LI B RARY 
 
 OF THL 
 
 U N IVLRSITY 
 
 or ILLINOIS
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 A NOVEL. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 By MRS. WOOD, 
 
 Author of " It May be True." 
 
 VOL. L 
 
 T. CAUTLEY NEWBY, PUBLISHER, 
 30, WELBECK STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, 
 
 1867. 
 
 [the bight or translation is eeseryed.J
 
 CD 
 
 O 
 
 I 
 
 CO 
 
 ^-9-3 
 
 V. I 
 
 THIS TALE IS DEDICATED 
 
 TO MY UNCLE, THE 
 
 Revd. PHILIP SANKEY, M.A,, Oxon., 
 
 LO 
 
 ■<— Master of the Anchorage School, Gateshead, 
 
 CD 
 
 IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF KIND ADVICE 
 
 AND ENCOURAGEMENT RECEIVED.
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/sircyrusofstonyc01wood
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 Chap. ' 
 
 Page. 
 
 I.— Years Ago 
 
 1 
 
 II.— Sir Cyrus tests his Dangliter's Courage 
 
 12 
 
 III .— Down by the Eiver 
 
 20 
 
 IV.— The Alywins 
 
 39 
 
 v.— Under the Shade 
 
 55 
 
 ' VI.— Bearrding the Lion 
 
 75 
 
 VII.— Castles in the Air 
 
 94 
 
 VIII.— Face to Face 
 
 111 
 
 IX— A Lady to see you, Sir Cyrus 
 
 124 
 
 X.— Nurse Conquered 
 
 148 
 
 XI.— Eaymond 
 
 165 
 
 XII.— Signs of a Storm 
 
 187 
 
 XIII. — More Changes than One 
 
 209 
 
 XIV.— Caught Napping ... 
 
 225 
 
 XV.— Brought to Bay 
 
 240 
 
 XVI.— As Crafty as a Fox 
 
 255 
 
 XVn.— Checkmate Interrupted 
 
 270 
 
 XVIIL— Refusing to be Cast Adrift 
 
 290 
 
 XIX.— The Biter Bit 
 
 302
 
 *7
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TEARS AGO. 
 
 Few seeing Stonycleft for the first time, walking 
 through its spacious park, or looking at its old 
 Elizabethan house, with the tall stately cedars 
 overshadowing it, but would turn away with a 
 sigh, while the thought either expressed or upper- 
 most in their hearts must be, that it was a pity 
 Sir Cyrus Bedfield had no son. 
 It was a splendid old place ! No need to ask 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 SIR CTRus OF stonycleft; 
 
 its age when the wind whistled through, or 
 gently waved, the stately branches of those 
 majestic cedars, or the eye rested on the time- 
 worn monuments of the earlier Bedfields, in the 
 quaint old village church, setting forth the virtues 
 or rare qualities of a Bridget or Alice, wives of 
 warriors, who died in the sixteenth century; 
 or earlier still of the knight. Sir Cyrus de Bed- 
 field, famed for his chivalry and prowess in arms, 
 or of his three sons, who followed, and lost their 
 lives in their country's cause, — all but one, from 
 whom the present Sir Cyrus was descended. 
 
 Just sixteen years before my story opens, the 
 one wish, the non-fulfilment of which for ten 
 Jong years had troubled Sir Cyrus' heart, was 
 gratified ; his wife bore him a child, a frail, puny 
 little thing, who, as the nurse said, had scarce 
 strength to draw its breath, much less battle for 
 its feeble existence ; still it did battle for its life 
 nevertheless, and battled successfully, and each 
 day gained strength, but its poor young mother — 
 she was twelve years younger than Sir Cyrus —
 
 SIR CYBUS OF STONYCLEFT. 3 
 
 gave up liers without a struggle, and died just 
 ten days after its birth. 
 
 Her death was a terrible blow to her husband, 
 who was passionately attached to her, but he was 
 not a man to show any outward grief, or let 
 others see the anguish that consumed him; still 
 his wife's death crushed him utterly, and he 
 neither sought, nor expected comfort from any 
 one, but shunned even his sister, whom he had 
 summoned to nurse his wife, and who now stayed 
 on apparently mistress of the baby, if not of the 
 mansion, her head quarters being decidedly the 
 nursery ; while his were three or four rooms in a 
 far off wing, away from everything and everybody. 
 Here, unseen and unheard, he gave way to his 
 grief, or accused himself of unwittingly being the 
 cause of his wife's death. Why had he not been 
 content with his wife's love ? Why had he craved 
 for a child ? Why had he been so mad ? Remorse 
 filled his heart when he thought, that, but for 
 the realisation of this one wish, she might never 
 have been lost to him, that the gratifying his 
 
 B 2
 
 4 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 insane desire had killed her, and brought him as 
 a punishment utter despair, while as if to mock 
 him instead of the son he had so longed for, Lady 
 Bedfield had bequeathed him a daughter — a 
 daughter whom even to ]ook at caused him in- 
 expressible anguish, reminding him so forcibly, 
 as it did, of her he had lost. 
 
 Miss Bedfield soon found that there was 
 little fear of her rule in the nursery being 
 set aside by Sir Cyrus, when even to name 
 the baby in his presence, was almost more 
 than she dared do. Being now nearly fifty 
 years of age and never having been brought 
 into contact with babies, the nicety and watch- 
 ful care with which the little creature was tended 
 somewhat astonished her ; while the dressing of 
 so small an infant, struck her as something 
 marvellous, and she generally passed her morn- 
 ings in looking at it as it lay quietly asleep in 
 her lap ; as lo handling it when awake, that was 
 an exploit quite beyond her powers. 
 
 Thus it was not to be wondered that at
 
 SIR CYRUS OF 6T0NYCLEFT. 5 
 
 nurse's question of, " When is the little lamb to 
 be made a christian of?" she should start with 
 something like dismay, as she replied, "A 
 christian ! good heavens, nurse, you don't mean 
 to tell me that babies are heathens !" 
 
 " Lord no. Ma'am, but it's time the parson gave 
 it a name of some kind or another. I can't shut 
 my eyes to the fact that it's as weakly a little 
 angel as ever drew mother's milk." 
 
 Miss Bedfield gave a deep sigh, ^' I hope it 
 will live, nurse." 
 
 " Please God it may," was the rejoinder, '^ but 
 the sooner it's named the better; leastways that's 
 my opinion." 
 
 And if nurse's opinion then naturally enough 
 it was Miss Bedfield's, who was guided entirely 
 by the despotic ruler Lady Bedfield had chosen, 
 before her death, as the future nurse for her 
 child. But what a difficult task the woman had 
 set her; and how her heart quailed at the thought 
 of broaching the subject to Sir Cryus, who, being 
 but a few years younger than herself, must be
 
 6 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 more in the dark as to babies than she was, 
 while as to naming it to him — so unapproachable, 
 so reserved, so totally unconcerned about his 
 child as he appeared to be ; never inquiring as to 
 its welfare, never apparently listening, when 
 she tremblingly ventured to speak of it ; and 
 now to have to consult his wishes as to its chris- 
 tening ? Still there was no getting out of it, and 
 bravely she set to work the next time they 
 chanced to be alone. 
 
 " When is baby to be christened. Sir Cyrus?" 
 He made no reply save questioning her with 
 his eyes, while a hard look spread over each 
 feature of his face. 
 
 She felt sure she was giving him sharp stabs 
 with every word she uttered, still it must be done, 
 and she repeated her question. 
 
 " Do as you like about it," he replied ; " in 
 pleasing yourself, you please me ;" and he 
 walked away towards the window. 
 
 ^' But the name, brother, — the child's name. 
 Have you thought about that ?"
 
 SIR CYKUS OF STONYCLEFT. 7 
 
 He did not reply for a moment, and when he 
 did he somewhat astonished her by replying ; 
 
 *^ Cyrus." 
 
 ^' Oh, brother ! — you forget ; it — it's a girl," she 
 cried. 
 
 " What does that signify ?" he replied. ^< I'll 
 have it Cyrus." 
 
 ^' But the mother ; — the mother's name was — 
 was—" 
 
 He turned and faced her fiercely. 
 
 " I hate the child I God forgive me, but I hate 
 it. It shall never bear its mother's name. 
 Kever ! I forbid it." 
 
 Miss Bedfield sat down and cried with vexa- 
 tion. Call the child Cyrus ! Could anything be 
 more absurd or ridiculous ? What would nurse 
 say ? And then to hate it, too ! such a sweet, 
 innocent little thing as it was. It was shameful ! 
 scandalous ! Her brother ought to be ashamed 
 of himself. But all this abuse did not serve to 
 mend matters or alter the dreadful name Sir 
 Cyrus had determined on giving his daughter,
 
 8 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFl'. 
 
 and she felt like a guilty creature when nurse 
 asked her about the christening robe and cap. 
 How she wished the child could go without a 
 name, or she be miles away when it was chris- 
 tened ; she even began to think about packing, 
 when an event occurred which brought aflPairs to 
 a climax and upset all her plans. Early one 
 morning Miss Bedfield was aroused from her 
 slumbers by the sound of many feet moving 
 quickly to and fro, the hasty 023ening and shut- 
 ting of doors, the unmistakeable something that 
 strikes the mind with dismay, and foretells some 
 calamity near at hand or on the threshold. 
 
 The unusual stir after the silence and gloom 
 that had spread through and settled on the house 
 since Lady Bedfield 's death filled her heart with 
 fear, and hastily throwing on her dressing gown, 
 she hurried out. 
 
 '' The baby is ill !" " The baby is in a fit !" 
 caught her ear, and hurrying on, she was in ano- 
 ther moment bending over the nurse, who was 
 holding the frail, gasping little creature in a
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 9 
 
 warm bath. Then the doctor came ; and soon, — 
 too soon — the clergyman, and Miss Bedfield 
 found the baptism she had so dreaded had begun, 
 and she asked to name the child long before she V 
 could quite realize where she was, or recover 
 from the sudden fright she had experienced. 
 
 " The name, ma'am. He wants the name, 
 ma'am," whispered nurse. 
 
 The name ? Ah, the name ! How she wished 
 the floor would open and receive her ! Her 
 thoughts were in a whirl. She tried to shut out 
 from her mind her brother and the hated name of 
 Cyrus, to forget the place, the time, the poor 
 baby; but close her eyes as she would, there be- 
 fore her in imagination stood Mr. Blackstone's 
 tall form, waiting for her to name the child, and 
 no other name could she think of but the one her 
 brother had so sternly given her only the day 
 before. 
 
 ^' Shall it be Julia?" asked Mr. Blackstone 
 presently. (Julia had been Lady Bedfield's 
 name). 
 
 B 5
 
 10 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 ^' Oh, no, no ! For heaven's sake, no !" re- 
 plied she; and again she strove to collect her 
 thoughts. 
 
 Ah ! happy idea ! it should be Cynthia. Were 
 not the two first letters the same as in her 
 brother's name, and hating the child as he did, 
 might it not be months before he found out how 
 she had deceived him? And then, surely he 
 would be satisfied with the resemblance; or, his 
 first poignant grief over, he would view things in 
 a different light and forgive her. 
 
 '' Call her — call her Cynthia," said Miss Bed- 
 field, softly, as though fearing, as she looked 
 round tremblingly, that her brother must hear 
 her, even through those thick walls. 
 
 But Mr. Blackstone, seeing her hesitation, 
 said quietly, 
 
 '^ You are aware, madam, that when once the 
 name is given it can never be changed or 
 altered." 
 
 '^ Thank God for it," muttered Miss Bedfield. 
 
 The baptism over, with many kindly wishes for
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. ' 11 
 
 the baby's recovery, Mr. Blacks tone rose to go. 
 Miss Bedfield followed him to the door. 
 
 ^^ Has Sir Cyrus, —the father — the power of 
 altering the child's name ?" she asked. 
 
 " Certainly not," was the decided reply. 
 
 Greatly relieved. Miss Bedfield went back to 
 nnrse, who, with its foster mother, were both be- 
 wailing and lamenting the baby's new name. 
 
 " Whoever," said the former, looking daggers 
 at the pale, shaking lady before her, '^ whoever 
 heard tell of such an outlandish name, or knew 
 any baby as lived, who was called Sin-ther.^'' 
 
 But Cynthia lived, notwithstanding, and 
 though never a strong child, yet neither Miss 
 Bedfield nor nurse had occasion to be so anxious 
 about her again. As to Sir Cyrus, he totally 
 overlooked her.
 
 12 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SIR CYRUS TESTS HIS DAUGHTER'S COURAGE. 
 
 Stonycleft was strictly entailed on heirs male, 
 so that in the event of Sir Cyrus dying without a 
 son, the property passed away to his nephew, 
 leaving behind a very small mite indeed as his 
 daughter's portion. 
 
 Was there any possibility of Sir Cyrus marry- 
 ing again ? 
 
 For the first five years after his wife's death 
 many were the surmises as to whom he would 
 marry. This girl and that were pointed out as 
 likely to be the chosen one, but Sir Cyrus was
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 13 
 
 either blind to their smiles, or had degenerated 
 into a piece of adamant that nothinsj seemed to 
 have the power of softening. As the next five 
 rolled on, it merged into a wonder as to whether 
 Sir Cyrus would ever marry ; and now it had be- 
 come a settled thing that Sir Cyrus — old Sir 
 Cyrus— at fifty-six never would marry ; still the 
 inhabitants of Broadbelt — a small town about a 
 mile and a half from Stony cleft — sometimes made 
 it the topic of conversation as they gathered in 
 knots about the town on market days, or drank 
 their ale on Saturday nights at the " Three 
 Bells." 
 
 Cynthia, I can hardly say grew up, she was so 
 small and diminutive of stature ; such a delicate, 
 fairy little creature, with long, fair hair, flowiug 
 in natural curls down her shoulders, while a tinge 
 of red— the only Bedfield inheritance she could, 
 or, apparently, would ever be able to boast of, 
 — gleamed at times like a lightning flash through 
 it. Her eyes were dark, soft, dreamy- looking 
 eyes, with even now a depth of power ofttimes
 
 14 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 shining under their long lashes, or flashing won- 
 derfully bright, dazzling glances. She was of a 
 fiery temperament, easily roused to action, which 
 was in no degree benefited or improved by the 
 way Sir Cyrus had neglected her. Miss Bedfield, 
 whom Cynthia had learned to look upon almost 
 in the light of a mother, had died when she was 
 but six years old, since which time until she was 
 ten, she had been allowed to riin wild over the 
 estate, nurse alone watching over her charge, al- 
 though her control was more injurious than 
 otherwise, petting and humouring her when most 
 she required correction, until Sir Cyrus bethought 
 him that something beyond a servant's rule was 
 needed for his only child, or perhaps friends had 
 not been wanting to urge him to adopt more 
 stringent measures regarding the strange, wild 
 little creature they sometimes stumbled upon in 
 the house, or chanced to see flying through the 
 park with a large bloodhound as her sole com- 
 panion; certain it was he looked about for a 
 governess for her.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 15 
 
 One was found. One do I say ? More truth- 
 fully speaking scores had come and gone since 
 then. 
 
 The dullness of the place or its stern master 
 had frightened away some ; Cynthia's temper and 
 wilful, not-to-he-thwarted disposition, others; 
 the latter having been so often the one excuse for 
 a governess resigning her post, led Sir Cyrus at 
 length to take some notice of Cynthia, and he 
 had her taught what he himself was so passion- 
 ately fond of— riding. But she was a nervous 
 horsewoman, and nearly fainted in her saddle the 
 first time her father took her out ; he dashing 
 across country to see what sort of stuff she was 
 made of; she with difficulty keeping her seat, 
 not from any inability to ride, but simply from 
 sheer fright and consternation at the, to her, 
 dangerous road he had chosen. 
 
 With what contempt Sir Cyrus had sprung 
 from his horse, lifting her from her saddle and 
 placed her on the ground, while, " Take the horse 
 to his stable and cut him half his corn," said he
 
 16 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 to the groom, '' and fetch the carriage here, my 
 carriage." 
 
 It came in less than half an hour ; an opea 
 carriage with a spirited pair of bays. 
 
 Sir Cyrus took Cynthia in his strong muscular 
 arms, lifted her from the ground, where she had 
 been seated sobbing, poised her little light figure 
 for a moment in the air as though testing itg 
 weight, and then placed her rather roughly on the 
 tall cusions of the driving seat. 
 
 *^Here!" exclaimed he, giving her the reins 
 and whip ; '' here ! drive to the devil." 
 
 She looked at him half bewildered, then her 
 pale face flushed hotly, her eyes flashed and 
 flamed like balls of fire. She seized the reins — 
 she was an excellent whip, having driven ever 
 since she was a child — she lashed the horses past 
 him, on, on, faster and faster still ; until they 
 threw up their small heads and broke into a 
 furious gallop and were lost to view in a cloud of 
 dusr, while her silvery, mocking laugh rang loud 
 and clear through the air.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 17 
 
 " Young Missus can drive, sir," cried tlie 
 groom, in admiration. 
 
 "Drive !" echoed liis master, as he gazed after 
 her ; "Aye, I don't know if she'll drive to the devil 
 as I bid her, but it looks uncommonly like it." 
 
 He mounted, and turning his horse's head in 
 a contrary direction to the one his daughter 
 had taken, dashed off almost as wildly, clear- 
 ing a deep ditch as he started, and splashing 
 the mud into the groom's face ; who, shading his 
 eyes with his hand from the dazzling rays of the 
 sun, stood and watched him. 
 
 " There he goes again !" exclaimed he, as 
 horse and rider rose in the air over some fence or 
 other obstacle in their path, " that's number 
 three leap — number four — five — why, no — yes ; 
 I'm blessed if master ain't going to make for 
 the boundary wall !" 
 
 He ran across a field and climbing a gate stood 
 balancing himself on one of the bars watching 
 Sir Cyrus almost breathlessly. 
 
 Far off in the distance the wall shone briofht
 
 18 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 and clear as the sun danced and played along its 
 sides, while the horse once more clearing a high 
 hedge at a bound, again settled into its stride 
 across a wild looking piece of moorland. 
 
 On, on they went, or seemed to fly, nearer and 
 nearer they drew to the wall, which looked so 
 high that it scarce appeared possible any horse 
 could breast it ; closer and closer, now they are 
 in its shadow, and in another second horse and 
 rider are in the air, then disappear and are again 
 seen making for the wood ; they have gained it 
 and pass away in its gloom. 
 
 The groom descended from his post of obser- 
 vation and gave a sigh of relief. 
 
 '^ There isn't another horse as could have done 
 it but ' Black Bess,' and there's ne'er another 
 man as 'ould have tempted her to it but Sir 
 Cyrus. It's my belief he's a riding to the devil 
 if the young missus is a driving to it." 
 
 And chuckling at his own wit the man bent 
 his way homewards, to recount to the grooms and 
 stable boys the hazardous leap he had seen, which
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 19 
 
 became a matter of talk and nine days wonder, 
 to even those reckless beings ; a broken neck 
 being the miserable end they predicted for their 
 rash, hot-brained master.
 
 20 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 DOWN BY THE RIVER. 
 
 Breakfast — a meal generally taken by Miss 
 Castle and her pupil alone: — had been over an 
 hour and a half, and the governess seated at the 
 window with her work, while the clock on the 
 school-room mantle-piece pointed at some twenty 
 minutes to ten. 
 
 As the hands neared the hour, she rose, opened 
 the window and leant out, gazing first below, 
 and then gradually her eye wandered over and 
 about the park.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 21 
 
 It was a most lovely summer's morning,if any- 
 thing rather too sultry, with not a cloud overhead, 
 while the deer lazily loitered under the tall thick 
 trees, but beyond these there was no sign of life 
 near, only far off some labourers tossing about the 
 hay, and others carting ifc in a field beyond. 
 
 As the clock struck the hour. Miss Castle 
 counted the strokes one by one. The last rang 
 out, and had scarcely ceased vibrating, when far 
 away a youthfal voice broke the silence of the 
 still air without, and was heard now and then 
 above the tinkling of the distant sheep bells. 
 
 Again the governess leant out of the window 
 and looked towards where the voice came from, 
 seemingly the Chestnut-walk. 
 
 She was not mistaken. There, under the tall 
 chesnuts, Cynthia's small, slender figure was 
 moving along swiftly, too. swiftly to suit the 
 stately walk of the large, noble looking dog, 
 dimly seen following close at her heels, while 
 the long blue ribbons in her hat fluttered about, 
 not so much with the light wind as with the
 
 22 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 speed with whicli she walked. Cynthia could not 
 walk slowly, indeed it was no walk at all, but a 
 swift gliding over the ground, unlike any one's 
 else's movements, and Miss Castle had no dif- 
 ficulty in recognising her pupil, as she sometimes 
 emerged from the shade of the trees or again was 
 lost in their shadow. 
 
 " Ah !" said the governess, as she drew away 
 her tall figure from the window and closed it ; 
 ^^ Ah !" said she, with a smile, "" I thought the 
 bright day would tempt her. It tempts me to be 
 lazy, to read instead of work ;" and drawing a 
 chair 023posite to where she was sitting, she 
 placed her feet on it, and taking a book from her 
 pocket commenced reading. 
 
 The minutes sped on. She might have been 
 reading half-an- hour, when a light step sounded 
 without, and a soft, sweet voice, was heard hum- 
 ming gently, hut near at hand. 
 
 Miss Castle was too deeply absorbed in her 
 book, to either hear or heed it, until the handle 
 of the door turned, and Cynthia entered.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF SOTNYCLEFT, 23 
 
 Then hurriedly the hook was thrust into her 
 pocket, and the work resumed, hut not soon 
 enough to escape Cynthia's quick eye; who, save 
 for the scornful, derisive curl of the under lip, 
 took no other notice of it. 
 
 "You are late, Cynthia," said Miss Castle, 
 rising, and displacing the chairs where she had 
 been so comfortably berthed, " I had given you 
 up, and not feeling very well, was resting a little. 
 The weather is so warm, it quite weakens one. I 
 feel good for nothing." 
 
 "You look so," replied Cynthia, demurely, 
 and not a little pertly. 
 
 " Do I ? Ah ! well ! I dare say. Shall we be- 
 gin lessons ? Geography first, please, — you are 
 80 backward in that, — and then history." 
 
 But Cynthia moved away towards the piano 
 and opened it. 
 
 " Where is that song from ^ Lurline,' ' Sweet 
 Spirit?'" said she, tossing over the music. '^ I 
 have forgotten the long ' run ' at the end, and 
 want to try it over."
 
 24 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 '^ Have you returned all the way home for 
 this ?" asked Miss Castle, inadvertently. 
 
 " Yes ; have you been watching me ?" 
 
 " I ! Miss Bedfield ! How can you ask me 
 such a question? The window of this room, 
 when I am alone, is always kept close shut ; you 
 know I never open it, if I can help it. I am so 
 chilly.^' 
 
 Cynthia walked over to the window, and fling- 
 ing it wide open, looked out, as Miss Castle had 
 done, towards the Chestnut- walk, where laid Xero 
 awaiting his young mistress, who could only just 
 distinguish him by straining her eyes in the 
 direction where she knew he must be. 
 
 " See !'^ said she, to her governess, who still 
 stood by the window, " Is not that Nero ?" and 
 she pointed her finger as if to guide her. 
 
 ** I cannot tell/' replied Miss Castle, screwing 
 up her eyes, " I am not gifted with very good 
 sight. It may be him, but I can very imperfectly 
 see the trees near where he is lying. Can you see 
 him?"
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 25 
 
 ** Yes ; I can see he is lying down, as I sup- 
 pose your imagination has just suggested, since 
 you say you cannot see so far. Shall we try the 
 song?" 
 
 "By all means," said Miss Castle, rising, and 
 coming forward. 
 
 There was nothing in the tones or words to im- 
 ply displeasure, but Cynthia knew she had suc- 
 ceeded in vexing her, from the resolute way in 
 which the first notes of the accompaniment were 
 struck ; but Cynthia's voice, which was always 
 true and sweet, was especially so to-day; she 
 showed no sio'ns of ano-er. 
 
 The song was sung through, once, twice ; and 
 the *^run" mastered. 
 
 '^ What will you try next?" asked her gover- 
 ness. 
 
 " Oh, nothing else," answered Cynthia, care- 
 lessly. ^^ It is too hot to sing any more. This 
 room is stifling, with the window shut; and 
 neither history nor geography are good for your 
 
 VOL. T. c
 
 26 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 headache, so I shall go and stroll about with 
 Nero." 
 
 " But the geography — " 
 
 '' I hate it, Miss Castle," interrupted Cynthia, 
 "there is no surer way of getting rid of me than 
 by threatening me with it. And so," continued 
 she, spreading out her long skirts, and curtsey- 
 ing half mockingly, half respectfully; "just 
 seat yourself once more comfortably in your 
 sunny corner, and go on with your book. Is it 
 anything very amusing ?" 
 
 " Yes, pretty well," replied Miss Castle, turn- 
 ing away. 
 
 When she looked round again, Cynthia was 
 gone. 
 
 " She is the most idle girl," said Miss Castle, 
 aloud, to herself; " most idle." She pulled, 
 almost dragged her dress, angrily over her feet, 
 as they rested on a chair, working herself gradu- 
 ally into a rage as she did so. " Little good- 
 for-nothing, disagreeable chit," continued she ;
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 27 
 
 *' I hope I may be able to pay her out in her own 
 coin, some day. Ah! if — if only it could be 
 bo!" 
 
 She took out her book once more. 
 
 " Bon jour, Monsieur ; bon jour encore," said 
 she, as she opened it ; *^ oui, mon ami ; if, Sir 
 Cyrus, if she, my pupil, only knew you as well 
 as I do?" 
 
 She tossed over the leaves, either disinclined, 
 or feeling too irritated to read, while she con- 
 tinued, talking to herself, and heaping mild 
 anathemas on Cynthia's head, until suddenly the 
 light figure and blue ribbons were again dis- 
 cernible in the distance. 
 
 " Ah ! little wretch, how I hate you ; how I 
 wish I may be revenged upon you for all your 
 exasperating insults !" 
 
 But Cynthia danced along, apparently as joj^bus 
 as ever, with no thought for the angry lady she 
 had left. Presently she struck off to the right, 
 and danced away in the sunbeams out of sight. 
 
 '' She goes that way always. I wonder where 
 
 2
 
 28 SIR CYEUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 she goes," muttered Miss Castle; ^^ I have 
 watclied her often. Perhaps there is a secret. 
 There may be — there must be I Stay, I will find 
 it out." 
 
 In five minutes she was equipped in hat and 
 shawl, and out in the park. 
 
 Avoiding the open road by the Chestnut-walk, 
 she hurriedly skirted the side of the plantation, 
 until she reached a stile ; this she hastily climbed, 
 and dashed along the path. 
 
 " It will lead to the river-side," said she. 
 
 On she ran, or swiftly walked, for half a mile, 
 and then stopped breathlessly, as she came full in 
 sight of the river, the path she had chosen sud- 
 denly winding close past its banks. She scarcely 
 stopped to consider, but after a quick, short 
 glance, plunged behind some thick shrubs, drav\^- 
 ing in her dress and tucking it behind her ; then 
 she began to breathe and look about, but only the 
 swans, sailing about majestically, or pluming 
 themselves on the banks, met her view. 
 
 She waited patiently ; it might be five minutes,
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 29 
 
 and then a voice, unmistakably Cynthia's, was 
 heard not far off, filling the air with its soft 
 music, and next Cynthia herself came in 
 view, in the direction of the boat-house. She 
 unmoored the boat, and calling Nero, seated her- 
 self in it, and pushing off from the shore, allowed 
 it to drift down the stream. 
 
 Slowly the boat came along. Miss Castle craning 
 her neck, and holding her breath to observe the 
 better, forgetting as she did so, the long bow of 
 scarlet ribbon round her head, which fluttering 
 through an opening in the shrubs, drifted 
 about here and there JQst as the wind pleased and 
 listed; while, at the same moment her head com- 
 ing in contact with a branch overhead, displaced 
 one of the large knobs at the end of a gilt pin she 
 had run through her hair. It fell on to the 
 ground, and rolled, all bright and sparkling, to- 
 wards the water's edge. Miss Castle softly 
 reached up her hand to secure the pin, lest that 
 also should fall out and she be discovered. 
 
 When she looked up again Cynthia had taken
 
 30 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 an oar, and was gently propelling the boat nearer 
 the shore. 
 
 Miss Castle's first impulse was to fly, or break 
 through the shrubs further away ; but with the 
 gentle, crackling sound her footstep made, 
 Cynthia stood up and clapped her hands. 
 
 ** At him, Nero," she cried. 
 
 The dog, with one bound, cleared the distance 
 between the boat and the shore, and dashed up 
 to the spot where Miss Castle crouched, who with 
 a loud shriek, sprang up wildly to avoid him, but 
 he was upon her ere she gained the path. Leaping 
 up he placed his forepaws on her shoulders and 
 buried his teeth in her hat, and in a second she 
 was on the ground, and rolled over on to the path 
 with another shriek even more piercing than the 
 first. 
 
 ^^ Call him ! call your dog ! oh ! he will mur- 
 der me !" screamed she, groaning and trembling 
 with fear and affright, while the dog stood over 
 her, with his eyes burning into hers like two hot 
 coals.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 31 
 
 ^' Is that you, Miss Castle ?" called Cynthia, 
 from the boat, " who could possibly have guessed 
 it ? Are you an Ariel ? or have you possession of 
 the seven leagued boots, and from the school- 
 room to this is but a step? Surely it must be one 
 or the other or you never could have reached this 
 so quickly, when I left you so busy with your 
 book. Ah ! where is that book ? I will have it," 
 cried she, suddenly propelling the boat to the 
 shore and stepping out. " Hold on good Nero ; 
 good dog ! while I search. You have been caught 
 trespassing, Miss Castle, and must be treated as a 
 vagrant," and putting her hand into her gover- 
 ness's pocket, she drew forth the book, while 
 Miss Castle, utterly powerless to prevent her, 
 sobbed and scolded with rage. 
 
 "A French one!" exclaimed Cynthia ; "well, 
 so much the better, I will make myself acquainted 
 with this Monsieur whoever he is, he shall be my 
 morning's study, my French lesson in fact; so that 
 when I return home you shall not say that I have
 
 32 SIR CYKUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 been idle, or wasted, or spent my time nnprofit- 
 ably." 
 
 And with a mocking laugh, Cynthia stepped 
 back into the boat, and taking the oars rowed 
 herself quickly from the spot, unheeding her 
 governess's cries for help. 
 
 As she passed round the bend of the river, she 
 placed a small silver whistle, hanging from her 
 chain, to her lips, and blew a shrill note, but so 
 softly that it scarcely echoed along the river; yet 
 at its sound Nero released Miss Castle, and 
 dashed away over the ground after his mistress, 
 who, standing up in the boat, waved her hand 
 and nodded her head mockingly, as she swept 
 with the current out of sight. 
 
 Trembling and unsteady from the fright she 
 had experienced, Miss Castle rose from the 
 ground, and seating herself on the stump of a 
 tree, strove in some measure to arrange her dis- 
 ordered dress, which, although spotlessly clean 
 when she started on her unlucky expedition that
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 33 
 
 morning, was now soiled, and torn in several 
 places, while her hair had escaped from its fasten- 
 ings and streamed down over her shoulders long 
 below her waist, her face and hands being 
 scratched and torn with the brambles and thorns 
 through which she had half fallen, half been 
 dragged by Nero. 
 
 ^* Little viper!" said she, as she brushed and 
 rubbed off the dirt ; " tormenting, spiteful little 
 thing ! malevolent little creature ! I hate you ! 
 As for your dog, I will poison him for letting you 
 take my book. Yes, he is mad, and shall die !" 
 and she shook her fist in the direction in which 
 Cynthia had gone. 
 
 Then she rose, and kneeling down at the water's 
 edge, dipped her handkerchief into the stream, 
 and was about to bathe her face with it when a 
 heavy tread startled her. But how much more 
 startled and dismayed was she, when on turning 
 her head, she perceived Sir Cryus' tall figure 
 coming towards her— Sir Cyrus before whom it had 
 been her sole wish, sole aim, ever sicce she had 
 
 c 5
 
 84 SIR CYKUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 been at Stonycleft, to appear in her very best 
 colours, and now disfigured with scratches, torn 
 dress, and disordered hair, he had come upon her 
 unawares and surprised her thus. 
 
 " Miss Castle !" exclaimed Sir Cyrus, as though 
 questioning her identity. 
 
 "Yes," said she, rising, "yes. Miss Castle;" 
 and then fairly overcome with anger and morti- 
 fication, she covered her face with her hands and 
 burst into tears. 
 
 " Madam," said Sir Cyrus, amazed beyond 
 measure at her tears, and without tJie slightest 
 attempt to tranquillise her — indeed, his tone was 
 rather one of displeasure than pity— "what has 
 happened ? Have you been hurt, or insulted, or 
 what?" 
 
 " Both — both," sobbed she, " I have been 
 
 frightened to death." • 
 
 " How ? In what way, and by whom ?" 
 
 " It was Cynthia, Sir Cyrus, all Cynthia's fault 
 
 She never came to her lessons yesterday, to-day, 
 
 nor any day in fact ; but here — always here, so
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 35 
 
 I— I watched her. Oh ! there could be no harm 
 in that," continued she, catching sight of Sir 
 Cyrus' displeased look. ^^Am not I her gover- 
 ness, and answerable for her conduct ? Had I not 
 a right to see where she went ?" 
 
 " The right to inquire, certainly," replied he. 
 
 '• I — I never thought of that, but stood in the 
 bushes here, and she set that large dog on me, 
 and he dragged me out and bit and scratched me 
 shamefully, and — and Miss Bedfield has taken 
 away a book, a — a book that — that she ought not 
 to read," said she, stammering. 
 
 " I do not quite understand you," replied Sir 
 C3TUS, '^ surely if the book was fit for your 
 perusal, it was for my daughter's ?" 
 
 ^* But I — I — , it was not a nice book. It was 
 a French one, and they sent it from the library 
 two days ago." 
 
 " T/iey sent it?" cried Sir Cyrus, angrily "and 
 not a nice book? Tkey shall hear of it again." 
 
 " No, no, I am wrong, I am so confused, I 
 don't know what I am saying. I chose it last
 
 36 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 time we went to Cumber, I did not know what it 
 was, I did not indeed, and have kept it in my 
 pocket ever since, hidden away from Cynthia; 
 and now— now she has got it from me while the 
 dog held me down, and I could not help my- 
 self." 
 
 " And yon, Madam," said Sir Cyrus, sternly, 
 " surely you have not read a book unfit for — 
 for — ," he hesitated. 
 
 Miss Castle threw back the long masses of her 
 hair, and looked up beseechingly in his face. 
 
 " And if I could not resist the temptation ?" 
 said she, '^ am I so much to blame, when I strove 
 to keep it from your daughter ? You — you will 
 excuse my fault and forgive me. Sir Cyrus ?" 
 
 Miss Castle was not a beautiful woman, she 
 was not even pretty, but she was handsome. 
 She was tall and well proportioned, though 
 rather largely made, her hands and feet nicely 
 shaped, but very different in size to Cynthia's 
 little fairy looking ones. Her head was small 
 and set on rather haughtily, while her only beauty,
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STOPS' YCLEFT. 37 
 
 the only one for wliich women envied her, was 
 the magnificent masses of dark hair, generally- 
 bound up loosely with a coloured ribbon, but 
 cow, as I have said, flowing carelessly over her 
 shoulders. 
 
 As she clasped her hands, and looked up so 
 beseechingly, so humbly at Sir Cyrus, he thought 
 he had never seen a handsomer woman. 
 
 '^ Well — well. Miss Castle, my dear Madam, 
 there is no occasion for us to make a mountaia 
 out of a molehill. Cynthia may not have read 
 the book as yet, there has been no time. I will 
 go and seek her and secure it." And turning 
 upon his heel he strode away rather hastily, cut- 
 ting down the weeds and nettles, along the side 
 of the path, with his long hunting whip, without 
 which he seldom went abroad. 
 
 " Ah !" said Miss Castle, as she smoothed and 
 stroked the long masses of raven hair, ere she 
 tied it up. " I am glad he- has seen you in all 
 your beauty. It was after all a fortunate thing 
 I came out this morning. I think, too, the sight
 
 88 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 of yon disarmed Sir Cyrus' anger, even she — if 
 she shows him the book— can do me no harm 
 now, for I have been beforehand with her. And 
 then I think — I almost think he admired me a 
 little, just a very little." 
 
 Miss Castle knotted the bow of ribbon, picked 
 np her hat and walked from the spot rather 
 haughtily. As she came in sight of the lawn, 
 the gardener was sweeping up the new mown 
 grass. How proudly she bent her small head as 
 she returned his salutation. 
 
 What could she be thinking: of?
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 39 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 THE ALYWINS. 
 
 Broadbelt was neither a laro:e town nor a stras:* 
 gling town, but simply one long, rather wide 
 street, stretching about half a mile in length, and 
 composed principally of shops. 
 
