A Life's Morning

pon a rising tract of common land known as the Heath. It was one of a row of two-storied dwellings, built of glazed brick, each with a wide projecting window

ublic-house, or rather, as it frankly styled itself in large letters on the window, a dram-shop; and there were two or three places for the sale of very miscellaneous articles, exhibiting the same specimens of discouraging stock throughout the year. At no season, and under no advantage of sky, was Banbrigg a delectable abode. Though within easy reach of country which was not without rural aspects, it was marked too unmistakably with the squalor of a manufacturing district. Its existence impressed one as casual; it was a mere bit of Dunfield got away from the main mass, and having brought its dirt wi

the downs, the woodlands, the fair pastures of Surrey. There was sorrow at her

ied a schoolmistress, one Miss Martin, who was responsible for the teaching of some twelve or fifteen children of tender age, and who, what was more, owned the house in which she kept school. The result was that James Hood once more established himself in business, or rather in several businesses, vague, indescribable, save by those who are unhappy enough to understand such matters-a commission agency, a life insurance agency and a fire insurance ditto, I know not what. Yet the semblance of prosperity was fleeting. As if connection with him meant failure, his wife's school, which she had not abandoned (let us employ negative terms in speaking of this pair), began to fall off; ultimately no school was left. It did in truth appear that Miss Martin had suffered something in becoming Mrs. Hood. At her marriage she was five-and-twenty, fairly good-looking, in temper a trifle exigent perhaps, sanguine, and capable of exertion; she could not claim more than superficial instruction, but taught reading and writing with the usual success which attends teachers of these elements. After the birth of her first child, Emily, her moral nature showed an unaccountable weakening; the origin was no doubt ph

she taught Emily her notes. It had been a fairly good piano once, but the keys had become very lo

n child, needing fresh air, which she could not get, needing food of a better kind, just as unattainable. Large-eyed, thin-checked Emily; she, too, already in the clutch of the great brute world, the helpless victim of a civilisation which makes its food of thos

her arm; sometimes the wind and rain beating as if to delay her-they, too, cruel. In summer the hot days tried her perhaps still more; she reached home in the afternoon well-nigh fainting, the books were so heavy. Who would not have felt kindly to her? So gentle she was, so dreadfully shy and timid, her eyes so eager, so full of unconscious pathos. 'Hood's little girl,' said the people on the way who saw her pass daily, and, however completely strangers, they said it with a certain kindness of tone and meaning.

ese all dealt with matters of physical science. The strange things she read, books which came down to her from the shelves with a thickness of dust upon them; histories of Greece and Rome ('Not much asked for, these,' said the librarian), translations of old classics, the Koran, Mosheim's

nstead of being a source of expense. And in the meantime she worked on for certain examinations which it would benefit her to have passed. The second thing done was that her father abandoned his office, and obtained a place in the counting-house of a worsted-mill, under the firm of Dagworthy and Son. His salary was small, but the blessing of it was its certainty; the precariousness of his existence had all but driven

ch became him well enough. In the collection of works of art he was really great; he must have spent appalling sums annually on his picture gallery and the minor ornaments scattered about his house. He had a personal acquaintance, through his pecuniary dealings, with the foremost artists of the day; he liked to proclaim the fact and describe the men. To Emily the constant proximity of these pictures was a priceless advantage; the years she spent among them were equivalent to a university course. Moreover, she enjoyed, as with the Athels later, a free command of books; here began her acquaintance with the most modern literature, which was needful to set her thoughts in order, to throw into right perspective her previous miscellaneous reading, and to mark out he

follow if their assistance were withdrawn. To be sure she had held her course through the countless discouragements of early years; but that, in looking back, seemed no assurance for the future; her courage, it appeared to her, had been of the unconscious kind, and might fail her when she consciously demanded it. As a child she had once walked in her sleep, had gone forth from the house, and had, before she was awakened, crossed the narrow footing of a canal-lock, a thing her nervou

hering tempest. An essentially human apprehension, be it understood. The vulgarities of hysterical pietism Emily had never known; she did not fear the invasion of such blight as that; the thought of it was noisome to her. Do you recall a kind of trouble that came upon her, during that talk in the hollow, when Wilfrid suggested the case of her being called upon to make some great sacrifice in her father's behalf? It was an instance of the weakness I speak of; the fact of Wilfrid's putting forward such a thought had in that moment linked her to him with precious bonds of sympathy, till she felt as if he had seen into the most secret places of her heart. She dreaded the force of her compassionateness. That dog by the roadside; how the anguish of its eyes had haunted her through the day I It was the revolt of her whole being against the cruelty inherent

meat on the last day of the week; partaking of it herself at one o'clock, she cut slices for her husband and kept them warm, with vegetables, in the oven. This was not selfishness in theory, however much it may have been so in practice; it merely meant that she was unable to introduce variation into a mechanical order; and, as her husband never dreamed of complaining, Mrs. Hood could see in the arrangement

owed to pay a girl out of her own earnings. Mrs. Hood steadily refused. No, she had once known what it was to have luxuries about her (that was naturally before her marriage), but those days were gone by. She thus entailed upon herself a great deal of labour, at once repugnant to her tastes and ill-

ming now and then to the sitting-room, sinking into a chair, letting her head fall back with closed eyes. Emily had, o

