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 THE CANON'S WARD 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 NEW NOVELS AT EVERY LIBRARY. 
 MAID OF ATHENS. By Justin McCarthy, M.P. 
 
 3 vols. 
 
 ALL IN A GARDEN FAIR. By Walter Besant. 
 
 3 vols. 
 
 THE LAND-LEAGUERS. By Anthony Trollope. 
 
 3 vols. 
 
 ANNAN WATER. By Robert Buchanan. 3 vols. 
 THE FOREIGNERS. By E. C. Price. 3 vols. 
 IONE. By E. Lynn Linton. 3 vols. 
 BEATRIX RANDOLPH. By Julian Hawthorne. 
 
 2 vols. 
 
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 FRESCOES : Dramatic Sketches. By Ouida. i vol. 
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, Piccadilly, W.
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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 THE CANON'S WARD 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES PAYN 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'BY PROXY ' ' HIGH SPIRITS' ' KIT : A MEMORY' ETC. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES 
 VOL. I. 
 
 WITH A PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR 
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY 
 1884 
 
 [All rights reserved]
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY 
 
 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE 
 
 AND PARLIAMENT STREET
 
 9- A 3 
 
 v, i 
 
 
 TO 
 
 JOHN K. EOBINSON 
 
 K 
 
 THIS BOOK 
 
 IS 
 
 CORDIALLY DEDICATED 
 
 0» 
 
 

 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIKST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER P AGE 
 
 i. the cronies 1 
 
 ii. the scholar . . . . . . 21 
 
 iii. general homage ..... 39 
 
 iv. russian morals 55 
 
 v. stranded ....... 73 
 
 vi. importunate 92 
 
 vii. aunt maria's headache . . . .110 
 
 viii. in pursuit 129 
 
 ix. the waiting-maid 146 
 
 x. visitor number two 163 
 
 xi. two girls 174 
 
 xii. a turn for business 207 
 
 xiii. the canon puts his foot down . . 223 
 
 xiv. a little scolding 236 
 
 xv. a tryst 252 
 
 xvi. sad news 268 
 
 xvii. breaking it 288
 
 THE CANONS WARD, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE CRONIES. 
 
 What ' the High ' is to Oxford men, pictu- 
 resque, unique, unapproachable, ' the Backs ? 
 — the river gardens at the backs of their 
 colleges — are to Cambridge men. There is 
 beauty all along the river from St. John's to 
 Corpus ; i linked sweetness ' — for do not the 
 bridges join the gardens? — 'long drawn out.' 
 It may be a personal partiality, but I venture 
 to think that immediately in front of Trinity 
 College the beauty of ' the Backs ' culminates. 
 There — to my eyes — the stream is broader 
 (it has ' a feeder ' through which a tiny 
 shallop may be pushed beneath the lime- 
 
 VOL. I. b
 
 2 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 boughs) ; there — to my ears — ' the frequent 
 pulse ' of oars is more musical than else- 
 where ; the bridges have a more graceful 
 curve. The tender greensward ; the fragrant 
 overhanging lime-walk like a cathedral aisle 
 in leaf ; a picture glazed, alas ! with tears, for 
 those with whom, like me, 'tis winter time, 
 while when they saw it last, long years ago, 
 ' 'twas May with them from head to heel.' 
 
 It is c The May ' now (as the May term is 
 called), and ' the Backs' are at their best, 
 though not their brightest, for dewy eve is 
 about to fall. The sky-colours above tree 
 and turret are like a herald's garb, the herald 
 of the summer ; the bells of old St. Mary are 
 clashing overhead, but mellowed by distance ; 
 the tinkle of the college bell is calling 
 the white-robed students, flitting ghostlike 
 through arch and corridor, to prayer, or at all 
 events to chapel. Upon the water lingers yet 
 a fairy fleet, and the light dip of the feathered 
 oar, full on the stream, and sharp beneath the
 
 THE CRONIES. 3 
 
 bridge, falls dreamily on the ear. To the 
 actors in such a scene, its glories are less 
 visible than to the eye of memory. AYe are 
 none of us fully aware of our happiness while 
 it is with us, and Youth is as unconscious of 
 it as is the flower of its blossom. It is Age 
 alone which admires — and regrets. 
 
 At the open window above the college 
 archway, a middle-aged man, his hair just 
 tinged with grey, but with intellectual fea- 
 tures that still retain traces of physical beauty, 
 is regarding this fair landscape with feelings 
 that are unshared by those he looks upon, 
 and whose presence enlivens it. His thoughts 
 are grave, though they are gladdened by its 
 beauty. The grass is as green as when he 
 trod it thirty years ago, and the fragrance of 
 the lime-walk has lost none of its sweetness, 
 yet how much is gone that was there before ! 
 All is crowded with life, yet how great is the 
 gap that Death and Change have made ! 
 
 A light hand, though it belougs to a man 
 
 b 2
 
 4 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 of six feet high, is laid upon the dreamer's 
 shoulders, and he looks up in the face of an 
 old friend. It is Mavors, the tutor, with 
 whom he had been at college, and who had 
 remained at work there while he himself had 
 taken a college living, given it up through ill 
 health, been made a Canon of the neigh- 
 bouring cathedral, and finally had come back 
 to Cambridge to ' reside.' 
 
 ' AVhy, Aldrecl, you are musing ! ' ex- 
 claimed the new-comer, in bantering but not 
 unmusical tones. i Are you regretting that 
 you have not once more an undergraduate's 
 gown upon your shoulders ? Such thoughts 
 never come into my head, because, I suppose, 
 I have other things to do. The hand of least 
 employment has the daintier sense. A thou- 
 sand pardons — I forgot the Concordance.' 
 
 ' I was thinking of my boy,' said the 
 Canon, gently. 
 
 ' To be sure,' returned the other, his voice 
 changing at once to one of sympathy. ' He
 
 THE CRONIES. 5 
 
 would be just the age for coming up ; and 
 you would have liked to have him here, of 
 course. The lads would interest one no doubt 
 if one had a son amongst them ; as it is, I 
 think Trinity would be the most delight- 
 ful place in the world if it wasn't for the 
 lads.' 
 
 ' A pigeon-pie without the pigeon,' re- 
 marked the Canon, smiling ; ' tough beef and 
 hard eggs — though not so tough and not so 
 hard as some of you would make yourselves 
 out to be.' 
 
 ' Ah, you have forgotten what it is to be 
 a tutor,' returned the other ; ' what one 
 suffers from those who bring up their off- 
 spring to us days before the term begins — the 
 "Early Fathers" and the mothers — as to a 
 dry-nurse, each with their tale of intelligent 
 precocity and budding genius ; likewise from 
 the young gentlemen themselves, so full of 
 promise, who take to spirits and the female 
 retailers of spirits, and are sent down — after
 
 6 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 a brief but voluptuous career — in their second 
 year.' 
 
 ' They are not all like that, however, if 
 I remember rightly.' 
 
 i Oh, no ; there are your romantic young 
 gentlemen, who know Shelley by heart, and 
 even your own Milton, and who would per- 
 haps get their fellowships, only that the day 
 before they take their degree they marry 
 their bedmaker's daughter.' 
 
 • And are there now no students ? ' in- 
 quired the Canon, giving way to the other's 
 humour. 
 
 1 Certainly, one or two ; and those from 
 the tutor's point of view are the worst 
 of all. They mostly take to mathematics ; 
 wear wet towels round their heads all night, 
 and eventually get brain fever, and drown 
 themselves in the river yonder : you have 
 no idea how my time is taken up with 
 Inquests.' 
 
 ' Still, I wish my boy were here, Mavors/
 
 THE CRONIES. 7 
 
 sighed the Canon, ' and that you were his 
 tutor.' 
 
 ■ And I wish it, too, Aldred, with all my 
 heart. Still, it is my firm conviction that a 
 boy of character knows what is best for him- 
 self ; for ninety-nine lads out of a hundred 
 it is all one : " soldier, sailor, tinker, tailor, 
 gentleman, apothecary, ploughboy, thief ; " 
 they are as fit for one calling as another ; but 
 your Robert, he is the hundredth. He has 
 views of his own, or so it seemed to me when 
 I saw him at the Rectory ; he will distin- 
 guish himself in whatever profession he has 
 a mind for.' 
 
 The colour rose to the Canon's cheek ; to 
 have his boy praised was the greatest pleasure 
 life had left for him. 
 
 ' But a soldier, Mavors ; and in India ! ' 
 
 ' Well, a soldier is better, at all events, 
 than any other of the professions I men- 
 tioned. You wouldn't make him a sailor, I 
 suppose, serving in a gun-boat in the Tropics,
 
 8 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 without half the necessary amount of cubic 
 feet of air to breathe in ; nor yet a young 
 gentleman at large, which means, in the end, 
 the Insolvent Court. And as to India, just 
 think how your Indian enjoys getting home! ' 
 
 ' Ah, if he ever does,' returned the Canon, 
 mournfully. 
 
 ' Why shouldn't he? What's to prevent 
 him? He's not the boy to take to brandy 
 pawnee. A few years ' 
 
 ' Five, at least, Mavors,' put in the other, 
 mournfully ; ' and the lad's ambitious ; if 
 there's an opening he will make for it.' 
 
 ' And make his mark there,' added the 
 Tutor, cheerfully. ' Why one would really 
 think that the boy had been sentenced to 
 penal servitude. You ought to be ashamed 
 of yourself, Aldred. Have you not your 
 sister to take care of you and look to your 
 comforts ; I wish / had a sister. The way 
 in which I am robbed right and left by my 
 bedmaker is something incredible ; I order
 
 THE CRONIES. 9 
 
 everything in in duplicate, and I don't mind 
 her taking things out of one cupboard ; but 
 they are both emptied simultaneously.' 
 
 1 Why don't you lock one cupboard ? ' 
 
 i I do, with a Bramah ; but Bramah is a 
 false god.' 
 
 ' You are just as you used to be, Mavors,' 
 returned the Canon, laughing ; ' never satis- 
 fied. Before you took the best degree in 
 your year, it might have been excusable, but 
 now — Tutor of your College, a man said to 
 know more about Plato ' 
 
 ' Said to know ! ' broke in Mavors, with 
 irritation ; ' confound you, I do know more 
 about Plato than any man alive.' 
 
 ' Just think of that,' said the Canon, slily. 
 1 On such a pinnacle, and yet not satisfied.' 
 
 1 Where is the comfort of a pinnacle ? ' 
 retorted the Tutor, peevishly. ' Give me a 
 Canon's stall. For you to grumble is indeed 
 ingratitude to fortune. You've your rooms 
 here — the best in the College. Your house
 
 io THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 on the Trumpington Road kept for you by 
 a devoted sister, and ornamented by the 
 presence of the most charming of wards. 
 Satisfied indeed ! It is my belief that if you 
 married your ward, you wouldn't be quite 
 content even then.' 
 
 ' I am quite sure I shouldn't,' said the 
 Canon, laughing outright ; i and I don't 
 think Sophy would be quite content either. 
 That's another thorn in my lot, Mavors ; my 
 responsibility as regards that girl.' 
 
 ' A crumpled leaf in your bed of roses, 
 you mean, Aldred ; I wish I had such a 
 thorn. How charmingly she makes your 
 coffee for you ! How neatly she catalogues 
 your library ! ' 
 
 ' I believe that is your notion of a wife's 
 perfection, Mavors. If so, why don't you 
 propose to Sophy. You shall have her 
 guardian's full consent, I promise you ; now 
 do, do. 1 
 
 The Rev. Henry Mavors, tutor of Trinity
 
 THE CRONIES. n 
 
 College, and the terror of German commen- 
 tators, blushed like a girl. Perhaps it was 
 knowing so much about Plato that rendered 
 the notion of marriage alarming to him, or 
 perhaps the Canon had unconsciously touched 
 some secret chord in his friend's breast. He 
 saw his advantage — it was cruel of him, but 
 he did not know how cruel — and pushed it 
 home. 
 
 ' If you are shy about it, my dear Mayors,' 
 he continued, • I'll speak to Sophy myself. 
 Only you must make up your mind, You 
 see if she asks you } you will hardly like to 
 refuse a lady.' 
 
 I I don't think a lady — or at all events so 
 young a lady — would quite appreciate a jest 
 of that kind,' said Mr. Mavors, gravely, and 
 still very red. 
 
 ' That shows how little you know about 
 her, my dear friend,' said the Canon, drily; 
 ' she would enjoy it immensely.' 
 
 It was not only that, being a widower, he
 
 12 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 was more ' at ease in Zion,' as regarded the 
 fair sex, than his celibate friend, and spoke 
 with a certain cynical lightness ; he had in 
 view a particular case. 
 
 'Between ourselves, my dear fellow,' he 
 continued ( ' for it is a matter which I should 
 certainly not speak about to any one but an 
 old friend like you), our dear little Sophy is 
 a source of great anxiety to us.' 
 
 1 You don't seem to feel it so, my dear 
 Aldred,' observed the other, with sympathetic 
 interest ; ' at all events in her company.' 
 
 ' I would not let her know that I feel it 
 for worlds ; both my sister and I greatly 
 enjoy her companionship, she is so naive and 
 engaging ; but I can't help wishing the old 
 Queen's Counsel had not fixed upon me for 
 her guardian. I have not a word to say 
 against the dear little maid, mind ; but she's 
 flighty — not to say flirty. At Portsmouth, 
 where she last came from, it did not signify, 
 I suppose ; soldiers and sailors are not apt
 
 THE CRONIES. 13 
 
 to take young ladies au serieux, because they 
 mean nothing themselves ; but with under- 
 graduates it is different.' 
 
 The Tutor frowned. ' But why do you 
 ask undergraduates — that is, such as you 
 have any reason to disapprove of — to your 
 house ? ' 
 
 1 My dear fellow, Sophy asks them, not I ; 
 or rather she is the magnet that attracts 
 them. They meet her at tennis parties, balls, 
 and what not, and then ask leave to call.' 
 
 ' Then I should not give them leave.' 
 
 'But they call in order to request the 
 permission ; and as I am always away from 
 home, my silence is taken for consent. Sophy- 
 welcomes them, and my sister has not the 
 heart to say " You mustn't come, sir." You 
 see, it's very hard for the poor girl, shut 
 up all day with Maria or an old fellow like 
 me.' 
 
 ' You're not a particularly old fellow,' 
 observed the Tutor, with an air of irritation,
 
 14 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 rather than of one who pays a compliment. 
 ' A man is only as old as he feels.' 
 
 ' Quite true ; age, however, is a matter of 
 comparison, and in this place of all others 
 the contrast stands out most strongly. We 
 call these young fellows "boys," and they 
 call us — well, I'm sure I don't know what 
 they call us, but " fogies," at the very least. 
 Not, my dear fellow, that you look like a 
 fogy ' (for the other had drawn himself up, 
 looking more like a major, and a drum-major 
 too, than a college tutor) ; ' but you know 
 what boys are. Well, girls are like them in 
 their judgment on these matters, only worse.' 
 
 Mr. Mavors answered nothing, but played 
 a tattoo with his fingers on the thrown -back 
 window-pane. 
 
 ' Yes,' continued the Canon, sadly ; ' it is 
 impossible to conceal from myself that dear 
 little Sophy (though I do believe she is fond 
 of him) finds her old guardian a bit of a 
 bore, and infinitely prefers the society of a
 
 THE CRONIES. 
 
 '5 
 
 young gentleman such as Mr. Herbert Perry, 
 for instance.' 
 
 ' Perry ? Who's Perry ? ' inquired the 
 Tutor. 
 
 ' Well, he's a Trinity man in his third 
 year ; he is not on your " side," but, of 
 course, you know him. He won the sculls 
 last year.' 
 
 ' A boating man ! Oh, yes, I remember ; 
 a great hulking fellow, with a brown beard 
 and a fresh complexion.' 
 
 1 An excessively handsome man ! ' 
 
 ' Indeed ! I should rather call him a fine 
 animal.' 
 
 1 He is an animal, I am sorry to say, that 
 Sophy admires very much,' returned the 
 Canon, drily. ' I don't like him myself, nor 
 is it altogether my prejudice. I have heard 
 things about him — not very bad things — but 
 things not to his credit. There is a theory 
 that your athlete is generally a person of 
 good moral character.'
 
 16 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 The Tutor smiled contemptuously. 
 
 1 Just so. Well, this young man is said 
 to be no better than he should be, and also 
 very reckless.' 
 
 ' But have you no authority over your 
 ward ? ' 
 
 ' Authority? I can't "gate" her or 
 " fine " her ; to be sure I could " rusticate " 
 her, but that would be very inconvenient.' 
 
 ' No doubt,' said the Tutor, with an air of 
 conviction ; ' it would be too much to expect 
 that you should leave Cambridge on her 
 account.' 
 
 ' I did leave it for a month or two last 
 winter, and took Sophy to London. I need 
 not go into painful details, Mavors ; but the 
 fact is that course did not produce the effect 
 I intended. The man followed us there, and 
 I have reason to believe that Sophy gave him 
 some encouragement. She knows, however, 
 that my views are fixed as regards that 
 matter. She shall never have my consent to
 
 THE CRONIES. i 7 
 
 marry him while I have power to forbid it — 
 that is, until she comes of age ; but in the 
 meantime what am I to do ? ' 
 
 ' Forbid him your house.' 
 
 ' The effect of which would be, that she 
 would see him out of the house ; a flirtation 
 is bad enough, but a clandestine flirtation is 
 far worse. The last appeal, however, as I 
 have said, lies with me. There is still a 
 twelvemonth to run before she becomes her 
 own mistress, and I am in hopes she will 
 tire of the man before that time.' 
 
 ' And then ? ' 
 
 • Well, then she will please herself. She 
 has twenty thousand pounds of her own, 
 though strictly tied up ; so that she will 
 have plenty of suitors, no doubt. In any 
 case — even supposing, that is, her penchant 
 for Mr. Perry dies out — I have no great con- 
 fidence in her judgment ; nothing would 
 please me more than to see her transfer her 
 affections to some worthy fellow (I should 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 18 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 not look for money in him so much as good 
 promise) who would make her happy ; but I 
 confess I should be as much surprised as 
 pleased. The dream of my life used to be 
 that Sophy and my Robert — but there,' con- 
 cluded the speaker, with a weary sigh, ' that's 
 over, and much else with it.' 
 
 ' That would have been a convenient 
 arrangement, no doubt,' said the Tutor, in a 
 tone less consoling than perfunctory ; his 
 sympathy seemed to have somehow faded 
 out. ' I suppose the ladies will be here to- 
 morrow evening ? ' 
 
 1 For the procession on the Backs ? — yes, 
 certainly. You will come, of course ? ' The 
 Tutor nodded. ' You will not mind my 
 asking a few young fellows, for Sophy's 
 sake ? The more she sees the better she will 
 be able to strike an average, and perceive 
 how much beneath it is Mr. Perry.' 
 ' He will not be here, I do hope.' 
 ' My dear friend, he will be on the river,
 
 THE CRONIES. 19 
 
 of course. Do you not know that he is 
 stroke of your own boat ? ' 
 
 1 My boat ! ' exclaimed the Tutor, con- 
 temptuously. ' Good Heavens ! ' 
 
 1 Well, I mean the Third Trinity : you 
 were an Eton man yourself, were you not ? 
 You have no idea what interest we take in 
 aquatics up at the Laurels. I believe I could 
 tell you the place of every boat on the 
 river.' 
 
 ' Could you ? I could just as soon go 
 through the catalogue of the Kings of Israel. 
 Oh, yes ; I'll come with pleasure — but I 
 must go now, for I have some work to 
 do to-night ; ' and he took up his college 
 cap. 
 
 ' And so have I,' said the Canon. 
 
 ' Is it possible ? ' laughed the Tutor, as 
 he left the room. But when the door had 
 closed upon him he grew grave enough. 
 Even into the deep solitudes and silent cells 
 
 c 2
 
 20 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 of a collegiate life human nature now and 
 then intrudes ; and with the man who 
 knew more about Plato than anybody, all 
 was not lettered ease and contented celi- 
 bacy.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SCHOLAE. 
 
 * My work/ Canon Aldred was wont to ob- 
 serve in his pleasant way, ' like topmost 
 Gargarus, takes the morning ; ' but, as Mr. 
 Mayors had hinted, it was not a severe de- 
 scription of labour, and could be done at any 
 time. He was just now engaged upon a new 
 edition of his favourite poet, Milton, including 
 a Concordance ; and, like all men who have 
 little to do, thought it a matter not only of 
 vast importance, but of pressing necessity. 
 It did not strike him that for what people had 
 done without for a few centuries, such as a 
 concordance to Milton, they could very well 
 wait a little longer, and in order to expedite
 
 22 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 matters he employed an assistant. It must 
 be confessed that, had he not done so the 
 great work would have progressed but 
 slowly, for the Canon was dilatory and a 
 dilettante. When Nature said ' Dream ' — a 
 remark which, if one is inclined to listen to it, 
 she repeats pretty often — he let Nature have 
 her way. He would sit for hours with his 
 book before him, with his head propped on 
 his hand, one upright finger pressed upon his 
 cheek, and with his thoughts a hundred miles 
 away ; indeed much further, for they were with 
 his boy in India. 
 
 He had everything about him suitable to 
 intellectual activity ; every description of note- 
 book, piles of volumes of reference ; a desk 
 with a sea of papers on it, and a noble harbour 
 for his knees beneath it. But a large tin of 
 Latakia tobacco stood beside him, which, though 
 it may stimulate the imagination, is hardly a 
 spur to toil ; and a huge meerschaum pipe, 
 which required a pretty constant hand to it, or
 
 THE SCHOLAR. 23 
 
 it would have pulled his teeth out. The tender 
 solicitude he bestowed upon the bowl was 
 touching : it was swathed in wash-leather, but 
 from time to time he carefully undid its cover- 
 ing, and gazed upon its deepening colour 
 with paternal pride ; then he would rise 
 from his seat, and nursing it in his plump 
 white hand, would take it round the room 
 with him, as though it was a baby. There 
 were so many objects to attract his attention 
 on these occasions — a book to be set right on 
 its shelf, a picture to be straightened on the 
 wall, the flowers with which Sophy always 
 supplied his college-chambers to be sniffed at 
 (though never rearranged, that would have 
 been audacity indeed) — that these promenades 
 took up a considerable time. 
 
 There was one object that was as certain 
 to bring him to a halt as is a partridge to 
 stop a pointer. On a little table stood a 
 glass case, and within it, on a velvet cushion, 
 a lock of hair. Pipe in hand, he is leaning
 
 24 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 over it now, and softly murmurs to him- 
 self :— 
 
 It lies before me there, and my own breath 
 Might stir its outer threads as though beside 
 The living head I stood in honoured pride, 
 Talking of lovely things, that conquer death. 
 Perhaps he pressed it once, or underneath 
 Ran his five fingers, when he leant blank eyed, 
 And saw in fancy Adam and his bride, 
 With their rich locks. 
 
 This lock, I need hardly say, was from the 
 head of the Canon's literary idol, Milton ; 
 but there was scarcely anything on which his 
 eye lit which did not suggest some poetical 
 quotation : and when there was nothing to 
 suggest them they suggested themselves. 
 Though without any ear for music, he had a 
 voice exquisitely modulated, and gave exactly 
 the right expression to every word. He was 
 no scholar, like his friend the Tutor, but a 
 man of very various reading, who valued 
 literature for what it was worth, and not (as 
 is generally the case with scholars) for the 
 name of the author. He had many fine
 
 THE SCHOLAR. 25 
 
 things in his head with which few others 
 were acquainted, and would ' croon ' them (as 
 the poor ' Shepherd ' used to term it) to 
 himself, for the gratification of his inward 
 ear. 
 
 As he passes by the open window in this 
 tour around his chamber, he once more looks 
 out of it. The dusk of eve has fallen ; the 
 river has lost its fairy fleet ; and only one or 
 two figures are still threading the lime-walk. 
 Something in the scene suggests an old-world 
 time and tune : — 
 
 Masters of Colleges have no common graces, 
 And they that have fellowships have but common places, 
 And those that scholars are, they must have handsome faces. 
 Alas ! poor scholar, whither wilt thou go ? 
 
 ' That must have been a strange way to 
 preferment,' he muses. ' A handsome face ! ' 
 Then, as a step comes up the echoing stair 
 outside his chambers, ' My poor Adair,' he 
 adds, ' would have had small chance in those 
 days.'
 
 26 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 There is a modest knock at the inner door 
 (for the outer, of course, was open), and his 
 own gentle voice replies, ' Come in.' The 
 new-comer was a young man of twenty-two 
 or so ; and since he was a scholar of his 
 College, it was clear, as the other had just 
 said, that he owed it to his learning, and not 
 to his looks. He was tall and thin — of a lean- 
 ness, indeed, that almost approached emacia- 
 tion. He had dark hair, the length and 
 straightness of which made him appear even 
 more lantern -jawed than he really was. His 
 face, so far from having the hue of youth, 
 though it was not unhealthy-looking, was 
 destitute of colour. His teeth, however, were 
 good ; and his black eyes, though somewhat 
 downcast, very clear and bright. 
 
 'I fear I am rather late, Canon,' he said, 
 in a voice as soft as a woman's, and with a 
 deep respect that had yet no touch of syco- 
 phancy ; ' but I had not kept my chapels, 
 and '
 
 THE SCHOLAR. 27 
 
 c Don't mention it, my dear lad, put in 
 the other, with a friendly smile. ' The 
 Church has the first call on all of us. I 
 hardly think, however, that that phrase, 
 " keeping your chapels " conveys the full 
 feeling of ecclesiastical devotion with which 
 you are, no doubt, possessed. Have you 
 done the B's yet ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, sir.' The young man drew from 
 under his gown some MSS., and put them 
 into the other's hand. 
 
 ' That's well, my lad ; how neatly you do 
 everything ! How I envy you that gift of 
 deftness ! When it comes to me (this with a 
 whimsical smile), it will not be of the fingers. 
 At my own christening, I do believe the 
 Fairy Disorder was left altogether out of the 
 Programme, and revenged herself by never 
 
 leaving me since. Well, and how do 
 
 £3 
 
 y 
 
 on 
 
 like it?' 
 
 ' Very much, sir. It is, in the first place, 
 a very great pleasure to find myself useful
 
 28 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 to you in any way ; and, after all, nothing 
 but care and accuracy are required in the 
 matter.' 
 
 ' Nay, I didn't mean the Concordance,' 
 said the Canon, smiling. i I meant the poet 
 himself. I gathered from what you said that 
 you have had hitherto but a bowing acquaint- 
 ance with him.' 
 
 ' That is true. You see I have not had 
 much time for reading such things.' 
 
 ' Such things ! ' echoed the Canon. ' And 
 now you have read it ? ' 
 
 ' Well, sir, there seem to be a great many 
 B's in " Paradise Lost." ' 
 
 ' There are, are there ? ' returned the other 
 with an amused look. c And as for the 
 poetry, I suppose you agree with the famous 
 Johnian that there is " a good deal of asser- 
 tion in it, and very little proof ? " 
 
 ' Indeed, sir, I find no proof at all. And 
 how unequally he has divided the thing. In 
 the Eighth Book there are not 640 lines,
 
 THE SCHOLAR. 29 
 
 while in the Tenth there are no less than 
 1,104.' 
 
 The Canon looked at his young com- 
 panion with that sort of gentle pity with 
 which a kind-hearted person regards a blind 
 man. 
 
 ' What was the book you liked best when 
 you were quite a boy ? ' he inquired, after a 
 long pause. 
 
 ' Euclid, sir.' 
 
 1 You will be Senior Wrangler, my good 
 fellow, as sure as your name's Adair,' ejacu- 
 lated the Canon. His tone had something of 
 warning and even menace in it, as though he 
 had said, ' If you don't take care, young man, 
 you will go straight to the devil ; ' but the 
 speaker was quite unconscious of it : he in- 
 tended what he said for a compliment, and the 
 other took it as such. 
 
 1 It is a pleasure to hear you say so, sir,' 
 he replied, with a quick flush ; i but if my 
 success depends on my name being Adair, I
 
 30 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 shall not be a Wrangler at all. My name is 
 — or was — Burke.' 
 
 1 Then why did you change it ? ' inquired 
 the Canon, with mild surprise. He knew it 
 was not for the usual reason — an inheritance 
 — for Adair was a sizar, and far from rich. 
 
 ' To please a patron, Sir Charles Adair.' 
 
 The bitterness of the young man's tone 
 was excessive ; if you could have seen his 
 eyes, which, however, were bent down, you 
 would have read in them more than bitterness 
 — hate. The Canon's handsome face softened 
 like a girl's. ' A patron,' he said ; ' a patron 
 may, however, be also a friend.' 
 
 c This one is not, or rather was not,' re- 
 plied the young man, curtly. c I have done 
 with him, or, as I should perhaps put it, he 
 has done with me.' 
 
 ' And have you no other friend ? ' inquired 
 the Canon, gently. 
 
 ' No friend but you, sir. My parents are 
 dead ; they left me nothing but a name, and
 
 THE SCHOLAR. 31 
 
 that ' — here he uttered a sharp sigh, as it 
 seemed involuntarily — ' has been taken away 
 from me.' 
 
 ' Your present name, however, will one 
 day be known irrespectively of him who gave 
 it you,' said the Canon, encouragingly. ' I 
 hear from your tutor that great things are 
 expected of you. You will achieve reputa- 
 tion — fame.' 
 
 ' And independence,' added the young 
 man, vehemently. 
 
 1 No doubt of it. To a young man of 
 character' (the Canon was thinking of his own 
 son) ' dependence is thraldom. Nature herself 
 points out to him his way in the world. But 
 I gathered from what you said that you and 
 your patron had parted company.' 
 
 ' So we have. What I have now to ^ain 
 is a competence.' 
 
 ' Oh, I see ! That sort of independence,' 
 returned the other drily. 
 
 The young man looked amazed ; then as
 
 32 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 one who, having lost his way, hits suddenly 
 on what he believes to be the right track, he 
 answered eagerly, ' Do not think me merce- 
 nary, sir ! You do not know what poverty is.' 
 
 6 Quite true, quite true,' said the Canon, 
 touched by the other's tone. ' I am no judge 
 in such a case as yours.' 
 
 ' Moreover, it is my earnest desire to free 
 myself from the sense of an obligation that 
 has become intolerable.' 
 
 1 Ah, you want to pay this too generous 
 gentleman the money back that he has ex- 
 pended on you.' 
 
 The scholar bowed his head assentingly : 
 if his intention was to have made a favourable 
 impression on his companion he had certainly 
 succeeded ; there was no need for him to speak. 
 
 ' May I ask without impertinence — indeed, 
 I have a reason for it — the cause of quarrel 
 between you and Sir Charles ? ' 
 
 ' It is only natural that you should do so, 
 sir,' answered the young man gravely. ; If I
 
 THE SCHOLAR. 33 
 
 do not answer your question you must not 
 imagine that I am ashamed to do so. I am 
 not afraid of any inquiry ; but/ here he turned 
 scarlet, ' it was a private matter.' 
 
 1 That means there was a lady in the case, 
 I suppose,' said the Canon, smiling. 
 ' Yes, sir ; I was very ill-treated.' 
 1 And not by her, I dare say,' smiled the 
 Canon. ' Well, my lad, we cannot all get 
 what we want in this world, and as often as 
 not it is better for us that we should not. I 
 cannot say,' he continued in a changed tone, 
 ' how pleased I am with your assistance in my 
 present work. You seem to me to be the very 
 helpmate I have been looking for. I was 
 verifying what you had done only last night, 
 and did not detect a single error. I do not 
 think that the remuneration we agreed upon 
 is a sufficient recompense for such care and 
 accuracy. I propose to double it.' 
 ' Oh, sir, you are too generous.' 
 1 Tchut, tchut ! the benefit is mutual ; 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 
 
 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 you may be sure I keep the whole matter 
 secret, as before. Nor need I add that what 
 you have just confided to me about your own 
 affairs will go no further.' 
 
 He spoke so rapidly that it was impossible 
 for the other to interpose a word of thanks, 
 but his face glowed with pleasure. 
 
 ' By-the-bye, you are not in the boats, are 
 you?' 
 
 ' Oh, no, sir.' The words were spoken 
 with a cold smile, which might have almost 
 been translated, ' How should I be, since I 
 have neither time nor money for such things ? ' 
 
 ' Then you must join us here to-morrow 
 night. We shall have a little party to see 
 the procession — my sister and my ward — 
 I think I hear them this moment on the 
 staircase ; they often come to fetch me 
 home.' 
 
 While he was yet speaking the door 
 opened, and two ladies entered the room. 
 The elder, a tall woman of about five-and-
 
 THE SCHOLAR. 35 
 
 forty, very thin and angular, but with an air 
 of singular refinement and delicacy ; the 
 younger, a slight, fairy- like little creature, ex- 
 quisitely pretty, and with a face that sparkled 
 with expression ; her hair was golden, and 
 her eyes were hazel. But it was not at once 
 that you noticed any such detail ; her other 
 charms were lost in her brightness. 
 
 ' My dear guardian,' she exclaimed, ' we 
 are late, I know, but do not scold Aunt Maria, 
 
 it was all my fault ; for after chapel ' 
 
 Here she stopped, catching sight of the young 
 scholar. 
 
 ' A friend of mine, Mr. Adair, my dear 
 Maria.' There was something in the tone of 
 her brother's introduction which caused Miss 
 Aldred to graciously hold out her hand instead 
 of bowing. 
 
 ' Mr. Adair, my ward, Miss Gilbert.' 
 The girl inclined herself stiffly towards 
 him with what was very literally scant cour- 
 tesy — and while looking straight in his face 
 
 D 2
 
 36 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 contrived to convey the impression that she 
 was unconscious of his presence. Notwith- 
 standing all which signs and tokens, ' I have 
 had the pleasure of meeting Miss Gilbert 
 before,' said Mr. John Adair, and at the same 
 time stepped forward and held out his hand 
 to her. 
 
 The delicate pink faded from Miss Sophy's 
 cheek in a moment, leaving it all lily ; it was 
 evidently an unexpected rejoinder ; but she 
 took the proffered hand frankly enough, and 
 in her bright musical voice replied, ' I beg you 
 a thousand pardons. I remember you now 
 quite well. We met at the Bachelors' Ball, 
 I think.' 
 
 ' Well, I am surprised, Adair,' said the 
 Canon. 'I should have thought a ball-room was 
 the very last place you would have been found 
 in. However, I am glad to find you are not 
 such a stranger as I thought you were. It is 
 hardly necessary to say you will not forget 
 your engagement for to-morrow night ; a
 
 THE SCHOLAR. yj 
 
 man who can do cube roots in his head 
 should never forget anything.' 
 
 ' You over-estimate my memory, sir/ 
 said the scholar, smiling ; ' but ' (here he 
 glanced at the young lady) ' I rarely forget 
 what I wish to remember.' 
 
 • I hope you don't repeat all you remem- 
 ber,' said Miss Sophy, lightly, ' or an evening 
 with you and my dear guardian would be a 
 little trying.' 
 