 In about the centre of this long street, with, on 
 one side, a grocer, who sold not only groceries, 
 but haberdashery, crockery, boots and shoes, and 
 even chairs and tables — one large kind of store in 
 fact ; and, on the other, a surgeon with a brass 
 plate on his door, like a small hatchment, only
 
 40 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 that it was supposed to sot fortli the virtues and 
 skill of the living, and not the glories of the dead; 
 dwelt Mrs. x^lj^win, the widow of a farmer in the 
 neighbourhood, who had died when her two boys 
 were both young. Now, however, the eldest was 
 three-and-twenty, and she had given, according 
 to her husband's wish and will, the entire man- 
 agement of the farm into his hands some three 
 years since, and with her youngest son, had taken 
 a small house in Broadbelt. 
 
 Although the Alywins had neither the Bed- 
 field blood nor the Bedfield birth to boast of, 
 still, by a certain class, not the Bedfield one, 
 they were looked up to and respected ; while none 
 of those inhabitants now living could remember 
 the time when the Alywins had not possession of 
 Friarmarsh. There were some who could re- 
 collect the small homestead before it had partly 
 been pulled down, rebuilt, and added to, until it 
 was now a large, well-looking, substantial house ; 
 while fields, meadows, and waste land had been 
 purchased, improved, and drained, so tliat the
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 41 
 
 Friarmarsli Farm had become one of the largest 
 for miles round, and it was said, the present 
 owner was making as much, if not more, money 
 than his father. 
 
 Cumber, a large city, only twelve miles from 
 Broadbelt, and easily approachable by rail, had 
 "been Mrs. Alywin's birth-place. She had lived 
 there all her life, until she married, and there 
 her father, a well-to-do tradesmen, still resided. 
 
 For years it had been the sole-cherished hope 
 of Mrs. Alwyn's heart, that one of her sons should 
 be made a gentleman of. The elder was disposed 
 of by his father's will ; besides, farming was his 
 by choice, also he took to it naturally as his by 
 right ; but the younger, only too gladly and wil-^ 
 lingly, fell in with his mother's views, giving 
 over what share he had in the farm to his brother 
 to manage for him, while he received the profits, 
 and worked his way up the ladder of idleness and 
 gentility. 
 
 Mrs. Alywin nursed and fostered her own and 
 her son's foolish wish, sending him to a first-class
 
 43 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 school, and afterwards to college, deterraining, 
 that what was denied him by birth, should be 
 his by right, if it could be purchased even by the 
 sacrifice of her daily comforts ; or, if need be^ sell- 
 ing out her own small dividend — exclusively her 
 own — in the funds. 
 
 Frederick Alywin, or Fred, as he was com- 
 monly called, was a fair, effeminate-looking 
 young man, decidedly handsome, with all his 
 mother's horror of work, and none of his father's 
 hearty will of looking the world in the face, and 
 making his way in it. He hated Friarmarsh, 
 hated the sight of the daily work, the signs of his 
 — to him — brother's serfdom. I doubt which 
 was the most pleased when he turned his back 
 upon it for good, the elder or the younger. 
 
 There was yet one other who was not sorry to 
 leave the farm, a young girl, a distant connexion 
 of Mrs. Alywin's, who lived with her, and who, 
 with the strange perversity of woman's nature, 
 already looked favourably on the younger son, 
 who, whether he cared for her or no, would never
 
 SIK CYRUS OF STOXYCLEFT. 43 
 
 have married her, never have allied himself to 
 more of the Alj^win blood ; he looked, sought 
 higher ; hoped to find and gain it. But Percival, 
 the elder, loved her, and, as he knew before she 
 left Friarmarsh, loved her hopelessly. So he 
 carried his love somewhere out of sight in the 
 deep recesses of his heart, and showed no sign of 
 suffering, although the day Charlotte left Friar- 
 marsh with his mother, the sunshine seemed, 
 somehow to him, gone from his home for ever. 
 
 Mrs. Alywin, although anxious to step into a 
 higher grade of life than the one her husband had 
 bequeathed her ; had, nevertheless, little of the 
 airs of fine ladyism about her. In every-day 
 life she was a busy, bustling, active body ; attend- 
 ing to, and superintending her household duties, 
 sometimes secretly turning a hand at the pastry 
 or cakes ; but this latter was somewhat of a 
 labour of love, seeing Fred was so fond of delica- 
 cies and niceties of all kinds, and she was for 
 ever studying his comforts, or whims and fan- 
 cies. " He must find everything so different at
 
 44 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 Cambridge," being the one common excuse with 
 which she glossed over every fresh luxury she in- 
 dulged him in. Cambridge to her innocent, but 
 aspiring heart, being a pinnacle of grandeur; 
 almost the top step of the ladder, on which her 
 imagination had so long dwelt. There her son 
 associated with gentlemen, some, if he were to be 
 believed, the aristocracy of the land, and, as she 
 told the rector, with matronly pride, had actually 
 taken off his hat to the Prince of Wales. 
 
 Mrs. Alywin was rather inclined to stoutness. 
 She wore little crisp curls over her forehead, and 
 round her rosy, good-tempered face, upon which 
 a smile seemed constantly beaming. Without 
 being vulgar, she was not a lady-like looking 
 person ; she had had a good education, but the 
 rust of common life had never been rubbed off, 
 and she sadly wanted its polish. She would have 
 been more thought of, more noticed by the gentry 
 around Broadbelt, had she been contented to re- 
 main perdue, to wait to be courted and not 
 court ; but she aped the grand lady, and failed
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 45 
 
 miserably, her worst days being those in which 
 fihe arrayed herself in a handsome back moiree 
 and large old-fashioned gold chain ; the gold 
 chain, like the Lord Mayor's, being worn on all 
 state occasions, and Charlotte never saw it round 
 her neck without a feeling of disquietude and un- 
 easiness. 
 
 Mrs. Alywin was — the day on which I intro- 
 duce her to my readers — busy as usual, with 
 some household work, an immense pair of scis- 
 sors in her hand, and a large roll of long-cloth 
 on the floor beside her, while numerous small 
 pieces of it lay scattered about the table, evi- 
 dences of the quantity of patterns she had cut. 
 
 ^' There goes Percival," exclaimed she, sud- 
 denly, pointing towards the window with the 
 scissors; ^^and I do think, as far as I could see 
 as he flashed past, young Johnson with him in 
 the dog-cart," and she looked across at Charlotte 
 Lambert, who was seated close to the window. 
 
 " 1 did not observe, aunt," she replied. 
 
 " Well, I wish you had, child," said she, pet-
 
 46 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 tishly, " but Pm pretty sure it was lie, and I 
 think Percival might choose a better companion ; 
 and to-day of all others, too, when that stuck-up 
 Mrs. Knollys is sure to come in for shopping. 
 To-day's Wednesday, isn't it?" 
 
 *^ Yes," said Fred, yawning and throwing down 
 his book ; " To-day is Wednesday," 
 
 '^Then I say again I think Percival might 
 have been particular for your sake— my sake — 
 all our sakes. Don't you think so ?" asked she, 
 appealing to her son. 
 
 '^I am never surprised at any absurdity of 
 Percy's," replied he. "The only aristocratic 
 thing about him is his name— the one you gave 
 him." 
 
 " Ah ! I wanted sadly to christen you Sidney, 
 but your father, poor man, would not hear of it. 
 He said I'd had my way with one son, a ad it was 
 his turn to name the next. We had words about 
 it, for I was dreadfully vexed," and Mrs. Alywin 
 fitted and pinned the pattern on the long- cloth 
 afresh, and cut away rather hastily.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 47 
 
 "There!" exclaimed she, presently; "there 
 goes General Knollys' carriage and pair of bays. 
 I declare I feel quite mad with Percival," and 
 the scissors clipped away harder and faster than 
 ever. " He ought to have some little considera- 
 tion for us, instead of apparently not caring a 
 brass button about us." 
 
 " Don't make use of that last expression again, 
 mother; it savours strongly of * shop.' " 
 
 Mrs. Alywin's face flushed. She compressed 
 her lips tightly together for a moment, as though 
 she wished to prevent herself from speaking; 
 but, as the flush died away, she looked up 
 quietly, and said, 
 
 "I hope Percival will have dropped that 
 young man before he passes the Knollys' turn 
 out." 
 
 "I hope he will have done no such thing," re- 
 turned Fred, '^ for he'll only commit some greater 
 enormity, such as driving home on the top of a 
 load of hay, or walking behind the beasts he has
 
 48 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 come in, most likely, to purchase this morning," 
 and he laughed at his mother's horrified look. 
 
 *^ I do not think Percival would do that," ex- 
 claimed Charlotte. 
 
 " You always take his part," said Fred. 
 
 " Not always," she answered, quietly. 
 
 ^^ Generally, then." 
 
 He moved away towards the table where he 
 had thrown his book. 
 
 ii My gloves are here somewhere," he said, 
 tossing over the things. 
 
 " Your gloves ?" answered his mother, '' Char- 
 lotte had them mending this morning. "Where 
 did you put them, Charlotte ? Ah ! there they 
 are. Are you going out, Fred ?" 
 
 " Yes. Have you any commissions ?" 
 
 " Which way are you going ?" 
 
 " Through the town, and so on into the coun- 
 try. It's a capital day for a walk." 
 
 *' I should say you would find it terribly hot. 
 But if you do go, I wish you would take Char-
 
 SIR CYRUS OF feTONYCLEFT. 49 
 
 lotte with you ; she hardly ever gets a breath of 
 fresh country air. You know I cannot walk any 
 distance.'' 
 
 " I do not care about going out this morning, 
 aunt, thank you. I want to finish my work." 
 
 ^'Nonsense, my dear, you regularly mope your- 
 self to death. Fred will be pleased enough to 
 chaperon you." 
 
 " Of course I shall," replied he, " only make 
 haste and get ready." 
 
 Charlotte hesitated, then suddenly rose, put 
 down her work, and without a word left the 
 room. 
 
 " I wish, mother," exclaimed Fred, angrily, as 
 the door closed, ^' I wish, mother, you would re- 
 collect I am no longer a boy, or in leading 
 strings." 
 
 " I recollect it very often now, Fred," replied 
 Mrs. Ay] win. " As to leading-strings, you cut 
 those when — when — " 
 
 " When I went to college," interrupted he. 
 
 "No, long before that," sighed his mother. 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 60 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 ^^ But if you are put out because I asked you to 
 take Charlotte, I'm sure I am very sorry. I 
 thought you would like to have a companion; 
 and, poor girl, — " 
 
 '' Poor girl !" again interrupted he. " What 
 is she poor for ? I am accustomed to hear you 
 say ' my poor husband/ or ' your poor father,' 
 but Charlotte's alive and kicking," said he, 
 rudely. ^^What is she poor for? — one would 
 think I neglected her. I am sure I am as civil 
 as any man need be. But I don't mean to marry 
 her, if that is what you are driving at." 
 
 ^^Why not?" 
 
 " Why not? What a question !" said he, in- 
 dignantly. " Because — because — " he quieted 
 suddenly — " because I've other views." 
 
 " Ah, Charlotte," said he, as she entered. 
 
 " Have I kept you very long waiting ?" 
 
 *' No, you are a good girl ; only five minutes or 
 so." 
 
 They started for their walk, he not in the very 
 best of tempers, and Charlotte scarcely talking at
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 51 
 
 all, and when she did, receiving only monosylla- 
 bles, or random, short replies. 
 
 Charlotte was a quiet, lady-like looking girl. 
 To-day her face looked quite pretty, under her 
 simple straw hat and drooping white feather, 
 while her complexion was so delicate it almost 
 rivalled the snowy whiteness of her cloak. 
 
 They walked on, both ill at ease with the other, 
 until they reached the large timber yard, round 
 the corner of which a narrow road led to the 
 fields. 
 
 Charlotte stopped, and held out her hand to 
 Fred. 
 
 " Good bye,'* said she. 
 
 " Good bye !" he echoed, in surprise, 
 
 " Yes ; I am going to the Nursery Gardens." 
 
 '' Very well, why did you not say so. It is all 
 the same to me where I go," and he prepared to 
 accompany her. 
 
 '"No," said Charlotte; "I shall go alone, 
 Fred." 
 
 D 2
 
 52 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 " Alone ! What folly ; not to say anything 
 about the rudeness in turning me off so ab- 
 ruptly." 
 
 ** I know you do not want me this morning," 
 and she looked at him with her soft, clear eyes. 
 ^^ I know you were going elsewhere when aunt 
 asked you to walk with me." 
 
 " No such thing. I'll swear it, you foolish 
 little thing, if you like." 
 
 " It was very good of you not to mind taking 
 me ; but — but I shall walk alone to-day." 
 
 " I swear I'll come too, Lotty." 
 
 " Then I shall return home. Good bye, 
 Fred," said she, catching up her dress, as she 
 crossed the dusty road. 
 
 " She is a proud little beggar," he said; " I 
 wish she was not an Alywin," and he walked on 
 alone, deep in thought, so deep that he never ob- 
 served bis brother driving towards him in his 
 dog-cart until he pulled up his horse suddenly 
 almost on his haunches.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 53 
 
 " Hulloa, Fred ! deep in study ?" 
 
 '^Ali! Percival, how are you? Been to 
 market ?" 
 
 ** Yes. By-the-bye, I want you to come over 
 to tlie farm to see that bit of land I'm draining 
 for you." 
 
 ^' Oh, hang it ! you will do it very well without 
 me. I hate poking about the farm, and you 
 know I am an ignoramus into the bargain. Be- 
 sides, I have not time ; I am ^ mugging ' up for 
 my kittle go;' I hope to get through in 
 October." 
 
 " If it's for your good I hope you may," re- 
 turned his brother ; " but I'm just as ignorant in 
 those sort of things as you are in farming. Do 
 you still like the idea of being a parson ?" 
 
 " Of course. Tm as devoted to it as ever." 
 
 '^ Is mother at home ?" asked Percival. 
 
 " Yes ; and there is the devil to pay if you are 
 going there. She is in a terrible gale with you. 
 Better not go, old fellow, if you don't want a 
 * row.' Good bye."
 
 54 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 And away went Fred, heedless of his brother's 
 question as to what was the matter. 
 
 " By Jove !" said he, taking out his watch, 
 '^ it's past twelve o'clock ; there will be the devil 
 to pay somewhere else if I don't make haste." 
 
 He walked on hurriedly for a quarter of a mile 
 or more ; then turned down a narrow lane, and 
 at length, in somewhat of a round-about way, 
 after vaulting over a gate, was in a remote part 
 of Stonycleft.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 55 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 UNDER THE SHADE. 
 
 Frederick Alywin struck across an open piece 
 of ground towards the wood. Reaclimg it, he 
 avoided the narrow, solitary path, overgrown with 
 weeds and long grass, and picked his way through 
 the ferns and felled trees, which latter were here 
 rather numerous. Presently he emerged into 
 another open space as wild and uncultivated as 
 nature could wish, and not far distant from the 
 spot where Sir Cyrus had once taken his danger- 
 ous leap on " Black Bess." Fred passed close by
 
 56 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 the boundary wall, and in another second was 
 climbing a hill to the left. 
 
 This hill commanded from its summit a view 
 of the whole of Stonycleft. 
 
 The view was perfect. Mountains stretching 
 away in the far distance, crowned with trees, 
 spreading down their sides to the river's edge ; 
 the foliage at this season of the year being at its 
 thickest and best. Through a vista to the right, 
 the house — or as much of it as could be seen for 
 the tall trees — rose dim and grey, and nearer 
 still fields teeming with life and activity; for 
 being haymaking time, waggons and horses, as 
 well as men and women, were scattered about 
 them. Now and then a glimpse of the river, as 
 it flashed and sparkled in the sun, caught the 
 eye ; while the large, broad sheet of water, close 
 to the plantation, with its small waterfall, looking 
 like snow, was plainly visible, with even the 
 rustic bridge and boat-house, though the latter 
 was but a small white speck. 
 
 Frederick Aly win's eyes lingered on the river.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 57 
 
 He traced its windings and turnings here and 
 there; through the bend of the valley, and, 
 again, as it glimmered through the wood, until 
 it flowed calmly and quietly round the hill on 
 which he stood. 
 
 There was one small shining piece, with a dark 
 spot on its surface, which seemed to claim his 
 especial attention. On that small speck he 
 riveted his eyes for at least five minutes, until it 
 drew nearer, and grow into the shape and form 
 of a boat; then it swept away out of sight round 
 a woody point, but now again became visible, 
 just turning the corner by a large willow, which 
 dipped its graceful branches into the stream. 
 
 This time the boat was easily distinguishable, 
 as also the small figure seated in its stern ; the 
 face and figure scarcely yet to be made out, but 
 guessed at by the two long ribbons streaming 
 and quivering about in the breeze, shining gaily 
 as the sun sometimes danced about their bright 
 hue. 
 
 Fred hastily dashed down the hill's side, and 
 
 P 5
 
 58 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 on throngli tlie wooded strip of land to the right, 
 and gaining the water's edge, waited quietly the 
 boat's arrival. 
 
 It Mas fully five minutes before it came in 
 sight, drifting slowly along with the current, 
 which here was not strong but deep, the water 
 shining on the side on which Fred stood, like 
 burnished steel ; but on the other it glimmered 
 darkly like a guilty thing, from under the shade 
 cast by the high wooded mountains. 
 
 A bright flush suffused Cynthia's face, as, 
 taking the oars, she rowed to the spot where 
 Frederick Alywin stood, who, as he noticed her 
 confusion, mentally resolved to hazard the die 
 that should decide his fate and hers, for ever ! 
 
 " At last !" said he, as, securing the boat to 
 the shore, he helped her to alight. 
 
 She sprang out lightly, the weight of her small 
 body scarce bending the boat as she placed her 
 foot on its edge ; while Nero, who hastened to 
 follow his mistress's example, almost dipped it 
 under water as he clambered over its side.
 
 SIR CYRUS. OF STONYCLEFT. 59 
 
 Although he addressed Cynthia so familiarly, 
 Frederick neither took her hand nor seemed by 
 his looks glad to see her, but prepared to walk 
 by her side in moody silence, while Nero stretched 
 his huge body at full length alongside where the 
 boat lay moored. 
 
 '' Are you vexed because I am so late ?" asked 
 Cynthia, timidly. 
 
 " Not exactly vexed, but out of patience. You 
 are nearly half-an-hour late.'* 
 
 "I know I am." 
 
 The quietness with which she answered seemed 
 to irritate him, for he replied sharply — 
 
 " And no regret for it ! If you only knew. 
 Miss Bedfield, how nearly wild you drive me 
 sometimes. How mad with jealousy !" 
 
 " What can you have to be jealous of?" she 
 asked. 
 
 " Did I not see that fellow Knollys riding 
 down the town as if for a wager, and dashing 
 through the park gates as though a thousand 
 devils were at his heels ? and this, too, almost at
 
 60 STTl CYBUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 the very hour when you said you would meet me 
 here." 
 
 ^'Did he ?" said Cynthia, simply ; " then you 
 could not have been to your time either, since 
 you saw him." 
 
 *^ Where was the use? I guessed where he was 
 going when I saw him galloping through the 
 town, and knew you would sit chatting with him 
 all the morning, as it seems you have, while I 
 have been all the while devoured with jealous 
 thoughts." 
 
 "You have no right," replied Cynthia, 
 haughtily, " to be jealous." 
 
 His ani^er and pettishness died away instan- 
 taneously, he turned his bead and looked at her 
 earnestly ; so earnestly that again the bright 
 flush burnt her cheeks with its deep red. 
 
 " Will yon give me the right. Miss Bedfield ?" 
 he asked, softly. 
 
 " No," she replied firmly ; " No, I will never 
 give you the right to be jealous of me. And you 
 have no cause for it now, for I never saw Captain
 
 SIR CYBUS OF STONYCLEFT. 61 
 
 Knollys. It was that tiresome Miss Castle who 
 kept me." And then she laughingly told the 
 history of that lady's misadventure ; " and in- 
 deed, Mr. Alywin," said she, as she concluded, 
 " I don't think I can come again, or at least not 
 so often, because since she has begun to suspect 
 me she will be for ever on the watch out of spite, 
 if for nothing else ; and if papa were to find it 
 out he — he - , Oh ! I do not know what he would 
 say." 
 
 They had turned the bend of the river as it 
 wound round the hill, and were now out of sight 
 of the boat. Fred led her towards a large tree, 
 and seated her under its shade, while he threw 
 himself on the ground at her feet. 
 
 " And so you do not wish to see me again. 
 Miss Bedfield ?" he asked, somewhat sorrowfully. 
 
 ^^ f did not say that. I merely wished to say 
 I thought it would be dangerous." 
 
 " Are you afraid ?" 
 
 " Afraid !" she repeated, scornfully, while her
 
 62 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 eyes flashed indignantly ; " afraid ! am I not a 
 Bedfield?" 
 
 His lip curled sarcastically. 
 " All I true. The Bedfields know no fear. I 
 was, I confess, nearly forgetting for the moment 
 that you were a Bedfield." 
 
 '^ Do you say that tauntingly?'- asked Cj^nthia, 
 drawing her head up proudly, as she remarked 
 the expression that flitted over his face. 
 " God forbid." 
 
 They were both for a moment silent ; and then, 
 " Would you brave no danger for my sake. Miss 
 Bedfield ?" he asked. 
 
 Cynthia did not reply, and for a while neither 
 spoke, until Fred, half raising himself from the 
 ground, and bending his eyes on her partially 
 averted face, said, 
 
 '^ Cynthia, do you remember the day when I 
 rescued the poor thrush from Nero's jaws ? It is 
 not so very long ago, only six months — if that. 
 How you sobbed and cried when I took it from
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 63 
 
 him. See ! I have the mark of his teeth on my 
 hand j^et." 
 
 " I was but a child then. And besides, the 
 poor bird was dead ; you rescued it too late." 
 
 '^ You are little more than a child now; or," 
 corrected he, seeing her offended look, " even 
 allowing that }0U are, you have still the same 
 tender heart you had then, and I am going to ask 
 its compassion — nay more, its love. Don't look 
 so frightened, Cynthia; that I love you, you, 
 child or woman, must have guessed lately , though 
 not guessed for how long. Cynthia, I had 
 seen you many times before the day on which 
 Nero's breach of faith brought us into contact. 
 Often and often I had watched you until my heart 
 was ready to worship your goodness, even as my 
 eyes had your loveliness. How many wise reso- 
 lutions that I have never had the strength of 
 mind to keep, have I formed since then ! It was 
 but to see you to overthrow them. When I last 
 went back to Cambridge, I determined I would 
 never see you again, never put myself in the way
 
 64 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 of temptation ; you know how little I have been 
 able to resist it, and how often since my return I 
 have been at your side, or always about here 
 watching and waiting for you. To-day I can no 
 longer smother my feelings, or check my words, 
 whether right or wrong I cannot help telling you 
 that I love you, Cynthia, and ask for the only 
 thing that can make a better man of me — your 
 love. Will you — do you love me, Cynthia ?" 
 
 She had no answer save the loving light in her 
 eyes, as he drew her unresistingly towards him, 
 and kissed her passionately. 
 
 " There is nothing, darling mine,^' said he, pre- 
 sently, " that I would not bear for your dear sake. 
 Taunts, derision, slander, disgrace, even curses of 
 those nearest and dearest to me. Is your love 
 like this, Cynthia ? Do you love me so ?" 
 
 " I love you very dearly," she replied ; '^ but 
 as to all those dreadful things you talk of, no 
 one cares for me enough to put me to the test of 
 whether I would bear them for your sake, or
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 65 
 
 " You are wrong, Cjnthia. Your father, Sir 
 Cyrus, will never freely give his consent to your 
 being my wife." 
 
 " What ! not when he has hated me ever since 
 I was born? Old nurse says he has never for- 
 gotten his disappointment at my being a girl, or 
 forgiven my being the innocent cause of poor 
 mamma's death." 
 
 " Perhaps not. Yet from him will come all 
 the trials you will have to bear for my sake, and 
 reason as you will they must^ will be many, and 
 great. Eecollect he is a Bedfield, and a proud 
 one, even of that proud stook, and that is saying 
 a great deal when pride is the one prominent 
 quality besides blood your race have to boast of; 
 and yet you think, poor little one, he will willingly 
 consent to give you to an Alwyn ? one of a stock," 
 said Fred, bitterly, ^' who have been kicked out 
 of Stonycleft." 
 
 " Yes ; but nurse says it was done in a fit of 
 passion, and because one of the Alwyns insulted 
 my grandfather." •
 
 66 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 " True, Cynthia. In much the same way 
 in which I am insulting the present one, 
 by presuming to love his daughter. He, 
 my father, went boldly and confronted the 
 lion in his den, and was kicked out for his pre- 
 sumption. I, his son, will be wiser, Cynthia ; I 
 swear I will never brook an indignity of that sort; 
 I will never ask your father to sanction our love. 
 Never ! If you are to be mine, it must be with- 
 out his knowledge." 
 
 ^^ Oh ! no, no ; not that way," replied Cynthia. 
 
 " It can be no other. Your father has never 
 cared for you. Neither will he much care whom 
 you marry; still, as a Bedfield he will not, cannot 
 countenance an alliance with one whom his father 
 did not think fit for his daughter ; but he will 
 only too gladly give in and forgive us, when once 
 the thing is irrevocable. I do not ask you to be 
 mine now at once, Cynthia. I must wait until I 
 am in orders, and then say, dearest, that you will 
 come to me and be my wife in spite of all and 
 everything, no matter what happens."
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 67 
 
 '^ I will always ask my father first," said 
 Cynthia, clasping her hands. '^ I will pray him 
 to listen to me, and not break my heart." 
 
 ^'It will be useless, Cynthia; he will never 
 willingly grant it. But you will not take your 
 love from me when T only live for that. If you 
 do, I care little what becomes of me. I will go 
 abroad, emigrate to Australia ; but forget you ? 
 Never ! and you, Cynthia, you will never be un- 
 true to me, darling?" 
 
 " Untrue ! no. No Bedfield ever went back 
 from their word. I will love you always — that is, 
 as long as you desire my love. My poor aunt 
 never married, she loved your father faithfully to 
 the last, if not in her heart, in her memory, 
 although he forsook his early love. Perhaps it 
 will be so now," said she, mournfully. 
 
 " Never ! Cynthia. I swear I will love you as 
 long as my heart beats," and once more he drew 
 her near him, and kissed her passionately. 
 
 And now we will leave them, and turn to Sir 
 Cyrus, whom we left pursuing his way along the
 
 68 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 river side, in search of his daughter and the 
 book. 
 
 Sir Cyrus walked hastily ; but soon slackened 
 his speed, expecting at every turn of the river 
 to see Cynthia. But the boat had had too long a 
 start, and besides, just here the current was strong 
 and ran along much faster than he leisurely 
 walked. 
 
 After a little while his monotonous walk set 
 his thoughts wandering, and they wandered, 
 somehow, towards Miss Castle and the raven 
 masses of hair he had seen falling like a thick 
 veil over her shoulders, down to the ground on 
 either side as she knelt. 
 
 '^ Lovely hair," he murmured ; " lovely ! I 
 never saw such a profusion, or such a length. I 
 wonder if she heard my step along the walk and 
 let it down on purpose, like that Lady Festing, 
 who pretended she had sprained her ancle so that 
 I might admire her foot. Well, I did admire it ; 
 nay more, I kissed it. But I never thought of 
 kissing her," and then he laughed as though
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 69 
 
 some amusing reminiscence had suddenly come 
 across his mind. Next lie considered how 
 long Miss Castle had been at Stony- 
 cleft, and counted the months one by 
 one on his fingers. " More than ten," said he ; 
 '^a longer time than any of those ladies who 
 preceded her. So she must have a pretty good 
 temper, otherwise like the rest she would have 
 left long ago." But it never occurred to him, 
 that some hidden motive or purpose, besides his 
 daughter's education, lurked at the botton of Miss 
 Castle's forbearance. 
 
 Just as his thoughts were settling the question 
 of Miss Castle's temper, he suddenly saw through 
 a slight break in the bushes, the boat, not a 
 hundred yards distant. A glance told him it was 
 empty. A second that Nero lay stretched beside it. 
 
 Sir Cyrus halted while his eyes instantly 
 searched the banks as far as the river went, but 
 his view was soon intercepted by the hill round 
 which it disappeared. 
 
 His suspicions were aroused. His determi-
 
 70 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 nation taken in a moment. Cautiously lie ad- 
 vanced round the corner, but Nero saw him, and 
 with a low growl sprung to his feet ; but at the 
 same moment a soft whistle from Sir Cyrus, and 
 the dog suddenly turned and lay down again. 
 
 Sir Cyrus walked on seeing nothing further to 
 bar his progress, and reaching the spot where 
 Nero lay, he took from his pocket a piece of 
 string. Doubling and knotting it, he tied the dog 
 by his collar to the chain of the boat, and stood 
 and took a cursory survey of the ground. 
 Presently he went away up the narrow strip of 
 ground, down which Frederick Alywin had so 
 impetuously dashed. Reaching the top he again 
 stood and reconnoitred, before he made his way 
 round the base of the hill, towards where the 
 river had from below flowed away out of his 
 sight. 
 
 Advancing to the edge of the cliff, he looked 
 below. The next moment his face flushed and 
 burnt as hotly as Cynthia's had done only a short 
 while ago.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 71 
 
 Fred had seated Cyntliia on that side of the 
 tree nearest the cliff, so that its branches hardly- 
 afforded a screen from Sir Cyrus' gaze. With 
 what a deadly look of rage his eyes glittered as 
 he stood there looking at them. Frederick 
 Alywin's arm encircling his daughter's waist, 
 while she leant her head lovingly against his 
 shoulder, a small streak of light coming across 
 her fair hair and lighting it up like a golden 
 shower. 
 
 Sir Cyrus took it all in at a glance, and then 
 with a smothered oath, strode away, clenching 
 his long riding whip firmly and tightly in his 
 strong hand, while his face was as pale and dark 
 as night. 
 
 On through the wooded strip, down again to 
 the boat, where still lay Nero, who this time un- 
 warned by the well known sound of his master's 
 whistle, bayed out furiously at the sound of ap- 
 proaching footsteps, then crouched down humbly 
 as Sir Cyrus passed him swiftly, and turning the 
 corner stood before the affrighted Ovnthia and
 
 72 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCIEFT. 
 
 her lover, just as they had evidently been aroused 
 by the sound of Nero's voice. 
 
 " Sir Cyrus ! papa!" exclaimed Cynthia, trem- 
 blingly, then catching sight of his pale, stern, 
 angry face, uplifted arm and hand, from which 
 the long end of the whip fell, she darted forward, 
 and terrified, tried to cling round his waist, 
 But he threw her from him as though she had 
 been a feather. She fell striking her forehead 
 against a stone ; but Sir Cyrus never stayed his 
 steps, but strode fiercely on to where Frederick 
 Alywin stood, as it were, at bay. Grasping him 
 in his powerful hand, the whip descended 
 mercilessly and savagely, while oaths and execra- 
 tions fell thick and fast from the infuriated Sir 
 Cyrus' lips. Then he flung him from him. 
 
 "Away, vile hound I begone!" he shouted, 
 fiercely, " miserable cur of a cowardly father, 
 and never dare touch a Bedfield again, or come 
 within speech of my daughter, or I'll give you 
 some further proofs of a Bedfield's rage and 
 strength."
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 73 
 
 And turning to Cynthia, who with her face 
 buried in her hand sat sobbing on the ground, he 
 bade her, sharply, " get up and begone." 
 
 But Cynthia never stirred. 
 
 '^ Get up !" he cried, angrily, '' get up and go 
 home," and at the same time he seized her 
 roughly by the arm. 
 
 Cynthia started up and shook off his hand as 
 though it had stung her, her face more set and 
 determined ; more pale than his Own, except 
 where the blood, from the blow of the stone, 
 stained her white forehead. 
 
 " Yes !" she said, " yes, I will get up ! I will 
 begone ! but not through fear. Oh, not through 
 fear!" and again the same wild light, he had 
 once seen, when he put the reins into her hands 
 and bade her drive to the devil, played in her 
 eyes, " you have treated me — him harshly, and 
 unjustifiably, and you will live to regret it ! to 
 hate it ! even as you hate me !" So saying, she 
 fled rapidly from the spot, and before Sir Cyrus 
 could reach the boat, she was seated in it and 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 74 SIR CYRUS OF STONrCLEFT. 
 
 away in the middle of the stream, laughing 
 defiantly at him, as he strode after her along the 
 bank. 
 
 " Regret it !" said Frederick Alywin, as some 
 time after he with pain and difficulty arose from 
 the ground; "Regret it!" said he, again^ bitterly. 
 " Aye, and if he lives I'll make him curse the 
 remembrance of it, too."
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 75 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 BEARDING THE LION. 
 
 That evening Sir Cyrus sent for his daughter 
 into his study or smoking room. She was a long 
 time in coming, so long that he began to think 
 she did not intend answering his summons ; but 
 she came at last, looking very different from what 
 he expected. 
 
 He thought to have found her still angry and 
 rebellious; still determined on thwarting his will; 
 but her appearance startled if not shocked him. 
 
 E 2
 
 76 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 Her face was as white as death, save where a 
 bright red spot burnt in either cheek, while her 
 right temple looked swelled and painful from the 
 recent injury it had received. Her eyes had a 
 strange unnatural light, the lids weighed down 
 heavily from recent weeping, the long lashes 
 quite shading her cheek. She might still be 
 angry and rebellious, but there was no outward 
 sign of it ; pain and suffering was all Sir Cyrr. 
 could detect during the stern, searching glance 
 he bent on her as she entered the room. 
 
 ^' Sit down, child. Why did you not come 
 sooner ? . You, have kept me waiting a long time." 
 His words were harsh, but a touch of kindness 
 lurked in the tone of his voice. 
 
 " Nurse was bathing my forehead." 
 
 ** Is it very painful V 
 
 '* Nothing but what I can bear." 
 
 Was this said reproachfully and accusingly, as 
 though she thought him capable of having pur- 
 posely hurt her ? Sir Cyrus thought so. 
 
 ** It was purely accidental. I never intended
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 77 
 
 itj" he put the words almost as a question ; but 
 Cynthia paid no heed to them. 
 
 He waited as though expecting an answer, and 
 then said testily — 
 
 ^*You cannot think I intended the blow, 
 child?" 
 
 She was still silent, and Sir Cyrus grew exas- 
 perated. " What !" exclaimed he, angrily, *' you 
 accuse me of having hurt you intentionally? Me, 
 your father. How dare you !" and he brought 
 his clenched fist down violently on the table. 
 
 " You startle and frighten me," said Cynthia, 
 " I do not know what you want me to say." 
 
 " Nothing/' he replied moodily ; "let the 
 stain rest on me since it so pleases you. I will 
 not urge an answer. But as to that — what I 
 found out this morning. How long has it been 
 going on? How long have you l^own that — 
 fellow ?" asked Sir Cyrus, hesitating, and then 
 substituting the latter word for the much harsher 
 and stronger expression that first rose to his 
 lips.
 
 78 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. * 
 
 " Am I obliged to answer ?" she asked, haugli- 
 tily, although her voice and lips trembled sadly, 
 while the bright spot on either cheek burnt 
 brighter than ever. •• 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 ^^ Three months — perhS^ps more." And she 
 cleared her throat and vainly tried to steady her 
 voice. 
 
 "You never saw— him — before that time?" 
 
 ^* Never.'' 
 
 '' Enough. I now require a promise that you 
 never willingly — mind, I say willingly — never 
 willingly see him again." 
 
 Cynthia seemed striving to collect her thoughts 
 ere she answered, slowly, " You yourself have 
 quite prevented that. There is no need to require 
 a promise from me." 
 
 " I will have no dilly-dallying; no shuffling," 
 replied Sir Cyrus, sharply. 
 
 " I have never been guilty of so mean an 
 action," and this time there was but a slight 
 quavering of the voice.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 79 
 
 " Then promise, child. Promise !" 
 
 " I am no child. I will not have a promise 
 wrenched from me. I will not !" Ko she would 
 not. Sir Cyrus s,aw it, and perplexed ho w to 
 act, or what to say, he got up and walked the 
 room. 
 
 " Cynthia," said he, presently, coming back to 
 where she was, and once more sitting down ; 
 " I will not treat you as a child ; though mind 
 you are but a child in years, and I might as a 
 father exact obedience, but I will not — I do not. 
 I ask you for your good, your future well being 
 in life, your peace of mind, and mine, to give me 
 this promise." 
 
 Yes, her father's peace of mind, her father's 
 pride, but not hers. 
 
 " You have never treated me as a daughter," 
 she answered, " you have been totally forgetful 
 of my existence. Had you been as cold as ice to 
 me, I could have borne it better, because the very 
 fact of your being cold would have shown you 
 took, at least, some notice of me ; but you have
 
 80 SIR CYRUS OF STO^'YCLEFT. 
 
 been careless and totally unconcerned, and heed- 
 less about me, and yet you wonder, that wanting 
 your love, I — I have valued another's." 
 
 Her words struck her father forcibly; like so 
 many deep stabs. He felt the truth of all she said. 
 
 " I forgot the lapse of years," he murmured; 
 ^* forgot all and everything that made life bear- 
 able to me— forgot even you. Aly remorse — my 
 grief at your mother's death — swallowed up all 
 minor things. You do well to remind me of my 
 — not exactly want of love, but want of care of 
 you. I deserve this disobedience on your part ; 
 this presumption of those cursed Alywins." 
 
 His first words smote her heart, but the latter 
 shut it against him. 
 
 " My mother would have loved me had she 
 lived, — cared for me, and never wounded me." 
 
