Читать книгу Scenes and Characters, or, Eighteen Months at Beechcroft - Yonge Charlotte Mary - Страница 9

The holidays arrived, and with them the three brothers, for during the first few weeks of the Oxford vacation Claude accompanied Lord Rotherwood on visits to some college friends, and only came home the same day as the younger ones.

Maurice did not long leave his sisters in doubt as to what was to be his reigning taste, for as soon as dinner was over, he made Jane find the volume of the Encyclopædia containing Entomology, and with his elbows on the table, proceeded to study it so intently, that the young ladies gave up all hopes of rousing him from it.  Claude threw himself down on the sofa to enjoy the luxury of a desultory talk with his sisters; and Reginald, his head on the floor, and his heels on a chair, talked loud and fast enough for all three, with very little regard to what the damsels might be saying.

‘Oh! Claude,’ said Lily, ‘you cannot think how much we like Miss Weston, she lets us call her Alethea, and—’

Here came an interruption from Mr. Mohun, who perceiving the position of Reginald’s dusty shoes, gave a loud ‘Ah—h!’ as if he was scolding a dog, and ordered him to change them directly.

‘Here, Phyl!’ said Reginald, kicking off his shoes, ‘just step up and bring my shippers, Rachel will give them to you.’

Away went Phyllis, well pleased to be her brother’s fag.

‘Ah!  Redgie does not know the misfortune that hangs over him,’ said Emily.

‘What?’ said Reginald, ‘will not the Baron let Viper come to the house?’

‘Worse,’ said Emily, ‘Rachel is going away.’

‘Rachel?’ cried Claude, starting up from the sofa.

‘Rachel?’ said Maurice, without raising his eyes.

‘Rachel!  Rachel! botheration!’ roared Reginald, with a wondrous caper.

‘Yes, Rachel,’ said Emily; ‘Rachel, who makes so much of you, for no reason that I could ever discover, but because you are the most troublesome.’

‘You will never find any one to mend your jackets, and dress your wounds like Rachel,’ said Lily, ‘and make a baby of you instead of a great schoolboy.  What will become of you, Redgie?’

‘What will become of any of us?’ said Claude; ‘I thought Rachel was the mainspring of the house.’

‘Have you quarrelled with her, Emily?’ said Reginald.

‘Nonsense,’ said Emily, ‘it is only that her brother has lost his wife, and wants her to take care of his children.’

‘Well,’ said Reginald, ‘her master has lost his wife, and wants her to take care of his children.’

‘I cannot think what I shall do,’ said Ada; ‘I cry about it every night when I go to bed.  What is to be done?’

‘Send her brother a new wife,’ said Maurice.

‘Send him Emily,’ said Reginald; ‘we could spare her much better.’

‘Only I don’t wish him joy,’ said Maurice.

‘Well, I hope you wish me joy of my substitute,’ said Emily; ‘I do not think you would ever guess, but Lily, after being in what Rachel calls quite a way, has persuaded every one to let us have Esther Bateman.’

‘What, the Baron?’ said Claude, in surprise.

‘Yes,’ said Lily, ‘is it not delightful?  He said at first, Emily was too inexperienced to teach a young servant; but then we settled that Hannah should be upper servant, and Esther will only have to wait upon Phyl and Ada.  Then he said Faith Longley was of a better set of people, but I am sure it would give one the nightmare to see her lumbering about the house, and then he talked it over with Robert and with Rachel.’

‘And was not Rachel against it, or was she too kind to her young ladies?’

‘Oh! she was cross when she talked it over with us,’ said Lily; ‘but we coaxed her over, and she told the Baron it would do very well.’

‘And Robert?’

‘He was quite with us, for he likes Esther as much as I do,’ said lily.

‘Now, Lily,’ said Jane, ‘how can you say he was quite with you, when he said he thought it would be better if she was farther from home, and under some older person?’

‘Yes, but he allowed that she would be much safer here than at home,’ said Lily.

‘But I thought she used to be the head of all the ill behaviour in school,’ said Claude.

‘Oh! that was in Eleanor’s time,’ said Lily; ‘there was nothing to draw her out, she never was encouraged; but since she has been in my class, and has found that her wishes to do right are appreciated and met by affection, she has been quite a new creature.’

