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 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN MILLS 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "THE OLD ENGLISH GENTLEMAN" 
 
 &c, &c. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
 1881. 
 
 All rights reserved.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 TKINTED BY DUNCAN MACDONALD, BLENHEIM HOUSE. 
 
 BLENHEIM STREET, OXFORD STREET.
 
 ?A3 
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 /FENERATIONS of the Lefernes had 
 
 ^-^ come and gone. It was an old family 
 and a stately one. They had been bred in 
 state, born in state, lived in state, died in 
 state, and been buried in state. Nothing 
 could have been more stately than the 
 Lefernes. In the beginning, whenever that 
 might have been, they had possessed, as the 
 historv of the county accorded, manorial 
 rights and lordly privileges, and it would 
 appear also a somewhat despotic inclination 
 to do whatever they pleased with their 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 own, to say nothing of a great deal of 
 that belonging and pertaining to other 
 people. 
 
 In the chancel of the church, within bow- 
 shot of the ancient hall of the Lefernes, a 
 part of the early history of the family was 
 illustrated in stone and marble. In com- 
 plete armour a knight might be seen, among 
 other prostrate figures of a similar kind 
 with his hands raised supplicatingly upon a 
 time-worn tomb, and a likeness, blackened 
 with age, of the same stern warrior formed 
 part of the large collection of family 
 portraits in the long, dreary gallery of the 
 Hall, on the walls of which they were hung 
 in rows above rows, and forming a most 
 stately effect of this most stately family. 
 For be it known that the Lefernes had made 
 for themselves a local history and a name ; 
 but it was one, taking it all in all, more to 
 be dreaded than loved.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 3 
 
 Sir Harold Leferne — he lying in com- 
 plete harness on the time-worn tomb — was 
 said to have made a vow, terrible in its 
 consequences, either to leave his bones to 
 whiten on the plains of Palestine, or recover 
 the holy places from the desecrating pos- 
 session of the enemies of the Cross. Failing 
 to do either one or the other, Sir Harold — 
 as the story went — unwittingly brought 
 with him upon his return from the Holy 
 Land a perpetual memento of his broken 
 pledge in the shape of a few roots of 
 daffodils, which, being planted by his own 
 knightly hand, seemed to thrive, as season 
 succeeded season, with marvellous luxuri- 
 ance. Nothing could destroy the daffodils. 
 Sir Harold had long since crumbled into 
 dust, but each succeeding spring the daffo- 
 dils peeping out slily from the ground, and, 
 unfolding their golden heads, seemed to say, 
 M Here we are again,'' to remind all comers 
 
 b 2
 
 4 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 of the broken vow of Sir Harold Leferne. 
 And so generation succeeded generation. 
 The Lefernes remained undisputed occu- 
 pants of Greatwood Park, and so did the 
 daffodils. 
 
 The old Hall itself was a patchwork 
 edifice, having been heightened, lowered, 
 altered, added to, subtracted from, and so 
 pulled about from time to time, in accord- 
 ance with the taste or requirements of the 
 Leferne in possession, that it would be 
 difficult to describe its order of architecture. 
 There were, however, gable ends, a high 
 sloping roof, upon which stood clusters 
 of tall, crooked chimneys, so twisted that 
 the smoke must have struggled with diffi- 
 culty to pass through them. There were 
 stone casements, deep-seated windows, 
 small panes of glass which glistened and 
 twinkled like diamonds in the . rays of the 
 setting sun. There were huge oaken
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. b 
 
 beams, dark, ruist}' rooms, wherein the light 
 paled sickly on floor and panelled wall. 
 There were rooms within rooms, broad 
 staircases and narrow staircases. There 
 were galleries leading to everywhere in 
 general, and nowhere in particular. There 
 were huge closets, dark niches, dust, cob- 
 webs, silence, and gloom in the stately 
 mansion of Greatwood Park. 
 
 For seldom was a merry voice or footfall 
 heard now within its precincts. The Leferne 
 in possession of the inherited family rights 
 and privileges, had left long since in the 
 capacity of Colonel of a cavalry regiment in 
 India, and had, as report said, well supported 
 the high breeding and dignity of his race. 
 Colonel Leferne, as the despatches stated in 
 glowing terms, invariably distinguished him- 
 self when the opportjjnity offered. Upon 
 more than one occasion he had led the 
 charge at the head of his regiment, and
 
 b TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 riding straight at the serried lines of the 
 enemy, bristling with steel, swooped round 
 in their rear, and, with a graceful wave of 
 his sword, charged back again, through and 
 through, like a gallant soldier and accom- 
 plished horseman, as he was. 
 
 " A Leferne all over !" exclaimed the 
 local gossips of Greatwood Park. 
 
 Upon quitting England, to accompany 
 his regiment, Colonel Leferne left his only 
 child, Aubrey, under the care of his maiden 
 sister Margaret. The boy at the time of 
 his departure had just reached two years of 
 age, and his infantine eyes had scarcely 
 rested upon a mother's breast before a 
 separation took place between the mother 
 and son, for long, if not for ever; but 
 events must not be anticipated. 
 
 Aunt Margaret and her nephew were left 
 the stately tenants of Greatwood Park, with, 
 as rumour whispered, and which history
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 7 
 
 confirmed, very slender means to maintain 
 the dignity of their position. The steward, 
 a stern man of law and business, emphatic- 
 ally declared that the constantly required 
 remittances to India, with the interest upon 
 the heavy mortgages and other incum- 
 brances, more than absorbed the rent-roll, 
 and that to continue to fell the timber to 
 make up the periodical deficiency, would 
 soon leave the estates of Greatwood Park 
 without a tree bigger than a walking-stick. 
 
 Aunt Margaret's thin lips became com- 
 pressed at this too-often repeated cause for 
 her diurnal anxiety concerning " ways and 
 means," and, with knitted brow, she would 
 insert her long, taper fingers among the 
 luxuriant, waving, nut-brown curls of her 
 nephew, and press a passionate kiss upon 
 his brow. 
 
 She had now been his guardian ten full 
 years, and had watched the growth of her
 
 8 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 charge from infancy to childhood with care, 
 affection, and pride. Well indeed might 
 Aunt Margaret be proud of little Aubrey 
 Leferne, albeit of a disposition not too 
 obedient to her behests. Wilful he might 
 be, but then, as she said, when communing 
 with herself, u Is he not a Leferne, and my 
 brother's son ?" Here then was the solu- 
 tion of little Aubrey's wilfulness — a Leferne, 
 and her brother's son. 
 
 That brother ! yes, she often thought of 
 him. He had been to her, to others, and 
 himself an enemy of no mean or contempti- 
 ble description. The small available fortune 
 belonging to herself he — she refusing him 
 nothing within her power to give — " ran 
 through," as the local gossips said, with 
 marvellous rapidity. His friends, too, and 
 creditors, who confided in his promises to 
 pay, suffered in proportion to the magni- 
 tude of their trust, and, his resources at
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 9 
 
 length almost exhausted by extravagant 
 waste at home, he exchanged his com- 
 mission in the Life Guards for one in a 
 Hussar regiment on active service in India, 
 and earned distinction at the sabre's edge. 
 
 As may readily be conjectured, Colonel 
 Leferne had gained for himself a fame 
 besides that connected with soldier-like 
 qualities. Within a wide range of Great- 
 wood Park he had been regarded, pro- 
 claimed, and registered as the wildest and 
 worst-conducted of all the Lefernes who 
 had preceded him, and this was piling up 
 his faults, whether of commission or omis- 
 sion, to the height of a lofty pinnacle it 
 must be confessed. Aunt Margaret, how- 
 ever, was never known to blame him, or to 
 listen patiently to one who did. 
 
 She would sit in the high-backed, rudely- 
 carved old arm-chair before the smoulder- 
 ing embers on the hearth, and with her
 
 10 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 dark hazel eyes fixed pensively on them, as 
 they threw a dull, lurid light around, re- 
 called, what she would fain have renewed, 
 the early scenes of her once happy youth ; 
 for Aunt Margaret was no longer young. 
 Numerous white threads silvered her rich 
 auburn hair, thickly braided above a brow 
 still fair to look upon, although now mark- 
 ed and lined, more by thought than time. 
 Thus would she sit, when little Aubrey and 
 her small household were asleep, running 
 the sand through the hour-glass again and 
 again. 
 
 Singular in her costume, Aunt Margaret 
 never altered it winter or summer. In a 
 full black robe, sweeping to the ground in 
 ample folds, but fitting tightly to her well- 
 proportioned figure and rounded shoulders, 
 she might be seen moving with graceful 
 step and gentle footfall, without change 
 the seasons round. From the back part of
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 11 
 
 her small, classical head a large black veil 
 drooped, giving the effect, in some measure, 
 of the habits of those devoted to the Church 
 of Rome ; but Aunt Margaret had made no 
 vows dictated by priest or prelate. No 
 devotee, however, prayed oftener by day 
 or night, and the substance of her petition, 
 so often made, was that she might be patient 
 under affliction. Two heavy rows of black 
 beads encircled her snowy throat, and fell 
 over her bosom, upon which a cross was 
 iixed, generally accredited to have formed 
 part of the true cross itself. 
 
 Different from others of her age and sex, 
 Margaret Leferne would still have com- 
 manded admiration from the most critical 
 in female beauty. Time, it is true, had 
 begun to line brow and cheek, and the 
 finely-chiselled mouth was no longer stud- 
 ded here and there with dimples which 
 went and came like fickle sunbeams.
 
 12 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Long ago she was the sole putative heiress 
 of Greatwood Park, and when just budding 
 into womanhood a brother was born amid 
 great rejoicings, for dismal fears had been 
 long entertained that the name of the family 
 would become extinct. But, whatever might 
 have been the extent of these grave and 
 sorrowful apprehensions, they were dissi- 
 pated by the unquestionable facts succeed- 
 ing each other in the fulness of time — that 
 a male heir was born, lived, married, and 
 had a son, now Aunt Margaret's nephew, 
 Aubrev Leferne.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 rilHE domestics were remarkably select in 
 ■*■ number in the Hall of the Lefernes ; 
 but nothing can faithfully describe the 
 grandeur and self-importance of one of the 
 two comprising the establishment. With the 
 Christian name of Thomas, and the surname 
 of Soppy, no baron, or squire, or knight of 
 the shire could be prouder of his social 
 position. Thomas Soppy, or Mister Sop-py, 
 as he desired the whole of his numerous 
 inferiors to address him, was no ordinary 
 subject of the realm. 
 