I can understand that it annoys you; I used to have the same feeling, but I've

exclaimed Emily, with a laugh. 'I want to hel

o it. You'll tell me when you'd like

grow faint, mother

g feeling now and then, I th

re a suit of black, which had for several years been his reserve attire, till it grew too seamy for use on Sundays. The whole look of the man was saddening; to pass him in the street as a stranger was to experience a momentary heaviness of heart. He had very long slender fingers-Emily's matchless hand in a rudimentary form-and it seemed to be a particular solicitude to keep them scru

pen the door for him. He did not quicken his step, even stopped to close the gate with deliberate care, but if his face could ever be

airs and stood by the table stroking his newly washed hands. 'Shal

room shortly, and seated

asked, when her presence had c

he repeated

ry is going; I meant to, and thought I mentioned it

was needless to get unus

you are accustomed to, but that I know you don't expect. Which way are you going to wal

rn over the Heath,' said Mr. Hood.

strike Mrs. Hood; she leaned forward in her chair, s

ailway bridge, then over a canal, and at once entered upon the common. The Heath formed the long side of a slowly rising hill; at the foot the road divided itself into two branches, and the dusty tracks climbed at a wide angle with each other. The one which Emily and her father pursued led up to stone quarries, which had been for a long time in working, and, skirting these, to the level ground above them, which was the end of the region of

ver flowed; the remoter districts were pleasantly wooded, and only the murkiness in the far sky told that a yet larger centre of industry lurked beyond the horizon. Dunfield offered no prominent features save the chimneys of its factories

lence. 'I can imagine nothing more delightful in English scenery. It realises my idea of perfect rural b

ed and shook hi

favourite phrase of his, 'whil

ered to the very roots with greenness; rich old English homes and cottages-oh, you know the kind your ideal of a cottage-low tiled ro

k and honey, indeed, her heart's home. It was all but impossible to keep the

t quiet absorption in another's mood of which he was so capable. 'But it will be London throu

kinder; for the first few days it was almost as

I die,' mused her father. 'Somehow

see it togeth

and that is Holborn Viaduct. It must be a wonderful piece of engineering; I reme

way from the City. But I will go an

d me a full

verted to the v

sure the air here is admirable; don't you smell how fresh it is? And then, one gets fond

smiled

se anything happened that would enable us to go and live in another place, there would be a sort of ingratitude,

ympathetic relations of which she had spoken to Wilfrid; in these words

struggle with hard conditions, a degeneration into coarseness, a blight. The quality of the earth was probably poor to begin with; the herbage seemed of gross fibre; one would not risk dipping a finger in the stream which trickled by the roadside, it suggested an impure source.

life,' mused Mr. Hood aloud,

not hard at all. I used to feel that pity, but I have reasoned myself out of

, 'how is young Mr. Athel, the young fe

again, I think,'

llow, he has a very

I thin

ying for? Going

; it was a re

nce or piece of description? I see exactly what your picture of Mr. Athel is: a feeble and amiab

off and la

it I thought of him a little in

ry to imagine the intellectual opposite of such a you

nate tendency to make me think of young fellows in his po

ve the common misfortune t

s engaged the

your holiday, fa

f this month. It won't be m

t to go to Cleethorpes, i

es, and since then that one place represented for him the seaside. Others might be just as accessible and considerably more delightful, but it did not even occur to him to vary. It would have cost him di

he said, as if desirous

pense of a week at Cleethorpes? You know how well I can afford it;

a woman, and was gone forth to wrest from the adverse world her own subsistence, her right to what she earned was indefeasible, and affection itself protested against her being mulcted for their advantage. As for the slight additional expense of her presence at home during the holidays, she must not be above paying a visit to her parents; the little inconsistency was amiable enough. Father and mother both held forth to her in the same tone: 'You have the battle of life before you; it is a terrible one, and the world is relentless. Not only is it your right, but your very duty, to spare every penny you can; for, if anything happened to prevent your earning money, you would become a burden upon us-a burden we would gladly strive to bear, but the thought of which would be very hard for yourself. If, on the other hand, your mother were left a widow, think how dre

ed another change. I am delighted to see how well you look. I, too, am remarkably we