‘Since she has been in MY class,’ Claude repeated.

‘Well,’ said Lily, with a slight blush, ‘it is just what Robert says.  He told her, when he gave her her prize Bible on Palm Sunday, that she had been going on very well, but she must take great care when removed from those whose influence now guided her, and who could he have meant but me?  And now she is to go on with me always.  She will be quite one of the old sort of faithful servants, who feel that they owe everything to their masters, and will it not be pleasant to have so sweet and expressive a face about the house?’

‘Do I know her face?’ said Claude.  ‘Oh yes!  I do.  She has black eyes, I think, and would be pretty if she did not look pert.’

‘You provoking Claude!’ cried Lily, ‘you are as bad as Alethea, who never will say that Esther is the best person for us.’

‘I was going to inquire for the all-for-love principle,’ said Claude, ‘but I see it is in full force.  And how are the verses, Lily?  Have you made a poem upon Michael Moone, or Mohun, the actor, our uncle, whom I discovered for you in Pepys’s Memoirs?’

‘Nonsense,’ said Lily; ‘but I have been writing something about Sir Maurice, which you shall hear whenever you are not in this horrid temper.’

The next afternoon, as soon as luncheon was over, Lily drew Claude out to his favourite place under the plane-tree, where she proceeded to inflict her poem upon his patient ears, while he lay flat upon the grass looking up to the sky; Emily and Jane had promised to join them there in process of time, and the four younger ones were, as usual, diverting themselves among the farm buildings at the Old Court.

Lily began: ‘I meant to have two parts about Sir Maurice going out to fight when he was very young, and then about his brothers being killed, and King Charles knighting him, and his betrothed, Phyllis Crossthwayte, embroidering his black engrailed cross on his banner, and then the taking the castle, and his being wounded, and escaping, and Phyllis not thinking it right to leave her father; but I have not finished that, so now you must hear about his return home.’

muttered Claude to himself; but as Lily did not understand or know whence his quotation came, it did not hurt her feelings, and she went merrily on:—

‘It is a pity they should sing of it in such lines as those last four,’ said Claude.  ‘Let me see, I like your bringing in the real names, though I doubt whether any but Greenwood could have been found here.’

‘Oh! here come Emily and Jane,’ said Lily, ‘let me put it away.’

‘You are very much afraid of Jane,’ said Claude.

‘Yes, Jane has no feeling for poetry,’ said Lily, with simplicity, which made her brother smile.

Jane and Emily now came up, the former with her work, the latter with a camp-stool and a book.  ‘I wonder,’ said she, ‘where those boys are!  By the bye, what character did they bring home from school?’

‘The same as usual,’ said Claude.  ‘Maurice’s mind only half given to his work, and Redgie’s whole mind to his play.’

‘Maurice’s talent does not lie in the direction of Latin and Greek,’ said Emily.

‘No,’ said Jane, ‘it is nonsense to make him learn it, and so he says.’

‘Perhaps he would say the same of mathematics and mechanics, if as great a point were made of them,’ said Lily.

‘I think not,’ said Claude; ‘he has more notion of them than of Latin verses.’

‘Then you are on my side,’ said Jane, triumphantly.

‘Did I say so?’ said Claude.

‘Why not?’ said Jane.  ‘What is the use of his knowing those stupid languages?  I am sure it is wasting time not to improve such a genius as he has for mechanics and natural history.  Now, Claude, I wish you would answer.’

‘I was waiting till you had done,’ said Claude.

‘Why do you not think it nonsense?’ persisted Jane.

‘Because I respect my father’s opinion,’ said Claude, letting himself fall on the grass, as if he had done with the subject.

‘Pooh!’ said Jane, ‘that sounds like a good little boy of five years old!’

‘Very likely,’ said Claude.

‘But you have some opinion of your own,’ said Lily.

‘Certainly.’

‘Then I wish you would give it,’ said Jane.

‘Come, Emily,’ said Claude, ‘have you brought anything to read?’

‘But your opinion, Claude,’ said Jane.  ‘I am sure you think with me, only you are too grand, and too correct to say so.’