 It was a flippant speech for a young girl, 
 but it was generally admitted that Miss Sophy 
 was flippant. The Canon, whose habits of 
 quotation had been thus sarcastically alluded 
 to, only smiled and shook his head. 
 
 1 You need not be afraid of my repeating 
 anything, Miss Gilbert,' said the young 
 scholar, gravely ; and, backing to the door, 
 he bowed, and left the room. 
 
 1 You've frightened that young man very 
 much, Sophy,' remarked her guardian, reprov- 
 ingly ; 'he is a mathematician, and takes
 
 38 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 everything seriously, even your pert little 
 jokes.' 
 
 ' I'm so sorry,' replied the girl, with a 
 pretence of penitence ; and running up to her 
 guardian, she gave him an affectionate kiss. 
 
 You could never have guessed from her 
 manner what was the actual fact — that, so far 
 from frightening Mr. John Adair, that gentle- 
 man had frightened her to the verge of a 
 faint in 2: fit.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GENERAL HOMAGE. 
 
 Canon Aldeed was a man of mark in Cam- 
 bridge, and the more so since his ways were 
 not Cambridge ways. As a University man, 
 he had not much distinguished himself: his 
 friends said he could easily have done so had 
 he not wasted his mental energies in so many 
 directions ; but others had their doubts of 
 this. We often hear it said of notorious 
 swindlers that if they had shown in some 
 honest calling one-half of the ability they 
 displayed in embezzlement, or some other 
 branch of the criminal sciences, they could 
 have earned a competence, or even wealth ; 
 but this is only one of those platitudes which
 
 40 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 commonplace joeople make use of under the 
 impression that they are saying something 
 philosophic. The remark is of a piece with 
 that which describes a first-rate whist-player 
 as a mathematician spoilt. The truth is, 
 many men have natural gifts, for particular 
 things, which are nevertheless only small 
 things ; they are very good in the back 
 streams of intelligence, but the main stream is 
 too strong for them, and in reality they ex- 
 hibit their sagacity in keeping out of it. 
 Some men, again, do many things well, but 
 still not very well. If they were women, they 
 would draw and paint and play the piano, 
 and even read Dante (not with very much 
 pleasure) in the original ; and they would be 
 called ' accomplished.' An accomplished man, 
 however, is not a desirable person ; whereas 
 the folks I have in my mind are generally 
 very agreeable. Their sympathies, though 
 not deep, are wide ; they have neither cant 
 nor caste ; they see the Beautiful and the
 
 GENERAL HOMAGE. 41 
 
 True, but without attempting to define 
 them, and they are almost always good- 
 natured. 
 
 Canon Aldred was all this, and more. 
 He was kind-hearted to a fault ; confiding to 
 the verge of weakness ; and a gentleman to 
 the core. Though not wealthy, he had some 
 private property which, with the Canonry, 
 gave him a considerable income, and he spent 
 it generously. He was not an Amphytrion, 
 because he had not the means for it, but he 
 entertained his friends with a hospitality the 
 graciousness of which atoned for any lack of 
 splendour ; and his friends were of various 
 kinds. Some of them were now staying at 
 Cambridge, drawn thither, as much by the 
 attraction of his presence as by those of the 
 place itself, great as they are during the May 
 term. 
 
 There was Professor Pelski, of Moscow, 
 though not ' late ' of Moscow ; he had had to 
 fly for his life from Russia on account of his
 
 42 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 political opinions more than thirty years ago, 
 and during that time had been hand and 
 glove with half the Kevolutionists of Europe. 
 
 There was Mr. Flit ; the most special of 
 special correspondents, whose vacations could 
 never be called i long,' since they only lasted 
 while England was not at war with this or 
 that savage tribe or country ; at the first beat 
 of the drum he was off, with his note-book 
 and metallic pencil, to Timbuctoo or Terra 
 del Fuego, but in the meantime mingled in 
 society as though privation had never driven 
 him to eat anything worse than his boots. 
 
 There was also just now in Cambridge Mr. 
 Fluker, the great Eastern financier ; the Canon 
 had met him in Egypt when engaged in one 
 of his most successful ' operations ' upon the 
 Khedive, and found him much to his taste. 
 Mr. Fluker' s experiences had all the charm 
 of novelty for him, and with characteristic 
 modesty he felt a considerable respect for this 
 man who had made his mark — which was,
 
 GENERAL HOMAGE. 43 
 
 however, a pretty big hole for the reception of 
 other people's property — in a world of which 
 he himself knew nothing. And Mr. Fluker, 
 to whom the respect of a fellow creature was 
 an unaccustomed treat, reciprocated the other's 
 liking. 
 
 All these gentlemen had received invi- 
 tations to view the ' procession ' from the 
 Canon's rooms ; but it did not include any 
 suggestion that they should attend the 
 College chapel. He had asked them to do 
 that upon another occasion, thinking that the 
 peculiarity of the scene might have an attrac- 
 tion for them ; but ' the vespers,' as Mr. Flit 
 entitled them, had not, so far as these gentle- 
 men were concerned, been a success. As 
 guests of the Canon they had all occupied 
 prominent places in the stalls, but without a 
 due understanding of the sublimity or re- 
 sponsibilities of that exalted position. It was 
 probably the first time that Mr. Fluker had 
 been to a place of worship since his baptism
 
 44 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 (if lie ever had been baptised ; for there were 
 persons ready and willing to affirm that he had 
 not only no right to the surname he bore, but 
 to even a Christian name). The service had 
 seemed not a little tedious to him, and he had 
 not scrupled to show it as demonstratively as 
 the pins, and rings, and watch-chain of which 
 it was his habit to make particular display, 
 
 Mr. Flit, on the other hand, who on 
 principle never suffered himself to be bored 
 by anything, had been too much at home in 
 the sacred edifice, and not only at anthem 
 time (wherein some little license is allowed to 
 wandering thought), but during the more 
 devotional portions of the proceedings, had 
 been seen, to the great amusement of the 
 undergraduates, to take copious notes, includ- 
 ing a very graphic sketch of the Vice- 
 Master. 
 
 As to Professor Pelski (who was not only 
 a philosopher himself but took every one else 
 to be so), he had not scrupled to address
 
 GENERAL HOMAGE. 45 
 
 aloud to his neighbour, the junior Dean him- 
 self (a person he rightly judged likely to be 
 cognisant of such matters), questions respect- 
 ing the date and foundation of the chapel ; 
 the carving by Grindling Gibbons, and other 
 matters of information which seemed to him 
 more interesting than what was going on. 
 
 The college authorities, in short, had been 
 rather scandalised by the Canon's friends, and 
 had made a remonstrance to him in private 
 against the future admittance to Divine service 
 of individuals who, although of European 
 celebrity, the Master had not hesitated to 
 term ' outlandish persons. 7 The Canon had 
 expressed his sorrow, with the confident 
 assurance that his friends were not likely to 
 come to chapel again ; but it was not the first 
 time that the latitude of his views had met 
 with discouragement. 
 
 During the last winter but one he had 
 asked three Parsee students, who had just 
 joined the University, to dine with him at his
 
 46 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 residence, ' The Laurels.' It had seemed to 
 him, notwithstanding some objections urged 
 by his sister, an act of Christian charity to 
 give these high-hatted aliens a Christmas 
 dinner, a view which Sophy had enthusiastic- 
 ally supported (young gentlemen guests were 
 rare during the vacations, and even copper- 
 coloured ones were better than none) ; but 
 the affair had turned out a sad fiasco. The 
 host had waited and waited, but the guests 
 had never arrived. After half an hour the 
 Canon and the ladies sat down. ' It was 
 most extraordinary,' he said ; for the young 
 men (persons of high rank in their own land) 
 had accepted his invitation — so far as satisfac- 
 tion can be expressed by symbols — with the 
 greatest effusion. 
 
 1 Black people,' suggested Miss Maria, 
 with characteristic charity, ' were probably 
 like white people, only, as it were, more so ; 
 persons of rank in England came generally 
 late for dinner ; persons of rank in Persia
 
 GENERAL HOMAGE. 47 
 
 took a still higher line, perhaps, and did not 
 come at all.' 
 
 ' If the guests as you expected was black, 
 sir,' interposed Barclay the butler, who had 
 been listening to this conversation with much 
 uneasiness, ' I am afraid I have made a bit of 
 a mistake. Three black individuals did call 
 half an hour ago or so and asked for you by 
 name, but knowing Miss Aldred's dislike to 
 that kind of entertainment I sent 'em away.' 
 
 He had thought they were nigger min- 
 strels. 
 
 Notwithstanding which disappointing ex- 
 perience, the Canon was as universally phil- 
 anthropic and as unexceptionally hospitable as 
 heretofore. 
 
 At his rooms on procession night, besides 
 the distinguished guests already enumerated, 
 was a goodly sprinkling of Fellows of Col- 
 leges, each with some individuality of his 
 own, or, as his more commonplace com- 
 panions were apt to term it, ' a crochet. 7
 
 48 THE CANON S WARD. 
 
 Under these circumstances it may seem some- 
 what strange that Miss Aldred and Miss Gil- 
 bert were the only ladies ; but, by the nature 
 of the case, the male sex at Cambridge is 
 greatly in excess of the female : on occasions 
 like the present almost every ' don ' who had 
 rooms commanding the view had his own lady 
 visitors ; and, lastly, it was not Sophy's 
 custom (to please whom the little party had 
 been given) to welcome casual guests of her 
 own sex, and especially of her own age, very 
 warmly. She was very fond of admiration, 
 and the truth is, ladies did not admire her so 
 much as gentlemen did, and if they had, she 
 would not have cared, perhaps, quite so much 
 for it. We all know what men think of ' a 
 ladies' man,' and ladies, on their parts, do not 
 take very kindly to ladies who monopolise the 
 attention of gentlemen. Men adored Sophy 
 Gilbert. A little beauty goes a great way 
 with them, and if, in addition, there is a 
 marked kindness towards themselves it goes
 
 GENERAL HOMAGE, 49 
 
 much further ; and Sophy was very pretty, 
 and very empressee with every one of them. 
 She was not a flirt ; for a flirt is an artificial 
 production full of wiles and stratagems — 
 warm, when warmth seems necessary to bring 
 on the flower of Love, and cold when that 
 eccentric plant seems to require the contrary 
 treatment to produce the same result ; fall of 
 airs and graces that can be put on or off at a 
 moment's notice ; prompt with her tears or 
 with her smiles, significant, yet utterly mean- 
 ingless. It is my fixed opinion that no intel- 
 ligent man has been deceived by a flirt for 
 more than twenty-four hours, and much less 
 been what is termed 'jilted.' Xow, when 
 Sophy smiled she meant it ; if she didn't 
 mean much, her manner, however tender, was 
 genuine, though, so to speak, very transfer- 
 able ; she was kind, but naturally kind. 
 
 Masters of Colleges unbent before her, 
 and quoted what she knew were compliments, 
 though they were in Latin ; tutors retained 
 
 vol. 1. E
 
 5 o THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 her hand almost as long as though it had 
 been that of some young nobleman just en- 
 trusted to their educational care ; grave pro- 
 fessors paid her as much attention as though 
 she was the subject of the morrow's lecture. 
 The undergraduates raved about her. When 
 she came to chapel every one felt glad that 
 they were conforming to college regulations, 
 and had not played truant. Their eyes did 
 not roam about as usual, but were concen- 
 trated upon one point — the stall in which she 
 sat. The anthem was interlarded with eulo- 
 gies upon her. 
 
 Tompkins, the great orator of the Union, 
 and famous for his original sallies, declared 
 that it was a liberal education to look at her. 
 Many gay young gentlemen whose fate would 
 have otherwise been doubtful, were said to 
 have lost their degrees because of her ; and 
 Jones, who was Senior Wrangler, always pro- 
 tested that he had lost the Smith's Prize on 
 account of the recollection of her charming
 
 GENERAL HOMAGE. 51 
 
 face suddenly flashing between him and a 
 problem. 
 
 With the less serious minded, ' the boys 
 that crashed the glass and beat the floor/ she 
 was a standing toast. To have the entree to 
 1 The Laurels ' was a privilege more desired 
 by the undergraduate world than to win a 
 declamation prize, or a cup on the river. And 
 yet there were people who wondered why 
 Sophy Gilbert was ' not more popular than 
 she was with girls of her own age in Cam- 
 bridge.' 
 
 Professor Pelski, who might have been 
 her grandfather, was a very open admirer of 
 Sophy's. ' My dear young lady,' he said, in 
 his broken English, as she held out her hand 
 to him and gaily inquired after his rheuma- 
 tism, ' I was very bad when I came ; but the 
 sight of you " makes," as your Wordsworth 
 says, " an old man young." When I look on 
 your ward, Canon, I declare it almost makes 
 me forget to think of Liberty ! ' 
 
 E 2 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 SITY OF ILLINOIS
 
 52 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 'You exchange the general for the par- 
 ticular, eh ? ' said the Canon ; ' instead of 
 Liberty, you think of a special license.' 
 
 ' Eeally, William, you ought to be 
 ashamed of yourself,' exclaimed Miss Maria, 
 reprovingly. 
 
 ' What does he mean ? ' inquired the 
 Professor. 
 
 Mr. Flit was equally well received, and 
 not only paid the young lady some pretty 
 conrplhnents, but went so far as to compare 
 her favourably, in his own mind, with a cer- 
 tain fair Circassian who had once pursued 
 him for twenty miles over the mountain with 
 rifle and yataghan ; but who, in his own 
 account of the affair — which was a well-worn 
 topic — had anything but hostile intentions. 
 
 Mr. Fluker, who was not eloquent with 
 ladies, contented himself with a few common- 
 places ; and while regarding her with distant 
 looks of admiration, jingled the sovereigns in
 
 GENERAL HOMAGE. 53 
 
 his pocket as if lie would have liked to buy 
 her. 
 
 Mr. Mayors, too, sat apart ; for though 
 much more a man of the world (as, indeed, 
 he -might easily have been) than his host, he 
 had not his extensive human sympathies, and 
 did not much relish the companionship of 
 persons who had never so much as heard of 
 the Stagyrite, or might have even imagined it 
 was a species of beetle. He confined his at- 
 tentions for the present to Miss Maria, as 
 being near the rose (for did not Miss Sophy 
 always call her aunt ?) if not the rose her- 
 self. 
 
 The younger fellows, who had at first 
 modestly hung around the door (like the 
 people who have been asked to join a dinner- 
 party after dinner — or, as it is euphemisti- 
 cally termed, are 'received in the evening 7 ), 
 gradually clustered about the window at 
 which Sophy sat, like bees about a flower.
 
 54 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 As the Canon afterwards remarked, with a 
 smile that robbed the observation of its satire, 
 ' My rooms were only on the first floor, but 
 Sophy was in the seventh heaven/
 
 55 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 RUSSIAN MORALS. 
 
 Presently there is a sound of cheering and 
 the distant dip of oars, and Sophy, with a 
 little blush, cried ' Here they come ! ' 
 
 i Now, I should like to know all about 
 this,' inquired Professor Pelski, in his queer 
 English. ' What is it, this procession ? ' 
 
 ' At the conclusion of the races,' explained 
 Sophy, ' the boats come up the river in the 
 order of their places, and assemble together 
 opposite King's College, yonder.' 
 
 ' Third Trinity is head of the river,' ob- 
 served a shy young fellow as a supplement to 
 this information. 
 
 ' Third Trinity ; then there is more than
 
 56 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 one Trinity ? ' exclaimed the Professor. ' I 
 shall never get to the bottom of this.' 
 
 ' Trinity has three boats, sir/ continued 
 the shy young man ; ' the Third Trinity is a 
 club composed of Eton men.' 
 
 i Eaten men ? This is worse and 
 worse.' 
 
 ' Men that have been brought up at Eton 
 College, sir.' 
 
 i Ha, ha ; I have it now ; Eton scholars. 
 Good : it's a nice boat ; but very thin and 
 rickety. What a leetle, lee tie man they have 
 got to steer them ; and how he bob his head 
 into that biff, big one.' 
 
 ' Stroke is a heavy fellow for his place, 9 
 observes Mr. Flit, who has the advantage of 
 an opera-glass. He likes to see everything 
 thoroughly, and thinks the procession may 
 make a ' par ' in his paper in the dead season. 
 ' Why the deuce does he wear flowers in his 
 straw hat ? It isn't May Day.' 
 
 ' It is the custom on procession night/ ex-
 
 RUSSIAN MORALS. 57 
 
 plains the young gentleman who had under- 
 taken the post of chorus. 
 
 ' They are very powerful young men,' con- 
 tinued the Professor, admiringly. He has 
 borrowed the glass from Mr. Flit. i In my 
 own country we do not develop ' [he pro- 
 nounced it devil up] ' the physique except at 
 billiards. Mr. Stroke is particularly hand- 
 some.' 
 
 ' His name is not Stroke,' recommenced 
 the chorus ; ' that is the term given ' 
 
 ' Why he is taking off his hat and waving 
 to us ! ' exclaimed the Professor, excitedly. 
 
 ' They are all doing it,' says Sophy, 
 gently. 
 
 1 Xo, no ; but he — -just take the glass and 
 look at him — who is it ? ' 
 
 The moment was an embarrassing one for 
 the young lady. She knew perfectly well 
 who was waving his hat to her, and had her 
 own reasons for not being grateful for the 
 attention. This circumstance, which, thanks
 
 58 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 to the assistance science afforded to the eye- 
 sight, had attracted the observation of the 
 Professor, seemed to have escaped the rest of 
 the company. She took the glass, but pur- 
 posely turned it on the wrong boat. i I have 
 not the pleasure of the gentleman's acquaint- 
 ance,' she said, indifferently. 
 
 ' It is Mr. Perry whom the Professor 
 means,' said a quiet voice behind her. 
 
 She did not look round, but she recognised 
 the voice as that of the young scholar whom 
 she had met the previous day. Her face 
 turned crimson, but she said nothing. 
 
 1 That is " pink Perry " who won the 
 sculls,' remarked the chorus, emboldened by 
 his previous successes, and conscious of the 
 possession of peculiar information. ' He 
 is the greatest athlete in the University, 
 can drain a pewter without drawing a 
 single breath, and pick up coins with his 
 toes.' 
 
 ' It strikes me that the gentleman is not
 
 RUSSIAN MORALS. 59 
 
 so much an athlete as an acrobat/ observed 
 the Canon, drily. 
 
 As for the rest, they kept a terrible 
 silence ; the shy young fellow wished himself 
 dumb or dead ; every one stared out of the 
 window at the individual to whom had been 
 attributed these great physical gifts. 
 
 The boats were now crowded together, 
 and one had nut off from the shore, bearing a 
 hospitable youth with a huge flagon of claret- 
 cup for the refreshment of his aquatic friends. 
 He offered it to 'pink Perry' (so called from 
 his ruddy complexion) who, before drinking, 
 cast that sort of glance up at the Canon's 
 windows which vulgar landsmen use when 
 they say ' I looks toward you.' 
 
 1 What spirits he has ! ' exclaimed the 
 Professor, waving his hand with enthusiasm ; 
 the whole affair began to have the charm for 
 him of a political demonstration. 
 
 ' Spirits indeed ! ' murmured the special 
 correspondent, contemptuously : ' he is very,
 
 60 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 very drunk ; that's what's the matter with that 
 young man.' 
 
 Mr. Fluker was wondering in his mind 
 whether he should make a good impression by 
 throwing a handful of sovereigns among the 
 crowd beneath, but fortunately decided in the 
 negative. 
 
 Presently, to Sophy's intense relief, the 
 procession moved on towards King's College, 
 whence the cheering and the tumult came 
 mellowed by distance. She was sorry that 
 she had ever come to see the triumph of the 
 Third Trinity. To most people in the room, 
 it was true, nothing seemed to have happened 
 that was very serious. It was not unusual 
 on such occasions for the hero of the hour to 
 be a little ' excited ; ' and though it had not 
 been ' good form ' in Mr. Perry to pay such 
 marked attention to the Canon's guests, his 
 libation, to most eyes, seemed to have had no 
 particular object. Sophy, however, knew 
 better ; and was well aware that her guardian
 
 RUSSIAN MORALS. 61 
 
 and Aunt Maria, and at least one other member 
 of the company, knew better also — namely, 
 that her health had been drunk in a very 
 demonstrative manner in public by Mr. 
 Herbert Perry. How could he, could he, do 
 so, knowing how unpopular he was with her 
 folk at home ! 
 
 In crediting him with such recklessness, 
 however, she did him wrong ; for the fact 
 was, Mr. Perry was not quite conscious of his 
 own audacity. He was not, as Mr. Flit had 
 concluded, ' very, very drunk,' but he had 
 taken, that afternoon, as much champagne as 
 was good even for the stroke oar of the 
 leading boat on the river, and more than was 
 good for a young gentleman ' on his pro- 
 motion,' anxious to do away with certain 
 prejudices entertained against him by the 
 guardians of his beloved object. 
 
 Sophy knew by the Canon's manner that 
 he was greatly annoyed, and when they 
 adjourned into another apartment for refresh-
 
 62 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 ments, she became aware that Mr. Mavors, 
 who took her in, was annoyed also. His 
 manner had been always something more than 
 polite to her, and now there was a certain 
 stiffness in it, as though he suspected her of 
 having encouraged the attentions which had 
 evidently scandalised him. 
 
 It was characteristic of the young lady 
 that, far from resenting this as an im- 
 pertinence, or as not his business, she took it 
 as a compliment ; it proved indeed that it 
 was his business, or, in other words, that the 
 Tutor took a personal interest in her ; and 
 there were very few men under such circum- 
 stances, whom, being angry with her, she 
 could not have pacified. If Miss Sophy did 
 not understand Plato she understood people 
 who did understand him, and in five minutes, 
 thanks to her pleasant way with him (which 
 indeed was as natural to her as its song to the 
 nightingale), Mr. Mavors had quite acquitted 
 her of any connivance at Mr. Perry's mis-
 
 RUSSIAN MORALS. 63 
 
 doings. She would have got on with him 
 even better if Mr. Adair had not taken his 
 seat on the other side of her ; she did not 
 know that the Canon had kindly motioned 
 him into it (wishing to remove any sense of 
 inferiority that might have arisen from the 
 consciousness of his being the only under- 
 graduate present), and she thought his pro- 
 pinquity an intrusion, which nevertheless, for 
 reasons of her own, she dared not resent. 
 Though he spoke very little, it struck her that 
 he listened with unnecessary attention to 
 what she said to others ; a compliment that 
 for once by no means pleased her ; indeed, it 
 gave her a sense of discomfort, and even 
 oppression. Fortunately, she was not called 
 upon to talk very much, ' the guests of the 
 evening,' as those not members of the 
 University might naturally be considered, 
 taking the lion's share of the conversation. 
 
 It was a joke amongst his college friends 
 against the Canon, who knew everybody,
 
 64 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 including some foreigners of very ' advanced 
 opinions,' that he used to remark in his quiet 
 way in the combination room, i There will be 
 a rising in Hungary about the middle of 
 June,' or ' They will shoot at the Czar again 
 in August ' (as though he were game) ; and 
 now that one of these queer friends of his, a 
 real, live Revolutionist, had come in proprid 
 persona, there was more than one of the com- 
 pany desirous to draw him out. 
 
 On two topics in particular — Liberty and 
 Patriotism — Professor Pelski was by no 
 means a badger as regards any unwillingness 
 to be ' drawn,' but, on the contrary, only 
 required to be set agoing. 
 
 ' I will tell you a story of two brothers,' 
 he said, 'illustrative of the state of things 
 under the Tyrant Alexander, and as they at 
 present exist in the city — let us say of 
 Cracow : I dare not tell you the real names of 
 either places or people.' 
 
 ' He can't pronounce them,' muttered Mr.
 
 RUSSIAN MORALS. 65 
 
 Flit to Mr. Fluker ; ' that's his real difficulty ; 
 no Russian and still less any Polish name can 
 be pronounced : I know both countries well/ 
 ' If you will allow me, gentlemen,' con- 
 tinued the Professor (who had often lectured 
 upon his country's wrongs, and already con- 
 ceived himself upon his legs in the company of 
 a couple of candles and a glass of water ; his 
 English at once became less broken, the 
 English of the platform), ' I will call the two 
 brothers John and James.' 
 
 ' Why not X and Y ? ' suggested the 
 Canon ; ' there are so few things, we flatter 
 ourselves, unknown at Cambridge that they 
 are sufficiently indicated by those letters.' 
 
 ' Very good. X and Y, then, were two 
 brothers, Poles, but very different in their 
 character.' 
 
 The Canon smiled. He was thinking to 
 himself, ' ^Ye have a proverb to that effect, 
 " as far asunder as the Poles." ' 
 
 ' X was a patriot — revolutionist, if you 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 will ; and I need not add, since he was not 
 in prison, an exile. Y was a quiet, wealthy- 
 fellow, who took no part in politics, and lived 
 at home. He felt, however, a desire for a 
 holiday, and asked permission of his friend 
 the Military Governor to take one in foreign 
 parts. 
 
 ' " Good ! " he said. " You may go ; but 
 no further west than Ostend. Such are the 
 conditions of your permission, remember." 
 
 ' Now after a little, Y found Ostend un- 
 commonly dull, and wrote across to X, who 
 was in England, saying, " Do you think it 
 would be safe for me to come across and look 
 at you ? " X wrote back to say, " Quite safe, 
 if you come under a feigned name. If you 
 decide on that, I will meet you at Dover.' 7 
 And he did so. 
 
 1 Y had no political aspirations, but from 
 the necessity of the case he became acquainted 
 with his brother's friends, who were all lovers 
 of Freedom. After a pleasant stay in London,
 
 RUSSIAN MORALS. 67 
 
 finding that he had still time to spare, Y ran 
 over to Paris, and, still furnished with in- 
 troductions from his brother, enjoyed himself 
 there also ; and then returned for the last 
 few days of his holiday to Ostend, whence he 
 went back on the appointed day to Cracow. 
 
 ' On the very day after his arrival the 
 Military Governor sent for him. He was, as 
 I have said, a friend of his ; he had often 
 entertained him at dinner, and knew his 
 foibles ; but he was a martinet in politics, and 
 poor Y's heart sank to his boots at the 
 thoughts of the approaching interview. The 
 General received him in a very different 
 manner from that with which he had parted 
 with him ; his face was stern, and his tone 
 severe and distant. 
 
 '"So, sir," he said, " you have returned 
 from your holiday." 
 
 ' Y rubbed his hands and smiled feebly. 
 
 ' " You didn't break your word — your 
 solemn promise to his Imperial Majesty 
 
 F 2
 
 68 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 by going further west than Ostend, of 
 course? " 
 
 ' Poor Yj who was not a courageous man, 
 murmured something that the other took for 
 a negation : " That's strange," rejoined the 
 General, grimly, " because in this report here," 
 and he turned over an official document, " I 
 find that you left Ostend for England under 
 a feiffned name. On the 15th of last month 
 you landed at Dover, where that villanous 
 revolutionist, your brother, met you. i\ T ot 
 content with this act of falsehood and dis- 
 obedience, you made the acquaintance of that 
 firebrand Mazzini, and were introduced in the 
 House of Commons to that devil Palmerston. 
 Even this was not sufficient, but you must 
 needs cross to Paris, where you consorted 
 with the most inveterate enemies of his 
 Imperial Majesty. How do you account for 
 all this?" 
 
 ' " General," said poor Y, " the meeting 
 with those people you mention was purely
 
 RUSSIAN MORALS. 69 
 
 accidental, but I have done very wrong. The 
 fact is, I was induced to go to London with 
 the intention of making the acquaintance of 
 your national painter, Rashkin, three of whose 
 unrivalled works you yourself possess, and 
 whom I understood to be residing in that 
 capital. My object was to purchase a picture 
 from him, that my house might boast at least 
 one ornament similar to those you possess, 
 and which I am sure must be worth 6,000 
 roubles apiece at the very least. But Raskhin 
 was ill, and had no picture to sell, so that, as 
 often happens, I transgressed to no purpose." 
 
 ' " I think my pictures are worth more 
 than 6,000 roubles apiece," said the General, 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 < " I would give 7,000 for them," said Y, 
 eagerly. 
 
 1 " You shall have them at that price," said 
 the Governor. " By-the-bye, when you went 
 to London, notwithstanding your promise to 
 the contrary given to me as the representative
 
 7 o THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 of his Imperial Majesty, did you see any fine 
 horses ? " 
 
 i " Many, General ; but none, I think, equal 
 to the pair you are in the habit of driving." 
 
 '•'And what do you think they are 
 worth? " inquired the General. 
 
 ' " Eight thousand roubles at the very 
 least." 
 
 '"Perhaps you would give 9,000 for 
 them ? " 
 
 ' " With pleasure," said Y ; and he never 
 spoke a truer word. He had expended 
 21,000 roubles for three daubs of pictures, and 
 9,000 for two very indifferent nags ; but there 
 was no further danger of his going to Siberia. 
 Such is the way,' observed the Professor in 
 conclusion, 'in which justice is administered 
 in my unfortunate country. What is your 
 view ? ' 
 
 As his eyes chanced to light upon Mr. 
 Fluker, that eminent financier thought him- 
 self called upon to make a suggestion.
 
 RUSSIAN MORALS. yi 
 
 1 It is just possible,' he said, 'that X gave 
 the information to the Governor, and went 
 halves in the — the — operation.' 
 
 ' What ! betray his brother ! ' exclaimed 
 the Professor, throwing up his hands in 
 horror. 
 
 ' I didn't say he did it,' returned Mr. 
 Fluker, apologetically ; ' but human nature 
 is human nature, you know.' 
 
 A titter ran round the table. 
 
 1 Setting aside the morals of the question,' 
 remarked Mr. Mavors, 'the Governor might, 
 after all, have done worse, for he might have 
 sent the man to Siberia.' 
 
 ' The moral of the case, as far as the 
 Governor was concerned,' said Adair, ' seems 
 to be that when you have got somebody's 
 secret, you should make the most out of it 
 you can.' 
 
 He spoke in a low voice, like one who 
 makes a reflection rather than an observation ; 
 but Sophy heard him, and the blood fled from
 
 72 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 her cheeks. She began to hate this young 
 man, whom she had only seen the previous 
 evening in her uncle's room — and on one 
 other occasion.
 
 73 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 STRANDED. 
 
 It is the instinct of most persons when they 
 stand in fear of a fellow -creature to avoid his 
 society as much as is consistent with the con- 
 cealment of their dislike ; but though Sophy 
 Gilbert was stricken with a great fear of John 
 Adair, she adopted the contrary course. 
 Without any sudden withdrawal of her atten- 
 tion to Mr. Mavors she dexterously trans- 
 ferred it to her other neighbour, and laid her- 
 self out to please him. In a man's case this 
 would have been impossible ; to most women 
 it would have been difficult ; but to Sophy it 
 was comparatively easy. Youth and Beauty 
 were on her side ; but, powerful auxiliaries
 
 74 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 though they were, they would hardly have 
 served her turn with him she had to deal 
 with had she possessed them only. Fortu- 
 nately for her — or, as it seemed to her for the 
 present, for who can tell whether that which 
 looks like luck to-day may not turn out to be 
 disaster to-morrow? — she had, as we have 
 said (not the art, for it was nature with her, 
 but), the gift of pleasing. 
 
 To please John Adair, however, was not 
 the light task she had found it to be with 
 other young men. There were certain initial 
 difficulties to surmount. To gaze up in his 
 sharp hatchet face, while his keen suspicious 
 eyes were riveted upon her own, and then to 
 be winsome, and even playful, was a trial to 
 what in a more mature and less attractive 
 girl would have been termed her ' temper.' 
 She felt that he had a prejudice against her, 
 and guessed the reason. On the occasion 
 when she had first met him, she had been 
 witness to the wounding of his amour propre ;
 
 STRANDED. 75 
 
 nay, had even been indirectly the cause of it ; 
 and Mr. John Adair, though there were some 
 who thought him wanting in delicacy of mind, 
 as regarded other people, was. extremely sensi- 
 tive to any slight to his own proper person. 
 
 What had happened to him on the occa- 
 sion in question had been somewhat more 
 than a slight. Moreover, he had not for- 
 gotten that on the previous evening Miss 
 Sophy Gilbert had made an attempt to ignore 
 his acquaintance. We have seen how promptly 
 he had prevented her doing so ; but, though 
 conscious of his success in that little matter, 
 he was by no means satisfied with it. He 
 still felt that he owed her something, and was 
 resolved to pay her out — that is to say, he 
 had been so resolved until she began to make 
 herself agreeable to him. Then his hostile 
 intentions gradually vanished away. 
 
 At first he despised himself for such 
 weakness (for he was fully conscious of it), 
 and, calling to mind the indignity he had
 
 76 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 suffered through her, fortified himself against 
 her with its remembrance ; but presently this 
 wormwood lost its bitterness ; he reflected 
 that what had happened had not been her 
 fault, though it had occurred in her presence, 
 and finally persuaded himself not only that 
 she regretted it as much as he did (which 
 was the fact), but regretted it on his account. 
 It may be imagined perhaps that to have 
 worked this revolution Miss Sophy must have 
 talked divinely ; but this was not so ; she 
 could talk very well, or, at all events, very 
 agreeably, but on this occasion she did 
 nothing of the kind ; she listened to him 
 divinely. 
 
 As a rule, this young man was reticent; 
 not from any cautiousness of disposition — far 
 from it, he was audacious even to recklessness, 
 though, indeed, he had not much to lose — but 
 from the circumstances of his position. He 
 had come up to the University a sizar, a proof 
 of his not having a superabundance of this
 
 STRANDED. 77 
 
 world's goods, and what he had had been 
 given to him (as he himself bitterly expressed 
 it) out of charity. He had been adopted by 
 a wealthy baronet, Sir Charles Adair, and, 
 but for certain proceedings of his own, would 
 have been better provided for : nor had he 
 quarrelled with his patron, or found much 
 fault with his own position, till he had for- 
 feited his favour. Having lost it, however, 
 he was in no mood to caress the hand that had 
 fed him, or, in truth, any hand. Instead of 
 blaming himself for what had happened, he 
 blamed the world at large, which to his eyes 
 had regarded him with scorn as a dependent, 
 and still so regarded him as a poor man. 
 What above all things moved him was the 
 contempt of women, to which, as worshippers 
 of rank and position, he deemed himself es- 
 pecially subject. Under these circumstances, 
 it is not surprising that in society he was 
 retiring, and at heart morose. 
 
 He had, indeed, accepted the Canon's in-
 
 78 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 vitation willingly enough, partly for the op- 
 portunity it afforded him of becoming ac- 
 quainted with his superiors in social position, 
 and of asserting his own, but chiefly with the 
 object of humiliating the girl who, as he 
 thought, had humiliated Mm. It had been 
 his intention to say little and to hear much, 
 but, as it happened, the very contrary had 
 taken place ; and he found himself talking to 
 the object of his previous dislike and rancour 
 with an eloquence which (though he had a 
 very good opinion of his own wits) astonished 
 himself. 
 