 ^' Your mother, child, never harmed a fly. She 
 loved and cared for all God's creatures. She was 
 gentle and submissive." 
 
 " But not submissive if her love for you had 
 been forbidden," said Cynthia.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 81 
 
 *^ She would not have gainsayed me now. My 
 will was her will. She would not have exacted 
 this promise from you, but she would have per- 
 suaded you, with loving words, such as 1 have 
 not at command. I loved her passionately — 
 love her still;" and Sir Cyrus' voice trembled 
 and his hand shook as he shaded his face from 
 Cynthia's gaze. *^ Give me this promise, child, 
 for your mother's sake, if not for mine." 
 
 ''Ob, papa!" exclaimed she, her softer and 
 better feelings touched by his words, '^ oh, papa ! 
 forgive me if I have said anything to cause you 
 pain !" and tottering forward, she knelt at his 
 feet, and hid her face on his knees; " and forgive 
 me, too, that I cannot cease to love Frederick 
 Alywin. I love him with all my heart. You 
 cannot, you will not be so cruel, so unkind, as to 
 refuse to sanction it. I will wait ; wait any time, 
 so that I may sometimes see him — sometimes 
 hear his voice. I love him, papa ! I shall die if 
 you force this promise from me." 
 
 The time of trial — the time Frederick Alywin 
 
 E 5
 
 82 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 had spoken of had come. She would speak out, 
 and not be ashamed of her love, but implore her 
 father's mercy, or brave his anger. 
 
 "Think of mamma," she went on, "and of 
 how you loved her, and how she might have died 
 had she been denied your love. Oh, papa! if 
 you think of her you must pity me, and not 
 darken my whole life ; and 1 so young— so 
 young," she ended, plaintively. 
 
 But Sir Cyrus steeled his heart. He inwardly 
 hated the Alywins as being the cause of his 
 sister's broken health and wasted life. His 
 daughter's determination of loving one of that 
 family, roused his anger, and not his pity. He 
 lifted her from the ground firmly, but gently. 
 
 " I cannot grant it, Cynthia, — cannot. Nay, 
 more, I swear I will not. I hate the whole brood 
 of Alywins, one and all !" 
 
 She moved away to the door without another 
 word ; but Sir Cyrus stood before it, and pre- 
 vented her opening it. 
 
 " I must have that promise," he said.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 83 
 
 Cynthia's face flu shed, then paled again. 
 
 '^ I will not give it!" she said — "will not!" 
 and her voice faltered strangely. '^ I am ill, and 
 it is cruel of you to urge me now. Let me go ; 
 please let me go." 
 
 But Sir Cyrus caught her arm. 
 
 " Child ! girl !" he cried, exasperated at her 
 refusal ; "I will have that promise. Do you 
 hear ?" 
 
 No, she did not hear. Her light form 
 trembled, and then grew heavy in his grasp — 
 heavier still ; and when he released her, she slid 
 quietly on to the ground. 
 
 Half frightened, Sir Cyrus lifted her in his 
 strong, powerful arms, and carried her away up- 
 stairs. As he passed by the large painted win- 
 dow, the light from a lamp hanging there, shone' 
 full on Cynthia's face, which looked of an 
 almost death-like hue. Sir Cyrus stopped in- 
 voluntarily, and placed his hand on her heart, as 
 though to feel its beating, while his own almost 
 stood still the while ; then satisfied it was not
 
 84 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 death he had to fear, he went on into Cynthia's 
 room. Nurse was standing half abstractedly at 
 a table, dipping, every now and then, a cloth into 
 a basin filled with vinegar and water. She 
 uttered an exclamation of alarm, as Sir Cyrus 
 came in and laid his insensible burden on the 
 bed. 
 
 " Miss Cynthia has fainted," said he, as he 
 went back and closed the door, and then again 
 drew near his daughter's side. 
 
 Kurse hurried over, wringing her hands. 
 
 •^ Oh, my poor lamb !— my sweet, innocent 
 lamb !" she cried. " Who has done this ? — who 
 has been so cruel ? It wasri^t for nothing I saw 
 the winding sheet in my candle last night. I knew 
 it was a sign of ill luck, if of nothing worse ; 
 but I never expected such bad luck as this. Poor 
 darling ! poor pet ! to think, after all my care, it 
 should come to this !' 
 
 ^'Come to what?" asked Sir Cyrus, angrily. 
 
 ^^ To the worst !" said she—*' come to death, 
 maybe. Feel her hands, Sir Cyrus— feel her
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 85 
 
 head, and then tell me if it mayn't be death, 
 when they burn like a flame of fire ?" 
 
 She waited a moment, and then said, " Where 
 did she get that blow on her poor forehead ? — 
 not fairly, I'll swear." 
 
 Nurse was a privileged person— almost sacred 
 in her master's eyes, as having been his wife's 
 only nurse through her sad illness and death. 
 She spoke to him as none other dared do ; she 
 braved his anger, and cared nought for his 
 rage. He heard more truths from her than he 
 cared. He had not courage to meet her eyes, as 
 he replied to her words of, ^^ Where did she get 
 that blow ?" 
 
 " She fell down." 
 
 *' Fell down ! And do you suppose if she had. 
 Sir Cyrus, she wouldn't have come and told me 
 all about it, like she used to when she was a 
 baby, and I kissed the place to make it well. 
 Poor lamb, she never did it by accident. Al- 
 though she wouldn't tell me how it was done, 
 I know 'twasn't fairly, or she wouldn't have kept
 
 86 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 it in her poor little heart till it's burst well nigh ; 
 and I shouldn't wonder if it was to break ; and 
 then — then I pity tho se as done it, for it'll be 
 murder !" and she looked fiercely at Sir Cyrus, 
 as she chafed her young mistress's hands, and 
 bathed her face and forehead. 
 
 " Hold your tongue, woman ! You know 
 nothing at all about it." 
 
 *^ I know a good deal too much," said she to 
 herself, as Sir Cyrus left the room, to give orders 
 that Mr. Gibbs should be sent for as speedily as 
 possible. 
 
 Mr. Gibbs was one of the surgeons at Broad- 
 belt ; for, small as the place was, it boasted of 
 four, all apparently well off; but Mr. Gibbs was 
 the only one who did not visit his patients on foot. 
 Mr. Gibbs had a gig, and an animal scarcely 
 deserving the name of horse, so lean, and bony, 
 and long-eared ; its head carried viciously erect, 
 with a short, stumpy tail — hardly deserving the 
 name of tail, its few hairs hardly to be seen at 
 all, he hugged it so tight ; while, as to legs, he
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 87 
 
 had none. Yet, notwithstanding all these disad- 
 vantages, it was a great day for the Gibbs' when 
 the gig first made its appearance at their door. 
 All day Mrs. Gibbs could settle to nothing; or 
 if she did take her work, it was ojaly to throw it 
 down again, and run to the window, as each 
 'carriage, or even cart, rattled by. The small 
 street boys went so far as to cheer Mr. Gibbs, 
 which incensed the horse to such a degree, he 
 resented the affront by kicking in the splash 
 board ; and I am afraid to say how many times 
 since that same splash board had not been 
 mended, on account of, as Mr. Gibbs expressed 
 it, that same playful trick. " Splash board 
 again. Pa?'' would observe a mischievous young 
 Gibbs, when the gig failed to make its appearance 
 at the usual hour, and its owner had igno- 
 minously to visit his patients on foot. 
 
 To-day, however, the " turn-out " was in first- 
 rate order, and Mr. Gibbs made quite a vic- 
 torious entry into Stonycleft, driving up to the 
 door in dashing style ; his only regret being, that
 
 88 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 the darkness prevented anyone from seeing or 
 admiring it but himself. 
 
 Sir Cyrus sat in his study, in no very enviable 
 frame of mind, considering what he should do 
 under the difficulty that had overtaken him. 
 Yesterday, Cynthia had been but a child, — to- 
 day, he had been startled into the sudden con- 
 viction that she was a woman ; and, moreover^ 
 one with as firm a will and purpose as any i:ed- 
 field ever had. No wonder her governesses found 
 her difiicult to manage. No wonder Miss Castle 
 stooped to play the spy. What a fool he had 
 been to allow his daughter so much latitude ! 
 But how was he to guess such a thing as this 
 would happen? Perhaps he ought to have 
 married again ; but his heart revolted at the idea 
 of replacing his lost wife, by marrying any of 
 the girls or women he had seen ; besides, having 
 never entertained such a thought. So Sir Cyrus 
 sat smoking and thinking first one thing and 
 then another, but never finding himself nearer 
 solving the difficulty. Cynthia would never give
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 89 
 
 him this promise, and he must somehow act 
 without it ; but how to act puzzled him. 
 
 Later on in the evening, Sir Cyrus was told of 
 Mr. Gibbs' arrival, and desired he might be 
 shown into his study. 
 
 Mr. Gibbs was a fat, puggy little man, very 
 learned and pompous with most of his patients ; 
 but all his bombast vanished before the owner of 
 Stonycleft, as he tried not to look what he was, 
 completely awed. Awed at the grandeur of the 
 house ; the footmen with their rich liveries and 
 powdered heads ; and lastly, at Sir Cyrus himself, 
 and the extreme politeness with which he greeted 
 him. 
 
 " Good evening, Mr. Gibbs. I regret the 
 necessity of sending for you so late ; but Miss 
 Bed field's sudden indisposition allowed me no 
 choice. Pray be seated, sir." 
 
 Mr. Gibbs sat down nervously, then feeling it 
 was expected he should say something, cleared 
 his throat, as though to help him to regain the
 
 90 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 confidence he had gradually been losing ever 
 since he entered the house. 
 
 '^ Ahem ! Sir Cyrus, I would observe first, that 
 no one can regret more than myself the young 
 lady's unfortunate and sudden illness; but we 
 must hope, sir — we must hope that with time 
 and care Miss BedfieM may recover her usual 
 health ; we have youth, Sir Cyrus — youth as well 
 as beauty to help us." 
 
 This speech did not give the satisfaction Mr. 
 Gibbs had expected, for, as he drew a long breath 
 of relief and gratification at having spoken so 
 well and to the purpose. Sir Cyrus moved im- 
 patiently in his chair. 
 
 '* You have seen Miss Bedfield, sir ?" 
 
 '' I have. Sir Cyrus — and — " 
 
 " Excuse me, sir, if I ask you to answer me a- 
 few questions. Do you think my daughter's a 
 serious illness ?" 
 
 " Ahem ! I would observe. Sir Cyrus, that Miss 
 Bedfield's illness is as yet in too early a stage for
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 91 
 
 me to give — ahem ! — any positive opinion as to 
 how it may, or may not turn out." 
 
 " Is there any fever ?" 
 
 '^ Yes ; a good deal. I should say her pulse 
 was — " 
 
 "And the head, sir, and temples, are they 
 cool ?" 
 
 " Quite the reverse. Sir Cyrus." 
 
 " She may be delirious." 
 
 " She will." 
 
 f^ And the blow, the — the accidental blow on 
 the forehead, has that anything to do with my 
 daughter's illness ?" 
 
 " The blow, Sir Cyrus, is superficial, and of no 
 consequence. But I should say — excuse me. Sir 
 Cyrus, I must say it," said Mr. Gibbs, seeing his 
 hearer was about to interrupt him again, — " the 
 young lady has had some sudden fright or fall 
 that has greatly shaken the nervous system." 
 
 " When do you repeat your visit?" asked Sir 
 Cyrus, rising.
 
 92 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 /^ To-morrow morning. Will seven o'clock be 
 too early ?" 
 
 " The earlier the better. You have left instruc- 
 tions with the lady up-stairs ?" 
 
 " Lady ! I saw no lady, Sir Cyrus ; only the 
 nurse — and a better you could not have or find 
 anywhere." 
 
 " Can I offer you any refreshment, after your 
 drive ?" 
 
 " Thank you, Sir Cyrus, my supper is waiting 
 me at home. Good evening." 
 
 Away went Mr. Gibbs, chafing at the reception 
 he had met with from Sir Cyrus. I am afraid his 
 hand was not so' gentle with the reins and whip 
 as it ought to have been ; certainly his exit from 
 the park was anything but a triumphant one, and 
 as unlike his successful entry — but a short half 
 hour before — as it well could be ; while the un- 
 lucky splashboard was so damaged, it scarcely 
 afforded a protection to poor little Mr. Gibbs' 
 legs from the succession of playful tricks of the
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 93 
 
 horse. Certainly, " Let Fly," as tlie boys had 
 mischievously nicknamed him, was either in the 
 highest of spirits, or otherwise he felt aggrieved 
 at his master's ill temper, and determined to 
 resent it.
 
 94 SIR CYRUS OF BTONYCLEFT. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 CASTLES IN THE AIR. 
 
 Tsvo or three days after these events, Mrs. Alywin 
 drove over in her small pony-chaise to Friar- 
 marsh, timing her visit so as to arrive about the 
 time she knew her son would be sitting down to 
 dinner. But she waited in the drawing-room 
 some little time, and he did 'not make his ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 How familiar were all the objects to her, and 
 how large the room seemed after her small one at 
 Broadbelt. She looked round rather sorrowfully,
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 95 
 
 remembering how dearly grand slie had thought 
 this same room when her husband first brought 
 her as a bride to his home, and how much she had 
 been struck with wonder and admiration at the 
 size of the large bow window opening on to the 
 smooth, velvet looking lawn ; so different from 
 the small one in the close, hot back parlour of 
 her father's shop. Then, as years rolled on, how 
 gradually she had grown accustomed to its 
 grandeur and dissatisfied with its common place 
 look ; had teased her husband into putting plate 
 glass windows instead of the old-fashioned small 
 squares of glass ; and a handsome marble mantle- 
 piece with large mirror above, and, lastly, the 
 conservatory at the side window, to shut out the 
 sight of the kitchen garden and stables. 
 
 Mrs. Alywin rose and opened the conservatory 
 door, a scent of sweet flowers pervading the room 
 as she did so, appealing strongly to her senses, 
 and recalling old times, scenes, and faces 
 forcibly, that she burst into tears. After a while 
 she got up, settled her cap and bonnet at the glass
 
 96 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 over the chimney-piece, and went out on to the 
 lawn. 
 
 Crossing to where a gardener was busy at 
 work, 
 
 " Good morning, old John" — an appellation 
 bestowed on him when his son, young John, came 
 also to work on the farm. ^^ Where is your 
 master ?" asked she. 
 
 "'Bout the farm with the young un, ma'am," 
 was the reply. 
 
 So Mrs. Alywin strolled away, half-inclined to 
 search for him, but, thinking of her flushed face 
 and recent tears, determined on remaining where 
 she was, and seated herself— prepared to wait 
 patiently— on the garden seat under the ash. 
 
 Mrs. Alywin was ill at ease, and evidently 
 worried about something. Her recent tears were 
 not solely caused by the sad remembrance of by- 
 gone times, but were more the result of long pent 
 up emotions hardly restrained, and requiring but 
 a light touch to call them forth. She turned her 
 face to the wind, so as to allow the light summer
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STOKYCLEFT. 97 
 
 air to blow on lier face, and remove, if possible, 
 the traces of the emotion she had given way to ; 
 but there was little time allowed her for recovery, 
 as almost immediately her son came whistling np 
 the garden walk. He was a fine, well-grown 
 young man, taller than the average height of 
 men, and, although a farmer at heart and soul, 
 had a certain aristocratic— if I may so express 
 it — bearing about him. He was much liked and 
 respected by all those with w^hom he came in 
 contact or claimed friendship with ; and almost 
 worshipped on the farm as being, though strict, 
 yet a kind and generous master. Mrs. Aly win 
 had reason to be proud of him, but that we know 
 she was not ; her thoughts, feelings, her whole 
 being infact, entirely taken up with her gentle- 
 manly son Fred. 
 
 " I heard you were here, mother, '^ said Mr. 
 Alywin, as he welcomed her. 
 
 **I have been waiting some time," she 
 answered; *^I came expecting to find you at 
 dinner." 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 98 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT, 
 
 '^ I have dined," he replied. ^^ Having an en- 
 gagement at three requiring all my wits, I dined 
 early, so as to go to it with a clear head, and 
 wide-awake brain." 
 
 ^^ I hope it's nothing vexatious. You don't 
 look well ; you seem bothered." 
 • '^ That is just it, mother; I am bothered. To 
 tell you the truth — and it's a very mortifying 
 one — I was induced to take shares in a concern 
 tl?at was to double my venture, and, as far as I 
 could see, no risk. But to make the long story 
 short, the thing is a smash, and not only do I 
 lose the shares, but have to pay up besides, and I 
 do not see where the folly will end." 
 
 '^ Well, it will teach you wisdom another time, 
 Percy." 
 
 '^ Yes ; but it is a serious loss, mother. I shall 
 have to economise sharp." 
 
 Mrs. Aly win winced ; she felt she could not 
 have come at a more inopportune moment for the 
 request or favour she had to beg. 
 
 " Your father left you well off, Percy. The 
 loss can only inconvenience you a little."
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. * VV 
 
 " A little !" he echoed, as he thought of the 
 hundreds of pounds swallowed up. " A little ! 
 Well, the best 1 can say is that it will not affect 
 either you or Fred. His money is safely invested 
 in land, which land is improving every year. No, 
 it will not affect Fred." 
 
 *' Ah ! poor Fred," said Mrs. Alywin, in a tone 
 of commiseration. 
 
 " Why that sorrowful tone, mother? Is there 
 anything the matter with him ?" 
 
 *^ Why, don't you know?" began his mother; 
 ^* I thought, of course, you knew of his sad 
 accident." 
 
 '' Accident ! What accident ? I am quite in the 
 dark." 
 
 *' Well, I did wonder why you hadn't been to 
 see him. But a few days ago he started for a 
 walk with Charlotte, and it seems they had a 
 quarrel and went off different ways after a bit. 
 Sadly put out he wandered a good long way till 
 he came to the Quarry pits, and there he tried to 
 get some birds' eggs for Charlotte, which, you 
 
 F 2
 
 100 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 know, she is collecting ; but somehow, in climb- 
 a tree, he lost his balance, and fell down one of 
 the pits, bruising himself dreadfully ; his face is 
 quite altered, you'd hardly know him ; so swollen 
 and such a deep cut across it. He's terribly 
 shaken, poor fellow, and has been in bed ever 
 since." 
 
 " I never heard a word about it. I'll look in 
 this evening on my way home." 
 
 " But — but I hav'nt told you the worst," con- 
 tinued Mrs. Alywin, trying to stifle her rising 
 emotion, and quiet her fears as to how he would 
 take the next piece of information she had to 
 give; "he — he — well he refuses to become a 
 clergyman ; he says he isn't fit for it ; and this, 
 too, when he was getting on so well, and after 
 t'le sight of money it's cost." 
 
 ^'You are right mother, it has cost a good 
 deal. But, perhaps, Fred may be right. I 
 thought it a foolish plan from the first. But it 
 strikes me he has changed his views very sud- 
 denly; why I only met him — let me see — last
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 101 
 
 Wednesday, I think, and then he was looking 
 forward to f going np for his ^ little go," and 
 certainly told me he was devoted to his books." 
 
 *' And so he has been until now." 
 
 " Well, mother, you do astonish me !" 
 
 ^' I thought I should," said she, quietly. 
 
 *^ And what does he intend doing ?" asked Mr. 
 Alywin, after a pause. 
 
 *^ I'm half afraid to tell you," replied she. 
 
 *' Nonsense, mother ! I've no jealousy what- 
 ever, and if it's to come back here and turn 
 farmer, why I say Amen with all my heart. It's 
 what he ought to have done from the very first — 
 my father wished it." 
 
 '*Fred doesn't wish it. You know well enough 
 he never liked a farmer's life." 
 
 " Then what, in God's name, mother, does he 
 want now ?" 
 
 '' He — he — " replied Mrs. Alj win, grandly, but 
 falteringly, " he wants to be an officer." 
 
 Mr. Alywin laughed outright ; as much as at 
 the — to him— absurd proposal as at his mother's
 
 102 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 ludicrous way of putting it. Then, half angry 
 with himself, he hastened to tender some kind of 
 apology, by saying, 
 
 *^ Excuse me mother, but surely Fred's head 
 must be a little muddled from the effects of his 
 fall What does Mr. Parker say about it?" 
 
 " He hasn't seen him," answered she, crossly ; 
 '^ he won't see a doctor ; and Fred's as right in 
 the head as either you or I; and," continued Mrs. 
 Alywin, rather proudly, " I don't see myself that 
 his wanting to be an officer is anything so very 
 preposterous. My brother is one of the Volun- 
 teers, and that's next door to it." 
 
 '' That's a very different thing," replied Mr. 
 Alywin, " I am thinking of becoming a Volunteer 
 myself; but to enter the army! Why, mother, 
 it is preposterous, say what you will." 
 
 ^^ And I don't see it. Why, only look at those 
 Turners at Cumber; they're nothing but linen- 
 drapers, yet the son is in the dragoons. I am 
 sure we are fifty times better up in the world than 
 they are."
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 103 
 
 • 
 
 " Yes, mother ! but it is not electioneering 
 time. No one is ready to give a bribe for a vote. 
 The idea of a man entering the army under such 
 circumstances is a dishonour, and one that I 
 should blush to be guilty of. Fred has had his 
 start in life, and I should be acting wrongly, now 
 he has begun to put his hand to the plough, to 
 encourage his versatile disposition, or help him in . 
 turning back. Depend apon it, he will forget all 
 about this absurd idea in a few days." 
 
 '' I am sure he won't," replied Mrs. Alywin ; '^ it 
 has been in his head for a long time. He does 
 not think himself good enough, nor wise enough ; 
 and although he has got such a lot of pleasant 
 talk, and can write such beautiful letters, he 
 says he is sure he never could write a sermon, or 
 preach it either ; and I am sure I should be on 
 pins and needles if he were to break down ; and 
 Mrs. Knollys such a constant attendant at church, 
 too ; she would be sure to hear him, and ' twit* 
 me about it afterwards; for although she does
 
 104 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 not think me good enougli to visit, she never fails 
 to stop and tell me disagreeables in the street." 
 
 ^^ Well, mother, I am sorry for you ; but I 
 have very little patience with Fred. I conceive 
 him to be acting badly. Let him give up the 
 church, by all means, if — if distasteful to him ; 
 but this idea of soldiering is little short of mad- 
 ness." 
 
 " For my part, I don't see it at all. I only 
 wonder we did not think of his soldiering pro- 
 pensities before. He always has had a hanker- 
 ing that way. Don't you remember how fond he 
 was as a child of his tin soldiers ?" 
 
 " I cannot say I do," said Mr. Alywin, smiling 
 in spite of himself; and then added, after a 
 moment's thought, ^'what do you propose doing 
 about Fred ?" 
 
 *' G-etting him a commission, of course; and I 
 think^ Percival^ you might do that for me," said 
 Mrs. Alywin, in an injured tone. 
 
 '' I, mother ! why I have not a particle of in-
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 105 
 
 terest. I don't know a single army man. The 
 idea is folly!" 
 
 '' iS"ot so foolish as you think. How about, — 
 or how would it do to ask Sir Cyrus ?" 
 
 " Are you mad, mother ?"said Mr. Alywin,while 
 an angry flush spread over his face ; ''or have you 
 forgotten his father's insult to my father — your 
 husband ?" 
 
 ''1^0,^' said Mrs. Alywin, doggedly ; "I have 
 not forgotten anything of the kind.^' 
 
 ^' And yet, in the face of it, you wish me to 
 stoop to ask a favour," said Mr. Alywin, bitterly ; 
 *' and get kicked out for my pains as — as — others 
 have been. Are you in your sane senses, 
 mother?" 
 
 ^' Yes ; I was never more so ; but you make 
 such a rumpus about a trifle, I hardly know what 
 I am doing, or what I want to say. I know Sir 
 Cyrus insulted your father, and that is the very 
 reason why you ask a right, not a favour of him, 
 for I am sure he owes us some reparation. Be- 
 sides, you need not ask it at all, you can write to 
 
 r 5
 
 1C6 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 liim, and I won't mind betting ten chances to 
 one but wbat he will be ashamed to say no." 
 
 ^^Did Fred advise you to this?" asked Mr. 
 Alywin. 
 "No." 
 
 ^' Then I am sorry that in thought I half sus- < 
 pected him of being the instigator. And now, 
 mother," said Mr. Alywin, rising, ^^ let us dis- 
 miss this subject for ever ! The Bedfields may 
 be proud, but by heaven ! they shall never find 
 an Alywin base enough to ask a favour of them." 
 Disheartened, but in no wise discouraged, 
 although perhaps a little ashamed of herself, 
 Mrs. Alywin returned home, plotting as she 
 went how she could manage to get her son's com- 
 mission, and was obliged at last to confess un- 
 willingly, as she alighted at her own door, that 
 the task she had set herself to accomplish was at 
 the best almost hopeless. 
 
 ^^ There's a note come for you, ma'am," said the 
 servant girl. 
 
 *«Anote! Where from?"
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 107 
 
 "The young man wonldn't say, ma'am; but I 
 think 'twas one of the stable boys up to 
 Stony cleft brought it." 
 
 Mrs. Aly win stared at the servant girl as though 
 she were demented ; and went into the little par- 
 lour, scarcely knowing whether she walked on her 
 bead or her heels. 
 
 There lay the note on the table close by her 
 work ; a small common-place note it looked, the 
 address written in anything but an aristocratic 
 style, the letters so clumsily formed and the 
 strokes so thick. Mrs. Aly win was disappointed; 
 and still more so, when she saw a small bunch of 
 flowers, neatly gummed down,' stood in the place 
 of the Bfcdfield crest on the back of the 
 envelope. 
 
 " From Stonycleft," said she, as she broke the 
 seal ; '^ absurd !" and crestfallen and disappointed 
 she proceeded to read it. 
 
 It was short and its contents mystify-
 
 108 SIR CYIvUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 '' Stonycleft, 
 
 "July 10th. 
 
 " Madam, 
 
 " I have something of the greatest 
 importance to propose to you. It is also essen- 
 tial that I should not be seen at your house. 
 If not asking too much would you oblige me with 
 a private interview here some day this week, at 
 your earliest convenience? Might I also beg the 
 favour of a reply by post. Trusting you will 
 pardon my addressing you, on account of the 
 urgency of the case, 
 
 '' I am, 
 
 " Madam, 
 
 '^ Yours faithfully, 
 "Cyrus Bedfield.'' 
 
 A mist swam before Mrs. Aly win's eyes. She 
 felt as if she were going to faint. 
 
 "Good gracious," she said; "what can the
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 109 
 
 man want? I hope it's nothing improper, so 
 secret and tight as lie wants to keep things ; 
 really it makes me feel quite qneerish. Perhaps 
 he's taken a fancy to me. Poor Mr. Alywin 
 used to say I was a very good-looking woman for 
 my age,aiTd then how Sir Cyrus stared last Sunday 
 in church ; I said it was at me, although Charlotte 
 declared it was at the new painted window behind 
 us. I wonder what she'll say when I tell her ? 
 But there that's the worst of it, I must not tell her, 
 but keep it all to myself." 
 
 She took up pen and ink and prepared to write 
 an answer, a work of some time and no little 
 trouble to her, but it was — after a good many 
 corrections and wasted sheets of paper — writteUj 
 and ran thus — 
 
 '' Broadbelt, 
 
 "July 1 0th. 
 
 " Sir Cyrus Bedfield, 
 
 "I shall be happy to call on you to- 
 morrow at three o'clock, and have no doubt we
 
 110 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 shall be able to arrange matters satisfactorily, 
 although in my lonely position as a widow, I 
 feel rather nervous at coming to your house 
 alone. 
 
 '' I am, 
 '' Sir Cyrus, 
 '^ Yours truly, 
 
 ^^ Sarah Alywin." 
 
 ^^ There,' ^ said she, as she folded it up, ^' I 
 think that will do nicely. There's nothing to 
 take offence at, and lots of encouragement if — if 
 he really intends to offer," and putting it into her 
 pocket she walked to the post office at the other 
 end of the town as though she were treading on 
 air, settling much to her own satisfaction that, a 
 Lady Bedfield was decidedly above and superior 
 to a general's wife, a plain Mrs. Knollys, and 
 building castles in the air at every step she 
 took.
 
 SIB CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. Ill 
 
 CHAPTER VJII. 
 
 FACE TO FACE. 
 
 For three days Cynthia lay in a kind of stupor, 
 taking no notice of external objects, but on the 
 fourth, when Sir Cyrus returned from church, she 
 was — as little Mr. Gibbs prognosticated she 
 would be — delirious. E'o need then to tell nurse 
 what had caused such illness when she heard from 
 her young mistress's lips, over and over again, 
 the terrible scene down by the river. Nurse not 
 only looked daggers at her master when he came
 
 112 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 into the room, but her tongue every now and 
 then spoke volumes, although but in short, con- 
 cise words ; yet they were turned towards him, or 
 had a point in them, hitting like so many sharp 
 arrows. 
 
 Sir Cyrus' heart smote him as he listened to 
 his daughter's ravings. Not for the passion he 
 had given way to before her — that he did not re- 
 gret ; but for the careless, negligent way in which 
 he had looked after her. Had he but been more 
 mindful, more strict, all this anxiety would have 
 been spared both him and her ; and again how 
 bitterly he cursed the Alywins for having a 
 second time brought shame on his house. 
 
 Sir Cyrus did not believe his daughter to be 
 deeply attached to Frederick Aly win ; he argued 
 that she was but sixteen, and at that age the heart 
 was like wax ; she would forget him as easily as 
 she had taken a fancy to him, for in so short a 
 time her feelings for him could be neither very 
 strong, deep, nor lasting : still he was uneasy, and
 
 SIR CYBUS OF STONYCLEFT. 113 
 
 more than ever determined that some decisive 
 steps should be taken towards putting an end to 
 the dangerous intimacy. 
 
 "Has Miss Castle seen Miss Cynthia to-day?" 
 asked Sir Cyrus, of nurse. 
 
 " No, Sir Cyrus ; nor yet for many days. Mr, 
 Gibbs' orders were, the fewer the better ; but I 
 expect she'll be coming here now before long, 
 when she finds out it isn't the measles." 
 
 " Measles ! " echoed Sir Cyrus, in astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 " Yes, I took it upon myself to tell her 'twas 
 the measles, so as to keep the room free of her. 
 In such a case as this, I thought it best to be rid 
 of her and her prying eyes. No one knows of the 
 blow but the doctor and us three." 
 
 Sir Cyrus winced as he looked at the dark blue 
 mark standing out so prominently on the clear, 
 white forehead ; and, almost with a woman's 
 tenderness, he raised his daughter's head, as nurse 
 gathered up the soft fair hair and smoothed it 
 over the pillow out of the way, but only to be
 
 114 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 again in the same entangled state shortly after, 
 as Cynthia tossed about so restlessly to and fro. 
 
 '^ You will take Miss Castle in hand, sir, and 
 prevent her coming here," said nurse, as Fred's 
 name fell in endearing terms from the sick girl's 
 lips. 
 
 " She must be prevented," replied her master. 
 
 ^^ So I'm thinking. Sir Cyrus. Best not let 
 every body in the house know the outs and ins 
 of the case." 
 
 '' Has she mentioned any name ? Miss Cynthia, 
 I mean." 
 
 '^ Only the one you have just heard, sir; and 
 I'm sure it makes my poor heart bleed to hear 
 her call on the gentleman to save her. She's 
 been in sore trouble and fright. Sir Cyrus, and 
 shudders all over when she calls your name. If 
 — if she dies what'll her poor nurse do ?" and the 
 tears started in her eyes, and fell one by one on 
 the bed. 
 
 Sir Cyrus breathed more freely. As yet all was 
 safe. Nurse had no clue to anything ; besides,
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 115 
 
 if she did hit upon one, she was too attached 
 to his house to make a talk of it. But Miss 
 Castle was different. She was a shrewd woman, 
 and were she to hear the wild talk nurse did, 
 would be sure to ferret out to whom the name 
 belonged, and the bare idea of that^ filled Sir 
 Cyrus' heart with rage. A Bedfield at death's 
 door for the sake of a low bred farmer's son, and 
 an Alywin into the bargain ! It was not to be 
 borne or tolerated, and should be prevented, and 
 put a stop to. 
 
 Shortly afterwards Miss Castle was summoned 
 to Sir Cyrus' study. 
 
 She came in looking her best. Her rich dark 
 hair drawn ofi her face, to give that height to her 
 forehead which it had not. Her large grey eyes 
 bent downwards, so as to show off the dark, some- 
 what short lashes. A light coloured muslin, very 
 full and long, floating about her tall figure. She 
 looked two -and- thirty, but might have been 
 more, though if she was, her age was well con- 
 cealed.
 
 116 Slii CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 She carried her small head proudly, although 
 she stood meekly before Sir Cyrus, until he rose 
 and offered her a chair. 
 
 '^ I have thought it right to return you this, 
 book by my own hand, in case of accidents ;" 
 said Sir Cyrus, taking a book from off" the 
 table beside him, and handing it Miss Castle. 
 
 " Thank you, Sir Cyrus." 
 
 ^^ At the same time," he continued, ^' I beg ta 
 suggest that I think it would be better and 
 more correct did I return it to the librarian." 
 
 " I am sure you are right. Sir Cyrus, and I 
 know I am very wrong in wishing it ; but I 
 would rather give it back myself;" not for the 
 world would Miss Castle let Sir Cyrus and the 
 librarian come in contact. 
 
 ^^As you please, madam," he replied; *'I 
 merely suggested what I thought the correct 
 thing." 
 
 " It is a French book, and French books are 
 so difficult to choose ; one never exactly can tell 
 their tone until one reads them. You saw it
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. ' 117 
 
 "Was French, Sir Cyrus ? " said she, trying to 
 find out whether he understood the language, 
 or had been able to master any of its contents. * 
 
 He set her mind at rest at once. 
 
 ^' Certainly, and I can only trust from the cha- 
 racter of the story that my daughter has not read 
 any part of it. Its tendency is bad, and the 
 whole tenor of the book immoral." Sir Cyrus 
 spoke angrily, and without consideration. ^' Any 
 future books, madam, must be selected by my- 
 self, or at least pass through my hands. I am 
 surprised Mr. Fanshaw should have dared send 
 such a book. I see he has not had the face to 
 paste a printed form on the back." 
 
 Miss Castle trembled. Would or did Sir 
 Cyrus question her veracity ? He left her in 
 doubt ; almost immediately changing the subject 
 to his daughter. 
 
 '* Have you seen Miss Bedfield to-day ?" 
 
 " Oh ! Sir Cyrus," replied she, clasping her 
 hands, ^' I am so sorry, so very sorry. I would 
 have nursed her willingly, only too willingly ; but
 
 118 * SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 I have never had the measles. Had it been any- 
 other disorder, I would have been at her bedside 
 day and night." 
 
 '^ Miss Bedfield is not suffering from measles. 
 The symptons are more those of typhus," said 
 Sir Cyrus, drily ; while he raised his eyes to hers 
 to judge how she would receive the startling an- 
 nouncement. 
 
 Startling it was to her— most startling. So 
 much so, that for once she forgot to act a part, 
 and spoke naturally. 
 
 '' Good gracious ! sir. How very dreadful !" 
 
 She was afraid of it, then ! So much the 
 better. 
 
 '^ You will see that there is now a reason — a 
 inore weighty reason — why you should absent 
 yourself from the sick room ; indeed, it would be 
 advisable you should not approach that wing at 
 all ; or perhaps, you would prefer leaving Stony- 
 cleft for a time ?" 
 
 Leave Stony cleft ? Leave her hopes, her 
 wishes ? Allow another to supplant her there,
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 119 
 
 and perhaps cany off the prize? No. Better 
 brave death than that. She at once put on her 
 most beseeching look. 
 
 " Oh ! don't send me away; please do not send 
 me away, Sir Cyrus !" pleaded she, earnestly. 
 " I will take every precaution. I will run no 
 risk. But indeed, I have no home to go to now 
 —or at least just yet, so suddenly." 
 
 ''No home? You have the one from which 
 you came, surely?" 
 
 '^ The lady with whom I lived is dead," and 
 Miss Castle looked touchingly mournful ; " and 
 I am as you know, Sir Cjtus, an orphan. I 
 am now a lone woman, with not a soul to care 
 for or take care of me.'' • 
 
 " Very sad," replied Sir Cyrus ; ^^ and my dear 
 madam, in that case, I think you had better risk 
 infection and remain at Stonycleft." 
 
 '' Oh ! thank you ! You are so very good — so 
 kind ! " said Miss Castle, in an impassioned 
 tone. 
 
 "But recollect, on the one condition, that you
 
 ]20 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 do not go near my daughter's room, It will not 
 do to have two invalids to nurse." 
 
 ^^ I promise — promise faithfully," and, indeed, 
 at that moment, with the fear of typhus, there 
 Was little danger of her breaking her promise. 
 
 " Then it is settled you remain," said Sir 
 Cyrus, '' on the one condition that you keep away 
 from my daughter's room ; any infringement of 
 this promise, and I am to conclude that you wish 
 to give up your engagement here ?" 
 
 '^ Yes, Sir Cyrus. But I shall be very dull. 
 Oh ! so dull. How I shall miss my pupil, and 
 especially of an evening ; then, indeed, I shall 
 be quite alone, but the summer evenings are 
 'short;" and Miss Castle sighed, and looked 
 handsomer than ever. 
 
