CHAPTER III
A Country Home
'If thou would'st read a lesson that will keep Thy heart from fainting, and thy soul from sleep, Go to the woods and hills. No tears Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.'--_Longfellow._
The day had come when the four sisters took their leave of London. Thesale had taken place, as they only took enough furniture for theirsmall house, and Nannie had taken a tender and sad farewell of hercharges.
'I feel,' said Gwen, after they had watched her driven away in a cabwith all her little belongings, 'that Nannie does not expect to see anyof us again. She has given us her dying blessing, like Jacob did tohis sons. I wonder if her verses will prove prophetic.'
Captain Knox went with them to the station, to see the last of Clare.He cheered her up by saying he would run down and see them before hewent abroad, and the sisters were all doing their best to be cheerful.They had sent down two young maids the day before to get thingscomfortable, and both Agatha and Gwen had been backwards and forwardsarranging their furniture, so that they did not feel they were goinginto a comfortless house.
'I always like everything new,' asserted Elfie. 'I feel quite excitedto see what it will be like.'
'I think it is a dear little place,' Agatha said. 'I am sure we shallbe happy there.'
But their arrival at Brambleton station was in the midst of steady,driving rain, and a wind that threatened instant destruction to openumbrellas. A fly was found, and they were soon driving along thecountry road, all distant scenery being obliterated by mist and wet.Clare's spirits sank at once.
'What a dreadful day, and what miserable country!'
'I hope the house won't be damp,' Agatha said anxiously.
Then Gwen laughed.
'Oh, for pity's sake, don't all begin to croak! We do have wet days inLondon. If Jane and Martha have done their work properly, we shallsoon forget the wet when we are inside.'
Slowly the fly lumbered along, and darkness had set in when they atlast reached their new home.
Mrs. Tucker, who was keeping the maids company, came bustling to thedoor, and when they saw the cheerful little dining-room with itsblazing fire and well-spread table for their evening meal, the wind andwet outside were forgotten.
Elfie ran in and out of the rooms, delighted with the quaintness of itall, and Clare grew quite enthusiastic over the carved wood decorations.
'He must be an artist,' she exclaimed. 'How could he go off and leaveit all to strangers?'
The rooms, though lacking as yet in all the details of comfort, werequite habitable, and the late dinner was a merry meal.
'We shall be a community of women, with no opportunities of gettingaway from one another occasionally; that is what I object to,' saidClare, leaning back in her chair, and looking at her sisters rathermeditatively. 'If we quarrel, it will be dreadful, and I am perfectlycertain we shall never agree on every point.'
'_You_ will not on _any_ point,' said Gwen, a little drily.
'We have the country round us,' put in Elfie, 'and there must be somepeople to know; it is only just at first we shall be shut up toourselves, I expect.'
'As to the people, there will be the villagers, of course,' said Gwenbriskly; 'but we needn't count upon many friends in our own class oflife. The big houses round here won't be desirous of the acquaintanceof four unknown females with a very small income.'
'I always thought,' said Elfie, 'that country villages contained aclergyman and family, a doctor, and a squire. Isn't that the casehere?'
'No; this is a kind of suburb of Brambleton. There is a vicarage, butI don't know anything about the clergyman.'
'Well, I hope we shan't all die of the dumps,' said Clare, shiveringslightly, as a fresh blast of wind howled and shrieked in the oldchimney.
'Oh, that dreadful wind, how I hate it! It seems like a bad omen tohave such a welcome when we get here.'
'Rubbish! Go to bed, if you don't like it, and put your head under theclothes. Of course we notice the wind more in the country because ofthe trees.'
Clare did not get much sympathy from her sisters, and she soon leftthem and went up to her bedroom. There was a bright fire burning, andsome of her own pretty things were already being unpacked by the busyJane, who was perhaps more attached to her than to any of the others.
'Captain Knox thinks her the best of the bunch,' said she in confidenceto Martha, when on the subject of 'our young ladies,' 'and so doI--Miss Agatha is rather commonplace, to my mind, though she is a goodmistress, and Miss Gwendoline is always catching up one and takingone's breath away. Miss Elfrida is very pleasant, but she's always thesame. Now Miss Clare's never two days alike; she's that gentle andappealin' sometimes, that she makes me love her, and then she's milesaway in the clouds, and very cross, and then her spirits get so highthat she's ready for any mischief--and there's no knowin' how to takeher.'
'Isn't the wind dreadful, Jane?' said Clare presently. 'We couldn'thave had a more dreary and depressing day for coming here.'