 His self-complacency and reliance in his 
 own unsupported mental powers were such 
 as to lead to the instinctive creed in the
 
 14 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 casual observer that the right place for 
 Soppy would have been the Bench of 
 Bishops or the woolsack. Whatever lie 
 knew he was ever ready to communicate 
 with prompt eloquence and unflagging 
 energy, and that which he knew nothing 
 whatever about he was equally prepared to 
 make his auditory believe, at the shortest 
 notice, that, if a master of the abtruse sub- 
 ject existed on the surface of the upper 
 crust of this earth, they now possessed the 
 advantage of being enlightened by him upon 
 it in all its phases. He was never known to 
 admit ignorance concerning anyone or any- 
 thing, and, if asked to square the circle, he 
 would have sat down before the kitchen 
 table, and deliberately attempted to solve 
 the problem with a bit of chalk. 
 
 As perhaps it should be, Mr. Soppy's 
 personal appearance was impressive, to say 
 the least of it. His back bent inwards in
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 15 
 
 the form of a curve, and his front bent out- 
 wards in the form of a bow ; the latter 
 effect, perchance, being the result of the 
 primary cause. Short of stature, he gave 
 as much height as practicable to his figure 
 by elevating his double chin over the deep- 
 est and most stiffly-starched white cravat 
 that was ever seen, in any age, to encircle 
 the throat of a human being. His face was 
 rubicund and smooth, and his head was as 
 bald as a billiard ball, which, indeed, it 
 much resembled in shape and polish, reliev- 
 ed by a fringe, or border of hair, thin, 
 white, and in growth sparse and far be- 
 tween. If his ideas were lofty, his brow 
 was low, and his nose rather turned up- 
 wards than otherwise, dividing a pair of 
 prominent and almost colourless eyes, 
 which seemed to be generally occupied in 
 staring at vacancy. 
 
 Taking him from the ground upwards,
 
 16 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Soppy's feet were large, his toes square, 
 and his calves tubby. Black cloth breeches 
 of the old school, with steel buckles shining 
 at the knees, met a pair of tightly-fitting 
 black silk stockings, hiding, but scarcely 
 concealing, the tubby calves shining through 
 them in a subdued tint. A prodigious buff 
 kerseymere waistcoat, of immense propor- 
 tions in height, width, and depth, covered 
 the bow, and a superfine black coat, high 
 in the collar and square in the tail, per- 
 formed a similar service to the curve and 
 beneath it. Such was Soppy in his regal 
 attire upon solemn feast-days and high 
 festival. 
 
 In his opinion, which, of course, was un- 
 questionable, no particular day, in the three 
 hundred and sixty-five forming the grand 
 total of the year, merited a more decided 
 mark of distinction than the anniversary of 
 the natal day of his youug master. It will,
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 1 7 
 
 therefore, be no matter of surprise that Mr. 
 Soppy had paid unusual attention to the 
 details of his toilet, and that his " get up " 
 was as artistic as lay within the compass of 
 his power and taste, as, with a bow of the 
 best, and his right hand pressed on the left 
 of his breast, he offered his courtly con- 
 gratulations to Aubrey Leferne on the 
 morning of his completing twelve winters 
 and summers beneath the stately roof of his 
 stately forefathers. 
 
 " You see, sir," said he, standing at the 
 foot of Aubrey's small bed in a room much 
 too large, one would suppose, for any pur- 
 pose but for a game of cricket under cover 
 - — " you see, sir," repeated he, " I am here, 
 as usual, to wish you many happy returns 
 of the day." 
 
 " Thank you, Soppy," replied his young 
 master, and his voice sounded as if being 
 filtered through a thick blanket j " but I 
 
 vol. i. c
 
 18 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 was asleep. I wish you had not come so 
 earty." 
 
 "To be asleep, sir," rejoined Soppy, 
 pursing up his lips, and speaking as if all 
 his words were round, and required to be 
 dropped from them like peas — " to be 
 asleep, sir," repeated he, " is one thing ; to 
 be awake's another." 
 
 " I know that well enough." returned 
 Aubrey, with his head still buried beneath 
 the bed-clothes. " Why don't you tell me 
 something I don't know?" 
 
 " If you'll condescend, sir, to raise your 
 nose from between the sheets," said his 
 early and unwelcome visitor, but unwelcome 
 only from being early, " I will endeavour 
 to comply with your wishes in that respect. 
 You shall be told something, sir, you don't 
 know, but perhaps would like to know." 
 
 " Go on, then," grumbled Aubrey. 
 
 " But your nose is not raised, sir," con-
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 19 
 
 tinued Soppy, " and, to use the words of 
 Dr. Watts, ' Bid me discourse, I will enchant 
 thine ear.' This, however, can't be done, 
 Master Aubrey, when the ear is kivered." 
 
 "There, then, Soppy," cried his young 
 master, laughing and throwing off the bed- 
 clothes, " the ear is ?mkivered. What have 
 you to tell me ?" 
 
 " Something, Master Aubrey, which I 
 ought to be soundly flogged for telling," 
 responded Mr. Soppy, in a most serious 
 tone. 
 
 " Indeed !" exclaimed his young master. 
 "Then what a wicked old man you must 
 be!" 
 
 " I am, sir," returned Mr. Soppy, with a 
 penitential air — " I am a decidedly wicked 
 old man, sir ; but there is something to be 
 said on that score. I was at Hoxford, you 
 know, Master Aubrey, with the Colonel, 
 and besides your much-respected father, sir, 
 
 c2
 
 20 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 keeping his terms, he kept six hunters, four 
 harness 'osses, two hacks, late hours, and 
 fast company. I think I see him now," 
 continued Mr. Soppy, folding his arms 
 across the buff kerseymere waistcoat, and 
 glancing at the ceiling immediately above 
 his head, " polished off by me to the nicest 
 touch of what a gentleman should be, as he 
 stepped into his tandem, randem, harum- 
 scarum, or break-neck." 
 
 " Did my father drive all these car- 
 riages ?" inquired Aubrey, raising himself 
 on his elbows. 
 
 "With the best-appointed drag, sir," 
 proudly replied Mr. Soppy, " that was ever 
 turned out of Hoxford. I sat behind, Mas- 
 ter Aubrey, as we rattled along — for your 
 much- respected father, sir, always did twelve 
 mile an hour, no matter what the road was 
 — with my thoughts sometimes occupied 
 upon the laws of force."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 21 
 
 "The laws of force," repeated Aubrey, 
 evidently puzzled. 
 
 " In turning sharp corners at twelve mile 
 an hour," resumed Mr. Soppy, " for your 
 much respected father, sir, was particularly 
 fond of grazing the kerb, I used to 
 spekerlate upon the probable parish or 
 county I should be pitched into, provided 
 the shave was a little too close. In that 
 case the distance kivered would be, Master 
 Aubrey, precisely in accordance with the 
 propelling force of the spill." 
 
 " And that's what you call the laws of 
 force?" remarked his young master, gently 
 falling back upon his pillow. 
 
 "Exactly so," rejoined Mr. Soppy. 
 "Everyone, sir, and everything is governed 
 by the laws of force. When we little think 
 about it, Master Aubrey, and seem to be 
 having it all our own way, there's something 
 dragging us for'ard, or shoving us behind,
 
 22 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 which is neither felt nor seen, and that's the 
 law of force." 
 
 " If that is the case/' returned Aubrey, 
 " and we are not responsible for what we 
 do, I don't see why you should merit a 
 flogging for what you are about telling me." 
 
 " I was coming to that, sir," added Mr. 
 Soppy, " I was coming to that. Admitting, 
 however, that I ought not to have done 
 many things that I have done, and," con- 
 tinued he, with a pious shake of the head, 
 " ought not to do many more things which 
 perhaps I shall do, I cannot forget, Master 
 Aubrey, that I possess a very fair excuse in 
 being the victim, sir, to the force of circum- 
 stances over which I had little or no control." 
 
 "Tell me at once, Soppy, what will please 
 me to hear," added his young master, " or 
 I'll go to sleep again directly. I don't want 
 to listen," continued he, with an impatient 
 gesture, "to any more of this nonsense."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 23 
 
 "In that case, sir," said Mr. Soppy, with 
 a respectful bow, "I'll come to the pint 
 without further introduction. My lady," — 
 Mr. Soppy invariably spoke of Aunt Mar- 
 garet by this aristocratic title, although not 
 recorded in the Peerage as the daughter 
 of a proprietor of any kind of coronet — 
 " My lady," he repeated, " and the vicar 
 were closeted together yesterday morning 
 after breakfast, and having a strong sus- 
 picion, Master Aubrey, that you were the 
 subject of conversation, I placed myself in 
 what may be called a comuianding^situation, 
 to overhear what they said, and report ac- 
 cordingly." 
 
 "Not a very proper proceeding," observ- 
 ed his young master. 
 
 "Perhaps not, sir," replied Mr. Soppy ; 
 " but there is no withstanding the force of 
 circumstances. Pressing my best ear to the 
 keyhole of the door "
 
 24 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 "I begin to think," interrupted his young 
 master, " that you deserve that flogging you 
 spoke of." 
 
 "No doubt of it, sir," rejoined Mr. 
 Soppy, in the most imperturbable manner 
 and tone. "I should say, as a matter of 
 opinion," continued he, referring once more 
 to the ceiling immediately above his head, 
 " that I richly deserved to be flogged. We 
 will, however, if you please, Master Aubrey, 
 refer that pint for discussion to some more 
 fitting opportunity. The first few words," 
 resumed he, "that either by chance or design 
 I became the possessor of, convinced me, sir, 
 that I was right as to the cause of my ladv 
 and the vicar being closeted together." 
 
 "They spoke of me, eh?" said Aubrey. 
 
 "The particular subject being, sir," con- 
 tinued Mr. Soppy, " the contents of a letter 
 just received from your much respected 
 father "
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 25 
 
 " I fear, Soppy," broke in his young mas- 
 ter, " that he was not quite so much respect- 
 ed as you would have me believe." 
 