 He had not, of course, much small talk at 
 his command, for small talk, like the mince- 
 meat of yesterday's joint, is mostly composed 
 of something that has recently been presented 
 to our attention ; and of what happened in 
 society he knew next to nothing ; his topic 
 was chiefly that which, when two persons 
 converse, has an unfailing interest for at least 
 one of the parties — self ; and in this case it
 
 STRANDED. 79 
 
 seemed to have an equal interest for the other. 
 He drew a pathetic picture of his early youth, 
 in which imagination was not wanting ; he 
 painted his natural disposition and talents in 
 rainbow hues, and the state of dependence in 
 which he had been plunged in the colours of 
 eclipse ; he described not only his aspirations, 
 but the confidence which he felt in their 
 realisation. The young lady saw him, he 
 would have had her infer, in a chrysalis state, 
 but in a very little while she would behold 
 him in a very different condition ; the wand 
 of his own genius (chiefly, however, mathe- 
 matical) would presently effect a marvellous 
 transformation. 
 
 Sophy, though far from a hypocrite, pos- 
 sessed in a high degree that gift of her sex 
 which enables them to affect an interest in 
 matters that they do not care one halfpenny 
 about ; and which no man could listen to 
 under the same circumstances without ex- 
 hibiting some sign of boredom. He spoke of
 
 80 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 his prospects in the coming tripos, and her 
 pretty face seemed to glow with excitement ; 
 he discoursed of his college experiences, and 
 from the rapt attention with which she listened 
 to him, one would have thought he was speak- 
 ing of her last partner or her first ball. She 
 was, in truth, far from being charmed, and 
 thought him a very egotistic young man ; 
 but his talk was not altogether disagreeable 
 to her, since she saw through it the admira- 
 tion she had excited in him ; a thing always 
 agreeable to her, and to which, in the present 
 case, there was added a sense of triumph : 
 she had manufactured a friend out of an 
 enemy. 
 
 It was curious to contrast the young 
 scholar's crude views of University affairs 
 with those of the Canon, who was explaining 
 them for the edification of his non- collegiate 
 guests. He had a very happy way of making 
 dull things pleasant, and of stating facts 
 without producing that impression of weari-
 
 STRANDED. 81 
 
 ness which in most cases is so inseparable 
 from the receipt of information. Through 
 both the merits and the defects of his intellect 
 he had no great sympathy with collegiate 
 training, but he was loyal to the core, and 
 when speaking of it to outsiders was not quite 
 so candid as when arguing with his friend 
 Mavors upon the same topic ; he gave it as 
 much rose-colour as the paint-box of his con- 
 science would permit. Being well aware that 
 what is conventionally urged against the 
 system is the narrowness of its aims, he es- 
 pecially combated that theory, and dwelt upon 
 the variety of callings to which a classical 
 education adapts itself. He gave one illus- 
 tration in particular which especially delighted 
 Mr. Flit. 
 
 i At one of our college meetings,' he said, 
 ' we had an application from a non-resident 
 Fellow for his yearly dividend in advance, 
 upon the ground that he had recently been 
 appointed chief of a certain savage tribe, and 
 
 VOL. I. g
 
 82 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 had just declared war against a neighbouring 
 island.' 
 
 1 Where was the island ? ' inquired Mr. 
 Flit, who wanted to know the details of 
 everything, not necessarily for immediate 
 publication, but for his note-book. 
 
 ' I don't know the latitude, my dear sir, 
 though there always is a latitude in these 
 stories,' said the Canon, smiling ; ' but I 
 think we may conclude it was not in the 
 Pacific' 
 
 For the moment Mr. Flit was offended ; 
 he murmured something inarticulate to the 
 effect that he was not a man to be treated 
 with raillery, and that he had disembowelled 
 the Khan of Khiva for a less impertinence ; 
 the fact was, that, thanks to the claret cup, 
 he was inclined to be a little quarrelsome. 
 After a few more applications to it, however, 
 his nature, which was a very genial one, began to 
 assert itself ; and he overflowed with anecdote. 
 The gentleman who surveyed mankind from
 
 STRANDED. S 3 
 
 China to Peru was not to be compared, as 
 regards opportunity, with Mr. Flit. He was, 
 or had been, equally at home in the Arctic 
 Circle or in the Torrid Zone. The Canon, 
 very willing to make amends to his guest, 
 beo*o;ecl him to relate what he considered to 
 be his most interesting experience. 
 
 This was a proposition to which Mr. Flit 
 was far too wise to accede. To tell his best 
 story would be to open the door of competi- 
 tion much wider than suited his purpose. 
 The very suggestion of it put him on his 
 guard at once. 
 
 ' One of the most amusing things I ever 
 heard of,' he said, ' was told me by a friend 
 of mine, a special, attached to a Cossack 
 regiment in the Turco-Kussian war. They 
 entered a Bulgarian village one afternoon, 
 when there was hardly light enough left for 
 looting. In expectation of the arrival of 
 their deliverers, the natives who had anything 
 to lose had already hidden it. One man, 
 
 G 2
 
 8 4 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 however, was seen by a Cossack to bury 
 something in his garden with great precau- 
 tion. As soon as it was dark, the Cossack 
 dug it up with his spear, and brought it to 
 the guard-room in triumph. It was a huge 
 earthenware pot, carefully sealed up, which 
 he confidently believed to be full of coin. To 
 the disappointment of himself and his com- 
 rades, it proved to contain only yellow lard. 
 Since their boots were in a terrible state from 
 long travel, this, however, was not to be de- 
 spised ; and the whole regiment greased them- 
 selves with the compound to their great 
 content. In the morning the commander of 
 the Cossacks made them a little speech. He 
 said (with his tongue in his cheek) that his 
 Imperial Majesty the Czar had strictly for- 
 bidden looting, and was sorry to find that 
 this regulation had been disregarded. The 
 men protested — with truth, though without 
 mentioning the cause of the omission — that 
 they had not stolen a kopeck. " If you have
 
 STRANDED. 85 
 
 not taken money," returned the commander, 
 "you have taken money's worth. The head- 
 man of the village complains that he has lost 
 1,200 roubles, which he had invested in ajar 
 of attar of roses." 
 
 ' The regiment, indeed, might have been 
 smelt for six leagues away ; but so very 
 little sense of smell has the Russian soldier, 
 that neither they nor their commander had 
 noticed it.' 
 
 ' It is quite true,' remarked Professor 
 Pelski, gloomily, ' they have no scent except 
 for the blood of a patriot. I could tell you 
 such things — oh ! such things — about my be- 
 loved country.' 
 
 He looked so very much as if he was 
 about to clo it, that the Canon felt some 
 diversion was necessary to save the company 
 from a condensed history of Poland. 
 
 ' I should think you, Mr, Fluker,' he said, 
 1 might give us a story or two out of the 
 chronicles of the haute finance almost as
 
 86 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 curious as even those of a special correspond- 
 ent's note -book ? ' 
 
 1 Story ! God bless you, I have none to 
 tell, sir,' exclaimed Mr. Fluker, quite igno- 
 rant that he was making use of a quotation. 
 6 There was, however, a very funny thing 
 came under my notice the other day. You 
 know Bob Trip of course, our Bob Trip 
 of the Stock Exchange — everybody's Bob 
 Trip ? ' 
 
 The Canon nodded cheerily, as who shall 
 say, ' Who does not know Bob Trip must 
 himself be unknown.' 
 
 ' Bob is a risky fellow, very ; and some 
 years ago got bitten in a tin-mine.' 
 
 1 Bitten in a tin -mine ? ' murmured the 
 Professor to himself ; he was wondering 
 what sort of animals had their clens in loca- 
 lities of that kind, but was unwilling to 
 interrupt. 
 
 ' " Charley," said Bob to me one day,
 
 STRANDED. 87 
 
 " what do you think I've done with those 
 confounded mine shares ? " 
 
 < " Not sold them ! " said I. " I'll 
 warrant." 
 
 ' " No," said he ; " come up and see." 
 So he took me to his dressing-room and 
 pointed to the walls of it, which he had 
 papered from the top to bottom with the 
 shares he held in the " Lostwithem Mining 
 Company." 
 
 i f { I have done this," he said, " to remind 
 me every morning of my life what a fool I 
 made of myself with that mine, and to be a 
 caution to me against going into anything of 
 a speculative nature as long as I live." 
 
 i Last week I heard that Bob had made 
 himself director of a gold-mine in South 
 America ; which, after his promises of amend- 
 ment in that way, surprised me very much. 
 So, happening to pass by his house, I called. 
 
 ' " Master is in his dressing-room," said 
 the man.
 
 88 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 " What, at this time o' day ?" 
 
 " He passes most of his time there now, 
 
 sir," said he, grinning. 
 
 ' So I went up, and found Bob on his 
 knees, with a penknife and a bucket of hot 
 water. 
 
 '"What are you at?" said I. 
 
 ' " Well, I am trying to get these coupons 
 off the wall. Depend upon it, my good 
 fellow, there's nothing like mines for invest- 
 ment, if you will only have a little patience. 
 The ' Lostwithem ' has declared a divi- 
 dend." ' 
 
 This story of the haute finance was received 
 with rapture, and tickled Sophy, who had 
 some sense of humour, as much as the rest. 
 
 Adair, however, as if jealous of the interest 
 it had excited in her, murmured, grudgingly, 
 ' It is extraordinary how any matter that has 
 reference to money gains the public ear. I 
 suppose, to most men, there is no subject so 
 attractive.'
 
 STRANDED. 89 
 
 'I don't know about "most men,"' re- 
 turned Sophy, gravely ; ' but I can answer 
 for my kind guardian yonder, that it is a 
 subject that interests him least of all. I 
 believe he neither knows nor cares anything 
 about it.' 
 
 ' But then, you see, he is very rich, and 
 does not need to care,' returned Adair. 
 
 ' Indeed, he is not rich ; far from it.' 
 
 ' Yet he is very liberal ; that is, I mean,' 
 stammered the young man, ' he has the repu- 
 tation of being so.' 
 
 1 Then report for once speaks true,' said 
 Sophy, with animation. ' I did not know, 
 however, that he was so spoken of, for he 
 is a man that never talks of his own good 
 deeds.' 
 
 Adair gave a secret sigh of relief ; he had 
 feared that the Canon might have told his 
 ward something of his relations with himself, 
 which, he thought, would cause her to despise 
 him. A revolution had taken place within
 
 go THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 him as regarded this young lady. He felt 
 that he would much rather win her good 
 opinion than own his influence over her to 
 fear. 
 
 Immersed in thoughts which, though they 
 had come upon him so unexpectedly, were not 
 the less monopolising, he suddenly heard him- 
 self addressed by name. 
 
 The Canon had leant across towards his 
 sister, and whispering to her, ' I remain here, 
 of course, to entertain my guests : but if you 
 and Sophy intend to be at the ball to-night, 
 it is time you went to dress.' 
 
 1 Let me have the pleasure of seeing you 
 home, Miss Gilbert,' said Mr. Mavors, in a 
 low tone. 
 
 But before Sophy could reply to his invi- 
 tation, which had reached only her own ears, 
 the Canon added : ' Mavors, I know you will 
 be good enough to escort my sister. Mr. 
 Adair, perhaps you will do the same kind 
 office for your neighbour, Miss Gilbert.'
 
 STRANDED. 91 
 
 Adair jumped up, delighted. The Canon 
 had not been displeased to see his ward and 
 Adair ' get on ' so well together, since the 
 contrast, he thought, between his society and 
 that of his bete noire, Mr. Herbert Perry, 
 could not but strike her favourably, and, so 
 far, have a good effect. He had, of course, no 
 other motive than to pay the young scholar a 
 compliment : but the proposal, chiming in as 
 it did with the young man's dreams, seemed 
 to the latter to have a deeper significance. 
 
 As Sophy" laid her finger-tips upon his 
 arm the blood rushed to his pale cheeks ; his 
 eyes glowed with pleasure. If she had the 
 least curiosity on the subject (which she had 
 not), she would have been surprised to note 
 that he looked almost handsome. One would 
 have said that, for the moment at all events, 
 that little idyll of which Adair had hinted to 
 the Canon — his love affair under Sir Charles's 
 roof — had been forgotten, and that the object 
 of it had retired, compulsorily, in Sophy's 
 favour.
 
 92 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IMPORTUNATE. 
 
 I suppose there is nothing about which so 
 much care is taken that, on the whole, is apt 
 to go so wrong, as the disposal of heiresses in 
 marriage. In their solicitude to shut the door 
 against adventurers, parents and guardians 
 open it to even less desirable swains — i hoary- 
 heads ' with coronets, or dull clowns stuffed 
 with bank-notes, which as often as not take to 
 themselves wing's. The matrimonial market 
 is almost as limited for heiresses as that of 
 Royalty ; and, what is more, from self-respect 
 quite as much as from fear of the Court of 
 Chancery, the honest young man in particular 
 avoids them as ' a thing forbid.' 
 
 Sophy Gilbert had the very great misfor-
 
 IMP OR TUNA TE. 93 
 
 tune of never having known a mother's care 
 — she had lost her when she was but five 
 years old ; her father, a barrister in consider- 
 able practice, saw but little of her, but in- 
 dulged her in every whim. She was left by 
 necessity very much to the care of hirelings, 
 and what in her case was not less unfortunate, 
 to herself. She was accomplished and clever ; 
 her nature was affectionate and gentle, but it 
 had never been strengthened by precept or 
 example. Even as a child her love of admi- 
 ration was prodigious : she was very preco- 
 cious in her ideas. It was told of her that, 
 having received a toy ring when of very 
 tender years, she declined to have it put 
 upon a certain finger because that made it 
 ' an engaged ring.' 
 
 She read books of her own choice, and 
 that choice was not judicious. When she was 
 seventeen her father died, and left her to the 
 care, as he expressed it, 'of the best of friends 
 and the most honourable of men, William
 
 94 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 Aldrecl.' So far as honour and kindness were 
 concerned lie could not, indeed, have hit upon 
 a better guardian for her ; but in other re- 
 spects he could scarcely have selected a worse. 
 How a man of business, . like Mr. Gilbert, 
 could have dreamt of selecting such a person 
 for a trustee, was marvellous to those who 
 are not acquainted with the testamentary 
 eccentricities of men of business. 
 
 What was worse, however, than Canon 
 Aldred's ignorance of affairs, was his ignor- 
 ance of the ways of women and of the charac- 
 ter of his ward. Except that she was a 
 charmingly pretty and still more charmingly 
 affectionate girl, he knew absolutely nothing 
 about her. If ever a young lady wanted a 
 tight rein and a curb, it was Miss Sophy 
 Gilbert ; and the Canon essayed to guide her 
 with a loose rein and a snaffle. It was true 
 that there was his sister Maria, whom his 
 dead friend had doubtless looked to as a 
 second mother for her. Nor was that lady
 
 IMPORTUNATE. 
 
 95 
 
 wanting in any office of affection and solici- 
 tude ; but she had been brought up in a very 
 different school from that in which young 
 ladies of even that day — now some time ago 
 — were educated. Notwithstanding her com- 
 paratively mature years, she had not learnt all 
 that they knew. Suspicion of all kinds was 
 foreign to her character : suspicion of those 
 she loved was impossible to it. An upright 
 woman, with a certain grace as well as dig- 
 nity ; not without some social pride of her 
 own, but with a much keener sense of the 
 respect and esteem in which i my brother the 
 Canon ' was universally held ; a courteous 
 dispenser of hospitality ; an excellent man- 
 ager of a household within certain limits — 
 she was, nevertheless, quite unequal to the 
 duties, thus unexpectedly imposed upon her, 
 of controlling and directing a young girl's 
 mind. She was quite as indulgent to Sophy 
 as her brother was ; and, indeed, since the girl 
 was her only companion, it was but natural
 
 96 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 that she should do all she could to make life 
 pleasant to her and keep her in good humour. 
 
 On the other hand, there were matters on 
 which the Canon could be resolute enough. 
 His sense of duty, as often happens with men 
 of his stamp, was not so sensitive as his sense 
 of honour, but when it was touched he was 
 adamant. 
 
 He had a natural dislike to dissipation, 
 and though very charitable in his own views, 
 was amazed to see that a man like Herbert 
 Perry should have attractions for his ward. 
 For the reason he had given Mr. Mavors, he 
 had not forbidden the young man his house ; 
 but it was absolutely certain that under no 
 circumstances would the Canon give his con- 
 sent to her union with such a person. There 
 are men who tread the earth with such an 
 airy step that one can hardly imagine them 
 ' putting their foot down ' in the sense of 
 resolute opposition ; but Sophy's guardian 
 was one of this kind, and she knew it.
 
 IMPORTUNATE. 97 
 
 ' Thanks to the enthusiasm of our boating 
 friends,' said Miss Maria to Mr. Mavors as 
 the two ladies left the Canon's rooms with 
 their separate escorts, ' I have a slight head- 
 ache, and I think a walk will do me good. 
 As it is such a beautiful night, what do you 
 say to going home by the Backs? ' 
 
 This entailed a considerable circuit, the 
 prospect of which, in Miss Maria's company, 
 was certainly less alluring to the Tutor than 
 it would have been had Miss Sophy been 
 committed to his charge ; but he signified 
 at once a polite assent. 
 
 Their road lay through the lime-walk, 
 almost deserted now, for the great throng of 
 undergraduates had gone away with the boats 
 or to array themselves for the ' Procession 
 Ball.' The more mature couple led the way ; 
 the young people followed at a distance, which 
 Adair endeavoured, by slow walking, to make 
 as considerable as he could. 
 
 The spring was everywhere, even in his 
 vol. 1. H
 
 9 8 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 views of his own chances. It was, perhaps, 
 the first time in his life that he had felt it so ; 
 as a dependent, his emotions had been kept 
 under control, nor was it his nature to en- 
 courage them. His system was also not so 
 familiar with claret cup as that of his late 
 companions, and what he had drunk, perhaps, 
 tended to his exhilaration. This dissatisfied- 
 minded young recluse seemed to himself, 
 in short (notwithstanding his mathematical 
 training, which should have shown it to be 
 
 CI' 
 
 impossible), to be walking on air. 
 
 He was in Paradise : and Sophy, who 
 guessed the fact, did not choose to let him 
 know that it was a fool's Paradise. 
 
 As they passed through the gates oppo- 
 site ' the Roundabout ' — a solitary wilderness 
 used by the Trinity fellows only — Adair felt 
 her arm tremble within his own. 
 
 1 You need never fear, clear Miss Gil- 
 bert,' he whispered, significantly, with a 
 glance at the spot in question, ' that I will
 
 IMPORTUNATE. 
 
 99 
 
 ever reveal what I accidentally witnessed 
 yonder.' 
 
 There were two replies open to Sophy. 
 She might have said, and with truth, ' You 
 saw nothing of which I have any reason to 
 be ashamed, no matter what ideas you may 
 entertain to the contrary, or however well 
 founded they may appear to you.' But this 
 course would have necessitated an explanation 
 it was impossible to give, and which if she 
 had given would (she felt) have once more 
 made an enemy of her companion. The other 
 course was to have accepted with thanks his 
 promise of silence, and this again she dared 
 not take. To admit a confidence of this kind 
 between them was only less dangerous than 
 the other alternative ; it would be an en- 
 couragement to him of which she feared he 
 would take advantage. She had already 
 come to the conclusion not only that Mr. 
 John Adair was not a gentleman to be trusted 
 in any delicate matter, but that he was not a 
 
 H 2
 
 ioo THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 gentleman at all. His calling her ' dear Miss 
 Gilbert ' upon so short an acquaintance struck 
 her (as indeed it was) as an audacious im- 
 pertinence ; yet she was so much in his 
 power that she dared not show the least trace 
 of indignation. An unpleasant position for 
 even a man to be in, but for a young lady a 
 deplorable one indeed. 
 
 She answered nothing. 
 
 ' I suppose you are going to the ball to- 
 night ? ' he continued. 
 
 The question was a very simple one, but 
 she connected it at once (as he had intended 
 her to do) with the incident to which he had 
 already alluded. The blood rushed to her 
 very temples, but the tone of her reply was 
 studiously indifferent. 
 
 1 Did you not hear my guardian say so ? ' 
 
 ' No ; I heard nothing of what he or any 
 one else was saying ; I was only thinking of 
 you.' 
 
 'It is a pity that you had not some-
 
 IMPORTUNATE. 101 
 
 tiling better to think about,' said Sophy, 
 pettishly. 
 
 She regretted it the next moment, not 
 because it was such a reply as a maid- servant 
 might have given to her military cousin, but 
 from the opportunity which she felt it would 
 afford him of paying a compliment. 
 
 ' It would be difficult,' he said, with a 
 smile, ' to think of anybody b etter than your- 
 self, Miss Gilbert.' 
 
 Both the smile and the words made her 
 blood run cold ; the one because there were 
 reasons why, to have aroused the affections of 
 this man was more dangerous even than to 
 have become his enemy ; the other, because, 
 though uttered without any meaning in par- 
 ticular, they seemed to her to convey the 
 bitterest sarcasm. Just at that moment it 
 was difficult for her to imagine any one worse 
 than herself. Xot that she was really bad in 
 a moral sense. I will never admit that of 
 Sophy ; but she had been guilty of such
 
 io2 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 weakness that (now that her punishment was 
 beginning) it seemed wickedness. We are 
 all inclined to blame ourselves for our follies, 
 not in proportion to their gravity, but to the 
 amount of inconvenience they entail upon us : 
 from this point of view it was no wonder that 
 poor Sophy appeared to herself a criminal. 
 
 Why, oh why ! did Aunt Maria and Mr. 
 Mavors move so slowly, and loiter on the 
 bridge ? What on earth was there to admire 
 in Queen's College ! Would that hateful 
 walk with this unpleasant and importunate 
 young man never come to an end ? 
 
 Sophy was generally mistress of herself 
 and of her wits, but the peril in which she 
 stood had paralysed her ready tongue ; her 
 presence of mind was gone ; she had no 
 nerve for those light replies which men 
 thought so agreeable, and women so frivolous. 
 To answer her companion seriously, and as she 
 felt was fitting — that is, with grave reproof — 
 was beyond her courage. His threats she knew
 
 IMPORTUNATE. 103 
 
 would be more dangerous now — if she moved 
 him to threaten — than they had been at first. 
 Yet to be silent was to encourage him. 
 
 She felt like one who, in a dark night, 
 has wandered to the edge of a precipice and 
 dares not go back or forwards, or scarce stir 
 a finger, but must wait motionless for the 
 dawn. Oh to be safe at home in her own 
 little chamber, praying Heaven to forgive 
 her for her folly and disobedience ; and (es- 
 pecially) to shield her from the consequences 
 of them ! 
 
 ' You are very silent just now,' observed 
 the young man, after a long pause, ' but I dare 
 say you will have a good deal to say an hour 
 or so hence, with some favoured partner.' 
 
 His tone, she marked, was already 
 changed ; her reticence had angered him. 
 
 ' When I go to a ball,' she said, with an 
 effort at sprightliness, ' I assure you it is not 
 to talk ; I like dancing for dancing's sake, 
 and give myself up to it like a child.'
 
 104 THE CAXON'S WARD. 
 
 1 1 should hardly have thought you such 
 an "ingenue" ' was the dry response; 'but, 
 then, I have never seen you at a ball.' 
 
 There was something in the adverb, or 
 rather in the stress he laid upon it, that, like 
 a bullet, seemed to strike her very heart and 
 still its beatings. Suddenly withdrawing her 
 lingers from his arm, she exclaimed, ' That is 
 the third time, Mr. Adair, you have thought 
 proper to hint at an incident which, though 
 if you knew all you would know that I had 
 no cause to be ashamed of, you must certainly 
 perceive to be disagreeable and even painful 
 to me. If you were more accustomed to the 
 usages of good society you would see that 
 such conduct is unbecoming a o-entleman ; if 
 you ever venture to allude to that subject 
 again you will only have yourself to thank 
 for anything disagreeable that may happen to 
 you.' 
 
 ' Am I to consider that your words imply 
 a threat, Miss Gilbert ? '
 
 IMP OR TUNA TE. 105 
 
 He had stopped also ; it was upon the 
 bridge, however, where the other couple had 
 delayed, so that even had they looked back 
 the circumstance would have attracted no 
 surprise. His pale face was white with sup- 
 pressed passion ; his keen eyes blazed with it. 
 The sight of them convinced her that what 
 had tended to impress the incident referred to 
 upon this man's mind was the humiliation he 
 had suffered upon that occasion. In her 
 passionate indignation she had, in truth, in- 
 tended to suggest that that humiliation might 
 be repeated ; nay, that even chastisement 
 might follow in case he continued his perse- 
 cution ; but she now perceived that she had 
 gone too far. He was a coward in one sense, 
 for who but a coward would have so behaved 
 to her ? But he was not a man to be 
 frightened. 
 
 ; Yes,' she answered, in firm but gentler 
 tones, ' I did imply a threat. If you ever 
 speak to me upon that subject again, they
 
 106 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 will be the last words that will ever pass 
 between us. It is possible that such a 
 menace will have no force with you, but it 
 will certainly be put into effect. ' 
 
 For the moment it was evident he had his 
 suspicions ; but the pained and resolute ex- 
 pression which she threw into her pretty face 
 disarmed them. 
 
 ■ The threat of such a punishment is a 
 deterrent indeed/ he said, gravely. ' I have 
 already promised you to keep silence upon the 
 matter in question to others, and that promise 
 will henceforth include yourself ; and now I 
 trust we are friends again.' 
 
 Sophy felt very far from friendly, but she 
 moved her head in token of assent, and took 
 once more his proffered arm. 
 
 They had reached Trumpington Street, 
 and were nearing her home before she spoke 
 again, 
 
 ' As we have made up our quarrels, Miss 
 Gilbert, may I hope that you will give me a
 
 IMPORTUNATE. 107 
 
 dance or two at the ball this evening ? I do not 
 ask for the first waltz, 7 he added, hastily, per- 
 ceiving the look of amazement and even alarm 
 that came into her face ; ' it is only too pro- 
 bable that the first one may be bespoken by 
 another. I know too well how eagerly yon 
 are sought after as a partner ; you are not 
 annoyed at the request, I hope. One dance 
 really does not seem much to ask.' 
 
 ' I am not annoyed,' said Sophy, mustering 
 a smile, ' but I am certainly astonished at such 
 a request from such a quarter. My guardian 
 said you were the very last man, Mr. Adair, 
 likely to be seen at a ball.' 
 
 ' I know ; I heard him,' returned the young 
 man, quietly. ' Still I mean to go to this 
 ball.' 
 
 It was on Sophy's rash lips to say, • I do 
 not dance round dances.' But the conse- 
 quences of her rash and reckless conduct in 
 another and more serious matter were for- 
 tunately too present with her to admit of that.
 
 io8 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 i If my aunt's headache, to which she is 
 a martyr,' said Sophy, with a drop in her 
 voice, ' permits of her chaperoning me to the 
 ball at all, I shall be very happy to dance 
 with you, Mr. Adair.' 
 
 ' How differently the same phrase may be 
 used by different lips ! ' said the young man, 
 thoughtfully. ' When you say you shall be 
 " very happy " to dance with me, you only 
 mean "you don't care if you do ; " but when 
 /say "I shall be very happy to dance with 
 you " — and, indeed, your promise has already 
 made me so — that is the simple truth.' 
 
 They were now at the gate of ' The Laurels.' 
 
 • I cannot invite you gentlemen to come 
 in,' said Aunt Maria, as she shook hands with 
 Mr. Mavors, 'because we have to dress for 
 the ball.' 
 
 ' I wish I was a ball-going man,' said the 
 Tutor, gallantly. The observation was made 
 to Miss Maria, but it was uttered as he shook 
 hands with Miss Sophy.
 
 IMP OR TUNA TE. 1 09 
 
 w Good-bye, or rather an revoirj said the 
 young scholar, under his breath. 
 
 Miss Sophy Gilbert was not unconscious 
 (though the fact occupied but little of her 
 attention) that she had twenty thousand 
 pounds of her own ; but she would have 
 given the half of it, as she graciously echoed 
 his i au revoirj could she have been assured 
 that she should neither see nor hear of Mr. 
 Adair again.
 
 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 AUNT MAKIA's HEADACHE. 
 
 It is generally understood that, among the 
 higher classes at least, man is the Worker 
 and woman the Player. Except in the rare 
 cases of his helpmate being an author or an 
 artist, he is doubtless the breadwinner and 
 general provider ; but woman also has her 
 work to do, often quite as hard work as is 
 done ' in the City,' or in ' the dusky purlieus 
 of the law,' and much more continuous. The 
 Lawyer, when he mounts his cob, may leave 
 black care behind him ; the Merchant, when 
 he sits clown to his afternoon rubber, may 
 forget his anxieties ; but their spouses have 
 no such relaxations, and have the objects of
 
 A UNT MARIA 'S HEAD A CHE. 1 1 1 
 
 their solicitude always under their eye. Some 
 of them are so ill-advised as to make their 
 husbands sharers of their own proper burden, 
 and, when he comes home to his well-earned 
 meal, to vex him with stories of this or that 
 gone amiss which it is not in his power to 
 remedy. But, as a general rule, women keep 
 their domestic troubles to themselves, and 
 because they do not speak of them men are 
 apt to underrate their importance. Yet, what 
 is the management of a staff of clerks, with 
 even a forger or two among them, compared 
 with the control of a band of wild boys or 
 giddy girls, such as are often as the ' apple of 
 our eye ' to us ? What is the presentiment 
 of evil in business affairs, compared with the 
 possibilities of wrong-doing in Jack or Jane, 
 of which the mother's prescient heart has 
 given her only too sure a warning ? To 
 wait, to watch, to speak, and to act (but only 
 at the proper time) ; to be vigilant against 
 those who, though no adversaries, have the
 
 ii2 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 power to wound beyond any foeman's blow, 
 these things fall to the lot of women. 
 
 It is true that Miss Maria was no mother ; 
 but the responsibilities of her position, as 
 regards Sophy, were the same as though she 
 had been her child, while her difficulties were 
 even greater than she was aware of. The 
 Canon knew little or nothing of this. His 
 sister, who understood him thoroughly, spared 
 him all such troubles, as though she had been 
 his wife. He had his edition of Milton and his 
 Concordance to think about ; he had a large 
 correspondence with sympathising friends ; 
 and he imagined himself to be a man ' full of 
 affairs,' who had quite the average share of 
 troubles. Save for the absence of his son, 
 however, they were but crumpled rose-leaves. 
 The very breath of Heaven, thanks to his 
 sister's care, was not suffered to visit him 
 too roughly. 
 
 At this very moment, when the cigars 
 have been produced at his pleasant Trinity
 
 AUNT MARIA'S HEADACHE. 113 
 
 rooms (for under the influence of the genial 
 weed the talk grows deeper and wider, and 
 carries the thought with it), and while his 
 part is but to encourage guests who need no 
 spur, Miss Maria has another and less agree- 
 able task before her. The girl who calls her 
 aunt, and whom she loves more dearly far 
 than most women love their nieces, is alone 
 with her in the drawing-room for a few 
 minutes, previously to their going upstairs to 
 dress for the ball. 
 
 ' Sophy, I have a word or two to say to 
 you.' 
 
 ' Yes, Aunt Maria.' 
 
 She looked up with such a sweet smile of 
 simplicity and assent that it almost put to 
 flight Aunt Maria's intended 'jobation.' 
 
 ' Whatever imprudence the girl commits,' 
 
 she says to herself, l she has certainly no 
 
 thought of wrongdoing, nor can I think her 
 
 capable of duplicity. If she were conscious 
 
 vol. 1. 1
 
 ii4 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 of having done anything seriously amiss she 
 would certainly look frightened.' 
 
 There was not a flaw in this logic, only 
 the logician did not understand how very 
 much more frightened Sophy had been during 
 the last half hour than she was now. When 
 one has had a loaded pistol close to one's 
 ear for a little, the production of one that is 
 not loaded can be borne with comparative 
 equanimity. 
 
 ' What has happened to-night, Sophy, has 
 distressed me, and I am sure my dear brother 
 also, exceedingly.' 
 
 Sophy's musical eyes expressed a mild 
 surprise. 
 
 ' Is it possible that you can be unaware 
 of what happened on the river ? That that 
 very forward young man, Mr. Perry, had the 
 bad taste to drink your health in public, 
 under our very windows ? ' 
 
 ' And was that such very bad taste, Aunt 
 Maria ? ' inquired the young girl, demurely.
 
 A UNT MARIA '5 HE AD A CHE. 1 1 5 
 
 ' Pray, pray, Sophy, do not treat this 
 matter with lightness. It was most infamous 
 taste. It would have been bad taste, even if 
 he had been engaged to you, which, as you 
 well know, can never, never happen.' 
 
 Sophy smiled ; it was a very different 
 smile from her former one ; it had confidence 
 in it, but also sadness. 
 
 ' Well, at all events for a very long time 
 to come,' continued Aunt Maria, ' there is no 
 possibility of your marrying him ; should 
 you ever do so it will be in direct antagonism 
 both to myself and your guardian, and I 
 don't think we have deserved of you to have 
 — I do not say our wishes only, but our most 
 serious convictions — set at nought.' 
 
 i You have deserved nothing of me but 
 love and gratitude,' said Sophy, with the 
 tears in her eyes. ' Whatever happens, I 
 shall never forget how much I owe you.' 
 
 ' And yet you propose to repay us with 
 disobedience ? ' observed Aunt Maria, drily 
 
 1 2
 
 u6 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 Then, as if unable to maintain so stern a 
 tone, even for a moment, she answered gently, 
 ' It is not for our sakes, Sophy, as you well 
 know ; but for your own, that we are so 
 strenuous upon this point. When you come 
 of age you will be independent of us, and 
 can do as you like ; there are many persons 
 who under the same circumstances would be 
 glad enough to get rid of such a responsi- 
 bility as you must needs be to us. But when 
 you leave us, you will still be in our hearts ; 
 }^our future will aiFect us as much as your 
 present does at this hour, only we shall no 
 longer have the power to shape it. Even 
 now, if your guardian knew as much as I do 
 — how often Mr. Perry comes here, how often 
 you make excuses for meeting him elsewhere 
 — it would make him miserable. And yet it 
 is not for his sake, but for your own, that I 
 entreat you to give up this man.' 
 
 Sophy, huddled upon the sofa, with her 
 little hands hiding her pretty face, answered 
 only by her sobs.
 
 AUNT MARIA'S HEADACHE. 117 
 
 * It is better for you to cry now, my dear,' 
 continued Aunt Maria, with a tender tremor 
 nevertheless in her own voice, ' than when 
 things are past crying for. I heard to-night 
 some talk of Mr. Perry, which those who 
 uttered it little thought had aoy personal 
 interest for me. He is a man of bad temper, 
 as well as of bad habits ; not a favourite even 
 with those who know him best, and anions: 
 whom he has gained some pre-eminence ; he 
 is a " good oar," it seems, and that is all ; 
 a poor recommendation for a partner in 
 life. I own he is very handsome, but you 
 will not think him so when he frowns at you. 
 Such men soon get tired of their pretty play- 
 things. Indeed, I have noticed that of late 
 weeks his manner to yourself is not what it 
 used to be; he takes less trouble to please 
 you, perhaps because he feels sure of you. I 
 earnestly trust that he has as yet no ground 
 for such confidence.' 
 