'It's terrible lonely, miss. How you young ladies will put up with itis more than Martha and me can imagine! My home is in the country, soI don't mind it. I never could abear London with its fog and dirt.Mrs. Tucker has been telling me and Martha queer tales about thegentleman who lived here.'
Clare wrapped herself in her dressing-gown and sat down by the fire.She rarely checked Jane's flow of talk, and perhaps that was why themaid liked her.
'What kind of tales?'
'Mrs. Tucker says he ought to have the property here called The Park,for he is the eldest son, and his younger brother, Major Lester, hastaken it all, for Mr. Tom Lester offended his father by marrying aforeign lady, and he struck him out of his will. Mrs. Tucker says shebelieves the quarrel last autumn was about Major Lester's son, who ismissing somewhere abroad, and who Mr. Tom Lester hates. And did youhear about the cupboard downstairs? Mrs. Tucker says she never hasbeen inside it herself, for Mr. Lester only used to open it late atnight, and he's gone away and taken the key with him, and says it isn'tto be touched. I says to Mrs. Tucker that there might be anything inthe cupboard, and Martha says she's afraid to go near it, for you dohear such dreadful tales about locked cupboards, and skeletons insidethem, don't you, miss?'
'Only in your penny novelettes, that do you more harm than good, Jane!'said Clare a little shortly. I think if Mrs. Tucker is such a gossip,we shan't care to have her about the house. Where does she live now?'
'She's going to stay with her married sister in Brambleton, miss, andshe's going out cooking if she can. I says to Martha that her tonguerunned away with her, we could hardly get in a word, she talks so; butshe's a very good-natured person, and has given Martha and me a lot ofinformation about the neighbourhood.'
Clare did not respond, but soon dismissed Jane, and then sat for sometime in dreams before her fire. At last with a little sigh she tookhold of her Bible, to have her usual evening reading out of it. Sheturned to Nannie's Psalm, and listlessly scanned the verse that hadbeen given her.
'Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.'
'Rest!' she mused; 'it is the one thing I never have reallyexperienced. I always seem to be wishing for, and wanting, what nevercomes to me. I don't suppose any but a very old person who has livedher life, and has no hopes left, can rest and wait patiently. I don'tknow why I always seem waiting for something big to come and satisfy mylife. I remember when first Hugh spoke to me, and we were engaged, Ihoped I should be perfectly satisfied and happy, but in some ways hehas disappointed me. He is so--so humdrum and easily pleased, andwrapped up in his profession. I wish he were more intellectual. I dolove him, of course I do, but he hasn't filled my life as I thought hewould. He doesn't understand some of my thoughts about things. Ioften wonder why I can't be as easily pleased with everybody andeverything as Elfie is. Nannie would say it is because my religion isnot real. I don't feel I could rest in the Lord. He seems far away,and there are so many difficulties, and sometimes I
get to doubteverything! I wish I had Nannie's faith.'
She sighed again, and her thoughts came back to her presentsurroundings.
'I never shall like it here, I am sure; only it is no good to say so.It is such a depressing house, with not a sound outside, except thishowling wind. I think it was a very doubtful venture coming down to aplace where we know no one. Perhaps in the summer it will be better.I will try and not be discontented, but I feel to-night as if evil iscoming upon us, and this awful wind seems to moan like a human being inthe chimney. I think I will get into bed, and follow Gwen's advice.Oh dear, I wish I wasn't so easily depressed!'
But a sound night's rest made impressionable Clare view things ratherdifferently the next day. The rain and wind had disappeared, and asshe looked out of her window the first thing, she saw a cloudless bluesky, and the green meadows and pine woods in the distance, all lying instill bright sunshine. She opened her casement, and the fresh springair fanned her cheeks, and brought her scents of the sweet countryround her. She came downstairs to breakfast radiant; not even Elfie'ssunny face could eclipse hers.
'It's delicious!' she exclaimed; 'I am longing to explore the garden.Is it as well stocked with fruit and vegetables as the advertisementled us to expect?'
'Yes, I think it is,' said Gwen; 'but of course everything has beenvery neglected. Mrs. Tucker assures me a nephew of hers always workedfor Mr. Lester, and would be glad to come to us for the same wages.What do you think, Agatha? Can we afford eight shillings a week?'
Agatha looked a little worried.
'Oh, there is plenty of time to think of the garden later on. There isso much to do in the house. I hope you will all help in the unpackingto-day, or we shall never get straight.'