 "Always by me," returned Mr. Soppy, 
 with a superlative bow. " Whatever the 
 Colonel's 'playful tricks might have been, 
 such as kicking me downstairs, for instance, 
 I always felt that I was being kicked by a 
 gentleman who commanded my respect. 
 But as I was saying, Master Aubrey," con- 
 tinued he, ft a letter had just been received 
 from your much respected father in which 
 he expressed a very strong wish — the 
 Colonel is always strong in his sayings and 
 doings — that you should no longer remain 
 under the tuition of the vicar." 
 
 " I am glad of that," cried Aubrey, 
 springing from his recumbent position. "I 
 hate the old drone." 
 
 " Exactly so, sir," added Mr. Soppy, 
 "and I see no objection to your continuing 
 to hate him."
 
 26 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 "Go on," said his young master; "let 
 me hear all." 
 
 "My lady," continued Mr. Soppy, "of 
 course tried to make things as smooth as 
 possible ; for it is her ' nater tow,' as Dr. 
 Watts says. And the vicar, I must say, 
 took this sort of notice to quit meekly." 
 
 " Am 1 to go to school ?" asked his young 
 master, leaning forward to catch the first 
 syllable of the answer. 
 
 Now came Mr. Soppy 's moment of 
 triumph. 
 
 " To Eton !" he cried, throwing himself 
 into the first position. 
 
 To his utter astonishment, however, 
 Aubrey Leferne stared in mute astonish- 
 ment, and made no corresponding sign of 
 delight at the contemplated change.
 
 27 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " 1 WISH she would come," peevishly 
 -*- exclaimed Aubrey, as he stood by 
 the scattered and irregular bed of daffodils, 
 now in full bloom ; for the spring was close 
 at hand, and these were her heralds. "I 
 wish she would come," repeated he. " I 
 have no one to meet but Ivy, and she ought 
 not to keep me waiting." 
 
 Raising a straight switch he held in 
 his hand, he struck at the head of one 
 of the daffodils, and severed it from the 
 stalk. 
 
 u Oh, Master Aubrey !" almost screamed 
 a girlish voice close by, "what have you 
 done? What will become of us? You
 
 28 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 have cut off the head of one of those 
 dreadful flowers !" 
 
 Upon turning round, he perceived the 
 near approach of Ivy Girling, the game- 
 keeper's little daughter, upon whose fresh 
 and peach-like face considerable mental 
 anxiety was depicted as she witnessed the 
 decapitation of the daffodil. 
 
 "Then you should have been here be- 
 fore," replied Master Aubrey, with an angry 
 frown. "I told you to do so, and, if you 
 had not come now, I would have cut off all 
 their heads — ay, everyone of them." 
 
 " Don't say so, sir, pray don't," rejoined 
 Ivy. " I am trembling all over. To think, 
 too, that it was my fault !" 
 
 "You may tremble, if you like," returned 
 her companion, with little decrease in his 
 ill-humour. "I shan't. What do I care 
 for all the daffodils that ever grew or will 
 ever grow ? I'd dig them up, if I could."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 29 
 
 " Many have tried, sir," added Ivy Girl- 
 ing, brushing two unshed tears from her 
 eyes. " Many have tried/' repeated she, in 
 a warning voice, "but don't you, Master 
 Aubrey, be among the number." 
 
 "Why not?" said the boy, in a defiant 
 tone and manner. 
 
 u Because," was her reply, in a whisper, 
 rendered almost hoarse from intensity of 
 feeling, " no hand, it is said, was ever yet 
 raised against them but, sooner or later, an 
 evil spell followed it." 
 
 " Oh !" ejaculated Aubrey Leferne, irrit- 
 ably, "I am tired of stories of ghosts and 
 goblins, and, what is more, I don't believe 
 in them." 
 
 " But everyone hereabouts," resumed Ivy 
 Girling, u old and young, rich and poor, 
 believes in the curse which these flowers 
 from the Holy Land bring upon anyone 
 who disturbs or injures them."
 
 30 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 "And that's the reason," replied he, 
 " they have grown so. Everybody's afraid 
 to dig them up or cut off their heads but 
 me," and, as Aubrey Leferne concluded the 
 sentence, he aimed a well-directed cut at a 
 second daffodil, and the golden flower lay 
 in a moment at Ivy's feet. 
 
 A flood of tears followed the dexterous 
 blow. Poor Ivy Girling sobbed outright. 
 
 " And this is your birthday, Master Au- 
 brey ! How could you do it?" 
 
 Choking excitement prevented further 
 utterance, and, burying her face in her 
 hands, she gave full vent to her childish 
 fears and dread for what had been done by 
 Aubrey Leferne on his birthday. 
 
 Ivy's portrayed grief, however, produced 
 a salutary effect upon his angry feelings, not 
 altogether unmingled with self-reproach at 
 having thoughtlessly given rise to it, and, 
 taking one of her hands within his own, he
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 31 
 
 said, " Don't cry any more, Ivy. I'll not 
 touch the flowers again." 
 
 He seldom spoke so to anyone, and Ivy 
 Girling felt herself appeased in the shortest 
 possible measure of time. Tears readily 
 gave way to happy smiles, and they turned 
 and left the spot, hand in hand, the very 
 best of friends in the world, or, at least, in 
 that isolated part of it. 
 
 They were pretty children of about the 
 same age, the girl, perhaps, being somewhat 
 the elder of the two. Widely separated as 
 they were by birth and position, fate had 
 decided that they should be constant com- 
 panions as soon as each could lisp and 
 prattle to the other. The intimacy thus 
 commenced had continued without interrup- 
 tion to the twelfth birthday of Aubrey 
 Leferne, rendered memorable by his cutting 
 off the heads of the daffodils. 
 
 It was a lovely morning, towards the end
 
 32 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 of the rough and burly month of March, 
 which, "piping before the flowers like a 
 Bacchanal," bent the topmost branches of 
 the elms, and rocked the rook nests lately 
 built in the ornamental timber of Greatwood 
 Park, still spared from axe and hatchet. 
 Primroses and violets began to peep on 
 bank and hedgerow, and bright, glad things 
 of the earth were awakening from their 
 winter's sleep. 
 
 Aubrey and Ivy sauntered leisurely along 
 without speaking, as if a tacit agreement 
 had been entered into between them that 
 neither should break the silence for a given 
 period. 
 
 As before has been remarked, they were 
 pretty children, although of beauty as oppo- 
 site as possible. The boy in his features, 
 figure, and proud, independent gait, gave 
 evidence of the gentle blood which circu- 
 lated in his veins. There was no mistaking
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 33 
 
 the right and title of Aubrey Leferne to the 
 claim of being an English gentleman, albeit 
 a very young one. Tall for his years, slen- 
 der, and delicately pale, his features bore a 
 striking resemblance to those of Aunt Mar- 
 garet, and, indeed, for the most part to the 
 profiles, full and three-quarter faces, to the 
 rows above rows of the Lefernes, mouldy 
 and dingy from age, in the old portrait- 
 gallery. The aquiline nose and dark, flash- 
 ing eyes of his race were singularly con- 
 spicuous, and the thin compressed lips, so 
 determined in their expression, seemed to 
 have been monopolized by successive gene- 
 rations of his ancestors, and duly inherited 
 as a family brand by him. Thick and crisp 
 nut-brown curls surmounted a high and ex- 
 pansive brow, and a small, round, black 
 velvet cap — the work of Aunt Margaret — 
 placed jauntily upon it, gave an effect of 
 which Aubrey appeared fully sensible. Too 
 
 VOL. I. d
 
 34 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 proud, however, to be vain, he walked by 
 the side of his companion, hand in hand, 
 towards the Hall, pleased, as usual, with 
 Ivy's presence, although conveying in every 
 look and gesture that he was the patron and 
 she the patronized. 
 
 "Do you know," said he, after a long, 
 silent interval, "that Soppy told me last 
 night, as we sat together alone before the 
 wood fire in the still-room, and almost in 
 the dark, that, when I am master of Great- 
 wood Park, I can do nearly as I like with 
 everybody and everything on the estate." 
 
 "Dear me !" exclaimed Ivy, throwing her 
 long flaxen hair back, as it streamed like 
 tendrils of a vine from beneath a simple 
 straw cottage bonnet, tied by a bright red 
 riband across the crown, and trimmed with 
 wild flowers, for be it remembered it 
 was Aubrey Leferne's birthday. " Dear 
 me!" repeated Ivy, with a slight laugh,
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 85 
 
 6i then perhaps, sir, you'll be cruel to me." 
 " No," quickly rejoined Aubrey, as if the 
 remark stung him, " I shall not be cruel to 
 you. Don't think I shall be that. But 
 Soppy said that when the Colonel dies — 
 and the wonder is that he's alive now — I 
 may claim a heriot of nearly all the tenants 
 on the estate, and that means the best or 
 prettiest thing they possess." 
 
 " I have heard my father speak of the 
 Heriots," returned Ivy, " when Colonel 
 Leferne took possession." 
 
 " Soppy said," resumed Aubrey, " that he 
 made a clean sweep of the best of every- 
 thing that he could lay his hands on. And 
 so shall I." 
 
 " You, Master Aubrey !" exclaimed Ivy, 
 stopping in her walk, and bending upon 
 him as reproachful a look as a pair of soft, 
 loving blue eyes could inflict — f ' you, Master 
 Aubrey !" 
 
 d2
 
 36 TOO FAST TO LAST, 
 
 " Yes," he added, " me. I want a great 
 many things now that I can't have, but I 
 mean to get them as soon as I can." 
 
 " But you won't be hard upon the poor?" 
 observed Ivy Girling, interrogatively. 
 
 u I don't know," replied her companion, 
 shaking his head. "When I ask Aunt 
 Margaret for anything, she always says 
 she's too poor to buy it, and I feel that 
 very hard upon me. Now, when it comes 
 to my turn, why shouldn't I be hard upon 
 others ?" 
 
 The argument, possibly, was unanswer- 
 ably, for Ivy made no reply. 
 
 After a short pause, Aubrey resumed his 
 subject. 
 
 " Your father, Ivy," continued he, " is a 
 small tenant, you know, and, when my 
 turn comes, I mean to claim a heriot of him." 
 
