CHAPTER VIII
"I have lost a beautiful girl, an excellent social position, and ahandsome income," Mr. Godfrey began; "and I have submitted to it withouta struggle. What can be the motive for such extraordinary conduct asthat? My precious friend, there is no motive."
"No motive?" I repeated.
"Let me appeal, my dear Miss Clack, to your experience of children," hewent on. "A child pursues a certain course of conduct. You are greatlystruck by it, and you attempt to get at the motive. The dear littlething is incapable of telling you its motive. You might as well ask thegrass why it grows, or the birds why they sing. Well! in this matter, Iam like the dear little thing--like the grass--like the birds. I don'tknow why I made a proposal of marriage to Miss Verinder. I don't knowwhy I have shamefully neglected my dear Ladies. I don't know why I haveapostatised from the Mothers' Small-Clothes. You say to the child, Whyhave you been naughty? And the little angel puts its finger into itsmouth, and doesn't know. My case exactly, Miss Clack! I couldn't confessit to anybody else. I feel impelled to confess it to YOU!"
I began to recover myself. A mental problem was involved here. I amdeeply interested in mental problems--and I am not, it is thought,without some skill in solving them.
"Best of friends, exert your intellect, and help me," he proceeded."Tell me--why does a time come when these matrimonial proceedings ofmine begin to look like something done in a dream? Why does it suddenlyoccur to me that my true happiness is in helping my dear Ladies, ingoing my modest round of useful work, in saying my few earnest wordswhen called on by my Chairman? What do I want with a position? I havegot a position! What do I want with an income? I can pay for my breadand cheese, and my nice little lodging, and my two coats a year. What doI want with Miss Verinder? She has told me with her own lips (this, dearlady, is between ourselves) that she loves another man, and that heronly idea in marrying me is to try and put that other man out of herhead. What a horrid union is this! Oh, dear me, what a horrid unionis this! Such are my reflections, Miss Clack, on my way to Brighton. Iapproach Rachel with the feeling of a criminal who is going to receivehis sentence. When I find that she has changed her mind too--when I hearher propose to break the engagement--I experience (there is no sort ofdoubt about it) a most overpowering sense of relief. A month ago I waspressing her rapturously to my bosom. An hour ago, the happiness ofknowing that I shall never press her again, intoxicates me like strongliquor. The thing seems impossible--the thing can't be. And yet thereare the facts, as I had the honour of stating them when we first satdown together in these two chairs. I have lost a beautiful girl, anexcellent social position, and a handsome income; and I have submittedto it without a struggle. Can you account for it, dear friend? It'squite beyond ME."
His magnificent head sank on his breast, and he gave up his own mentalproblem in despair.
I was deeply touched. The case (if I may speak as a spiritual physician)was now quite plain to me. It is no uncommon event, in the experience ofus all, to see the possessors of exalted ability occasionally humbledto the level of the most poorly-gifted people about them. The object, nodoubt, in the wise economy of Providence, is to remind greatness thatit is mortal and that the power which has conferred it can also takeit away. It was now--to my mind--easy to discern one of these salutaryhumiliations in the deplorable proceedings on dear Mr. Godfrey's part,of which I had been the unseen witness. And it was equally easy torecognise the welcome reappearance of his own finer nature in the horrorwith which he recoiled from the idea of a marriage with Rachel, and inthe charming eagerness which he showed to return to his Ladies and hisPoor.
I put this view before him in a few simple and sisterly words. His joywas beautiful to see. He compared himself, as I went on, to a lost manemerging from the darkness into the light. When I answered for a lovingreception of him at the Mothers' Small-Clothes, the grateful heart ofour Christian Hero overflowed. He pressed my hands alternately to hislips. Overwhelmed by the exquisite triumph of having got him back amongus, I let him do what he liked with my hands. I closed my eyes. I feltmy head, in an ecstasy of spiritual self-forgetfulness, sinking on hisshoulder. In a moment more I should certainly have swooned away in hisarms, but for an interruption from the outer world, which brought me tomyself again. A horrid rattling of knives and forks sounded outside thedoor, and the footman came in to lay the table for luncheon.