'Household cares already beginning!' said Elfie, laughing. 'Now I votewe all take a holiday this lovely day, and explore our surroundings;there's time enough to put the house straight later on.'
'Agatha will be miserable till every pin finds its place,' said Gwen.'I promise that I'll work like a horse all this morning, but thisafternoon I will have for pleasure.'
And this was how they finally settled it; and all four spent theirmorning in putting up curtains, hanging pictures, superintending thecarpets and rugs being laid down, and sorting out and distributing thelinen, plate, and china as it was needed.
Clare and Elfie sang as they worked, Gwen directed, scolded, and jokedin turn, and Agatha was the only one who seemed to feel it a grave andsolemn responsibility.
But they sat down to their luncheon with light hearts.
'We only want to fill the house with flowers to make it look reallycomfortable,' said Clare, 'and I mean to go and look for some thisafternoon.'
Agatha could not be persuaded to leave the house. Housekeeping was herforte, and she declared she would never sit down in comfort, till herstore and linen cupboards were in perfect order.
The three others wandered first through the garden, and Gwen declaredher intention of taking the whole of it under her superintendence.
'You don't know a thing about it,' said Elfie, saucily.
'Then I can learn. We are not going to live in the lap of luxury here,as you will soon discover. Our two maids will be rather different toour staff of servants in London.'
'Well, I tell you what I will do,' said Elfie: 'I'll help Martha withthe cooking; I did a lot in Germany. I'll send you in the mostdelicious tea-cakes and biscuits for afternoon tea, and I'll teach herhow to cook her vegetables after the German fashion!'
'Defend us from German grease, and odious mixtures of sweet and sour!'exclaimed Clare. 'Make us the tea-cakes, but leave the vegetablesalone. Now take us down the village, Gwen, and let us see the church.'
They left the garden, and picked their way down the muddy lane untilthey reached the village street. Clare and Elfie were delighted withall they saw, especially with the old church. It had a typical countrychurchyard, with a large yew tree inside the old lych gate. The doorwas open, so they went in, and, though plain and rather bare inappearance, it possessed a beautiful stained window at the east end,several old tombs, and a handsome-looking organ. Elfie pressed forwardeagerly to look at the latter, and found to her delight that it wasopen. Music was her passion, and she was almost as skilful at theorgan as at her piano or with her violin.
'I must try it,' she whispered; 'do blow for me, one of you!'
Gwen complied with her request immediately, and strains of Mendelssohnand Handel were soon filling the church. Clare was wandering dreamilyround listening and enjoying it, when suddenly a harsh voice behind herstartled her.
'And may I ask who has given you permission to touch the organ?'
'I am not touching it,' Clare responded, coolly, gazing in astonishmentat the apparition before her.
An old lady with a cap awry on her head, green spectacles, and a largeshawl flung round her, stood tapping the ground impatiently with awalking-stick.
'I don't wish to meet with impertinence; your party are taking anunwarrantable liberty. I wish, if my brother persists in keeping thechurch doors open, that he would keep a chained bulldog inside!Nothing else will keep you tourists in your place. And here am Iwithout a bonnet, defying St. Paul's command, and getting a freshattack of rheumatism, and perhaps palpitation of the heart, by my hasteand exposure! Will you have the goodness to tell your friends to leavethat organ alone?'
Elfie, hearing voices, now turned round and left her seat at once.
Clare was not trying to soothe the old lady, but rather seemed to enjoyher irascibility.
'No, madam, we are not tourists. Are you the verger's wife? You mustexcuse my ignorance, but we are strangers in this part. Perhaps youcan tell us a little about the church; it seems a very old one. Howmany years has it been standing?'
For answer the old lady raised her stick and tapped her slightly on theshoulder with it.
'Leave the church, young woman, and don't try to make me violent in thehouse of God!'
They were in the porch by this time, and Elfie and Gwen joined them.Elfie at once tried to make peace.
'I am very sorry,' she said contritely. 'I am so fond of the organthat I could not resist trying it. Please forgive me; I will not do itagain unless I have permission.'
She smiled so sweetly as she spoke that the old lady seemed a littlesoftened.
'You will never get my permission,' was all she said; and then shehobbled away like some malignant fairy, disappearing through a littlewicket gate at the end of the churchyard, and making Gwen exclaim, 'Shemust be the clergyman's mother or aunt. Well, we have had a pleasantintroduction! What will Agatha say?'