They saw no more of this mysterious little being, and the family soon returned from Church. The father was a fine, old-fashioned yeoman, the son had the style of a modern farmer, and the wife was so quiet, sensible, and matronly as to be almost ladylike. Her two little girls were dressed as well as Essie and Ellie, but all were essentially commonplace. They were very kind and friendly, anxious that Allen should stay as long as was good for him, as well as pressing in their hospitality to the two ladies. Mr. Gould was very anxious to drive them home in his gig, though he allowed that the road was very rough unless you went through Belforest Park, and that he never did.
This was surprising, for Belforest had always seemed as free as the turnpike-road, and River Hollow was apparently part of the estate, but there was an air of discouraging questions, so Carey suspected quarrels and asked none.
She was enlightened the next day when Colonel Brownlow brought his phaeton to fetch Allen home over the smooth park road. He told her that the Goulds were freeholders who had owned River Hollow from time immemorial, though each successive lord of Belforest tried to buy them out. The alienation between them and Mr. Barnes, the present master, had however much stronger grounds than these. His nephew and intended heir has stolen a match with the old mans pretty daughter, and this had never been forgiven. The young couple had gone out to the West Indian isles, where the early home of her husband had been, and where he held some government office, and there fell a victim to the climate. Old Mr. Gould had gone home to fetch his daughter and her child, but the former had died before he reached her, and he had only brought back the little girl about two years ago.
Mr. Barnes ignored her entirely, and the Goulds, who had a good deal of pride, did not choose to apply to him. It was very unfortunate, for unless he had any other relations the child must be heiress to his immense wealth, though it was as likely as not that he would leave it all to hospitals out of pure vindictiveness.
They found Allen out of doors attended by the three little girls, all eagerly watching the removal of a sheep-fold. He was a pleasant-mannered boy, ready to adapt himself to all circumstances and to throw ready intelligent interest into everything, and he had won the hearts of the whole River Hollow establishment, from old Mr. Gould down to the smallest puppy.
Elfie, as he called her, stood her ground, and as she looked up under her brown mushroom hat Caroline was struck with her beauty, fair, but with a southern richness of bloom and glowthe carnation cheek of a depth of tint more often found in brunette complexions. The eyes were not merely blue by courtesy, but of a wonderful deep azure, shaded by very long lashes, dark except when the sun glinted them with gold, and round her shoulders hung masses of hair of that exquisite light auburn which cannot be accused of being red.
She let herself be greeted by the strangers with much more ease and grace than the other two children, but the slow walk of her grandfather and Colonel Brownlow seemed more than she could brook, and she went off, flying and spinning round like a little dog.
While all the acknowledgments and farewells were being made, and Colonel Brownlow was taking directions for finding Higgs house and forge so as to remunerate him for his services, Elfie came hurrying up to Allen, holding out a great, gorgeous pink-lined shell, and laid within it two heads of scarlet geranium on a green leaf.
O Elfie, Elfie! how could you? exclaimed he, knowing them to be the only flowers in bloom.
You must have them. Theres nothing else pretty to give you, and I love you, said the child, holding up her face to kiss him.
Elvira! said her aunt in warning, how can you! What will this lady think of you?
Elviras gesture would in any other child have seemed a sulky thrust of the elbow, but in her it was more like the flutter of the wing of a brilliant bird.
You must, she repeated; and when he hesitated with If Mrs. Gould, she broke away, dashed the flowers, shell and all, into the middle of a clump of rosemary, and rushed out of sight like a little fury.
You will excuse her, Mrs. Brownlow, said Mrs. Gould, much annoyed. She has been sadly spoilt, living among negro servants and having her own way, so that she is sometimes quite ungovernable.
Nay, nay, she is a warm-hearted little thing if you dont cross her, said the old farmer; and the young gentleman has been very kind to her.
Mrs. Gould looked as if she thought she knew her niece better than grandpapa did, but she was too wise to speak; and the little girls, having assisted Allen in the recovery of the shell and the flowers, he tendered them again to her.
You had better keep them, Mr. Brownlow, she said. The shell is her own, and if you did not take it she is so tenacious that she would be sure to smash it to atoms.