 " Oh ! Master Aubrey," exclaimed Ivy, 
 " my father has nothing but a pig, and
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 37 
 
 never has. You would not take our pig, 
 I'm sure." 
 
 "No," replied Aubery, "because a pig 
 would be of no use to tne." 
 
 " Then what would you take ?" asked 
 Ivy, puzzled to think what the selection 
 might be. 
 
 "You," returned he — "I should claim 
 you, Ivy, for a heriot." 
 
 A merry, ringing laugh burst from the 
 lips of Ivy Girling as she learned that she 
 was to pass as a chattel under the feudal 
 law to the little lord of the Manor of Great- 
 wood Park, upon his taking possession of 
 his rights and privileges. 
 
 " But what would you do with me ?" 
 asked Ivy, still laughing. 
 
 " Make you come, go, and wait for me, 
 just as I please," rejoined Aubrey, "because 
 then you would be mine, and that's just 
 what I should like."
 
 38 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Ivy threw her long, waving hair back 
 from her shoulders, and, with flashing eyes, 
 jerked her hand angrily from his. 
 
 " Would you, then, treat me like your 
 dog ?" she asked, looking him steadfastly in 
 the face. 
 
 Aubrey Leferne saw at a glance that the 
 speaker was not qualified, at least, for a 
 submissive and obedient dog, and hastened 
 to correct any mistake that he might have 
 committed upon the subject of heriots. 
 
 " I did not mean to offend you, Ivy," 
 said he, again taking her hand. "All I 
 meant was," continued he, placing himself 
 about as close to her side as circumstances 
 would permit, and dropping his voice to a 
 low, earnest tone — " all I meant was," he 
 repeated, " that I should like you to be 
 with me whenever I wished, and that no- 
 bod} 7 should be able to stop your coming or 
 going, or being with me as long as I liked. 
 That's all, Ivy."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 39 
 
 The explanation seemed more than ac- 
 ceptable to Ivy Girling. The cloud of 
 anger vanished from her still flushed fea- 
 tures, and they became on the spot as good 
 friends as ever.
 
 40 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WITHIN and without the archway, 
 forming the entrance to an old 
 brewery in the eastern district of the me- 
 tropolis, dust might be both felt and seen 
 all the year round — dust in clouds, dust in 
 eddying circles, dust in puffs, dust every- 
 where, in, around, and about the dark, 
 gloomy gateway of the old brewery. Nei- 
 ther for man nor beast was it a spot to rest 
 in and be thankful, and yet, upon a winter's 
 day, when the dust rose unusually high and 
 thick in the keen and cutting northerly 
 wind, both one and the other might have 
 been seen, apparently at ease, patient and 
 abiding, under the archway forming the 
 entrance to the old brewerv.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 41 
 
 Waiting for something or somebody a man 
 stood at the head of a horse attached by 
 several devices to a vehicle on wheels defy- 
 ing description. The body might have been 
 formed from tea-chests, orange-boxes, or 
 waifs and strays of a similar kind, and the 
 wheels were never pairs in their original 
 condition. Paint there was none, unless 
 a coat of mud might be said to repre- 
 sent colour, and, in short, as a work 
 of skill, nothing could be farther removed 
 from the beautiful. 
 
 The " several devices," to which reference 
 has been made, consisted of a small, very 
 small saddle, dark as time-stained mahogany 
 with wear and tear, and evidently, from its 
 narrow dimensions, intended by its designers 
 for racing purposes only. This fastened in 
 the required position with a strap, support- 
 ed the shafts of the vehicle on wheels 
 defying description, and a few odds and
 
 42 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 ends of leather, rusty iron links and rope, 
 completed the " several devices," forming 
 the entirety of what was supposed to be 
 harness. 
 
 A contemplative animal stood between 
 the shafts. With head bent low, winking 
 and blinking at the stones beneath, a raw- 
 boned, shaggy-coated, old grey mare re- 
 mained as motionless as if carved from 
 granite. Her near hind leg resting on the 
 toe, ears thrown back, and tail kept close, 
 gave an air of absolute dejection to the old 
 grey mare, and, if latent causes could be 
 traced to perceptible effects, little would 
 be the wonder, perhaps, that so she stood. 
 
 Her driver, partaking of his share of the 
 dust through the medium of his eyes, 
 nostrils, mouth, and ears, leant against a 
 lamp-post, humming, with a sound not dis- 
 similar to that of a bee in a bottle, " God save 
 the Queen," with solemn variations of his
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 43 
 
 own composition. Having thus wiled away 
 the moments as they flew with philosophi- 
 cal patience, Samuel Wideo, cow-keeper by 
 trade, and general dealer in milk and water, 
 received in his vehicle on wheels a few 
 bushels of grain by w T ay of diurnal supply 
 to his limited dairy of two cows, and took 
 his departure homewards at a truly consid- 
 erate pace for the old grey mare's powers 
 of locomotion. 
 
 Samuel Wideo was a diminutive man, with 
 a large round head which bore the appear- 
 ance of having continued to grow long after 
 his body had ceased. His frame looked 
 thin and pinched, and his beetle brow, high 
 cheek bones, and small restless eyes, with a 
 mouth much too wide for ornament, what- 
 ever it might be for use, did not present 
 collectively features or form of an attractive 
 kind. And yet, ill-favoured as Samuel 
 Wideo's countenance indubitably was, its
 
 44 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 expression revealed a tender and sensi- 
 tive spot in his little pigeon breast* Samuel 
 Wideo was kind to his limited dairy of two 
 cows, the old grey mare, and particularly 
 to his small and youthful dependent and 
 assistant, Johnny Tadpole. His neighbours, 
 too, who proved themselves defaulters in 
 their unpaid milkscores, had no cause to 
 find fault with him for any harsh treatment 
 or legal threats, and a measure of compul- 
 sion towards a debtor was never dreamt of 
 by Samuel Wideo of Bromley Marsh. 
 
 Now Bromley Marsh, to be seen once by 
 the fastidious, would probably be avoided 
 henceforth and for ever. As its name 
 signified, it was a flat piece of oozy ground, 
 interspersed with wide ditches, containing 
 black mud, and a mixture of decaying cats, 
 dogs, rags, paper, egg-shells, orange peel, 
 and vegetable and animal matter, in various 
 stages of decomposition and gaseous
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 45 
 
 changes ; a few stunted, broken, and strag- 
 gling elder bushes grew here and there, on 
 the sides of the ditches, giving to Bromley 
 Marsh a rural effect which the tall factory 
 chimneys and forest of bricks and mortar in 
 the immediate vicinity, might have totally 
 expunged from the map of the imagination. 
 With a broad acreage around and about 
 him, Samuel Wideo occupied a small red- 
 brick, unornamented dwelling in the middle 
 of the marsh, to which was attached an 
 outhouse, composed of black tarred boards, 
 designed for the protection, rest, and com- 
 fort of the old grey mare and the limited 
 dairy of two cows. It was here that Sam- 
 uel Wideo passed his days in peace, if not 
 in plenty, and in a season of drought, when 
 milk began to fail, consoled himself with 
 the reflection that water remained no less 
 abundant when forced from " the cow with 
 the iron tail/' as the adjoining pump was
 
 46 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 facetiously termed by Johnny Tadpole. 
 
 "The secret of the milk-trade, Taddy," 
 said he, when giving his assistant a rudi- 
 mentary lesson, "is water. It may be 
 getting money under false pretences, as I 
 won't deny. But what is a poor devil to 
 do if his milk runs short ?" 
 
 Johnny Tadpole — a boy of small growth 
 and tender years — looked at his patron full 
 in the face, and, instinctively knowing that 
 he was right, boldly replied, 
 
 "Water it." 
 
 "That's it, Taddy," replied Samuel 
 Wideo, rubbing his assistant's unshorn and 
 unkempt locks to and fro with demonstra- 
 tive satisfaction at his shrewdness. "That's 
 it, Taddy," repeated he. " Recollect, as 
 you grow up to be a man, that when a 
 poor devil's milk runs short he must water 
 it. That principle applies," concluded 
 Samuel Wideo, with a shake of the head,
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 47 
 
 amounting almost to the solemn, " to other 
 lines o' business, besides cowkeeping." 
 
 Johnny Tadpole listened attentively to 
 this brief delivery of a practical sentiment, 
 and, repeating eacli word silently to him- 
 self, fixed it indelibly in Iris memory. 
 
 In person, Johnny Tadpole was short, 
 and, like the alder-bushes hanging over the 
 black mud near the abode of his master, 
 stunted. His biography was brief, and, at 
 the same time, formed a very fair sample of 
 the social histories of a large and interesting 
 class known under various titles. By some 
 he would have been designated " a street 
 Arab," by others, " a gutter-child." By all 
 he might have been truthfully called " an 
 outcast," cared for and loved by no one 
 from the ill-starred moment of his introduc- 
 tion into the world to the happy accident 
 of a baker's cart-wheel breaking his left leg, 
 thereby causing the elementary friendship
 
 48 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 which sprang, ripened, and flourished with- 
 out interruption between Samuel Wideo 
 and himself. 
 
 To the several interrogatories put to him 
 at fitting opportunities by the owner of the 
 kind, strong hand which snatched him from 
 beneath the wheel of the baker's cart, a 
 little mangled heap of helpless pain, Johnny 
 Tadpole never had a father — as far as he 
 knew. A mother he recollected well, as 
 she observed the unexceptionable rule of 
 thrashing him soundly whenever labouring 
 under the influence of alcoholic fluids, and 
 daily evidence of the influence being forth- 
 coming, without the benefit of a doubt, it 
 may seem superfluous to add that Johnny 
 caught at least one diurnal licking. Things 
 never mended with him when residing in 
 the alley with his mother. His food he got 
 where, when, how, and from whom he 
 could, never being particular as to the
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 49 
 
 means, mode, or manner. His feet shoe- 
 less, and his raiment too much ventilated 
 for the eye of modesty, decked in regal 
 attire, the Government — represented by the 
 policeman on the beat — often sternly told 
 him to u move on." Government, however, 
 had done nothing more for Johnny Tad- 
 pole. He continued a rover of the streets, 
 forming one of a countless band of young 
 free lances, ever ready for a tilt against the 
 laws of raeum and tuum, and in strict train- 
 ing for the certain tenancy of the jail, and 
 a still, perchance, more dire punishment — 
 the scaffold. But Government — represent- 
 ed by the policeman on the beat — contented 
 itself by merely ordering Johnny and his 
 companions in arms against the State to 
 " move on." 
 
