Sandra Belloni -- Volume 2

m, for he went on: "Ah the boy's improved. That place over there, Stornley, does him as much good as the Army did, as to setting him up, y

anning her cheek with vehement languor, "don'

Brookfield had come, Adela, following her sprightly f

un away with it to b

goin'. Marry 'em, Pole! marry 'em!" Mrs. Chump gesticulated, with two dangling hands. "They're nice garls; but, lord! they naver see a man, and they're stuputly contented, and want to remain garls; and, don't ye see, it was naver meant

language, and haply intercede between the unworthy woman and their judgement of her. But the ladies merely smi

not to be so fond of me. They must think of their future, of course. They won't always have a home-a fa

Chump, who took it, wi

n't got a tear i

" quoth he, bowing a

cepting convoy; and there was some laughter,

rast they presented. Not the less were they maturing a serious resolve. The suspicion that their father had secret vile designs in relation to Mrs. Chump, they kept in the background. It was enough for them that she was to be a visitor, and would thus destroy the great circle they had projected.

severe a student?" Mr. B

y after Wilfrid

the signs?"

was it not your light that was

r face was pale as the first hour of the dawn. "A

e liberty to cross the park from the wood, and saw you-at l

you me

gestured an

-did he

He was in

hat night? It is almost my turn to be lect

in feeling that there are certain times and periods when what I would like to call poisonous influences

like a creed

is a matter of nerves.

s are wil

fought against," said

thing to be

uld sa

I was

and stood in a tremble, marvelling at his intuition. For possibly, at that moment when he stood watching her window-light (ah, poor heart!) she was

n his way to Ireland, to settle family business; but he called, as he said, to make acquaintance with his nieces. The ladies soon discovered, in spite of his foreign-cut chin and pronounced military habit of speech and bearing, that he was at heart fervidly British. His age was about fifty: a man of great force of shou

mp, and Mrs. Chump's behaviour before the colonel, touched them with intense distaste for their present surly aspect of life. Civilized little people are moved to fulfil their destinies and to write their histories as much by distaste as by appetite. This fresh sentimental emotion, which led them to glorify their mother's image in their hearts, heightened and gave an acid edge to their distaste for the think they saw. Nor was it wonderful that Cornelia, said to be so like that mother, should think herself bound to accept the office of taking the initiative in a practical protest against the desecration of the name her mother had borne. At times, I see that sentiment approaches too near the Holy of earthly Holies for us to laugh at it

person be here?" he designated Mrs. Chump; who, among other things, had repro

t he had been directed to come to them, bearer of a message from a heavenly world to urge them to action. They had need of a spiritual exaltation, to relieve them from the palpable depression caus

"Eh? By the way, I haven't asked her;" and retreated from this almost too obvious piece of simplicity, with, "I wa

ey contended, could not further be put off, and would come, especially now that the season was dying. After all, their parting from one another was the bitterest thing to bear, and as each seemed content to endure it for the good of all, and as, properly considered, they did not bury their ambition by separating, they said farewell to the young delicious dawn of it. By means of Fine Shades it was underst

uld not speak of old days, and barely alluded to a misunderstanding; though if she loved one man, this was he. Adela was disengaged. She had moreover to do penance, for a wrong committed; and just as children will pinch themselves, pleased up to the verge of unendurable pain, so do sentimentalists find a keen relish in performing secret penance for self-accused offences. Thus they become right

possible!" and "Papa!" I desire it to be credited that these simple interjections absolutely obscured her judgement. Little people think either what they are made to think, or what they choose to think; and the education of girls is to make them believe that facts are their enemies-a nau

aking a sharp breath. He w

o much, pap

t-not if you want

med asto

y-a hundred; but you never hear of ninety, never! unless it's t

ou, I will do without it. It

y here-cheque-book in town. I'll give it you," he s

relieved him immediately by sh

us to a sense of sovereign superiority to authors, and also of serene contempt for all mental difficulties. Fortified in this way, Cornelia took a Plutarch and an Encyclopaedia under her arm, to return to her room. But one volume fell, and as she stooped to recover it, her candle shared its fate. She had to find her way back in the dark. On the landing of the stairs, sh