 Sir Cyrus could not resist that pleading look. 
 
 " Perhaps, Miss Castle, you would prefer com- 
 ing down to the drawing-room of an evening. 
 Pray do so if you feel inclined, and you think it 
 would be less dull. I shall be glad of some one to 
 make tea for me now Cynthia is ill."
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 121 
 
 Miss Castle could not prevent a slight flushing 
 of the face, although she pressed her finger nails 
 almost into the flesh, as her hands clasped each 
 other in her lap. The joyous light that danced 
 for a second in her eyes she hid by looking 
 fixedly on the ground. When she raised them 
 again there was a sorrowful look on her face. 
 
 '' How very, very kind you are. So isolated, 
 so wretchedly lonely as I sometimes feel, and so 
 unused in my life to a pitjdng word, your — your 
 words quite overpower me," and Miss Castle 
 pressed her handkerchief to her eyes as though to 
 hide her grief. 
 
 " There, there, my dear lady," said Sir Cyrus, 
 disarmed 'at the sight of her tears, " pray do 
 not. I am sure I had no idea you were unhappy. 
 It grieves me much." 
 
 "Thank you — thank you for so many kind 
 words. But — but you will excuse me, I am 
 sure ;" and with a half-smothered sob Miss 
 Castle rose and went away swiftly, but grace- 
 fully. 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 122 SIR CYRUS OF BTONYCLEFT. 
 
 '^A fine woman/' said Cyrus, as the door 
 closed, " a monstrous fine woman. A woman 
 that could act ihe part of Norma to perfection. 
 A first-rate woman for the stage. She would not 
 stoop to the subterfuge of spraining her ancle ; 
 she's above such petty meanness. She would 
 lay her plans deeper and surer. I must be 
 watchful and on my guard, and see as little of 
 her as I can or she might catch me in her net be- 
 fore I knew where I was. Hang the woman's 
 tears ! but for those I should have been as cold 
 as stone, notwithstanding her pleading looks. 
 She will not go into the sick room ; I effectually 
 prevented that ; or if she does, and hears any- 
 thing, I have always the book to hold over her. 
 What a fool I was to let her have it again ! 
 That was a wrong move ; but any trespassing or 
 peaching on her part, and she goes without a 
 character ; tears or no tears, I swear it." 
 
 And then Sir Cyrus' thoughts wandered to- 
 wards the Alywins ; all of whom save Frederick 
 Alywin he had seen that day in church.
 
 iSIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 123 
 
 ^* The mother's a fool," said he, aloud, '^ and 
 the only one I can venture to tackle, if she can 
 only keep a quiet tongue in her head." And 
 after a little more consideration he took pen and 
 paper, and wrote the note which we have already 
 read, and which caused poor Mrs. Alywin so 
 many heart flatterings and agitation. 
 
 G 2
 
 124 SIR CYRUS OF STONrCLEFT. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A LADY TO SEE YOU, SIR CYRUS, 
 
 Although the Alywins' seat in churcli was ia 
 view of the Bedfield pew, Sir C^-rus had never 
 taken the trouble to notice anyone of the party ; 
 for what had he, with his aristocratic notions and 
 high blood, to do with a set of parvenues, who had 
 once boldly dared the thought of allying them- 
 selves to his house ? But now he had a motive 
 in marking them with his searching glance, and 
 Mrs. Alywin was right in her supposition that 
 Sir Cyrus had stared at her and not at the
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 125 
 
 painted window during the last Sunday's service. 
 Sir Cyrus had looked at lier — looked at all and 
 each in turn, striving to find the one likely to 
 prove the most amenable to his wishes, or be 
 used as a tool. 
 
 Mr. Alywin, with his fearless, truthful bearing. 
 Was out of the question. Charlotte would do 
 better, but something in her soft, clear eye, as it 
 once, during the service, met his, deterred him, 
 and he decided on Mrs. Alywin. She looked 
 vulgar and commonplace, and, if properly 
 managed, inoffensive, and with a little tact and 
 well-timed flattery — than which none knew 
 better than Sir Cyrus how to offer —it might be 
 done. Hence the note to Mrs. Alywin — for he 
 felt sure Fred would not mention his thrashing — 
 which had brought a reply favourable to his 
 wishes, and he now awaited her visit some- 
 what impatiently. Impatiently because she 
 was behind time, and Sir Cyrus hated unpunctu- 
 ality, besides, having laid his plans he was 
 anxious to commence the siege, and lay the mine
 
 126 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 which, when lighted — if it did light— should ex- 
 plode in his favour ; so he restlessly walked the 
 room, or stood at the window and gazed down 
 the drive more irritahly still, or pulled out his 
 watch, which was even some few minutes faster 
 than the great clock of Stony cleft, and eased his 
 mind a little by allowing his ill temper to ex- 
 pend itself in heaping abuse on her. "Why 
 could not a woman be punctual ? The failing 
 must be born in her ; for, as far as his experience 
 went, no woman ever was punctual." Then he 
 modified this latter assertion by suddenly re- 
 membering that Miss Castle always came to time, 
 and was about the only woman he knew who did, 
 a trait in his governess's character which raised 
 her somewhat suddenly in his estimation, and 
 set his thoughts wandering towards her rather 
 favourably, in the midst of which the door 
 opened, and with the words " A lady to see you, 
 Sir Cyrus," Mrs. Alywin rustled in. 
 
 She was dressed in her black moire, and large 
 gold chain, which latter glistened in the light
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 127 
 
 from the opposite window, and trembled — almost 
 shook— above the wearer's heavy respiration, for 
 what with her early dinner and warm walk Mrs. 
 Alywin was very much out of breath, while her 
 rosy, good-tempered face looked rosier than ever. 
 She did not appear in the least awed, as poor 
 little Mr. Gibbs had done, neither did she seem 
 nervous. She had made up her mind as she came 
 along to get her son's commission by hook or by 
 crook, whether Sir Cyrus ^^ popped" or no, and 
 ask it— if needs be— in right of the injury and 
 insult her husband had once received, so that 
 both Sir Cvrus and herself, without the other 
 being aware of it, were aiming at the same point, 
 namely, Frederick Alywin's removal from Broad- 
 belt. 
 
 '^ I am expecting the honour of a visit from 
 Mrs. Alywin," began Sir Cyrus. 
 
 ^' Yes, Sir Cyrus, that's me. I hope I have 
 not kept you waiting ; but I could not get away 
 Booner on account of dinner being late ; servants 
 are so unpunctual, and then it's such a tremen-
 
 128 SIR CYKUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 dous long journey from the town for those who 
 are not accustomed to it. I might have come in 
 Percival's chaise, but as you said the visit was 
 to be private I walked it, and very hot I found 
 it, Sir Cyrus, as I dare say you see ?" 
 
 ^' Not so, my dear madam," replied Sir Cyrus, 
 feeling a compliment was expected. " Indeed, if 
 I might be permitted, I should say that the walk, 
 tiring as you may have found it, has decidedly 
 not proved unbecoming ; I never saw you looking 
 better." 
 
 '^ Oh ! Sir Cyrus, how can you ! Why you 
 have never seen me until now. This is our first 
 introduction." 
 
 '' Pardon me, madam, I have seen you often. 
 You are one not easily overlooked, or when once 
 seen forgotten. Allow me," and he attempted to 
 take her hand and lead her to a chair. 
 
 '' Fie ! Sir Cyrus ; you are too bold ;" and she 
 playfully slapped his hand. 
 
 "Nay, madam, I would be bolder if I dared. 
 Will you not be seated ?"
 
 SIR CYKUS OF STONYCLEFT. 129 
 
 " I don't know whether I ought to sit down. 
 •1 made up my mind as I came along that I would 
 only stay five minutes, but you are so pressing, m^ 
 Sir Cyrus — so very pressing— that I don't see 
 Low I can well refuse," and Mrs. Alywin seated 
 herself rather close to Sir Cyrus, and spread out 
 her black moire ostentatiously. " A widow's is 
 such a delicate position — one everybody's mouth 
 wags at. So exposed to insult and suspicion," 
 said she, hesitatingly. 
 
 " Such a lonely position commands my highest 
 respect, especially when it has been, as in your 
 case, it must have been one of choice." 
 
 *^ Quite right. Sir Cyrus. I might have mar- 
 ried again before my poor husband was well cold 
 in his grave ;" and a vision of the fat butcher^ 
 her early love, who lived next door to her father' s- 
 shop, crossed her mind. Well for her she had 
 not listened to his tempting offer ; and oh ! how 
 jealous would he be, could he but see her 
 closeted, and on such intimate terms, with tha 
 proud Sir Cyrus Bedfiold. 
 
 G 5
 
 130 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 " I can easil}^ believe it, madam," returned Sir 
 Cyrus, in reply, ^^ and I have no doubt many 
 times since then. You deserve the highest 
 praise for such exemplary conduct, such devotion 
 to the one loved memory is rarely met with/* 
 and he stroked his long moustaches, perhaps to 
 hide a smile. 
 
 '' Not but what I might be tempted. We are 
 all of us, at the best, but frail creatures. I 
 might love another just as well as I did poor Mr. 
 Alywin," and she gave Sir Cyrus a sly glance, 
 meant to be encouraging. 
 
 Sir Cyrus was getting a little perplexed, for 
 although Mrs. Alywin tried to appear shy and 
 nervous, she fixed her small black eyes on him in 
 a most unpleasant way, and he began to wish 
 himself well out of the business, which, to saj 
 the least was growing uncomfortable. What 
 if she were a designing woman after all his 
 caution, and he have to defend himself as best 
 he could against her attacks ! 
 
 '' Suppose we commence the little business you
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 131 
 
 want to talk to me about at once. Sir Cyrus ; it 
 is awkward being closeted up here so long." 
 
 " No possible scandal, madam, can arise from 
 your visiting me at my house. I regret having 
 put you to the trouble and inconvenience of 
 coming; but as to character you are as safe 
 as — as — " 
 
 " A nun," suggested Mrs. Alywin, 
 
 ** My daughter, I would have said. She would 
 1 am sure, have welcomed you here with pleasure ; 
 but I regret to say she is ill — very ill." 
 
 This was said in Sir Cyrus' stifFest manner, 
 while a shade crossed his face as he mentioned 
 Cynthia. 
 
 " Dear me ! I am sorrj^ But she always struck 
 me as looking delicate. I dare say we can 
 manage very well without her ; children are so 
 apt to be in the way. Is Miss Bedfield very ill ?" 
 
 " I am very anxious about her." 
 
 '* Boys as well as girls are a sore trouble at 
 times, as well as a great blessing. I am in a sea 
 of trouble about my son Fred."
 
 132 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 '' Indeed !" said Sir Cyrus, with a slight start. 
 '' If I can help you in any way pray command 
 my services.'* 
 
 '' You can help me a good deal if you like. 
 But suppose you commence business first. I mean 
 your reason for sending for me, to-day, Sir 
 Cyrus." 
 
 '' It concerns the son you mention. I am 
 anxious, through him, to heal up old wounds." 
 
 '^ Poor fellow, he is wounded enough, I am 
 sure ; all covered as he is with scratches and 
 bruises, through falling down a quarry pit out 
 bird's egg hunting, for a girl he is very fond 
 of." 
 
 '• What girl, madam ?" and Sir Cyrus' face 
 flushed angrily. 
 
 " My niece, Charlotte. I call her my niece, 
 but she isn't. She is on'y a connection, and a 
 distant one, too. She will have money by-and- 
 bye, and I hope Fred will marry her. But he 
 says he has other views, more's the pity !" 
 
 *'More's the pity, indeed, madam!" and Sir
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STOisYCLEFT. 133 
 
 Cyrus compressed his lips and walked the room 
 angrily, as was his wont when excited. 
 
 Why the man was a scoundrel as well as am- 
 bitious. Was it possible he had been trifling 
 with his daughter's feelings ? To have loved her- 
 was bad enough, but to have dared deceive 
 her ! The thought galled his pride to its core, 
 while a feeling of contempt filled his heart for 
 his daughter, who was even now it might be, 
 dying for the sake of a worthless, low bred, 
 beardless boy. But was it possible this Alywin 
 had deceived her ? Was not the idea preposter- 
 ous and unlikely? Sir Cyrus calmed himself 
 and sat down again. 
 
 '' Is your son very fond of this girl you men- 
 tion r" 
 
 '^ISTo, Sir Cyrus; between you and I, 1 don't 
 think he cares a brass — " she would have said 
 button, but recollecting her son's reproof, cor^ 
 rected herself, " a brass farthing for her." 
 
 Sir Cyrus' brow cleared. 
 
 *'I would provide for that son, madam."
 
 134 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 *' Provide for him, Sir Cyrus !" and Mrs. 
 Alywin's astonishment was visibly expressed on 
 his face ; " you do surprise me !" and she drew a 
 deep breath of gratification at the apparently easy 
 accomplishment of her wishes. 
 
 *^ I did not think it would have been deemed a 
 matter of surprise. I, madam, whatever your 
 family may have done, have felt the animosity, 
 the bitter feeling existing between us with — with 
 ■ — regret. The mistake, the wrong may have 
 proceeded from us, but the provocation was great. 
 1 will not enter into particulars, or rake up 
 old feelings ; but simply state that my daughter's 
 serious illness has led me to think more deeply 
 still on these matters, and always with sorrow 
 and — and — " 
 
 " Remorse ?" suggested Mrs. Alywin. 
 
 ** I would make atonement, madam," said Sir 
 Cyrus, haughtily. " Heal old feuds if possible, 
 by providing for your son, the young man you 
 mention. He is, I believe, anxious to enter the 
 church. I will get him a chaplaincy abroad.'*
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 135 
 
 '^ I would not part with him for the world !'* 
 said Mrs. Alywin, vehemently. ^' Why I might 
 have him torn in pieces by wild beasts, or scalped 
 by savages !" 
 
 " Pshaw !" said Sir Cyrus, impatiently. 
 
 '' You may * pshaw !' where you will. Sir Cyrus, 
 but I have heard of worse things than that hap- 
 pening. Why he might marry a black woman, 
 and bring home a lot of pickaninies, as they call 
 them. Good gracious ! only think ; and I who 
 am so frightened of negroes that I can't bear even 
 to see the serenaders. I was threatened as a 
 child of having a black man sent after me if I 
 was naughty ; and I have never been able to 
 bear the sight of one of them since ; even talking 
 of them makes me feel quite faint." 
 
 And Mrs. Alywin leant back in her chair, and 
 tried to seem ill ; look it she could not, her face 
 being far too heated. 
 
 '^ If this is what you call providing for Fred, 
 Sir Cyrus," continued she, fanning herself 
 violeotly with her pocket-handkerchief, *^ he'll
 
 136 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 do very well without your providing ; besides he 
 is not going into the church at all ; he has set his 
 face against it entirely ; and it is this determina- 
 tion of his that has so upset me ; after, as I told 
 my eldest son, the sight of money his going to 
 college has cost." 
 
 " What does he intend doing, madam ? I sup- 
 pose he will not remain idle?" 
 
 '^Idle! no. He is going into the army; and 
 if you really want to give him a helping hand, 
 Sir Cyrus, why you could not do better than get 
 him a commission," said Mrs. A)ywin, point- 
 blank. 
 
 The army I why it was more easily managed 
 than the chaplaincy. What so easy as to get 
 him into a regiment either abroad, or on the eve 
 of going there ? Still Sir Cyrus would not ap- 
 pear to acquiesce too readily. 
 
 " I will consider the proposition, madam. 
 There are difficulties, of course, in the way ; not 
 but what I think I might overcome them ; at all 
 events I will try. There is one great difficulty that
 
 SIR CYRUS OF ST ON YC LEFT. 137 
 
 strikes me, even at starting ; namely, your son. 
 Will he accept the commission at my hands ?" 
 
 '* Of coarse he will, and only be too glad. 
 He has no foolish scruples like Percival. You 
 get it, Sir Cyrus, and I will answer for it he 
 will take it. Besides I need not tell him who 
 gives it him. I shall keep the matter as close 
 as possible, you may be sure, for between you and 
 I, if my elder son knew of it, he would be as 
 likely as not, to throw the commission in your 
 face. He's very vindictive against you all." 
 
 Sir Cyrus rose haughtily and impatiently. 
 
 " I will no longer trespass on your timCj 
 madam. I will write about the commission at 
 once, and let you know the result as soon as it 
 reaches me." 
 
 ^^ Thank you. Sir Cyrus. I am sure it is very 
 good of you ; and if — I don't say there is — but if 
 there is anything I can do for you in return, I am 
 sure, or at least, I think you need not be afraid 
 to ask it of me," said Mrs. Alywin, meaningly,
 
 138 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 and, as she thought, in her most insinuating^ 
 tone. 
 
 *^ Some day, my dear madam, I may claim 
 your promise, may possibly ask a favour at your 
 hands. But now my daughter's unfortunate state 
 of health forbids it." 
 
 '* Ah ! true. Sir Cyrus/' said Mrs. Alywin^ 
 rising and putting on her glove, which she had 
 purposely taken off in the hopes that he might 
 have been tempted to squeeze her hand. *^ Poor 
 young lady ! we must not forget her." 
 
 And having no further excuse for delaying 
 her departure Mrs. Alywin took Sir Cyrus' prof- 
 fered arm, and he led her out along the stately, 
 but to Mrs. Alywin's eyes, dismal loooking gal- 
 leries, which she felt convinced contained a 
 ghost in every corner, and certainly behind the 
 heawj crimson drapery of the painted window. 
 Sir Cyrus walked with heavy tread and so long 
 a stride that poor little Mrs. Alywin had every 
 now and then to take little short runs to keep
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 139 
 
 up with him, while the unwonted exertion made 
 her so out of breath, that she could not have 
 put a sentence together had she tried. Per- 
 haps Sir Cyrus did it purposely to avoid further 
 conversation. 
 
 When they reached the hall door Sir Cyrus 
 bade her adieu quite affably, and with no little 
 empressement of manner, and certainly did press 
 her hand at parting; but his object was to con- 
 ciliate and win her over to his side as much as 
 possible. 
 
 His warmth of manner excited Mrs. Alywin to 
 an unusual degree, nor had she proceeded far be- 
 fore she tore ofi her glove and kissed the mark 
 left on her finger by the impression of his 
 ring. 
 
 " What a stately, noble looking man he is !" 
 exclaimed she ; '^ and certainly smitten, only his 
 daughter's illness — a most unfortunate illness for 
 me— prevented him, as he said, from speaking 
 out. I am not a bit afraid of him, not a bit ; not 
 half as much as I am of thoss dark passages. If
 
 140 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 I do become my lady — and why shouldn't I? — I'll 
 have some windows knocked here and there, and 
 put in plate glass instead of those little panes, 
 just like those I made Mr. Alywin have at Friar- 
 marsh. I can't bear dark places, they always 
 give me the horrors. And I'll have a black and 
 white lap-dog, and make one of those men with 
 floured heads carry it about for me. And I'll 
 have a violet velvet dress made with a train, ever 
 so long behind, for it couldn't catch the dirt if I 
 drove, and call on Mrs. KnoUys with a band- 
 some cloak trimmed with jet and lace, a good 
 quarter of a yard longer than hers ; and instead 
 of accepting her two fingers, I'd keep my hands 
 in my muff, if it was winter, and make her my 
 very grandest courtesy, and toss up my head fifty 
 times higher than she does !" and Mrs. Alywin 
 commenced a series of courtesies and gesticulations 
 quite ludicrous to behold, and somewhat startling 
 and mystifying to Miss Castle, who had dodged 
 and followed her thus flir unseen. 
 
 Miss Castle, always on the watch, had viewed
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 141 
 
 Mrs. Alywin's visit to Stonycleft with doubt and 
 suspicion. What business had she there ?— she 
 of all women, on account of the bitter feeling- 
 existing between the two families. 
 
 Miss Castle made up her mind to fathom the 
 mystery; and with this intention waited about the 
 park until Mrs. Alywin came out ; when, seeing 
 she made for the plantation, through which there 
 was a short cut into Broadbelt, Miss Castle took 
 the private path through the plantation, by which 
 she must reach the stile leading into it before 
 Mrs. Alywin could come up, for she was deter- 
 mined at all hazards to get speech of her. This 
 accomplished, she left the rest to chance. 
 
 An accident favoured Miss Castle's views, for 
 as Mrs. Alywin with some difficulty clambered 
 over the stile her dress caught in a nail or slip 
 of wood, and she stood unable to extricate it. 
 
 *' My goodness ! here's a fix!" exclaimed she. 
 " It's just as well I'm out of sight of the house. 
 What a predicament if Sir Cyrus only happened to 
 come by. Well, it can't be helped ; I am not
 
 142 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 going to tear my moire. Perhaps somebody 
 will come this way. I shall wait and see at all 
 eyents," and very philosophically she leant 
 against the stile. 
 
 Miss Castle thought it time to draw near, 
 
 ^^ Are you going over the stile?" asked she. 
 
 " I am over, or at least all but my dress, which 
 1 shall be obliged if you will get off the nail 
 where it's hitched , and I beg you will not tear it, 
 if you please,' ' said Mrs. Alywin, who, having 
 recognised in Miss Castle the governess of Stony- 
 cleft, of which place she might some day become 
 the mistress, determined on showing off a few 
 airs. 
 
 *' I will endeavour not to tear it," replied Miss 
 Castle ; " but it is very securely caught. There I 
 I think that will do." 
 
 ^' Thank you," said Mrs. Alywin, shaking her- 
 self straight, and looking with no little jealousy 
 and distrust at Miss Castle's handsome face. 
 
 What if Sir Cyrus admired her, and she were 
 to cut her out? These kind of people were
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 143 
 
 always so sly and manoeuvring ! She would 
 walk with her and sift her as she would powdered 
 sugar. 
 
 '^Are you going home?" asked she of Miss 
 Castle. 
 
 '^ No, I am going for a walk." 
 
 *^ Then if it's all the same to you, perhaps you 
 Would not mind keeping me company across the 
 fields. It's such a lonely road, and I am terribly 
 afraid of cows." 
 
 " I am not very brave ; I have always lived a 
 town life until now." 
 
 '' Many's the scolding I have had from poor 
 Mr. Alywin about my fears, but all of no use. 
 I always was, and always shall be timid. I am 
 speaking to Sir Cyrus' governess, I think ?" 
 
 '^ Miss Bedfield's," corrected Miss Castle. 
 
 " It's all the same. Sir Cyrus engaged you, 
 and I suppose will dismiss you if you don't suit ; 
 80 I dare say you try hard to keep in his good 
 graces. Don't you ?"
 
 144 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 '* Sir Cyrus seems perfectly satisfied with 
 me." 
 
 " Vain thing !" thought Mrs. Alywin, angrily. 
 
 '^ What a fine, noble-looking man he is !" said 
 Mrs. Alywin, aloud, returning to the charge ; " so 
 affable. Do you see much of him ?" 
 
 " We meet every day." 
 
 ** How dangerous !" thought Mrs. Alywin, 
 again. 
 
 '^ Is he very friendly?" 
 
 " Sufiiciently so to take my part if need be." 
 
 '^ What a nice house it is ! so compact with 
 every comfort ; and so snug. I was closeted 
 there with him nearly an hour just now." 
 
 '^ I have been alone with him but seldom ; and 
 never longer than five minutes at a time. People 
 are so apt to talk." 
 
 " Is that a hit at me?" exclaimed Mrs. Alywin, 
 bridling up. 
 
 ** I did not so intend it." 
 
 " It's a story, and you know it ; when I said I
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 145 
 
 had been alone with him more than an hour ! 
 But there, I suppose you are jealous." 
 
 '^ Jealous ! How absurd !" 
 
 *' It is not absurd. You'd give the world to be 
 'my lady,' and you know it." 
 
 " Whether I would or no, I have a far greater 
 chance than you !" said Miss Castle, meaningly, 
 and with loss of temper. 
 
 *^ I deny it," leturned Mrs. Alywin, wrath- 
 fully ; '' widows are always considered quite 
 irresistible." 
 
 '' Young widows," replied Miss Castle, satiri- 
 cally. 
 
 '' Young! I'd have you to know I'm not a 
 grandmother yet. Young! I'd thank you to 
 recollect my son Fred is only a trifle older than 
 Sir Cyrus' daughter. You may think yourself a 
 young woman, but I'll back myself against you 
 any day ; and more than that if I'd the run of the 
 house as you have, I'd be ' my lady ' before the 
 year was out." 
 
 " I will take your advice and try," replied 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 Hiss Castle, in a tone anything but conciliatory, 
 and wliich roused Mrs. Aly win's ire still more. 
 
 "I'll let Sir Cyrus know your modest inten- 
 tions," said she. 
 
 " And I will take care, ma'am, he never sees 
 you again. He shall not if I can prevent it ! I'll 
 tell him now you are angling for him ! An old 
 thing like you ! "Why you ought to be ashamed 
 of yourself!" said Miss Castle, angrily. 
 
 '* Look at home!" replied Mrs. Alywin, as Miss 
 Castle turned on her heel and walked rapidly 
 away. '^ Look at home 1" called she again in a 
 high-pitched voice ; '* I thought you were a bold 
 young woman when I met you at the stile ; but 
 now, if you wish to know my opinion, it's this : 
 That you are a bad, good-for-nothing hussy ! and 
 I shall live ; — mark my words — to see you in the 
 dirt !" and she kicked some hard bits of earth 
 with her boot, after Miss Castle, as though to 
 illustrate her words. 
 
 Miss Castle stopped, and facing her for a 
 moment, snapped her fingers derisively; then,with
 
 SIR CYKUS OF STOlfrCLEFr. 147 
 
 a laugh that echoed through Mrs. Aly win's heart, 
 she turned and walked hurriedly to the stile, over 
 which she went as lightly as a feather. 
 
 Mrs. Aly win wrathfully turned her back on her 
 new enemy and pursued her way homewards, 
 passing within a yard of a cow peacefully grazing 
 in her path, and which in her perturbed, pre- 
 occupied state of mind, she never saw ! 
 
 H 2
 
 148 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 NURSE CONQUERED. 
 
 The evening of Mrs. Alywin's visit, Sir Cyrus, 
 dissatisfied with Mr. Gibbs, sent for a London 
 physician. 
 
 The great man came ; charged a small fortune 
 for coming; slightly altered the treatment, and 
 gave his opinion that the case — though one of 
 great danger — was not of necessity hopeless. He 
 spoke favourably of Mr. Gibbs' management, 
 who was now allowed to pursue his own course 
 with the patient, unmolested either by nurse's
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 149 
 
 constant fussing or the baronet's haughty^ 
 mistrustful look. 
 
 Mr. Gibbs had hoped confidently from the first, 
 and when in a few days Cynthia's illness did take 
 a turn, the little man, much to his astonishment 
 found his hands cordially and warmly grasped in 
 those of Sir Cyrus. Surely so great a condescen- 
 sion was an ample reward for all Mr. Gibbs* 
 anxieties, and latterly sleepless nights. 
 
 ,While her pupil was ill, Miss Castle had it all 
 her own way down stairs, spending her evenings 
 • — as Sir Cyrus had suggested she should — in the 
 drawing-room. — But as for company, it was 
 equally as dull for her as the sitting-room up 
 stairs, as Sir Cyrus gave her none of his, his 
 daughter's illness being an excuse for taking his 
 coffee in his study. But latterly, having no 
 further plea for absenting himself, he submitted, 
 at first cautiously, and at length almost wholly, to 
 the dangerous company and ensnaring fascinations 
 of his attractive governess. 
 
 Mrs. Alywin had not been to Stonycleft again.
 
 150 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 Her maternal anxieties regarding Fred were at an 
 end ; Sir Cyrus, in about a week's time, hav- 
 ing sent her a letter promising her her son's 
 commission. 
 
 Attributing this sudden coldness on his part to 
 Miss Castle's agency she determined on having a 
 rap at her in her answer back. Thanking him for 
 his kindness, she warned him to beware of a wolf 
 in sheep's clothing, not very far removed from 
 his own family circle. She could not write more 
 explicitly, although she would not mind — if Sir 
 Cyrus wished it— calling and explaining herself 
 more fully ; but this Sir Cyrus did not wish, and 
 so with this little piece of vengeance she was for 
 the present obliged to rest content. 
 
 Frederick Alywin had recovered his thrashing, 
 but he rose from his bed an altered being. He 
 had been but a boy on the morning that Sir Cyrus 
 had come across him ; now, his whole nature was 
 changed. He was a man, with hot revengeful 
 feelings burning within him ; such feelings as a 
 week ago he knew not he possessed. The wounds
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYOLEFT. 151 
 
 inflicted by Sir Cyrus were not alone outward, 
 they burnt and raged inwardly, tearing his very 
 heart-strings. Revenge he had read of- heard 
 of, but until now never felt how sweet it must 
 be ! He would never rest until it was his; until 
 he had made Sir Cyrus' heart as sore as his own. 
 His love for Cynthia seemed as nought to the 
 fiery feelings that scorched him, and only that a 
 softer mood came over him when her image crossed 
 his mind, he would have believed he had ceased 
 to love her altogether. 
 
 • Breaking the matter of the commission to Fred 
 in his present state, Mrs. Alywin found no easy 
 task, and far more difficult than she had led Sir 
 Cyrus to suppose ; his first question being as to 
 who gave it? His next that Sir Cyrus had been 
 the donor. Mrs. Alywin prevaricated, remon- 
 strated, but all to no purpose; he disbelieved 
 her utterly. 
 
 '' Don't tell any more stories about it, mother, 
 as whether he gave it or no, I'll take it ! and for 
 this reason— that I can injure him more deeply
 
 152 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 by taking it, than by refusing it ; and injure him, 
 so help me God ! I will !" 
 
 It troubled Mrs. Alywin to think that both her 
 sons were so revengefully inclined, and she be- 
 gan to think herself a most miserable woman, and 
 they the most ungrateful and undutifiil of sons. 
 After this threat of Fred's she sat down quietly, 
 and had a good cry, going about her household 
 duties afterwards with swelled eyes, and so doleful 
 a face, that all in the house felt miserable in the 
 absence of her cheery look and pleasant chat. 
 All except Fred, who walked about with his 
 hands in his pockets whistling lively airs, think- 
 ing little of her who was even now, as it might 
 be said, only just removed from death's door for 
 his sake. 
 
 Cynthia progressed but slowly, and could only, 
 at the expiration of a week, be moved on, to the 
 sofa in her own room ; that exertion bringing 
 with it so deadly a faintness that nurse thought 
 her young mistress's last hour was come. 
 
 Nurse had as yet not lost all anxiety, although
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 153 
 
 her nights were no longer passed in doleful sighs 
 or her days in tears and fidgets. The latter were 
 out of the question, seeing Cynthia could hardly 
 bear the rustle of her dress ; so she was forced 
 to sit quiet, however restless her mind might be ; 
 and nurse fidgetted greatly in her mind ; it was 
 in a constant state of unquiet and anxiety. She 
 had gleaned enough during that terrible illness to 
 make her heart sore. The fact of her young 
 mistress' love, — unsuspected until now, — the ever 
 constant cry from the sick girl's lips during those 
 dreadful days and nights of delirium, of 
 " Frederick ! — Frederick Alywin !" — one of a 
 race hated, she well knew, by her master, — lay 
 like a dead weight on nurse's heart. Was there a 
 fate in the daughters of the proud house loving 
 these farmers ? or had Miss Castle had a hand in 
 bringing the two together ? 
 
 If any woman disliked another, nurse did Miss 
 Castle. She read her character truly, and knew 
 she was artful and designing. As to admitting 
 her into the sick room, it needed not Sir Cyrus* 
 
 H 5
 
 154 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 mandate, or poor Cyntliia's feeble cr}^ of, *^ Don't 
 let Miss Castle come in ;' ' to induce nurse to shut 
 the door against her. The story of tj-phus fever 
 and infection had answered well; Miss Castle 
 kept strictly to those rooms furthest removed 
 from Cynthia's, wore camphor bags, filled her 
 room with all kind of disinfecting fluids, and fa- 
 migated it two or three times a day, making it 
 smell — so the servants said — " worse than a pig- 
 stye !" But secrets — even the closest kept — will 
 out somehow, and nurse had within the last few 
 days detected a mocking smile on Miss Castle's 
 face, as she inquired, half in French, on purpose 
 to annoy nurse, ^* how her cMre demoiselle was ?" 
 and that nurse looked '^ iiale comme un ange^"^ 
 and she was dreadfully afraid she would be the 
 next to take that" «^r£?2^2^— typhus." 
 
 ''I'm not a bit afraid, miss," returned nurse, 
 grimly. 
 
 *' Ah ! is there no fear, then ? It is so terribly 
 infectious." 
 
 " It is/' replied nurse, more severely than
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 155 
 
 before; '^but IVe nursed worse cases than 
 this." 
 
 " But none so catching ?" said she, with so 
 mocking a smile playing about the corners of her 
 lipSj that nurse would have gladly turned her back 
 upon her if she could. 
 
 " You have been my best friend. You are my 
 hete noire^'' said she, with another mocking smile, 
 as she took both nurse's hands in hers and pressed 
 them. ''• What should I have done without you 
 to do all the work for me ?" 
 
 *^ What work ?" asked nurse, stiffly, as she drew 
 her hands away and crossed them determinedly at 
 her waist. 
 
 "What work? Ah! you do not like to be 
 thanked. You are meek; you are a mauvais mjet. 
 But have you not nursed that dear young lady — 
 ih?it petite viper e for me ?" 
 
 " A pettet what ?" asked nurse, angrily, half 
 suspecting her French phrases and words were 
 anything but complimentary. 
 
 <^ Petite^ means little ; and viper e^ angel. I am
 
 156 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 SO fond of my pupil, so longing to see her again. 
 When is it to be, Nurse Joyce ?" 
 
 '^1 don't know. Best ask Mr. Gibbs," and 
 nurse turned on her heel and went back to 
 Cynthia, her temper sadly ruffled — although, if 
 asked, she could not have explained why. 
 
 " Was that Miss Castle you were speaking to ?** 
 asked Cynthia. 
 
 *' Yes, Missey; and she's, without exception, the 
 tiresomest woman I ever had any dealings with, 
 giving me a lot of her French talk, which I like 
 as much as I do French rolls. Give me good 
 substantial, home-made bread, and none of your 
 flimsy, light, Frenchified baking, that puff out 
 the inside and don't fill it, bringing on cholics and 
 such like." 
 
 *^ She cannot help her French sometimes, 
 nurse. Her mother was a Frenchwoman, and she 
 has spent half her life in France. Her being 
 such a good French scholar was the reason, I 
 beUeve, of papa's engaging her." 
 
 *' Humph !" replied nurse. ^^ I've always heard
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 157 
 
 the French are a wicked, deceitful set, hugging 
 up idols, and bowing and scraping to dolls dressed 
 in tawdry finery. So she's half French, is 
 she? with all the bad qualities of those heathens, 
 and none of the good ones of us English. She's 
 just like a cat; treads about as softly when it 
 suits her, and hides her claws till the time comes 
 to make a spring, and then she'll put up her back 
 and tear and scratch as bad as any of 'em. Pra 
 not taken in with her palavering or soft velvety 
 paws either," and nurse angrily wiped with her 
 apron the hands Miss Castle had so lately held in 
 hers ; '^ she'll show me her nails some days, and 
 sharp one's they'll prove; but they won't wound 
 me for all that, or if they do, the wound '11 soon 
 heal. She purrs faster and more insinuating than 
 a cat down-stairs ; and would curl herself up on 
 Sir Cyrus' knees and make herself comfortable, if 
 she only dared. I only hope she'll never be asked 
 to." 
 
 Cynthia laughed one of her old merry ringing 
 laughs, and then, as though the exertion had been
 
 158 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 too much for her, fell to crying the moment after ; 
 while nurse, in utter dismay, and with many self- 
 upraidings for having talked too much, hung 
 over her, and tried to soothe and quiet her. 
 
 How often nurse sighed day after day as 
 she watched Cynthia's utter want of energy, or 
 the sad, weary look on her young face ; sighed and 
 wished she would only open her heart to some- 
 body ; tell the sorrowful tale, the weight of which 
 lay crushing her heart so terribly, that before long 
 it might break; and now a few light words 
 spoken hastily, almost angrily, had touched 
 and opened its floodgates. 
 
 Throwing her arms round nurse's neck, 
 Cynthia sobbed out, 
 
 '' I am so unhappy, Nursey !" 
 
 ^' I know it, my lamb— your old Nursey has 
 known it foi ever so long. Didn't } ou talk and 
 moan about it when you were ill. There, stop 
 crying, which never does any good," said nurse, 
 soothingly, ^' and tell me how I can help 
 you?"
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 159 
 
 ^^ Papa ssijs I must ^ive him up. And it's 
 that — that — that is breaking my heart." 
 
 '^ And so you will give him up, and think no 
 more about him, my darling, when Sir Cyrus 
 brings some fine handsome young man to see 
 you. Ah ! you should have seen the noble-look- 
 ing gentlemen that came courting your lady 
 mother ; such a lot of them, too ; and many 
 richer and braver looking than Sir Cyrus." 
 
 " But I cannot give him up, Nursey — I can^ 
 not." 
 