, it is clearly impossible for you and her to li

r people; a change rather upsets us than otherwise. You kno

his watch, and found that it was time to be moving homewards. Tea was punctually

they saw coming towards them a gentleman followed by three dogs. He was dressed in a ligh

still at a considerable distance. 'He generally goes off somewhere on Saturday afterno

cquainted with him in the preceding spring. She was at home then for a few weeks before her departure for London, and the Baxendales, who h

they gazed with embarrassing persistency, and a mouth which he would have done well to leave under the natural shelter of a moustache; it wa

more into our part of the world, th

xpressed a sort of good-natured patronage, perhaps inevitable in such a man when speaking to his clerk's daughter. The presence of the clerk himself very little concerned him. He kept his eyes steadily on th

n in London; it did not seem n

o get away to the moors. I suppose you will be

x to his clerk's name but for Emily's prese

, sir,' he replied, wit

This animal came snuffing at Emily's hand, and involuntarily, glad perh

've a finer collie than that. Just walk in with me, will you?' he added, after a scarcely perceptible pause.

her mother. She did not for a moment expect her father to refuse; his position would not allow him to do so. Mr. Hood, in fact, murmured thanks, after a m

an infant of wonderfully hearty appearance. At the sight of its father it chuckled and crowed. Dagworthy took it from the woman's arms, and began a game which looked not a little dangerous; with surprising strength and sk

she was nervous, and kept holding out her arms involuntarily. 'Ah doan't ovver much fancy that kind o' laakin. What's more

n, and tell them I want some t

l dogs were pacing in freedom about the clean yard, and many more were chained up. Much information was imparted to the visitors concerning the more notable animals; some had taken prizes at shows, oth

elf in mere boorishness. Though anything but miserly, he had, where his interests were concerned, an extraordinary cunning and pertinacity; he was universally regarded as one of the shrewdest men of business in that part of Yorkshire, and report credited him with any number of remarkable meannesses. It was popularly said that 'owd Dick Dagworthy' would shrink from no dirty trick to turn a sixpence, but was as likely as not to give it away as soon as he had got it. His son had doubtless advanced the character of the stock, and, putting aside the breeding of dogs, possessed many tastes

ather to seat themselves in a large homely room which looked out upon the garden. The woman

shift for the resent with Mrs. Jenkins. She isn't as refined as she might e, but she's been with

ned anything but the cup of tea. She was very ill at ease, though she succeeded

s,' he said to her presently. 'I think I've got som

n a chair in front of Emily, and exposed its contents. These were

explained. 'I've something of a turn for architecture, I believe; at all even

tainly attained a rudimentary knowledge of the subject, and that his appr

in his conversation, 'I can't pronounce the names properly. Now, how do you read t

tive rep

ashioned streets in which so

be on his way homeward, rose for leave-taking. Dagworthy offered no opposition; he went with them to

' said Mr. Hood, when they were at some distance from the gate

will be very uneasy

ply. But he was really uncommonly pleasant; I shall

bject had come on in its severest form. Emily was at once active with remedies, not that any of those that she urged were likely to avail themselves, but because she was well aware that the more solicitude she showed the sooner her mother would resume her ordinary state. Mrs. Hood begged to be left to herself; let them have their tea and leave her in the kitchen, she was best there, out of people's way; it would soon be be

t wretched features of her life, with despairing forecast. Poor woman, there was little of a brighter kind to occupy her thoughts. Two occasions of grave anxiety were at present troubling her, and, though he spoke of them less, her husband in no less a degree. It had just been announced to them that at the ensuing Christmas their rent would be raised, and at the same time the tenant who had for years occupied the house which they owned in the town of Barnhill had given notice of departure. There was a certain grotesqueness in the fact of James Hood being a proprietor of real estate. Twice an attemp

gworthy and his astonishing behaviour. She put the question dispiritedly, not ven

o utter the words whi

at they met at t

ehave?' the moth

t bear in mind the kind of society she is used to. Youn

a good educati

fessed to us, though, that he c

Hood, 'he wouldn't have invite

isinterested. 'But it must have been just a fancy,

events,' murmured t

ing her head back once more, and losing interest i

of common suffering. Tender memories were buried in the grave of children whom the resources of ever so modest a fortune would have kept alive; the present was a mere struggle to support existence, choking the impulses of affection. One would not murmur at the kindly order of life, whereby passion gives place to gentle habitudes, and the fiery soul of youth tames itself to comely gravity; but that love and joy, the delights of eager sense and of hallowed aspirat