 That, however, which the executive and 
 municipal laws had failed to accomplish ; 
 that which commissioners, local boards, and 
 
 vol. i. e
 
 50 TOO 3'^AST TO LAST. 
 
 parish vestries had never attempted — the 
 rescue of Johnny Tadpole from inevitable 
 destruction to mind, body, and soul— was 
 effected through the agencv of a baker's 
 cart-wheel. Samuel Wideo carried him ten- 
 derly to his home in Bromley Marsh, and, 
 learning his history, took him, figuratively 
 and literally, to his little pigeon-breast ; 
 and, for the first time in his life, Johnny 
 learnt what human kindness meant through 
 a broken leg, and wept more from joy than 
 pain. 
 
 "We don't part, my little pal," said 
 Samuel Wideo, as the juvenile cripple began 
 to limp about on a crutch fashioned by his 
 own hands. " Having no better place to go 
 to, you'll stop with me, and I'll try to set 
 you on your legs in more ways than one." 
 
 The cowkeeper of Bromley Marsh kept 
 his word, and his endeavour was crowned 
 with signal success. Under his care Johnny
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 51 
 
 Tadpole throve with unrivalled speed, beat- 
 ing time hollow. His poor wan face, of the 
 shape of a hatchet, so narrow and sharp it 
 appeared, became, as if by magic, plump, 
 and even rosy, for an inhabitant of the 
 marsh. The scared and frightened look, 
 produced mainly by the repeated orders of 
 Government to " move on," gave place to 
 one of boyish playfulness, not totally devoid 
 of the spice of mischief. Nobody having 
 condescended to point out the anniversary 
 of his birth, or to inform him of the precise 
 year in which he was born, Johnny was all 
 abroad- upon the subject of his age. He 
 could not make even a guess at it; but 
 Samuel Wideo overcame the difficulty by 
 "putting him down at eight," and if one 
 day was better than another in the whole 
 twelvemonth round, in his opinion that day 
 was Christmas Day. 
 
 "Therefore," he remarked, raising a fore- 
 
 e2 
 
 LfRDADV
 
 52 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 finger to draw Johnny's fixed attention to 
 the conclusion of the sentence, " having 
 myself a partiality for Christmas Days, and 
 to plum puddings, with mince pies, we'll 
 keep your birthday, Taddy, on each Christ- 
 mas Day, proposing your health, as I shall 
 do, in a neat speech, to be drunk with the 
 usual honours in milk and water." 
 
 Johnny laughed, as it was intended he 
 should, and was either much pleased at the 
 proposal or pretended to be so with con- 
 siderable skill. 
 
 " You'll not be strong enough for some 
 time," resumed Samuel Wideo, " to carry 
 the milk and water round to the customers ; 
 but you can assist me, Taddy, in the busi- 
 ness, young and small as you are, if you 
 have but the will." 
 
 Johnny Tadpole was all will from the 
 crown of his head to the soles of his feet, as 
 he was ready to swear on his knees, then 
 and there, on the ground itself.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 53 
 
 tl Very good," continued Samuel Wideo. 
 "Then you'll look after the old mare, and 
 do with her as you have seen me do, leaving 
 out the tickling under her flank now and 
 then, as she may regard it as a liberty from 
 you, and resent it accordingly." 
 
 Johnny promised most faithfully to re- 
 frain from the tickling process ; but the tips 
 of his fingers itched notwithstanding. 
 
 '•She's a bit o' blood," continued Samuel 
 Wideo, diving both hands to the extreme 
 depths of both pockets of his trowsers, which 
 clung to his straight, fleshless legs with a 
 narrowness in the material amounting to 
 decided meanness on the part of the tailor. 
 " She's a bit o' blood," repeated he, jingling 
 a few half-pence together, " and won't stand 
 liberties, Taddy, at all times. I have seen 
 her mill away with her heels, before you 
 were born, I suspect, like a mad hatter !" 
 
 Johnny was puzzled at the simile, but
 
 54 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 maintained a reserved and discreet reticence. 
 "That old mare, Queen Mary is her name 
 in the Racing Calendar" resumed her owner, 
 with undisguised pride, as he continued to 
 jingle the half-pence, " has seen better days, 
 Taddy, and so have I. But both might 
 have seen worse, perhaps, and so we'll try 
 to be satisfied, eh, old gal?" And, as her 
 owner spoke, he gave her a familiar slap 
 under the flank. 
 
 Queen Mary threw back both ears, and, 
 lifting a hind leg, threatened to mill again 
 as in days of yore. 
 
 " You wouldn't brush a fly from my 
 waistcoat, Mary, and you know it," said 
 Samuel Wideo, fondly ; " but don't you try 
 it on, Taddy, or you may find yourself 
 grassed in a manner which is counted but 
 once in a kid's life. If she meant it, she'd 
 send you clean through a deal board like a 
 shot from a gun."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. «55 
 
 Johnny Tadpole now looked at the old 
 grey mare with feelings akin to awe. 
 
 "Then there's the dairy," said Samuel 
 Wideo. " You can learn to milk — and 
 what a blessing that is when I come to 
 think of it! If I had learned to milk, 
 Taddy, when I was your age, instead of 
 riding a feather-weight in handicaps, I 
 shouldn't be " — his voice faltered, and he 
 rubbed upwards, with the back of a hand, 
 a trickling tear from the end of his nose — 
 'I shouldn't be," repeated he, sorrowfully, 
 shaking his head, " a poor, friendless, broken- 
 down old jock." 
 
 After a momentary pause, Samuel Wideo 
 conquered his feelings. 
 
 "You can also brush and wisp over the 
 cows, Taddy, while I look on and see you 
 do it properly. Then you can feed them 
 little and often, and so keep yourself free 
 from idleness. Of an evening 1 shall be
 
 56 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 your schoolmaster, and we'll see if you can't 
 become as good a scholar as I am." 
 
 "Are you a scholar, sir?" asked Johnny 
 Tadpole ; but, never having heard the word 
 before, was completely in the dark as to its 
 meaning. 
 
 "Yes, Taddy," replied Samuel Wideo, 
 sententiously, tl I'm a scholar; and you shall 
 be one as far as the three R's go." 
 
 "And what are they, sir?" inquired 
 Johnny. 
 
 "Reading, 'riting, and rithmetic," return- 
 ed Samuel Wideo.
 
 57 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 "TN the fulfilment of the design to make 
 -*- Johnny Tadpole proficient in learning 
 as far as the three R's went, Samuel Wideo 
 might be seen, when the daily toils connect- 
 ed with the milk business were at an end, 
 patiently and assiduously taking down the 
 shutters of his pupil's mental darkness. To 
 his most perfect satisfaction, Johnny soon 
 began to read fluently words of one sylla- 
 ble, and could tell how many twice two 
 made without counting the tips of his fin- 
 gers. The progress was triumphant, and 
 Samuel Wideo entertained a reserved, vain- 
 glorious thought that the result was trace-
 
 ^> 
 
 8 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 able, perhaps, as much to the teacher as the 
 taught. 
 
 It was an evening in autumn, and the 
 days were shortening fast, as Johnny sat 
 before a small round wooden table, hard at 
 his tasks. In the light, airy costume of a 
 cotton shirt, with the sleeves rolled up 
 above the tiny elbows, and a pair of canvas 
 trousers upon the small, spare legs, he was 
 diligently engaged in mastering the multi- 
 plication of four times one ; for Johnny 
 Tadpole was now in the four line, and 
 expected promotion. 
 
 " I like to see a chap, big or little, strip 
 at his work," remarked Samuel Wideo, in a 
 tone and manner denoting admiration. " It 
 looks as if a chap means business, Taddy, 
 and not play." 
 
 Johnny knew that the compliment was 
 aimed point-blank at him, and blushed, ac- 
 cordingly, from chin to brow. He pursued
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 59 
 
 his study, however, in silence, and Samuel 
 Wideo stood in his usual attitude, with his 
 back to the empty grate, and the tails of 
 his coat widely separated, waiting patiently 
 for his pupil's announcement that he could 
 repeat four times four from end to end. It 
 might be as an outward and visible sign of 
 his elastic powers of imagination that in 
 summer, as in winter, Samuel Wideo so 
 constantly maintained this position, with his 
 reverse to the empty fireplace ; but there 
 he stood, let the cause be assigned to either 
 fact or fiction. 
 
 The room which served them for parlour, 
 library, kitchen, and all — excluding the 
 dormitory — was well designed for a limited 
 quantity of furniture not exceeding the 
 personal requirements of two occupants, or, 
 at a stretch, three. A couple of straight- 
 backed, rush-bottomed chairs, and the 
 small, round, wooden table at which
 
 60 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Johnny Tadpole was pursuing his arith- 
 metical studies with great assiduity, com- 
 prised about the whole of the useful 
 articles, to which, however, might be added 
 a poker, saucepan, and frying-pan. Whe- 
 ther the tea was made in the frying-pan 
 or otherwise, was left to conjecture ; but 
 nothing more appeared to the eye in the 
 shape of cooking utensils. 
 
 To be consistent, and in keeping with 
 things coming under the head and front of 
 useful, those of the ornamental kind were 
 equally scanty. A straight- cutting riding- 
 whip, a pair of thin spurs, and a faded 
 orange and purple satin jockey's cap and 
 jacket, suspended on pegs in a triangular 
 form against the sunny side-wall of the 
 apartment, comprised the whole of the 
 decorations ; but they were constant objects 
 of pride with Samuel Wideo, and referred 
 to by him with a monotonous frequency 
 amounting to the tiresome.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 61 
 
 "There," he would say, standing with his 
 back to the grate, to Johnny Tadpole as 
 regularly as the breakfast hour arrived, to 
 be repeated, with slight alterations, at din- 
 ner time, and again rehearsed when the 
 supper was spread. " There," he would 
 say, pointing to the decorations, "are the 
 old Leferne colours. I wore them, Taddy, 
 for years when my master was in form. 
 Hah !" and then the speaker heaved a long- 
 drawn sigh, closely allied to a groan or 
 grunt, " that was form, and no mistake ! 
 To see him, gentleman as he was, mounted 
 on his two hundred guinea hack, book and 
 pencil in hand, and backing the old grey 
 mare for hundreds and thousands as coolly 
 as if a glass of gin was only at stake ; that 
 ivas form, and no mistake ! He was a real 
 gentleman, Taddy — a truer was never born 
 — and I was proud to serve him. But, like 
 many a high-bred un, he went too fast to
 
 62 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 last, and" — here Samuel Wideo's voice 
 shook with deep emotion — " he cracked 
 up." 
 