er voice distincter. The hand now returned her pressure with force. She could feel tha

by imitating tha

said C

just come up from the library; my candle dropped. I shouldn

e from the library m

g-room," her father co

brary; shall have it a

y dear? Good-night. W

udy! I can get a

ered tones prescribed by darkness. Cornelia

ntained that early rising was not fashionable; but she soon grasped the idea that a great rivalry with Fashion, in minor matters (where the support of the satirist might be counted on), was the proper policy of Brookfield. Mrs. Chump was given to be extre

ness was shaken: He retired from the room with the speed of a voyager about to pay tribute on high seas. Mr. Pole cast a pregnant look at the servants' row as he closed the book; but the expression of his daughters' faces positively signified that no remark was to be made, and he contained himself. Later, the ladies told him that Gainsford had done no worse than any uneducated man would have been guilty of doing. Mrs. Chump had, it appeared, a mother's feeling for one flat curl on her rugged forehead, which was often fondly caressed by her, for the sake of ascertaining its fixity. Doubts of the precision of outline and general welfare of this curl, apparently, caused her to straighten her back and furtively raise her head, with an

r-breath of 'that woman,' and asked twice whether she was coming or not. At last the clump of her feet was heard approaching. Mr. Pole commenced reading the instant she opened the door. She stood there, with a face like a petrified Irish outcry. An imploring sound of "Pole! Pole!" issued from her. Then sh

sternly addressed Mrs. Chump, at

ney ye gave me in note

the

rned to one another, to question with an eyelid why it was that extra allowance was given that morning. Mr. Pole was in a third prayer, stumbling on and picking himself up, apparently unaware that he had passed the limit. This continued until the series of ejaculations wh

ith Mrs. Chump, Mr. Pole was b

one; and when he said, "Now then, to breakfast, quick!" she was pursuing her lamentable i

obbed. And pinmoney 's for spendin;' annybody'll tell you that. And I ask ye t' examine 'em, Pole; for last night I counted my notes, wantin' change, and I thought of a salmon I bought on the banks of the Suir to make a present to Chump, which was our onnly visit to Waterford together: for he naver went t' Ireland before or after-dyin' as he did! and it's no

servants to begone; but as they had always the option to misunderstand authoritative gestures, t

I guarantee the honesty of all who serve me. Martha! you must be

ose, till I cringe like a slut o' the scullery, and cry out

who deals with a gross delusio

Ye don't remember the givin' of me just that

the amount, one time or other.

ock ut up, for I'll onnly be unlockin' again to- morrow; and doin' a thing and undoin' ut's a

sagaciously. "Must cha

at's my dite to

s bedchamber this morning?

person. Mrs. Chump acknowledged to being awake when the shutters were opened,

ng nonsense," said Mr. Pole. "Do y

t the sides, y

e sides, if you like;

ber such a lot as that, if ev

ank-notes looks at the numbers. You have a trick of fancying all sorts of sums in your pocket

eplorable shout. "Ye're crool! and young women that look on at a fellow-woman's mis'ry. Oh! how can ye do ut! But soft hearts can be the hardest. And all

ave only to ask. Now, will you promise to be quiet? and I'll give you this money-the amount yo

upon a succession of quieter sobs with each one of which she addressed a

u, and eat a good breakfast to show your gratitude. Mind, you take this

he notes, that the crisp sweet sound m

ore-not about money, I

took refuge with her papa, who leaned over to her, and said: "You won't mind waiting till you see me again? She's taken all I had." Adela nodded blankly, and the next moment, with an angry glance toward Mrs. Chump, "Papa," said she, "if you wish to see servants in the house on your return, you must yourself speak to them, and tell them that we, their master and mistresses, do not regard them as thieves." Out of this there came a quarrel as furious as

to comp

st you,

st as im

ur servan

rd. It's like fittin' a cap on me. Ye want to make

that are, I believe,

rouse Mrs. Lupin's involuntary laugh (which always consoled her in such cases), huffed out of the room. Then Mr. Pole, in an abruptly serious way, bashfully entreated the ladies to be civil to Martha, who had the best heart in the world. I