Allen accepted perforce and proceeded with his farewells, but as he was stooping down to kiss little five-year-old Kate Gould, something wet, cold, and sloppy came with great force on them both, almost knocking them down and bespattering them both with black drops. The missile proved to be a dripping sod pulled up from the duck-pond in the next field, and a glimpse might be caught of Elviras scarlet legs disappearing over the low wall between.
Over poor Mrs. Goulds apologies a veil had best be drawn. Mother Carey pitied her heartily, but it was impossible not to make fun at home over the black tokens on Allens shirt-collar. His brothers and sisters laughed excessively, and Janet twitted him with his Undine, till he, contrary to his wont, grew so cross as to make his mother recollect that he was still a suffering patient, and insist on his lying quiet on the sofa, while she banished every one, and read Tennyson to him. Poetry, read aloud by her, was Allens greatest delight, but not often enjoyed, as Bobus and Jock scouted it, and Janet was getting too strong-minded and used to break in with inopportune, criticisms.
So to have Mother Carey to read Elaine undisturbed was as great an indulgence as Allen could well have, but she had not gone far before he broke out
Mother, please, I wish you could do something for that girl. She really is a lady.
So it appears, said Carey, much disposed to laugh.
Now, mother, dont be tiresome. You have more sense than Janet. Her father was Vice-consul at Sant Ildefonso, one of the Antilles.
But, my dear, I am afraid that is not quite so grand as it sounds
Hush, mother. He was nephew to Mr. Barnes, and they lived out of the town in a perfect paradise of a place, looking out into the bay. Mr. Gould says he can hardly believe he ever saw anything so gorgeously beautiful, and there this poor little Elvira de Menella lived like a princess with a court of black slaves. Just fancy what it must be to her to come to that farm, an orphan too, with an aunt who cant understand a creature like that.
Poor child.
Then she cant get any education. Old Gould is a sensible man, who says any school he could afford would only turn her out a sham, and he means, when Mary and Kate are a little older, to get some sort of governess for the three. But, mother, couldnt you just let him bring her in on market days and teach her a little?
My dear boy, what would your aunt do? We cant have sods of mud flying about the house.
Now, mother, you know better! You could make anything of her, you know you could! And what a model she would make! Think what a poor little desolate thing she is. You always have a fellow feeling for orphans, and we do owe those people a great deal of gratitude.
My dear boy, what would your aunt do? We cant have sods of mud flying about the house.
Now, mother, you know better! You could make anything of her, you know you could! And what a model she would make! Think what a poor little desolate thing she is. You always have a fellow feeling for orphans, and we do owe those people a great deal of gratitude.
Allen, you special pleader, it really will not do! If I had not undertaken Essie and Ellie, I might think about it, but I promised your aunt not to have any other pupils.
Allen bothered Essie and Ellie, but was forced to acquiesce, which was fortunate, for when on the last day of the holidays it was found that he had walked to River Hollow to take leave of the Goulds, his aunt administered to his mother a serious warning on the dangers of allowing him to become intimate there.
Caroline tingled all over during the discourse, and at last jumped up, exclaiming
My dear Ellen, half the harm in the world is done by making a fuss. Things dont die half so hard when they die a natural death.
Ellen knew Carey thought she had said something very clever, but was all the more unconvinced.
CHAPTER XII. KING MIDAS
When I did him at this advantage take,
An asss nowl I fixed upon his head.
In the early spring an unlooked-for obstacle arose to all wanderings in the Belforest woods. The owner returned and closed the gates. From time that seemed immemorial, the inhabitants of Kenminster had disported themselves there as if the grounds had been kept up for their sole behoof, and their indignation at the monopoly knew no bounds.
Nobody saw Mr. Barnes save his doctor, whose carriage was the only one admitted within the lodge gates, intending visitors being there informed that Mr. Barnes was too unwell to be disturbed.
Mrs. Folly Brownlows aberrations lost their interest in the Coffinkey world beside the mystery of Belforest. Opinions varied as to his being a miser, or a lunatic, a prey to conscience, disease, or deformity; and reports were so diverse, that at the Folly a journal was kept of them, with their dates, as a matter of curiositytheir authorities marked:
March 4th.Mr. Barnes eats nothing but fresh turtle. Brings them down in tubs alive and flapping. Mrs. Coffinkeys Jane heard them cooing at the station. Gives his cook three hundred pounds per annum.
5th.Mr. Barnes so miserly, that he turned away the housemaid for burning candles eight to the pound. (H. S. H.)