Mr. Godfrey started up, and looked at the clock on the mantelpiece.
"How time flies with YOU!" he exclaimed. "I shall barely catch thetrain."
I ventured on asking why he was in such a hurry to get back to town.His answer reminded me of family difficulties that were still to bereconciled, and of family disagreements that were yet to come.
"I have heard from my father," he said. "Business obliges him to leaveFrizinghall for London to-day, and he proposes coming on here, eitherthis evening or to-morrow. I must tell him what has happened betweenRachel and me. His heart is set on our marriage--there will be greatdifficulty, I fear, in reconciling him to the breaking-off of theengagement. I must stop him, for all our sakes, from coming here till heIS reconciled. Best and dearest of friends, we shall meet again!"
With those words he hurried out. In equal haste on my side, I ranupstairs to compose myself in my own room before meeting Aunt Ablewhiteand Rachel at the luncheon-table.
I am well aware--to dwell for a moment yet on the subject of Mr.Godfrey--that the all-profaning opinion of the world has charged himwith having his own private reasons for releasing Rachel from herengagement, at the first opportunity she gave him. It has also reachedmy ears, that his anxiety to recover his place in my estimation has beenattributed in certain quarters, to a mercenary eagerness to make hispeace (through me) with a venerable committee-woman at the Mothers'Small-Clothes, abundantly blessed with the goods of this world, anda beloved and intimate friend of my own. I only notice these odiousslanders for the sake of declaring that they never had a moment'sinfluence on my mind. In obedience to my instructions, I have exhibitedthe fluctuations in my opinion of our Christian Hero, exactly as I findthem recorded in my diary. In justice to myself, let me here add that,once reinstated in his place in my estimation, my gifted friend neverlost that place again. I write with the tears in my eyes, burning to saymore. But no--I am cruelly limited to my actual experience of personsand things. In less than a month from the time of which I am nowwriting, events in the money-market (which diminished even my miserablelittle income) forced me into foreign exile, and left me with nothingbut a loving remembrance of Mr. Godfrey which the slander of the worldhas assailed, and assailed in vain.
Let me dry my eyes, and return to my narrative.
I went downstairs to luncheon, naturally anxious to see how Rachel wasaffected by her release from her marriage engagement.
It appeared to me--but I own I am a poor authority in such matters--thatthe recovery of her freedom had set her thinking again of that other manwhom she loved, and that she was furious with herself for not being ableto control a revulsion of feeling of which she was secretly ashamed. Whowas the man? I had my suspicions--but it was needless to waste time inidle speculation. When I had converted her, she would, as a matter ofcourse, have no concealments from Me. I should hear all about the man;I should hear all about the Moonstone. If I had had no higher object instirring her up to a sense of spiritual things, the motive of relievingher mind of its guilty secrets would have been enough of itself toencourage me to go on.
Aunt Ablewhite took her exercise in the afternoon in an invalid chair.Rachel accompanied her. "I wish I could drag the chair," she broke out,recklessly. "I wish I could fatigue myself till I was ready to drop."
She was in the same humour in the evening. I discovered in one of myfriend's precious publications--the Life, Letters, and Labours of MissJane Ann Stamper, forty-fourth edition--passages which bore witha marvellous appropriateness on Rachel's present position. Upon myproposing to read them, she went to the piano. Conceive how little shemust have known of serious people, if she sup
posed that my patience wasto be exhausted in that way! I kept Miss Jane Ann Stamper by me, andwaited for events with the most unfaltering trust in the future.
Old Mr. Ablewhite never made his appearance that night. But I knew theimportance which his worldly greed attached to his son's marriage withMiss Verinder--and I felt a positive conviction (do what Mr. Godfreymight to prevent it) that we should see him the next day. With hisinterference in the matter, the storm on which I had counted wouldcertainly come, and the salutary exhaustion of Rachel's resisting powerswould as certainly follow. I am not ignorant that old Mr. Ablewhite hasthe reputation generally (especially among his inferiors) of being aremarkably good-natured man. According to my observation of him, hedeserves his reputation as long as he has his own way, and not a momentlonger.
