Mildred Arkell. Vol. 1 (of 3)

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Henry Wood. Mildred Arkell. Vol. 1 (of 3)

CHAPTER I. WHICH IS NOTHING BUT AN INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER II. THE MISS HUGHES'S HOME

CHAPTER III. THE ADVENT OF CHARLOTTE TRAVICE

CHAPTER IV. ROBERT CARR'S REQUEST

CHAPTER V. THE FLIGHT

CHAPTER VI. A MISERABLE MISTAKE

CHAPTER VII. A HEART SEARED

CHAPTER VIII. BETSEY TRAVICE

CHAPTER IX. DISPLEASING EYES

CHAPTER X. GOING OUT AS LADY'S MAID

CHAPTER XI. MR. CARR'S OFFER

CHAPTER XII. MARRIAGES IN UNFASHIONABLE LIFE

CHAPTER XIII. GOING ON FOR LORD MAYOR

CHAPTER XIV. OLD YEARS BACK AGAIN

CHAPTER XV. THE DEAN'S DAUGHTER

CHAPTER XVI. A CITY'S DESOLATION

CHAPTER XVII. A DIFFICULTY ABOUT TICKETS

CHAPTER XVIII. THE CONCERT

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Marmaduke Carr, of whom mention has been made, was one of the Westerbury manufacturers—a widower, and a wealthy man. He had only one son living—Robert; two other children had died in infancy. Robert Carr, about thirty years of age now, was not renowned for his steadiness of conduct; indeed, he had been a sad spendthrift, and innumerable unpleasant scenes had resulted therefrom between him and his father. It could not be said that his heart was bad; but his head was certainly light. Half the town declared that Robert Carr had no real evil in him; that his faults were but the result of youth and carelessness; that he would make a worthy man yet. The other half prophesied that he would be safe to come to a bad ending, like wicked Harry in the spelling-book. One of his escapades Mr. Carr was particularly sore upon. After a violent quarrel between them—for each possessed a temper of his own—Robert had started off clandestinely; that is, without saying a word to anyone. At the end of a month he returned, and bills to the amount of something like a hundred pounds came in to his father. Mr. Robert had been seeing life in London.

In one sense of the word, the fault was Mr. Carr's. There cannot be a greater mistake than to bring up a son to idleness, and this had been the case with Robert Carr. He would settle to nothing, and his father had virtually winked at it. Ostensibly, Robert had entered the manufactory; but he would not attend to the business: he said he hated it. One day there, and the other five days away. Idling his hours with his friends in the town; over at his uncle's, Squire Carr's, shooting, fishing, hunting; going somewhere out by the morning coach, and in again; anything, in fact, to avoid work and kill time. This should have been checked in the onset; it was not, and when Mr. Carr awoke to the consequences of his indulgent supineness, the habits had grown to a height that refused control. "Let him take his pleasure a bit," Mr. Carr had said to his own heart at first, "youth's never the worse for a little roaming before settling down. I have made plenty of money, and there's only Bob to inherit it." Dangerous doctrine; mistaken conclusions: and Mr. Carr lived to find them so.

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"It is larger than we require. Let me look at you, my dear, and see what resemblance I can trace. I remember your father and mother."

She held the young lady before her. A very pretty face, certainly—especially now, for Charlotte laughed and blushed.

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