 Sophy moaned.
 
 u8 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 i You are not engaged to him ? ' put in the 
 other quickly. 
 
 ' No, Aunt Maria, no,' murmured the 
 girl. 
 
 ' Then part from him, I beseech you, 
 while there is yet time. People have already 
 begun to talk of you. If you don't believe 
 me, ask Henny Helford ; she will tell you the 
 truth, and give you good advice besides. It 
 is most painful to me to speak like this ; but, 
 Sophy, it is better so than that my brother 
 should speak to you. I doubt whether I am 
 right in concealing your conduct from him ; 
 but I know that it would vex him so. He 
 is the kindest of men, but his noble heart 
 revolts at anything like duplicity or under- 
 hand doings.' 
 
 4 Don't tell him — oh! don't tell him,' 
 pleaded Sophy, earnestly. 
 
 i Well, then, for this once, and trusting to 
 see signs of amendment in your behaviour, I 
 won't,' replied Aunt Maria.
 
 A UNT MARIA >S HE ADA CHE. 1 1 9 
 
 She said this with quite a magnanimous 
 air ; but the fact was, she had nothing very 
 definite to tell, only certain small misdoings 
 on Sophy's part, which, feeling herself to 
 blame for having permitted, she was not very 
 anxious to reveal. 
 
 4 1 don't wish to speak of my own troubles 
 in the matter,' she continued, after a pause ; 
 ' but I can't say what I suffered this evening 
 when I saw Mr. Perry with that great flagon 
 in his hand leering at us, like somebody 
 wicked in the heathen mythology. He had 
 had too much to drink already ; and that's 
 the truth, Sophy. And then to think that 
 he will be at the ball to-night, most probably 
 intoxicated. Xow, Sophy, do promise me 
 that you will not dance with that man.' 
 
 ' I will promise you that, Aunt Maria,' 
 was the unexpected reply ; ' for I shall not go 
 to the ball at all.' 
 
 ; But, my dear, that will look extremely 
 odd : indeed it may be said that you were
 
 120 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 afraid to meet Mr. Perry, which will be 
 worse than anything.' 
 
 ; I am not at all afraid of meeting Mr. 
 Perry/ said Sophy, quietly, i but I had 
 rather not go.' 
 
 ' But so many people will be expecting 
 us, my dear ! What excuse can you possibly 
 make ? ' 
 
 ' Xone at all,' said Sophy, mustering up 
 a little smile. ' It is you who must be the 
 excuse, Aunt Maria. You said you had a 
 headache, you know, when you left my 
 guardian's rooms.' 
 
 ' But it's gone now,' exclaimed Aunt 
 Maria, simply. 
 
 ' I can bring it back in half a minute,' 
 cried Sophy ; and, springing from the sofa, 
 she sat down at the piano and thundered the 
 March from 'Athalie,' which made Aunt 
 Maria, who detested loud music of any kind, 
 put her hands to her ears, and very literally 
 sue for peace.
 
 A UNT MARIA '5 HE AD A CHE. 1 2 1 
 
 ' You have really given me a headache 
 now,' she cried, 'you naughty girl ! ' 
 
 ' That is because you are so dreadfully 
 conscientious, dear Aunt Maria ; it is the 
 reward of truth. Nor is it a mere selfish 
 advantage ; for now I, who have no headache, 
 can honestly say that you have got one.' 
 Then, dropping her light tone, she flew to 
 the other's side, and murmured caressingly, 
 ' I am so sorry, darling Auntie ; but it will 
 soon go off, and we will both stay at home 
 together, and have a cosy evening, won't 
 we ?' 
 
 At that moment there was a ring at the 
 door bell. 
 
 Sophy turned pale ; it is not only the 
 wicked who 'flee when no man pursueth,' 
 but also the wilful and the weak. 
 
 Xo man was pursuing her, as it turned 
 out ; but the girl thought one might be. It 
 was an intense relief when the servant an- 
 nounced Miss Helford.
 
 122 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 Henrietta, called for love and euphony, 
 Henny, Helford was Sophy's dearest friend, 
 and a near neighbour. She had come in by 
 appointment, though, in Sophy's distress and 
 perturbation of mind, the latter had clean 
 forgotten it. The arrival of this visitor, 
 pure, sincere, and thoroughly to be relied 
 upon, seemed to her like an intervention of 
 Providence. As more than one of her fellow- 
 creatures had had cause to remark, the very 
 look of Henny Helford in time of trouble 
 was a consolation ; but at all times it was 
 very pleasing. She was fair like her friend, 
 but there the resemblance ended ; she was 
 not pretty in the ordinary sense of the word ; 
 her features were not regular enough to con- 
 form to any standard of good looks ; she was 
 only winning. 
 
 Without the vivacity of Sophy, she had 
 the loveliness which is the result of sympathy 
 with the hopes of others ; although not gifted 
 with the large and somewhat vague aspira-
 
 AUNT MARIA'S HEADACHE. 123 
 
 tions which actuate some of her sex in these 
 days, everything had interest for her that 
 concerned those she knew. Without being 
 florid, she had a fresh complexion, that spoke 
 of health and early hours ; and, without 
 being masculine, she was tall and of a noble 
 figure. In a metaphor culled from his books, 
 the Canon used to describe his ward as a 
 duodecimo and her friend as a crown octavo. 
 He even warned the latter that he looked to 
 see her in another edition — a quarto. It was 
 possible, indeed, that — in the fulness of time 
 — Henny's charms would become matronly ; 
 but at present she was not a whit too plump. 
 Her binding (to pursue the image) was by no 
 means so brilliant as that of her duodecimo 
 ally. Always sedate in her attire, she was just 
 now still in mourning for her elder brother, 
 who had died some months ago, leaving an 
 orphan child, her constant care, behind him. 
 ' You will be glad to hear " Stevie " is
 
 124 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 better/ she said, after she had kissed her 
 friends. 
 
 ' The doctor thinks he will get over it, 
 does he ? ' said Miss Alclred, slily. She 
 knew the child had only a malady incident to 
 childhood — the chickenpox. 
 
 ' With care,' returned the unconscious 
 Henny ; ' he gives us hopes that the child 
 will be himself again by the end of the week. 
 I should have come before, Sophy, only I 
 waited till the little darling was asleep. But 
 you are late yourself. I expected to see you 
 attired for conquest.' 
 
 Here Aunt Maria slipped out of the room. 
 She was a consenting party to the little fraud 
 Sophy and she had planned together, but she 
 did not wish to sanction it by her presence 
 while it was being explained to a third party. 
 
 ' I am afraid you will be disappointed, 
 Henny,' said Sophy, with an indifferent 
 smile, or rather with an indifferent attempt at
 
 AUNT MARIA >S HEADACHE. \ 125 
 
 a smile ; l but the fact is, we are not going to 
 the ball.' 
 
 ' Xot going to the ball ! Not going to 
 the Procession Ball ? ' repeated Henny, in a 
 tone of the most utter incredulity. ' Why, 
 how comes that ?' 
 
 To have answered the question as Henny 
 would have answered it — that is, with exactest 
 truth — would have been difficult indeed. 
 Yet, as generally happens, it would have 
 been better for the person addressed to have 
 spoken the truth and the whole truth. She 
 could not, she well knew, have had a better 
 adviser ; nor, from one point of view, a 
 better confidante. 
 
 But as our very weaknesses are often a 
 recommendation to the confidence of our 
 fellow- creatures, so a too severely moral 
 nature as often repels it. Sophy gazed in 
 her companion's questioning face with pitiful 
 yearning : girl as she was, she would have 
 given years of her young life to have thrown
 
 126 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 herself into the other's arms and have sobbed 
 out the whole history of her troubles. But 
 she felt she could no more have shared with 
 her the secret of that wish than she could 
 have proposed to her to smother ' Stevie.' 
 
 ' Aunt Maria has a headache,' said Sophy, 
 in a tone that had far too much of sorrow for 
 so slight a misfortune. 
 
 ' What a pity ! I am sure it must be bad 
 indeed for your aunt to inflict such a dis- 
 appointment on you.' 
 
 ' It is no disappointment,' said Sophy, 
 passionately, her feelings for the moment 
 overcoming all considerations of prudence. 
 ' I am glad I am not going.' The outburst 
 did her good, but even while she gave reins 
 to it, she saw its danger. 
 
 ' The truth is, Henny ' — a phrase which 
 too often precedes the explosion of an es- 
 pecially large ' cracker ' — ' though you may 
 consider them still a treat, for my part, I am 
 getting rather tired of balls.'
 
 AUNT MARIA'S HEADACHE. 127 
 
 ' Tired of balls ! You tired of balls ! ' 
 ejaculated Henny, aghast. It was as though 
 a moderate Mussulman had just heard one 
 of the truest of believers abjure the faith. 
 ' Why, what will you be tired of next ? Not 
 me, I hope ! ' 
 
 ' No, Henny, not you,' returned Sophy, 
 bitterly. ' I have not so many friends that 
 I can afford to lose one, and the best of them.' 
 
 ' Why, Sophy, what's the matter ? ' 
 
 Henny fell on her knees, and put her arm 
 about the other's waist ; her face she could 
 not see, for Sophy had hidden it in her hands, 
 but she knew what was going on behind them. 
 ' Don't cry, don't cry, my darling. I pro- 
 mised mamma I would only be gone for a few 
 moments, thinking you were going to the 
 ball ; but if I can be of any good, if you 
 want to talk with me, Sophy, I'll just run 
 back and tell her not to sit up for me.' 
 
 1 No, Henny, no,' sobbed the other ; ' I'd 
 rather be alone to-night. I'm a little over-
 
 128 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 done, that's all ; and sleep will do me more 
 good than anything.' 
 
 There are few things to be compared with 
 that admirable invention, sleep ; but on this 
 occasion it would have been better for Sophy 
 if she had tried another remedy — the counsel 
 of a true friend. 
 
 Henny did not believe that mere fatigue 
 was at the bottom of Sophy's indisposition, 
 but she thought that solitude and reflection 
 were what she needed. Perhaps she had had 
 a tiff with her lover. Henny had a lover 
 herself, though she had never had a tiff with 
 him, and understood that such a catastrophe 
 would be a subject not to be talked about 
 even with the most intimate of friends, but 
 to be repented of by oneself. She rose to her 
 feet at once, and, imprinting a silent kiss on 
 Sophy's forehead, moved softly and sorrow- 
 fully out of the room.
 
 129 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IN PURSUIT. 
 
 If Miss Sophy Gilbert had begun to hate 
 balls, there were a good many young people 
 in Cambridge that night who were of a 
 different opinion ; they had only just begun 
 to love them. The town -hall, in which the 
 Entertainment of the evening was held, was 
 crammed with guests. About ten o'clock it had 
 come on to rain heavily ; but that circum- 
 stance had no effect upon the attendance of the 
 ladies. It was one of the few entertainments 
 of the like kind where every girl, no matter 
 how plain, was sure of plenty of partners, 
 and of young partners. The male sex was 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 considerably in excess of the female, and they 
 were almost without exception dancing men. 
 
 There was, however, one young man who 
 scarcely came under that category ; and who, 
 though he meant to dance that night, for 
 the present seemed content to stand by the 
 ball-room door, and to scan with unobtrusive 
 glance whosoever entered it. His anxiety 
 was not easily to be accounted for, since he 
 appeared to know nobody. At last, however, 
 appeared one who seemed no stranger to him, 
 though Adair made no sign of recognition ; 
 on the contrary, he drew himself up in the 
 corner he had selected, and watched him 
 furtively but with great attention. 
 
 The new comer was a magnificently hand- 
 some young man, very tall and broad- 
 shouldered, with curly light-brown hair ; and 
 but for a soft brown beard, and a look in his 
 eyes that suggested imperiousness of dispo- 
 sition, might have sat — or stood — for Anti- 
 nous. Except for his frame, however, there
 
 IN PURSUIT. 131 
 
 was little of Greek about him, and certainly 
 none in his head. His complexion was not 
 only fresh but flushed ; and as he carelessly 
 nodded to his male acquaintances, who were 
 numerous enough, they now and then nudged 
 one another and shrugged their shoulders. 
 None of them ventured, however, to tell him 
 what was in their thoughts ; for Herbert 
 Perry was not a man to whom even the most 
 intimate friend could with prudence have 
 hinted that after a boating supper it is inju- 
 dicious for some people to come to a ball. 
 His glance roved with bold inquiry from one 
 young lady to another ; and as they revolted 
 in the mazy dance before him, his disappointed 
 expectations seemed to give way to anger. 
 He stood at the opposite corner of the room 
 to that in which Adair (his watcher) had 
 taken his stand, stroking his beard and 
 frowning heavily. Adair, though he was 
 disappointed too, seemed to derive great 
 pleasure from his discomfiture. 
 
 K 2
 
 1 32 THE CANONS WARD. 
 
 1 She is not coining, my young friend,' he 
 scornfully murmured to himself ; ' and, even 
 if she does come, it is a wet night, and there 
 will be no wandering with her in the Round- 
 about.' 
 
 Once only their eyes met. On Perry's 
 part recognition was not immediate ; his per- 
 ceptions, never very quick, were dulled with 
 his recent potations ; but under the other's 
 continued gaze, memory awoke within him. 
 His face blazed with wrath, and he stepped 
 forward as if about to cross the room ; then, 
 as Adair withdrew his glance, with a pretence 
 of indifference, and fixed it upon some other 
 object, his anger seemed to give place to con- 
 tempt. He muttered to himself, ' The man is 
 a cur ; it will be time to throttle him if he 
 ventures to give tongue.' 
 
 If he thought that Adair was a coward, 
 Mr. Perry's judgment was even less acute than 
 usual. The former had actually had it in his
 
 IN PURSUIT. 133 
 
 mind by that long-continued stare at his rival 
 to goad him on to quarrel. If he could have 
 induced Perry to disgrace himself in public, 
 he would have cheerfully run the personal 
 risk to which it would have undoubtedly 
 exposed him. As the night wore on, the 
 other grew more impatient ; once or twice he 
 passed into the refreshment-room, from which 
 he emerged with heightened colour, only again 
 to scan in vain the countenances of the dancers 
 for her he sought. At last, with a smothered 
 oath, he left his place, and, shouldering his 
 way without much courtesy through the 
 throng, reached the outer hall. A wind had 
 arisen and was driving the rain in sheets 
 through the deserted town. 
 
 ' Will you have a fly, Mr. Perry ?' in- 
 quired one of the ticket porters who knew 
 him. 
 
 1 Curse your flies ! ' was the curt rejoinder, 
 as in his thin patent boots and evening dress
 
 134 THE CANONS WARD. 
 
 he stepped into the streets, with nothing but 
 his cap and gown to shield him from the 
 storm. 
 
 1 That's a queer devil/ observed the cus- 
 todian of the hats and coats to the ticket 
 porter. 
 
 ' Aye ! but a good plucked one,' observed 
 the other, admiringly. 
 
 The eulogium was correct in more than 
 one sense, for Mr. Herbert Perry had been 
 far from successful in his University examina- 
 tions ; but it was curious, considering the rude- 
 ness with which the man had been treated, he 
 should have been eulogistic at all. The fact 
 is, however, that if a certain class of society 
 (and not a small one) chose their own kings, 
 it would be for the same reason that they 
 were chosen in the earliest ages — namely, for 
 their thews and sinews. They admire a man 
 as we admire an ironclad, in proportion to his 
 powers of self-defence, and quite independent 
 of whether the thing to be defended — such as
 
 IN PURSUIT. 135 
 
 his life — is valuable or otherwise. Though 
 Mr. Herbert Perry had a rough tongue, and 
 was not very free with his shillings, it is 
 probable that if the Cambridge townfolk had 
 had to choose a representative from the under- 
 graduates he would have stood at the top of 
 the poll. 
 
 Scarcely had he left the hall, and ere the 
 attendant had closed the door against the 
 driving rain, a second young gentleman from 
 the ball-room demanded his cap and gown, 
 and, snatching them from the attendant's 
 hand, followed on the other's heels. 
 
 1 There's another in a hurry!' ejaculated 
 the custodian. ' Blest if he too ain't gone and 
 left his great-coat behind him.' 
 
 1 Why, yes,' replied the porter, peering 
 out into the storm, \ and to see the way in 
 which he is cutting after Mr. Perry yonder, 
 one would think he was his lady-love. They 
 don't look much of a muchness neither, do 
 they ? I should say that second one never
 
 136 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 feathered an oar or doubled his fist in his 
 life.' 
 
 1 A mugger, that's what he is/ said the 
 other, contemptuously ; ' a mugger ' — a com- 
 prehensive term understood to include all 
 persons with an ambition for University dis- 
 tinction. 
 
 Though Adair had pursued his rival (for 
 such it was clear, whether with good reason 
 or not, he considered him to be) with such 
 precipitancy, it was only to make sure that 
 he did not escape him at the outset. Directly 
 he caught sight of him striding rapidly in the 
 direction, as he had anticipated, of Trumping- 
 ton Street, he slackened his pace, contenting 
 himself with keeping him in view. He was 
 wet through, but, though that was a some- 
 what novel experience for one of his indoor 
 habits, it affected him not the least. The 
 wind blew ' shrill, chill ' in his face, and cut 
 through his thin garments to the bone ; but 
 of that, too, he was unconscious. The one
 
 IN PURSUIT. 137 
 
 thought in his mind was, c Will she come to 
 meet him, and where ? ' That any assigna- 
 tion could have been made between these two 
 seemed indeed most unlikely, or Perry would 
 not have been so disappointed (as he un- 
 doubtedly had been) at not seeing Miss 
 Gilbert at the ball ; but it was possible — 
 for anything seemed possible to the young 
 scholar's jealous soul — that they had some 
 means of meeting whenever they pleased. If 
 so, he was resolved to find it out. That, he 
 had persuaded himself, was his sole motive ; 
 but if he could have examined his heart he 
 could perhaps have found another. 
 
 Mr. John Adair, as we know, had already 
 had a ' love affair ' — which indeed was a very 
 fitting name for it — for it had not been all 
 emotion and disinterestedness. If the Canon 
 had known more about it, he would not have 
 alluded to it — or abstained from alluding to 
 it — with such an excess of delicacy. When 
 he had said to the young scholar, ' We cannot
 
 138 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 get all we want in this world,' he had taken 
 it for granted that Adair had lost his patron's 
 favour by fixing his boyish affections upon 
 some young lady too highly placed ; and his 
 guess had been a shrewd one. The lady in 
 question bad been, indeed, the sister of Sir 
 Charles Adair. Where the Canon's mistake 
 lay was in supposing that the scholar had 
 been ill-treated. The ill-behaviour, notwith- 
 standing that Adair had protested that he 
 had ' done nothing to be ashamed of,' was 
 all the other way. Miss Adair was his 
 senior by ten years, and, the truth was, had 
 had no other attraction for him than the 
 possession of an independent fortune. His 
 motives had been suspected, or rather detec- 
 ted, and his connection with his patron ab- 
 ruptly broken off in consequence. Such was 
 the romance, or the first volume of it, of Mr. 
 John Adair. 
 
 It is fair to say, however, that, as regards 
 Sophy Gilbert, matters were very different
 
 IN PURSUIT. 139 
 
 with him. She was the first woman for 
 whom he had entertained a genuine passion ; 
 and he had lost his heart and almost his head 
 to her. The recklessness of his present con- 
 duct — so different from his usual caution 
 and forethought — was proof of it. His only 
 chance in life, as he well knew, lay in Univer- 
 sity distinction, and he was imperilling it 
 upon her account. To be mixed up with any 
 scandal in connection with the ward of Canon 
 Aldred would probably be his ruin. With 
 whatever imprudence the young lady had 
 behaved, it was not his business to discover 
 it, and any attempt to do so would naturally 
 be bitterly resented by all parties. He had 
 undertaken the post of detective of his own 
 free will, nor could he pretend that he had 
 done so upon other than personal grounds. 
 He was no minister of public justice. If he 
 looked at the matter from a moral point of 
 view at all, it was of a specific kind ; he had, 
 perhaps, a vague idea that he was doing his
 
 140 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 best to prevent this girl from marrying a man 
 utterly unworthy of her, and with whom she 
 could not be happy ; he had also ventured to 
 picture her — but this was purely an imagi- 
 nary case — united to a more eligible swain, 
 averse to claret-cup and attached to the study 
 of the higher mathematics. But all these 
 thoughts were forgotten in his present pur- 
 pose — to track his rival's footsteps and dis- 
 cover where they led. 
 
 As to what should be the bearing of a 
 young gentleman bound upon a clandestine 
 interview with his beloved object there may 
 be different opinions ; but Mr. Herbert 
 Perry's manner was certainly unlike any- 
 thing one would have expected under such 
 circumstances. At first he indulged in 
 
 c v 
 
 ery 
 
 bad language, snatches of which were borne 
 upon the wind to the ears of his pursuer ; 
 whereas it is surely usual to husband one's 
 oaths for the presence of the young lady, and 
 even then to use only those of fealty and
 
 IN PURSUIT. 141 
 
 devotion. Instead of cautiously keeping under 
 the shadow of the houses, he took the middle 
 of the pavement, and that with the swagger 
 of a dragoon in spurs. So far from looking 
 like an evildoer, his air gave the impression 
 of one who suffers under a vehement sense 
 of wrong, and who is resolved to take the 
 remedy into his own hands. Even when the 
 wind and rain had cooled him a little, and 
 these symptoms of indignation disappeared, 
 there was nothing in his behaviour to suggest 
 passion or secrecy. Once indeed he suddenly 
 vanished from the eyes of his pursuer, who 
 himself kept far aloof, and as much out of 
 sight as possible, in case the other should 
 look behind him ; but in a moment or two 
 he emerged from his concealment more con- 
 spicuous even than before ; he had only taken 
 advantage of a doorway to light up a huge 
 cigar. It was long past the hour for gate- 
 shutting ; but on that night no proctors were 
 to be found, since an extension of hours had
 
 142 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 been granted to all who intended to be at the 
 Procession Ball ; those officials themselves 
 indeed were well content to keep within doors 
 in such weather, and, except a policeman or 
 two, not a soul was stirring in the nickering 
 and wind-swept street. 
 
 By the time they were clear of the houses 
 it had ceased raining, but the wind had risen 
 still higher. It was weather indeed such as 
 has been described by the most realistic of 
 poets : — 
 
 It was a wild night out of doors, 
 The wind was mad upon the moors, 
 And came into the rocking town, 
 Stahhing all things up and down. 
 
 And scarcely was it less mad among the new- 
 fledged woods and shrubberies which now 
 fringed the road. It seemed as though the 
 Prince of the Powers of the Air — magnificent 
 but gruesome title! — was making triumphal 
 progress. The shrieks and yells of the un- 
 seen element were very uncanny, and might 
 have aroused, one would have thought, the 
 most stagnant imagination. Mr. Herbert
 
 IN PURSUIT. 143 
 
 Perry, however, had none. Elemental nature 
 had no voice for him. Neither sky nor star 
 had ever hallowed his thoughts ; and if he 
 loved the earth, it was for its grosser plea- 
 sures. His music was not that of the 
 spheres ; he liked the ' tongs and the bones,' 
 and they sufficed him. Yet, physically, what 
 a splendid fellow he was ! Possessed of such 
 manly beauty as might have been termed 
 glorious, if beauty can be glorious without a 
 soul. 
 
 Suddenly the moon came out and shone 
 upon his face. The traces of anger and of 
 wine had vanished from it, and a certain 
 necessity for caution, which he had now 
 begun to experience, gave it an expression of 
 thoughtfulness. As his pursuer shrank into 
 the hedge to avoid the effulgence, his own 
 keen face, full of intelligence but also of 
 stealth and hate, looked very poor beside it. 
 It was the case of Hyperion to a satyr ; and 
 Adair felt the contrast. It was no wonder,
 
 144 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 he confessed to himself, between his teeth, 
 that the fancy of a foolish girl, ignorant of the 
 higher mathematics, should have been taken 
 by such a man. 
 
 And there was no doubt that it had been 
 so. As he had all along suspected, his rival 
 was going to the ' Laurels,' where she would 
 probably give him a secret interview ; it 
 should not, however, if he could help it, be 
 an unseen one. Perry had stopped, and for 
 the first time looked suspiciously behind him. 
 Then he left the road and passed through the 
 gate that opened upon the gravel sweep be- 
 fore the house. The moon was now obscured 
 again, and Adair, emerging from the hedge, 
 followed close upon his footsteps. In his 
 haste and excitement the gate which the other 
 had opened and closed behind him with cau- 
 tion was torn from his less powerful fingers 
 by the wind, and clanged behind him. 
 
 He had but just time to throw himself 
 upon the ground among the shrubs, when
 
 IN PURSUIT. 145 
 
 Perry, attracted by the noise, ran back to the 
 spot. Had he found him, there would pro- 
 bably have been murder done ; though not 
 necessarily by the stronger man. Prone as 
 he was, on the wet earth, Adair contrived to 
 take out a well- sharpened knife, with which 
 he had deftly mended many a pen in exami- 
 nations, and open it. He was not a man to 
 submit to chastisement, however well de- 
 served. The other, however, after a brief 
 examination, appeared to ascribe the matter to 
 accident. He had not, it seemed, shut the 
 gate, as he had intended to do ; and, cursing 
 his own carelessness in not having done so, 
 he passed on. 
 
 vol. 1.
 
 146 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE WAITING -MAID. 
 
 The Canon, as Perry was perhaps aware, was 
 sleeping in chambers that night ; he was a 
 wise man, who loved his rest, and did not 
 wish to run the risk of having it destroyed 
 during the small hours by the ladies' return 
 from the ball. His friends were probably 
 still around him, discoursing of every subject 
 under heaven, or even higher, for thought 
 was free in those symposiums ; or perhaps 
 they had left him, and over his last pipe he 
 was musing alone upon his beloved Milton or 
 his absent son. What, in any case, he was 
 certainly not dreaming of, was that two 
 undergraduates were in his garden, and had
 
 THE WAITING-MAID. 147 
 
 been but two minutes ago within an inch or 
 so — for it had been little more — of killing one 
 another for the love of his ward. It is that 
 inch or so, however, which saves us every 
 day from all sorts of catastrophes, of which 
 we never guess, nor are ever told. 
 
 Perry glanced up at the windows ; those 
 of the sitting-rooms were dark, but a light 
 still glimmered in the top story. He moved 
 rapidly to the back of the house, and took a 
 similar observation of it : all that side was 
 dark. Perry uttered his usual exclamation 
 of disappointment, a noun of three syllables, 
 generally understood to be the copyright of 
 divines. He was evidently puzzled what to 
 do. After a moment's reflection, however, he 
 mounted some iron steps that led from the 
 garden to the drawing-room balcony, and 
 also to a door which gave egress to some 
 smaller chamber, probably a lady's boudoir ; 
 and, taking a half-crown from his pocket, 
 struck with it the brass around the keyhole 
 
 l 2
 
 i 4 8 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 twice. Amid the roaring of the wind, the 
 blow was unheard without, but inside the 
 house the noise was probably distinct enough, 
 especially to ears that were accustomed to 
 such a signal. There was a considerable 
 delay, during which Perry stood with one ear 
 at the keyhole, and his foot on the step, pre- 
 pared for instant flight, should the expected 
 footstep sound unfamiliar to him. Adair 
 crouched down beneath him, shadowed by a 
 laurel-bush, and watched his every motion, as 
 a cat of tender years watches a rat of danger- 
 ous dimensions. 
 
 For a wonder, Perry showed no - trace of 
 impatience (which convinced the other that 
 he had been used to wait under similar cir- 
 cumstances), and remained in that statuesque 
 but somewhat strained position till his signal 
 was answered. A bolt was quietly with- 
 drawn, the door softly opened, and after a 
 word or two — as it seemed by the tone — of 
 objection on the part of the person within,
 
 THE WAITING-MAID. 149 
 
 the young man was admitted. The incident 
 itself was as strange as a story out of the 
 ' Arabian X ights ' ; but to Adair, to whom 
 romance was unknown, even by hearsay, it 
 was simply amazing. He had disbeliefs 
 enough of his own to answer for, evil 
 imaginings, and thoughts devoid of charity ; 
 but he was not one of those gilded youths 
 littered in scarlet, who are not ashamed to be 
 sceptical of the virtue of that sex to which 
 then* mothers belong ; his origin had been 
 too low to admit of his being suckled in such 
 a creed. He had already had ample evidence 
 that Sophy Gilbert was fond, foolish, and 
 weak almost to recklessness of reputation 
 with respect to this unworthy suitor of hers, 
 but that had by no means prepared him for 
 the spectacle to which he had just been a 
 witness. Had he been a man of higher 
 moral character he would have been shocked ; 
 but his amazement partook rather of that 
 kind of surprise with which one hears of
 
 150 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 some legal acquaintance, never very par- 
 ticular in his professional proceedings, having 
 been struck off the rolls : we knew he was 
 rather shady, but had never thought that of 
 him. This reflection, however, lasted only 
 for a minute, and was succeeded by a very 
 different feeling — jealousy. It was as though 
 a great wave of evil passions had swept over 
 his soul, and drenched it with envy, hatred, 
 and malice. He gazed upon the house which 
 held the pair he hated, as Satan in another 
 garden is described, by our Canon's favourite 
 poet, 'with hellish rancour imminent,' to 
 have sought the bower of a more guiltless 
 couple. His suspicions were not, perhaps, 
 unwarrantable ; but he had certainly no 
 ground for anger ; to him, at all events, 
 Sophy Gilbert owed neither love nor loyalty ; 
 and yet, if a wish of his at that moment 
 could have killed her, she would have been a 
 dead woman. 
 
 Marvellous indeed are the ways of Fate
 
 THE WAITING-MAID. 151 
 
 with man. How often she sports with his 
 fiercest passions, and arouses them, as it 
 seems, in mere wantonness and derision ! If 
 the poor rage -rocked wretch could have 
 looked into that boudoir- chamber, from the 
 door of which he never removed his eyes 
 even for an instant, he would have perceived 
 that all these vehement emotions of his were 
 a waste of mental tissue. His suspicions had 
 been unjust and his deductions untrue. 
 When that door had opened to Mr. Perry's 
 signal, it was at the touch of a female hand 
 indeed, but it was not Sophy's. 
 
 This woman was much taller, had a some- 
 what coarse complexion, and wore a cap on 
 her head of that description which is termed 
 ' fly-a-way,' much affected by ladies' -maids. 
 She was good-looking, and even good-natured- 
 looking, but her eyes were rather too small for 
 her face, and had a cunning look, which, in one 
 in her position, suggested intrigue. On the pre- 
 sent occasion, however, the expression of her
 
 152 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 face on catching sight of her midnight visitor, 
 was one of mingled alarm and anger. She 
 made, indeed (though this was doubtless but 
 a feint), as though she would have closed the 
 half- opened door in his face, had he not thrust 
 in his strong fingers and prevented it. 
 
 ' You must be mad, Mr. Perry, to come 
 here at such an hour as this ! ' she exclaimed, 
 indignantly. 
 
 6 Why did not your mistress come to the 
 ball ? ' he inquired, sternly, and without 
 taking the least notice of her indignation. 
 
 ' And what is that to you, sir ? I mean,' 
 she added, alarmed by the heavy frown that 
 gathered on his brow, ' what was there in her 
 not going that can excuse your coming here ? 
 You have no right ' 
 
 ' I have a right,' he interrupted, with dis- 
 tinctness. ' Let me in.' And ignoring the 
 resistance of her well-knit and far from delicate 
 arm, as though it were a cobweb, he pushed 
 his way in, and closed the door behind him.
 
 THE WAITING-MAID. 153 
 
 ' And now, Miss Jeannette Perkins, where is 
 your mistress ? ' 
 
 "Where everybody but a poor lady's maid 
 is, or ought to be, at this time o'night — asleep 
 in her bed.' 
 
 * She is not a very early bird in general,' 
 observed the young man, incredulously, ' and 
 especially on ball-nights. Why didn't she go 
 to the ball ? ' 
 
 ' That is the second time you have asked 
 that question, Mr. Perry, though there's no 
 one so fit to answer it as yourself. How 
 could she go after what happened this even- 
 ing ? ' 
 
 ' I did not hear of anything having hap- 
 pened,' returned the young man sullenly. 
 
 ' Ah, then, / did ! What I heard was, 
 that while my mistress was sitting at a window 
 of the Canon's rooms, and the procession was 
 a passing, a young gentleman, as ought to 
 have known better, stood up in a boat and 
 drank her health out of a quart pot.'
 
 154 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 - 1 didn't stand up,' remarked Mr. Perry, 
 indignantly. 
 
 • Maybe because you couldn't,' was the 
 sharp rejoinder. ' Indeed, nobody who was 
 in his right senses could possibly have put 
 such a disgrace upon a young lady.' 
 
 ' I didn't mean to do anything of that 
 kind, of course ! ' said the other, exchanging 
 his injured tone for one of apology. 
 
 ' I suppose you thought it was paying her 
 a compliment. Her friends, however, did not 
 think so, at all events ; and they took care 
 that she should run no risk of another such 
 being paid her the same evening. And that's 
 why my poor dear young lady was 'not at the 
 ball this evening.' 
 
 ' She could have gone if she chose, for all 
 that, I'll bet a shilling,' returned the young 
 fellow, sulkily. 
 
 ' Don't you be so free with your money, 
 Mr. Perry — though it's very seldom you need 
 any warning upon that score, I must say.
 
 THE WAITING-MAID. 155 
 
 She has bad such a talking to from Miss Aldred 
 that her head is like to split : and then there's 
 the thought of what the Canon will say to her 
 about it, all over again, in the morning. Ball, 
 indeed ! The poor thing is fitter for her 
 coffin ; her pretty eyes all swollen with tears, 
 and with saying to herself, as she is doing this 
 very moment, " How could be, could he do 
 so r 
 
 ' Why you just told me she was asleep.' 
 1 Well, and if I did, it was not of my own 
 free wUl. Her first words when I went to 
 tell her that I heard your knock at the door 
 was, " It can't be Herbert, Jeannette. He 
 would never do anything so rash — so mad." 
 And when I told her that I was sure it was 
 you, for you were mad enough for anything, 
 " Then don't tell him how ill I am," she said, 
 " or he will never forgive himself for the trouble 
 he has caused me." ' 
 
 'It seems to me there has been a great 
 deal of fuss about nothing,' said Mr. Perry,
 
 156 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 contemptuously ; but at the same time he 
 twisted his beard very tight, which Miss Jean- 
 nette Perkins knew to be a sign of discomfort 
 with him. 
 
 'Nothing to you, of course, Mr. Perry. 
 That's just what I told my mistress. " What- 
 ever trouble befalls you, Miss," I said, " Mr. 
 Perry will be able to bear it very bravely, so 
 long as he doesn't share it." However, if you 
 drive her to desperation, I am glad to think 
 that you will share it. She is getting near 
 that, I promise you. " Anything, anything," 
 the poor young lady sometimes says to me, 
 " must be better than this." ' 
 
 ' Better than what ? ' inquired the young 
 man, stolidly. 
 
