The Mating of Lydia

ysical strength was not yet equal to coping with it-a scene was passing in a bare cottage beside the Ulls-water road, whence in due time one of

ed, and he had sunk down on a chair beside a table which held tea things and some bread and

t, the blinds were down, and the little room was like an oven. The cottage was a new one and stood in a bare plot of garden, unshaded and unsheltered, on a stretch of road which crossed the open fell. It was a labourer's cottage, but t

Pengarth, were accustomed to sell to their farmer clients, and it was crossed by an old-fashioned chain and seal. The suit was heavily splashed with mud; so were the t

farm between Pengarth and Carlisle, bordering on the Threlfall property. But he

nd Brand succeeded to the farm. All his long-checked manhood asserted itself. There was a brief period of drinking, betting, and high living. The old man had left a small sum of ready money in the bank, which to the son, who had always been denied the handling of money, seemed riches. It was soon spent, and then unexpected burdens and claims disclosed themselves. There was a debt to the

's standing crops. Melrose was asked to compensate, and flatly declined. The fence was no doubt his; but he claimed that it had been broken by one of Brand's men. Hence the accident. The statement was false, and the evidence supporting it corrupt. Moreover the whole business was only the last of a series of unneighbourly acts on the part both of the bailiff and landowner, and a sudden fury blazed up in Brand's slow mind. He took his claim to the county court and won his case; the judge allowing himself a sharp sentence or two on the management of the Threlfall property. Brand spent part of his compensation money in entertaining a group of friends at a Pengarth public. But that was the last of his triumph. Thenceforward things went mysteriously wrong with him. His creditors, first one, then all, began to tighten their pressure on him; and presently the bank manager-the Jove of Brand's little world-passed abruptly from civility or indulgence, to a peremptory

s that night that Brand would rue his audacity, and the prophecy soon dismally fulfilled itself. The local bank to which Brand owed money had been accustomed for years to deal with very large temporary balances-representing the rents of half the Threlfall estates. Nash was well known to the manager, as one of those backstairs informants, indispensable in a neighbourhood where every farmer wanted advances-now on his crops-now on his stock-and the leading bank could onl

eving, that he had been ruined by Melrose in revenge fo

tle hot room. His wife came in, and stood at the door o

have yo

ere are

speak wi' the schoolmaster. He's thinkin' o' ta

e of his eye. But an uncle had offered him half his passa

' W

eanin' h

s, and while she returned to her kitchen the younger

ut a year before this time an outburst of rough practical joking on the lad's part-sudden jumpings out from hedges to frighten school-children going home, or the sudden whoopings and howlings of a

ng-room, an excited, quasi-triumphant

been aft

in' W

ore the young pheasants were returned to the woods, occasio

the tea, and he and Will helped themselve

at owd gun wo

ne was interrogat

an' a stoat wi'

did,

d butter, strange lights and flickering expr

'm gettin' a v

isin'." Brand turned a pair

Brand, with energy. "I doan't howd wi' guns an' shoo

said Will, bringing his hand down on the table with sudden pass

said his mother, mildly. "We

e we're aye

tle horsehair sofa, and stretched himself full length upon it. Such an action on his part was unheard of. Both wife and son stared at him without speaking. Then Mrs. Brand got up, fetched an old shawl, and put it over her husband who had closed his eyes. Will left the room, and

*

had been invited to meet him. Two guests-members of the Tatham family-had invited themselves, much to Lady

the Italian garden in front. It commanded the distant blue line of the Keswick and Ullswater mountains, and a foreground of wood and crag, while the Italian garden to which the marble steps of the

ing water nymph. A broad grass pathway led them to the house, so that guests emerging from it arrived in rather spectacu

e forgetfulness of a similar transaction twelve months earlier still undischarged. He was married, but his wife did not pay visits with him. Victoria greatly preferred her-plain and silent as she was-to her husband; but realizing what a relief it must be to a woman to get such a man off her hands as often as possible, she never pressed

him for a lack of grandfathers, for his crop of black curls, his southern complexion and his foreign birth. Delorme thought Gerald an idler of no account, and perceived in him the sure signs of a decadence which was rapidly drawing t

nough. Presently Delorme, sweeping a powerful hand before hi

ald, carelessly, "and, for onc

ucky fellow. Why do

ome off my sister-in-law

ocracy is all very well-except when it comes to marri

ht. Anyway, she won't

od-impoverished!-t

miled-un

take that sort of line-on forty thousand a year! But as to bi

ve look at his companion, the look of the alien to

our stocks-some

into it, that we've descended very st

hrew up h

adays. A strong blood-that's what you want-a blood that will stand this modern

istcoat shining in the diffused light. Lady Barbara Woolson, the other uninvited guest, Victoria's first cousin; a young man in a dinner j

e rest appeared to be mere escort and attendance; so vivid, so charged wi

y deference, as though he led in the fairy queen. So delicate were her proportions, so bright her hair, and so compelling the ch

lle petite fée

aw talked of so

eine! My dear fellow,

staches, looking hard

h Victoria." But his tone was doubtful. It w

*

; much fruit; a shimmer of tea-roses before the guests;

in her youth-borne her a cousinly affection. Lady Barbara was a committee-woman, indefatigable, and indiscriminate. She lived and gloried in a chronic state of overwork, for which no one but herself saw the necessity. Her conversation about it only confirmed the frivolous persons whom she tried to convert to "social service," in their frivolity. After a quarter of an hour's conversation wit