The next day, exactly as I had foreseen, Aunt Ablewhite was as near tobeing astonished as her nature would permit, by the sudden appearanceof her husband. He had barely been a minute in the house, before he wasfollowed, to MY astonishment this time, by an unexpected complication inthe shape of Mr. Bruff.
I never remember feeling the presence of the lawyer to be more unwelcomethan I felt it at that moment. He looked ready for anything in the wayof an obstructive proceeding--capable even of keeping the peace withRachel for one of the combatants!
"This is a pleasant surprise, sir," said Mr. Ablewhite, addressinghimself with his deceptive cordiality to Mr. Bruff. "When I left youroffice yesterday, I didn't expect to have the honour of seeing you atBrighton to-day."
"I turned over our conversation in my mind, after you had gone," repliedMr. Bruff. "And it occurred to me that I might perhaps be of some useon this occasion. I was just in time to catch the train, and I had noopportunity of discovering the carriage in which you were travelling."
Having given that explanation, he seated himself by Rachel. I retiredmodestly to a corner--with Miss Jane Ann Stamper on my lap, in case ofemergency. My aunt sat at the window; placidly fanning herself as usual.Mr. Ablewhite stood up in the middle of the room, with his bald headmuch pinker than I had ever seen it yet, and addressed himself in themost affectionate manner to his niece.
"Rachel, my dear," he said, "I have heard some very extraordinary newsfrom Godfrey. And I am here to inquire about it. You have a sitting-roomof your own in this house. Will you honour me by showing me the way toit?"
Rachel never moved. Whether she was determined to bring matters to acrisis, or whether she was prompted by some private sign from Mr. Bruff,is more than I can tell. She declined doing old Mr. Ablewhite the honourof conducting him into her sitting-room.
"Whatever you wish to say to me," she answered, "can be said here--inthe presence of my relatives, and in the presence" (she looked at Mr.Bruff) "of my mother's trusted old friend."
"Just as you please, my dear," said the amiable Mr. Ablewhite. He tooka chair. The rest of them looked at his face--as if they expected it,after seventy years of worldly training, to speak the truth. I lookedat the top of his bald head; having noticed on other occasions that thetemper which was really in him had a habit of registering itself THERE.
"Some weeks ago," pursued the old gentleman, "my son informed me thatMiss Verinder had done him the honour to engage herself to marry him.Is it possible, Rachel, that he can have misinterpreted--or presumedupon--what you really said to him?"
"Certainly not," she replied. "I did engage myself to marry him."
"Very frankly answered!" said Mr. Ablewhite. "And most satisfactory, mydear, so far. In respect to what happened some weeks since, Godfrey hasmade no mistake. The error is evidently in what he told me yesterday.I begin to see it now. You and he have had a lovers' quarrel--and myfoolish son has interpreted it seriously. Ah! I should have known betterthan that at his age."
The fallen nature in Rachel--the mother Eve, so to speak--began to chafeat this.
"Pray let us understand each other, Mr. Ablewhite," she said. "Nothingin the least like a quarrel took place yesterday between your son andme. If he told you that I proposed breaking off our marriage engagement,and that he agreed on his side--he told you the truth."
The self-registering thermometer at the top of Mr. Ablewhite's baldhead began to indicate a rise of temper. His face was more amiable thanever--but THERE was the pink at the top of his face, a shade deeperalready!
"Come, come, my dear!" he said, in his most soothing manner, "now don'tbe angry, and don't be hard on poor Godfrey! He has evidently said someunfortunate thing. He was always clumsy from a child--but he means well,Rachel, he means well!"
"Mr. Ablewhite, I have either expressed myself very badly, or you arepurposely mistaking me. Once for all, it is a settled thing between yourson and myself that we remain, for the rest of our lives, cousins andnothing more. Is that plain enough?"