6th.Mr. B. keeps a bloodhound trained to hunt Indians, and has six pounds of prime beef steaks for it every day. (Emma.)
8th.Mr. B.s library is decorated with a string of human ears, the clippings of his slaves in the Indies. (Nurse.)
12th.Mr. B. whipped a little black boy to death, and is so haunted by remorse, that he cant sleep without wax-candles burning all round him. (Mrs. Coffinkeys sister-in-law.)
14th.Mr. Barness income is five hundred thousand pounds, and he does not live at the rate of two hundred pounds. (Col. Brownlow.)
l5th.He has turned off all his gardeners, and the place will be desolation. (H. S. H.)
16th.He did turn off one gardeners boy for staring at him when he was being wheeled about in his bath-chair. (Alfred Richards.)
17th.He threw a stone, which cut the boys head open, and he lies at the hospital in a dangerous state. (Emma.)
18th.Mr. Barnes was crossed in love when he was a young man by one Miss Anne Thorpe, and has never been the same man since, but has hated all society. (Query: Is this a version of being a misanthrope?)
19th.He is a most unhappy man, who has sacrificed all family affections and all humanity to gold, and whose conscience will not let him rest. He is worn to a shadow, and is at war with mankind. In fine, he is a lesson to weak human nature. (Mrs. Rigby.)
22nd.All his toilet apparatus is of virgin gold; he lets nothing else touch him. (Jessie.)
Exactly like King Midas. (Babie.)
The exclusion from the grounds was a serious grievance, entailing much loss of time and hindrance to the many who had profited by the private roads. The Sunday promenade was a great deprivation; nurses and children were cut off from grass and shade, and Mother Carey and her brood from all the delights of the enchanted ground.
She could bear the loss better than in that first wild restlessness, which only free nature could allay. She had made her occupations, and knew of other haunts, though many a longing eye was cast at the sweet green wilderness, and many regrets spent on the rambles, the sketches, the plants, and the creatures that had seemed the certain entertainment of the summer.
To one class of the population the prohibition only gave greater zestnamely, the boys. Should there be birds nests in Belforest unscathed by the youth of St. Kenelms? What were notice-boards, palings, or walls to boys with arms and legs ready to defy even the celebrated man-traps of Ellangowan, which, if a man goes in, they will break a horses leg? The terrific bloodhound alarmed a few till his existence was denied by Alfred Richards, the agents son; and dodging the keepers was a new and exciting sport. At first, these men were not solicitous for captures, but their negligence was so often detected, that they began to believe that their master kept telescopes that could penetrate through trees, and their vigilance increased.
Bobus, in quest of green hellebore, got off with a warning; but a week later, Robin and Jock were inspecting the heronry, when they caught sight of a keeper, and dashed off to find themselves running into the jaws of another. Swift as lightning, Jock sprung up into an ivied ash; but the less ready Bob was caught by the leg as he mounted, and pulled down again, while his captor shouted, If theres any more of you young varmint up yonder, youd best come down before I fires up into the hoivy.
He made a click and pointed his gun, and Robin shrieked, Oh, dont! We are Colonel Brownlows sons; at least, I mean nephews. Dont! I say. Skipjack, come down.
You ass! muttered Jack, as he crackled down, and was collared by the keeper. Hollo! whats that for?
Now, young gents, why will you come larking here to get a poor chap out of his situation. Its as much as my place is worth not to summons you, and yet I dont half like to do it to young gents like you.
What could they do to us? asked Jock.
Well, sir, may be theyd keep you in the lock-up all night; and what would your papa and mamma say to that?
My father is Colonel Brownlow, growled Robin.
More shame for you, sir, to want to get a poor man out of his place.
Look here, my man, said Jock with London sharpness and impudence, if you want to bully us into tipping you, its no go. Weve only got one copper between us, and nothing else but our knives; and if we had, we wouldnt do such a sneaking thing!
I never meant no such thing, sir, said the keeper; only in case Mr. Barnes should hear of our good nature.
Come along, Robin, said Jock; if we are had up, well let em know how Leggings wanted us to buy off!
Wherewith Jock made a rush, Rob plunged after him into the brambles, and they never halted till they had tumbled over the park wall, and lay in a breathless heap on the other side. The adventure was the fruitful cause of mirth at the Folly, but not a word was breathed of it at Kencroft.