 After a brief pause — too brief sometimes 
 in the reticent opinion of Johnny Tadpole 
 — he would continue the old, old story. 
 
 " I rode Queen Mary in her first two- 
 year-old engagement, when I scaled, Taddy, 
 four — stun — six — in — my — boots — and — 
 breeches, and I rode her in her last when 
 she was aged, and I had to waste to get 
 down to nine — stun — three. She was a 
 grand animal, and nothing but weight could 
 beat her over a distance of ground. She 
 wanted scope, Taddy, and when she had 
 scope, and was fairly weighted, she would 
 lay hold of her bit, and beat a bird on the 
 wing!" 
 
 Such was Samuel Wideo's old, old story, 
 sometimes needlessly drawn out to a pro- 
 digious length, and sometimes considerably
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 6L3 
 
 shortened, but in the main the facts varied 
 in no important particular. 
 
 Johnny Tadpole, now entertaining both 
 the hope and belief that he had completely 
 impressed upon his memory the multiplying 
 of four times four from end to end, was 
 about announcing his readiness to make a 
 trial to his instructor, when a knock at the 
 door, which sounded as having been given 
 through the agency of a stick with a knob, 
 startled and checked hiui from his purpose. 
 
 " I wonder who that can be ?" said 
 Samuel Wideo, taking a couple of steps 
 towards the door, for the distance between 
 the fire-place and the door required but 
 two to reach it. Upon throwing it back 
 upon its hinges, Samuel Wideo gave unmis- 
 takable proof of being considerably as- 
 tonished. 
 
 11 What, Bottles !" exclaimed he, giving 
 one step to the rear and raising his hands
 
 64 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 above his head. iC Is that you, Bottles ?" 
 " The same, Sam," replied the individual 
 addressed by the distinctive title of 
 " Bottles/' and now standing in the door- 
 way. " There is but one Bottles, and here 
 he is — the old original in his own proper 
 person." 
 
 " And who could have dreamt of seeing 
 the old original in these parts ?" returned 
 Samuel Wideo. " But come in," continued 
 he, " and let us know all about the hows, 
 whys, and wherefores," and, as he spoke, 
 he stretched forth a hand to Bottles, who 
 grasped and wrung it with more fervour 
 than discretion, for Samuel Wideo began to 
 dance and skip with pain, and to make wry 
 faces, evincing all the decided symptoms of 
 one whose ringers were within the clutch of 
 something too strong to be pleasant. 
 
 "There's nothing like meeting with an 
 old chum," observed Bottles, dropping the
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 65 
 
 cramped and tortured hand of his friend. 
 " With my chum I'd spend my last shilling ; 
 and if I hadn't one, and he had, I'd ask 
 him, without much ceremony, to do with 
 me as I would do with him. I would so /" 
 And, as he concluded the sentence, he jerk- 
 ed forward his strong right hand of fellow- 
 ship, to be grappled by Samuel Wideo ; but, 
 in a figurative sense, he did not quite see 
 it, and kept, or monopolised, his hands to 
 himself, by crossing them behind his back. 
 
 " I don't know whether I'm more 
 pleased than surprised," returned Samuel 
 Wideo. " But whichever it is doesn't sig- 
 nify much. Take a chair," and, as there 
 was but one chair unoccupied, no difficulty 
 existed in the selection. 
 
 " By your leave I will," rejoined Bottles, 
 occupying the disengaged seat, and casting 
 a look of examination around the apart- 
 ment. Upon its falling upon Johnny Tad- 
 
 vol. i. F
 
 66 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 pole, he added, " What kid is this?" 
 
 " In one sense," replied Samuel Wideo, 
 " he belongs to me. In another sense, as 
 far as I can make out, he's nobody's kid. 
 A sort of human sparrer. Bred and born 
 in the streets. Awake and asleep in the 
 streets. Lived in the streets, and, all but 
 died in the streets." 
 
 " A lively young card, no doubt," rejoin- 
 ed the new-comer, u and one that could 
 fetch a pot of cooper, if the necessary 
 amount of the circulating medium was 
 placed in his hands, eh ?" 
 
 " Oh ! yes," returned Johnny, having 
 abandoned four times four since the intro- 
 duction of Bottles, u I know where to go 
 for a pot of cooper, sir." 
 
 "Then be my banker, Sam, and advance 
 the circulating medium," added Bottles, 
 " for I'm thirsty, and haven't a single coin 
 in my possession."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 67 
 
 " Out of luck I suppose," remarked 
 Samuel Wideo, feeling in his pockets, and 
 not in vain, for the requisite amount. 
 
 " Very much so," replied Bottles, speak- 
 ing with great pathos in every syllable. 
 " I'm what you may call, Sam, a down pin. 
 The three card business is blown upon, and 
 as for thimble-rig that's gone clean out of 
 fashion." 
 
 " We live in changeable times," remarked 
 Samuel Wideo, reflectively, and taking his 
 usual position with his back to the grate. 
 
 " We do so /" responded Bottles, with 
 undiminished pathos. " But the worst of 
 it is, Sam, I don't find any change for the 
 better. My misfortunes," continued he, 
 " seem, indeed, to have taken root, and 
 they grow like mustard seed. They do so /" 
 
 Johnny Tadpole, having been furnished 
 with the necessary funds to procure the 
 cooper, hurried away on his errand ; but 
 
 f2
 
 68 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 previous to his departure Bottles made a 
 vigorous effort to impress upon his juvenile 
 mind that "some things to be done well 
 must be done quickly, and if quickly done 
 were well done." 
 
 Consistent with his voluntary statement 
 concerning the vegetating condition of his 
 misfortunes, the garb of Bottles, and his 
 general personal effect, supported the theory 
 that there was no likelihood of an 
 immediate change for the better in his 
 prospects. In short he looked "a down 
 pin." His misfortunes evidently had not 
 only grown and flourished, but had run to 
 seed. Bottles was out at the elbows, and, 
 without capital or credit, they were denied 
 even a patch to conceal the defect. 
 
 "We're in different circumstances, Sam," 
 said he, fixing a melancholy look upon the 
 faded and dusty orange and purple satin 
 cap and jacket, "than when you rode
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 69 
 
 in those colours, and I trained for the 
 Colonel." 
 
 Samuel Wideo heaved a deep sigh, but 
 said nothing. 
 
 " We little thought then," resumed Bot- 
 tles, dismally, " that you would take to the 
 milk trade, Sam, and I to thimble-rig and 
 the three card trick business." 
 
 Samuel Wideo began to screw a bent 
 knuckle into the corner of an eye, moisten- 
 ed with an unshed tear. 
 
 " It's a terrible change in our condition," 
 added Bottles, " it is so" 
 
 Samuel Wideo now fairly broke down, 
 and his feelings found vent in a flood of 
 tears. 
 
 " Don't blubber, Sam," expostulated Bot- 
 tles, " or you'll make me squeeze out the 
 briny. You will so. How is the old bit of 
 stuff?" inquired he, changing the subject. 
 
 "What, the old mare ?" feebly rejoined
 
 70 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Samuel Wideo, as the tears forced their way 
 between his clenched fingers. 
 
 " Ay," returned Bottles, jerking on one 
 side a hat which had been battered by 
 storms and time, until the original shape 
 was much disfigured, if not completely lost. 
 " Ay," he repeated, with unequivocal pride 
 both in tone and manner, " the bit of cast 
 steel, the flyer and stayer, she who would 
 be with them, make the running as they 
 liked, and win as she pleased. How is 
 she ?" 
 
 "Come and see," said Samuel Wideo, and 
 as he spoke he led the way towards the 
 humble stable adjoining, in which the 
 object of Bottles' admiration stood con- 
 tentedly munching from a crib some warm 
 and sweet-smelling grains. 
 
 From the effects of too much cooper and 
 two little exercise, Bottles was both puffy 
 and spotty. To be in strict proportion to
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 71 
 
 his height, which was about the middle, or 
 thereabouts, he should have been considera- 
 bly lighter, and the mulberry hue of his fea- 
 tures would have been less marked had 
 they been devoid of pimples, especially his 
 nose. A line of red, scrubby hair fringed 
 his cheeks, and met under his chin, and his 
 remarkably thick, overhanging eyebrows 
 were of the same colour, and matched to a 
 nicety. As if nature had determined that 
 redness should prevail at the time of his 
 birth, his eyes were red, like those of a 
 ferret, and his mouth and chin, coming to a 
 point, bore a facial resemblance to that per- 
 secuting enemy of the rat tribe. 
 
 From a glance, unaccompanied by practi- 
 cal examination, it would be impossible to 
 record whether Bottles wore a shirt or not, 
 as a double-breasted black coat, rather rusty 
 and decayed, was buttoned closely from 
 waist to chin, and vulgarly loud green and
 
 72 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 yellow plaid trousers, sadly the worse for 
 wear and tear in more parts than one, with a 
 pair of boots cracked at the sides and worn 
 down at the heels, completed a costume not 
 to be closely imitated with advantage. 
 
 Upon the [stable door being unlatched, 
 Samuel Wideo exclaimed, "There she is as 
 the Colonel left her, well, but older grown." 
 
 " In leaving her to your charge, Sam," 
 remarked Bottles, tl it would have been as 
 well, if not better, that he should have 
 provided the means of keeping her." 
 
 "The Colonel never thought o' that," 
 replied Samuel Wideo. " He merely said, 
 1 Keep her until I return/ and so I will, in 
 the best way I can, if they both live to 
 meet." 
 
 Upon Bottles going to the head of the 
 old mare she made a snap at him with her 
 mouth full of grains, as if desirous of a 
 change of food or relish.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 73 
 
 ;c Come, come," expostulated he, " you 
 don't want a bit of the carcass of an old 
 friend, I know, a friend of your youth and 
 beauty." 
 