The tone in which she said those words made it impossible, even forold Mr. Ablewhite, to mistake her any longer. His thermometer went upanother degree, and his voice when he next spoke, ceased to be the voicewhich is appropriate to a notoriously good-natured man.
"I am to understand, then," he said, "that your marriage engagement isbroken off?"
"You are to understand that, Mr. Ablewhite, if you please."
"I am also to take it as a matter of fact that the proposal to withdrawfrom the engagement came, in the first instance, from YOU?"
"It came, in the first instance, from me. And it met, as I have toldyou, with your son's consent and approval."
The thermometer went up to the top of the register. I mean, the pinkchanged suddenly to scarlet.
"My son is a mean-spirited hound!" cried this furious old worldling."In justice to myself as his father--not in justice to HIM--I beg toask you, Miss Verinder, what complaint you have to make of Mr. GodfreyAblewhite?"
Here Mr. Bruff interfered for the first time.
"You are not bound to answer that question," he said to Rachel.
Old Mr. Ablewhite fastened on him instantly.
"Don't forget, sir," he said, "that you are a self-invited guest here.Your interference would have come with a better grace if you had waiteduntil it was asked for."
Mr. Bruff took no notice. The smooth varnish on HIS wicked old facenever cracked. Rachel thanked him for the advice he had given to her,and then turned to old Mr. Ablewhite--preserving her composure in amanner which (having regard to her age and her sex) was simply awful tosee.
"Your son put the same question to me which you have just asked," shesaid. "I had only one answer for him, and I have only one answer foryou. I proposed that we should release each other, because reflectionhad convinced me that I should best consult his welfare and mine byretracting a rash promise, and leaving him free to make his choiceelsewhere."
"What has my son done?" persisted Mr. Ablewhite. "I have a right to knowthat. What has my son done?"
She persisted just as obstinately on her side.
"You have had the only explanation which I think it necessary to give toyou, or to him," she answered.
"In plain English, it's your sovereign will and pleasure, Miss Verinder,to jilt my son?"
Rachel was silent for a moment. Sitting close behind her, I heardher sigh. Mr. Bruff took her hand, and gave it a little squeeze. Sherecovered herself, and answered Mr. Ablewhite as boldly as ever.
"I have exposed myself to worse misconstruction than that," she said."And I have borne it patiently. The time has gone by, when you couldmortify me by calling me a jilt."
She spoke with a bitterness of tone which satisfied me that the scandalof the Moonstone had been in some way recalled to her mind. "I have nomore to say," she added, wearily, not addressing the words to anyonein particular, and looking away from us all, out of the window that wasnearest to her.
Mr. Ablewhite got upon his feet, and pushed away his chair so violentlythat it toppled over and fell on the floor.
"I have something more to say on my side," he announced, bringing downthe flat of his hand on the table with a bang. "I have to say that if myson doesn't feel this insult, I do
!"
Rachel started, and looked at him in sudden surprise.
"Insult?" she repeated. "What do you mean?"
"Insult!" reiterated Mr. Ablewhite. "I know your motive, Miss Verinder,for breaking your promise to my son! I know it as certainly as if youhad confessed it in so many words. Your cursed family pride is insultingGodfrey, as it insulted ME when I married your aunt. Her family--herbeggarly family--turned their backs on her for marrying an honest man,who had made his own place and won his own fortune. I had no ancestors.I wasn't descended from a set of cut-throat scoundrels who lived byrobbery and murder. I couldn't point to the time when the Ablewhiteshadn't a shirt to their backs, and couldn't sign their own names. Ha!ha! I wasn't good enough for the Herncastles, when I married. And now,it comes to the pinch, my son isn't good enough for YOU. I suspected it,all along. You have got the Herncastle blood in you, my young lady! Isuspected it all along."
"A very unworthy suspicion," remarked Mr. Bruff. "I am astonished thatyou have the courage to acknowledge it."
Before Mr. Ablewhite could find words to answer in, Rachel spoke in atone of the most exasperating contempt.
"Surely," she said to the lawyer, "this is beneath notice. If he canthink in THAT way, let us leave him to think as he pleases."