 ' " Better than what ? " That's a pretty 
 question for one to put who is the cause of all 
 her misery ! Well, better than living a life of 
 hypocrisy, which is made next to impossible 
 by the goings on of the very person who has 
 rendered it necessary, Better than deceiving
 
 THE WAITING-MAID. 157 
 
 those who really love her for the sake of a 
 man who only loves himself, and is bent only 
 on pleasing himself, no matter though it risks 
 her reputation.' 
 
 Mr. Perry uttered an exclamation of con- 
 tempt. 
 
 ' A woman's reputation, of course,' con- 
 tinued Miss Perkins, ' is of no consequence in 
 your eyes. I was a fool to mention it. I 
 should have been wiser to remind you that the 
 little game you are now playing may lose not 
 only her, but her fortune also. Her guardian 
 has the sole control over it till she comes of 
 age, remember ; can't you hide your hand for 
 even twelve months, and play the part of a 
 gentleman ? You aint an habitual drunkard, 
 I suppose, that you must " break out " every 
 week or so in this fashion.' 
 
 ' I'd speak a little louder if I were you ! ' 
 said Perry, gnawing at his beard. 
 
 ' I w r ould if I dared,' was the prompt reply. 
 * I would say what I think of you at the top
 
 158 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 of ray voice at noonday in the middle of Trump- 
 ing ton Street if I had my way. But I know 
 that if Miss Aldred heard me, and suspected 
 your presence, it would be the ruin of my 
 young mistress, aye, and your ruin too, as you 
 will see clearly enough to-morrow morning. 
 To come here at this time of night, drunk ! ' 
 
 1 You lie — I am not drunk.' 
 
 ' Then your conduct is even worse ; to 
 come here at this time of night in your sober 
 senses, with a reckless disregard of all conse- 
 quences to my dear young mistress, is most 
 vile and abominable.' 
 
 'I wanted to know why she was not at 
 the ball.' 
 
 ' Well, now you do know — go.' 
 
 And Miss Jeanne tte — though the name 
 given to her at the baptismal font had in fact 
 been Susan, which suited better perhaps with 
 her patronymic, Perkins — pointed to the door 
 with a dramatic gesture worthy of a French 
 melodrama. Her vigorous onslaught had
 
 THE WAITING-MAID. 159 
 
 been too muck for Mr. Perry : men of his 
 class can seldom stand against a woman's 
 righteous indignation, unless she happens to 
 be his wife. He had come to the ' Laurels ' 
 under a vague sense of ill-treatment, he was 
 indignant at Sophy's absence from the ball, 
 and wanted to know the ' reason why,' partly 
 perhaps because he suspected the reason ; he 
 knew that he had earned her reproaches by 
 drinking her health on the river, and there- 
 fore wished to establish a grievance on his 
 own account. But Jeannette had routed him. 
 He took up his battered college cap, and, 
 muttering a grudging apology about ' not 
 knowing it was quite so late,' and an ungra- 
 cious hope that the young lady's head would 
 not be so bad but that she could be seen the 
 next day, he passed out into the night. 
 
 With a swift hand Jeannette locked the door 
 behind him, and stood listening for his heavy 
 step upon the iron stairs. 
 
 i Thank Heaven, that's over ! ' she ex-
 
 i6o THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 claimed, with a great sigh of relief. ' Drat 
 the man, I wish he was drownded ! ' 
 
 The aspiration was a pretty strong one, 
 but there was little doubt of its genuineness. 
 Her eyes had still the fire of indignation 
 in them, her cheeks were still flushed with 
 it ; her bosom still palpitated with it, quite 
 as much as with her late passionate elo- 
 quence. ' How Miss Sophy can stand it,' 
 she went on, ' amazes me. It would wear me 
 to skin and bone. And to think that there 
 must be twelve months of it, and that much 
 worse things may happen in twelve months, 
 and at the end of them she will be his for life ! 
 I wouldn't be in her shoes, no, not for all her 
 money, which — if she gets it at all, poor soul 
 — will be his. If I were in her place the 
 perlice would never suspect me, and I'd poison 
 him. And yet, when he don't actually kick 
 over the traces, as he has done to-day, how 
 mighty cool she takes it ! she'd a gone to the 
 ball to-night — if it hadn't been for that other
 
 THE WAITING-MAID. 161 
 
 young fellow — as sure as fate, aye, and have 
 enjoyed herself too, and danced like a queen 
 of the May. She'd dance on the brink of a 
 precipice. For my part, I can think of nothing 
 so horrid as running the risk of losing one's 
 character, when one has done nothing to 
 deserve it. No one can say that / ever played 
 into Mr. Herbert Perry's hands ; a close-fisted 
 fellow, which is a thing I despise ; but there's 
 nothing I so much regret as having listened 
 to Miss Sophy's entreaties (as though I hadn't 
 known what a fool every girl is when she is in 
 
 love), and for her sake oh, Jemimaram, 
 
 if he hasn't come back again ! ' 
 
 The interjection was caused by the same 
 sharp tapping on the door-lock without, that 
 had already summoned Jeannette from her 
 duties about her young mistress. She had 
 little doubt that she had heard aright, but she 
 was very willing to believe herself deceived, 
 The wind was still roaring and raging, and it 
 was just possible that what she had just heard 
 
 VOL. I. m
 
 1 62 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 was but the swinging of -the iron gate of the 
 balcony. Surely, surely, after that piece of 
 her mind had been given him, and apparently 
 with such excellent effect, Mr. Herbert Perry 
 could not desire admittance a second time. 
 Yet, as she listened with painful intentness, 
 with her ear at the keyhole, there came again 
 the well-known summons. ' It is him, drat 
 him ! ' she murmured ; and with the same 
 precautions as before, but rendered more 
 difficult by the angry trembling of her limbs, 
 she opened the door a little space, when, with- 
 out making it any wider, to her horror and 
 amazement there slipped in, like a serpent, 
 the attenuated frame of Mr. John Adair.
 
 163 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 VISITOR NUMBER TWO. 
 
 The apparition of a total and unexpected 
 stranger, under the circumstances we have 
 just described, would have been alarming 
 enough to any young woman ; while the 
 appearance of the intruder himself — limp, 
 bedraggled, livid — was not calculated to re- 
 store confidence. One side of him was 
 covered with mud (where he had lain on the 
 ground, pending Mr. Perry's investigation of 
 the garden gate) ; the other in sodden even- 
 ing clothes, was hardly more respectably 
 attired ; his sole protection against the wild 
 weather an undergraduate's gown, tied round 
 his neck like a shawl — the only thing that 
 could be said to the advantage of the 
 
 M 2
 
 1 64 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 young man was that he did not look like 
 a gay Lothario. Not for a moment, however, 
 did Miss Perkins imagine him to be a vulgar 
 thief or burglar. The undergraduate's gown, 
 for which she had as quick an eye as an 
 undergraduate for a petticoat, reassured her 
 upon that point at once ; she staggered back 
 in alarm, indeed, but it was not of a physical 
 kind. Her feelings were similar to those of 
 the gay mousquetaire, who, perceiving his 
 beloved object and the ghost of her twin 
 sister, whom he had betrayed, tending his 
 sick bed together, exclaimed ' Yoila deux ! ' 
 and went off in a fit. She felt that there 
 was a second lover, though in the likeness of 
 a drowned rat, come after her young mistress. 
 Nay, after a few moments' reflection, though 
 she had never so much as set eyes on him 
 before, she even guessed who he was. It 
 must be admitted, however, that even her 
 natural acuteness could not have arrived at 
 this conclusion without assistance. She was
 
 VISITOR X UMBER TWO. ' 165 
 
 Sophy's confidante — a safer one in some 
 respects, and a ranch more dangerous one 
 in others, than Henny Helford would have 
 made — and she already knew all about Mr. 
 John Adair. Her countenance, however, ex- 
 pressed nothing but unmitigated amazement. 
 
 The intruder, too, was hardly less sur- 
 prised, and from the same cause. He had 
 counted upon being confronted with a 
 familiar face, and lo! he found himself in 
 the presence of a stranger. 
 
 Being a woman, and a ready one, Miss 
 Perkins was the first to speak. 
 
 1 Who on earth are you, sir ? ' she in- 
 quired ; l and what are you come here about ? ' 
 
 ' I am a friend of Canon Aldred's,' he 
 said ; ' and as I was coming home from the 
 ball I saw a man slip into your garden. Per- 
 ceiving by the light yonder ' — he pointed to 
 the candle- — ' that some of the family were 
 still up, I thought it my duty to give you 
 warning of it.'
 
 1 66 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 An ordinary British maid -servant, under 
 like circumstances, would have grasped with 
 gratitude at the means thus suggested of 
 explaining matters ; but Jeannette was much 
 too sharp to fall into such an error. It 
 flashed upon her in a moment that the new- 
 comer could not have made use of the same 
 signal as his j>redecessor, had he not wit- 
 nessed it ; and, therefore, that all concealment 
 as to that incident was useless. Moreover, 
 here was an unexpected opportunity of doing 
 a good turn to her young mistress, whom she 
 knew had reason to stand in fear of this 
 gentleman. 
 
 ' My master should be greatly obliged to 
 you, sir,' she said, hesitatingly. ' But the 
 fact is, the person you saw is no burglar, as 
 you suppose. I have just seen him myself, 
 for he had the impudence to force his way in, 
 though I did my best to prevent him : he is 
 a friend of the family — though, as you may 
 well say, after such conduct, hardly deserves
 
 VISITOR NUMBER TWO. 167 
 
 to remain so ; he is not quite master of his 
 own actions to-night, having been, I suppose, 
 at the ball supper. If it got to be known, I 
 am terrified to think what would happen : I 
 don't mean to him, for he would have only 
 himself to thank for it ; but the Canon, I'm 
 sure, would be so dreadfully distressed.' 
 
 ' And your young mistress, Miss Gilbert, 
 also, perhaps ? ' suggested Adair, drily. 
 
 i ISJo doubt, and Miss Aldred likewise. 
 There is nothing like your gentleman black- 
 guard for doing mischief in a house.' 
 
 "Wet as he was, a glow came into the 
 cheeks of Mr. John Adair, and touched his 
 trembling ears. 
 
 There is a general notion, set agoing, I 
 am inclined to think, by the scoundrels them- 
 selves, that persons who behave in a rascally 
 manner are unaware of it, or at all events 
 that they gloze it over in their own minds, so 
 that their conduct looks much more respect- 
 able ; it is just possible that it may be so, when
 
 1 68 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 rascality has become the rule and not the 
 exception of their lives, but in a general way 
 every one is conscious of the commission of a 
 baseness, and no more likes to be reminded 
 of it than of any other unpleasant fact. 
 
 ' I have heard of a gentleman farmer and 
 of a gentleman jockey,' returned the young 
 man with a forced smile ; ' but a gentleman 
 blackguard, my good girl, is a contradiction 
 in terms.' 
 
 k Well, I never heard him called by that 
 name, sir,' returned Jeannette, simply ; ' but 
 there's plenty of them about. You would 
 never believe it, but that young man had the 
 impudence to call here, to-night, without the 
 least thought of the scandal that might come 
 of it, merely to inquire why my young mis- 
 tress was not at the ball to-night — as though 
 it was any business of his.' 
 
 - Impudent scoundrel ! ' ejaculated Mr. 
 Adair, indignantly. ' And why didn't your 
 young mistress go to the ball ? '
 
 VISITOR NUMBER TWO. 169 
 
 ' Well, surely there was reason enough, as 
 you must very well know.' Adair's face 
 darkened in a moment. He had all along 
 suspected that it was the fear of meeting him, 
 or rather of being under his surveillance, 
 while she was in Perry's company, that had 
 kept her away from the town-hall ; and the 
 supposition, as we know, was correct. 
 
 ' I know of no reason,' he answered, 
 sharply. ' It ought to have been a very 
 good one, for only a few hours ago Miss 
 Gilbert, with her own lips, promised me a 
 dance. It was a great disappointment to 
 me.-' 
 
 ' It naturally must have been,' admitted 
 Jeannette, a light craft that could put about 
 at a moment's notice. ' I am sure she is very 
 sorry that it has so happened ; but after Mr. 
 Perry's conduct on the river — which I took 
 for granted you had heard of — and for fear 
 that he should misbehave himself again ' 
 
 ' But Miss Gilbert knew all that when she
 
 170 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 promised to dance with me,' interrupted 
 Adair. 
 
 ' And so did Miss Aldred know, only she 
 had not told my mistress when she spoke to 
 you, because she had had no opportunity of 
 telling her, that nothing would induce her to 
 let her go to the ball. This is only between 
 ourselves, sir, if you please,' added the girl, 
 earnestly ; ' for what Miss Aldred gave out 
 was that she had a headache and did not feel 
 equal to going to the ball herself.' 
 
 ' I did hear her say she had a headache,' 
 observed Adair, greatly mollified. ' Then it 
 was not your mistress's fault — that is, it was 
 not of her own will — that she stopped at 
 home ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly not, sir ; she has a better 
 opinion of Mr. Perry perhaps than some of us 
 have, and very likely did not think it possible 
 that he would so offend again ; but she is a 
 young lady of spirit, and if she was once 
 persuaded that Mr. Perry, or any other gentle-
 
 VISITOR NUMBER TWO. 171 
 
 man, was presuming upon any kindness she 
 had shown him, or taking advantage of some 
 fancied hold of her in any other way, she 
 would go to her guardian at once, no matter 
 what annoyance it cost her, and my master 
 would know how to deal with him.' 
 
 ' No doubt, no doubt,' said Adair, with 
 the red on his cheeks, but in as careless a 
 tone as he could assume ; ' still, in the matter 
 of Mr. Perry's unseasonable call, I under- 
 stood you to say that Miss Gilbert did not 
 wish the Canon to know about it.' 
 
 ' She does not know about it herself, sir, 
 as yet,' returned Miss Perkins, tartly ; i but 
 it doesn't need a ghost from the grave, I 
 should think, to know that no young lady 
 wants to be made the talk of the town. I 
 should have thought every gentleman who 
 was a gentleman understood that.' 
 
 c I understand it perfectly well, my good 
 girl ; and I think I understand you, 1 said 
 Adair, smiling, as he drew his purse from his
 
 172 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 pocket. ' I should like your young mistress 
 to know I had looked in, in case I might be 
 of any use ; but of course no one else shall 
 know. Be so good as to give her my com- 
 pliments, and say I shall do myself the 
 honour of calling to-morrow.' 
 
 ' Oh, thank you, sir.' 
 
 It was not Mr. Adair's polite promise that 
 had thus excited Miss Perkins' gratitude, but 
 the coin he had dropped into her hand, and 
 which her nice sense of touch immediately 
 informed her was a sovereign. ' Would you 
 like an umbrella, sir ? If you don't mind a 
 gingham, I'll lend you mine.' 
 
 Declining this generous offer with a smile, 
 and chucking the damsel under the chin 
 (from a notion that that course of conduct 
 was under the circumstances expected of him, 
 rather than from any amatory impulse), Mr. 
 Adair let himself out. 
 
 ' He's as wet as a frog,' observed Miss 
 Perkins, rubbing her chin with her frilled
 
 VISITOR NUMBER TWO. 173 
 
 apron, as she locked the door behind him. 
 ' 1 hope that poor young man won't die of a 
 cold. I had no idea when I first set eyes on 
 him that he was such a good sort. One 
 should never judge men, as men do women, 
 by their looks. " Handsome is as handsome 
 does," is my motto. Now, there's Mr. 
 Perry ; one would imagine to look at him 
 that to do him ever so slight a service would 
 be gold in any one's pocket ; and yet a 
 meaner man never stepped. To think that 
 the very day he was married on the sly that 
 he only gave half a sovereign to his wife's 
 own maid ! Bah ! I hate such husbands ! '
 
 174 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 TWO GIRLS. 
 
 i My dear Henny, what on earth takes you 
 out so early? ' exclaimed Mrs. Helford to her 
 daughter on the morning after the ball niodit. 
 The question was put with reproachful 
 severity, as though Henny was committing 
 an act of desertion, and her bonnet and shawl 
 were the Queen's uniform about to be unlaw- 
 fully disposed of in defiance of the statute. 
 
 ' If you want me, dear mamma, I will 
 stay ; but I thought I would just look in at 
 the " Laurels " to inquire after Miss Aldred. 
 Her head was so bad last night, you remember, 
 that she was unable to chaperone Sophy to 
 the ball.'
 
 TWO GIRLS. 175 
 
 ' You will do as you please, my dear, of 
 course ; but, in my opinion, charity should 
 begin at home. 7 
 
 And the widow sighed, like some Cas- 
 sandra who perceives the catastrophe to which 
 all things are hastening, but is powerless to 
 control the course of events. 
 
 Mrs. Helford was a lady of mature years, 
 but of a tall and massive frame, to which her 
 mourning weeds were quite unable to impart 
 their usual impression of helplessness and 
 desolation. She was a widow of course, 
 though her bereavement was by no means a 
 recent one ; but she was too plump for the 
 part. She had also another excuse for the 
 melancholy tone and air which was habitual 
 to her : she had lost her only son, Henny's 
 elder brother. I say c excuse, 7 for as a matter 
 of fact it could hardly have been what old 
 Burton calls ' a cause ' for melancholy. 
 Richard Helford had been c a mauvais sujet ? 
 from his cradle ; and after a dissipated youth
 
 176 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 had married early and ill. His mother, who 
 doted on her spendthrift son, had had her 
 means greatly crippled by his extravagance, 
 and, had he lived, would probably have been 
 ruined by him. But when he died, leaving 
 an orphan child to her care, he received not 
 only forgiveness from her but canonization. 
 To hear her speak of her Richard you would 
 have imagined him to be the embodiment of 
 all the virtues, and that his death had been a 
 national loss instead of a happy release for 
 every one connected with him. 
 
 Although Henny's nature was too truth- 
 ful to admit of her joining in this false 
 worship, she showed no sign of scepticism. 
 Not a thought ever entered her mind to the 
 prejudice of the ne'er-do-well who had squan- 
 dered so much of what might have been hers, 
 and had left no memory of a kindness to her 
 in word or deed behind him. She simply 
 transferred the love that might have been his 
 to his little boy, of whom she was the tutor
 
 TWO GIRLS. 177 
 
 and the slave. Her mother was well aware 
 of this, and, because her grandchild was only 
 beloved upon his own account, resented it. 
 i Henny never loved my poor dead Richard,' 
 she would say to herself, and felt a sort of 
 grudge against her daughter in consequence. 
 As she had really no fault to find with her, 
 however, she was compelled to confine herself 
 to vague generalities of reprobation, such as 
 ' Charity begins at home.' Her daughter was 
 as affectionate as she was dutiful, but this 
 attitude on her mother's part kept the girl at 
 arm's length. She had no confidences with 
 her mother, though she had no secrets from 
 her. When Frederic Irton gained his fellow- 
 ship and offered his hand and heart to her, 
 Mrs. Helford had had very cold congratula- 
 tions to offer. She did not absolutely dis- 
 approve — indeed there was no ground for 
 absolute disapproval — but poor Henny could 
 not but contrast her conduct with what it had 
 been when her brother Richard had announced 
 vol. 1. N
 
 178 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 his intention of marrying the barmaid. In 
 that case (though it was from fear, perhaps, 
 as much as love, for the young man was a 
 Tartar) she had been ready enough to make 
 the best of the matter ; the girl, after all, was 
 virtuous ; the society of dear Richard was an 
 education for anybody, and would doubtless 
 make a lady of her in time ; he might have 
 done worse ; he would now settle clown 
 (which he did like a ship) ; in short, there 
 was scarcely any opposition. But Mr. 
 Frederic Irton was much too young ; his 
 fellowship was of no use to him, since he lost 
 it by marriage ; the Bar was a most uncer- 
 tain profession, &c, &c. 
 
 ' But, dear mamma, 7 Henny would inter- 
 pose at this point, l Frederick will be a so- 
 licitor.' 
 
 ' Quite as uncertain, my dear, and not so 
 desirable ; the lower branch of the profession. 
 It is not as if you were an heiress and inde- 
 pendent of fortune.'
 
 TWO GIRLS. i7 9 
 
 Some girls would not have scrupled to 
 hint that they would have been independent 
 but for circumstances over which the mother 
 had had control, but had not exercised it. 
 But Henny only sighed, and listened in 
 patience. 
 
 In the end, she had been grudgingly per- 
 mitted to engage herself to the man of her 
 choice. But she could not talk of him to her 
 mother as a daughter wishes to talk on such 
 a subject. In one particular Mrs. Helford 
 had certainly found nothing to complain of. 
 1 1 only hope, Henny,' she had somewhat un- 
 graciously observed, ' that this new attraction 
 will not cause you to neglect poor Stevie.' 
 So far from doing so, it had, if possible, drawn 
 the bonds of her affection for the child still 
 closer. She was resolved that he at least 
 should never lack a loving; confidante ; and 
 all his little secrets were her own. 
 
 On the road of love and duty, indeed, 
 Henny Helford was a constant traveller ; and, 
 
 N 2
 
 i So • THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 no matter bow rough it may be, it is rarely 
 an unpleasant one. Xor was it in her case, 
 truth to say, so rough as it looked. Her 
 mother's affection for her was deep and firm 
 enough under the mud, and even more genuine, 
 perhaps, than her more demonstrative regard 
 for her dead boy. In the latter case, it was 
 not that she ' did protest too much,' but that 
 she found protestation necessary to still cer- 
 tain misgivings and even self-reproaches in 
 respect to. him ; and I think her daughter 
 guessed something of this, and forgave her the 
 more readily. At all events, notwithstand- 
 ing that she passed her life in what may have 
 seemed to young ladies of spirit a dull round, 
 Henny Helford was a happy girl, and there 
 was a young lady of spirit next door who 
 would have given ter ears, and her earrings 
 too, to change places with her. 
 
 ' You will not be gone long at all events, 
 I do hope,' said Mrs. Helford, perceiving that 
 Henny had not laid down her bonnet and
 
 TWO GIRLS. 181 
 
 shawl on the first summons to surrender. 
 i You must not forget Stevie's lessons.' 
 
 As Henny taught and heard them every 
 day with the same regularity with which she 
 said her prayers, it was not very likely that 
 she would forget them. But the fact was, 
 Mrs. Helford was one of those women who 
 share with some domestic animals the same 
 repugnance to be left alone. Pet dogs will 
 trot to the door directly they find themselves 
 in solitude, and sniff and sob under it till 
 some friendly human being comes to relieve 
 their ennui ; and cats will leave the hearth- 
 rug and take up their quarters, for the same 
 reason, on the very threshold, at the risk of 
 being knocked over by the next incomer. 
 The widow, of course, didn't do that ; but, 
 having no resources of her own except fancy 
 needlework, she craved for company. Con- 
 versation she did not desire ; she could supply 
 talk in any quantity ; but she wanted a lis- 
 tener, to whom she could pour out her woes —
 
 1 82 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 23ast, present, and to come — like tears out of 
 a tea-pot. I have sometimes thought if such 
 people could have a telephone fitted up for 
 them in which they could discourse their full, 
 with replies from the other end provided at 
 long intervals by contract, human life would 
 go on more smoothly for many of us. 
 
 It may be inquired, since this lady was 
 really devoted to her grandchild, why the 
 little boy was not sent for to relieve guard in 
 her daughter's absence. But the fact was 
 that Stevie's remarks when she was alone 
 with him rather disconcerted Mrs. Helford. 
 Though legitimate enough, he was a child of 
 nature, and embarrassed his grandmother by 
 his plain speaking. He was thin and small 
 as a shrimp, with a head ever so much too 
 large for him, so that he looked like a note of 
 admiration ; but his character was by no 
 means in consonance with his appearance in 
 that respect. He was always rubbing the gilt 
 off some gingerbread theory which other
 
 TWO GIRLS. 183 
 
 children swallow without inquiry. He had 
 endeared himself, I am afraid, to the Canon 
 by his scepticism, quite as much as by any 
 charm of childhood. The divine had quoted 
 to him the Miltonic account of the eating of 
 the Forbidden Fruit as a lesson against 
 greediness. 
 
 Such delight till then, as seemed in fruit she never tasted. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Greedily she engorged without restraint. 
 
 This view of our first parent at meals 
 delighted Stevie, but he was incredulous as 
 to the cause of the catastrophe that ' brought 
 death into the world and all our woe.' 
 
 He thought the motive too inadequate. 
 ' It couldn't have been an apple,' he said. 
 ' It must have been a peach.' 
 
 Adam's confession, too, was not received 
 by Stevie with the approval with which the 
 poet would appear to regard it. 
 
 This woman whom thou madest to be my help, 
 
 ***** 
 
 She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
 
 184 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 6 1 think that Mr. Adam was a tell-tale- 
 tit/ was Stevie's comment after reflection. 
 
 The Canon rubbed his chin, and shook 
 with silent mirth. ' A remarkable child,' he 
 murmured ; of course Milton was right. But 
 here was another view of the matter, as it 
 appeared to a young gentleman of seven, four 
 thousand years afterwards ; ' a very remark- 
 able child.' 
 
 And if Stevie did not spare the father of 
 all mankind, it was not to be expected that 
 his more immediate relatives should escape 
 his criticism. It was no wonder that Mrs. 
 Helford, with her artificial ways and fictitious 
 regrets, was rather afraid of the child. He 
 would suddenly look u}3 from his toys when 
 he was alone with her, and, in the gravest 
 and most serious of tones, inquire, ' Why are 
 you always so melancholy, grandmamma ? ' 
 
 ' I am not melancholy, my child, or at 
 least I hope I don't appear to be so ; I always 
 try to be cheerful.'
 
 TWO GIRLS. 185 
 
 This remark, as was his wont, the child 
 turned over in his mind as a cow chews the 
 cud, and then replied — 
 
 i Then I wish you would try to be melan- 
 choly, grandmamma.' 
 
 The favourite topic of Mrs. Helford, her 
 lost Richard, was closed to her in her grand- 
 son's company. She did not venture to dis- 
 course upon his father to this plain-speaking 
 child, to whom no subject was safe from 
 investigation, and who had so pitiless a habit 
 of eliciting truth. 
 
 Therefore it was that Stevie was not sent 
 for to keep his grandmother company on this 
 occasion, but remained, to his own great con- 
 tent, in his nursery, playing with the great 
 Noah's Ark ' Uncle' Fred had just sent him 
 from town. As his bath was handy, it 
 naturally struck him to try the ark's powers 
 of notation, and when with its shifting cargo 
 it instantly turned bottom upwards, ex-
 
 186 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 claimed, ' Now I wonder how Mr. Noah got 
 over that. 7 
 
 Unconscious of this new outbreak of 
 scepticism on the part of her little favourite, 
 Henny took her way to the ' Laurels.' Her 
 mission as we know, was a very simple one, 
 and to many clever folks will doubtless appear 
 contemptible. Who ever dreams of going 
 to inquire after anybody's headache ? Well, 
 some people do, and these are the very last in 
 the world to expect any one to do the same in 
 their case. They do not forget that their 
 friend had a sore throat on Thursday, or com- 
 plained of the toothache on Wednesday, 
 though the sufferer himself may have for- 
 gotten all about it. For my part (and espe- 
 cially when it is my health that is asked 
 after), I admire this tender solicitude. The 
 matter, indeed, may not be so important as 
 the price of stocks ; but such inquiries are 
 characteristic when one considers how many 
 dear friends of one's own may be dead and
 
 TWO GIRLS. 187 
 
 buried for all that our own personal interest 
 in them has informed us to the contrary. 
 
 It must be confessed, however (for she 
 was but woman), that Henny had some other 
 motive for her visit beside kind inquiries after 
 Miss Aldred's head. She had had a letter 
 from i dear Fred ■ that morning, of which she 
 had not spoken to a human being ; and what 
 is Love without a sympathiser ? What is 
 the very best thing that ever occurred to us 
 in all our lives if we have not a soul to whom 
 to tell it ? And though, as has been hinted, 
 there was little reciprocity on Sophy's part, 
 Henny made a confidante of Sophy. She was 
 by no means displeased, then, to find upon 
 inquiry not only that Miss Aldred had no 
 headache, ' leastways,' as Mr. Barclay ' had 
 heard on,' but had gone out, and that Miss 
 Sophy was alone in her boudoir. 
 
 This was a little cosy room adjoining her 
 bedroom, and by no means to be confounded 
 with that downstairs apartment, the door of
 
 1 88 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 which moved to the i open sesame ' of a tink 
 against its keyhole. It was lined with books, 
 and would undoubtedly have been the sanc- 
 tum of the master of the house had he not 
 been better provided for in that way in col- 
 lege. As it was, it had a piano in it, a 
 fernery, no aroma of tobacco, a prevailing 
 neatness, and other signs of female occupation 
 and supremacy. As Henny tripped upstairs 
 unannounced, she could hear the piano, 
 which, on the other hand, prevented Sophy 
 from hearing her friend's gentle knock at the 
 door. There was a song going on, too : so 
 sweet and pathetic that Henny would not 
 have interrupted it on any account, but stood, 
 with her hand on the open door, gazing with 
 affectionate admiration on the performer. 
 Sophy was in her dressing-gown, like a 
 pretty flower in a pink jar, and in a low 
 melodious voice, laden with feeling, was ad- 
 dressing the instrument itself, as a worshipper 
 an idol.
 
 TWO GIRLS. 189 
 
 Oh, friend, whom glad or grave, we seek 
 
 Heaven-holding shrine, 
 I ope thee, touch thee, hear thee speak, 
 
 And peace is mine. 
 No fairy casket full of bliss 
 
 Outvalues thee. 
 Love only wakened with a kiss, 
 
 More sweet may be. 
 
 Here she stopped, and sighed. The recollec- 
 tion of a vanished pleasure, or the shattered 
 illusion of one, seemed to overcome her. 
 During the first lines of the next verse her 
 voice had a mechanical rinp\ as though she 
 was still thinking; of what had gone before. 
 
 To thee when our full hearts o'erflow, 
 
 In griefs or joys, 
 Unspeakable emotions owe 
 
 A fitting voice. 
 
 And then again, at the conclusion, her heart 
 went once more with her voice. 
 
 Mirth flies to thee, and Love's unrest, 
 
 And memory dear, 
 And sorrow, with her tightened breast, 
 
 Comes for a tear. 
 
 Here the singer herself burst into tears,
 
 iqo THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 and flung herself forward on the keys in a 
 perfect paroxysm of woe. 
 
 Alarmed and distressed beyond measure, 
 Henny had still presence of mind to with- 
 draw from the room, pulling the door softly 
 behind her. Whatever was the cause of her 
 friend's wretchedness, it was clear that she 
 could wish no one to be a witness to it. But 
 what could be the cause ? Sophy was mis- 
 tress of her own actions, and, to all practi- 
 cal purposes, of her own fortune ; beloved 
 by her guardian and her adopted aunt, a 
 favourite wherever she went, and apparently 
 without a wish ungratified. It was true that 
 in Henny' s eyes she had made a mistake in 
 encouraging the advances of Mr. Perry, but 
 there was nothing serious in them as yet. 
 She had not compromised herself with him 
 in any way ; and even already, as Henny 
 thought, she had noticed the young man was 
 not so importunate as he had been. "Was it 
 possible that any rejection of his attentions
 
 TWO GIRLS. 191 
 
 could have produced this outburst of feeling ? 
 If so, while pitying her friend from the 
 bottom of her heart, Henny felt that her be- 
 haviour in the matter in question was by no 
 means to be regretted. Sympathetic as she 
 was, she had never imagined these two young 
 people on the same footing as that on which 
 Frederic Irton and herself stood. That they 
 were not actually engaged she had felt almost 
 certain ; but perhaps she had been mistaken, 
 and Sophy was now bewailing an estrange- 
 ment, which all those who loved her would 
 agree was for her good. But though Henny 
 could not prevent this consolatory reflection 
 occurring to her, her heart was full of the 
 tenderest compassion. What had happened 
 (if it had happened) was none the less hard, 
 she knew, for poor Sophy, in the meantime. 
 
 After a minute or two, during which she 
 heard the piano gently closed, Henny knocked 
 again, and was admitted. 
 
 The traces of tears upon Sophy's face,
 
 192 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 as they embraced, were distinct enough, to 
 Henny's eyes, but she ignored them. 
 
 ' I came to inquire after your aunt, my 
 dear,' she said cheerfully ; ' but as I hear she 
 has gone out, I hope her headache has de- 
 parted. 7 
 
 ' I did not know she had had a headache,' 
 said Sophy, with averted eyes. 
 
 ' Why, my dear, I thought that was 
 the reason you didn't go to the ball last 
 night ? ' 
 
 1 To be sure, so it was ; I had forgotten.' 
 Henny was amazed at her coolness ; she 
 had no experience of that philosophic calm 
 with which those who live a life of duplicity 
 are enabled to meet all minor embarrass- 
 ments. Then, as if to make up for her want 
 of solicitude in one direction by a show of it 
 in another, Sophy inquired after Stevie. 
 
 ' Oh, he is much better to-day, and in] the 
 seventh heaven of happiness. Frederic has 
 sent him a Noah's Ark.'
 
 TWO GIRLS. 193 
 
 ' And I hope you had something too,' said 
 Sophy, smiling. 
 
 ' Yes, indeed. Such a nice long letter ! ' 
 
 ' What, and no present ? That would 
 have made me very jealous of Stevie ! ' 
 
 ' What do I want with presents ? ' said 
 Henny, simply ; i what can be nicer than to 
 hear from him ? To see the very words his 
 hand has written, to feel the very thoughts 
 he describes in them ? It is the one thing 
 that makes his absence endurable. I often 
 wonder what people who loved one another, 
 and were separated, did before the post-office 
 was invented.' 
 
 i Well, they did without it, I suppose,' 
 said Sophy, drily. 'Just as poor people who 
 can't read or write have to do now.' 
 
 1 How I pity them ! ' said Henny, softly. 
 ' That must be to be poor indeed.' 
 
 ' I hope you may never lose your illu- 
 sions, my dear. It is quite refreshing to hear 
 you talk.' 
 
 vol. 1. o
 
 194 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 ' Illusions ! If you really mean what 
 you say, Sophy/ returned the other, ear- 
 nestly, ' it is clear to me that you have never 
 known what love is.' 
 
 ' Have I not ? ' smiled Sophy, bitterly 
 and with effort, as an Indian smiles at the 
 stake. i Well, perhaps you are right ; while 
 it lasted, however, it really did seem like 
 love.' 
 
 ' While it lasted ! Nay, that proves my 
 case at once/ urged Henny. ' You can never 
 have loved truly. " Love is love for ever- 
 more." ' 
 
 ' How can you talk so foolishly, Henny ? ' 
 returned Sophy, with irritation. ' What ex- 
 perience can you have of that ? You have 
 been engaged to Mr. Irton for six months. 
 Now, supposing you fell in love with him at 
 first ' 
 
 ' I did not/ interrupted Henny. 
 
 'Very good ! We will say he "grew 
 upon you," like the taste for truffles or
 
 TWO GIRLS. 195 
 
 caviare. That makes your term of true love 
 even shorter. Doubtless, you thought it 
 wrong to love him till he had declared him- 
 self. Your devotion was " ready laid " for 
 that, like a housemaid's fire.' 
 