 *' But he isn't so well born as you, nothinor 
 like it ; nor no money neither, and you'd may be 
 starve — and he wouldn't thank you, or love you 
 for that, I know." 
 
 "He will work for me, and so will I for 
 him." 
 
 "What could you do, my pet?" and nurse 
 stroked and fondled the small white hands. 
 " These," she said, " are too daintily made for 
 work ; and as for him — Well, I dare say he 
 could work fast enough, although he hasn't shown
 
 160 SIR CYEUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 much heart for it yet. All the same, work or no 
 work, an Alywin is not the one you should mate 
 with." 
 
 " Don't say that, Nursey," and Cynthia hid 
 her face on nurse's shoulder, as the rich blood 
 dyed it crimson at the mention of her lover's 
 name. 
 
 "I can't say nothing else — I can't think 
 nothing else. It's a sorrowful beginning, and, if 
 persisted in, will be a more sorrowful ending. I 
 puzzle myself to find out however you came 
 across him. But, there, I suppose it was Miss 
 Castle's doing." 
 
 "Miss Castle!" cried Cjmthia, indignantly, 
 while her eyes flashed, and something of the 
 old proud expression came for a moment across 
 her face ; '^ she does not know him. He hates her 
 as much as I do." 
 
 " I honour him for that," replied nurse. " But, 
 my darling, listen to your old Nursey, who loves 
 you with all her heart, and believe her when she 
 says that no good — only harm — direful harm can
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 161 
 
 ever come of your love for an Alywin. Look at 
 your aunt ! Didn't she, poor lady, waste her life 
 for one of them, and didn't he snap his fingers at 
 her, and marry a linendraper's daughter ? People 
 did say his father worried him into it ; but was 
 your aunt worried into a marriage with the earl, 
 for all the terrible life old Sir Cyrus led her ? 
 Give him up, darling; try and forget him for 
 my sake." 
 
 " Never ! Nursey." 
 
 " When it will bring us all such misery, such 
 sorrow? And, most of all, to you, Missey," said 
 she, pleadingly. 
 
 " Sorrow ! misery ! There can be none where 
 he is, or if there was, I would gladly share it 
 with him," and Cynthia's lip curled with anger, 
 defiance, and strong determination. 
 
 "Don't be angry, Missey, don't. Only give 
 him up ; not all at once ; no, I don't ask that, 
 bat by degrees, and I'll bless you as long as I 
 live." 
 
 " I will never desert him !" replied Cynthia,
 
 162 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 raising herself up on the sofa. ^' I see how it 
 is, you as well as papa would do him harm 
 if you could. But I will rouse myself. I will get 
 well. I will go and tell him. No one shall make me 
 cease to love him— I will die rather. As long as 
 he loves me, I will love him — I swear I will!" 
 and, overcome with the unwonted exertion, 
 Cynthia lay back, fainting. 
 
 Nurse wrung her hands, and flew here and there 
 for restoratives. 
 
 ^' Deary me !"cried she, as the tears fell from her 
 eyes, " to think that after all my care my precious 
 Iamb should be brought to this pass !" and 
 she chafed Cynthia's hands, raised her head, and 
 busied herself afresh to restore animation. 
 
 It was not a long faint; perhaps Cynthia's 
 strong will conquered it, or the violent beat- 
 ings of her heart strove against it ; but what- 
 ever it was, she soon opened her eyes, and, seeing 
 nurse's pitying face, she nestled herself close in 
 her arms, like a tired child, and said, plead-
 
 SIR CYEUS OF STONYCLEFT. 163 
 
 ^^You will not turn against me, Kursey, will 
 you?" 
 
 '' I'll go through fire and water to serve you 
 first. Forget what your oMNursey said, darling, 
 and tell me how I can help you." 
 
 " You will help me, nurse ?" asked Cynthia, 
 doubtingly. 
 
 ^' I will. And if I am doing wrong, may God 
 forgive me I" said she, with a sigh. 
 
 " Nursey," replied Cynthia, and she drew her 
 closer still, ^^ dear Nursey, you will go and see 
 how 7ie is, and where he is ; for I cannot rest, 
 until I know that he is safe ' and— and un- 
 hurt," and she covered her face with her hands, 
 as she thought of the terrible scene by the 
 water's edge. '^ Oh, Nursey, if you only knew 
 why I am so anxious — if you only knew why." 
 
 '' Hush I my darling, hush ! Til find it all 
 out for you ; I'll go now — I'll go at once ; and 
 may God forgive me for going !" said she, aside ; 
 " for I know I am doing wrong. I know nothing 
 but misery can come of it."
 
 164 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 As she opened the door to pass out, Sir Cyrus 
 stood on the threshold. 
 
 " How is your young mistress?" he asked. 
 
 " She's better, Sir Cyrus. But if you want to 
 see her well, put a little life into the old house. 
 If you want to get rid of an old fancy, you can't 
 do it without bringing about a fancy for some- 
 thing else. The old song says, ' Best to be off 
 with the old love before you are on with the new.' 
 But Miss Cynthia has nothing new to take on 
 with, so she clings to the old. It's the heart 
 with her ; not the body, that ails now." 
 
 Sir CjTus went on into his daughter's room 
 to find her, as nurse had said, looking better ; 
 her cheeks flushed, and her eyes brighter than 
 they had been for days.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 165 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 RAYMOND. 
 
 *' Put a little life into the old house." These 
 words of nurse's haunted Sir Cyrus. Life ! must 
 the sounds of song and merriment once more echo 
 through the old walls ? — sounds that for «ixteen 
 years he and they had been strangers to. Six- 
 teen years ! Had so long a time elapsed since he 
 had been left desolate, and she, his wife, so pas- 
 sionately loved, snatched from him in the bloom 
 of her youth and beauty? Ahl it needed not 
 that white tablet with the weeping angels, under
 
 166 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 which he sat every Sunday at church, to remind 
 him that she had died, at the early age of twenty- 
 seven, for had not his heart been desolate, his 
 life a weary one, for sixteen years ? And now, 
 to break its repose, call it into activity again, 
 seemed like a desecration of the dead, an insult 
 to the memory of her who still held the first 
 place there. 
 
 To him it seemed but as yesterday that she had 
 been borne away and buried from his sight, so 
 fresh in his heart was the recollection of that ter- 
 rible time, when all his hopes, his love, had be- 
 come as a thing that was, and would never 
 gladden his sight again ; and now, to put a little 
 life into the old house — tear out — root up all 
 his old feelings and associations, unmanned 
 him completely. The sense of what he for his 
 daughter's sake was called upon — might have — to 
 do, rested like a dead weight on his heart for days, 
 until it shaped itself into words, and then acts. 
 
 Sir Cyrus was not a man to procrastinate or 
 put off for to-morrow what might be done to-
 
 SIR CYKUS OF STONYCLEFT. 167 
 
 day; sufficient was it to him that it must be 
 done to do it at once, and he began by inviting, 
 not the small world round about his estate, but 
 his nephew, the heir to Stonycleft. 
 
 Sir Cyrus had never seen his nephew, never 
 heard of or from him ; but he knew that such a 
 man existed, who only waited for his death to 
 step in and take possession. He might be a 
 spendthrift, a gambler, a drunkard; save that 
 such a character or characters had seldom stained 
 the escutcheon of the proud house of Bedfield, 
 He was his brother's only son — only child, in fact, 
 born in Australia, where that brother had emi- 
 grated shortly after his marriage with his wife. 
 How well he remembered that wife ; proud, 
 haughty, and beautiful, whom old Sir Cyrus, his 
 father, hated long before he saw her, simply be- 
 cause she was poor and low-connected in com- 
 parison with his aristocratic brother. She was 
 looked upon as an interloper, an intriguer, who 
 had angled for his brother when a young man at 
 Oxford, and won him. What wonder that storms 
 and unhappiness, and constant bickerings, if not
 
 168 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 quarrels/ were the result of her domicile under 
 her father-in-law's roof; or that old Sir Cyrus, 
 in a sudden fit of fury, should have at last shut the 
 door in his son's face, with an oath that he would 
 never see him again. That oath his son 
 helped him to keep by emigrating to Australia, 
 where only a death-bed forgiveness could reach 
 him, and did reach him before he died ; not pen- 
 niless, but a wealthy sheep farmer, leaving one 
 eon, whom his Uncle now wished to see, not 
 only his guest, but Cynthia s husband. 
 
 Sir Cyrus had shared in his father's dislike of 
 his brothers wife, and unconsciously hoped that 
 she no longer existed ; at all events, his igno- 
 rance in the matter would prevent his including 
 her in his invitation to her son, to whom he thus 
 wrote : 
 
 ^'Stonycleft. 
 ^'My Dear Sir, 
 
 " As the only male representative 
 of our ancient family, and its future heir, I write 
 to invite you to Stonycleft, as it is but right you
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 169 
 
 should be introduced to possessions, which, in all 
 probability you will soon have to ta^e the charge 
 of. It will give me much pleasure to welcome you 
 here, as also to become acquainted with my 
 brother's son. My daughter, who is only just re- 
 covering from severe illness, unites with me in 
 kindest regards. 
 
 ''' Your affectionate uncle, 
 
 '^ Cyrus Bedfield." 
 
 This letter cost Sir Cyrus a good deal of 
 trouble, and even when finished and despatched, 
 he felt dissatisfied with it. He sent it, enclosed 
 to his solicitors, not knowing his nephew's 
 address. 
 
 The reply was short and concise, and, Sir Cyrus 
 thought, off-hand. It certainly did not appear to 
 have cost the writer a thought as to how it should 
 be worded, or what he should say, but was dashed 
 off in a free-and-easy sort of style, and stated, in 
 a few words, that the writer would be at Stony- 
 cleft in a week. No day, no date was fixed, so 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 170 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 that Sir Cyrus was — althougli lie would not 
 acknowledge it to himself — in a constant state of 
 ftver and anxiety. 
 
 But the week passed, and brought no signs of 
 his nephew. It wanted but two days to the fort- 
 night, and the baronet, who looked upon unpunc- 
 tuality as a heinous sin, began to change the 
 favourable opinion he had almost unconsciously 
 predisposed himself to take of his nephew, Miss 
 Castle cunningly helping to influence his mind 
 against him whenever she could, and as Sir 
 Cyrus often spoke of him, her opportunities were 
 frequent. 
 
 She had wormed herself completely into Sir 
 CjTUs' favour, or, as nurse had said, purred 
 herself into it, and if as yet she had not been 
 bold enough to curl herself up on his lap, she ?vas 
 advancing very rapidly towards that enviable 
 l)osition. 
 
 The nephew's invitation, although not exactly 
 a death blow, was a knell for the present to her 
 hopes. She reasoned that while he was at Stony-
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 171 
 
 cleft her interests would be extinguislied ; there- 
 ore she hated him before he camej and deter- 
 mined, if possible, to prejudice Sir Cyrus against 
 him. If Cynthia married him, Sir Cyrus, for his 
 daughter's sake, would never take a wife. If 
 Cynthia did not marry him, or he refuse to 
 marry Cynthia, Sir Cyrus, out of revenge, might 
 take a second wife; and if he did, might she not 
 induce him to choose her ? Her father had been 
 a General, whatever her mother's antecedents 
 were, and these latter she felt must not be 
 enquired into too closely. As yet she had played 
 her cards well, and why not play a trump card 
 and win ? Had not that vulgar Mrs. Alyvvin 
 said she would be " my lady " in a year if she 
 only had the run of the house ? 
 
 Miss Castle drew up her head proudly, as she 
 whispered, " My lady," comporting hei'self for 
 the moment, as though she already had the right 
 and title to be called so. 
 
 Miss Castle sat in the drawing-room, — from 
 which Cynthia had just been moved away up- 
 
 I ^
 
 172 SIR CYEUS OF STOXYCLEFT. 
 
 stairs, for she was still scarcely strong enougli to 
 remain for any length of time below, — and gazed 
 round at the costly ornaments scattered about, 
 and the beautiful paintings that adorned the 
 walls. Amongst the latter, a full length portrait 
 of the late Lady Bedfield stood conspicuous, a por- 
 trait that Miss Castle had, at first, regarded with 
 cnv3^ and latterly with absolute loathing and dis- 
 like. It represented a fair, very beautiful girl, 
 almost too delicate and fairy-looking for the 
 heavy, rich folds of white satin that fell around 
 her light, graceful form. Her eyes were as blue 
 and liquid-looking as the unclouded sky above 
 her head, eyes so soft and melting that they 
 seemed to claim the gazer's love and sympathy, 
 with a depth of feeling in them that might 
 light them up with the fire of scorn and 
 indignation as well as love. They were eyes from 
 which there was no escape. They haunted and 
 followed you wherever you went, and Miss 
 Castle turned her back upon them as she sat, 
 then suddenly rose and faced them angrily.
 
 SIR CYEUS OF STOXYCLEFT. 173 
 
 " Beautiful ! — lovely ! — bewitching ! — fascinat- 
 ing! — " exclaimed she, with a pause between 
 each word. ^' These are only a few of the ad- 
 miring terms I have had the pleasure of silently 
 hearing lavished on you and your eyes ; eyes that 
 I hate and mock at. Bah ! What harm can 
 they do me ? Their day is nearly over, and I will 
 dethrone you, lovely and fascinating one. You 
 shall come down from that high altar where you 
 have been perched for sixteen years and more, 
 and I, the magnificent, will reign there instead. 
 You may mock me with that perpetual smile, but 
 I swear it ! I swear it ! and will never forget my 
 oath. Never !" and she shook her finger 
 savagely at the lovely portrait, which even now 
 appeared to smile at her more mockingly than 
 ever. 
 
 " What ! Do you swear, fair lady ?" asked Sir 
 Cyrus, banteringly, as he advanced to her side ; 
 ^'and what is the nature of your oath?" 
 
 He had heard a part of her angry tira le, but 
 very fortunately for her, not all.
 
 174 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 For a moment Miss Castle thought her cause 
 lost. She tarnecl, with a defiant expression on 
 her handsome face ; then, the lines about her mouth 
 relaxed, the lips parted, and a soft smile 
 rested on them, lighting up her large grey eyes, 
 which drooped bashfully before Sir Cyrus' steady 
 gaze. She had recovered her presence of mind 
 by her strong power of will, and almost hated 
 herself for the momentary weakness which had 
 nearly betrayed her. 
 
 " We swear at anything in France," replied 
 she, carelessly, and with only the very slightest 
 tremor of voice ; ** but I was repeating Colonel 
 KnoUys' words. You know I was in the room 
 when he called yesterday." 
 
 As Sir Cyrus looked enquiringly at her, 
 she felt obliged to tread deeper in the mire, in 
 which she was already struggling helplessly. 
 
 '^ It was in allusion to Lady Cyrus' portrait,'* 
 she said. ^' He swore it was the most beautiful 
 he had ever seen." 
 
 The smile faded from Sir Cyrus's face. ^He
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 175 
 
 turned away without raising his eyes, and taking 
 up a book, effectually hid his face from Miss^ 
 Castle, giving her plainly to understand that he 
 desired to be alone, a hint she was not slow to 
 take. 
 
 Miss Castle would have been a masculine 
 woman, as her height and — sometimes — bear.'ng^ 
 betokened, but for the subjection, the con- 
 stant check she kept on all her acts and move- 
 ments, it being her study and aim to be 
 thought a weak, dependant one. She was always 
 impressing on the baronet, in hints cleverly 
 mixed up in their conversation, how she longed 
 to have as a friend, some one with a firm strong 
 will on which to lean her weak one. Neverthe- 
 less, she was often inadvertently guilty of little 
 acts that showed at once the strength and mascu- 
 line tendency of her mind. In the present in- 
 stance she crushed the heel of her boot somewhat 
 roughly on the ground, and once more bent hir 
 brow angrily and fiercely at the ever smiling por-
 
 176 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 trait. Had she been a man she would have 
 cursed her thoughtless folly in not being more 
 cautious ; being a woman, she was contented with 
 calling herself opprobrious names. 
 
 "I'm a fool!" muttered she, bitterly, as she 
 went out of the room ; ^* a fool! with only a fool's 
 wit and discretion. My mother would never 
 have been so surprised or nearly caught, Toujour s 
 gai — always gay ; toujours souriante — always 
 smiling. These four words were all she had 
 to bequeath me on her death-bed. Nevertheless 
 they made her fortune once, although she was not 
 wise enough to keep it ; and she said they would 
 make mine. How nearly I was forgetting them but 
 now. It is so hard to fmile when one's heart is 
 beating with passion ; angry passion, or fear. 1 
 will never act on the defensive again ; never be be- 
 trayed into it ; it shall be a deliberate act into 
 which I must be forced," and with a smile on her 
 handsome face she almost danced up stairs, hum- 
 ming, " Toujours gai— toujours souriante,''^
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 177 
 
 But her song was suddenly hushed b}^ the vio- 
 lent ringing of the hall bell. It was not merely 
 a quick ring, but a loud prolonged peal. 
 
 ''At this hour !" cried she, as going close to 
 the painted windows she looked at her watch ; 
 *' nearly seven o'clock, who can it be?" she 
 hesitated, and then suddenly making up her mind 
 for action, fled as quick as thought down the stairs 
 again, and into the room she had just quitted. 
 
 Sir Cyrus had laid down his book, and with 
 his elbows resting on the table, had shaded his 
 face with his hands. 
 
 It was not a propitious moment for Miss Castle. 
 At any other time she would not have dared 
 disturb him, but would have retreated softly. 
 She was an expert tactician, and knew at a glance 
 how ill-timed her presence must be, when his 
 whole attitude bespoke grief; but she had an 
 excuse, a grand excuse for disturbing his thoughts, 
 filled, she well knew, with mournful remem- 
 brances of his lost wife ; and it was with a plea- 
 surable, almost savage feeling, she advanced and 
 
 I 5
 
 178 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 laid her hand gently on his arm, but the tones of 
 her voice were soft and meek, belying the angry^ 
 scornful flash of her eyes. 
 
 *' Sir Cyrus," she whispered, " Sir C3a*us P* 
 
 But she was quite unprepared for the angry 
 way in which he shook off her hand, and sprung 
 to his feet. 
 
 '^ Madam !" he exclaimed, drawing up his 
 figure to its full height, " you forgot yourself 
 strangely. You presume too much." 
 
 How her heart beat with indignation and 
 wounded pride; but she was not to be caught 
 twice, and was in no wise daunted at havins: 
 angered Sir Cyrus. She felt no fear as she 
 clasped her white, shapely hands together, and 
 looked beseechingly in his face ; a becoming at- 
 titude that had disarmed his anger once before, 
 and made him pronounce her a handsome wo« 
 man. 
 
 *^ Oh pray, pray forgive me. I thought you 
 would like to know of your nephew's arrival. I 
 did indeed," said she, tremblingly.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF gTONTCLEFT. 17^ 
 
 Sir Cyrus' brow relaxed. " Where is lie ?" lie 
 asked. 
 
 " I do not know. I have not seen him. I only 
 heard the hall bell ring." 
 
 " Your judgment is as hasty as your acts, 
 madam, and most likely the former, as well as 
 the latter, have led you astray. I fancy Mr. Gibbs 
 has not paid his usual visit to day ;" these last 
 words were said rather sarcastically. 
 
 " Mr. Gibbs !" exclaimed she; *^ Mr. Gibbs ring 
 like that ! Oh, impossible, he has not the nerve 
 for it. It may be Mrs. Alywin," she said, after 
 a moment's thought. 
 
 The Baronet looked disconcerted, and invol- 
 untarily made a hasty movement towards the 
 door, but he was too late. It was flung wide open 
 by the pompous butler, "Mr. Bedfield," cried he^ 
 in a stentorian voice. 
 
 A tall — very tall man entered, while Sir Cyrus 
 relieved from his momentary fear of a second 
 attack from his lady friend, advanced and greeted 
 him, more warmly than he otherwise should.
 
 180 SIK CYKUS Of STONYCLEFT. 
 
 ^'Welcome, nephew/' he said, " welcome to 
 StoDjcleft;" and then he introduced Miss Castle, 
 who, with her large eyes fixed on his face, scanned 
 him eagerly, but the light — it was almost dusk — 
 prevented any very successful scrutiny. 
 
 " And what kind of a journey have you had ?'* 
 inquired the baronet ; '^ did you run it in one day ?" 
 '' No, sir, I started from town this morning," 
 answered he, carelessl}^ 
 
 Sir Cyrus' brow clouded. There was a silence, 
 and then Sir Cyrus spoke again, but a stiffness 
 was gradually creeping over his manner, while 
 the hearty, cheery voice with which he had 
 greeted his nephew vanished. 
 
 '' Racketing for ten days, or over head and 
 ears in business. Which ?" 
 
 " Neither. I was only three days in town." 
 *^ Your arrival here has been hourJy expected 
 for the last ten days," chimed in Miss Castle, 
 determined to do him an ill turn if she could. 
 
 '' Did I specify any particular day ?" asked he, 
 quite coolly ; '^ I fancy not."
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 181 
 
 " In a week's time, sir," exclaimed his uncle, 
 testily ; '' a week's time from the date of your 
 letter." 
 
 " I regret," said Mr. Bedfield, turning to Miss 
 Castle, '^that I should seemingly have been guilty 
 of a rudeness ; I never supposed my non-arrival 
 would have caused any one the slightest incon- 
 veinence, and least of all to my uncle. A gentle- 
 man's society is always counted as nothing 
 amongst a number of other visitors." 
 
 " Number of visitors I" echoed Sir Cyrus. " I 
 have invited no one but yourself. I think I 
 mentioned how seriously ill my daughter has 
 been. Her state of health will of necessity 
 preclude all idea of visitors. You are the first 
 stranger, ahem ! visitor," corrected he, ^' who 
 has set foot in Stony cleft, as a guest, since Lady 
 Bedfield's death," and his voice shook, as it always 
 did at any allusion to his wife; while Miss Castle 
 wondered how he had nerved himself to mention 
 her name at all. 
 
 " Shall I ring for lights ?" she asked.
 
 182 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 ^* By all means, madam ;" and the rustle of 
 her dress, as she moved to and fro, was the only 
 sound that broke the awkward silence that en-* 
 sued. 
 
 " Devonshire is a lovely country," said Misa 
 Castle, addressing Mr. Bedfield. 
 
 '^ Lovely ! we get none of the cold sharp winds 
 you get here ; still, soft and mild as the climate 
 is, a more bracing one would suit my mother 
 better," said he, glancing at his uncle. 
 
 Sir Cyrus started. 
 
 '' I am glad to learn Mrs. Bedfield is well. 
 I feared to touch upon the subject in my letter, 
 so forbore mentioning her name, lest the theme 
 should be a painful one," he forced himself to say, 
 
 " Thank you. My mother is wonderfully well; 
 you remember her I dare say. 
 
 " Perfectly. Her face was one not easily for- 
 gotten." 
 
 At this juncture, lights were brought, and 
 
 again Miss Castle furtively scanned the visitor's 
 
 « 
 face.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF ^TONYCLEFT. 183 
 
 Eaymond Bedfield was a fine looking man ; 
 with a powerful, muscular, well-made frame. 
 He looked as if with those strong arms and 
 hands, he could crush or grind any thing to 
 powder that resisted his will. But he was not a 
 handsome man, in fact he was ugly. He had a 
 florid complexion, and large head, covered with 
 thick masses of hair of the unfortunate Bedfield 
 tint, although nature had in his case rather over- 
 stepped her privilege, by stamping it an unmis- 
 takable red, unmodified or softened by any dark 
 shades, but shining in all its glory, a bright 
 sandy hue ; the only favour she had shown him, 
 was in bestowing, instead of straight, straggling 
 locks, soft natural curls, which clustered about 
 his high broad forehead. His eyes were small, 
 clear, and piercing, and at times somewhat crafty 
 looking. His mouth was large, and showed at 
 the owner's will a row of very white regular 
 teeth. His hands and feet were also large, in 
 fact he was on a large scale altogether, save the 
 one prominent feature of his face — his nose,
 
 184 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 which was, for so tall and big a man, especially 
 small, but its defect was at first sight scarcely 
 noticed, on account of a very thick moustache, 
 which grew almost fiercely at its base. 
 
 Miss Castle was not prepossessed in his favor, 
 yet so intently taken up with her scrutiny, that she 
 failed to notice how her gaze was returned with 
 interest, or how Mr. Bedfield, although talking 
 to his uncle, was every now and then regarding 
 her fixedly. When she did become aware of it, 
 she flushed deeply, and then paled almost as 
 suddenly, while rising hastily, she, with a ^' good 
 night," to Sir Cyrus, and a graceful bow to his 
 nephew, but without raising her eyes to his face 
 again, swept her ample skirts after her out of 
 sight. 
 
 "Who is that lady?" asked Mr. Bedfield, as 
 the door closed. 
 
 " My daughter's governess." 
 
 Then seeing his nephew made no reply, ho 
 added, " A strikingly handsome woman. Don't 
 you think so?"
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 185 
 
 The answer came slowly. 
 
 " Handsome -— handsome. Ah ! — handsome,'* 
 said he, abstractedly. 
 
 Sir Cyrus laughed. 
 
 '^ You are not the first man by a good many 
 whose thoughts a pretty woman has sent wool 
 gathering." 
 
 Mr. Bedfield echoed his uncle's laugh. 
 
 *' I wasn't thinking of her beauty," he said, 
 '' but she is undoubtedly a very handsome wo- 
 man." 
 
 Meanwhile Miss Castle's skirt rustled grandly 
 up stairs, down the corridors, and into Cynthia's 
 room. 
 
 " He has come ! He is here !" cried she, as she 
 entered. 
 
 '• Here !" exclaimed Cynthia, starting up. 
 
 " Not in this room, you silly child, but below, 
 in the drawing-room." 
 
 "And what is he like?" asked Cynthia, who 
 shared in the general anxiety. 
 
 " Like ! ugh ! a monster ! Do you remember
 
 186 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 the Ogre in the pantomine last year, with sandy 
 hair and unkempt locks ?'' 
 
 " Surely not so bad as that ?" said Cynthia, 
 
 "The Bedfields are a handsome race," said 
 Nurse. 
 
 " Handsome ? Why he is the ugliest man I 
 ever saw ; without exaggeration, the very 
 ugliest." 
 
 Cynthia laid back on the sofa with a smile on 
 her face. 
 
 " I hope papa will think so, too," she said. 
 
 " Something has upset Miss Castle," cried 
 Nurse, as once more the skirt rustled away through 
 the door out of sight.
 
 8m CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 187 
 
 CHAPT^.R XII. 
 
 SIGNS OF A STORM. 
 
 Either under the pretence or reality of a bad 
 headache, Cynthia kept her room during the next 
 few days ; Sir Cyrus, although constantly urging 
 her appearance below, not liking to insist upon 
 it. 
 
 " Your cousin is anxious to make your acquaint- 
 ance, Cynthia," he said, one morning, ^'and 
 indeed, 1 think an exertion should be made. It 
 is scarcely gracious your remaining away so long.
 
 188 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 You must make an effort, lest your alosence be 
 attributed to discourtesy." 
 
 But Miss Castle, who happened to be present, 
 did not second this wish. 
 
 " I think Miss Bedfield does wisely," said she; 
 " first impressions are everything, especially 
 with men. Cynthia's eyes are heavy and swollen, 
 and she can hardly be expected to exert herself 
 when her spirits are so depressed with constant 
 pain." 
 
 But Cynthia did not take advantage of this 
 speech ; she seemed suddenly to think differently 
 and act differently. 
 
 '^ I will endeavour to come down this evening, 
 papa," said she. 
 
 ^* That's right, my child." 
 
 '^ I am sure it is not a wise step," said Miss 
 Castle. 
 
 But her words went for nothing. Nobody 
 heeded them except nurse, who frowned, — or 
 more properly speaking, — scowled at her over her 
 spectacles.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 189 
 
 Miss Castle, strange to say, sliowed no anxiety 
 to commence the hostilities she had promised 
 herself, or even further, publicly, her scrutiny of 
 Mr. Bedfield; otherwise she would have eagerly 
 joined in persuading her pupil to make a move 
 to the drawing-room, as of course, until Cynthia 
 did so, she was of necessity precluded from join- 
 ing Sir Cyrus and his nephew ; so she was com- 
 pelled to watch matters at a distance, and did so 
 rigorously from every available window, point, or 
 position. For instance, she would take her stand 
 at a front window during such times as Raymond 
 Bediield might be wandering about the park and 
 wait patiently until he returned, all the time 
 eagerly keeping him in sight, and watching him 
 somewhat in the fashion of an eagle scenting its 
 prey, save that when his foot was on the 
 balustraded terrace and he almost beneath w^here 
 she stood, she would gradually shrink away out 
 of sight. At other times, hidden behind one of 
 the bear's heads carved at an angle of the large 
 staircase, she would watch him put on his hat and
 
 190 Sm CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 glove before going out. Once slie carried a telescope 
 up to the parapet that ran along the front of the 
 house above the rooms she occupied, and eyed 
 him and Sir Cyrus as they rode away on horse- 
 back, but her spying seemed unsatisfactory, for 
 she sighed heavily as she came down from her 
 post of observation, while a restless, almost 
 pained look swept over her features and settled 
 momentarily on her face. Often, after a close 
 scrutiny of his tall form from behind a window 
 curtain she would be lost in thought, from which 
 she would rouse herself apparently mortified and 
 disappointed. Once, after one of these fits of 
 abstraction, she rose grandly, and almost clenched 
 her hands as she muttered, 
 
 " It is impossible, utterly impossible ! Being 
 too much alone breeds these nervous fancies." 
 
 She was certainly not anxious to meet him 
 face to face again, otherwise, instead of this covert 
 espionage, so unworthy of her, what so easy as 
 to have managed a meeting in the park, where he 
 o constantly wandered.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 191 
 
 As Sir Cyrus rose to leave his daughter, he 
 turned to Miss Castle. 
 
 '^ You will of course chaperone your charge, this 
 evening, Miss Castle. I have not had a good cup 
 of coflee since you ceased to preside at the tea 
 table." 
 
 This was true, as Sir Cyrus invariably sweetened 
 it either too much, or, vice versa, too little, and 
 grumbled accordingly. 
 
 '^ Must I come down ?" she replied. 
 • '^ Must you? Of course you must. Cynthia, 
 silly child, will be nervous at facing her cousin 
 for the first time ; besides she requires a chaperon 
 now more than a governess !" 
 
 ^' At what hour will you be ready, Cynthia ?" 
 asked Miss Castle, when they were alone. 
 
 " Oh ! some time in the evening after dinner ; 
 between seven and eight, I suppose." 
 
 When Miss Castle reached her room, she— in- 
 stead of reconnoitring from the window as 
 usual, — sat down by the table, and leaning her
 
 192 SIR CYEUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 head on her hand, was soon lost in one of her 
 lately frequent fits of thought. 
 
 ^^ Requires a chaperon more than a governess, 
 now," murmured she, presently, " but for that 
 speech, I would have rebelled against going 
 below while he remains ; but I cannot help my- 
 self. Coute que coidey 1 7mist, if I wish ever to 
 reign here. That speech of Sir Cyrus's tells me* 
 as plainly as words can, that my role as a gover- 
 ness is very nearly over. My slave will be 
 emancipated, and must have a chaperon ; and- if 
 I refuse ? — but I cannot refuse. I will meet this 
 man with a coup de main and defy him !" and 
 she laughed ; but not heartily. 
 
 Just then a shrill whistle and a dog's loud bark, 
 sounded from beneath Miss Castle's open window. 
 
 Her window was always half open now ; she 
 seemed either to have forgotten or to feel little 
 of the chilliness of which she used so frequently 
 to complain to Cynthia, although the days were 
 fast merging into Autumn.
 
 SIR CYBUS OF STONYCLEFT. 193 
 
 At the sounds she rose hastily but noiselessly, 
 and cautiously a^Dproached the window. Mr. 
 Bedfield, with a large whip in one hand, and in 
 the other holding a chain which was attached to 
 Nero's collar, was just starting for a walk; while 
 Sir Cyrus stood on the terrace encouraging and 
 inciting Nero to go with him. But the dog, not- 
 withstanding the Baronet's repeated mandates of, 
 " Go with him, sir ! Hie on !" still resisted, 
 and it was not until he had administered a sharp 
 reprimand in the shape of a severe switch across 
 his back with his hunting whip, that Nero 
 sulkily followed or allowed himself to be unwil- 
 lingly led by Eaymond Bedfield. 
 
 " The dog hates him as much as he does me," 
 said Miss Castle. " I wish he would tear his 
 throat and leave him a prey for the worms. But 
 there ! there is no such luck." 
 
 She drew away from the window and opened 
 the drawers one after the other, pulling out the 
 dresses they contained. 
 
 VOL. 1. K
 
 194 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 ^^ If I wanted to create a sensation, I should 
 wear this," and she unfolded a pale lavender 
 poplin trimmed with cerise. ^^It is the most 
 becoming dress I have," and she advanced to the 
 glass and held it before her. It contrasted well 
 with her daik skin and hair; and it was with a 
 sigh she refolded it, and put it back in its place. 
 She turned over the others one by one, examining 
 and commenting on each in turn before putting 
 them by. Then she took a bunch of keys from 
 her pocket and opened a large trunk. It was 
 seemingly filled with dresses. She did not dis- 
 place them, but kneeling down, lifted them with 
 one hand and diving below with the other, 
 seized hold of one which she dragged out of the 
 box by main force on to the floor. 
 
 She lifted it and unfolded a rich black silk, 
 which she spread out on the bed. It seemed, — as 
 it laid there so gloomily with its dark bus in 
 strong contrast with the white counterpane, to 
 have a strange depressing effect upon her ; for she
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 195 
 
 clasped her hands round the bed-post, and leaning 
 her forehead against its carving, looked at it 
 dejectedly, almost mournfully. 
 
 ''He could not bear me in it/' she murmured, 
 presently. " It was too dark and melancholy for 
 those days. Yes, for those days, but not for 
 these. And yet I was more unhappy then than 
 now. But the remembrance, the remembrance ! 
 How can I bear to wear it, and recall that^ or a 
 time that well-nigh broke my heart." 
 
 Her eyes filled with tears, but she did not give 
 way to them, or allow them to flow, otherwise, 
 from the trembling of her lips, a passionate burst 
 would have been the consequence. She simply 
 drooped her forehead on to her hands for a 
 minute, then raised her head, and turning away 
 without looking at the dress again, went and 
 stood over at the window. She stood abstractedly, 
 her eyes fixed on vacancy until Nero's deep bark 
 aroused her, and drew her thoughts away from 
 the past to present scenes, and she looked towards 
 where Mr. Bedfield's tall form could be seen strid- 
 
 K 2
 
 SIR CYBUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 ing along in the distance, still with the dog un- 
 willingly following him. 
 
 " I wonder where he his going with the dog ? I 
 wonder, I wonder." 
 
 Was it a sudden impulse prompted her, — as in 
 Oynthia's case, when she had dogged her footsteps 
 Ly the river, — to snatch her hat and . shawl and 
 hurry away into the park. 
 
 Sir Cyrus was smoking on the terrace, and she 
 half retreated as she saw him, then boldly 
 advanced to where he sat. 
 
 "A lovely afternoon for a walk," said Sir 
 Cyrus. 
 
 ^' Yes, but the evenings grow cold," she re- 
 plied, as she lingered a moment, then passed 
 him, drawing her shawl rather closer around 
 her. 
 
 " She will soon be warm walking that pace," 
 thought Sir Cyrus, as she hastily swept away out 
 of sight. 
 
 Miss Castle hurried on. It was close upon 
 four o'clock, and she had yet a long way to go,
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 197 
 
 and must get back in time to dress for the even- 
 ing. 
 
 Down the drive and away to the right, amongst 
 the brushwood and over the fences she scrambled, 
 and so on to the hills that overhung the river ; but 
 avoiding their edges ; below which she guessed 
 Mr. Bedfield was walking. Reaching the slope 
 of the hill she hurried down it into the wood, 
 following the narrow pathway until she reached 
 a small open glade, where the trees had been care- 
 fully cleared away, and a small wooden seat 
 erected. Here Miss Castle, fairly out of breath,, 
 seated herself, but had hardly done so before a 
 footstep sounded, apparently not so very far away, 
 while Nero's growl and then bark rang out 
 through the stillness of the wood, scattering the 
 sparrows and small birds, whose wings hastily 
 fluttered about in all directions, ere they winged 
 their flight. ^ 
 
 Miss Castle sprung to her feet, then sat down 
 again and quickly pulled her veil, which was a 
 thick one, over her face ; but presently as though
 
 198 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 a sudden thought struck her, she caught up her 
 dress and crept softly and cautiously between the 
 trees, and in another moment was completely 
 hidden from sight, but not from the dog's scent, 
 who, as Mr. Bedfield advanced to the very spot 
 where Miss Castle had so lately been seated, 
 looked with his bright eyes in the direction where 
 she was crouched, and growled ominously. 
 
 Miss Castle trembled excessively. Would Mr. 
 Bedfield loose him ? She closed her eyes with 
 fear, and already seemed to feel in imagination 
 his sharp fangs on her throat. Would he, — Oh ! 
 would he, let him loose ? 
 
 No, he would not loose him. The dog's growl 
 had either not been heard, or heard and not under- 
 stood. 
 