 " She doesn't know ye yet," said Samuel 
 Wideo. "Speak to her as you used when 
 entering her box after she'd won a race." 
 
 " What, my Queen !" cried Bottles. 
 " Done it again, eh ?" 
 
 In the twinkling of something too quick 
 for description, the old mare sprang for- 
 ward, and, blowing through her nostrils like a 
 trumpet, she arched her neck sideways, and 
 turned her full, staring eyes upon the 
 speaker. 
 
 "She knows ye now," said Samuel 
 Wideo, with admiration at his favourite's 
 sagacity. <{ She knows ye now," repeat- 
 ed he, jingling the halfpence in his pocket. 
 
 "That she does," replied Bottles, "she 
 knows her old trainer well enough, don't ye, 
 my Queen ?"
 
 74 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Her Majesty gave a slight, inward musical 
 neigh, which said, as plainly as mare ever 
 spoke to man, " That I do, Bottles." 
 
 " To be sure," rejoined her trainer, ca- 
 ressing her soft velvety nose, "to be sure 
 you do." 
 
 ei How pleased she is to see you !" re- 
 marked Samuel Wideo, as the old mare 
 rubbed her head gently against the double- 
 breasted black coat which covered, perhaps, 
 the front of a shirt not exposed to view. 
 
 " She is so" returned Bottles, running an 
 experienced eye rapidly over Queen Mary 
 from the tips of her ears to the extreme 
 ends of her heels. 
 
 Scarcely, however, had he completed his 
 examination when his lower jaw appeared 
 to drop from astonishment, and, in a mo- 
 ment, he looked like one too surprised to do 
 more than mutely stare at what he saw. 
 
 "What's the matter?" quickly, and even 
 nervously, asked Samuel Wideo.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 75 
 
 " What's the matter ?" echoed Bottles, in 
 a voice which sounded as if he were in a 
 dream., "Don't you see, San]," he almost 
 gasped, " don't you see what's the matter ?" 
 
 " N — n — no I don't," was Samuel Wideo's 
 terrified reply. 
 
 "That which the Colonel would have 
 given thousands for, has come to pass at 
 last," returned Bottles, " it has so" 
 
 "What's come to pass?" almost gasped 
 Samuel Wideo. 
 
 te It's a bill at not more than six months' 
 date," said Her Majesty's late trainer. 
 
 Samuel Wideo began to entertain impres- 
 sive misgivings that Bottles had become 
 suddenly insane. 
 
 " In little more than six months," contin- 
 ued he, " Queen Mary " — he stopped short 
 and looked out of the corners of his red, 
 ferrety eyes at the wonder-stricken coun- 
 tenance of Samuel Wideo — " in little more
 
 76 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 than six months/' he repeated, in a tone of 
 great deliberation, " Queen Mary will give 
 us either a colt-foal or filly." 
 
 Samuel Wideo was absolutely staggered 
 with the words he heard, and reeled a few 
 steps backwards in a paroxysm of astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 u You may feel all of a heap at what I 
 tell ye, Sam," resumed Bottles ; " but it is 
 true, as you will find. It is so"
 
 77 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 rpHE ivy-twined cottage erected in a 
 ■*- pleasant, cosy, retired spot in Great- 
 wood Park, and, probably chosen long ago 
 as a commanding site for watch and ward 
 over the manorial rights of the ancient 
 demesne, was the home of Ivy Girling and 
 her father, the hereditary, as it would appear 
 from the unpublished biographical annals of 
 the Girlings, head gamekeeper of the 
 Leferne family, and at the present time, 
 having no one beneath his sway and rule, 
 sole arbitrator of what should be done and 
 left undone with the wild animals of chase, 
 consisting for the most part of rabbits. 
 Harry Girling, however, had reared, or
 
 78 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 assisted to rear, clouds of pheasants in the 
 precincts of Greatwood Park, and if but a 
 few stragglers remained to call to memo- 
 ry what had been, it was only consistent 
 with everything around. The coverts had 
 been felled, and decimated, and, necessarily, 
 the clouds of pheasants became birds of the 
 past. 
 
 Harry Girling was a widower, and his 
 household affairs were managed, or misman- 
 aged, as the case might be, by his daughter 
 and only child Ivy. She did her best, how- 
 ever, be it known. Ivy Girling would have 
 done more to make her father happy and 
 comfortable at home had she been familiar 
 with the means, but let it be distinctly 
 understood that she did her best. It was 
 Ivy who rose early — earlier than he knew 
 sometimes — to make, with gentle footfall, the 
 cottage as clean, neat, and tidy as small but 
 willing hands could render it. The spiders
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 79 
 
 had no chance with Ivy, and, as for dust, it 
 no sooner appeared than it was wiped away. 
 She polished everything to a brightness 
 highly artificial, if not unnatural. The fire- 
 bars in the summer time were not to be 
 looked into twice, unless you wished to see 
 your face more than once distorted in effect, 
 and made to look grotesque in the extreme. 
 The mahogany table reflected everything 
 above and around it with the distinctness of 
 a mirror capable of making shades and shad- 
 ows look substantial, and the seats of the 
 chairs, being composed of bare wood, were 
 rendered too slippery to be sat upon with 
 confidence. Wherever there was a bit of 
 brass, as the ring, for instance, which swung 
 at the end of the bellrope, the lustre was 
 really dazzling and painfully bright to eyes 
 of a weak tendency. 
 
 In addition to these several duties of 
 rubbing and scrubbing everything within
 
 80 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 reach, and some odds and ends — with the 
 aid of climbing — beyond, Ivy Girling did 
 all the family cooking, and, it is supposed, 
 practised more upon rabbits than any cook, 
 large or small, within the United Kingdom. 
 Roasted, boiled, fried, broiled, baked, in 
 pies or otherwise. Ivy knew how to make 
 a rabbit look, smell, and taste as nice and 
 savoury as need be to the most epicurean 
 of palates. It was seldom that she had to 
 ask the head-gamekeeper of the Leferne 
 family what he would have for dinner; for 
 he seemed daily throughout the year to 
 anticipate the question by bringing from 
 one of the secret depths of a capacious 
 pocket in his black velveteen jacket a rabbit 
 slain expressly for the occasion. 
 
 Taking into consideration the erratic 
 manner in which his wages were paid it was 
 a subject for congratulation, perhaps, that 
 rabbits were still to be found, without much
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 81 
 
 seeking, on the manor over which he now 
 exercised discretionary power, and that they 
 were deemed, by law of usage and custom, 
 keepers' perquisites. Depending upon this 
 never-failing resource in the hour of need 
 and dinner time, Harry Girling and his 
 daughter met the exigencies of the day with 
 smiling countenances, and, come what 
 might, never grumbled. 
 
 The head-gamekeeper was of the order, 
 heavy, tall, stout, and burly of figure, and 
 with a stern expression of countenance 
 which plainly told he was a stranger to fear. 
 Harry Girling looked naturally constituted 
 as a living terror to poachers, who, accord- 
 ing to report, seldom evinced the slightest 
 inclination to try a bout with him at very 
 close quarters. And yet with his little 
 housekeeper he was mild in tone and as 
 gentle as a woman. Ivy never did anything 
 wrong, or what appeared to be so in his 
 
 VOL. i. G
 
 82 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 eyes, and seeing how much she did in the 
 hope to please, and never weary with the 
 task, the rough, strong man would some- 
 times almost weep for the love borne by his 
 child for him. 
 
 The days were short, for the winter was 
 nigh at hand, when Ivy Girling might have 
 been seen busier than usual preparing for 
 her father's return, and the special recep- 
 tion of Mr. Thomas Soppy, who had been 
 invited to pass a quiet evening at the game- 
 keeper's cottage. 
 
 A cheerful, crackling wood fire was blaz- 
 ing away on the hearth, and a kettle, sus- 
 pended over it, hissed and spluttered in a 
 manner demonstrative of spite or venom. 
 Three teacups and saucers with spoons to 
 match, a highly burnished teapot, and a 
 small stack of nicely-cut bread and butter 
 were already arranged on the brilliant sur- 
 face of the mahogany table, awaiting the ar-
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 83 
 
 rival of the host and the guest. The dark 
 red curtains were drawn closely before the 
 diamond-paned window, giving a snug, 
 warm, and generally inviting effect to the 
 apartment. As a conspicuous and appro- 
 priate ornament to the room, a cock phea- 
 sant, with a tail difficult to manage, from its 
 extreme length it may reasonably be 
 conjectured in his lifetime, occupied a glass 
 case on the mantel-shelf, and a double- 
 barrelled gun, designed more for use than 
 ornament, was hung above the cock phea- 
 sant. 
 
 Such was the particular disposition of the 
 goods, chattels, and effects in the game- 
 keeper's cottage on the evening on which 
 Mr. Thomas Soppy had been invited to take 
 a cup of tea and smoke a friendly pipe. 
 
 Among the human errors and failings of 
 Mr. Soppy, that of unpunctuality could not 
 be enumerated. At a given time when he 
 
 g2
 
 84 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 said that he would be either here or there, 
 do one could truthfully charge him with be- 
 ing elsewhere. With unexceptional regular- 
 ity his advents might be depended upon, and 
 as the Dutch clock against the wall struck 
 five, and the little trap-door under its face 
 opened with a spring, and the little wooden 
 drummer-boy came to the front and pre- 
 tended to beat a tattoo on his little wooden 
 drum, Mr. Thomas Soppy raised the latch 
 of the cottage door, and walked in without 
 ceremony. . 
 
 If not cold the evening was chilly, and, 
 as Mr. Thomas Soppy took as much care of 
 himself as lay within the compass of his 
 ability, it is unnecessary, perhaps, to add that 
 he was well wrapped up, and, in a poetical 
 point of view, hidden from the world by the 
 repeated folds of a scarlet worsted comfort- 
 er, which not only covered his double chin, 
 but mounted over the bridge of his nose.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 85 
 
 He also wore a great-coat in a literal sense ; 
 for the coat was ample in width, depth, and 
 length, and, from effectually concealing the 
 wearer from heel to head, rendered him a 
 moving mystery. 
 