 'Well, perhaps it was something of that 
 kind,' said Henny, blushing furiously ; 
 ' though I don't thank you for the compari- 
 son. You really seem to take a pleasure, 
 Sophy, in ridiculing what it seems to me a 
 girl should hold as something sacred.' 
 
 1 1 hope not ; still, it was said by a great 
 philosopher that no one can have any true 
 faith who cannot afford to laugh at it. If 
 you don't see its weak points you are in a 
 fool's paradise. And as to love, you must 
 admit that there are contingencies : for in- 
 stance, people sometimes get tired of one 
 another.' 
 
 ' I could never get tired of Frederic' 
 
 ' Well, I won't be so rude as to say that 
 he could ever tire of you ; but still, there 
 
 2
 
 196 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 surely are cases where such a thing happens 
 — where the man has mistaken a passing 
 fancy for a life's devotion ; or has even no 
 capacity for love except his passing fancy. 
 How are girls like you and me to know what 
 men are ? ' 
 
 ' If a man be a good brother and a good 
 son, if he is gentle and generous, if children 
 take to him ' 
 
 ' My dear Henny, you are thinking of 
 your Frederic,' broke in Sophy, with irrita- 
 tion. - It is most natural that you should be 
 always thinking of him, but it is not argu- 
 ment. And all that you know even of him 
 does not prove that he will make a good 
 husband. Moreover, how few girls have 
 such opportunities of judging of a man's cha- 
 racter ? They know he dances well, and is a 
 good partner at lawn-tennis ; they think that 
 he looks like a Greek god : his smile, his 
 tender speech, intoxicates them. They think 
 he will be their slave for ever.'
 
 TWO GIRLS. 197 
 
 ' I don't call that love,' said Henny, firmly; 
 < I call that folly.' 
 
 ' And you are very right ; but it is often 
 put to the same test as love. They marry 
 him.' 
 
 ' Then I pity them.' 
 
 i Yes ; but not as they pity themselves,' 
 returned the other, quickly. ' To find their 
 Greek god has clay feet ; that his speech 
 is sometimes thick with wine ; that he 
 can frown as well as smile ; and that in 
 place of a slave they have got a tyrant — that 
 is what some girls discover when it is too 
 late.' 
 
 ' Well, well ; to be forewarned is to be 
 forearmed,' said Henny, smiling. ' You must 
 be mad indeed, my dear Sophy, if, with this 
 picture in your mind of such a possible future, 
 you ever make a mistake of that kind.' 
 
 'True ; I must be mad, indeed,' said 
 Sophy. 
 
 She spoke with a gravity that, upon the
 
 198 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 whole, gave comfort to her companion. The 
 great fault she found with Sophy was that 
 she treated all subjects in the same light way; 
 not like Stevie, from ignorance, or the absence 
 of a sense of proportion, but from aversion to 
 serious thoughts of any kind, which she 
 stigmatised generally as the i doldrums.' It 
 was evident, however, that she was not with- 
 out her reflections concerning matrimony. As 
 for the cynicism of her tone, Henny was in- 
 clined to ascribe it to* some dissatisfaction at 
 Mr. Perry's conduct, aroused tardily enough, 
 and which was certainly not to be regretted. 
 She had not heard of what had happened on 
 the river the previous evening ; but she knew 
 the young man was unpopular, and deservedly 
 so, with Sophy's people. 
 
 ' You will be glad to hear, Sophy, she 
 continued, after a little pause, ' that Frederic 
 is to be taken into partuership with Mr. 
 Shepstone.' 
 
 ' I am glad, Henny,' said Sophy, with a
 
 TWO GIRLS. 199 
 
 cordial kiss. ' That is good news, indeed. 
 Then yours will not be such a very long 
 engagement ? ' 
 
 ' It will not be a short one, Sophy ; dear 
 mamma, you see, is so loth to part with me, 
 and Fred must live in London. I shouldn't 
 wonder if an heiress like yourself, with so 
 many attractions too, better than all the 
 money in the world, were married first, after 
 all.' 
 
 Sophy smiled, and murmured ' Who can 
 tell ? ' with an indifferent air. If Henny had 
 not been lost in rapture at the prospect, how- 
 ever distant, of her own happiness, she could 
 not but have noticed the depression of her 
 companion. 
 
 ' Even when we do marry,' she went on 
 gaily, ' we shall perhaps only have that 
 terrible " three hundred a year," which the 
 papers all tell us is madness for a young 
 couple to begin housekeeping upon ; but 
 Frederic says it all depends upon whether
 
 200 THE CANONS WARD. 
 
 there is method in the madness ; and he has 
 the highest confidence in my domestic 
 economy. It is, of course, a very small 
 sum.' 
 
 ' What does it matter? ' cried Sophy, ve- 
 hemently. ' If you really love one another, 
 that is better than thousands a year — and 
 miv.h more rare.' 
 
 ' Well, so / think, of course ; though I 
 confess I am as much surprised as delighted 
 at finding you take the same view. There 
 will be no visits to Paris nor even to the sea- 
 side for us, you know ; and very little gaiety 
 even at home. I should be quite content even 
 were that to last for ever ; but Frederic says, 
 as to the three hundred a year question, that 
 if a man starts with that and never wins any- 
 thing more for himself, it is obvious that 
 nature intended him for the lowest rung of 
 the social ladder ; whereas men of diligence 
 and ability are sure to win their way in the 
 world. Of course we shall never be rich, like
 
 TWO GIRLS. 201 
 
 you ; but, perhaps, in time we may make 
 some pleasant little nest for ourselves ; and, 
 oh ! my dear Sophy, how charming it will be 
 to welcome you to it ! Think of each of us 
 having a Fred of our own — only yours, per- 
 haps, will be a Sir Frederick, or even a Lord 
 Frederick — to talk about ; and what a plea- 
 sure it will be to look back upon these old 
 days, not regretfully, you know, but with 
 sober content ! ' 
 
 ' You have happy dreams, dear Henny,' 
 said Sophy, slowly. 
 
 1 Dreams ! Well, perhaps they are ! still 
 I live in them, just as much as in present 
 realities. I sometimes think you would be 
 happier than you are if you had another 
 string to your bow, as it were, if you added 
 the delight of looking forward to the pleasures 
 of to-day, which you say are enough for you. 
 On the other hand, you enjoy yourself so 
 thoroughly that perhaps your real, though 
 indeed it would be very difficult,' put in
 
 202 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 Henny with a blush, ' would surpass my 
 ideal.' 
 
 ' My ideal is on those shelves/ said Sophy, 
 quietly, pointing to the books around her ; 
 they consisted chiefly of works which people 
 who read travels on weekdays, and sermons 
 on Sundays, are wont to describe somewhat 
 superciliously as 'light literature.' She was 
 a girl of intelligence and imagination, and 
 read a good many novels. ' When I want to 
 be romantic I turn on the Lefanu tap.' 
 
 ' I don't deny the quality of it,' answered 
 Henny, with a smile, ' but I must confess it 
 is rather too strong drink for me. I was kept 
 awake for nights by those dreadful stories 
 you lent me — " In a Glass darkly ; " their at- 
 traction is immense, but then I don't want 
 to have my blood curdled. The only real 
 pleasure I derive from such books is the same 
 one feels on awaking from a nightmare, and 
 feeling that it isn't true. The things he de- 
 scribes are not everyday matters ; if there was
 
 TWO GIRLS. 203 
 
 a mystery hanging over the " Firs " ' (so Mrs. 
 Helford's house was called), ' or a skeleton in 
 the cupboard at the Canon's rooms at the 
 college, or if you yourself were carrying 
 about with you some secret too terrible for 
 utterance, why, life would be unendurable.' 
 
 ' It would not be worth living, at all 
 events,' assented Sophy, with a shudder. 
 
 ' My dear Sophy, are you sure you are 
 quite well?' inquired Henny, with solicitude. 
 Up to this moment Sophy had been standing 
 with her back to the window, but she had 
 unconsciously moved into the light, and it re- 
 vealed a face very white and worn, with dark 
 rings round the eyes. 
 
 ' I have had a bad night, Henny, that's 
 all. Perhaps in spite of what I told you 
 yesterday,' she added with a forced smile, ' I 
 was a wee bit disappointed at not going to 
 the ball.' 
 
 ' I wish you would see Dr. Newton ; he 
 promised to pay his farewell visit to Stevieto-
 
 204 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 day. Now, when lie comes, do let me send 
 him in to look at yon.' 
 
 ' No, thank you, I don't believe in doc- 
 tors ; besides, I shall be all right to-morrow.' 
 
 'Well, I shall come and see, and if you 
 are not, I shall bring him in myself. I must 
 go back now, dear, because I promised mamma 
 not to stay long, and in the meantime do not 
 terrify yourself with melodrama. It is quite 
 out of your line, which is that of a charming 
 little fairy in an extravaganza. God bless 
 you, my darling ! ' 
 
 ' If you ask Him, perhaps He may,' was the 
 unexpected reply. ' Do you ever pray for 
 me, Henny? ' 
 
 ' Pray for you, why of course I do, just as 
 I pray for mamma and for dear little Stevie. 
 Why clo you ask such a question ? ' 
 
 ' I don't know, I'm sure,' said Sophy, 
 lightly, and as if repenting of her late access 
 of gravity. ' I suppose it was that story of 
 my guardian's about his bedmaker that put it
 
 TWO GIRLS. 205 
 
 into my mind ; she told him the other day 
 that she always prayed for him on account of 
 his kindness to her. " That's very good of 
 you, Mrs. Baldwin," he said. " Lor bless you, 
 sir! not at all," she answered; "it aint a 
 mossel o' trouble to put your name in along 
 with the rest, while I'm about it." 
 
 ' The Canon is really too bad, Sophy,' 
 exclaimed Henny, unable to repress a smile. 
 ' I don't think he has any idea how he shocks 
 people sometimes. And yet he is such a kind, 
 good man ; he always endeavours to do the 
 very best for everybody. I am sure you must 
 feel that even when you are not quite at ease 
 with him.' 
 
 ' I feel it more then than at any other 
 time,' said Sophy, gently. 
 
 The two girls embraced one another affec- 
 tionately. Henny thought she had never seen 
 her friend so dutifully inclined and reasonable. 
 If she did have her little troubles they would 
 be soon over, and if they involved giving Mr.
 
 206 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 Perry his conge, it would be a matter of 
 sincere congratulation. They were not over 
 yet, however, or had still left regrets behind 
 them ; for as Henny let herself out of the 
 front door of the ' Laurels ' as was her custom, 
 she once more heard the plaintive notes of 
 Sophy's piano, and pictured to herself that 
 woful little face as she had seen it, singing — 
 
 And sorrow with her tightened breast, 
 Comes for a tear.
 
 207 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A TURN FOR BUSINESS. 
 
 ' Well, Adair, how are you this morning? 
 None the worse, I hope, for our little sympo- 
 sium of yesterday — though, by-the-bye, you 
 left us early, like a true knight, to be the 
 ladies' escort.' 
 
 It was the Canon who was speaking, 
 though without paying much attention to the 
 person addressed. Adair had looked in, after 
 lecture, as usual, to have a word with him 
 about the Concordance, but found him other- 
 wise engaged. 
 
 A large book, with clasp and key, was lay- 
 ing open before him on the desk ; and the 
 Canon, in his dressing-gown, with pen in
 
 2o3 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 hand and knitted brow, was conning its con- 
 tents. 
 
 ' You find me at very uncongenial work, 
 my lad,' he went on, ' poring over debts and 
 credits. The sight of this ledger has brought 
 those lines of Keetts into my head : — 
 
 "Why were they proud ? 
 Because red-lined accounts are richer than the songs of Grecian 
 years ? 
 
 They haunt these " brought forwards " like a 
 ghost, and I can't ' get them out of it ; and 
 even at my best I am but a sorry accountant.' 
 1 Can I help you in any way,? ' 
 ' You may try, if you like, while I put my 
 coat on. The fact is, the money is not mine, 
 or I should not trouble about a deficit 
 of twenty pounds, extending over Heaven 
 knows how long. It's a mortgage of my 
 ward's, at five per cent., and I can't make the 
 income from it what it should be. One can't 
 rob the orphan, you see — or, at least, / can't ; 
 so I suppose I shall have to make the loss
 
 A TURN FOR BUSINESS. 209 
 
 good out of my own money. There are, or 
 should be, six half-yearly entries of it ; and 
 all I know about them is that they don't 
 tally,' and with that the Canon withdrew 
 into his bed-chamber. 
 
 To thread the intricacies of a balance- 
 sheet while a gentleman is putting his coat 
 on, requires not so much l a head for business ' 
 as very rapid powers of calculation and a 
 keen eye for figures. These John Adair 
 possessed in a very high degree, and he went 
 at his work at once, with the vigour of a 
 navvy at a barrow. In five minutes he put 
 his finger on the error — which, indeed, was 
 no very difficult task for him, though it had 
 puzzled the worshipper of Milton almost as 
 much as it would have puzzled his blind idol. 
 The problem done, one would have imagined 
 that its elucidator would have closed the 
 book, as it was of a private nature ; on the 
 contrary, Mr. John Adair (keeping his ears 
 very attentive for the opening of the Canon's 
 
 vol. 1. p
 
 210 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 bedroom door), ran his eyes with diligence 
 and despatch through its opening lines — 
 ' Statement of account of moneys in trust for 
 my ward Sophia Gilbert, etc., etc' — whereby 
 he made the discovery that that young lady 
 would not have less than 20,000^. of her 
 own ; or, rather, that that amount was 
 settled upon her. The young man had what 
 is called ' a turn for figures,' but figures had 
 never interested him so much before. He 
 had known, or guessed, that Sophy was well 
 dowered ; though, to do him justice, no such 
 knowledge was needed to fan his flame ; but 
 the precise information he had just received 
 was certainly of an encouraging nature. 
 
 ' Still in the labyrinth, I conclude ? ' 
 exclaimed the Canon, reappearing in full 
 costume, though it was not the perfection of 
 neatness. The art of tying a white cravat 
 was unknown to him, and he had found diffi- 
 culties even in a shoe-string. 
 
 t Well, sir, I trust I have found the clue.'
 
 A TURN FOR BUSINESS. 211 
 
 ' What, in ten minutes ? Good, venturous 
 youth, 
 
 I love thy courage much, and bold emprise, 
 
 but the thing is impossible.' 
 
 ' Where your mistake by, sir, continued 
 the young man, quietly, ' was in the different 
 rates paid for the mortgages. There must 
 have been some proviso whereby the interest 
 was made four per cent, if paid when due, and 
 five per cent, if any delay occurred in the 
 payment.' 
 
 ' Why, this is magic, my lad,' cried the 
 Canon, admiringly. ' How on .earth did you 
 find this out ? 
 
 By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look, 
 And the Carpathian wizard's hook, 
 By scaly Triton's winding shell, 
 And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell ? 
 
 or by natural instinct ? It's quite true there 
 was such a proviso in the mortgage, though I 
 myself had clean forgotten it.' 
 
 ' I believe, as you say, sir, I have some
 
 212 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 natural instinct for mathematical errors,' said 
 Adair, modestly. 
 
 This might be true, but it was not the 
 whole truth. It had been a part of the young 
 man's duties while in the service of his patron 
 to assist him in his business matters, and 
 such a proviso in a mortgage-deed is by no 
 means uncommon. 
 
 But to the Canon it looked like an ex- 
 tempore conjuring feat accomplished by an 
 amateur. Though little like the rest of the 
 world in many things, he resembled them in 
 this — that the exhibition of a talent he did 
 not himself possess impressed him out of all 
 proportion to its merit. This it is which lies 
 at the root of the inexplicable desire for in- 
 formation among dull people. For knowledge 
 for its own sake they care nothing ; but 
 the opportunity of exciting the admiration of 
 those more ignorant even than themselves, by 
 a display of it — if it is but how Tel-el-Kebir 
 is pronounced in its own country — is seized
 
 A TURN FOR BUSINESS. 213 
 
 upon with avidity. The pre-eminence of our 
 public schools is founded upon it ; and 
 should they cease to teach Greek, they will 
 lose the confidence of their patrons and cease 
 to excite the envy of the public. The Canon, 
 who knew something of Greek, but nothing 
 of mortgages, beheld in his young friend a 
 sort of genius in his way, a man born for 
 aifairs. 
 
 ' It is most extraordinary,' he resumed, 
 1 how men's gifts differ. That you should 
 so easily quell the might of these " hellish 
 charms " woven by some lawyer, " whose bare 
 wand can unthread my joints and crumble 
 all my sinews," astounds me. My poor friend 
 Gilbert ought to have made you his trustee 
 (only you were in petticoats at the time), 
 instead of me.' 
 
 ' Nay, sir, I should think you were the 
 very man for such a post,' returned Adair. 
 ' A man of probity and honour, who knows 
 little of business matters, and would therefore
 
 214 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 never move in them without legal advice, is 
 made for a trustee.' 
 
 ' Granting the probity, which I hope I 
 possess — a very just observation, young man. 
 There is one thing to be said,' added the 
 Canon, smiling. ' However little I know of 
 business matters, I know more than my 
 ward. She has a banking account of her 
 own, you must know ; and the other day, 
 when I reproved her because she had over- 
 drawn her account, replied, " But that is im- 
 possible, guardian, since I have still three 
 cheques left in my cheque-book." 
 
 Adair laughed with the speaker, but 
 observed, gravely enough, that it was neither 
 natural nor desirable that young ladies should 
 give their attention to money matters when 
 they had friends and advisers. 
 
 ' The Law be praised,' said the Canon, 
 earnestly, ' my poor Sophy's money can never 
 slip out of her own hands.' 
 
 To judge by his tone and face, you
 
 A TURN FOR BUSINESS. 215 
 
 would have imagined that there would other- 
 wise have been some danger of its slipping 
 through them, and getting into other hands ; 
 then " apropos des bottes " as it seemed, he 
 added : — 
 
 I Did you hear whether there was a full 
 attendance at the ball last night ? ' 
 
 I I was there myself, sir,' said the young 
 man, gravely. 
 
 1 You ? Oh, I forgot. My ward said 
 yesterday, by-the-bye, that she had met you 
 at another ball ; I should have thought 
 dancing would have been the last sort of 
 amusement to have attracted you ; but I 
 suppose it's the figures.' The Canon was by 
 no means in a joking humour, but it was not 
 in his nature to smother a witticism. 
 
 i I conclude,' he went on with unruffled 
 gravity, ' that all the world and his wife, or 
 at least his daughters, were there.' 
 
 ' The room was very crowded, though 
 chiefly with men, sir.'
 
 216 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 ' Um ! All the boating men were there, 
 of course ? ' 
 
 1 1 should think so ; I have not much 
 acquaintance with them, however, but there 
 were one or two I recognised.' 
 
 ' Mr. Perry, I suppose, was there,' said the 
 Canon, pretending to look among his MSS. 
 for something he had mislaid. ' The fact is,' 
 he went on, in explanation, since Adair main- 
 tained a silence that under the circumstances 
 was a little embarrassing, ' though I know very 
 little of the young man myself, he visits at 
 the "Laurels " occasionally, and I am afraid is 
 inclined to presume upon it. He behaved 
 last night on the river in a very demonstrative, 
 not to say offensive, way ; you noticed it no 
 doubt yourself ? ' 
 
 ' I saw that he looked towards your win- 
 dows, sir, as he drank his claret cup ; but it 
 is probable he only meant to pay you a com- 
 pliment. Upon such an occasion it is allow-
 
 A TURN FOR BUSINESS. 217 
 
 able for the captain of the boats to be a little 
 excited.' 
 
 ' At all events, I hope for the sake of his 
 family — the young man behaved himself at 
 the ball ? ' 
 
 Adair kept silence, and shifted his eyes 
 uneasily, like one who is inclined to shirk 
 cross-examination. 
 
 ' If anything happened, Adair,' said the 
 Canon, earnestly, ' I will thank you to tell it 
 me, for it may be necessary to forbid that 
 young man my house. You naturally object, 
 and I respect you for it, to tell tales against a 
 fellow- student ; but this is a matter which 
 concerns me nearly, and of which I have no 
 other means of informing myself.' 
 
 ' Nothing at all happened, sir, I do assure 
 you,' said the other, gently ; ' indeed, Mr. 
 Perry did not dance at all.' 
 
 There was a hint of concealment in the 
 young man's tone which did not escape his 
 companion.
 
 218 THE CANON 'S WARD. 
 
 1 Not dance ? Is it possible you mean he 
 was too drunk to dance ? ' 
 
 ' I should be sorry to say that, sir ; but 
 between ourselves, and since you compel me 
 to speak out, it is my impression that he was 
 in liquor. On the other hand, it is quite 
 possible that I may be mistaken. I am not 
 in a fast set myself, and what may seem to 
 some men mere hilarity ' 
 
 1 Pooh ! every one knows whether a man 
 is drunk or sober,' put in the Canon, moving 
 with quick strides about the room. 
 
 ' Indeed, sir, I would not have you 
 imagine that Mr. Perry exposed himself to 
 public reproach ; nor, indeed, did he stay 
 long at the ball ; but after an hour or so 
 went away, as it seemed to me — though 
 it is true I have had the misfortune to 
 incur his displeasure — in rather an ill 
 humour.' 
 
 ' 1 trust that while he remained, being in 
 the condition you mention,' said the Canon,
 
 A TURN FOR BUSINESS. 219 
 
 uneasily, ' lie did not venture to speak to my 
 sister or Miss Gilbert.' 
 
 * He did not, sir. Neither of your ladies 
 was at the ball.' 
 
 ' Sophy not at the ball,' exclaimed the 
 Canon. ' Why, how was that ? ' 
 
 The young man smiled, and slightly 
 shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 ' To be sure. How should you know ? ' 
 
 ' I am not in the ladies' confidence,' said 
 Adair ; ' but, if I might hazard a guess, I 
 think the reason may have been some slight 
 indisposition of Miss Aldred's. I heard her 
 say, as we were going home last night, that 
 she had a headache.' 
 
 ' Very likely ! there is doubtless not much 
 the matter ; nevertheless, I must go home and 
 see about it,' said the Canon, nervously. 
 
 ' I hope you will find all well, sir 
 
 With regard to what we have been talking 
 about,' added Adair, with hesitation, 1 1 trust 
 you will consider the matter as confidential.
 
 220 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 It was much against my inclination, as you 
 will bear me witness, that I said anything to 
 Mr. Perry's disparagement ; but if it were 
 known to the ladies, it would naturally pre- 
 judice them against me.' 
 
 ' I will take care that it is not known, 
 and that it shall do nothing of the kind,' 
 replied the Canon, warmly. i In my opinion, 
 your behaviour has clone you great credit, 
 Adair. I am greatly obliged to you also for 
 unravelling these accounts. Our Concordance 
 must stand over for this morning.' The 
 Canon had put on his hat and gown, and had 
 his hand on the door, when he suddenly 
 turned round and said, ' If you have no better 
 engagement for this evening, and will come 
 and dine at the " Laurels," we shall be quite 
 alone.' 
 
 ' I shall do so with great pleasure, sir,' 
 said Adair, with a light in his eye that was a 
 greater compliment to his inviter than the 
 most laboured acknowledgments.
 
 A TURN FOR BUSINESS. 221 
 
 ' Poor young fellow,' mused the Canon, as 
 lie fluttered home in the May breeze ; ' dines 
 out deuced seldom, I dare say. A glass of 
 good Leoville will bring some colour into his 
 cheeks/ Then, as if the mention of the wine 
 had suggested the observation, he added, 6 It 
 is clear to me that that fellow Perry was as 
 drunk as a lord last night : what a mercy it 
 was Sophy didn't go, since she could hardly 
 have refused to dance with him had he asked 
 her ! It was no doubt because she was not 
 there that he went off in the sulks. It is 
 high time I should put my foot down as 
 regards that matter. How can Sophy en- 
 courage such a fellow ? I believe girls choose 
 their lovers as, when they were children, they 
 chose their dolls — for their looks and their 
 movable eyes. I dare say because Adair is 
 not good-looking she will be barely civil to 
 him ; yet he is one in a thousand ; so in- 
 telligent, so observant — I can't think how 
 that clause in the mortgage could have
 
 222 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 escaped my recollection — and withal so modest. 
 If he had but a little money — though, indeed, 
 with those talents of his he cannot fail to 
 make it — I could wish Sophy no better luck 
 than to choose such a young fellow.'
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE CA^ON PUTS HIS FOOT DOWN. 
 
 ' So, my dear Maria, you were not at the ball 
 last night, I hear,' said the Canon, as he en- 
 tered the drawing-room where his sister was 
 sitting alone. 'I can't say, under the circum- 
 stances, I am sorry, except for the cause. I 
 hope your head is better.' 
 
 ' That is what everybody is saying this 
 morning,' smiled Miss Aldred, a little un- 
 easily. She didn't like that expression, 
 1 under the circumstances,' beneath which she 
 shrewdly suspected lay some reference to Mr. 
 Perry, concerning w T hom, as we know, she 
 had promised Sophy to make no revelation. 
 1 Henny has been here this morning to inquire
 
 224 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 about it ; and I overheard her mother — to 
 whom I was not at home, for I am tired to- 
 day, and her conversation is a little trying — 
 asking Barclay " How's her head ? " as if I 
 was a ship. 7 
 
 4 Still, I suppose you had really a head- 
 ache last night, since it prevented your escort- 
 ing Sophy to the ball — unless, indeed, it was 
 merely an excuse and you had some more 
 valid reason.' 
 
 ' Well, I had a headache, William. I think 
 it was the cheering on the river. But the fact 
 is, Sophy herself did not seem much inclined 
 to go, so we agreed to give it up.' 
 
 Aunt Maria felt that this was not a suc- 
 cessful speech ; but she was a little alarmed 
 at her brother's manner, as well as at the 
 guess he had made at the actual condition of 
 affairs. It was very unusual with him to 
 take interest in their domestic proceedings, or 
 to question any arrangements she made for 
 herself and Sophy.
 
 THE CANON PUTS HIS FOOT DOWN. 225 
 
 ' And why did she not want to go ? ' per- 
 sisted the Canon. ' She is generally fond 
 enough of balls.' 
 
 1 My dear brother, if you knew as much of 
 girls as I do' (he did very nearly), 'you would 
 understand that they are as full of their 
 fancies as you wise men are of your great 
 thoughts. The things they like to-day they 
 dislike to-morrow, and for the same reason 
 that made little Stevie, next door, throw all 
 his toys into the dust-hole — because he was 
 tired of them.' 
 
 ' Then, I hope Sophy is tired of her rag 
 doll, Mr. Herbert Perry, and doesn't want to 
 play with him any more.' 
 
 A startling speech from the lips of any 
 one ; but from those of the Canon like thunder 
 out of a blue sky. It was lucky for Miss 
 Aldred that his indignation supplied him 
 with a fine flow of words, during which she 
 was able to collect her thoughts ; or, in her 
 alarm — since concealment was now out of the 
 
 vol. 1. Q
 
 226 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 question — she might have told him more than 
 was necessary. 
 
 ' I shouldn't complain,' continued her 
 brother, ' if Sophy had fallen in love with 
 some curled darling — such as one sees in the 
 hairdressers' windows — but the man she is 
 encouraging is not only a fool, but a vicious 
 fool ; perhaps even a scamp, or a scoundrel. 
 Of course you noticed, what everybody else 
 noticed, last evening, how he drank her health 
 in public — conduct which " nothing can ex- 
 cuse," as the phrase goes, but Drink. It is 
 no excuse in my eyes, however, but rather an 
 asforravation. Moreover, it cannot be said 
 that it was a temporary exhibition. I hear, 
 on the best authority, that he went to the ball 
 in a state of liquor. That is why I said 
 that I was not sorry you did not go. And I 
 shall be still better pleased to hear that the 
 reason of Sophy's absence was the apprehen- 
 sion of meeting him, after what had taken 
 place at my rooms.'
 
 THE CANON PUTS HIS FOOT DOWN. 227 
 
 ' I really and truly believe it was/ an- 
 swered Aunt Maria. ' I did not mean to say 
 anything about it to you, because I promised 
 Sophy not to do so ; but that is what, on the 
 whole, I gathered from her. I don't think 
 she has any such fancy for him as she had ; 
 and if she is ashamed of him, of course that is 
 a great point gained ; only I entreat you to 
 be careful in what you say to her. Opposi- 
 tion is the soil on which this sort of love 
 affair thrives best/ 
 
 ' That's all very well in plays, Maria ; but 
 in real life it does not do to trust to a girl's 
 having her eyes opened to her lover's un- 
 worthiness by his own misdoings. Upon one 
 thing I shall tell Sophy I have made up my 
 mind ; Mr. Perry never crosses my threshold 
 again.' 
 
 * As to that matter, you will, of course, 
 do as you please, William,' answered Aunt 
 Maria. ' The master of the house is at liberty 
 to choose his guests ; though, on the other 
 
 q 2
 
 228 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 hand, Sophy may insist on seeing her own 
 friends elsewhere. But I don't think it will 
 do for you to speak to Sophy yourself about 
 the matter — at least, not now. She is not in 
 a fit state for it. She rose late, and I did not 
 see her till after I had come in from the town, 
 when I was quite shocked at her appearance. 
 If she had gone to the ball, and not gone to 
 bed again, she could not look more weary and 
 woebegone. Henny Iielford, who called on 
 her in my absence, was so alarmed by her 
 appearance that she insisted on bringing in 
 Dr. Newton after he had paid his visit to 
 Stevie.' 
 
 ' A very good plan ; Newton's opinion is 
 worth having. What did he say ? ' 
 
 ' Well, for once, it seemed that he hardly 
 knew what to say. I had a long talk with 
 him after he had seen the dear girl ; but he 
 himself said very little. That she is out of 
 sorts, nervous, and depressed is, however, 
 very certain.'
 
 THE CANOX PUTS HIS FOOT DOWN. 229 
 
 ' But she was quite well yesterday ; in- 
 deed, until that impudent lad misbehaved 
 himself on the river, she seen ted in the 
 highest spirits.' 
 
 ' That is no index to a girl's mind,' ob- 
 served Miss Aldrecl, sagely ; ' and whether 
 the incident you speak of caused the change 
 or not, she is very different now. " Has she 
 had any shock ? " inquired the Doctor. Well, 
 of course, I answered " No." " No disap- 
 pointment in the way of a love affair ? " And 
 to that I answered " No." I thought it in- 
 judicious to admit that things had ever gone 
 that length between Mr. Perry and Sophy. 
 Then he said, " That's curious," and passed 
 his hand across his mouth, as he always does, 
 you know, when he is puzzled. 
 
 ' "She's not herself," he said ; " she's over- 
 wrought somehow." 
 
 ' " Perhaps," said I, " it's the books she 
 reads ; she is a great novel reader." 
 
 ' "Pooh! I'm speaking of her brain," he
 
 230 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 said. " Novels won't hurt lier. If she has 
 any mental trouble, they will mitigate it ; I 
 always read novels myself when I'm in love, 
 and then it blows over somehow." 
 
 ' How like Xewton ! ' smiled the Canon. 
 ' A moral Falstaff — only fatter. Then had he 
 no advice to offer as to Sophy? ' 
 
 ' Yes ; but it was, unfortunately, quite 
 impracticable. " If she was my daughter," 
 he said, " and money was no object in respect 
 to her future, I should select some nice quiet 
 young fellow, throw him very much in her 
 company, and forbid her to encourage his 
 attentions ; then directly they were engaged 
 he should marry her. She has had too much 
 gaiety and dissipation, and has lived without 
 an object in life. She has been her own 
 mistress in one way, yet without any respon- 
 sibilities ; a spoilt child, in short. Now, 
 when the least check comes in a life of this 
 kind — and something of that sort has hap- 
 pened I feel certain — its importance is exag-
 
 THE CANON PUTS HIS FOOT DOWN. 231 
 
 t 
 
 gerated and the whole world seems out of 
 joint. The girl is a good girl, but my advice 
 as regards her is what is given to a male rake, 
 1 Let her marry and settle.' In his case the 
 partner is but too often made a sacrifice ; but 
 I am sure Miss Sophy will make an admirable 
 wife to any man whom she really respects ; 
 flirts always do." ' 
 
 ' The whole philosophy of a girl's life 
 in a nutshell,' observed the Canon, smiling. 
 ' Very cheap at half a guinea.' 
 
 'Just so,' assented Aunt Maria, drily; 
 ' but it's a prescription one can't get made up 
 at any chemist's. That is always the way 
 with doctors. Good port for the poor, and 
 the South of France for the invalid devoted 
 to her own family in Bayswater.' 
 
 ' Still, Maria, what if — to pursue your 
 own metaphor — we can get this man Perry 
 thrown into the dust-bin, and provide a new 
 and less dangerous toy for Sophy ? Cam- 
 bridge is quite an emporium in that way/
 
 232 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 i They like, however, to choose their own 
 toys,' sighed Aunt Maria, moved perhaps by 
 some far off reminiscence of her own of a toy 
 beyond her means, or which had been be- 
 spoken by another. 
 
 ' There is a young man coming here to 
 dine to-night,' observed the Canon, thought- 
 fully, ' who in some respects would answer 
 to the Doctor's prescription. But he is a 
 poor man ; I don't say without expectations, 
 for he has that sort of talent which never fails 
 to succeed in life, bit without any hope of 
 inheritance — I mean he is of no family.' 
 
 Miss Aldred shook her head. ' I confess 
 I believe in blood, William.' 
 
 ' I know, my dear,' he answered drily ; 
 1 you think it is the great specific for the 
 social fabric, like the King of Dahomey, who 
 cements his palaces with it. Still, even the 
 house of Hapsburg was begun with the merest 
 mortar. However, you shall judge for your- 
 self. In the meantime you must give Sophy
 
 THE CANON PUTS BIS FOOT DOWN 233 
 
 to understand that under this roof, at all 
 events, she will never see Mr. Perry again, 
 and that if she sees him elsewhere it will be 
 in direct opposition to my wishes.' 
 
 The intervention of Canon Aldred in mat- 
 ters of his own house had the rarity of a 
 miracle, but also the force. His laws, when 
 he did go in for law-making, were as those of 
 the Medes and Persians ; and Aunt Maria 
 was well aware that no pleading on her part 
 on behalf of Mr. Herbert Perry, would either 
 defer, or mitigate, his sentence of perpetual 
 exile. 
 
 She bowed her head and pursed her lips, 
 the former in obedience to her brother's ukase, 
 the latter in silent protest against it ; took 
 up her needlework — a sign that she was 
 not coming back in a hurry — and left the 
 room. 
 