From scarlet, Mr. Ablewhite was now becoming purple. He gasped forbreath; he looked backwards and forwards from Rachel to Mr. Bruff insuch a frenzy of rage with both of them that he didn't know which toattack first. His wife, who had sat impenetrably fanning herself up tothis time, began to be alarmed, and attempted, quite uselessly, to quiethim. I had, throughout this distressing interview, felt more than oneinward call to interfere with a few earnest words, and had controlledmyself under a dread of the possible results, very unworthy of aChristian Englishwoman who looks, not to what is meanly prudent, but towhat is morally right. At the point at which matters had now arrived,I rose superior to all considerations of mere expediency. If I hadcontemplated interposing any remonstrance of my own humble devising,I might possibly have still hesitated. But the distressing domesticemergency which now confronted me, was most marvellously and beautifullyprovided for in the Correspondence of Miss Jane Ann Stamper--Letter onethousand and one, on "Peace in Families." I rose in my modest corner,and I opened my precious book.
"Dear Mr. Ablewhite," I said, "one word!"
When I first attracted the attention of the company by rising, I couldsee that he was on the point of saying something rude to me. My sisterlyform of address checked him. He stared at me in heathen astonishment.
"As an affectionate well-wisher and friend," I proceeded, "and as onelong accustomed to arouse, convince, prepare, enlighten, and fortifyothers, permit me to take the most pardonable of all liberties--theliberty of composing your mind."
He began to recover himself; he was on the point of breaking out--heWOULD have broken out, with anybody else. But my voice (habituallygentle) possesses a high note or so, in emergencies. In this emergency,I felt imperatively called upon to have the highest voice of the two.
I held up my precious book before him; I rapped the open pageimpressively with my forefinger. "Not my words!" I exclaimed, in a burstof fervent interruption. "Oh, don't suppose that I claim attention forMy humble words! Manna in the wilderness, Mr. Ablewhite! Dew on theparched earth! Words of comfort, words of wisdom, words of love--theblessed, blessed, blessed words of Miss Jane Ann Stamper!"
I was stopped there by a momentary impediment of the breath. Before Icould recover myself, this monster in human form shouted out furiously,
"Miss Jane Ann Stamper be----!"
It is impossible for me to write the awful word, which is hererepresented by a blank. I shrieked as it passed his lips; I flew to mylittle bag on the side table; I shook out all my tracts; I seized theone particular tract on profane swearing, entitled, "Hush, for Heaven'sSake!"; I handed it to him with an expression of agonised entreaty. Hetore it in two, and threw it back at me across the table. The rest ofthem rose in alarm, not knowing what might happen next. I instantly satdown again in my corner. There had once been an occasion, under somewhatsimilar circumstances, when Miss Jane Ann Stamper had been taken bythe two shoulders and turned out of a room. I waited, inspired by HERspirit, for a repetition of HER martyrdom.
But no--it was not to be. His wife was the next person whom headdressed. "Who--who--who," he said, stammering with rage, "who askedthis impudent fanatic into the house? Did you?"
Before Aunt Ablewhite could say a word, Rachel answered for her.
"Miss Clack is here," she said, "as my guest."
Those words had a singular effect on Mr. Ablewhite. They suddenlychanged him from a man in a state of red-hot anger to a man in a stateof icy-cold contempt. It was plain to everybody that Rachel had saidsomething--short and plain as her answer had been--which gave him theupper hand of her at last.
"Oh?" he said. "Miss Clack is here as YOUR guest--in MY house?"
It was Rachel's turn to lose her temper at that. Her colour rose, andher eyes brightened fiercely. She turned to the lawyer, and, pointing toMr. Ablewhite, asked haughtily, "What does he mean?"
Mr. Bruff interfered for the third time.
"You appear to forget," he said, addressing Mr. Ablewhite, "that youtook this house as Miss Verinder's guardian, for Miss Verinder's use."