Claude made no answer, but Jane saw she was wrong by his countenance; before she could say anything more, however, they were interrupted by a great outcry from the Old Court regions.

‘Oh,’ said Emily, ‘I thought it was a long time since we had heard anything of those uproarious mortals.’

‘I hope there is nothing the matter,’ said Lily.

‘Oh no,’ said Jane, ‘I hear Redgie’s laugh.’

‘Aye, but among that party,’ said Emily, ‘Redgie’s laugh is not always a proof of peace: they are too much in the habit of acting the boys and the frogs.’

‘We were better off,’ said Lily, ‘with the gentle Claude, as Miss Middleton used to call him.’

‘Miss Molly, as William used to call him with more propriety,’ said Claude, ‘not half so well worth playing with as such a fellow as Redgie.’

‘Not even for young ladies?’ said Emily.

‘No, Phyllis and Ada are much the better for being teased,’ said Claude.  ‘I am convinced that I never did my duty by you in that respect.’

‘There were others to do it for you,’ said Jane.

‘Harry never teased,’ said Emily, ‘and William scorned us.’

‘His teasing was all performed upon Claude,’ said Lily, ‘and a great shame it was.’

‘Not at all,’ said Claude, ‘only an injudicious attempt to put a little life into a tortoise.’

‘A bad comparison,’ said Lily; ‘but what is all this?  Here come the children in dismay!  What is the matter, my dear child?’

This was addressed to Phyllis, who was the first to come up at full speed, sobbing, and out of breath, ‘Oh, the dragon-fly!  Oh, do not let him kill it!’

‘The dragon-fly, the poor dear blue dragon-fly!’ screamed Adeline, hiding her face in Emily’s lap, ‘Oh, do not let him kill it! he is holding it; he is hurting it!  Oh, tell him not!’

‘I caught it,’ said Phyllis, ‘but not to have it killed.  Oh, take it away!’

‘A fine rout, indeed, you chicken,’ said Reginald; ‘I know a fellow who ate up five horse-stingers one morning before breakfast.’

‘Stingers!’ said Phyllis, ‘they do not sting anything, pretty creatures.’

‘I told you I would catch the old pony and put it on him to try,’ said Reginald.

In the meantime, Maurice came up at his leisure, holding his prize by the wings.  ‘Look what a beautiful Libellulla Puella,’ said he to Jane.

‘A demoiselle dragon-fly,’ said Lily; ‘what a beauty! what are you going to do with it?’

‘Put it into my museum,’ said Maurice.  ‘Here, Jane, put it under this flower-pot, and take care of it, while I fetch something to kill it with.’

‘Oh, Maurice, do not!’ said Emily.

‘One good squeeze,’ said Reginald.  ‘I will do it.’

‘How came you be so cruel?’ said Lily.

‘No, a squeeze will not do,’ said Maurice; ‘it would spoil its beauty; I must put it ever the fumes of carbonic acid.’

‘Maurice, you really must not,’ said Emily.

‘Now do not, dear Maurice,’ said Ada, ‘there’s a dear boy; I will give you such a kiss.’

‘Nonsense; get out of the way,’ said Maurice, turning away.

‘Now, Maurice, this is most horrid cruelty,’ said Lily; ‘what right have you to shorten the brief, happy life which—’

‘Well,’ interrupted Maurice, ‘if you make such a fuss about killing it, I will stick a pin through it into a cork, and let it shift for itself.’

Poor Phyllis ran away to the other end of the garden, sat down and sobbed, Ada screamed and argued, Emily complained, Lily exhorted Claude to interfere, while Reginald stood laughing.

‘Such useless cruelty,’ said Emily.

‘Useless!’ said Maurice.  ‘Pray how is any one to make a collection of natural objects without killing things?’

‘I do not see the use of a collection,’ said Lily; ‘you can examine the creatures and let them go.’

‘Such a young lady’s tender-hearted notion,’ said Reginald.

‘Who ever heard of a man of science managing in such a ridiculous way?’

‘Man of science!’ exclaimed Lily, ‘when he will have forgotten by next Christmas that insects ever existed.’