 Mr. Bedfield after a moment's thought went 
 up to the largest tree ; they were mostly small 
 ones growing round the open space, and tested 
 its strength with one of those strong muscular 
 arms of his. It bent ; slightly bent, and that 
 was all. He dragged Nero close to it, and tied
 
 Sm CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 19^ 
 
 him there; the dog, although growling, mak- 
 ing no resistance, his attention being attracted 
 to the bush behind which Miss Castle was. 
 
 Having secured Nero, Mr. Bedfield shook out 
 the lash of his whip and held it menacingly before 
 the dog; while Miss Castle, with a shudder, 
 noticed that his left hand was bound up in a 
 handkerchief, which was dyed and stained with 
 blood. He held this hand almost close to the 
 dog's face, who growled at it savagely. 
 
 " Do you see that ? you brute !" he said, with an 
 oath, and then deliberately set to work and 
 thrashed him with all his might. 
 
 Nero flew to the length of his chain, and had 
 it broken, small would have been Mr. Bedfield' s 
 chance of life. Food for the worms he most cer- 
 tainly would have been ; for the dog's blood was 
 up, and little mercy would he' have shown. 
 
 Miss Castle looked on in terror. If the dog 
 got loose her doom was sealed. Did he not hato 
 her ? and had he not scented her out ? She could 
 Lot fly ; her limbs seemed to have lost all power,
 
 20O SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 and refused to aid lier, while her fascinated gaze 
 saw the uplifted whip before the sound of the 
 blow thrilled through her nerves, paralysing her 
 strength. 
 
 But the chain held firm, and after a while the 
 dog lay prostrate and bleeding. Then Mr. Bed- 
 field unchained and dragged him away through 
 the wood to the water's edge, and laved his 
 mouth. 
 
 Miss Castle's nerves had received a severe 
 shock. She remained in her hiding place in an 
 almost fainting state, and it was fully half an 
 hour before she was able to get up and walk 
 tremblingly home. 
 
 When she reached her room, she rang the bell. 
 
 '* Mary," said she, to the maid who answered 
 it, ^^ I do not feel well. Can you get me a glass 
 of wine ?" 
 
 " La, miss ! you do look bad." 
 
 ^^ Yes, I am subject to fainting fits ; but do not 
 say a word to any one ; I shall soon be all right
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 201 
 
 " Oh ! what a man to have for an enemy !" 
 said she, as she laid on the bed after drinking 
 the wine, and the warm blood began once more 
 to circulate freely. ^' What a man ! A man ? 
 nay, but he is a savage ! a barbarian ! a cold 
 blooded, revengeful wretch, with a heart like a 
 tiger's ; who, if he gets an inkling of my plans 
 with his uncle, will pursue me remorselessly 
 until, like the dog, I am exhausted in the strife, 
 and if not beaten, hunted to death. How can I 
 wage war with him ? I, a weak woman," said 
 she, in a hopelessly desponding tone, while she 
 pressed her hands tightly on her temples. " But 
 I am not a weak woman !" exclaimed she, sud- 
 denly, with energy ; " I was once, but not now — 
 not now. No, I shrink, but I will brave him. 
 He shall not defeat me without a struggle." 
 
 Half an hour later, she knocked at Cynthia's 
 door, dressed in the black silk, with not a vestige 
 of colour about it, the trimmings of the body 
 and skirt being black. Her hair — which was 
 
 K 5
 
 202 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 always w^^ved brushed off her face and tied up 
 in a knot at the back with a bright coloured 
 ribbon — was combed down smoothly over her 
 forehead, on which, as I have said, it grew low, 
 especially on the left side, so that the parting 
 was of necessity more to the right, giving at first 
 sight a strange one-sided look to her face ; while 
 the ribbon and knot had disappeared, and two 
 long silky plaits curled round her small head. 
 She looked frightfully pale, notwithstanding the 
 delicate rose colour that tinged her cheeks, but 
 failed in lighting up her eyes, which were hag- 
 gard and heavy, notwithstanding their daring, 
 fearless look. 
 
 '^ Good gracious, Miss Castle, how ill you look !'* 
 exclaimed Cynthia. 
 
 ''Do I?" replied she, carelessly, as walking to 
 the cheval glass, she turned herself about before 
 it; ''I do not see much difference, excepting 
 the new fashion of my hair. How do you like 
 it?"
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 203 
 
 ^^Like it? Not at all," replied Cynthia, 
 bluntly ; " I think you have made quite a figure 
 of yourself." 
 
 " Ah ! It is well I am not a vain woman, 
 otherwise I should be tempted to pull the whole 
 fabric down and build it up again." 
 
 " You would scarcely have time to build it up 
 again, as it is close upon eight o'clock ; besides, 
 I envy you the privilege of being able to make a 
 fright of yourself " 
 
 " How complimentary you are, Cynthia, when 
 I have been striving for ever so long to set my- 
 self off to the best advantage, and thought I had 
 succeeded." 
 
 " What ! with that dreadfal widow's peak so 
 plainly visible on your forehead, which until now 
 you have always hidden so successfally ? But 
 please do not let us both go down cross and out of 
 temper,'' said she, seeing Miss Castle looked a 
 little offended ; " it is your fault I have said so 
 much, but what with your hair and black dress — 
 you, who are so fond of gay colours — I declare I
 
 201- SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 should scarcely recognise you, and I am sure 
 papa will not." 
 
 Miss Castle smiled quite blandly. 
 
 ^^ Not recognise me ?" echoed she. 
 
 '^ No, I should not," said Cynthia, taking her 
 arm, and then adding, as though a sudden 
 thought struck her, *^ but I suppose you have 
 a motive for disguising yourself, for I can call it 
 nothing else. Or perhaps you think it necessary, 
 now you are no longer my governess but my 
 chaperon, to alter your style, and come out as 
 une grande dameJ'^ 
 
 Miss Castle bit her lip and made no reply to 
 this impertinent speech ; but oh ! if she ever did 
 indeed become une grande dame and step- mother 
 to the little tormentor by her side, how she 
 would make her pay for all her spiteful, wound- 
 ing speeches. 
 
 They entered the drawing-room, where Sir Cyras 
 and his nephew already were. 
 
 " I feared your headache had returned," said 
 the former, " and was about sending to enquire.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 203 
 
 My daughter, Mr. Bedfield. Cynthia, your 
 cousin. Miss Castle, I believe you have already 
 been introduced." 
 
 The evening did not pass very smoothly. 
 
 Sir Cyrus kept up the old-fashioned custom of 
 having the table laid out for tea, and Miss Castle, 
 who of necessity presided at it now Cynthia was 
 unable to do so, effectually screened her face from 
 Mr. Bedfield behind the tea urn. Sir Cyrus 
 helped her in this, by placing his nephew exactly 
 opposite her, and close to the sofa on which his 
 daughter lay. 
 
 Cynthia looked pale, but very lovely, notwith- 
 standing the loss of her soft curls. The little 
 lace cap, with its pale blue ribbons, was no dis- 
 figurement, but, if anything, heightened her 
 beauty, giving her so youthful an appearance, 
 that, but for the occasional fire in her dark eyes, 
 and the sometimes proud impatient toss of her 
 head, she might have passed for a child. She 
 scarcely opened her lips at first, save to reply in
 
 206 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 monosyllables to Raymond, and then her soft, 
 sweet voice was strangely at variance with his 
 deep, full toned one. Mr. Bedfield was seldom 
 at a loss for conversation, and talked on bravel}', 
 apparently heedless of the short, sometimes 
 sharp answers he received. Once he re-arranged 
 Cynthia's pillows for her before Miss Castle could 
 reach the spot ; but then the latter showed no 
 great alacrity in her movements, bat halted half 
 way, as Cynthia, with a deep blush, thanked her 
 cousin for his assistance, and flashed her dark 
 eyes angrily at Miss Castle, who returned to her 
 game of backgammon with the baronet. 
 
 Later on in the evening, as Sir Cyrus set up 
 the board for another game, Miss Castle glanced 
 furtively behind her. 
 
 ^' Is there time?" inquired she. 
 
 " Plenty. They are contented enough, and in 
 no hurry to separate;" and as if to verify hia 
 words, Cynthia laughed gaily. " There !" said 
 he, " did you hear that ! You women are strange
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 207 
 
 beings ; a little well timed flattery soon wins 
 over the most obdurate of you. How soon he," 
 and he nodded meaningly at his nephew, '^ has 
 thawed the ice." 
 
 " He would never win me over," she replied, 
 quietly. 
 
 Sir Cyrus laughed. 
 '' Why not ?" he asked. 
 '' Because — you must not be angry ?" 
 '' Angry ! Of course not." 
 *• Then— I do not like Mr. Bedfield." 
 " That's a blot," said Sir Cyrus, rattling the 
 dice and preparing for his throw ; "now see if I 
 don't take you up. There I I have. And made 
 a point moreover." 
 
 Was it the pleasure of getting such an advan- 
 tage in the game, the anxiety of making a still 
 better throw, made him hesitate ere he threw 
 again ? while, leaning forward, he whispered al«» 
 most in her ear, 
 
 ''JSTeither do I. Neither do I," and then the 

 
 208 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 dice rattled down so fiercely, that Cynthia quite 
 started. 
 
 " Dear papa ! pray do not do that again. Miss 
 Castle, when you have finished that game, will 
 you ring for the night candles ?"
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 209 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 MORE CHANGES THAN ONE. 
 
 Money and interest were, in tlie dajs of wliich 
 I write, two sure stepping-stones to obtaining a 
 commission in the army. Mugging up for ex- 
 aminations was then unheard of; not but what, 
 had the regulations required it, Frederick Alywin 
 might have come off with flying colours, or, at 
 the least, passed a good, if not a first-class ex- 
 amination, for he was not by any manner of 
 means a dull man, but sharp and quick, if not 
 clever. During his college life, although extra-
 
 J 
 
 210 Sm CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 vagant;, he was not recklessly so. His mother 
 said his being there cost a sight of money ; but 
 his debts were mostly incurred in keeping up ap- 
 pearances, or, as he explained it, cutting a dash 
 like any other fellow. Fred, to do him justice, 
 had studied hard and well, and would have passed 
 his " little go " with ease, had not the lash of 
 Sir Cyrus's whip thrashed out all desire of enter- 
 ing the Church ; for, if he did, how and where 
 would be his revenge ? — which still burnt fiercely 
 in his heart, clogging all its best feelings. 
 
 It was in November — dreary, dull November, 
 Fred found himself gazetted as ensign in one of 
 Her Majesty's regiments of the line, under 
 orders to sail for India, and he to join forthwith. 
 Sir Cyrus had managed his part of the business 
 successfully, and, so far as he was concerned, 
 well ; but Frederick Alywin laughed in his sleeve 
 at the trick, and saw through it more easily than 
 Sir Cyrus imagined. 
 
 What bustle and confusion in the little house 
 at Broadbelt, as the days drew on for Fred's de-
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 211 
 
 parture ! What tearful, sad eyes from Charlotte I 
 What hysterical sobs and abuse of Sir Cyrus 
 from Mrs. Alywin ! 
 
 The latter had been to Stonycleft, in the first 
 moments of her despair; had begged and 
 beseeched — had implored with all a mother's 
 fears and griefs ; but all in vain. Her blandest 
 smiles, her tears and sobs were fruitless, — the 
 baronet was impervious to all, even to flattery, 
 and would do nothing in the matter, or help her 
 if he could. The Horse Guards— of which she 
 knew as much as she did of Greek or Latin — ■ 
 were to blame, not he ; and as to giving her a 
 letter to some great personage about Court, who 
 would help her to petition the Queen, the idea 
 convulsed Sir Cyrus with laughter, and much 
 irritated and scandalised Mrs. My win; who went 
 home to her bed, and there cried to her heart's 
 content and relief, until she was tired, or had no 
 more tears to shed, when she got up and busied 
 herself — with doleful sighs — in helping pack her 
 sen's thin2:s.
 
 212 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 *'l shall never see the half of these clothes 
 again," said she, dotting down a list of the 
 several articles Charlotte was collecting together 
 for one of the trunks. ^^ However is a young 
 man to look after eight dozen pocket handker- 
 chiefs ! he'll use each of them once, and then they'll 
 be thrown about and lost or stolen— six dozen 
 shirts, ditto socks." (Mrs. Alywin, who, as I have 
 said, had been in the linen drapery business, 
 spelt them sox), ^^ Only fancy the holes we 
 shall have to mend ! large enough to put one's 
 thumb through, I'll be bound ; while as to the 
 shirts, he'll most likely come home without a rag 
 to his back !" 
 
 " I hope he will not remain abroad so long as 
 that," sighed Charlotte, mournfully. 
 
 " I wish to goodness, girl, you'd not talk iu 
 that tone. I'm heart-broken enough already, 
 without your croaking." 
 
 " But when do you think Fred will return, 
 aunt?" 
 
 " When do I think ? why the day after he
 
 SIR CYHUS OF STONYCLEFT. 213 
 
 goes, if he does go. I'm always hoping some- 
 thing will turn up to prevent him. I don't give 
 way to the dismals, like you. Why, every time I 
 hear the postman's knock, I'm fit to jump out of 
 my skin, thinking it will most likely bring us 
 good news." 
 
 '^But, aunt, who could stop Fred's going 
 now ?" 
 
 " There you go again ! how do I know ? But 
 I do know, ' there's many a slip between the cup 
 and the lip.' If Fred had only stuck — as he 
 ought to have done — like a leech to the Church, 
 all these heart-aches wouldn't have happened. 
 If— if, if s and and's were — but, there, I mustn't 
 quote that ; Fred says its a vulgar saying, but it 
 was never thought so in my day. I suppose the 
 world is getting more polite and particular than 
 it used to be." 
 
 '' Shall I pack Fred's regimentals, or do you 
 think he would rather do so himself?" 
 
 *' Leave them to the last. Looking at them 
 helps to console me a little ;" and she glanced at
 
 214 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 the bright scarlet coat, thrown over the back of 
 a chair. " [t's a lovely, rich-looking stulf, isn't 
 it? If it had been a dark colour, I could not 
 have borne it ; but I do love the scarlet, it looks 
 BO grand — and Fred looks as handsome as a king 
 in it. I only wish he'd have worn the whole 
 toggery at church, yesterday ; how I should have 
 gloried to have heard his sword clattering down the 
 aisle. The dragoons, at St. Peter's Church, at 
 Cumber, when I was young, used to make many 
 a girl's heart dance, v/ith the noise of their spurs 
 and swords." 
 
 *^ Hark ! there's the postman on the opposite 
 side," said Charlotte, who, unconsciously to her- 
 self, shared her aunt's idea of good news, 
 S ^' Is there? Run down and see for the letters. 
 It only wants three days now ; and if a reprieve 
 should ^ come, I think I should go out of my 
 senses." 
 
 But no ; no reprieve had come ; it was only a 
 letter for Fred. 
 
 •^ Is it a long envelope, with a big splash of
 
 SIR CYrtUS OF STONYCLEFT. 215 
 
 Wax for a seal? Those are wliat Fred calls 
 officials, and all we have to hope for now," sighed 
 Mrs. Alywin. 
 
 ^' There is no seal at all." 
 
 " What, wide open ?" 
 
 *^ No, aunt ; it is gummed down. I will fetcli 
 it." 
 
 Back Charlotte came with the letter, which 
 filielianded to Mrs. Alywin. 
 
 " It is a lady's handwriting," said she, her 
 quick eye readily following the dictates of her 
 jealous heart. 
 
 "A lady's handwriting! How do you know 
 that?" and Mrs. Alywin took the letter and ex- 
 amined it closely. 
 
 It was a small letter — almost a note, and 
 looked smaller than it really was, grasped so rudely 
 in those fat handS;, which seemed as though they 
 would crush its sides. The direction was beauti- 
 fully written in a delicate, running-hand. 
 
 "' It is a lady's writing ; and, moreover, it's 
 posted at Broadbelt. I wonder whoever it can
 
 216 SIK CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 be from ?" said Mrs. Alywin, turning and twist- 
 ing it about; but as she laid it down, she 
 suddenly bethought her of Miss Castle. 
 
 She seized the note again, and re-examined 
 it. 
 
 What could Miss Castle have to say to her 
 son ? Had Sir Cyrus proved too tough for her, 
 and was she now trying her fascinations else- 
 where ? 
 
 " I am glad he's off, that I am !" exclaimed 
 Mrs. Alywin, forgetting all about Charlotte, who 
 looked half frightened — almost scared, at her 
 aunt's words. 
 
 ^^ There, don't stare at me as if I was mad, but 
 go on with your packing, while I go down and 
 .g^.inake a tart for Fred, about the last I shall make 
 for him." 
 
 " Yes, aunt. Shall I give him the letter when 
 he comes home?" 
 
 '* Yes — no. It's in my pocket." 
 
 Mrs. Alywin fidgetted about the room for a 
 while, and then, as if suddenly making up her
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 217 
 
 mind, turned short round and faced the young 
 girl. 
 
 '^ Charlotte ! I should like to open this letter. 
 
 " Oh, aunt, pray don't !" 
 
 "As a mother, mind— as Fred's mother, I 
 have a right to see he is not imposed upon by 
 an artful, designing hussy ! — a bold, conceited 
 jade !" 
 
 " But—" 
 
 " But ! But I tell you I've a right to; but I 
 shan't, because you would never see the sense of 
 it where Fred's concerned. Because it's his 
 letter, you'd think me dishonest and sly ;" and 
 in a rage, Mrs. Alywin flung the letter on to the 
 chest of drawers near where Charlotte stood, and 
 flounced out of the room angrily^ '^ I might 
 have talked till doomsday, and never have con- 
 vinced her !" said she. 
 
 Charlotte went on with her packing, until in- 
 terrupted by Fred. 
 
 " Where's the letter mother is making such a 
 fuss about ?" he asked. 
 
 YOL. I. L
 
 218 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 He read it with a bright flush of pleasure oa 
 his face, which did not escape Charlotte's obser- 
 vation. 
 
 " Who is Miss Castle ?" asked he, presently. 
 " Miss Bedfield's governess." 
 He laughed heartily. '* I thought as much," 
 he said, " only I fancied there might possibly be 
 two of the same name. Eather a rich idea, that, 
 of my mother's." 
 
 '^What?" asked Charlotte. 
 " Didn't she tell you ?" and he laughed 
 again. 
 "No." • 
 
 *^"Well, I half gave you the credit of having 
 put it into her head." 
 
 ^' I never make mischief, as yon well know." 
 *^ Then I wonder what in the world induced 
 her to make such an absurd guess about the 
 letter being from Miss Castle." 
 " Is it not from her, then ?" 
 " Of course not. Don't pack those things, 
 Charlotte, give them here. A woman never can
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 219 
 
 fold a coat properly. Why on earth," said he, 
 spreading them on the bed, '' does not Jane help 
 you? It's a shame you should have so much 
 trouble on my account.'* 
 
 " I lite it," she replied, quietly. 
 " It's very certain no one would do it as well. 
 I wonder who I shall get to mend my gloves and 
 sew on my shirt buttons by-and-bye. I shall 
 miss you greatly, Charlotte." 
 "Will you?" 
 
 He looked at her in surprise. " What on earth 
 is the matter with you?" 
 «^ Nothing, Fred." 
 
 «' Nothing! Then I wish to Heaven you 
 would talk in a little livelier strain, and not snap 
 
 a fellow up so." 
 
 Fred's sharp reproof wounded her to the quick. 
 It was the second time that day she had been 
 scolded for being low spirited; and utterly sub- 
 dued and overcome, Charlotte dropped the things 
 she held in her hand, and sitting down on one of 
 the trunks, burst into tears. 
 
 L 2
 
 220 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 Fred's anger vanished. He went hastily to- 
 wards her. 
 
 *^ Have I said anything to wound you, 
 Charlotte?" 
 
 ** No, no," she sobbed. 
 
 *^ Then for God's sake don't cry so. What can 
 I say to soothe you ? Tell me." 
 
 How could she tell him she loved him with all 
 her heart, and that a sharp word from him was 
 more than she could bear ? while a kind one was 
 worth all the world beside. 
 
 He took' her trembling hand in his warm 
 steady ones. 
 
 " Charlotte !" he said, '^ there's no one in the 
 wide world I would sooner have for my wife than 
 you. You would make a different man of me. 
 God knows what I shall be without you J" 
 
 The hand he held trembled perceptibly now. 
 He went on. 
 
 "And more than that. I believe that even 
 now, if I could forego the life I have marked out 
 for myself, I should be, with you by my side, a 
 happier man in the end."
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT^. 221 
 
 '' What life ?" she asked. 
 
 *^ A life that I dare not tell you of. You would 
 trample your love under your small foot ; crush 
 it ! tear it out of your heart ; for I know you 
 love me, Charlotte ; and I know with your pure, 
 high-minded notions you would never stand firm, 
 or keep faith with a bad man ; and such, one of 
 these days, you will learn to think me." 
 
 '^ Oh, Fred ! don't say that. Have I cast you 
 off because you told me that dreadful secret about 
 — about giving up the Church ?" 
 
 " No; but you shrank from me for days after- 
 wards." 
 
 *' Alas, Fred! Can you not understand how 
 grievous your falling away from the truth was to 
 me?" 
 
 " It was the crumbling of the first stone from 
 off the pedestal you had erected in my honour." 
 
 *'Ah! you acknowledge that ?" she said. 
 
 " I acknowledge nothing. The turning 
 Romanist, if I do turn," said Fred, carelessly.
 
 222 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 ^' is but a small sin in comparison to those that 
 must follow." 
 
 '' Must 1 There is no must, Fred ; no necessity 
 for sin, surely ?" 
 
 " I thought so once ; but circumstances alter 
 opinions \ at least-they do in my case." 
 
 "Oh, Fred! what a way you talk. Does 
 breaking your mother's heart go for nothing ? — 
 breaking mine — ?" 
 
 ^'It would never break my mother's heart. 
 She, who used to be all love for everybody, now 
 hates Sir Cyrus more bitterly than my brother 
 does. See how she has changed ; and why should 
 not I ? But you — your heart ? If anything could 
 turn me from my purpose the breaking that 
 would. Charlotte ! I wish to God I had married 
 you a year ago ; now the thing is impossible, can- 
 not be ; nay, more, when I see you again you will 
 no longer love me, possibly have married another." 
 
 " And you can talk of it so coolly as this ?'* 
 asked she, reproachfully.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 223 
 
 ^^ We can never be roan and wife, although I 
 know you would marry me to-morrow, and think 
 it no sacrifice to be buried alive in this beastly 
 place I'm bound to/' said he, with an oath, 
 that startled her, ^^ yet I can't take you there ; 
 can't accept your love. It is, perhaps, best for 
 both of us. When I do marry, I shall marry for 
 money, rank, and all the rest of it. Forgive 
 me, Charlotte. I fear I wound you, but I tell 
 you all this for your good. It's very painful to 
 me." 
 
 "No you do not!" she said, snatching her 
 hand from his, and confronting him with flaming 
 cheeks; "you tell it to wound and insult me, or 
 if you do not, it is an insult ! and a gross one. 
 Love you !" continued she, scornfully ; " well, if 
 I do it will not be for long. A Romanist ! per- 
 haps a — a murderer; for how do I know what you 
 are hinting at so darkly ? No, you are truly not 
 worth any honest girl's love ; but there is such a 
 word as remorse ! and that — mark mj words —
 
 224 SIR CYEUS or stoktcleft. 
 
 whatever the sin you contemplate, will haunt you 
 like a fierce fire one of these days." 
 
 ^^ I have been driven to it — driven to it," said 
 he, gloomily, as she went away, closing the door 
 rather sharply behind her. 
 
 When the evening had closed in Frederick 
 Alywin left the house, and once more struck 
 across the fields towards Stonycleft.
 
 SIB CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 225 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 CAUGHT NAPPING. 
 
 Two montlis have slipped by since the evening 
 of Cynthia's introduction to her cousin, and we 
 come to November, with its fogs, short days, 
 stripped trees, and drizzling rain. Eaymond 
 Bedfield was still a visitor at Stonycleft. With 
 some who had been prejudiced against him he had 
 made his peace ; with others, his uncle in particu- 
 lar, he had lost ground. Sir Cyrus could not 
 overcome the dislike he had conceived towards 
 
 L 5
 
 226 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 him, a dislike that increased daily, and was 
 fostered and encouraged by Miss Castle, who on 
 her part viewed him with distrust. That she had 
 a difficult part to play cannot be denied, looked 
 on — as she well knew she was — with suspicion by 
 Mr. Bedfield, she yet managed to steer safely, 
 though at times with imminent risk, among the 
 rocks and shoals in her way. That a quicksand 
 lay ahead into which, by an inadvertent step, 
 she might be plunged and wrecked, she well 
 knew ; neither did Mr. Bedfield allow her to for- 
 get it. He was always throwing out hints or 
 inuendoes that made her heart quake, although 
 the voice, when she replied, or was forced to 
 parry his attacks, never quavered ; it was steady 
 enough. 
 
 Perhaps a letter, written by Mr. Bedfield to his 
 mother about this time, will throw a better in- 
 sight into the state of things at Stonycleft just 
 now, than I can possibly describe. 
 
 After tender enquiries as to her health, which 
 had been again ailing, he wrote : —
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 227 
 
 ^^ I cannot say that I dislike Miss Castle; there 
 my dear Mother you misunderstand me. I 
 admire her too much as yet, to dislike her. I 
 cannot better describe my feelings than by 
 quoting the old distich, 
 
 * The reason why I cannot tell, 
 I do not like you, Mr. Fell.' 
 
 That expresses what I feel, capitally. The 
 reason why, has escaped me as yet. Some- 
 times I lose sight of it altogether ; at other times 
 it strikes me forcibly that I have seen her at some 
 prior time. But where ? and how ? and when ? 
 My little cousin, who I promised you I would 
 bate with all my heart, and which promise, by- 
 the-bye, I have only half kept, told me yesterday 
 that the ' chaperon ' — she is no longer governess — 
 made a fright of herself as soon as I arrived here. 
 That in itself is suspicious, and looks like an 
 attempt at disguise ; in fact Cynthia spoke of it 
 as such. I keep my eyes open and my mouth 
 shut as yet, for I have nothing to tax her with ; 
 all is dark. I suspect she is playing a deep game
 
 228 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 with the baronet, and if my suspicions be- 
 come certainty, then war to the knife ; and you, 
 my dear mother, must come and help me. Your 
 wits and memory may be better than mine, un- 
 less — which is likely — I may have seen her during 
 those rambles I took half over the world a year 
 ago ; but for those, I could draw our knowledge of 
 one another within a very small compass ; but in 
 hunting down a woman a man's not the very best 
 hand. Woman against woman all the world over. 
 No compunction, no twitchings of conscience 
 deters a woman from tabooing another. Give 
 her a little piece of thread to lay hold of between 
 her small fingers, and the cotton is unwound to 
 the very end, and the reel laid bare. I don't 
 blame your sex ; not I. Am I not as vengefully 
 inclined towards Sir Cyrus, and won't I make 
 him smart, if I can, for all h§ made you suffer 
 Hunt down the chaperon, mother, if you like, 
 and I swear I'll never lift a finger to help her. 
 She interests me all the same, and is a study. 
 Never at fault, never angry, save with her eyes ;
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 229 
 
 do and say what I will. As to the photo detec^ 
 tion, she is too crafty for us there, and I find has 
 never had one taken ; so unless we can take her 
 napping — which is unlikely — there is an end to 
 that scheme. But I am ready to try anything 
 else short of murder.- I don't blame her for try- 
 ing to catch the baronet, not I ; but if she marries 
 him there will be the devil to pay, for as sure as 
 fate there will be an heir. Now don't worry and 
 fret about it ; she plays her cards secretly and 
 well, but you and I must try and play ours better. 
 She is a handsome woman, and as crafty as a 
 fox !" 
 
 It will be seen from this that the uncle and 
 nephew's dislike was mutual, although the 
 baronet was too polished a gentleman to be un- 
 civil to his guest. His manner was stiff and 
 formal, and without being affable, polite, almost 
 too much so, as in avoiding one evil he ran in 
 danger of the opposite extreme. 
 
 Cynthia's spirits had flagged terribly of late.
 
 230 SIR CYKUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 She was out of the doctor's hands now, and 
 almost herself again, and being emancipated from 
 the school-room she and her cousin were of 
 necessity thrown much together, and were al- 
 most on the footing of brother and sister. She 
 was no longer an invalid, although she looked 
 anything but strong; her fair, transparent com- 
 plexion helping to make her appear more deli- 
 cate than she really was. She was all anxiety 
 to be out and about the park again, but Sir 
 Cyrus, who lately had taken the greatest care of 
 her, generally decided that the day was either 
 too damp or too cold ; or if the sun did shine 
 out, and he, forced to allow that there was no 
 tangible excuse for keeping her within doors, 
 either took her for a drive himself, or Miss Castle 
 accompanied her for a walk. Cynthia grew to 
 know that she was never allowed out by herself, 
 and her spirit rose rebelliously at the surveillance 
 in which she was kept, and as the days drew ou 
 for Frederick Alywin's departure her smiles were 
 few and far between, and her whole bearing one
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 231 
 
 of drooping depression, while the baronet's 
 vigilance was, if anything, redoubled tenfold. 
 
 Cynthia was a prisoner, and she felt it ; while 
 not only her spirit, but her will, — which was as 
 determined as her father's, — rose to fever heat. 
 She knew Sir Cyrus was bent upon preventing a 
 meeting between herself and Frederick Alywin , 
 a meeting she had determined should be ; while 
 nurse having exhausted all her arguments pas- 
 sively allowed things to take their course, 
 although with expressed fears and presentiments 
 of the evils that would be sure to arise out of so 
 wilful a course, evils that her young mistress 
 could not and would not see. 
 
 Cynthia was dressing for dinner, no very tedious 
 task, now that she had no plaits or hair to arrange, 
 but simply the brush to pass through the soffc 
 fair curls. Her face was flushed ; she seemed 
 nervous and excitable ; one moment depressed, 
 and the next laughing hysterically. 
 
 " He," — Cynthia rarely mentioned Frederick
 
 232 SIR CYEUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 Alywin by name, — ^' must have had the letter by 
 this time, nurse ?" 
 
 *•! put it in the post myself,'* was the answer, 
 ^* Miss Castle couldn't have got hold of it, 
 although she did stick to me as long as she could, 
 and tried to ferret out where I was going ; but 
 I can be as deep as she is any day, and unless 
 Miss Castle laid her finger on it after I dropped 
 it in the box, I'm afraid Mr. Alywin, — bad luck 
 to him," — said she, in a whisper, " has read it 
 long before now." 
 
 '* You're bent on this work, missy ?" asked she, 
 sorrowfully, as Cynthia turned to leave the room. 
 '^ Can your old nurse say nothing to turn you from 
 it?" 
 
 " Oh, Nursey ! I thought we had settled all 
 that yesterday. My word is passed, and when 
 did you know me break troth ? You only say it 
 to vex me, you dear old tormenting creature." 
 
 '' Well-a-day ! it's a bad sign when — " 
 
 ** Don't tell me anything about signs, and
 
 SIR CYRUS OB^ STONYCLEFT. 233 
 
 dreams, and. omens, and all the rest of it. I 
 don't believe in them, Nursey, and — there/' said 
 she, breaking off, '' don't look so frightened. I 
 love you with all my heart, that I do," and she 
 threw her arms round the old woman's neck ; 
 "but if— if he went away without my seeing 
 him, I should die !" and then, by dint of tears 
 and caresses, Cynthia carried her point, as she 
 always did. 
 
 " I shall be back again as soon as dinner is 
 over, or as quickly as I possibly can ; so dear — 
 dear Nursey, have everything ready, if you do 
 not wish me to do something more desperate 
 than this moonlight walk you are croaking 
 about." 
 
 " And she would," said nurse, when left to her- 
 self; " would go off with him perhaps. The 
 Bedfields are a wilful and desperate lot when 
 thwarted; so it's all for the best — all for the 
 best ;" but nurse did not think so, for she sighed 
 and muttered to herself again and again. 
 
 She was at the wardrobe with Cynthia's seal
 
 224 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 skin coat in her hand, when Miss Castle looked 
 in. 
 
 " Where is Miss Bedfiekl ?' ' she asked. 
 
 Nurse was startled, and for the moment con- 
 fused. 
 
 ^* Gone down to dinner j miss," she answered . 
 and then deliberately turned her back and pulled 
 out one by one, sundry more wraps ; shawls and 
 cloaks falling one after another on to the floor. 
 
 " What are you doing there ?" asked Miss 
 Castle, who had seen her confusion with surprise, 
 and immediately was on the alert. 
 
 But nurse had recovered her presence of mind, 
 
 " What should I be doing but tidying Miss 
 Bedfield's wardrobe. Do you think I'm going 
 to eat the things ?" asked she , impertinently and 
 angrily. 
 
 ^' Bete r exclaimed Miss Castle, stamping her 
 foot, and going down stairs with a still less 
 polite expression, — if not expressed — hovering 
 on her tongue. 
 
 ** Cousin," said Cynthia, laying her hand on
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. S3 5 
 
 Raymond's arm as they went into dinner ; '^ will 
 you do me a favour ?" 
 
 "I will." 
 
 " With no questions as to the why or where^ 
 fore ?" 
 
 '' With none." 
 
 " Then please keep papa as long as you can 
 over his wine to-day." 
 
 "Is that all?" 
 
 " All. You promise ?" 
 
 " I do," said he, readily ; but Cynthia's eager 
 excited face and earnest manner haunted him all 
 through dinner, and although he asked no ques- 
 tions openly, yet inwardly he was continually 
 trying to solve the why and wherefore. ^ 
 
 Miss Castle often took a nap after dinner; 
 latterly this had almost become a confirmed habit ; 
 perhaps it was thus she recruited her strength for 
 the constant sparring and inward war — for it was 
 not an acknowledged one — between herself and 
 Raymond; certainly she always awoke, looking 
 bright, fresh, and animated — almost defiant. To-
 
 236 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 night she was more than usually drowsy, Cynthia 
 having sat chatting with her in her room the night 
 before until Jong past midnight ; and no sooner 
 did she find herself on the soft luxuriant sofa, 
 than she fell asleep. 
 
 Cynthia rose softly, and as quick as thought was 
 in her own room, where stood nurse with shawl 
 and bonnet on^ the tears streaming down her 
 face. 
 
 " Quick ! quick, nurse !" she cried. 
 
 But for all answer the woman dropped on her 
 knees, and with prayers and entreaties sought to 
 dissuade her young mistress, as she had done once 
 before that day. 
 
 " Don't, don't be so wilful. God knows what 
 harm may come of it," she said. 
 
 '^ I will go alone," cried Cynthia, determinedly j 
 *^ and then perhaps harm will come of it," and 
 she snatched the seal skin coat off nurse's arm. 
 
 Nurse rose from her knees, and without 
 another word wrapped it round Cynthia's slender 
 figure, aud throwing a long water-proof cloak
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 237 
 
 over all, she followed the joung girl ; who stole 
 lightly down the back-stairs and away into the 
 park, where the stars, shining like diamonds 
 overhead, were all the light they had to guide 
 their footsteps. Cynthia walked firmly, and 
 without the slightest hesitation, but nurse stum- 
 bled perpetually, and — though she said no word 
 — her sighs at each false step were loud and 
 frequent. 
 
 Miss Castle dosed on in the drawing-room until 
 roused by the butler bringing in tea ; but she 
 was too sleepy to heed anything so dosed ofi again, 
 more soundly than before, until she was disturbed 
 by, and conscious of a hand being laid on her 
 shoulder. She started with a half-smothered 
 cry. It was Sir Cyrus. The urn hissed on the 
 table ; and Raymond Bedfield, who stood facing 
 her with his back to the fire, had his small crafty 
 eyes fixed on her searchingly and thoughtfully. 
 
 She was quite awake now. 
 
 '^ We are waiting tea," said Sir* Cyrus ; ^^ where 
 is Cynthia?"
 
 238 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 *^ I am SO sorry ; so very sorry. I had not an 
 idea it was so late." 
 
 " Where is Miss Bedfield ?" asked the baronet, 
 once more. 
 
 '* Is she not here ?" said she, looking round. 
 *' Ah ! she does not know it is tea time. I will 
 fetch her." 
 
 She went— was gone ten — twenty minutes; 
 and then, with a scared look on her face, came 
 hack without her. 
 
 "Where is Miss Bedfield?" asked Sir Cyrus, 
 once more, and this time m ore sternly. 
 
 " I— I do not know. I— I—" 
 
 The cup and saucer Sir Cyrus held, clattered 
 on to the floor and lay shattered in a dozen frag- 
 ments. He strode to where Miss Castle had 
 tremblingly seated herself, and seized her 
 arm. 
 
 '^ Where is she ? Speak, madam!" said he, his 
 face white with rage. 
 
 *^Ah! Mon'Dieu! You hurt me. But— but 
 how can I help it? She has worn her seal skin
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 239 
 
 coat ; and — and I cannot find that vilaine femme, 
 her nurse !" 
 
 Was Sir Cyrus guilty of an oath as he brushed 
 rudely past her towards the door ? 
 
 " What is it, sir ? Can I help you ?" cried his 
 nephew, hastily following him. 
 
 '^ No. Stay where you are, I command — nay, 
 entreat, if you will." 
 
 In another moment Sir Cyrus had left the room, 
 in ten minutes the house.
 
 240 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 BROUGHT TO BAY. 
 