"Not quite so fast," interposed Mr. Ablewhite. "I have a last word tosay, which I should have said some time since, if this----" He looked myway, pondering what abominable name he should call me--"if this RampantSpinster had not interrupted us. I beg to inform you, sir, that, if myson is not good enough to be Miss Verinder's husband, I cannot presumeto consider his father good enough to be Miss Verinder's guardian.Understand, if you please, that I refuse to accept the position which isoffered to me by Lady Verinder's will. In your legal phrase, I declineto act. This house has necessarily been hired in my name. I take theentire responsibility of it on my shoulders. It is my house. I can keepit, or let it, just as I please. I have no wish to hurry Miss Verinder.On the contrary, I beg her to remove her guest and her luggage, at herown entire convenience." He made a low bow, and walked out of the room.
That was Mr. Ablewhite's revenge on Rachel, for refusing to marry hisson!
The instant the door closed, Aunt Ablewhite exhibited a phenomenon whichsilenced us all. She became endowed with energy enough to cross theroom!
"My dear," she said, taking Rachel by the hand, "I should be ashamed ofmy husband, if I didn't know that it is his temper which has spoken toyou, and not himself. You," continued Aunt Ablewhite, turning on mein my corner with another endowment of energy, in her looks this timeinstead of her limbs--"you are the mischievous person who irritated him.I hope I shall never see you or your tracts again." She went back toRachel and kissed her. "I beg your pardon, my dear," she said, "in myhusband's name. What can I do for you?"
Consistently perverse in everything--capricious and unreasonable in allthe actions of her life--Rachel melted into tears at those commonplacewords, and returned her aunt's kiss in silence.
"If I may be permitted to answer for Miss Verinder," said Mr. Bruff,"might I ask you, Mrs. Ablewhite, to send Penelope down with hermistress's bonnet and shawl. Leave us ten minutes together," he added,in a lower tone, "and you may rely on my setting matters right, to yoursatisfaction as well as to Rachel's."
The trust of the family in this man was something wonderful to see.Without a word more, on her side, Aunt Ablewhite left the room.
"Ah!" said Mr. Bruff, looking after her. "The Herncastle blood has itsdrawbacks, I admit. But there IS something in good breeding after all!"
Having made that purely worldly remark, he looked hard at my corner,as if he expected me to go. My interest in Rachel--an infinitely higherinterest than his--riveted me to my chair.
Mr. Bruff gave it up, exactly as he had given it up at Aunt Verinder's,in Montagu Square. He led Rachel to a chair by the window, and spoke toher there.
"My dear young lady," he said, "Mr. Ablewhite's con
duct has naturallyshocked you, and taken you by surprise. If it was worth while to contestthe question with such a man, we might soon show him that he is not tohave things all his own way. But it isn't worth while. You were quiteright in what you said just now; he is beneath our notice."
He stopped, and looked round at my corner. I sat there quite immovable,with my tracts at my elbow and with Miss Jane Ann Stamper on my lap.
"You know," he resumed, turning back again to Rachel, "that it was partof your poor mother's fine nature always to see the best of the peopleabout her, and never the worst. She named her brother-in-law yourguardian because she believed in him, and because she thought it wouldplease her sister. I had never liked Mr. Ablewhite myself, and I inducedyour mother to let me insert a clause in the will, empowering herexecutors, in certain events, to consult with me about the appointmentof a new guardian. One of those events has happened to-day; and I findmyself in a position to end all these dry business details, I hopeagreeably, with a message from my wife. Will you honour Mrs. Bruff bybecoming her guest? And will you remain under my roof, and be one ofmy family, until we wise people have laid our heads together, and havesettled what is to be done next?"
At those words, I rose to interfere. Mr. Bruff had done exactly whatI had dreaded he would do, when he asked Mrs. Ablewhite for Rachel'sbonnet and shawl.
Before I could interpose a word, Rachel had accepted his invitation inthe warmest terms. If I suffered the arrangement thus made betweenthem to be carried out--if she once passed the threshold of Mr. Bruff'sdoor--farewell to the fondest hope of my life, the hope of bringing mylost sheep back to the fold! The bare idea of such a calamity asthis quite overwhelmed me. I cast the miserable trammels of worldlydiscretion to the winds, and spoke with the fervour that filled me, inthe words that came first.