It was not convenient to hear this speech, so Maurice turned an empty flower-pot over his prisoner, and left it in Jane’s care while he went to fetch the means of destruction, probably choosing the lawn for the place of execution, in order to show his contempt for his sisters.

‘Fair damsel in boddice blue,’ said Lily, peeping in at the hole at the top of the flower-pot, ‘I wish I could avert your melancholy fate.  I am very sorry for you, but I cannot help it.’

‘You might help it now, at any rate,’ muttered Claude.

‘No,’ said Lily, ‘I know Monsieur Maurice too well to arouse his wrath so justly.  If you choose to release the pretty creature, I shall be charmed.’

‘You forget that I am in charge,’ said Jane.

‘There is a carriage coming to the front gate,’ cried Ada.  ‘Emily, may I go into the drawing-room?  Oh, Jenny, will you undo my brown holland apron?’

‘That is right, little mincing Miss,’ said Reginald, with a low bow; ‘how fine we are to-day.’

‘How visitors break into the afternoon,’ said Emily, with a languid turn of her head.

‘Jenny, brownie,’ called Maurice from his bedroom window, ‘I want the sulphuric acid.’

Jane sprang up and ran into the house, though her sisters called after her, that she would come full upon the company in the hall.

‘They shall not catch me here,’ cried Reginald, rushing off into the shrubbery.

‘Are you coming in, Claude?’ said Emily.

‘Send Ada to call me, if there is any one worth seeing,’ said Claude

‘They will see you from the window,’ said Emily.

‘No,’ said Claude, ‘no one ever found me out last summer, under these friendly branches.’

The old butler, Joseph, now showed himself on the terrace; and the young ladies, knowing that he had no intention of crossing the lawn, hastened to learn from him who their visitors were, and entered the house.  Just then Phyllis came running back from the kitchen garden, and without looking round, or perceiving Claude, she took up the flower-pot and released the captive, which, unconscious of its peril, rested on a blade of grass, vibrating its gauzy wings and rejoicing in the restored sunbeams.

‘Fly away, fly away, you pretty creature,’ said Phyllis; ‘make haste, or Maurice will come and catch you again.  I wish I had not given you such a fright.  I thought you would have been killed, and a pin stuck all through that pretty blue and black body of yours.  Oh! that would be dreadful.  Make haste and go away!  I would not have caught you, you beautiful thing, if I had known what he wanted to do.  I thought he only wanted to look at your beautiful body, like a little bit of the sky come down to look at the flowers, and your delicate wings, and great shining eyes.  Oh! I am very glad God made you so beautiful.  Oh! there is Maurice coming.  I must blow upon you to make you go.  Oh, that is right—up quite high in the air—quite safe,’ and she clapped her hands as the dragon-fly rose in the air, and disappeared behind the laurels, just as Maurice and Reginald emerged from the shrubbery, the former with a bottle in his hand.

‘Well, where is the Libellulla?’ said he.

‘The dragon-fly?’ said Phyllis.  ‘I let it out.’

‘Sold, Maurice!’ cried Reginald, laughing at his brother’s disaster.

‘Upon my word, Phyl, you are very kind!’ said Maurice, angrily.  ‘If I had known you were such an ill-natured crab—’

‘Oh!  Maurice dear, don’t say so,’ exclaimed Phyllis.  ‘I thought I might let it out because I caught it myself; and I told you I did not catch it for you to kill; Maurice, indeed, I am sorry I vexed you.’

‘What else did you do it for?’ said Maurice.  ‘It is horrid not to be able to leave one’s things a minute—’

‘But I did not know the dragon-fly belonged to you, Maurice,’ said Phyllis.

‘That is a puzzler, Mohun senior,’ said Reginald.

‘Now, Redgie, do get Maurice to leave off being angry with me,’ implored his sister.

‘I will leave off being angry,’ said Maurice, seeing his advantage, ‘if you will promise never to let out my things again.’

‘I do not think I can promise,’ said Phyllis.

‘O yes, you can,’ said Reginald, ‘you know they are not his.’

‘Promise you will not let out any insects I may get,’ said Maurice, ‘or I shall say you are as cross as two sticks.’