 Eaymond Bedfield had looked on the foregoing 
 scene with unqualified amazement. Had his uncle 
 suddenly lost his senses, or Miss Castle, usually 
 so calm and collected, been guilty of some rash 
 indiscreet action ? And why had the fact of his 
 cousin having put on her seal skin coat — than 
 what was more natural, seeing it was a chilly 
 evening ? — roused such violent anger on Sir Cyrus' 
 part ? He could have laughed outright at the — 
 to him— absurdity of the thing, had it not been for
 
 SIR CYKUS OF STOi^YCLEFT. 241 
 
 Miss Castle, who sat just where the baronet had 
 left her, her white face and trembling, agitated 
 state, being more mystifying than his uncle's 
 sudden outburst of rage. Mr. Bedfield stood 
 warming his coat tails before the fire, exactly op- 
 posite Miss Castle, evidently making a study of 
 her face. 
 
 Presently she roused herself; the colour came 
 back once more, and although her hands still 
 shook, they grew steadier every moment. 
 
 She rose and rang the bell. 
 
 '^ You can take away," she said to the butler, 
 who answered it, " and bring the wine." 
 
 The man looked round the room anxiously. 
 
 " Sir C3TUS has ordered his horse, miss,^' he 
 said. 
 
 ^' I know it," she replied. 
 
 '* I never knew him ride out so late ; since— m/ 
 lady died." 
 
 ^' There is a reason for it." 
 
 ** God grant it's a good one," muttered the old 
 man, as he placed the wine on the table. 
 
 VOL. 1. M
 
 242 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 Mr. Bedfield said nothing. 
 As soon as the man had gone, Miss Castle 
 poured out some wine. When she had drank it, 
 she turned to Mr. Bedfield. 
 
 «< Why do you look at me so rudely ? It 
 would have been more polite had you rang the 
 bell, or helped me to the wine. I am sure I 
 needed it." 
 
 " To tell the truth, I am utterly bewildered. 
 What in the name of heaven is all this row 
 about ?" 
 
 " Simply nothing." 
 
 '^ Oh ! Ah ! A likely story, and one I am not 
 to be humbugged with." 
 
 " I am the most unlikely person in the world 
 to humbug you.'' 
 
 ^' You are^ " he replied, decidedly ; " my 
 uncle has not seen so much of human nature as I 
 have." 
 
 *^And therefore more easily humbugged you 
 would say." 
 
 *' And therefore more easily humbugged," he 
 repeated.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. S43 
 
 Her eyes flamed, but she muttered softly, 
 
 *' Toujour s gai, toujour s sourianteJ'^ 
 
 *' That seems a favourite saying of yours," said 
 Mr. Bedfield. 
 
 She did not answer ; perhaps the sounds with- 
 out prevented her, for just then a horse's hoofs 
 rang out over the gravel beneath the terrace, then 
 died away in the distance. 
 
 '^ That's my hot headed uncle. Don't you 
 wish you could ride ; but I do not think it is one 
 of your many accomplishments. ' Over the hills 
 and far away/ " said he, and then whistled the 
 air as he stirred the fire. 
 
 Miss Castle rose steadily and stood before him, 
 with her hands crossed meekly at her waist. 
 
 " Mr. Bedfield, you are rude, very rude to me 
 — always rude to me now. What have I done to 
 make you so ? How have I incurred your ill 
 will ? I have no home, no friends, no money ; I 
 am alone in the world and unprotected. Is it 
 fair ? is it right you should try and deprive me 
 of all these ? Is it manly of you ? If you know 
 
 M 2
 
 244 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 anythiDg against me, or if you thirik you do, why 
 not accuse me at once ? I am not afraid. But 
 it is not right — it is not just, to hunt me down 
 because I have no one to stand up for me ;" she 
 said all this quietly and softly, without the 
 slightest excitement or anger in her voice, but he 
 noticed that she never once raised her eyes to his. 
 
 What had he to accuse her of? Simply nothing ; 
 only suspicions in which as yet there was no 
 certainty. She saw her advantage and pur- 
 sued it. 
 
 " What do you accuse me of?" she asked. 
 
 ^^ Nothing," he replied, hesitatingly. 
 
 ^' Then it is not brave, it is not generous of you 
 to try and take away my friends, to hunt me 
 down as you would a poor timid hare. Have you 
 no compassion in your big heart" — there was a 
 touch of sarcasm in her tone as she said this — 
 '•'- for a helpless woman who has only herself to 
 fight for her?" She had brought him to bay, in- 
 deed. He stood before her now as the accused, 
 not the accuser.
 
 SIR CYRUS or STONYCLEFT. 245 
 
 ^^ What liave I ever clone to harm you ?" 
 
 " Harm me ? How absurd !" and he tried to 
 langh it off. " My dear Miss Castle, we are 
 playing at cross purposes ; every one seems to 
 jump at conclusions, my uncle included." 
 
 " Then you accuse me of nothing?" 
 
 *^ Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There's my 
 hand on it." 
 
 " No," she said, drawing back, ^' You have 
 wounded me deeply, and I think you should say 
 you are sorry." 
 
 " I am sorry you should have miscontrued my 
 thoughtless words, regretted as soon as spoken;" 
 but he bit his lip, and did not offer her his hand 
 again. 
 
 ^^ Thank you," she said, quietly. 
 
 ^* And now will you enlighten me as to all this 
 hubbub about my little cousin and her seal skin 
 coat." 
 
 " As also the cause of my fright. Is it not 
 so?" 
 
 '' Well, yes ; I can't deny it."
 
 246 sm CYRUS of stonycleft. 
 
 '^ Ah ! " said she, " you know nothing as to 
 the care and responsibility Miss Bedfield is to 
 me. You see me smiling and apparently happy, 
 and never think of the anxieties I have. How 
 should you ? Cynthia has a temper, I don't 
 mean to say that it is worse than many girls' 
 tempers, but it is a wilful one, and when 
 thwarted, obstinate and determined. She has 
 been ill, as you know, and Sir Cyrus is most 
 anxious she should take the greatest care of her- 
 self, but instead of which, she wants to go out in 
 defiance of Mr. Gibbs even ; in all weathers, no 
 matter whether it be rain or shine. For this 
 reason I promised Sir Cyrus I would never let 
 her out of my sight, but you see how it has been, 
 she has evaded me to-night and gone ; and how 
 could I help it ? ho w am I to blame when she has 
 been so determined and artful? I have done my 
 duty, but Sir Cyrus will not think so ; he will 
 visit me with his severest displeasure, and can 
 you not see," said she, clasping her hands, and 
 this time really raising her eyes to his, '^ that if
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 247 
 
 anything happens to her — if she is really gone, I 
 shall be once more thrown on the world, and 
 what will become of me? where shall I go? Is 
 not the thought of going out into the world alone 
 enough to agitate any timid woman ?" 
 
 Timid? Miss Castle timid, after the deter- 
 mined way in which she had set him down, but 
 now ? And then her commanding figure, giving 
 the idea of power, those thin set lips, and strong 
 fingers, what signs of timidity were these ? "Was 
 she not rather a woman of nerve, who would 
 do battle in the world either with or against it. 
 Was it really the fear of being friendless that had 
 agitated her, or was it that she feared her golden 
 vision was fading away before she had grasped 
 it, or her airy visions crumbling beneath the breath 
 of Sir Cyrus' displeasure ? 
 
 Raymond could not decide ; so he went out 
 on the terrace and smoked a cigar. 
 
 And now we must follow Sir Cyrus in his hasty 
 almost headlong ride to the station. 
 
 The train was about startino: as he dismounted
 
 248 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 from Lis horse and impetnousl}^ pushed past the 
 late comers. 
 
 It was a short London train, and Sir Gyrus 
 had no difficulty in looking into the several car- 
 riages as he went down the platform. But 
 Cynthia was not there ; and with a deep breath 
 of relief he turned away, and then stood and 
 watched until the whistle sounded, and the train 
 flashed away out of his sight. 
 
 " When does the next train leave ?" asked he, 
 of the ticket collector. 
 
 "• Where for, sir ?" 
 
 "Anywhere." 
 
 The man stared. " None due for the next two 
 hours, sir." 
 
 <' And after that?" 
 
 " None before the night train." 
 
 Sir Cyrus turned on his heel, mounted his 
 horse, and galloped homewards. 
 
 The sounds of his hasty return had scarcely 
 ceased, ere Miss Castle found herself summoned 
 to his presence. She went fully prepared for the
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 249 
 
 torrent of words she felt sure would be hurled at 
 her, and which she had been nerving herself for ever 
 since Mr. Bedfield had been smoking, and during 
 the time Sir Cyrus had had no thoughts but ex- 
 citing, furious ones ; even yet his temper was 
 still running wild within him, ready to boil over 
 at the slightest touch. He could not sit quietly 
 by the study fire devoured with vengeful, har- 
 rassing thoughts ; so he sent for Miss Castle, 
 who, as calm and collected as he was fiery and 
 indignant, had him ahnost from the first at an 
 advantage. 
 
 Sir Cyrus looked up angrily as she entered, ex- 
 pecting to see a bold, daring look on her face ; but 
 it was not so. She appeared meeker, more 
 humble than ever, with a beseeching, frightened 
 look in her dark grey eyes, which were filled with 
 tears, and so imploring looking in their expres- 
 sion, that the first angry words on Sir Cyrus' 
 tongue died away unuttered — almost forgotten ; 
 but as yet he was not turned from his purpose 
 
 M 5
 
 250 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 She must go — leave Stony cleft ; that he was 
 
 determined upon. 
 How little he knew of the powers of persuasion 
 
 of a woman so clever as the chaperon ! 
 
 " How comes this fatal neglect, madam ; this 
 
 unfaithful discharge of your duties as my daugh- 
 ter's chaperon ? How account for [the breaking 
 of your promise to me ? I hold a promise as 
 sacred and binding, let the circumstances be what 
 they will that tempt to break it. Had you ex- 
 pressed a fear as to your skill in fulfilling the 
 compact, I would have imposed the task of— of 
 restraining my daughter's will to another ; as it 
 is, you have betrayed the trust reposed in you — 
 showed yourself unfitted for the task I had as- 
 signed you, of— of curbing my daughter's rebelli- 
 ous spirit, and therefore I must request you will 
 resign your ofiice here at once and for ever !" 
 
 Miss Castle never moved a muscle of her face ; 
 she still looked at him imploringly, and never 
 attempted to stay his words — perhaps she thought 
 it best he should give vent to a part of the
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 251 
 
 violent feelings burning within him ; but when 
 he had ended, she burst into tears, and for once 
 genuine ones. But Sir Cyrus was not apparently 
 moved by them ; he coughed nervously once or 
 twice, and turned away his chair towards the fire, 
 signifying as plainly as could be, that he desired 
 the conference should end. 
 Then Miss Castle spoke. 
 
 "I will not attempt," said she, between her 
 sobs, either real or assumed, " to refute anything 
 you say. I ought never to have lost sight of my 
 charge for a single moment during the day^ and 
 I did not ; I kept my promise faithfully — I did 
 indeed, without a question as to why you imposed 
 it on me ; but you are not just when I say you 
 have been unfaithful in my duties to Miss Bed- 
 field, by allowing her to slip out after dark. That 
 I have not done, seeing you never told me my 
 surveillance was to be continued then ; had you 
 done so, I should never have lost sight of her, and 
 forgive me, you would not have to deplore her — 
 her absence now."
 
 252 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 Sir Cyrus could not deny the justice of this. 
 Miss Castle saw her advantas:e and kept it. 
 
 *^ If you have no other fault to find with me 
 than this, you will not be so unjust as to send me 
 away for what mi^ht have been avoided, had you 
 but trusted me. Oh ! Sir Cyrus, can you not 
 see that — that I would obey you implicitly in any 
 thing, no matter what ; only try me— only trust 
 me," said she, earnestly. 
 
 Could he trust her ? He looked round at her 
 searchingly. 
 
 " Oh, Sir Cjvus ! you can trust me," exclaimed 
 she, answering his look. '' I would sooner lose 
 my tongue than repeat any thing you tell me. 
 You have been very, very kind to me since I have 
 been at Stony cleft — no brother could have been 
 kinder, and, with no one in the wide world who 
 cares for me, I have felt your kindness grate- 
 fully. Don't send me away ! Pray don't ! It 
 will — will break my heart !" and her sobs burst 
 forth again. 
 
 Perhaps Sir Cyrus was surprised at her words.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 253 
 
 or the impassioned tone in which they were said, 
 for he looked at her steadily, and his eyes were 
 more searching — almost wondering in their 
 expression. As Miss Castle saw them, her face 
 became crimson, and she sobbed again as she 
 covered it with her hands. 
 
 Sir Cyrus never removed his gaze. 
 
 He had calmed greatly when next he spoke. 
 
 ^' Perhaps," said he, " I have been too hasty, 
 I am apt to be so." 
 
 "No, no. Kot too hasty. ISTe^er too hasty 
 with me ;" and she took her hands away from 
 her face, so that Sir Cyrus could see it quite 
 plainly now ; see also its agitation, without the 
 help of her trembling, shaking form. 
 
 " Sit down," he said, kindly, reaching her a 
 chair. 
 
 She sat down, and, laying her face on her 
 hands, began sobbing bitterly. 
 
 " Hush !" he said ; " there is nothing to be 
 afraid of Why should you fear me ?" and he 
 bent over her as she sat, looking anything but
 
 254 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 like the stern, angry Sir Cjrus of a few minutes 
 
 since. 
 Did he take her hand and draw it towarda 
 
 him ? Miss Castle scarcely knew, for a soft voice 
 
 said ; 
 
 " Papa, I am here. Do you want me ?" 
 Cynthia had opened the door without either 
 
 being aware of it, and now stood close behind the 
 
 chaperon's chair.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 525 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 AS CRAFTY AS A FOX. 
 
 With a look of surprise and anger on her face, 
 Cynthia stood before her father's startled gaze in 
 her seal-skin coat and^hat ; she had evidently but 
 just returned home. 
 
 She could not have made her appearance at a 
 more inopportune moment ; one short hour earlier 
 and Sir Cyrus would have given the half he 
 possessed to know that she was safe, and not, as 
 he feared, lured into a disgraceful flight with 
 Frederick Alywin ; but now for the haughty, im-
 
 256 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 penetrable baronet to be cangbt— if not making 
 love, at least very nearly akin to it, and that with 
 no high born dame, but the lowly dependent — the 
 chaperon and ci-devant governess ! \Yhat wonder 
 that Sir Cyrus was confused, and not a little 
 ashamed of himself ! while Miss Castle was even 
 more abashed than he ; nevertheless, she was the 
 first to recover — to stand up and face the intruder 
 albeit her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes heavy 
 with recent tears. 
 
 '^ Dieu soit henit^^ sai^ said, fervently; " we 
 feared, I know not what." 
 
 ''You feared I had not gone," returned 
 Cynthia, scornfully. " My father that I had^ 
 was it not so?" and she turned at once to Sir 
 Cyrus, and asked, *' Why did you fear? — was it 
 because you thought you had by your harsh 
 conduct driven me to disgrace the name of Bed- 
 field ? If so, you need have had no fear ; for as 
 long as you hold the honour of our ancient house 
 untarnished," and she shot a quick, passionate 
 glance at Miss Castle, '^ so long will I."
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 257 
 
 Her words incensed Sir Cyrus ; his anger had 
 not wholly died out ; it had been slumbering for 
 awhile like a lull in a violent storm. 
 
 '^ Where have you been ?" he thundered. 
 
 " I have been out in the park," she answered, 
 without hesitation. 
 
 " At this hour ! — close upon ten o'clock ? You 
 do well, girl, to talk and boast so boldly of the 
 honour of our ancient house, when every serving 
 man — if he knew of it — would wag his finger at 
 you for this shameless moonlight stroll." 
 
 Her eyes flashed as angrily as his. 
 
 "You dare not," she said, *^ even in thought, 
 accuse me of anything wrong. You know better. 
 Besides, nurse was with me." 
 
 *^ Where ?" he cried, fiercely. 
 
 " Down by the coppice." 
 
 " To meet ? — speak out ! to meet — ?" 
 
 She went over, with pale face and compressed 
 lips, to where Sir Cyrus stood. 
 
 ^^ I will whisper it," she said. 
 
 " Speak out ! There is no need of secrec}^
 
 258 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 You have broken down that barrier by j'-our 
 conduct to-night." 
 
 She drew back a step; hesitated; and then 
 said, bravely and firmly, 
 
 '' Frederick Alywin !'' 
 
 Sir Cyrus showed no surprise, but he glanced 
 at Miss Castle, whose face expressed the utmost 
 dismay and astonishment. 
 
 "You have dared !" said he, vehemently. 
 
 " I have dared," she said. 
 
 *^ Girl ! don't beard me— don't defy me too 
 much — don't work me into a fury that men, 
 strong men, have before now trembled at.'' 
 
 *^ Oh, papa," she said, " he goes away in two 
 days' time, and I shall not see him again for 
 months— perhaps years — if ever. I could not 
 let him go without a word— I should have died 
 first." 
 
 " I will take care he goes for ever," he said^ 
 angrily. 
 
 " You will not harm him," she said, all her 
 anger and courage vanishing in a moment wheu
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT, 269 
 
 her fears were roused, *^ you will not harm him, 
 whose only fault is loving me so dearly?" 
 
 " Harm him ?— he is not worth harming. A 
 low-born serf! But let him come once more 
 within the reach of my arm, and he shall feel it 
 again for this fresh insult that he has flung in my 
 face. As for you, since you are so anxious to be 
 mated, I will find you a husband before many 
 hours are over ; one who, if I mistake not, will 
 curb your proud spirit, break your rebellious will 
 as though it were a sapling." 
 
 '^ You dare not — shall not force me against my 
 will," she said. 
 
 '^ Come away," whispered her chaperon, with 
 pale lips, " come away." 
 
 And Cynthia suffered herself to be led away up 
 to her room, where nurse awaited her in fear and 
 trepidation. 
 
 "Fear nothing," said Miss Castle; "Sir 
 Cyrus is angry and enraged at your thwarting his 
 will. He will think and say differently to-p
 
 260 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 " How can you tell?" cried Cynthia. '^ You 
 who, like a snake in the grass, have poisoned hig 
 mind with your envenomed tongue, been leading 
 him like a Iamb to the slaughter, with your in- 
 sidious, artful smiles, and fawning ways. Ah.! 
 no doubt you gloried in my absence, and had 1 
 not returned when I did, might have reigned here 
 as mistress before another week." 
 
 " I — I ?" cried Miss Castle, in well-feigned as- 
 tonishment. 
 
 " Yes, you. Ah ! you think I have not seen 
 it — you think you have been too deep and wary 
 for me? I laugh — child as you think me — at 
 such thin skinned schemes. Go ! I defy you 
 to win over my father. When you think him 
 caught in your trap, then look to yourself!" 
 
 *^ What do you mean?" cried Miss Castle. 
 
 '* That you are an impostor, whom some day I 
 hope to unmask." 
 
 " You shall do that now," said she, sitting 
 down quietly. 
 
 ^' Just hear her, nurse," said Cynthia, rudely;
 
 SIR CYHUS OF STONYCLEFT. 261 
 
 ** did you ever know one of our house frightened 
 into a concession?" 
 
 '• Never ! God help me !" said nurse. 
 
 ^' You hear ?" continued Cynthia, looking at 
 Miss Castle. 
 
 '* I do. But they may never have had one so 
 determined to deal with. I have a right to know 
 what you hint at so darkly." 
 
 " I acknowledge no right — none ; neither now, 
 nor hereafter, let what will happen." 
 
 '• She'll be ill with all this talk," cried nurse i 
 ^' a delicate blossom like this to have such a heap 
 of worry. If her poor lady mother had only 
 lived to see it." 
 
 "^ She would never have lived and seen either 
 that, or the face of the lady who sits opposite," 
 retarned Cynthia. 
 
 " Hush ! hush ! my darling ! Will you pleas 3 
 leave her, miss ?" 
 
 '• Not until she tells me what she has heard 
 ag tinst me."
 
 262 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 " Heard ! — what should she have heard? She's 
 only striving to hear," said nurse, incautiously. 
 
 ^^ Striving to hear?" said Miss Castle, with a 
 laugh. "Ah ! I am glad of that, as I hope what 
 she hears of poor me, will disabuse her mind of 
 the strange prejudice she has conceived against 
 me. Then, I hope she will give me credit for 
 doing better things than these dreadful sins she 
 accuses me of," and she went out and shut the 
 door. 
 
 " I defy her !" thought she, as she wended her 
 way down-stairs ; " defy both her and him ! 
 What can she, poor little fly, do ? and, as for hinij 
 I am as strong and brave as he.'' 
 
 As she reached the hall, she almost fell over 
 Nero, ivho lay stretched at full length on the mat. 
 
 Miss Castle trembled and shuddered as she 
 thought of the beating Raymond Bedfield had 
 once given him. 
 
 " He is a terrible enemy to have," she muttered, 
 as she opened the drawing-room door, where sat,
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 263 
 
 not Sir Cyrus, of whom she probably came in 
 quest, but her enemy ^ as she was pleased to style 
 him. 
 
 " I thought you had gone to bed," she said. 
 
 " Did you ? I believe half-past ten is the 
 orthodox hour here ; but I am sitting, not idling 
 my time away as at a cursory glance you might 
 be led to suppose, but thinking — thinking 
 deeply." 
 
 "Is that anything so very unusual?" asked 
 she. 
 
 "Well, I rather think it is, or was before I 
 visited Stonycleft. 
 
 " Did you never sit thinking, then ?" 
 
 " Very seldom — if ever." 
 
 " And what has changed you so suddenly ?" 
 
 " Many things suspicious and unsuspicious.'' 
 
 "Ah! now you deal in enigmas, which my 
 poor little brain," and she pressed her hand to 
 her forehead, " is too dull and stupid to solve." 
 
 " There is no solving my enigma; it is a 
 mystery."
 
 264 SIR CYRUS OF bTOis'Y CLEFT. 
 
 '' Always a mystery ?" 
 
 " No, not always. I shall, perhaps, fathom 
 it." 
 
 " And when you do ?" 
 
 ^'Then it shall no longer be a mystery." 
 
 '^ As how so ?" 
 
 '^ I shall scatter it to the winds far and wide." 
 
 " And near," she said. 
 
 " Just so," he replied. 
 
 " You would be a dangerous man to make an 
 enemy of, determined, fearless, pitiless," and she 
 thought of Nero. '-Alas ! for the woman whose 
 character you might hold in your hands, to make or 
 mar at your pleasure." 
 
 " You are wrong. My heart can feel compas- 
 sion for even a fallen angel, but she must be a 
 repentant one, no plotter or schemer, no des- 
 troyer of a family's peace. Then "he hesitated 
 
 >and stopped suddenly. 
 
 " Then ?" inquired Miss Castle. 
 
 " Then I would be pitiless. Hunt her down 
 without mercy or compassion."
 
 SIR CTKUS OF STONYCLEFT. 265 
 
 " And would succeed if it were possible. You 
 are crafty as well as unmerciful." 
 
 " Crafty ? Well, I liave thought lately I could 
 be even that. I should not belie the look in my 
 eyes if I were." 
 
 "Or the look in your eyes when you first came 
 to Stonycleft," she said, boldly, '^ but that look 
 has almost left them now; circumstances over 
 which the heart has no control, alter cases won- 
 derfully." 
 
 She had certainly silenced him, for he made no 
 reply. She looked as though half expecting one, 
 and then seeing he did not speak, she said : 
 
 " Will you tell me what you are thinking of?" 
 
 " Thinking, as the lad said^ of what I ought 
 to be thinking of?" replied he, laughing. 
 
 *^That was of Cynthia, then." 
 
 " Of Cynthia, Sir Cyrus, and lastly of your- 
 self." 
 
 *^ Still of me," she said, " that is hardly 
 fair." 
 
 ^^ Why not?'* 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 286 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 " I tliouglit we had settled all that at tea- 
 tune." 
 
 "And so we did," he replied, looking her 
 steadily in the face, " but thoughts are not under 
 the control of one's will, and old familiar faces 
 are apt to come back unasked, and sometimes 
 unwelcome." 
 
 The very faintest tiut of colour flushed her 
 face ; but it was no time for flinching, no time 
 for timidity. She returned his gaze, but to his 
 surprise, her eyes were sorrowful, and he almost 
 thought, suffused with tears. 
 
 This ; so different to the angry look he had ex- 
 pected, staggered him. He ceased his scrutiny 
 at once, and looked uncomfortably away at the 
 dying embers of the fire. 
 
 " You have treated me very cavalierly to- 
 night," she. said ; " why have you done so?" 
 
 *' Pray do not let us begin the old story over 
 again," he said. 
 
 " You have taken a dislike to me. Is it not 
 so ?" she asked, unheeding his remark.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 267 
 
 " No," he answered, " No " but he hesi- 
 tated. 
 
 " I see it is so," she said. 
 " Why should I not turn the tables and ask 
 why you dislike me ?" said he, trying to laugh it 
 off. 
 
 " I am but a poor chaperon, a nobody, far 
 below the heir of Stonycleft, whose lands and 
 possessions extend for miles round, and in whose 
 Teins flows the blood of the proud Percys. How 
 could I even in thought dare dislike you r" 
 
 Her tone was one of utter humility, than which 
 none knew better than the chaperon how to 
 assume, 
 
 '' You are too clever for me. Miss Castle," said 
 Mr. Bedfield, rising; ^^ It will take all my 
 craft,'' and he laughed, " my wisdom and skill, 
 to be a match for you." 
 
 ** You will never cease to suspect and persecute 
 me," she said, in a mournful tone; ^^But, chacun 
 porte sa croicc, and I have mine and must bear 
 it." 
 
 N 2
 
 268 SIR CTEUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 '' It is very cold, the fire is all but out," he 
 said. 
 
 *' Are you going? Good-night, Mr. Bedfield," 
 and she held out her hand. 
 
 "Nay, fair lady. I will not treat you so 
 cavalierly as to leave you to the tender mercies 
 of the ghosts of my ancestors, who, according to 
 tradition, were a bloodthirsty race. Who knows 
 but that the Percy — so famed for his ill deeds and 
 wicked murder of the fair Alice, his wife — might 
 not take it i nto his head to walk to-night in 
 search of something more exciting still." 
 
 " And what then? I am not afraid," she said. 
 
 " But others are for you," he replied, as he 
 held open the door for her to pass out. 
 
 Was it done with a purpose to prevent her 
 meeting with Sir Cyrus again that night ? Miss 
 Castle thought so, as she bit her lips with vexa- 
 tion, and went away up stairs to her room. 
 
 Mr. Bedfield watched her until the light from 
 the candle she carried vanished from his sight. 
 
 " A woman," muttered he, as he prepared to
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 269 
 
 follow her, " who would talk a man into destroy- 
 ing his own soul for her. A very tigress in re- 
 venge ; a very fox in cunning ; and a handsome, 
 a very handsome woman. Pshaw ! I shall be 
 falling in love with her myself if I don't take 
 care. As it is, I am scarcely her match even in 
 a war of words."
 
 270 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CHECKMATE INTERRUPTED. 
 
 Miss Castle reached her room in anger and 
 vexation at Mr. Bedfield's having baffled her in 
 her wish of seeing Sir Cyrus ; there was also an 
 undefined fear of him lurking in her heart, which 
 she vainly tried to shake off. 
 
 '^ It will be a fierce, deadly battle; a strife that 
 must slay one of us. No temporising ; no blood- 
 less struggle ; no half measures, but a mortal 
 combat and a ruthless conqueror, that will Jie be.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 271 
 
 How I hate him !" said she, as she placed the 
 light on the toilet table. 
 
 But all angry feelings fled, and were super- 
 seded by rapturous ones, as she saw the small 
 note lying within reach of her hand. It was 
 from Sir Cyrus ; a glance told her that, and with 
 a cry of exultation, she snatched it, and pressed 
 it to her bosom. 
 
 She stood thus for a moment, then raised the 
 small missive high in the air, and fluttered it 
 round her head, as though she, having led a 
 forlorn hope, and reached the goal unhurt and in 
 safety ; had seized the banner, waved it aloft, and 
 cried Victory ! 
 
 She calmed her excitement presently, and sat 
 down, with her pulses beating as quickly, if not 
 quicker, than when she fancied she felt Sir Cyrus* 
 hand on hers. But the note was different to 
 what she had been expecting. It was no love 
 epistle, penned hastily and warmly before the 
 writer had had time to cool . There was not a word 
 in it that could be construed into a tender one.
 
 272 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 It was no victory yet. She had exulted too soon. 
 Sir Cyrus was not a man to compromise himself 
 in writing; every word had been weighed, and 
 written carefully and cautiously. 
 
 " Thursday night. 
 
 " Dear Madam, 
 
 " May I ask you to kindly resume your 
 duties as chaperon to my daughter;^ as after 
 due thought, I agree with you in thinking 
 that she still needs some little control and 
 management. Her will is unfortunately an 
 obstinate one, and her temper requires correcting. 
 The name we unfortunately heard will, I am 
 sure, be held sacred by both you and me. It is 
 a folly that will die out of itself. 
 
 ^' Yours faithfully, 
 
 " Cyrus Bed field." 
 
 " Not if I can help it," cried Miss Castle, as 
 she carefully reclosed the letter. 
 
 How she wished she had not quarelled with
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 273 
 
 Mrs. Alywin ! An idle wish^ as she felt, but one 
 she could not help her thoughts dwelling on. 
 Could she but get speech of the son, before he 
 "Went to India, so as to worm out on what kind of 
 footing he and Cynthia stood to each other? 
 Another idle wish, as he would be gone in two 
 days, and how could she manage a meeting so 
 soon, so hastily as that ? 
 
 Miss Castle answered Sir Cyrus' note before 
 going to bed. She simply stated her willingness 
 to continue on as Cynthia's chaperon, and hoped 
 she should manage better in that capacity than 
 she had hitherto done, by striving with care and 
 kindness to check his daughter's temper and will. 
 His wishes on the subject should be her constant 
 study, and she hoped in time he would see a 
 material change for the better. 
 
 " There," said she, as she finished it, ^' I have 
 a great mind to show it to Cynthia, and then 
 give it to my ^ enemy'' to deliver to his uncle ; he 
 would be sure to read it ; at least, I should if I 
 were he." -i- 
 
 N 5
 
 274 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 Before putting away Sir Cyrus' letter, she read 
 it over again, dwelling on eacli word ; but all 
 to no purpose, no double meaning could slie de- 
 tect, tarn and twist the sentences as she would ; 
 and she was forced unwillingly to confess that 
 the new*born hopes she had indulged in on 
 first seeing it on the table, were premature. 
 
 She took out two letters from her desk, with 
 which she placed the one she held in her hand, 
 and tied them round with a piece of string. It 
 did not fit very closely when she had knotted it. 
 
 ^' So much the better. I shall be sure to have 
 some more some day," said she, as she closed 
 and locked her desk, and then bethought her 
 of how she should meet Sir Cyrus, and how she 
 should behave when she saw him alone on the 
 morrow. 
 
 But neither the next clay, nor for many days 
 afler, did Miss Castle succeed in obtaining a 
 tete-a-tete with Sir Cyrus. She never had the 
 opportunity. Either purposely or by accident it 
 was never allowed her. In the morning it was
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STQNYCLEFT. 275 
 
 Cynthia ; in the afternoon Mr. Bedfield ; in the 
 evening both. She was never alone with hiin. 
 Did the cousins work together, or did each strive 
 for one and the same end, without the other being 
 aware of it ? Miss Castle could not decide, and 
 with all her cunning, was at fault. She never 
 detected a glance in either that spoke of mutual 
 understanding, never came accidentally upon 
 them talking mysteriously together, so that they 
 broke off suddenly when they saw her. If they 
 did form plans together, it was in a way and bj 
 a means she knew not, and which bafflud her. 
 
 Sir Gyvas never reverted to the scene in the 
 study, either by word or token. He met her as 
 calmly polite, as rigidly courteous as ever. He 
 gave her no warmer pressure of the hand as she 
 wished him good-night, no look that could be 
 construed into a tender one, and yet Miss 
 Castle's mind and will were as active and 
 determined as ever. If Cynthia had but 
 fled with Frederick Alywin ? — if she and Sir 
 Cyrus had not been interrupted? — if she could
 
 276 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 only get him to talk to her alone ? Miss Castle's 
 thoughts were mostly ifs now ; possibiKties that 
 might have been — that might be, and yet were 
 not. If—hwi that was the mightiest if of all— 
 if Sir Cyrus could only be brought to propose to 
 his nephew — as he had threatened— a marriage 
 between himself and cousin ? — if such a thing 
 could be brought about? — then the chaperon's 
 cause was won. 
 
 Miss Castle judged that Mr. Bedficld was not 
 a man to have a marriage thrust upon him, 
 whether he willed it or no. He was one who 
 would woo a woman ; win her by the strength of 
 his love, not by the force of his will. He would 
 not marry his cousin as she stood with him now, 
 nay, more Miss Castle felt he did not desire it ; 
 but was rather striving against any tender feeling 
 that might, by any possibility, arise in his heart 
 for her. How almost coldly he had borne himself 
 towards her since that night on which he had met 
 her out so late in the park, when he had been 
 smoking. Had he not questioned and cross-
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 277 
 
 questioned tlie chaperon about it, but to no pur- 
 pose ; she was even there too deep for him, and 
 gloried in it. It was a kind of first defeat, and 
 she heralded it as an omen of good. 
 
 It was long since Sir Cyrus and the chaperon 
 had played backgammon together. Was the 
 baronet wary of her smiles, or did he fear to trust 
 himself under the shadow of her grey eyes, lest 
 they should obtain an influence over him impos- 
 sible to shake off ? — or did he fear any presump- 
 tion on her part from the foolish act into which 
 his compassionate feelings had so basely betraj^ed 
 him ? Whatever the cause, it was days before he 
 proposed as of old to sit down and play ; and 
 then, how cautious Miss Castle was ! — how care- 
 ful not to alarm him, by a word or look that 
 might put him on his mettle, or be construed by 
 him into a covert desire of obtaining an undue 
 ascendency over his weak heart. Without doubt, 
 she was as cunning as a fox, and played her cards 
 well. 
 
 What possibility was there of exciting conver-
 
 278 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 sations in which she had a way of leading words^ 
 and sentences to work her own will ; or of soft 
 honied speeches wherewith to lure the victim on; 
 since Cynthia never went near the piano now, 
 never played a note, but sat and chatted with 
 her cousin close by, or played at chess at a table 
 drawn near the fire, by which — the evenings 
 being set in for cold — her father and the chaperon 
 sat ; but Cynthia was foolish indeed, if she 
 thought her close proximity would prevent or 
 deter the other's schemes ; she worked too well, 
 was working too well. 
 
 One evening, the fourth on which the back- 
 gammon had been resumed, it was Sir Cyrus' turn 
 to throw ; but there was no sound of the dice ratt- 
 ling; Sir Cyrus' thoughts were not with the 
 game ; his eyes were not on the board, but on 
 Miss Castle's face. 
 
 ^' It is your turn, Sir Cyrus," she said, in her 
 softest tones. 
 
 He threw ; but at random. Played ; but played 
 badly, and gathered up the dice again absently.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 279 
 
 Then Miss Castle played, and then — not Sir 
 Cyrus, no ; she had to wait again. 
 
 Sir Cyrus was certainly absent. The dice-box 
 lay unheeded on the table beside him. 
 
 Miss Castle looked towards the chess players. 
 Mr. Bedfield had just given ' clieck,' and both he 
 and Cynthia seemed apparently intent on their 
 game. 
 
 Lightly the chaperon laid her fingers on the 
 baronet's. 
 
 " It is your turn to play," she said. 
 
 " A thousand pardons," he exclaimed, rousing 
 up. 
 
 '^ You are tired ; is it not so ?" 
 
 ^' With such an adversary it is impossible," he 
 replied, softly, but his thoughts seemed still to 
 be wandering. And his eyes — ah ! what did 
 she read in his eyes to cause her face to flush 
 crimson, as she looked at him half-respectfuUy, 
 half-consciously, as she met his earnest gaze. 
 
 However scheming, however sinful — if sinful 
 she was— the chaperon might be, she had not
 
 280 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 lost the great charm of beauty in woman ; she 
 etill blushed as easily as a child, or rather Sir 
 Cyrus had the power of making her do so. 
 
 Had they but been alone ! so she sighed, as 
 she met Sir Cyrus' almost impassioned gaze 
 Alone ! The chess-table clattered down, falling 
 the chessmen against the fender,- on to the 
 carpet, and in all directions. 
 
 " Ah ! goodness !" cried Miss Castle, as she 
 hastily rose. 
 
 '' Did you cry mon Dieu?^' asked Mr. Bedfield 
 as he stooped to pick up the unlucky chess-men. 
 
 " I did not ; such a cry would shock your Eng-. 
 lish ears." 
 
 ^' Or murder ! like one of Duncan's guards?" 
 
 *^ Nor that, neither," she replied, steadily, 
 
 "Who did the mischief ?" asked Sir Cyrus. 
 
 " I," said Cynthia, laughing. " It was very 
 wrong of me, but I could not bear the thoughts 
 of being beaten ; so I stopped a checkmate, as I 
 always shall ;" and she looked defiantly at Miss 
 Castle.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 281 
 
 " Chess," said Sir C^rus, ^'is not a game to 
 suit a Bedfield ; it tries the temper too much. 
 Why not give us some music ? Charm us with 
 j^our siren voice ?" 
 