; her love had haloed him; though she had plenty of character of her own. She herself was an American, a New Englander by birth, carrying with her still the perfume of a quiet life begun among the hills of Vermont, and in sight of the Adirondacks; a life fundamentally Puritan and based on Puritan ideals; yet softened and expanded by the modern forces of art, travel, and books. Lucy Manisty had attracted her husband, when he,

so attractive!" Mrs. M

am's

ion of her eyes, and h

ry pretty,

angel-who has been to co

. She admir

see. And he

r-wants him

e knows his o

glass. "You say she paints. The modern girl must always

ed he was half-hearted, for his fundamental ideas were quite as old-fashioned as Lady Barbara's. But Lydia, for hi

in return, but inwardly he was discontented. Always this gay camaraderie-like a boy's. Not the slightest tremor in it. Not a touch of consciousne

and feelings which he had unveiled for no one else-not even for Victoria-since he was a boy at school with boyish friendships. And she had handled them with such delicacy, such sweetness; such frankness too, in return as to her own "ideas," those stubborn intractable ideas, which made him frown to think of.

t Faversham at the cottage on several occasions; and there had been references to other visits from the new agent. He understood perfectly that Lydia was broadly, humanly interested in the man's task: the

of Lydia's nascent friendship with Faversham. There had sprung up in him instead a constant agit

absent look, who inclined his head to her paternally. Tatham knew very well that there was no one in the county who was more rigidly tied to caste o

olour and scents of nature, seemed to be driving him toward speech-toward som

*

entlemen lingered smoking on the loggia. The ladies dispersed through the garden, and Delorme-after a look round the male company-quietly went with them. So did the gentleman in the di

was Faversham's appointment. Every landowner there was full of it. He had been seen in Brampton on market day driving in a very decent motor; and since his accession he had succeeded in letting two or three

ghbourhood. He and Victoria Tatham were the best of friends. They differed on almost all subjects. He was a mass of prejudices, large and small, and Victoria laughed at him. But when she wanted to help any particula

nd carried into the lion's den," said Andover, in answer to Barton. "And now

perfect palace!" said the r

ed a visit he had paid to Faversham, within a few days of the agent's appo

"-he addressed Tatham, with a laughing gesture toward the house-"comparable to his sitting-room. Priceless things in it! And close by, an excellent office, with room for two clerks-one alr

Threlfall!" mu

dinary fancy for the young man. Everything is done for him. He

nturer," grumbled Ba

Colonel. I knew Faversham at college. He's

is praise stuck

a decent fellow, as Tatham says, he won't stay long. Do

y. "I believe Melrose will lose us the next election up here. You re

no voices or steps in the garden outside. They had melted into the wood beyond. But now t

y he threw dow

join the

ve had a dos

o as soon as Tatham appeared had subsided langu

ace twinkling. "We've picked all the Aca

ed you to s

nd in the soft lig

f course it would be

o him," said

e park stretched westward and upward into the purple fissures and clefts of the mountains. Trees, fells, grass were steeped in a wan, gold light, a mingling of sunset and moonrise. The sky was clear; the gradations of c

tham incoherently as they paused; "

startled, looked up to see the face of Tatham look

you. I love you so dearly! I can't keep it to myself. I have-ever since I first saw you. You won't be angry wi

ter a murmur he couldn't catc

dull sense of disaster. The impulse to speak had be

she lo

re he knew what she was doing, she had lifted one of his h

way from him and with her hands behind her, she looked at him, smiling through tea

o dreadfully sorry-if it's my fault-if I've misled you. I thought I'd tried hard to show what I really fe

arry me!" he said bi

used a

-and to myself. You see"-she looked down, the points of her white shoe drawing circles on the grass, as though to help out her faltering speech-"I-I'

as air!" he interr

ried. I shouldn't want to

you be?" said poor Tatham, with a new and desperate humility. "Why on earth s

the dusk behind them; the high notes of Lad

," said Lydia impetuous

here it lay, the great house, faintly lit; and there in front stretched its demesne, symbol of its ancient rule and of its modern power. A natural excitement passed through Lydia as they paused, and she caught its stately outline through the night. And the

o be offering what we couldn't give. We could be lovers; we weren't good enough-we hadn't stuff enough-to be friends. But now-dear Lord Tatham-just try me-" She held out to him two hands, whi

more than a friend!" he said

re, nor you to us. And why? It would be such a waste-of what our friendship

ds, mastering hims

it's nonsense! But-if I promised not to sa

orses, in her. As Susan had warned her, wa

e zest of spiritual adventure, and a s

eyes questioning the smile in hers. "Now please!-my friend!"-she slid dexterously, though very softly, into the everyday tone-"will you a

h the frank gentleness of a child. Yet the

ke out-pas

There's-there

him; she hasten

nd, I'm free. And so are you. Shall I come to-

m's throat. Yet he rose-d

at I like?" he a

ed I

st to please you-and becau

she said, with a litt

o do-that you'd like?" Sh

ever wanted to marry me-and don

h his pain, and gr

dia, "I think it's

*

was open, and he passed out into the garden. Soon, in his struggle with himself, he had left the garden and the park behind, and was climbing the slope of the fells. The play of the soft summer winds under the stars, the scents of bracken and heather and rushes, the distant throbbing sounds that r

, some young and furious tears fell upon the sod. That quiet strength of will in so soft a creature-a will opposed to his will-had brought him up