the hearts of a dozen ordinary
women, for everybody soon knew that we were of no family, and that's what
made it so hard for her. But there she is as mistress now, and everybody
respecting her. I sometimes fancy she is occasionally too severe with
the servants and I know what service is. But she says it is necessary,
owing to her birth; and perhaps she is right.'

'I suppose she often comes to see you?'

'Four or five times a year,' said Picotee.

'She cannot come quite so often as she would,' said Mrs. Chickerel,
'because of her lofty position, which has its juties. Well, as I always
say, Berta doesn't take after me. I couldn't have married the man even
though he did bring a coronet with him.'

'I shouldn't have cared to let him ask ye,' said Chickerel. 'However,
that's neither here nor there--all ended better than I expected. He's
fond of her.'

'And it is wonderful what can be done with an old man when you are his
darling,' said Mrs. Chickerel.

'If I were Berta I should go to London oftener,' said Picotee, to turn
the conversation. 'But she lives mostly in the library. And, O, what do
you think? She is writing an epic poem, and employs Emmeline as her
reader.'

'Dear me. And how are Sol and Dan? You mentioned them once in your
letters,' said Christopher.

'Berta has set them up as builders in London.'

'She bought a business for them,' said Chickerel. 'But Sol wouldn't
accept her help for a long time, and now he has only agreed to it on
condition of paying her back the money with interest, which he is doing.
They have just signed a contract to build a hospital for twenty thousand
pounds.'

Picotee broke in--'You knew that both Gwendoline and Cornelia married two
years ago, and went to Queensland? They married two brothers, who were
farmers, and left England the following week. Georgie and Myrtle are at
school.'

'And Joey?'

'We are thinking of making Joseph a parson,' said Mrs. Chickerel.

'Indeed! a parson.'

'Yes; 'tis a genteel living for the boy. And he's talents that way.
Since he has been under masters he knows all the strange sounds the old
Romans and Greeks used to make by way of talking, and the love stories of
the ancient women as if they were his own. I assure you, Mr. Julian, if
you could hear how beautiful the boy tells about little Cupid with his
bow and arrows, and the rows between that pagan apostle Jupiter and his
wife because of another woman, and the handsome young gods who kissed
Venus, you'd say he deserved to be made a bishop at once!'

The evening advanced, and they walked in the garden. Here, by some
means, Picotee and Christopher found themselves alone.

'Your letters to my sister have been charming,' said Christopher. 'And
so regular, too. It was as good as a birthday every time one arrived.'

Picotee blushed and said nothing.

Christopher had full assurance that her heart was where it always had
been. A suspicion of the fact had been the reason of his visit here to-
day.

'Other letters were once written from England to Italy, and they acquired
great celebrity. Do you know whose?'

'Walpole's?' said Picotee timidly.

'Yes; but they never charmed me half as much as yours. You may rest
assured that one person in the world thinks Walpole your second.'

'You should not have read them; they were not written to you. But I
suppose you wished to hear of Ethelberta?'

'At first I did,' said Christopher. 'But, oddly enough, I got more
interested in the writer than in her news. I don't know if ever before
there has been an instance of loving by means of letters. If not, it is
because there have never been such sweet ones written. At last I looked
for them more anxiously than Faith.'

'You see, you knew me before.' Picotee would have withdrawn this remark
if she could, fearing that it seemed like a suggestion of her love long
ago.

'Then, on my return, I thought I would just call and see you, and go away
and think what would be best for me to do with a view to the future. But
since I have been here I have felt that I could not go away to think
without first asking you what you think on one point--whether you could
ever marry me?'

'I thought you would ask that when I first saw you.'

'Did you. Why?'

'You looked at me as if you would.'

'Well,' continued Christopher, 'the worst of it is I am as poor as Job.
Faith and I have three hundred a year between us, but only half is mine.
So that before I get your promise I must let your father know how poor I
am. Besides what I mention, I have only my earnings by music. But I am
to be installed as chief organist at Melchester soon, instead of deputy,
as I used to be; which is something.'

'I am to have five hundred pounds when I marry. That was Lord
Mountclere's arrangement with Ethelberta. He is extremely anxious that I
should marry well.'

'That's unfortunate. A marriage with me will hardly be considered well.'

'O yes, it will,' said Picotee quickly, and then looked frightened.

Christopher drew her towards him, and imprinted a kiss upon her cheek, at
which Picotee was not so wretched as she had been some years before when
he mistook her for another in that performance.

'Berta will never let us come to want,' she said, with vivacity, when she
had recovered. 'She always gives me what is necessary.'

'We will endeavour not to trouble her,' said Christopher, amused by
Picotee's utter dependence now as ever upon her sister, as upon an
eternal Providence. 'However, it is well to be kin to a coach though you
never ride in it. Now, shall we go indoors to your father? You think he
will not object?'

'I think he will be very glad,' replied Picotee. 'Berta will, I know.'