 " I have hurt my finger, papa. If I do sing, 
 Miss Castle must please play the accompani- 
 ment." 
 
 How Miss Castle wished she had sprained her 
 wrist. She went to the piano, and as she sat 
 waiting for the music Cynthia was searching for, 
 she unconsciously removed her bracelet, and 
 pressed her fingers tightly over her wrist ; then 
 moved it about as though to try the soundness of 
 the muscle. 
 
 " It is not sprained," said Mr. Bedfield, guess- 
 ing her thoughts. " Do you wish it was?" 
 
 She looked at him almost fiercely But there 
 was no trace of anger in her voice, as she re- 
 plied, 
 
 '' My bracelet is so tight, it always hurts my 
 wrist." 
 
 I have said that Mr. Bedfield generally inter-
 
 282 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 cepted Miss Castle's plans or designs of an after- 
 noon ; Cynthia of a morning. Where then did 
 the latter spend her afternoons ? Ah ! this ques- 
 tion had puzzled the chaperon, and one day she 
 watched her, dogged her footsteps, and discovered 
 her seated on the sill of one of the windows in 
 the picture gallery, with a book in her lap ; her 
 face, not leaning over its pages, but almost flat- 
 tened against the glass, as she rested her forehead 
 on its framework. She did not perceive Miss 
 Castle, so intent was she, either in thought, or in 
 gazing earnestly at something beyond. 
 
 " You here, Cynthia !" said she, to the startled 
 girl. " Is there anything to be seen ?" and 
 pressing her face also close to the glass, she 
 looked below — beyond — everywhere. 
 
 " Nothing but the park," replied Cynthia, 
 "which at this time of the year looks dull 
 enough." 
 
 '* What a strange place for you to have chosen 
 for reading in. All these lords and high-born 
 dames in their satins and velvets, their frills and
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 283 
 
 fartliingales, Spanish hats and feathers, not to 
 mention their diamonds, which I can almost 
 fancy I see sparkle, so true has the painter been ; 
 make me feel melancholy. It is so sad to think 
 that the wearers are all dead and gone. I wonder 
 whether they died old or young ? However it 
 was ; there is no more happiness or misery, sin or 
 sorrow, virtues or vices for them to answer for. 
 That lady over there, with the small ruff round 
 her fair throat, reminds me of Queen Eliza- 
 beth ; what a sad face, and yet how beautiful in 
 its repose and sadness." 
 
 '' Really, Miss Castle, you should write a his- 
 tory of the Bedfield family, gathered from look- 
 ing at their portraits. That Queen Elizabeth— 
 as you are pleased to style her — is the fair Lady 
 Alice." 
 
 " Indeed ! She does not look sinful. So fair 
 a face could surely not have hidden a false 
 heart?" 
 
 ** I believe she was as good as she was beau- 
 tiful. It was her husband ^ The Percy/ who had
 
 284 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCMIFT. 
 
 the false heart. He was famed for every crime 
 under the sun ; or, I suppose, I should apostro- 
 phise the moon, as men did not, I conclude, even 
 in his day, run away with fair maidens, or com- 
 mit murder — certainly not the latter — in the light 
 of broad day." 
 
 " Ah ! pauvre ddme^ she deserves the prayer 
 her sad, sweet looks seem to ask. And 
 which is her husband ? And why is he called 
 ' The Percy ? " 
 
 " Because he was the first of that name, and the 
 only one, I believe, who deigned to ally himself 
 by marriage with our house. A noble alliance 
 they call it. Noble ! I shame to think any of 
 his bad blood flows in my veins. He was a 
 traitor — not to his country — that he served well 
 and faithfully, but to his best friend, as also to 
 his wife. He murdered her." 
 
 "Alas! poor lady !" 
 
 " I hate the very sight of his picture," cried 
 Cynthia; "that is the one, whose wicked eyes 
 are looking at me as I sit. " He brought sin, sor«.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 285 
 
 row, and shame — no one calls it dis jonour — upon 
 us. And yet they talk of the Lady Alice's noble 
 marriage. Do you see his crafty look, his peaked 
 beard, and wicked eyes ? with his hand on the 
 rapier at his side, ready to attack, or even stab 
 his dearest friend ? perhaps parry some murder- 
 ous assault he feared, or lived in dread of; for, 
 stained with crime, he must have had enemies. 
 Then look at the other hand hidden away in his 
 doublet, and holding — perhaps while the man 
 painted his portrait — a more murderous weapon 
 than the rapier, one ready to be flashed forth in 
 an instant on an emergency. Do you see the 
 dark look on his face ? his coal black eyes and 
 hair? I sit here and watch him often, and 
 always with the same result — the same conclu- 
 sion." 
 
 " And what is that?" asked Miss Castle. 
 
 " That you and he are wonderfully alike. You 
 might be taken for brother and sister." 
 
 ^•If you mean in wickedness," replied Miss 
 Castle, '^ then you have been neither compli-
 
 286 SIR CYKUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 mentary nor just, but if you mean in outward face 
 and form, then I tliank you for the flattery, as I 
 see no wicked look in ' The Percy's ' eyes ; they 
 appear to me fiery indeed, but capable of a whole 
 world of love. Then what a noble brow ! surely 
 no craft ever lurked there. His mouth is hidden 
 by the long silken moustache, but I am sure it is 
 well shaped and smilingjfrom the whole expression 
 of the countenance. True, he lays his hand on 
 his rapier, but it is so lightly the fingers cannot 
 be said to grasp it, while the hand itself looks as 
 soft and shapely as a woman's, and as unlike one 
 s!ained with murder as possible. Then the hand 
 hidden away in his doublet, may be to grasp 
 nothing more deadly than a true love knot." 
 
 '^ I am glad you draw so flattering a portrait 
 To me ' The Percy,' can never look other than 
 wicked and crafty. But you can turn and twist 
 everything as you will it; even a bad man's 
 portrait. Thera are some verses about him that 
 nurse knows by heart. They give you the whole 
 terrible account of how he murdered his wife and
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 287 
 
 buried her at the foot of the turret stairs, and 
 how she sat there ever afterwards at the same 
 hour — the dead of night— and would sit until the 
 deed was avenged." 
 
 " And was it ever avenged ?" 
 
 '' I am sure I do not know, and don't much 
 care. I have never seen the ghost, and don't 
 know any one who has, not even old Nursey," 
 laughed she, "and I know she believes in it 
 firmly." 
 
 '^ But what is this bit of paper, stuck in the 
 picture frame ?" 
 
 " That ! " cried Cynthia, starting up. " That 
 is mine. I must have left it there the other 
 day." 
 
 ^' It is mine now, or rather your father's. I 
 shall take it to him." 
 
 '^ Oh, take it by all means ; and much good 
 may it do you," replied Cynthia, hastily, for she 
 had caught sight of Nurse from the window as 
 she stood up, and her whole frame trembled 
 with excitement, while her face glowed and
 
 288 SIR CYBUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 flushed with pleasure, and she let Miss Castle go 
 away without another word of remonstrance. 
 
 She stood listening until the latter's footsteps 
 died away, then she fled swiftly to her room, and 
 when nurse entered it, — which she did a moment 
 after, — flung her arms round the old woman's 
 neck. 
 
 '' Lord-a-mercy ! don't throttle me." 
 
 " Give me the letter then ! Dear old Nursey, 
 give it quick." 
 
 '* Ah, the impatience of young hearts! If I'd 
 known she'd have hugged my poor old bones so, 
 I'd never have given her the signal, of putting 
 up the veil off my face. I'd have worn two and 
 never lifted either of 'em till she'd the letter safe 
 in her hand or at her lips^ as 'tis now. Ah I 
 well-a-day ! I mind when I was just as foolish, 
 but it's best to be more sober at it ; men don't 
 like them mad fits." 
 
 The paper Miss Castle had so coolly walked 
 off with, she read as she [passed through one of 
 the corridors, and again as she halted for a
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 289 
 
 moment Id front of tLe large stained glass window 
 on the stairs. 
 
 " When a woman as crafty as ' The Percy ' shall plot. 
 Let the heir then beware, lest an heir he is not. 
 But the woman shall fall." # * « # 
 
 The rest was carefully effaced, and hold the 
 paper up to the light, or which way she would, 
 Miss Castle could not decipher the words ; but 
 her face glowed with something more than plea- 
 sure as she refolded the paper carefully and 
 placed it in her bosom, and then snapped her 
 fingers as derisively as she had done, on the day 
 on which she had parted from Mrs. Alywin so 
 wrathfully by the plantation. 
 
 " They please me, these lines," she said, "they 
 please me much. While as for the threatening 
 words of the last ! I laugh at and dare them !" 
 and she went on with a half triumphant step 
 towards the " Blue room." 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 290 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 REFUSING TO BE CAST ADRIFT. 
 
 The '' Blue Eoom/' so called from the colour 
 of its furniture, was smaller than many of those 
 habitually tenanted at Stonycleft ; perhaps for 
 this reason it had been chosen by Cynthia to sit 
 in ol an afternoon. Besides the fact of its being 
 warm and pleasant, it looked out on to the flower 
 garden, which in summer time was a mass of 
 many coloured flowers, filling the air around both 
 far and near with their sweet scents ; now of 
 course it was void of flowers, but the shining
 
 Sm CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 291 
 
 green leaves of the laurels and small white 
 blossoms of the laurestine were grateful to the 
 eye amidst the dull wintrj^-growing aspect with- 
 out. The room was not unoccupied when Miss 
 Castle entered it ; Mr. Bedfield was standing at 
 the window, guilty of the very bad habit of utter- 
 ing his thoughts aloud. 
 
 " My Heaven !" he said, '' thrown at me like a 
 ball of worsted ! " 
 
 Miss Castle heard the words distinctly, saw 
 the indignant, angry expression of his face as he 
 turned it towards her, and her heart gave a great 
 bound as she guessed what had irritated him. 
 
 He had been closeted with ^ir Cyrus since 
 lunch, and when tired of being alone she had 
 gone in search of, and dogged Cynthia's footsteps. 
 Had Sir Cyrus mooted, the question of a marriage 
 between his daughter and nephew? Had the 
 latter declined the honour of the alliance ? And 
 had they quarrelled ? All this crossed her mind 
 in a moment. 
 
 Miss Castle was partly right. The Baronet 
 
 o 2
 
 292 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 had hinted at such a marriage ; but although the 
 nephew had met his uncle's advances coldly, 
 they had not quarrelled^ indignant as the former 
 had been — not for himself, but for his cousin. 
 In thought, he accused his uncle of greed ; greed 
 for his daughter, even to the bartering her ; for 
 it was a barter, a mercenary bargain, seeing that 
 Sir Cyrus allowed there was little or no love be- 
 tween the cousins ; that was to come. To come ! 
 and she, although so young, with a heart as strong 
 to love and suffer, — if need be, — for that love, 
 as any woman's. Then the insult to himself. A 
 wife thrown into his arms, whether he "Vfilled it 
 or no ; a wife who, the giver allowed, did not as 
 yet love him, but the chances were that she 
 might. What wonder, Eaymond Bedfield re- 
 jected such a proposition with a touch of scorn 
 and bitterness ! They had it is true parted 
 apparently good friends, yet the nephew was 
 venting his suppressed rage by uttering his 
 thoughts aloud,and alone — as he thought— in the 
 " Blue Eoom," while as for the uncle; would he
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STO^^YCLEFT. 293 
 
 take such a refusal quietly, or would his hot 
 passionate blood resent it ? 
 
 Miss Castle said not a word to Mr. Bedfield, 
 but drew near the table and took up some un- 
 finished work that she had left there that morn- 
 ing. She had scarcely taken the needle in her 
 hand, when one of the footmen entered with tho 
 afternoon's letters, on a small silver salver. Ho 
 drew near Miss Castle and held it towards her. 
 
 There were two letters. As she looked at them 
 the bright triumphant look faded away and her 
 face assumed in a moment an almost ghastly 
 appearance. She clutched hold of one of the 
 letters as though her fingers were a vice, while 
 at the same moment she flashed a look at the 
 man at her side. But he was dull or purposely 
 misunderstood her. " That is Mr. Bedfield's, 
 miss," he said. She dropped it. It was a thin 
 letter, and the envelope bore a foreign stamp. 
 
 " A letter for me !" cried Mr. Bedfield, coming 
 forward. 
 
 It was handed him. He took it up, all
 
 294 SIR CYRUS OF STOis'YCLEFT. 
 
 crushed as it was by the tight pressure of Miss 
 Castle's fingerS;, and walked away with it in his 
 hand towards the fire ; before which he stood— 
 as men selfishly do, whether alone or in a room 
 full of company, — warmiog his coat tails, and 
 reading the address. 
 
 " From Fred Stanhope ! I should know his 
 scrawly hand among a thousand : no one but 
 himself ever wrote such a fist. How well I 
 remember those few days we passed together 
 in Eome, three years ago ! So - he has gone 
 back there again, has he?" said he, examining 
 the postage stamp. 
 
 Then there was a crumpling and crackling 
 of paper as Mr. Bedfield opened it, and then — 
 then it was snatched from his grasp and on 
 the blazing fire in the grate. 
 
 ''Ah ! " exclaimed he, irefully ; " why did you 
 do that?" and he rudely pushed Miss Castle aside 
 as he made a snatch at the burning letter. But 
 he was too late. It was in a blaze ; the thinness 
 of the paper hastening its untimely fate.
 
 SIR CYKUS OF STONYCLEFT. 295 
 
 He turned in a tempest of rage to the chaperon. 
 
 *'Why did you do that? How dare you do 
 that?" 
 
 She stood close by his side, the same ghastly 
 look on her face, one hand pressed tightly over 
 her heart as though to still its wild beating. 
 
 Their eyes met. 
 
 It was but a momentary glance, but in that 
 glance Mr. Bedfield discovered her. 
 
 " My God ! '' he cried, staggering back. 
 
 The letter was a heap of ashes now ; and with 
 that danger, whatever it was, past. Miss Castle 
 was growing calm, and the guilty, terrified look 
 disappearing. Only her lips seemed rigid, as she 
 asked, half ironically, 
 
 " Are you ill ? Shall I call any one ?" 
 
 " 111 ? Call any one ? Ain't you afraid to ?" 
 
 '* No. I never felt braver in my life." 
 
 ^'And yet I tell you, I know you; have 
 discovered you, and the whole villany you would 
 be guilty of." 
 
 '' You are mistaken."
 
 296 sm CYRrs of stonycleft. 
 
 ^^ Not so by Heaven ! The scales have fallen 
 from my eyes. I will unmask you to Sir Cyrus, 
 and that at once," said he, impetuously. 
 
 " Very well. I shall demand proof of what- 
 ever falsehood you assert.*" 
 
 Proof? She spoke cunningly and at advan* 
 tage, as she always did. What proof had he? — 
 None. The letter might have contained it, but 
 that was gone ; that and his friend's address. 
 
 '^ Woman ! have you no shame ?" he said. 
 
 ''■ None. Seeing I have nothing to be ashamed 
 of. Where are your proofs?" she said, half 
 ironically. '' Do you not shame to speak as you 
 are doing to a defenceless woman ; and one, too, 
 under the protection of your uncle's roof?" 
 
 '^ Hold ! we will not wage words which answer 
 no purpose whatever. I will bring proofs of what 
 I — I know to be true. I will do more, I will 
 fetch them." 
 
 He rang the bell. " Carter," said he, to the 
 man who answered it. ^'It's ten to four; when 
 does the next train leave for London ?"
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 297 
 
 '' Half-past, sir.'* 
 
 " Good. Desire Jackson to have my portman- 
 teau ready, and the trap at the door to start to 
 meet that train.'* 
 
 Mr. Bedfield drew a long breath and sat 
 down to think, not so very far from Miss Castle, 
 who plied her needle apparently unconcerned, 
 but his every action and word filling her heart 
 with dread and fear. 
 
 *' You are a bitter, revengeful enemy to have,*' 
 she said, '^ you jump at some insane conclusion, 
 and then hunt me down for it."' 
 
 "Not so. I will be a generous enemy," for 
 his anger had somewhat cooled, " I will not hunt 
 you down without mercy. I swear that if you 
 will leave this house at once and for ever, I will 
 give up my journey to Home ; nay more, will 
 never say a word of — of what I know as long as 
 I live." 
 
 *^ And this you call mercy ? Sending me forth 
 on a bare suspicion to get my bread as best I 
 
 o 5
 
 298 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 can ! Truly I thank you for it, and would make 
 you my best curtsey if I were standing." 
 
 *' Very well," said be, biting his lip, " then 
 war let it be. I go to excuse myself to Sir Cyrus, 
 and my cousin, and then for my journey." 
 
 But Sir Cyrus was in the room as he spoke. 
 
 ^' Going ! going away ? This is sharp work. I 
 trust there is no offence, nephew ?" 
 
 '^ Offence, sir ! None at all. My sudden depar- 
 ture perhaps is not very courteous, but I have 
 received some bad news by the post, which 
 renders a journey to town indispensable." 
 
 '^ Mrs. Bedfield?" began the baronet. 
 
 '^ Is well. I am not going home as yet, indeed 
 my absence will not extend over a week, when if 
 you will allow me, I will return and conclude my 
 visit here." 
 
 '' I am sure I — we shall all be delighted," said 
 the baronet, but he did not give the invitation 
 very heartily. 
 
 There was a silence while Mr, Bedfield wrote 
 a few hasty lines with his pencil in his pocket-
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 299 
 
 book. He tore the leaf out and gave it to the 
 chaperon. 
 
 '' This address will always find me," said he 
 meaningly, '^ should you — as I hope you will — 
 change your mind." 
 
 "Jackson is at the door, waiting, sir," said 
 Carter, throwing open the door. 
 
 With a hasty adieu to Sir Cyrus, Mr. Bedfield 
 went out. 
 
 " One moment," said he, as he almost leapt up 
 the stairs to where he saw his cousin standing. 
 
 She was coming down, but waited for him on 
 the top stair. 
 
 '' I'm off!" said he, excitedly, ^' not to Charles- 
 town ; but to London, Paris, Eome, etc. If you 
 write, address Poste Restante, Good-bj^e." 
 
 Cynthia was indeed astonished. " Going? — 
 going?" he said, doubtingly. 
 
 *^Aye ! To unmask the chapercm," he whispered. 
 " I have a clue, a certain one. Keep np your 
 spirits until I return. She will never be your 
 stepmother."
 
 300 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 " You will return, and soon ?" asked Cynthia, 
 eagerly. 
 
 " Yes, in a week, if possible. But write if you 
 are in trouble, or if anything should be amiss, 
 and address always, Poste restantey 
 
 He wrung her hand and was gone. 
 
 Cynthia stood half bewildered. Then, as if 
 suddenly recollecting something, fled swiftly 
 after him on to the terrace. 
 
 '^ Poste restante where ? Where ?" she screamed. 
 
 But the echo of her silvery voice could not 
 reach her cousin. He was even then crashing 
 round the corner of the drive. 
 
 *^ Lord ! How tliem Bedfields do drive,'* 
 exclaimed the groom; *^ blest if he don't most 
 beat the master at it." 
 
 Miss Castle sat in the " blue room," weeping 
 passionate tears. 
 
 What man is proof against a woman's tears, 
 especially a pretty woman's ? Sir Cyrus might be 
 proud and haughty, but his heart was as soft 
 and susceptible as other men's hearts.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 301 
 
 " She will never be your stepmother !" said 
 Mr. Bedfield to his cousin, yet the sound of the 
 wheels bearing him so swiftly from Stonycleft, 
 had scarcely died away in the distance, before 
 the chaperon was his uncle's affianced wife.
 
 302 SIB CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE BITER BIT. 
 
 Mr. Bedfiejd was of a sluggifsli nature, rarely 
 guilty of a rash impetuous act, yet he travelled 
 almost night and day. On ! Onward ! scarcely 
 allowing himself an hour's rest at his halting 
 stations. His thoughts harassed him, and pre- 
 cluded the idea of wholesome sound sleep. Would 
 his friend Fred Stanhope be still in Rome? 
 Should he succeed^in obtaining the clue he sought ; 
 the proof, that the chaperon was other than she 
 professed herself to be? All this, besides many
 
 SIK CYilUS OF STONYCLEFT. 303 
 
 other questions, troubled him, and were perpetually 
 beating about his brain, and he reached Rome 
 fagged and worn out, both in mind and body. 
 Yet still he scarcely allowed himself rest— did not 
 rest, until he stood by the bedside of his dying 
 friend. 
 
 Yes, Fred Stanhope was dying ; dying from 
 the effects of a fall from his horse at the early 
 age of thirty-four ; so young, yet in the midst of 
 a dissipated, wasted life.. All this came with a 
 sudden shock upon Raymond. All this the 
 burnt letter would have told him, as also that 
 his friend, with whom he had quarelled three 
 years ago, acknowledged his error, and begged to 
 see him, to hold his hand in friendship once more 
 before he died. 
 
 Mrs. Stanhope watched beside her son, and 
 welcomed Raymond gratefully. 
 
 *^ He has been asking for you all day," she 
 said, '^ until a sudden change set in about an 
 hour ago ; since which his brain has been wander- 
 ing, and I fear he will not recognise you. We
 
 304 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 felt sure you would come ; at least I did, although 
 I did not expect you so soon." 
 
 '^ I have travelled night and day/' he answered 
 but did not say his journey concerned another 
 beside his dying friend. This would have led to 
 a confession he wished to avoid. 
 
 His friend's state was a misadventure Mr. 
 Bedfield had not calculated upon, when he 
 promised his cousin to be absent if possible only 
 a week. This was not only, not possible — ^but 
 an impossibility. How ! now he had come so 
 far ; leave the dying man before he was conscious 
 of his presence ? How go away in the face of that 
 sorrowing mother, who hailed his presence as the 
 one boon her son craved for? No, though con- 
 sumed with more harassing thoughts than when 
 he journeyed to Rome, he must wait — wait. 
 
 Each day saw him at the postoflSce — that duty 
 was not entrusted to Jackson — and each day saw 
 him disappointed. But on the third, there was a 
 letter, yet his spirits sank when he found it had 
 not the Broadbelt postmark. If the chaperon
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 305 
 
 would only go away quietly and without fuss,. 
 and save him all further trouble ? So he thought 
 as he journeyed homewards, opened his letter, and 
 read it. 
 
 '' I have left as you wished. Is not your will 
 law ? I am here in Paris. Once more thrown by 
 your act on the world without money or friends. 
 You have hunted me to the earth. Do you feel 
 how bitterly you have punished me ? Does your 
 heart feel regret or remorse for your work now ? 
 It is your work you know. Do you think to-night 
 or for many nights to come, you will sleep on 
 your pillow any the easier for it ? I am miserable 
 and alone in this wretched lodging. My money 
 all gone, or nearly so. Surely even your enmity 
 cannot wish me worse, or allow me to starve. 
 
 " M. C." 
 
 *' Hurrah !" shouted Mr. Bedfield, " earthed at 
 last ! And I am glad of it ; she deserves all I 
 have done and somethiuo: worse."
 
 206 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 But presently feelings of compunction arose. 
 
 " Poor devil !" he said, '^ She is as clever a 
 woman as I ever saw, and deserves a better fate. 
 Perhaps she is not quite so black as mj imagi- 
 nation paints her. As to my will being law that's 
 all rubbish ! I won't starve her out. I'll be 
 generous and merciful. She deserves it for 
 giving up the siege so quietly." 
 
 Before he returned to his friend's hotel, he 
 wrote to the address she gave, a small street in 
 the suburb of Saint Antome, and enclosed her a 
 cheque for twenty pounds. 
 
 Then once more he betook himself to Fred 
 Stanliope, with at least, on one subject, an easier 
 and a lighter heart. 
 
 '' Do not go in," said Mrs. Stanhope, as he 
 laid his hand on the handle of the bed-room 
 door, '^ don't go in. He is better and asleep. 
 God grant the change may not be a deceiving 
 one. The physicians say the chances are, he 
 will be himself again when he wakes." 
 
 They were right. He was better. And again
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 307 
 
 better still a few days after, and moved by bis 
 own express desire on to the sofa in bis motber's 
 sitting- room. 
 
 Mrs. Stanbope was sanguine— very sanguine 
 now, but tbe pbysicians still looked grave. There 
 was no cbeering, bopeful look on tbeir faces. 
 
 Eaymoud Bedfield's days were almost entirely- 
 devoted to bis friend ; tbere was no ill feeling on 
 tbe mind of eitber ; all tbat was past, and perbaps 
 forgotten. 
 
 One morning be found bim in a balf reclining 
 posture, leaning over a paper be bad but just 
 folded up and directed. 
 
 "Is tbis allowable, Fred? or is it not 
 ratber very imprudent?" 
 
 " I did not tbink you were deceived, Eaymond. 
 I am not." 
 "As bow?" 
 
 " I am dying, old fellow, dying as fast and 
 sure, and as steadily, as tbat winter's sun will set 
 ere tbe evening closes in. Don't you be deceived 
 as well as my motber. It is but a flickering of
 
 308 SIR CYRUS OF ST02s^TCLEFT. 
 
 the candle before it goes out. I have not many 
 days left now ; you may shake your head, but it 
 is so ; and — and there is one thought haunts me, 
 troubles me, Raymond ; did trouble me even 
 before I came to this pass. Can you guess it ?" 
 "1— that is— no." 
 ^at's that girl, Raymond." 
 "• Don't let that trouble you, Fred." 
 ^' But I must. I do," said he, excitedly. 
 " That's what I have been writing about," and 
 he laid his hand on the paper beside him. *^ I 
 behaved badly to her, Raymond ; I did not think 
 so then, but I think so now. That old hag, her 
 mother, regularly enmeshed me. She would 
 have sold her own soul for gold, and why not her 
 daughter's ? But I don't accuse her to excuse my 
 own sin, which God knows was bad enough. 
 But — but, Raymond, she must not starve. I 
 have written all my wishes here, and you will 
 see to them, old fellow, won't you ? You'll find 
 her out after I'm gone? You'll do that for me?'* 
 '^ 1 will," answered Mr. Eedfield.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 309 
 
 *' That's a good fellow. I could not rest quiet 
 in m)^ grave if I thought you wouldn't. I have 
 never forgotten her, Kaymond, though I thought 
 I had; but it's all come upon me again since I 
 have been lying here. She may be steeped in 
 sin and guilt." 
 
 *^ She may be dead." 
 
 " I think not. I know she was not a year ago. 
 She was fond of life ; a very coward where that 
 was threatened. You will hunt her up for me, 
 as I wish I could do. You will tell her how I 
 thought of her at the last. You will give her the 
 letter you will find in that parcel, and say that 
 CDC of my last wishes was for her happiness. You 
 will do all this ?" 
 
 '^ I will." 
 
 *• You promise me ?" 
 
 *' I swear it most solemnly." 
 
 '' I am content. I shall die all the happier, 
 Haymond. She was proud. She would never 
 accept a farthing from me in life, poor girl. But 
 in death it will be different. You will per-
 
 310 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 fiuade her — if need be, Raymond — persuade her 
 for my sake ; but say not a word — a whisper — if 
 fihe be married, and happy. It's all written down 
 on that paper. My mother will give the money 
 for my sake. I think there is very little my 
 mother would not do for me." 
 
 '' Don't only think it, Fred," said Mrs. Stan- 
 hope, who had entered at the moment ; '^ be sure 
 of it." 
 
 *^ It's only a — a last wish, mother," said IVIr. 
 Stanhope, fearful of grieving her^ and hesitating 
 at reminding her of what he knew she did not 
 believe, or rather flattered herself would not 
 be. 
 
 ^'And therefore a more binding one," she an- 
 wered. '^ I will promise it whatever it is." 
 
 " Blind to my sins and follies even yet, 
 mother. What an undutiful son I have been ! 
 Can you forgive me ?" 
 
 ^' Hush I" she said, stooping over him and 
 wiping the damp moisture from his brow, and 
 kissing him fondly. ^' Hush ! I have nothing to
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 311 
 
 forgive. You have ever been a dutiful son to 
 me." 
 
 ** God bless you, dear mother." 
 
 '^ I do not think Fred looks so well," said Mrs. 
 Stanhope, as she wished Raymond good-bye, " or 
 else the bright fresh faces I met out walking have 
 made me think his looks pale in comparison." 
 
 Mr. Bedfield fidgetted for a letter from the 
 chaperon. No answer had come to his remit- 
 tance, although he had requested one. Suppose 
 she had hoaxed him, and not left Stonycleft after 
 all ? Bat at the end of a week of impatience and 
 worry, he received one in the same scrawly hand 
 as before, and which he thought, beat even poor 
 Fred's, in the difficulty of deciphering. It was 
 not so much an unladylike hand, as it was an — 
 as he termed it — execrable one. 
 
 '' Thank you for the money. How can I thank 
 you enough ! A pound a year for twenty years ! 
 What beggar could expect more? Twenty pounds 
 from you is indeed a princely, munificent gift ;
 
 312 SIR CYRUS OF STONTCLEFT. 
 
 and I think of it as sucli as I lay here, worn out 
 and ill — earthed as you would call it. Yes, I am 
 ill ; ill in mind and body. And yet I give my 
 grateful thanks to you, who have struck the 
 blow, and made me as I am, friendless and ill. 
 You have my grateful thanks, and deserve them ; 
 may you be rewarded some day for it. You will 
 be, and in a manner j^ou least expect. 
 
 ^'M. C." 
 
 i!^o, Raymond did not relish the letter at 
 all. He crushed it up in his hand snappishly 
 with a growl of dissatisfaction, as he walked off 
 to bed. 
 
 Within the next few days Mr. Stanhope grew 
 worse. It had been but a flickering of the candle 
 as he had said. It had burnt up brightly for a 
 time, and then was gone almost suddenly. His 
 mother, who sat beside him, scarce knew when 
 he was dead. 
 
 But Raymond, felt a slight pressure of the 
 hand he held. Leaning over him, he caught the
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 313 
 
 word " Remember !" and yet another, which 
 sounded like a woman's name, came faintly — very 
 faintly from his lips ; and he was at rest — at rest 
 for evermore, from all the troubles and cares, the 
 sins and follies of this world. 
 
 Again Mr. Bedfield journeyed — ^journeyed 
 homewards. 
 
 They travelled together ; himself and that sor- 
 rowing, bereaved mother, until they reached 
 Paris. Here they separated. She for her soli- 
 tary home in England ; he to remain. But he 
 had a motive for this delay, though all his 
 thoughts and wishes were turning and flying con- 
 stantly, and ever in the direction of Stonycleft. 
 Why was it so ? Ah ! that he never paused to 
 consider, but see the chaperon once more he 
 would. It was a miserable quarter this street 
 she lived in, but he found it, nevertheless. How 
 would she receive him ? And would she receive 
 him? or would she refuse ? And was she ill, or was 
 she only shamming ? Perhaps his heart did smite 
 him with a twinge of compunction as he walked 
 
 VOL. 1. p
 
 314 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 down the wretched street, and his eye fell upon 
 the dirty, slip-shod girl, who opened the door. 
 
 " Mamselle Castelle," said she, as he made 
 known his demand, "Ah, cette pauvre Mamselle 
 was very ill — very. Impossible Monsieur could 
 see her. Was he her brother or her lover? 
 But all the same, Mamselle was too ill to see 
 him. No, she did not know whdt was the mat- 
 ter, but Mamselle cried beaucoup all day ; and 
 ah ! mon JDieu ! how she moaned at night ! Pau- 
 line could not sleep for pity. Did a docter see 
 her. Ah I yes ! M. Duvoisin, who lived Numero 
 sept, the Rue Lamartiner 
 
 His conscience pricked uncomfortably by all 
 he had heard, Raymond bent his steps to 
 Monsieur le docteur^s. 
 
 He was at home that man of physic, with his 
 spectacles and moustaches, his compliments and 
 grimaces, and his wiry, spider-like body ; and 
 "would be happy, very happy to give — M. 
 Castelle ?"— here an interrogative bow and gri- 
 mace, which Mr. Eedfield did not contradict, —
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STONYOLEFT. 315 
 
 ** Mademoiselle's brother," — another grimace, — 
 all the information in his power. She was very 
 ill, this pauvre demoiselle; ill not so much in 
 body as mind. She was always fretting, and to- 
 day her head was hot, and her pulse quick, had 
 every symptom of fever, etc. Was M. Castelle 
 going to remain ? No. Would M. Castelle be 
 pleased to give M Duvoisin his address in Paris ?" 
 
 No, Mr. Bedfield would not even do that, could 
 not, as he was going that very evening to Eng- 
 land ; but he gave him a ten pound note to cover 
 any expenses he might deem necessary for his 
 patient, as also his solicitor's address, in case she 
 should be worse, when he was to be sent for im- 
 mediately, even telegraphed for, if need be. 
 
 They parted mutually satisfied, the doctor 
 overwhelming him with bows and grimaces, 
 and a succession of " bon voyage,'^ 
 
 Home ! Home, once more I What mattered 
 how the wind blew, or how rough and boisterous 
 the chopping seas of the Channel ; they bore him 
 home to dear old England, to Stonycleft, and to
 
 316 SIR CYRUS OF STONYCLEFT. 
 
 Cynthia. Yes, Kaymond Bedfield was going to 
 Stony cleft J although six weeks and more had 
 dragged wearily by, since he had left it so hur- 
 riedly under the promise of returning as hastily. 
 
 Would his cousin be glad to see him ? Would 
 his uncle forget their last mortifying conversa- 
 tion, and welcome him. How had the chaperon 
 left, and what excuse had she made for going so 
 suddenly ? How had she looked, and what had 
 she said ? He flattered himself that triumphing 
 over a fallen enemy had nothing to do with all 
 this. It was not the pleasure of placing his foot 
 on the neck of the vanquished, but curiosity, mere 
 idle curiosity. 
 
 The snow covered the ground thickly, was 
 covering it still, as Mr. Bedfield ^drove up to the 
 park gates in the gig he had hired at the Station 
 Inn, thinking it would bear him along quicker 
 than a fly. But the horse was a sorry one, and 
 the ground heavy. 
 
 *' How are they all at the house ?" he asked of 
 the man at the Lodge.
 
 SIR CYRUS OF STpNYCLEFT. 317 
 
 But the man was a little deaf, and had not 
 evidently heard aright. 
 
 " Just been home a week, sir," he replied. 
 
 Strange ! Where had they been ? But he 
 would learn soon enough, he thought. He got 
 on but slowly. Ihe evening had set in, and the 
 darkness increased, while the driving snow and 
 sleet beat full in his face, and almost blinded him;. 
 He was obliged to go, at— to him, in his impa- 
 tience'— a snail's pace. 
 
 "Have they sat down to dinner?" he asked, as 
 he shook the snow off his coat, and prepared to 
 enter the hall. 
 
 " No, sir ; the ladies have but just gone into 
 the drawing-room." 
 
 Ladies ! There were visitors, then. But there 
 was no help for it ; and with a hasty brush and 
 wash, he was on his way downstairs again, 
 
 "Mr. Bedfield," vociferated a man-servant, 
 like a clap of thunder in his ear, as he threw open 
 the door of the drawing-room. 
 
 There were two ladies in the room. His cousin
 
 318 SIR CYRUS OF STOKYCLEFT. 
 
 Cynthia, who started forward, and welcomed him 
 with a half- smothered cry and reproachful look ; 
 and another, whose back was turned to him, as 
 she stood before the fire ; her tall, well-made 
 figure looking almost queen-like, in the heavy, 
 rich folds of a black velvet dress, which swept 
 proudly around her form, fioating away in the 
 distance on the ground behind her. A chain of 
 pearls, as white as the snow flakes without, bound 
 her small, fair white throat, her arms, and wound 
 in and out the masses of her magnificent raven 
 hair. 
 
 Mr. Bedfield could see the shadow of her face 
 in the glass as she stood. In another moment 
 she turned and faced him. 
 
 It was the chaperon ! regally dressed, and 
 wonderfully handsome ; but the chaperon still. 
 
 The room reeled before Raymond Bedfield's 
 eyes ; he steadied himself by the table. One 
 moment ! Then he spoke : 
 
 "Serpent! Deceiver!" he exclaimed; "I 
 have unmasked you. You are — " he drew close
 
 SIR CYEUS OF STONYCLEFT. 319 
 
 — closer still, while lie almost hissed some words 
 into her ear. 
 
 " Hush ! Hush I" whispered Cynthia, spring- 
 ing to his side. " You are too late. Hush ! — 
 papa !" 
 
 As she spoke Sir Cyrus entered. 
 
 He looked at his nephew's white, excited face ; 
 and then at the chaperon, whose very lips were 
 paling, and went over and stood by her side, as 
 though protecting her — defying him. 
 
 " My wife ! Lady Bedfield !" he said, in a 
 loud ; decided ; care-nought voice. 
 
 But Lady Bedfield had fainted ere the words 
 had hardly passed his lips, and lay partly on 
 the ground, partly supported by the chair behind 
 her, while the rich black velvet dress fell like a 
 pall about and around her. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 T, C. Ne-wby, 30. Welbeck Street, Cavendisli Scjuare, London,
 
 UNtVERSITY or IUJN0IS4JRBANA 
 
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