CHAPTER XXIV
CONCLUSION
'We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.'
It was all perfectly true, that was the best part of it. The little oldgentleman turned out to be a very learned don from Oxford, with aterrific list of letters at the end of his name, and in the course of afew days a representative arrived from the Bodleian Library with arequest to be allowed to inspect the books (which by this time had beenremoved to a corner of the big drawing-room), and after a considerableamount of talking and writing it was arranged that they should be sentto London at once to be sold by auction. As the old gentleman hadprophesied, the sale made quite a sensation among lovers of antiquities,and realized a sum sufficient to put Mr. Vaughan at once out of hisdifficulties.
'It does not make me a rich man, children,' he said. 'But it is enoughto wipe off our debts, and keep the old roof together over our heads. Weshall still have to work hard and live carefully, but now that therewill not be the continual drain of the interest on the mortgages goingout, I shall be able to put more into the land, and carry out theimprovements I have been longing to make for years, and in time theestate will pick up, so that I hope when I go to take my place among theold Crusaders in the transept I shall hand it on to the next generationof Vaughans in better condition than I found it.'
To say that the children were delighted at this new turn of fortune'swheel is a very poor way of expressing their rapture. Every corner ofthe Abbey had to be revisited to feel again the joy of possession; allthe animals must be petted as a kind of apology for having even thoughtof parting with them; and Peggy felt as though she would like to tellthe birds and the flowers that they were not going away after all, andgive them a chance of joining in the general rejoicings. Soft-heartedJoe wept at the good news, but it was for joy this time; and so manypeople sent kind messages of congratulation, and expressed such pleasureat hearing they were to remain at the Abbey, that the Vaughans werequite surprised to find how popular they were in the neighbourhood.
The only person who seemed not altogether satisfied was Archie, who haddwelt so much on a colonial future that he was quite disappointed athaving to give up the idea.
'I had almost persuaded Aunt to go,' he declared. 'And it would havebeen ripping fun out there on our ranches. No, I ain't going unless youdo! I guess I'll stay in England now, and take to engineering; but itseems half a pity, for we should all have got on tip-top in the newworld.'
As Mr. Vaughan had said, the change in his fortunes did not make him arich man, and though all anxiety was now removed, and even a few extracomforts might be added, matters went on pretty much in the old way atthe Abbey. Peggy grew up without many of the luxuries which fall to thelot of richer girls, but she was none the worse for that, and I think,when she saw how bored and uninterested Maud Middleton was in the midstof her round of London society and foreign travel, she felt that it issometimes better to have the capacity for enjoyment than to have themeans without the happy talent of being able to appreciate your goodthings.
Life was always so well worth living to Peggy, whether at work or play.Her friendships were so keen and her affections so warm, that I thinkshe found the world a very pleasant place to be in, and made it betterand pleasanter for other people too (which is, after all, the grandsecret of happiness), and the energy and enterprising spirits which hadcaused the tomboy pranks of her childhood were qualities which, turnedto good use, proved of the utmost service to her in after-years.
* * * * *
Do I make too much of a little girl who, after all, was no heroine, butwho tried her honest best, like many another, to fear God, tell thetruth, and love her neighbour as herself? If so, my love for her brightways and warm heart must be my excuse, for I have told Peggy's storyjust as it happened.
Many years have passed away since the children played round the oldapple-trees in the orchard, or scrambled among the ivy in the ruins, butGorswen is little changed. The picturesque old black-and-white housesstill stand in the village street, unspoilt by time or tourists; Mrs.Price presides at the Post Office, rubicund and smiling; and old Ephraimtotters down from his cottage to the Bluebell Arms, a living testimonyto the healthfulness of the district. The flowers are as beautiful asever in the Rectory garden, but the Rector is not there to tend them. Hehas gone where little Raymond went before, on that longest of holidaysfrom which there is no return to the lesson-books of this life. He isdeeply missed in the village, but he has a worthy successor in Mr.Wentworth, who now holds the living in his stead, for years ofcompanionship with one who dwelt so continually at the gate of heavenhave changed the nervous young curate into a strong and earnestcharacter. He is much liked in Gorswen, and he has Lilian to help him.Perhaps the fact of their mutual shyness first drew them together, butthey have much in common besides an enthusiasm for parish work. Shemakes an excellent helpmeet, and an ideal clergyman's wife. She has nochildren of her own, but in mothering the fragile little Indian cousinswho are sent home to gain rosy cheeks and sturdy limbs from the freshEnglish breezes her warm heart finds its outlet, and she is able to payback to Aunt Helen some of the love and care which she owes her fromlong ago.
Bobby is a fine, tall young fellow, fresh from an agricultural college,where he has learnt so much in the way of scientific farming that heintends to make the fields yield the very highest pitch of production.But already the Abbey has prospered to such an extent that little bylittle the Vaughans are buying back some of the land which theirancestors had squandered, and in time the estate may once more be ofsome importance in the county.
And Peggy? I think the Rector's prophecy is justified, and she has grownin every sense into the fine woman which he hoped and expected. Shestill loves the Abbey dearly, but I do not fancy she will spend all herlife there, after all, for Archie, who now owns a prosperous sheep-farmin Australia, is still as anxious as ever for her to try colonial life,and I think that the next time he comes home on a visit to Gorswen hewill be able to persuade her.
Peggy does not feel the least little bit older than when she climbedthe water-wheel, or thrashed Jones minor behind the paling of thecricket-field--if growing old means losing your ideals, and your keenenthusiasm, and your hopefulness, and a certain appreciation of otherpeople's worth which is our birthright when we are young. She is stillcapable of climbing a tree or scrambling over a hedge when no one islooking, and pursues her hobbies with all her former vigour and energy.She is sometimes almost ashamed of feeling, as she says, so ridiculouslyyoung, but after all one's age should not always be measured by one'syears, and wherever she may go, or whatever she may do, Peggy will keepthat most priceless of possessions, the heart of a little child, withoutwhich, equally in this world or the next, it is impossible to enter intothe Kingdom of Heaven.
THE END
_Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay._
Transcriber's Note:
Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been retained as they appearin the original publication. Changes have been made as follows:
Page 19 In April the cuckoo comes, _changed to_ '"In April the cuckoo comes,
Page 143 and went prim little walks _changed to_ and went on prim little walks
Page 164 such invaluable etacher as _changed to_ such invaluable teacher as
Page 172 were not so simply _changed to_ were not so simple
Page 197 the old fellow's, rambling divergences the old fellow's rambling divergences
Page 240 Safe in a iron cage _changed to_ Safe in an iron cage
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