"Stop!" I said--"stop! I must be heard. Mr. Bruff! you are not relatedto her, and I am. I invite her--I summon the executors to appoint meguardian. Rachel, dearest Rachel, I offer you my modest home; come toLondon by the next train, love, and share it with me!"
Mr. Bruff said nothing. Rachel looked at me with a cruel astonishmentwhich she made no effort to conceal.
"You are very kind, Drusilla," she said. "I shall hope to visit youwhenever I happen to be in London. But I have accepted Mr. Bruff'sinvitation, and I think it will be best, for the present, if I remainunder Mr. Bruff's care."
"Oh, don't say so!" I pleaded. "I can't part with you, Rachel--I can'tpart with you!"
I tried to fold her in my arms. But she drew back. My fervour did notcommunicate itself; it only alarmed her.
"Surely," she said, "this is a very unnecessary display of agitation? Idon't understand it."
"No more do I," said Mr. Bruff.
Their hardness--their hideous, worldly hardness--revolted me.
"Oh, Rachel! Rachel!" I burst out. "Haven't you seen yet, that my heartyearns to make a Christian of you? Has no inner voice told you that I amtrying to do for you, what I was trying to do for your dear mother whendeath snatched her out of my hands?"
Rachel advanced a step nearer, and looked at me very strangely.
"I don't understand your reference to my mother," she said. "Miss Clack,will you have the goodness to explain yourself?"
Before I could answer, Mr. Bruff came forward, and offering his arm toRachel, tried to lead her out of the room.
"You had better not pursue the subject, my dear," he said. "And MissClack had better not explain herself."
If I had been a stock or a stone, such an interference as this musthave roused me into testifying to the truth. I put Mr. Bruff asideindignantly with my own hand, and, in solemn and suitable language, Istated the view with which sound doctrine does not scruple to regard theawful calamity of dying unprepared.
Rachel started back from me--I blush to write--with a scream of horror.
"Come away!" she said to Mr. Bruff. "Come away, for God's sake, beforethat woman can say any more! Oh, think of my poor mother's harmless,useful, beautiful life! You were at the funeral, Mr. Bruff; you sawhow everybody loved her; you saw the poor helpless people crying at hergrave over the loss of their best friend. And that wretch stands there,and tries to make me doubt that my mother, who was an angel on earth,is an angel in heaven now! Don't stop to talk about it! Come away! Itstifles me to breathe the same air with her! It frightens me to feelthat we are in the same room together!"
Deaf to all remonstrance, she ran to the door.
At the same moment, her maid entered with her bonnet and shawl. Shehuddled them on anyhow. "Pack my things," she said, "and bring them toMr. Bruff's." I attempted to approach her--I was shocked and grieved,but, it is needless to say, not offended. I only wished to say to her,"May your hard heart be softened! I freely forgive you!" She pulled downher veil, and tore her shawl away from my hand, and, hurrying out, shutthe door in my face. I bore the insult with my customary fortitude. Iremember it now with my customary superiority to all feeling of offence.
Mr. Bruff had his parting word of mockery for me, before he too hurriedout, in his turn.
"You had better not have explained yourself, Miss Clack," he said, andbowed, and left the room.
The person with the cap-ribbons followed.
"It's easy to see who has set them all by the ears together," she said."I'm only a poor servant--but I declare I'm ashamed of you!" She toowent out, and banged the door after her.
I was left alone in the room. Reviled by them all, deserted by them all,I was left alone in the room.
Is there more to be added to this plain statement of facts--to thistouching picture of a Christian persecuted by the world? No! my diaryreminds me that one more of the many chequered chapters in my life endshere. From that day forth, I never saw Rachel Verinder again. She had myforgiveness at the time when she insulted me. She has had my prayerfulgood wishes ever since. And when I die--to complete the return on mypart of good for evil--she will have the LIFE, LETTERS, AND LABOURS OFMISS JANE ANN STAMPER left her as a legacy by my will.