 She had no sympathy with the offender, 
 but her heart was full of pity for Sophy, 
 and she thought it inconsiderate of William,
 
 234 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 though ' very like a man,' to insist upon such 
 violent measures while the poor girl was 
 ailing and in no condition for such imperious 
 restraint. On the other hand, she was well 
 convinced not only that the Canon was acting 
 for Sophy's good, but that it teas for her 
 good ; and in the coming struggle — for strug- 
 gle she foresaw was awaiting her — was fully 
 resolved to support the views of authority. 
 Still she shrank from the conflict, and it was 
 the desire to ' get it over,' that prompted her 
 to such immediate action. A drop of water 
 will wear away even a stone, and Aunt 
 Maria's heart was by no means a stone, and 
 much more pervious to drops of water. She 
 anticipated tears and prayers, and her kind 
 old chin fairly ' bibbered ' with the thought of 
 the pain she was about to inflict upon her 
 favourite. In her own youth she had never 
 suffered her thoughts to stray in any direc- 
 tion save where the hand -post of duty and 
 obedience pointed ; but in the charity of her
 
 THE CANON PUTS HIS FOOT DOWN. 235 
 
 heart she was now reflecting that girls would 
 be girls, and that, after all, poor Sophy's 
 crime was a very venial one. 
 
 There are many such gentle souls in the 
 world whom, because perhaps they are stiff, 
 and old, and angular, we pass by in scorn, 
 but whom the angels, I am inclined to think, 
 regard in a very different fashion.
 
 236 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 A LITTLE SCOLDING. 
 
 Unconscious of her aunt's step upon the 
 stair, Sophy sits alone, with a letter in her 
 hand. It has just reached her, but not by 
 the post ; for she has other ways of commu- 
 nicating with the outer world. 
 
 ' Dear S.,' — it ran, — ' Your absence last 
 evening disappointed me immensely. I hope 
 you really had a bad headache — I mean that 
 it was bond fide and not a russe' (Mr. Perry's 
 education had been classical, and did not in- 
 clude spelling, or the modern languages). 
 ' The truth is, I have had enough of this sort 
 of thing, and am getting tired of it. For all 
 that I see of you, we might as well be like
 
 A LITTLE SCOLDING. 237 
 
 your friend next door and her fascinating 
 young lawyer in town. Moreover, something 
 has occurred that makes it necessary to hurry 
 matters, and about which I must talk to you 
 at once. I shall drop in at the usual time to- 
 day, unless I see or hear anything to the con- 
 trary ; but it will be much better if I can 
 have a word with you elsewhere — say, at the 
 old mill. If I don't see you I shall wait for a 
 line in Green Street up to four o'clock. That 
 young dried herring, Adair, was at the ball 
 last night, by-the-bye, looking, I thought, 
 deuced nasty. That he suspects something, 
 I'm pretty certain ; but he didn't suspect how 
 very nearly I was ringing Ms neck. Only a 
 small matter, you will say ; but still, another 
 reason why the present state of things must 
 be put an end to. Oh re voir. 
 
 ' Yours, H. P.' 
 
 1 
 
 It is scarcely in nature that a young lady 
 should regard with displeasure the impatience
 
 238 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 of her lover, even though the inconvenience 
 of its display should be ever so obvious ; but 
 Sophy's little brow had such a frown on it as 
 suggested a padlock on a miniature, or a 
 grenadier keeping guard over a jewel-box. 
 Her blue eyes were wild and tearless ; her 
 delicate features were haggard with anger and 
 fear. ' A selfish, heartless letter,' she said to 
 herself; 'a cruel letter.' Then, looking up 
 in her trouble and perplexity, she caught 
 sight of her own face in the glass. ' You 
 fool ! ' she exclaimed, apostrophising it with 
 sullen bitterness. ' You mad and wicked 
 fool!' 
 
 There was a knock at the door, and she 
 thrust the letter hastily into her bosom, as 
 Miss Aldred entered the room. 
 
 ' Come, my dear, I am glad to see you 
 have a little colour in your cheeks,' said Aunt 
 Maria, kindly. 'I hope that means you feel 
 better.' 
 
 ' I never thought there was much the
 
 A LITTLE SCOLDING. 239 
 
 matter with me,' said Sophy, with a little 
 hysterical laugh. ' But, of course, the doctor 
 had to find out something. I suppose he said 
 "the heart ; " they always say "the heart," 
 because nobody can get at it and prove them 
 to be in the wrong.' 
 
 ' I hope it's not so bad as that,' returned 
 Aunt Maria, with some significance. ' If you 
 are really better and can bear it, I have a 
 word or two to say to you, Sophia.' 
 
 To have one's Christian name abbreviated 
 — to ' Tommy,' for Sir Thomas, for instance — 
 by those who have no right to take such a 
 liberty, is very annoying ; but it only implies 
 impudence, not displeasure, on the part of the 
 offender. When, on the contrary, the Thomas 
 is given at full length by those who are wont 
 to call us Tommy, it is a sign that there is 
 mischief brewing. The speaker had probably 
 something serious to say, and not pleasant. 
 Sophy had never been called Sophia by Miss 
 Aldred but once : when, little more than a
 
 240 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 child, she had set fire to her frock in dropping 
 ' kisses ' of sealing-wax on an envelope she 
 had directed to some juvenile admirer ; and it 
 would scarcely have surprised her more had 
 she been addressed as Iphigenia. She knew, 
 however, in an instant what her visitor had 
 come about — the subject that had just now 
 been occupying her own mind, and, to say 
 truth, was never absent from it, save when 
 she found herself in company. Then indeed, 
 thanks, as her enemies would say, to that 
 desire of admiration from the other sex which 
 was as sweet to her as cream to a cat, she 
 forgot it. 
 
 It would have been fairer to ascribe it to 
 the superficial character of a nature which, hi 
 other respects, was by no means contemptible. 
 Her disposition was affectionate and trustful, 
 generous and forgiving. Of her own free will 
 she would have harmed no living thing ; but 
 she was as impressionable as the river sand, 
 and as impulsive as the wind that sweeps it.
 
 A LITTLE SCOLDING. 241 
 
 It was pitiable that one so unfit for the 
 storms of life should at its very outset have 
 rashly dared the illimitable ocean, far. from 
 port and home, yet hardly conscious of the 
 doom that threatened her. In the trough of 
 the sea, indeed, with hardly a star of hope 
 visible to her, she was miserable and terrified 
 enough ; but when on the crest of the wave, 
 lifted for a moment into the sunshine, she for- 
 got the depths that menaced destruction to 
 her. She saw them yawning now, and sat in 
 affrighted silence, ready to catch at any spar, 
 or straw, or floating weed ; hopeless of safety, 
 but eager for delay and respite. The terror 
 in the oirl's nice, though the other little 
 guessed what cause she had for fear, alarmed 
 Aunt Maria in her turn. 
 
 ' You may be sure, dear girl, that I am 
 not come here to threaten or frighten you,' 
 she said, gently. ' I am not, I hope, a very 
 terrible personage, save to Johnnie ' (the dis- 
 obedient and plate-breaking page, with whom 
 
 vol. 1. n
 
 242 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 she was wont to wage that unsatisfactory sort 
 of war which takes place between regulars 
 and guerillas); 'while to yourself I can never 
 be anything more severe than your counsellor 
 for good. I may say, indeed, quite as much 
 for the Canon, your guardian. He can no 
 more be unkind than he can be unjust. But, 
 being a man, and knowing better than we 
 women do what men are, he thinks more 
 seriously of certain matters because he fore- 
 sees the seriousness of their possible con- 
 sequences. To some girls, for example, a 
 flirtation even with an undesirable young 
 man, may seem a trifling thing enough. She 
 goes on thoughtlessly, step by step, till she 
 finds herself entangled — even compromised ; 
 and while she only thinks of the present, and 
 its passing pleasure, her whole future life may 
 suffer for it. I promised you last night, 
 though somewhat unwillingly, after what took 
 place at the procession, that I would say no- 
 thing to your guardian of the frequency of
 
 A LITTLE SCOLDING. 243 
 
 Mr. Perry's visits here ; and I kept my pro- 
 mise. I trusted, and still trust, to your own 
 good sense to put a stop to them of your own 
 motion. But the Canon has spoken on the 
 subject without any invitation on my part, 
 and matters have been precipitated. He is 
 very much annoyed, and even alarmed.' 
 
 ' I am so sorry,' moaned Sophy. She sat 
 in her chair as if she had been thrown there, 
 all huddled up in a heap, with one hand a 
 little raised, as if she would have warded off 
 some physical blow. 
 
 ' Of that I am quite certain, my dear' (and 
 indeed it was clear enough), ' and I am some- 
 thing more than sorry. I do not blame you 
 in the matter one whit more than I blame 
 myself. If you have been wilful, I have been 
 weak ; though I have never encouraged any 
 goings on between you and Mr. Perry, I have 
 too much ignored the matter and kept silence 
 about it.' 
 
 ' For my sake/ put in Sophy, tenderly. 
 
 b2
 
 244 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 ' Not altogether, my dear. When I look 
 back on what has happened, I feel that I have 
 sometimes neglected my duty, because it was 
 unpleasant to perform it, and to save myself 
 pain. I ought long ago to have told your 
 guardian that this young man was paying 
 you marked attentions, and, in particular, 
 that they continued, when you were away 
 from home, in town.' 
 
 Here Sophy hid her face, which had sud- 
 denly grown scarlet. 
 
 ' I do not wish,' continued Aunt Maria, 
 looking at her very fixedly, ' to reproach you 
 with what is past and gone, Sophy ; but your 
 proceedings during that period were not what 
 they should have been, I fear. Even so far 
 as they came under my observation, they dis- 
 satisfied me, and I felt called upon, as you 
 remember, to say something concerning them 
 — though I did not say all — to my brother. 
 It would have been better perhaps if I had 
 been more frank. Still it was partly, at all
 
 A LITTLE SCOLDING. 245 
 
 events, to shield you from what I then thought 
 to be his uncalled-for displeasure, and I have 
 some right perhaps to look for a little gra- 
 titude from you in consequence. I shall find 
 it, you say?' (Sophy's lips had murmured 
 something to that effect.) ' Very good. All 
 I ask of you, then, is to pay the debt you owe 
 into your own account. No return for any- 
 thing I have done for you can, I assure 
 you, be more agreeable to me than that you 
 should act wisely and for your own good 
 in this matter. It is a more serious affair 
 than you yourself perhaps have any idea of, 
 and I tremble to think of the consequences 
 that may follow a contrary course of conduct. 
 You have hitherto only seen one side of your 
 guardian's character; it is indeed good all 
 round, but though so tender and lenient to 
 the erring, it is not so to — forgive me, but I 
 only use his own expression — scamps and 
 scoundrels. He is as suspicious of evil-doers 
 as he is charitable and trustful to the rest of
 
 246 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 his fellow- creatures. And it is certain that 
 Mr. Herbert Perry has found his way into 
 his black books. It is not without reason 
 that he has got there, be assured of that, 
 Sophy, though I do not wish to distress you 
 with the disgraceful details ; but the point is, 
 that there he is. Your guardian's prejudices, 
 especially when they are well founded, are as 
 fixed as his attachments ; and in this case I 
 am very certain nothing will move him. I 
 am to say from him that Mr. Herbert Perry is 
 never to cross the threshold of this house again. 
 If you meet him elsewhere, or hold any com- 
 munication with him, it v\ill be in direct dis- 
 obedience to your guardian's wishes — are you 
 listening to what I say, Sophy ? ' 
 
 ' I have heard every word,' answered the 
 girl, in a half- choked whisper, though, as her 
 companion noticed with some surprise, she 
 was not in tears. ' I will do my best, my 
 very best, I promise you.'
 
 A LITTLE SCOLDING. 247 
 
 1 My darling, there is only way of doing 
 your best,' returned Aunt Maria. ' I beg, I 
 entreat of you, not to attempt to play fast and 
 loose in the matter. Duplicity, or deception, 
 are things my brother would never, never 
 forgive.' 
 
 Sophy shuddered ; she was thinking of 
 what was done, not of what she was about 
 to do. 
 
 ' Sit down at once, Sophy, like a good, 
 dear girl, and write to this unhappy young 
 man — since I suppose you must write to him 
 — the simple truth. It is not as if you were 
 giving him up of your own free will — though 
 I hope you are doing that also. There is no 
 change of mind to plead, but simply one of 
 circumstances. Your guardian has forbidden 
 you to hold any further communication with 
 him, and you have no alternative but to obey. 
 You have only to write that.' 
 
 Only that ! A crooked smile played upon
 
 2 4 S THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 poor Sophy's lips. Then, after a long pause, 
 she once more murmured, ' I will do my 
 best.' 
 
 This time Aunt Maria found no fault with 
 that expression, but pushed a little writing- 
 table to her companion's side, and set pen and 
 paper before her. She had the sense to see 
 that the time for talk was over, and also that 
 the girl should not be left to herself to think. 
 
 ' Shall I be in your way if I wait till you 
 have written your note ? ' 
 
 Sophy shook her head, and with a trem- 
 bling hand set down a sentence or two, and 
 placed it in an envelope. 
 
 1 Quite right, my dear ; the shorter the 
 better,' said Aunt Maria, approvingly. ' You 
 will promise me to send it, Sophy. It had 
 better be posted at once.' 
 
 ' Yes, Jeannette shall take it.' 
 
 Aunt Maria stooped and kissed the girl 
 affectionately. ' The surgeon's knife is keen,' 
 she said, ' but there is health in its use. God
 
 A LITTLE SCOLDING. 249 
 
 bless you, my darling ; you will be better now 
 that this weight is off your mind/ and, with 
 another kiss, she left her. 
 
 Poor Sophy did not look like one who has 
 had a weight taken off her mind. She rose 
 wearily from her chair, and, passing into the 
 opposite room, placed a large oblong card in 
 the window that looked upon the road. Such 
 a sign in London houses means that the 
 delivery-cart, or the dustman, is to call. In her 
 case it meant something quite different. To 
 certain eyes which would presently catch 
 sight of it, from the other side of the way, 
 it would signify, ' My guardian is at home ; 
 you must not call.' 
 
 Then she rang for her maid. 
 
 ' Jeannette, you must take this note to 
 Green Street.' 
 
 ' I do hope, Miss Sophy, that you are not 
 going to do anything rash,' answered the girl 
 hesitatingly. 
 
 ' Rash ! what should put that into your
 
 250 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 head ? I shall want you to walk out with 
 me this afternoon, at four o'clock.' 
 
 ' But not to meet Mr. Perry, surely ? ' 
 
 1 Yes, it must be done,' said Sophy, 
 changing her light tone for one of hitter 
 gravity. 
 
 ' But consider ; you are both known so 
 well, and it will be broad daylight.' 
 
 ' Never mind ; it will be, I trust, for the 
 last time.' 
 
 ' That's what you always say,' urged the 
 waiting-maid ; ' but yet it happens again 
 and again. The pitcher will go too often 
 to the well, Miss Sophy ; indeed, indeed it 
 will.' 
 
 ' There will be no one to blame but my- 
 self, even if it does, Jeannette,' answered 
 Sophy, with a sigh; 'here is the answer to 
 his letter. Just leave it.' 
 
 It ran as follows : — 
 
 ' Dear H., — I cannot answer your note
 
 A LITTLE SCOLDING. 251 
 
 in writing, nor answer it as you wish at 
 all. Something very serious has happened. 
 I will meet you behind the mill at five 
 o'clock.'
 
 252 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A TRYST. 
 
 ' Beside the pleasant mill at Trumpington,' 
 says Wordsworth, ' we laughed with Chaucer 
 in the hawthorn shade ; ' but it was with no 
 expectation of merriment that Miss Sophia 
 Gilbert, accompanied by her faithful waiting- 
 maid Jeannette, took her way thither that 
 May afternoon. The first time she had 
 visited the place was at a little picnic during 
 the long vacation, with Aunt Maria and a 
 few friends ; and there by accident she had 
 first met with Herbert Perry. He had found 
 his way there from the river as aimlessly as 
 the Babingtdnia pestifera got into the river 
 — not, indeed, through a fountain -tube, but
 
 A TRYST. 253 
 
 almost as much by land as by water, carrying 
 his canoe as Bruce did his vessels on Loch 
 Fyne ; indeed, he had appeared to the as- 
 tonished picnickers as a headless visitant, or 
 rather as a tortoise, with a pair of shapely 
 human legs ; and when, having crossed the 
 neck of land, he dropped the boat he carried 
 on his head, and disclosed the handsomest 
 face in Cambridge, it made no slight sensa- 
 tion. 
 
 In that strange manner had Sophy l met 
 her fate,' as girls term in jest what is some- 
 times pitiless earnest. Afterwards, from 
 tender association, perhaps, the spot had 
 been a tLysting-place for the two young 
 people. Behind the mill, and upon a certain 
 green peninsula between two streams, all 
 was secluded enough ; but they took care to 
 arrive thither by different routes. On the 
 present occasion the young man had come by 
 the water-way, which was not the quickest. 
 None who saw him paddling up the stream
 
 254 THE CANONS WARD. 
 
 from the river, or toilsomely bearing his boat 
 along where navigation was impossible, could 
 have imagined that he was on his way to an 
 assignation. The ' River God,' as she used 
 to call him, when, indeed, a certain divinity 
 had seemed to hedge him round, was behind 
 his time — a circumstance in itself significant 
 of much (of old he had been willing enough 
 to wait for her) ; and, in the meanwhile, 
 mistress and maid walked up and down in 
 silence, hidden by the ' hawthorn shade.' 
 Sophy knew nothing of its poetical associa- 
 tions ; if she had done so, she might have 
 bitterly reflected that in all the generations 
 since old Chaucer's time there could hardly 
 have been such a tryst in that fair place as 
 hers. Lover false and maid undone, there 
 might have been ; scenes of repentance and 
 despair ; but the circumstances, however wo- 
 ful, must have been different. Six months 
 ag;o she had adored the man of whom she 
 was the clandestine wife ; and now — now — she
 
 A TRYST. 255 
 
 hardly dared say to herself what she thought 
 of him ; with what abhorrence she looked for- 
 ward to a future which must be linked with 
 his ; with what apprehension and dismay she 
 pictured the immediate consequence of his 
 obstinacy and rashness, should he persist in 
 his present behaviour. Yet it was curious 
 that she felt more angry with herself, for 
 her folly, than with him for his cruelty ; and 
 as every now and then she stepped by the 
 water's side and gazed on her own image, she 
 murmured, as before, ' You fool ; you mad 
 and wicked fool ! ' 
 
 She had reached the end of the peninsula, 
 and was about to turn, when the silver beat 
 of a paddle struck upon the ear ; in that very 
 time and place it had once been music to her, 
 but now she shivered at the soundas though 
 it were a passing bell. 
 
 ' He is coming,' said Jeannette, in a warn- 
 ing voice. 
 
 As if she did not know that ; as if she
 
 256 THE C AXON'S WARD. 
 
 did not see, though her face was still averted, 
 the little boat gliding swiftly up the stream, 
 impelled by those sinewy arms, and the 
 shapely head with its crisp brown locks, and 
 the form that had once been as Apollo's to 
 her eyes, but was now odious as Apollyon's. 
 
 The canoe shot noiselessly to the bank, 
 and he stepped out to meet her with a fleeting 
 smile. 
 
 ' Well,' he said, ' I am come, and with all 
 the caution that an Indian uses in one of 
 Cooper's novels ; but I tell you fairly that I 
 am tired of all this shying and shirking, and 
 mean to put an end to it.' 
 
 She had held out her hand, but he had 
 taken no notice of it ; his face was flushed, 
 not with the exercise he had taken, for such 
 feats were feather weights with him ; but, as 
 she was well aware, with aiwer. 
 
 ' If we are going to talk,' he said, looking 
 towards Jeannette, ' though nothing you can 
 say will make any difference, I promise you,
 
 A TRYST. 257 
 
 there had better be no listeners.' At this 
 broad hint the worthy maid retired a few 
 paces, not without a contemptuous 'sniff, and 
 left the young people to their colloquy. 
 
 ' Well, what is it, Sophy ? You say 
 something serious has happened. You can't 
 mean to say that the Governor has heard of 
 my visit last night. If so that slut yonder 
 has betrayed us.' 
 
 i She has not betrayed us, Herbert ; I 
 wish every one was as faithful and true as 
 Jeannette ; nor do I know that my guardian 
 has discovered that frightful imprudence of 
 yours ; but he has found out something you 
 have done — I dare say equally rash — and has 
 forbidden you the house.' 
 
 ' Has he, begad ? ' returned the young 
 man, with a contemptuous sneer. ' We'll 
 see about that ; so that's all, is it ? ' 
 
 ' No, it is not all. I am forbidden after 
 to-day to hold any communication with you 
 whatever. 
 
 vol. 1. s
 
 258 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 1 On pain of the Canon's high displeasure, 
 I suppose ? That may affect some chorister 
 boy in his cathedral, but not me. Now I tell 
 you what I mean to do. Perhaps to-morrow, 
 perhaps the next day, but at all events before 
 the term is over, I mean to claim you as my 
 wife.' 
 
 ' Then you will ruin us both.' 
 
 1 Speak for yourself, Sophy ! As for me, 
 I know my own business better than you can 
 tell me. You talk as if you had no be- 
 longings but your guardian. You have a 
 father-in-law, though he is not aware of the 
 fact, who is my father ; and quite as queer a 
 fish to deal with as the Canon can be. Just 
 because I am ne* much of a reader, he is 
 dissatisfied with my " career " — so he calls 
 it — at the University, and since, as he says, 
 I don't seem inclined to do any good here — 
 i.e. take my degree — he has announced his 
 intention of taking my name off the college 
 books. Here's his letter, received this morn-
 
 A TRYST. 259 
 
 ing; very amusing under the circumstances. 
 An opening has occurred, it seems, in the 
 Bush, and I am to be sent off to Australia to 
 till it. A likely joke — though from one point 
 of view it is at least as serious as anything 
 you have told me.' 
 
 ' But, my dear Herbert, 7 pleaded Sophy, 
 laying her hand on his arm, ' why should you 
 not go to Australia — just for the twelve 
 months that must elapse before our marriage 
 is made public ? By complying with your 
 father's wishes you will help to make matters 
 easy for us. By waiting a little longer we 
 shall not have cause to fear opposition. And 
 then consider the safety of such an arrange- 
 ment, how much better than all these risks 
 and dangers. We can write to one another, 
 you know ; and think how delightful it will 
 be to feel that the time is getting less and 
 less, every month and every week, to the 
 period when we shall meet without fear, never 
 to part again.'
 
 26o THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 He shook her hand off with angry vehe- 
 mence and laughed derisively. ' That is a 
 very pretty proposition, upon my soul ; what 
 tenderness and affection it exhibits ; and how 
 very like what the conduct of a newly-married 
 wife should be ! I have no doubt you would 
 bear the twelve months' separation with great 
 philosophy ; and not without some trust in 
 the " chapter of accidents," whereby it might 
 easily happen that I should be lost at sea, or 
 shot at the gold-diggings ; and Miss Sophia 
 Gilbert could find another husband more to 
 her mind.' 
 
 ' How can you be so unkind and talk of 
 such horrid things, Herbert ? Of course, I 
 should be very miserable while you were 
 away ; but — er ' 
 
 ' Ah ! you may well say " but — er," ' in- 
 terrupted the young man, with a sneer. 'It's 
 " butter " indeed. You know how to lay it 
 on with a trowel ; but it is quite wasted on 
 me, I do assure you. Try it on the Canon,
 
 A TRYST. 261 
 
 with whom it may be of use. You have 
 deceived him long enough with palaver, now 
 you'll have to undeceive him with palaver.' 
 
 ' And if I was, as you say, to undeceive 
 him,' returned Sophy, very white and quiet, 
 ' what do you suppose would happen ? ' 
 
 1 Well, there would be a row, of course ; 
 but he would say, like a wise man, " There's 
 no use in crying over spilt milk." Perhaps 
 I am not the sort of man he would have 
 chosen for you. He would have preferred 
 some bookish sneak like Adair, or some old 
 fogey like Mavors ; but, since we are married, 
 he will have to make the best of it, and give 
 us an allowance till you come of age.' 
 
 ' That, I am well convinced, he never will,' 
 said Sophy, firmly. 
 
 ' And what does it matter if he doesn't ? 
 I can borrow money on your expectations for 
 twelve months.' 
 
 ' 1 have no expectations, Herbert ; that is, 
 I mean, I shall have none if you insist on
 
 262 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 acting in this mad way. I am entirely de- 
 pendent upon my guardian. If I marry 
 while under age, without his consent, my 
 fortune is forfeited. It goes into other 
 hands.' 
 
 ' I don't believe a word of it.' 
 ' Thank you ; it is true, nevertheless.' 
 ' If it were true, it would only show how 
 thoroughly well your people must have under- 
 stood you, and what a slippery fish you 
 always were ; but it is most unlikely. I can 
 find the truth out for myself, however, by 
 going up to Doctors' Commons, and looking 
 at your father's will. You are changing 
 colour, I see ; your story is false. You had 
 better not send me on a fool's errand to town, 
 young woman ! ' 
 
 ' Herbert, Herbert ! listen to me,' cried 
 the girl, passionately. ' You don't know my 
 guardian. If he ever finds out I have de- 
 ceived him, he will never forgive me. And 
 if I am not quite correct as to the '
 
 A TRYST. 263 
 
 ' Ha, ha ! ' he put in. 'I thought so. 
 Now for another.' 
 
 ' I say I am quite certain that the will 
 leaves a great deal to his discretion. He can 
 make us a handsome allowance when I come 
 of age, or a poor one ; he can advance us 
 money, or withhold it. Go up to Doctors' 
 Commons, if you doubt me ; and you will 
 hncl it is so. You don't know your danger.' 
 
 ' Nor do you know yours, Sophy. Sup- 
 pose for a moment that I accede to this 
 Australian scheme — than which nothing is 
 farther from my intention — and if, when you 
 were left behind in England, things should 
 be said to your disadvantage. That man 
 Adair, for example, knows enough ; and, if 
 I were not here to wring his neck, might use 
 his knowledge to take away your character. 
 That would be very awkward — I mean for 
 you.' 
 
 ' The register of our marriage is in St. 
 Anne's Church,' said Sophy, slowly.
 
 264 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 ' You'd refer to that, would you ? Upon 
 my life, you take things very coolly,' returned 
 the other, grimly. 
 
 She was not cool at all, but only desperate. 
 
 He had fathomed her hopes with great 
 accuracy, when he spoke of the ' chapter of 
 accidents ' to which a voyage to Australia 
 would expose him : above all things, it would 
 give her time : her nature was of that 
 thoughtless and impulsive sort to which a 
 respite seems well-nigh equal to a pardon. If 
 she could only get rid of this dead weight of 
 apprehension for a month or two, she felt that 
 she could breathe freely and be almost herself 
 again. 
 
 ' The contingency of which you speak/ 
 she said, ' would, at all events, place me in 
 no worse position than your rashness and 
 impatience place me now. Oh, Herbert, I 
 have given up everything for you ! You 
 promised me, upon your word of honour, to 
 keep our marriage secret until I came of age.'
 
 A TRYST. 265 
 
 Her voice was so piteous, and her pretty 
 face so appealing, that even the selfish heart 
 of Herbert Perry was touched ; unhappily, 
 however, they also revived the cold embers of 
 his love. 
 
 ' But, Sophy, dear, you seem to forget 
 that you and I are one. Is it nothing to you 
 that I am separated from you, and only now 
 and then have a chance of getting a word 
 with you, even like this ? And now you say 
 that you are forbidden even to see me at all.' 
 
 The argument had force in it, and there 
 had been a time when it would have suc- 
 ceeded with her ; but now she could not even 
 bring herself to say, ' And do I not suffer 
 too ? ' In her heart of hearts she loathed 
 and feared him. 
 
 ' It is only for twelve months,' she said. 
 
 ' Only for twelve months,' he answered, 
 angrily. ' A pretty thing for a girl to say, 
 even to her lover. But for a wife to her 
 husband — well, for certain, that is not my
 
 266 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 view, at all events. I shall write to my father 
 and tell him how matters stand, and then let 
 the old folks fight it out between them. And 
 so, good evening to you.' 
 
 He had turned from her with fierce ab- 
 ruptness, and, stepping into his canoe, was 
 out of arm-reach, or she would have clung to 
 him in one last agonised appeal. 
 
 ' Oh, Herby, Herby ! ' she exclaimed, 
 using for the first time the endearing name 
 by which she had been wont to call him, 
 c you have pledged your word to me.' 
 
 ' My word ! and did you not break your 
 word when we met at St. Anne's, after pro- 
 mising Aunt Maria that you would never see 
 me save in her company? ' 
 
 A most cowardly and cruel speech, for 
 what she had done had been for love of him. 
 It was upon the tip of her tongue to say so ; 
 but perhaps she knew what his scoffing retort 
 would be — that it was for love of her that he 
 was about to break his word ; or perhaps,
 
 A TRYST. 267 
 
 despairing though she was, her pride re- 
 strained her. At all events, she answered 
 nothing ; but with a sinking heart watched 
 the light shallop disappear behind the alders. 
 Her maid ran up to her, perceiving by her 
 face that she was greatly agitated. 
 
 ' He will do nothing to please me, Jean- 
 nette, 7 she murmured. 
 
 i I dare say not, Miss Sophia. I never 
 had but one opinion of him. His heart is 
 like the stone in yonder mill. For my part, 
 I wish he was drownded. 7
 
 268 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SAD NEWS. 
 
 Upon the whole, however we men may com- 
 plain of the hardness of our lives, Man's lot 
 is free from the catastrophes to which that of 
 Woman is liable. So long as he stops short 
 of the infringement of the criminal law, things 
 are rarely so desperate with him as they 
 become with the other sex when they ' stoop 
 to folly.' He may stoop low, and live to 
 stoop again, but she, never. She only too 
 literally ' falls to rise no more.' Sophy 
 Gilbert, or to give her her proper title, Sophy 
 Perry, of course, was in no such terrible 
 plight as that. Tragedies infinitely graver 
 were impending, swords of Damocles infi-
 
 SAD NEWS. 269 
 
 nitely sharper threatening to fall on housefuls 
 of her own sex, though not indeed of her own 
 rank in life ; but her situation, if not tragic, 
 was grave enough. What made it more 
 serious was, that she was so singularly un- 
 fitted to bear it. It is a common circum- 
 stance, but one that fills us with the saddest 
 forebodings for man's future, that the weak 
 and fragile are too often marked out for mis- 
 fortune. Why does Fate choose the frailest, 
 as the schoolboy bully selects his victim, for 
 persecution ? If, as some tell us, she is para- 
 mount, and there is no more merciful power to 
 overrule her, matters are bad with us indeed. 
 
 To some young ladies, had they been in 
 Sophy's position, it may have seemed a not 
 very difficult task, though an unpleasant one, 
 to make confession of the weakness that had 
 led them into it. ' I was in love with Mr. 
 Herbert Perry, dear guardian ; and since I 
 knew I should not obtain your consent to our 
 union, we married without it.'
 
 270 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 But Sophy knew that the Canon, with all 
 his kindness, was not a man to be mollified 
 where duplicity and double dealing were con- 
 cerned ; he had always treated her with so 
 much trust and affection, and she had shown 
 herself so utterly unworthy of trust. Against 
 Miss Aldred her transgression was still graver, 
 for the very liberty Aunt Maria had allowed 
 her, contrary to her own better judgment, she 
 had clandestinely abused. Once let her be 
 discovered, and all confidence — and, it was 
 only too likely, all affection too — would be 
 withdrawn from her ; and beside the Canon 
 and his sister there were few who loved her. 
 Yet, hard as all this was, there were worse 
 features in the case. If Mr. Herbert Perry 
 had been an eligible suitor, forgiveness, after 
 a time, at all events, might have been looked 
 for ; but he was no favourite of Aunt Maria's, 
 and in the Canon's eyes he was, as we know, 
 utterly worthless as well as objectionable. 
 Worse than all, she had by this time, not-
 
 SAD NEWS. 271 
 
 withstanding her lack of opportunities, found 
 this out for herself. She knew him to be 
 coarse, selfish, and wrapped up in his own 
 pleasure ; and if his coltish nature broke 
 through such a gilded pale as at present sur- 
 rounded him — a husband of a few months, 
 bound by every tie of honour and even of 
 self-interest to behave himself with decency 
 and circumspection — what was to be looked 
 for when these restraints should be removed 
 from him, and she became his indeed ? A 
 bitter task to plead for pardon, when, even if 
 granted, it must needs be followed by life-long 
 punishment ! 
 
 It is not to be supposed that, because she 
 had been so rash and wilful, Sophy did not 
 shrink from the pain of exposure, as much as 
 though she had been the most prudent and 
 retiring of her sex. She foresaw only too 
 plainly how the finger of public scorn would 
 point, not only at her, but at them whose 
 trust she had betrayed. This, then, was the
 
 272 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 end of all her ' innocent flirtations,' the result 
 of her ' having her own way/ and being per- 
 mitted to indulge in harmless gaieties without 
 restraint — a clandestine marriage. Nor when 
 that was known would the scoffing cease. 
 She was not in the position of those who, 
 having committed an error, can make the 
 best of it or conceal its consequences. It was, 
 as we have seen already, no secret between 
 her and her only confidante that her union, if 
 it could be called such, with Mr. Herbert 
 Perry was bitterly repented of. Jeannette, 
 though she had given way to her young 
 mistress's solicitations in that matter, had 
 always been opposed to it ; yet even from her 
 Sophy could not conceal her chagrin and 
 repentance. ' His heart is like a millstone ; 
 for my part, I wish he was drownded,' had 
 been Jeannette' s exclamation when she had 
 said i He will do nothing to please me ; ' and 
 Sophy did not reprove her for it. His heart 
 was hard ; otherwise how could he have made
 
 SAD NEWS. 273 
 
 light of her unhappy position, and, with cruel 
 irony, bid her undeceive her guardian, as she 
 had long deceived him, ' by palaver ' ? The 
 advice, however, notwithstanding the form in 
 which it was conveyed, was good. Before 
 the blow fell on her, which she knew would 
 shatter so much, it behoved her to do her best 
 to conciliate the Canon and turn his heart to- 
 wards her. Perhaps if she were to please him 
 very much, an opportunity might offer itself 
 to confess all and implore his forgiveness before 
 necessity compelled her to do so. When, 
 therefore, on reaching home, Miss Aldred 
 informed her that her brother had asked a 
 friend that evening, and hoped she would feel 
 herself well enough to come down to dinner, 
 she answered cheerfully in the affirmative. 
 
 And when Aunt Maria, noticing how un- 
 like herself she looked, observed, ' But not if 
 it would distress you, darling,' she replied, 
 ' It can never distress me to please the 
 Canon.' 
 
 vol. 1. T
 
 274 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 The Canon was really pleased ; for, under 
 the circumstances, he had felt that, so far 
 as Sophy's company was concerned, he had 
 invited Adair to the ' Laurels ' in vain. His 
 mind being set at rest on this point, this wily 
 man bethought him of asking Mr. Mavors 
 likewise. Not that he feared, as some men 
 of his years would have done, a tete-a-tete with 
 the young scholar after dinner. His mind 
 was of that sort which accommodates itself 
 to all ag;es and conditions cf men ; while in 
 Adair's case, even if the talk should languish 
 upon other topics, there was a common sub- 
 ject, Milton, for them to fall back upon. He 
 asked the Tutor purely for Sophy's sake, since 
 his presence would leave the young people 
 more to themselves. It did not enter his 
 head that the student and exponent of Plato 
 could find any attraction in his ward, and 
 took his ready acceptance of his invitation, at 
 such short notice, as a personal compliment. 
 When his sister suggested that Henny Hel-
 
 SAD NEWS. 275 
 
 ford should be asked, to make the little party 
 complete, he replied, 'No, no ; five is com- 
 pany and six is none,' with such decision 
 that Aunt Maria acquiesced at once, in dumb 
 amaze ; and not until she had applied herself 
 to that arithmetical problem, in the privacy 
 of her own room, free from all disturbing: in- 
 fluences, did she arrive at its solution. 
 
 Perhaps the translation in the sacred 
 volume was wrong, she admitted, for the 
 Canon often told her such was the case ; 
 but, otherwise, ' Why, bless the man,' was 
 her reflection, i does not Scripture itself tell 
 us, " How vain is the net spread in sight of 
 any bird," and how much more in that of a 
 young woman ? ' 
 
 Nor did she over-estimate, at all events 
 in the case in question, the sagacity of the 
 intended victim. Directly Sophy heard Mr. 
 Adair's name announced (for her aunt had 
 not divulged the name of the expected guest), 
 she guessed in an instant for what cause the 
 
 T 2
 
 276 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 Canon had invited him. Young ladies of her 
 description have their mind very full of lovers 
 and love-making. I have a suspicion (which 
 has, however, long ceased to put me upon my 
 best behaviour) that they look upon every 
 young gentleman who is introduced to them 
 as a possible husband. In Sophy's case, this 
 was, of course, out of the question, nor did 
 she indeed credit her guardian with having 
 introduced Adair with any definite matri- 
 monial intentions ; what she did think — and 
 her thought was not far from the mark — was 
 that Adair was asked by way of foil to Mr. 
 Perry ; and as an example of the sort of 
 man to which the Canon wished to draw her 
 favourable attention. 
 
 ' Hitherto, my dear girl,' he seemed to 
 her to say, ' you have shown a preference for 
 cheap fancy goods, which will neither wash 
 nor wear ; allow me to show you a specimen 
 of a stouter fabric, warranted to last your 
 lifetime.'
 
 SAD NEWS. 277 
 
 It was, as we have said, Sophy's fixed 
 resolve to please the Canon, and, without 
 much thought beyond it, she welcomed Mr. 
 John Adair with a graciousness beyond hi,, 
 hopes. It did not strike her that, in case she 
 showed signs of encouraging his attentions, 
 the displeasure of her guardian would be all 
 the greater when he came to know the real 
 state of affairs. It was not her nature — when 
 the consideration was not forced upon her — 
 to think of the morrow ; and, moreover, it is 
 possible that her husband's evil behaviour 
 caused her to regard, with less disfavour 
 than heretofore, the man he had described 
 as a ' dried herring.' He was certainly thin, 
 thinner in his suit of evening clothes than 
 usual, and still thinner by comparison with 
 Mr. Mavors, who not only towered above him, 
 but appeared on either side of him, giving the 
 young scholar, for the moment, the remark- 
 able appearance of having four arms. But 
 when one looked at the latter's keen face
 
 278 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 and speaking eyes, one forgot that he was 
 thin, as men forgot it in Paganini's playing. 
 Mr. Mavors certainly did not remark that he 
 was so thin, but (with regret and envy) that 
 he was so young. From the Canon's note he 
 had gathered that he was to be the only guest 
 that evening, and he was by no means pleased 
 to find that the same young gentleman who 
 had monopolised so much of Miss Sophy's 
 conversation the previous evening had been 
 also invited. In other matters he w r as by no 
 means diffident ; it was not likely to be the 
 case with a gentleman who had been reported 
 to say of himself, ' I'm not a conceited man, 
 but I believe I know everything but botany ; ' 
 but in affairs of the heart he felt that he was 
 a freshman, though (unhappily) not in his 
 first year. 
 
 After his salutations, he confined his at- 
 tentions to Miss Aldred, not because she 
 was his hostess and it was his duty, but 
 from sheer bashfulness and ignorance of what
 
 SAD NEWS. 279 
 
 a young lady like Miss Sophy would expect 
 him to say. Adair, on the other hand, was 
 by no means bashful, and entered at once into 
 conversation with her. There was not, how- 
 ever — and this impressed her favourably 
 — the least trace of familiarity (such as he 
 had shown before), or the consciousness of 
 being in possession of any secret of hers, in 
 his tone or manner. The folding-doors be- 
 tween the drawing-room and the smaller 
 apartment — with which, as she must have 
 been well aware, he had gained entrance the 
 preceding night — were open ; but not a look 
 escaped him to remind her of any previous 
 occurrence, and Avhen she presently took him 
 into it to show him a portrait of the Canon, 
 and they were alone together, he remarked 
 upon the apartment as though he were be- 
 holding it for the first time. Perhaps it 
 would have been wiser if Sophy had not 
 accepted the position thus offered to her so 
 readily as she did, since, in chiming in with
 
 2 8o THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 this agnostic manner of his, she was, in 
 fact, making herself not only his confidante 
 but his confederate. The road, however, was 
 smoother this way, and it was her wont to 
 take the smoothest road. 
 
 I It was a very gay ball, I hear,' said she. 
 
 I I believe so.' 
 
 1 But were you not there yourself ? ' 
 
 ' I was there for a little while, but ' (here 
 his voice dropped) ' I was disappointed of my 
 dance, you know.' 
 
 ' How foolish ! as if there were not fifty 
 other young ladies to dance with ! ' 
 
 ' I only cared to dance with the one 
 that was not there. When you did not 
 come I was assured some misfortune had 
 taken place ' 
 
 ' The house burnt down, eh? ' she put in, 
 smiling. 
 
 1 Yes ; something of that kind ; and so I 
 walked up here to see for myself.' 
 
 After all, then, consideration for her
 
 SAD NEWS. 281 
 
 position had not kept him silent. His very- 
 phrase, ' to see for myself,' seemed to have 
 a selfish touch in it. Perhaps young men 
 were all alike, egotistic, heartless, cruel. 
 
 ' It was very bad weather, was it not? ' 
 
 ' I don't know,' he answered, softly ; ' I 
 was not thinking of the weather.' 
 
 The tenderness of his tone was such that 
 she could hardly ignore it ; under other cir- 
 cumstances it would undoubtedly have pleased 
 her, as all such incense did ; as it was, no 
 harm could come of it, if Herbert put his 
 resolve of writing to his father into effect 
 (when she thought of that her very heart 
 stood still, but for to-night she had shut it 
 out of her thoughts), and in the meantime 
 she would be pleasing the Canon by being 
 civil to the young man. 
 
 So she only smiled, and murmured, 
 1 Indeed.' 
 
 Then Barclay, the butler, came to the 
 rescue with his battle cry, ' Dinner is served,'
 
 282 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 and Adair offered his arm and took her in. 
 Mr. Mavors sat opposite to them. His duty 
 to his neighbour and his hostess compelled 
 him to converse with Miss Aldred, but his 
 eyes often strayed over the way to Sophy. 
 What on earth could she find to say, he 
 wondered, to that uninteresting youth devoted 
 to the higher mathematics, and what could 
 have induced Aldred to ask such a fellow to 
 dinner? It was not an Egyptian feast, that 
 a skeleton should be any attraction to it. 
 
 Adair was speaking with approval of the 
 walks about Cambridge, with which, as a 
 reading man, he was very conversant from 
 frequent ' constitutionals.' 
 
 The Canon quoted a line from ' In Memo- 
 riam ' concerning the ' level flats/ and added 
 something caustic of his own with respect 
 to intellectual eminence which, he remarked, 
 loomed against the horizon in that locality 
 somewhat larger than it looked elsewhere. 
 Of this latter taunt the Tutor, generally eager
 
 SAD NEWS. 283 
 
 enough for combat on that ground, took no 
 notice, but inveighed against the local scenery. 
 Xo one but a mathematician, he said, could 
 see anything to admire in a plain crossed by 
 straight lines. Some people, however, could 
 find grandeur even in the Grogmagogs ; had 
 Miss Gilbert ever heard the story of the fresh- 
 man and the deaf professor in connection with 
 that range of mountains ? As Sophy had not 
 heard it the Tutor proceeded, to narrate it. 
 It was a fine old stock story such as enjoys a 
 perpetual youth in the University atmosphere, 
 and blooms (very unlike the aloe) a hundred 
 times every October term, when new ears 
 come up to hear it ; only on this occasion 
 Mr. Mavors dropped a little tarragon over it. 
 
 ' The professor gave a dinner party,' he 
 said, ' at which many eminent persons were 
 present. With more good nature than good 
 judgment, he included among his guests one 
 solitary and very shy undergraduate ; the un- 
 fortunate youth, feeling bound to say some-
 
 284 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 thing to his host, hazarded the remark that 
 the Gogmagogs were very high hills. The 
 professor requested him to repeat the observa- 
 tion ; and, still unable to catch it, told his 
 servant to fetch his ear-trumpet. The ap- 
 pearance of that unhappy youth while waiting 
 for the ear-trumpet, and vainly endeavouring 
 to think of some observation more worthy 
 of the occasion and the instrument than the 
 " Gogmagogs are very high hills," I shall not 
 easily forget.' 
 
 ' Poor boy,' said Sophy, plaintively ; ' and 
 then what happened ? ' 
 
 £ Well, nothing more, except that the 
 professor listened to the young gentleman's 
 remarks amid the profoundest silence, and 
 laid down his trumpet with an "Ugh!" which 
 Mr. Fenimore Cooper describes as "so signifi- 
 cant in the mouth of a red Indian." 
 
 ' I think the walk to Chesterton is one of 
 the pleasantest,' continued Adair, resuming 
 his conversation with Sophy, as if it had
 
 SAD NEWS. 285 
 
 suffered no solution of continuity whatever, 
 1 and then home by Trumpington Mill.' 
 
 Sophy felt the blood rush to her forehead, 
 and was about to stammer out some common- 
 place, when a note was placed by the butler 
 in the Tutor's hand, with a whispered 'The 
 bearer waits, if you please, sir.' 
 
 While the Canon was saying ' Nothing the 
 matter, I hope, Mavors ? ' and Miss Aldred, 
 expressing the same sentiment by her anxious 
 looks, ' I shall be staying up during the long 
 vacation,' went on Adair, in a lower tone, 
 ' and I hope you will allow me sometimes to 
 point out to you — and to Miss Aldred, of 
 course — what is most worth seeing in the 
 neighbourhood. ' 
 
 ' It will give us great pleasure,' she said, 
 ' I'm sure.' 
 
 It was a bold reply ; was it possible that 
 Mr. Mavors had heard it, since he threw such 
 a quick, serious glance across at her, and
 
 286 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 looked so grave ? He had read the note, and 
 was putting it carefully into his pocket. 
 
 ' Tell the messenger, Barclay,' he said, 
 'that I shall be in my rooms in twenty 
 minutes.' 
 
 i Must you leave us so soon ? ' inquired 
 the hostess, sympathetically. 
 
 4 Why, yes, I am sorry to say I must ; it 
 is a piece of rather pressing college business. 
 Prater (the other Tutor) is away this week, 
 so I have his " side " to look after as well as 
 my own/ 
 
 Miss Aldred, with womanly tact, at once 
 perceived that something serious, but which 
 was not to be disclosed, at all events to ladies' 
 ears, had happened, and gave Sophy that 
 mystic nod which is the blue-peter of the 
 female fleet : the signal for sailing out of the 
 room. As the door closed behind them, Mr. 
 Mavors, with his hand upon his chair, 
 observed with emotion, ' A sad calamity has 
 taken place, Aldred.'
 
 SAD NEWS. 287 
 
 ' Not, I trust, of a private nature ? ' ex- 
 claimed the Canon. 
 
 1 As regards myself, no ; but, from some- 
 thing that dropped from you the other day, I 
 am afraid it may affect you somewhat. Mr. 
 Herbert Perry was, I believe, an occasional 
 visitor at the " Laurels." He is drowned. His 
 body has just been found in the river.'
 
 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 BREAKING IT. 
 
 The news of death, especially if it be 
 sudden and violent, will sober a drunken man ; 
 even those who ' play at the game whose 
 moves are death ' — seasoned old soldiers — feel 
 some shock when a comrade is snatched away 
 from them by other than professional means 
 — shot, shell, or steel. In civil life, for the 
 moment, it creates a stir with which no other 
 catastrophe — bankruptcy, an elopement, or 
 even beino; raised to the Peerage — can COm- 
 pare. No man is so lethargic, or so immersed 
 in greed or pleasure, but that at those terrible 
 tidings a secret door is opened in his own 
 soul, and he looks forth, if it is but for an
 
 BREAKING IT. 289 
 
 instant, upon the dark unfathomed void that 
 is awaiting him also. When the awful 
 summons has been served upon one in youth 
 and strength its effect upon the by-standers is 
 still greater. 
 
 In the present case Mr. Mavors was, as 
 was natural, the least moved of all those 
 present. The dead man was personally un- 
 known to him. He could only call to re- 
 membrance the tall handsome young fellow 
 that had stood up (from various causes, with 
 some difficulty) in the boat only last evening 
 to drink Miss Gilbert's health, and was now 
 nerveless, bloodless, breathless. Not for one 
 instant did it enter into his mind that, since 
 the unworthy object of her affection was re- 
 moved, the girl for whom he had himself 
 begun to entertain ' the low beginnings ' of 
 love had been rendered more accessible to 
 him. 
 
 Nor, at all events for the present, did it 
 occur to the Canon to congratulate himself 
 
 vol. 1. u
 
 2QO THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 upon a trouble ended — a domestic knot thus 
 opportunely severed by the hand of Fate. 
 
 ' Poor fellow, poor fellow ! ' he murmured, 
 softly. 
 
 These men were both, by nature, gentle- 
 men. 
 
 Adair, too, was not unmoved. Death was 
 no more familiar to him than to the other 
 two, but he felt less of horror. There was 
 something in his heart, though not in his 
 voice, that smacked of hesitating satisfaction 
 as he inquired, ' Are you quite sure of this, 
 Mr. Mavors ? ' 
 
 ' Only too sure.' 
 
 ' How did it happen ? ' inquired the Canon. 
 ' How could it have happened ? ' Meaning that 
 to the dead man water had been as his natural 
 element. If the misfortune had been less 
 tremendous he would have said, ' Why, he 
 could swim like a fish ! ' In catastrophes we 
 do not use metaphors or commonplaces. 
 
 ' He was rowing up some branch of the
 
 BREAKING IT. 291 
 
 river where boats are forbidden, and was 
 caught by the chain across the stream. I must 
 go and see the poor lad, I suppose/ added 
 the Tutor, with melancholy apprehension, for 
 his organisation was delicate, or rather his 
 mode of life had made it so, ' and then 
 telegraph to his father.' 
 
 ; A terrible task,' observed the Canon. 
 ' Good Heavens ! if it had been my boy.' 
 
 ' You would have had less to regret, in 
 many ways,' sighed the Tutor, rising. 
 
 Adair rose also. It was clear that the 
 absence of strangers would be desirable. ' I 
 deeply regret, Adair,' said the Canon, ' that 
 your first evening at " The Laurels " should 
 be thus associated with calamity. The next 
 time you come let us hope there will be more 
 of l'Allegro and less of II Penseroso. Poor 
 young man, poor young man ! ' 
 
 Adair and Mr. Mavors walked away to- 
 gether ; the distance between Tutor and 
 student, and that wider gulf caused by natural 
 
 TJ 2
 
 292 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 antagonism, bridged over for the time by 
 what had happened. When the palace of the 
 French King was flooded by the mob, ' the 
 grand entries,' we read, ' were graciously 
 accorded' by his Majesty to even untitled 
 loyalists. 
 
 ' Did you know this unfortunate young 
 fellow, Mr. Adair ? ' 
 
 ' Slightly, sir.' 
 
 ' He was not a reading man, I under- 
 stand/ 
 
 ' By no means ; no, sir,' was the dry 
 reply. 
 
 ' A little fast ? A great pity. Still,, 
 let us hope there was nothing seriously 
 amiss.' 
 
 Unhappily, the recollection of his late 
 enemy, as he strode back to the gate of ' The 
 Laurels ' the previous night, and caused him 
 to cower among the leaves, here occurred to 
 Adair. 
 
 ' There is no harm in hoping, sir,' he
 
 BREAKING IT. 293 
 
 answered coldly ; ' but the truth is, Perry 
 was a bad lot.' 
 
 Mr. Mavors glanced at his companion 
 scornfully. He seemed to recognise in him, 
 for the first time, the rival not of himself but 
 of the dead man. 
 
 ' Truth is a fine thing,' he said ; ' still, it 
 is a pity that you neglect the classics, since, at 
 the very outset, they teach us to be charitable 
 to those who have gone over to the majority.' 
 
 Not a word more passed between them till 
 their stiff good-night at the corner of Green 
 Street, when Mr. Mavors betook himself to 
 the dead man's rooms, whence he presently 
 issued, with a white face and a smothered 
 aspiration that Mr. Prater would stop up to 
 look after his own pupils. 
 
 At ' The Laurels ' the matter, unhappily, 
 could not be so easily dismissed. It was a 
 great relief to the Canon's mind to find, upon 
 returning to the drawing-room, that Sophy 
 had retired to her own room upon plea of
 
 294 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 indisposition ; and, indeed, so soon as the 
 excitement of society was lacking, and 
 her mind reverted to her own affairs, the poor 
 girl had found the effort of sustaining 
 domestic conversation with Aunt Maria 
 beyond her powers. 
 
 Miss Aldrecl, though no philosopher, 
 possessed, as her brother nattered himself, 
 much too well-balanced a mind to be ' upset ' 
 by the intelligence he had to communicate ; 
 she would bear it (he foresaw) like a 
 Christian, and was, in fact, just the sort of 
 person to break the news to poor Sophy 
 instead of himself. 
 
 So far, however, from bearing with 
 dignity the decree of Fate as regarded Mr. 
 Herbert Perry, Miss Aldred received the 
 Canon's news with such a flood of tears and 
 wringing of hands as he had never seen out of 
 a stage play. 
 
 Even his stiff, ' I am altogether dis- 
 appointed in you, Maria,' which he threw at
 
 BREAKING IT. 295 
 
 lier like cold water, to ' bring her to ' (though 
 in his heart he was very sorry for her), 
 altogether failed of its intent. She was 
 beyond the reach of such simple remedies. 
 
 It was not alone the sudden shock that 
 had thus overwhelmed her ; her conscience 
 reproached her for having encouraged this 
 unhappy young man (or, at all events, not 
 discouraged him) ; and thereby exposed poor 
 Sophy to those bitter regrets which would, no 
 doubt, be henceforth her portion. The Canon, 
 of course, knew nothing of this, and was fairly 
 appalled by this failure of his calculations. 
 
 ' If you allow yourself to be thus overcome 
 in my presence, Maria (which I should have 
 thought would have had some restraining in- 
 fluence over you), how can I trust you to 
 carry this sad news to poor Sophy ? ' 
 
 Miss Aldred sobbed and shook her head. 
 It was plain that she had no intention of 
 carrying anything of the kind. 
 
 1 But, Maria, you must surely perceive
 
 296 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 that this painful duty can only be performed 
 by one of your own sex. As for me, it would 
 be most unbecoming and — dear me — in- 
 delicate. It would be also most injudicious, 
 since the fact of my undertaking such a task 
 would exaggerate its importance — would pre- 
 suppose, I mean, certain feelings in poor 
 Sophy which it is essential should be ignored.' 
 
 But all these fine words and varnished 
 phrases were quite lost on Aunt Maria. 
 
 ' I couldn't do it, my dear brother,' she 
 sobbed, ' to save my life.' 
 
 ' Then who, in Heaven's name, is to do 
 it?' 
 
 Here there was a gentle knock at the door, 
 and the question was answered for them by 
 the entrance of Henny Helford. 
 
 The girl, who was in bonnet and shawl, 
 had a pale face, but not a frightened one. 
 
 'I have heard the news,' she said, in 
 earnest, pitiful tones ; ' and came in quickly 
 by the back way, in case I might be of any use
 
 BREAKING IT. 297 
 
 to dear Sophy. Oh, Miss Aldred, how does 
 she bear it ? ' 
 
 • My dear, she has not yet been told,' 
 answered the other, eagerly ; ' that is just 
 what the Canon and I are talking about. We 
 think that if a dear friend, and one of her own 
 age, like you, could be induced to undertake 
 such a mission, it would be very much the 
 better for — for all of us.' 
 
 ' If you think that, of course I'll do it,' 
 said Henny, simply. 
 
 ' You are a good, kind girl,' said the 
 Canon, shaking her by the hand. ' Of course, 
 this poor young fellow could never have been 
 more to Sophy than an acquaintance ; but 
 still, there was a certain intimacy. It will be 
 a shock, no doubt, to her, and a very painful 
 task to you.' 
 
 ' Pray do not think of that,' said Henny. 
 * If my case were hers, I am sure she would do 
 her best for me ; though, indeed, if it were 
 Frederick ' — her eyes filled with tears at the
 
 298 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 mere thought of such an overwhelming 
 calamity — ' I think no human being could 
 comfort me.' 
 
 1 The case you suppose, however, and 
 Sophy's are vastly different,' observed the 
 Canon, decisively. ' Mr. Perry's death can 
 only affect my ward, I trust, as that of any 
 other young man with whom she was on 
 friendly terms. Still, I am not the less 
 obliged to you for your kind offer, Henny. 
 You heard how it happened, I conclude ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, poor fellow — the chain,' sighed 
 Henny. 
 
 1 And you will be sure to say how sorry 
 we are,' put in Aunt Maria, earnestly. 'It is 
 so unfortunate that only to-day I was obliged 
 to speak to the poor child about him ; when if 
 we had waited ' — and she looked at her 
 brother reproachfully. 
 
 ' We can only do what seems to us to be 
 the best at the time,' returned the Canon, 
 with a shade of irritation. ' If we could look
 
 BREAKING IT. 299 
 
 into the future we should all behave dif- 
 ferently, no doubt ; but so far as my resolu- 
 tion with regard to this unhappy young man 
 was concerned, I have nothing to repent of — 
 nothing ; and there's an end of it.' 
 
 And such, alas ! must necessarily be our 
 reflections in such cases. A little time is 
 given to sentimental commiseration ; then 
 common sense asserts itself ; and eventually 
 it is made clear that, after all, the private 
 calamity is a substantial public benefit. It is 
 what happens in the case of all who, upon the 
 whole, have done evil rather than good — have 
 decreased rather than increased the sum of 
 human happiness. Their death is ' a happy 
 release ; ' however we gloze it over, it is well 
 that they are gone. 
 
 Sophy had gone to her own room ; but 
 not, as she had given out, with the intention 
 of retiring to rest. Sleep, as she well knew, 
 was far from her eyes. She had but ex- 
 changed her attire for a dressing-gown ; and,
 
 300 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 seated in an arm-chair and with a book in 
 her hand (not for study, but as a blind to 
 whomsoever might intrude upon her solitude), 
 had given herself over to meditation — fear. 
 
 Henny's quiet knock she had taken for 
 that of her maid, and she did not even look 
 up at her entrance, but sat staring straight 
 before her, with haggard face and anxious 
 eyes, the very picture of regret and despair. 
 
 ' Is it possible,' thought Henny, gazing at 
 her in hushed amaze, ' that she already knows 
 what has taken place ? ' 
 
 ' The silence aroused Sophy from her evil 
 dreams. ' Good heavens ! you here, Henny ? ' 
 she exclaimed. ' There is nothing wrong at 
 home, I trust ? ' 
 
 ' No, darling, not at my home,' she 
 answered, with grave significance. 
 
 Sophy trembled from head to foot. Had 
 this cruel man, then, already betrayed her ? or 
 allowed her secret to escape him in his cups ? 
 Was the Canon so vehement in his indignation
 
 BREAKING IT. 
 
 301 
 
 that lie had not permitted Aunt Maria to 
 speak with her, but had sent for Henny 
 Helford to break to her some harsh, irre- 
 vocable decree ? 
 
 ' Some very bad news has come to-night,' 
 continued Henny, ' concerning Mr. Herbert 
 Perry.' 
 
 What news could it be ? Had he openly 
 proclaimed that he was her husband, and been 
 set down as a boastful and malignant liar ? 
 She could not bring her thoughts to bear on 
 him save in some relation, more or less 
 offensive, to herself. 
 
 ' As he was boating on the river this after- 
 noon, Sophy, a terrible accident happened 
 
 Don't look so strange, my darling,' for 
 
 Sophy's face had exhibited, first a wild 
 surprise, and then an expression which Henny 
 could not translate at all — one of unutterable 
 relief. ' Calm yourself, and strive to bear it 
 like a good, brave girl.' 
 
 ' Is he dead, Henny ? '
 
 3 o2 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 Only four words ; but in their tones ex- 
 pressing as much anxiety as the human voice 
 can convey. 
 
 ' Alas, dear, yes ! He is drowned ! ' 
 
 Sophy fell back in her chair, with her eyes 
 closed. Henny thought she had fainted, and 
 flew to the window to give her air. 
 
 It was fortunate, for if she had returned 
 to her place by her friend's side, Sophy's 
 smothered ejaculation of ' Thank Heaven ! 
 could hardly have escaped her ears. 
 
 Enfranchisement is a blessed thing, no 
 matter by what means it is obtained — whether 
 by manumission, or the death of the task- 
 master. The air that Sophy breathed was the 
 air of freedom : those only can understand its 
 sweetness who have been deprived of it. 
 
 ' Darling, darling Sophy, try to bear it,' 
 whispered Henny, fervently. 
 
 ' I will ; I do.' Then, in low tones which 
 she strove to clothe in sorrow and strip of 
 eagerness, ' When did it happen ? '
 
 BREAKING IT. 303 
 
 The form of inquiry was strange enough, 
 the more natural question being obviously, 
 ' How did it happen ? ' But Henny set it 
 down to her friend's confusion and distress of 
 mind. As a matter of fact, Sophy had ex- 
 pressed the real point of her anxiety clearly 
 enough. 
 
 ' He was rowing on the river, poor fellow, 
 up some back stream where there was a chain 
 across ; after chapel.' 
 
 Sophy groaned. The first part of Henny' s 
 reply had comforted her companion ; she 
 knew that the obstacle in question existed on 
 the stream that led from Trumpington Mill, 
 and she took it for granted that the unhappy 
 young man had perished on his return home 
 from their interview early in the afternoon ; 
 there could have been no time for him to have 
 reached home and written that letter to his 
 father which he had threatened her with ; 
 but Henny' s concluding words had filled her 
 anew with apprehension ; if the catastrophe
 
 304 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 took place after chapel there had been time. 
 If that evidence of her marriage existed, it 
 would be impossible to suppress it. A life of 
 misery and thraldom was, indeed, no longer 
 before her ; but shameful exposure was — it 
 was but too likely — awaiting her. It may 
 have been a small thing to think of, side by 
 side with such an awful catastrophe ; but 
 the one had happened and the other had 
 not, and might be remedied. Under the 
 influence of terror, the weak are scarcely less 
 heartless than the cruel. There was, how- 
 ever, one advantage in this new cause for 
 alarm. It filled poor Sophy with all the 
 melancholy which her companion expected to 
 find in her from another cause ; there was no 
 longer any need for hypocrisy. Her distress 
 was such, indeed, that Henny began to feel 
 that it was aggravated by her presence ; and, 
 with her usual simplicity and straightforward- 
 ness, presently inquired if this was the case. 
 ' I came here to comfort you, my darling ;
 
 BREAKING IT. 305 
 
 but, if, now that I have fulfilled my sad 
 errand, you feel that you would rather be 
 alone, do not hesitate to say so.' 
 
 1 If you don't mind, if you would not be 
 hurt, dear Henny, I think I would,' was the 
 whispered rejoinder. 
 
 ' And your Aunt Maria ; you would, 
 perhaps, rather not see her to-night ? While 
 a wound is tender, one shrinks from even the 
 kindest touch.' 
 
 ' True, darling, true,' answered Sophy, 
 eagerly ; ' how well you understand me ! I 
 had rather be quite alone.' 
 
 Henny rose at once, and the girls em- 
 braced one another affectionately. Sophy 
 dearly loved her friend. Nor must it be sup- 
 posed that she had no scruples in deceiving 
 her ; her conscience reproached her very 
 keenly, notwithstanding that, in truth, she 
 had no alternative in the matter. It is 
 not the least among the many drawbacks 
 attaching to a course of duplicity, that it 
 
 vol. 1. x
 
 3o6 THE CANON'S WARD. 
 
 forbids us to be open even with those from 
 whom we would fain have no secrets : when 
 we once leave the plateau of plain dealing, it is 
 impossible to reascend at pleasure ; a road has 
 first to be made to it with toil and trouble, 
 and by the work of our own hands. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY 
 
 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE 
 
 AND PARLIAMENT STREET
 
 October, 1883. 
 
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 Castaway. 
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 Land at Last.
 
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 27 
 
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 All In a Garden Fair. By Walter 
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 MORTIMER & FRANCES COLLINS. 
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 28 
 
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 Felicia. 
 
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 Archie Lovell. 
 
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 One by One. 
 
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 Robin Gray. 
 For Lack of Gold. 
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 What will the World Say? 
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 Of High Degree. 
 
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 Garth. 
 
 Ellice Quentin. 
 Sebastian Strome. 
 Prince Saroni's Wife. 
 Dust. 
 
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 Jvan de Biron. 
 
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 Fated to be Free. 
 
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 Hearts. 
 
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 29 
 
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 Valentina. 
 
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 it Is Never Too Late to Mend. 
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 Love Me Little, Love Me Long. 
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 The Way we Live Now. 
 The American Senator. 
 Frau Frohmann. 
 
 Put Yourself in His Place. 
 
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 Marion Fay. 
 
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 Anne Furness. 
 
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 Women are Strange. 
 
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 The Golden Butterfly. 
 By Celia's Arbour. 
 The Monks of Thelema. 
 'Twas in Trafalgar's Bay. 
 The Seamy Side. 
 The Ten Years' Tenant. 
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 Camp Notes. | Savage Life. 
 
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 An Heiress of Red Dog. 
 Gabriel Conroy. 
 The Luck of Roaring Camp. 
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 30 
 
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 Cheap Popular Novels, continued— 
 
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 The Shadow of the Sword. 
 
 Sketches by Boz. 
 
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 Oliver Twist. 
 
 Surly Tfm. 
 
 Nicholas Nickleby. 
 
 
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 A Point of Honour. 
 
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 Archie Lovell. 
 
 Juliet's Guardian. 
 
 
 
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 Felicia. 
 
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 Roxy. 
 
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 Bella Donna. 
 
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 Antonina. 
 
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 Basil. 
 
 Hide and Seek. 
 
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 Polly. 
 
 Seventy-five Brooke Street. 
 
 Queen of Hearts. 
 
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 My Miscellanies. 
 
 Filthy Lucre. 
 
 The Woman in White. 
 
 BY R. E. FRANCILLON. 
 
 The Moonstone. 
 
 Olympia. 
 
 Man and Wife. 
 
 Queen Cophetua. 
 
 Poor Miss Finch. 
 
 One by One. 
 
 Miss or Mrs. P 
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 BY EDWARD GARRETT. 
 
 The Frozen Deep. 
 
 The Capel Girls. 
 
 The Lav/ and the Lady. 
 
 BY CHARLES GIBBON. 
 
 The Two Destinies. 
 
 Robin Gray. 
 
 The Haunted Hotel. 
 
 For Lack of Gold. 
 
 The Fallen Leaves. 
 
 What will the World Say? 
 
 Jezebel's Daughter. 
 
 In Honour Bound. 
 
 The Biack Robe. 
 
 The Dead Heart. 
 
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 Sweet Anne Page. 
 
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 Transmigration. 
 
 Queen of the Meadow. 
 
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 In Pastures Green. 
 
 A Fight with Fortune. 
 
 BY WILLIAM GILBERT. 
 
 MORTIMER & FRANCES COLLINS. 
 
 Dr. Austin's Guests. 
 
 The Wizard of the Mountain. - 
 
 Sweet and Twenty. 
 
 James Duke. 
 
 Frances. 
 
 
 Blacksmith and Scholar. 
 
 BY JAMES GREENWOOD. 
 
 The Village Comedy. 
 
 Dick Temple. 
 
 You Play me False. 
 
 BY ANDREW HALLIDAY. 
 
 BY BUTTON COOK. 
 
 Every-Day Papers. 
 
 Leo. 
 
 BY LADY DUFFUS HARDY. 
 
 Paul Fester's Daughter. 
 
 Paul Wynter's Sacrifice. 
 
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 Our Lady cf Tears. 
 
 Under the Greenwood Tree.
 
 CHATTO 6- 1VINDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 31 
 
 ,HEAP Popular Novels, continued— 
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 Garth. 
 
 Ellice Quentin. 
 Sebastian Strome. 
 
 BY SIR ARTHUR HELPS. 
 Ivan de Biron. 
 
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 A Golden Heart. 
 
 BY VICTOR HUGO. 
 The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 
 
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 Thorn icroft's Model. 
 The Leaden Casket. 
 
 BY JEAN INGE LOW. 
 Fated to be Free. 
 
 BY HENRY JAMES, Jim. 
 Confidence. 
 
 BY HARRIETT JAY. 
 The Dark Colleen. 
 The Queen of Connaught. 
 
 BY HENRY KINGSLEY. 
 Oakshott Castle. 
 Number Seventeen. 
 
 BY E. LYNN LINTON. 
 Patricia Kcmball. 
 The Atonement of Learn Dundas. 
 The World Well Lost. 
 Under which Lord ? 
 With a Silken Thread. 
 The Rebel of the Family. 
 "My Love!" 
 
 by justin McCarthy, m.p. 
 
 Dear Lady Disdain. 
 
 The Waterdale Neighbours. 
 
 My Enemy's Daughter. 
 
 A Fair Saxon. 
 
 Linley Rochford. 
 
 Miss Misanthrope. 
 
 Donna Quixote. 
 
 BY GEORGE MACDONALD. 
 Paul Faber, Surgeon. 
 Thomas Wingfold, Curate. 
 
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 Whiteladies. 
 
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 32 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY CHATTO & W INDUS. 
 
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 BY EDGAR A. POE. 
 
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 The Mystery of Marie Roget. 
 
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 Peg Woffington. 
 
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 Put Yourself in His Place. 
 
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 Love Me Little, Love Me Long. 
 
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 Foul Play. 
 
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 The Cloister and the Hearth 
 
 What She Came Through. 
 
 The Course of True Love. 
 
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 Autobiography of a Thief. 
 
 Sabina. 
 
 A Terrible Temptation. 
 The Wandering Heir. 
 
 BY EDMUND YATES. 
 
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 Castaway. 
 
 A Woman-Hater. 
 
 The Forlorn Hope. 
 
 Readiana. 
 
 Land at Last. 
 
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 Her Mother's Darling. 
 
 Paul Ferroll. 
 
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