 It was one, however, which Ivy quickly 
 solved. In that space of time known as a 
 trice, she, with nimble fingers, unfolded 
 the coils of the comforter, and shelled Mr. 
 Thomas Soppy from the great-coat like a 
 pea from the pod. And there he stood near- 
 ly charmed with the attention, which was 
 complete when Ivy placed a nicely stuffed, 
 soft cushion made of feathers, on the hard 
 bottom of an armchair composed of wood, 
 and bade him " sit down and make himself 
 comfortable." 
 
 Mr. Thomas Soppy never required a 
 pressing invitation to render himself com- 
 fortable, and accordingly he dropped upon 
 the caressing feathery seat, and, stretching
 
 86 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 out his legs before the fire, abandoned him- 
 self to the comforts of the time present 
 not vyithout hope — seeing the arrangements 
 of the tea-table close at hand — of an im- 
 proved future. 
 
 Scarcely however was he in the position 
 described, when an addition was made to the 
 assembly by the arrival of the head-game- 
 keeper. 
 
 "Ah, Tom!" said he, heartily, on seeing 
 the guest of the evening, " glad to see ye." 
 
 Mr. Thomas Soppy was equally pleased 
 at the opportunity of seeing his host, and, 
 in a few appropriate words, said so. 
 
 " Now, Ivy lass, let's have a cup o' tea," 
 added he, cheerfully, to his little housekeep- 
 er, and placing a stout ash stick in a corner of 
 the room ; "and then," continued the head- 
 gamekeeper, " we'll smoke a pipe and try 
 whether my October brewing is the right 
 sort of stuff, Tom ; for you're a good judge.""
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 87 
 
 Mr. Soppy felt flattered at the compli- 
 ment, and was quite willing to deliver a 
 prompt decision upon the evidence being 
 brought before him. 
 
 It necessarily occupied a part of the even- 
 ing to swallow the generous supply of 
 bread and butter and tea, for Ivy took care 
 that the latter should be hot, and all the 
 blowing that can be brought to bear in a 
 saucer, will not cool tea in a trice. An 
 end, however, came to the several editions of 
 cups supplied by Ivy in a manner highly to 
 be commended for its neatness; the bread 
 and butter ceased to attract from more 
 causes than one, the principal cause being, 
 perhaps, that there was no more left, and 
 Mr. Thomas Soppy began to look out at 
 the corners of his prominent and colourless 
 eyes for the proof of the quality of Harry 
 Girling's October brewing. 
 
 His patience was not sorely tried.
 
 88 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Like a busy bee of more than commonly 
 industrious habits, Ivy fluttered among the 
 cups, saucers, and plates, and cleared away 
 the last remnant of the tea as if it had never 
 been. Then two snowy white pipes were 
 arranged tastefully bowl to bowl upon the 
 reflecting and refracting mahogany table, 
 with a remarkable tobacco box which, could 
 be opened only by those in the secret. A 
 brown jug of noble dimensions, crowned 
 with a head of foaming mild ale, now graced 
 the scene, and the guest of the evening felt 
 that the smallest addition would be super- 
 fluous, and consequently out of place. 
 
 Ivy, being in the secret, dropped a penny 
 into the open slit of the tobacco box, and 
 the lid flew open as if by magic. 
 
 " Now, Tom, fill your pipe," said Harry 
 Girling, preparing to charge his own, " but 
 before lighting it give me your opinion as 
 to the October brewing."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 89 
 
 Mr. Soppy — Mr. Thomas Soppy — had no 
 objection whatever to comply with so rea- 
 sonable a request, and, raising the jug, he 
 buried his visage in the foaming white head 
 and drank quite sufficient, at least for a 
 taste ; but some palates are not sensitive to 
 sips, and his, perhaps, was one of them. 
 
 "Good," gasped Mr. Thomas Soppy, re- 
 placing the much less heavy jug upon the ta- 
 ble, " very good, Harry," continued he, 
 smacking his lips. " Just what ale should be. 
 Plenty of malt, the right quantity of hops, 
 and not too much liquor." 
 
 " My own sentiments !" observed the head 
 gamekeeper, entertaining a belief, not easily 
 shaken, that his October brewing met with 
 a compliment well deserved and totally de- 
 void of flattery. 
 
 The host and his guest had begun to send 
 clouds of fragrant smoke curling slowly 
 to the ceiling, and Ivy, never idle, was
 
 90 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 beguiling the moments as they flew, by 
 knitting a pair of winter hose, when her 
 ears tingled and her cheeks appeared roug- 
 ed in a moment by some unseen hand, 
 upon her father abruptly asking, " if Mr. 
 Soppy had heard lately from his young 
 master?" 
 
 "I heard of him through my lady this 
 morning," replied Mr. Thomas Soppy. 
 
 Tvy Girling dropped her knitting needles 
 and winter hose in her lap, and leant for- 
 ward with blinkless eyes fixed upon the 
 speaker. 
 
 "My lady said," continued he, " that from 
 the letter she received this morning he was 
 looking forward to the vacation at Christ- 
 mas with more pleasure than he could well 
 express, and hoped to meet his old friends 
 again at Greatwood Park as well as he left 
 them." 
 
 " Written like a gentleman," remarked 
 the head-gamekeeper, admiringly.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 91 
 
 " There never was one of his name," re- 
 plied Mr. Soppy, "but what was a gentle- 
 man, let the family failings be what they 
 may. A Leferne," added he, with pride 
 amounting to pomposity, "is always a gen- 
 tleman." 
 
 "I quite agree in all that, Tom," ob- 
 served Harry Girling. "The old family 
 comes from a stock that could produce 
 nothing else." 
 
 "A Leferne," resumed Mr. Thomas Soppy, 
 now mounted on his favourite hobby, " may 
 be too tall, and overlook his debts. He 
 may be too shori, and pay only when 
 pushed. He may look upon loose cash as 
 a nateral supply for loose purposes, and not 
 be too particular whether he's at Hoxford 
 or in Hindia. But a Leferne, do what he 
 may, or leave undone what he mayn't, is 
 always a gentleman." 
 
 The head-gamekeeper nodded approval.
 
 92 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 " Did you hear whether Master Aubrey 
 mentioned me in the letter?" timidly in- 
 quired Ivy. 
 
 As far as Mr. Thomas Soppy knew, or 
 had reason to believe from inferences 
 drawn from facts, wholly admitted or 
 partly disputable, Ivy Girling had not 
 been personally alluded to ; but no doubt, 
 in his young masters memory, she was the 
 first among his old friends. Ivy sighed 
 softly, and continued her knitting. 
 
 "Any news lately of the colonel?" asked 
 the head-gamekeeper. 
 
 " None," briefly answered Mr. Soppy. 
 "We" — he adopted the "We" in connec- 
 tion with the old family whenever he 
 could — " have not heard from him since 
 his orders to my lady were carried out, to 
 send Master Aubrey to Eton." 
 
 "When he writes," continued Harry 
 Girling, still pursuing his interrogatories,
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 93 
 
 "does he ever name his unfortunate " 
 
 The head-gamekeeper hesitated, and the 
 sentence remained unfinished. 
 
 " You would have said wife," added Mr. 
 Soppy. "No, he never names her. She 
 is never mentioned now by anyone." 
 
 " Poor woman !" exclaimed the head- 
 gamekeeper, pitifully. " That first quarrel 
 o' theirs- " 
 
 " And the last," interrupted Mr. Sop- 
 py. " It was their first and last quarrel, 
 Harry." 
 
 "I never heard quite the rights of it," 
 remarked Ivy's father. "Some say, to this 
 very hour, that the colonel lifted his hand 
 against her ; but I never could believe it." 
 
 "What took place was this," rejoined 
 Mr. Soppy, again moistening his lips, if not 
 soaking them, in his host's October brew- 
 ing. " What took place," repeated he, 
 "was this. It was a twelvemonth to £ day
 
 94 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 after their marriage, and I well remember 
 that the colonel went out before breakfast 
 and gathered a few early spring flowers to 
 give to his young and pretty wife upon her 
 wedding-day. Among them were some of 
 Sir Harold Leferne's daffodils." 
 
 Ivy shuddered perceptibly at the con- 
 clusion of the sentence. 
 
 " I think I can see her at this very 
 moment," resumed Mr. Thomas Soppy, 
 " taking them from his hand, as she en- 
 tered the breakfast-room, as if they had 
 been pearls of great price, and, throwing 
 herself upon his breast, she looked fondly 
 but silently into his face, and so remained 
 for some few seconds. The colonel kissed 
 her, and the husband and wife, of one year 
 to a day, after marriage seemed, and in- 
 deed were, as happy as their best friends 
 could wish them. My lady, being unwell, 
 was not present, and they were alone, with
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 95 
 
 the exception of myself, who was waiting 
 upon them. The breakfast was nearly over, 
 when the colonel pulled from a pocket of 
 his dressing-gown a somewhat large piece 
 of parchment, tied across the middle with 
 red tape. 'I have a favour to ask of you 
 this morning, dear/ said he, with a soft, 
 smooth kind of purr in his voice. ' You'll 
 not refuse me, I'm sure, on our wedding- 
 day?' 
 
 "'There is nothing, I hope, you would 
 ask,' she replied, 'that I could refuse.' 
 But I noticed that she kept her eyes fixed 
 with a half-frightened look upon the parch- 
 ment tied with red tape. 
 
 "'Jam not accustomed to refusals,' he 
 rejoined, with his haughty manner when 
 vexed. ' I have been used to have my own 
 way so long that a denial might lead to 
 most unpleasant consequences to both of 
 us.'
 
 96 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 " She gave no answer, but still kept a 
 steadfast gaze upon the parchment now un- 
 folded upon the table. I was told to fetch 
 a pen and ink, and ordered not to leave the 
 room, as my signature would be required, 
 
 " ' This is a deed,' said the colonel, ' giving 
 your consent to the trustees under your 
 marriage settlement for the money in the 
 funds — some thirty thousand pounds — to be 
 sold out. When it was suggested,' con- 
 tinued he, ' that your fortune should be 
 settled upon you, I raised, as you will 
 recollect, no objection whatever, condition- 
 ally that, with your consent in writing, it 
 might, at any time be realized, and applied 
 in accordance with your own uncontrolled 
 wishes. Do I make myself understood ?' 
 
 "With a face as white as chalk itself, she 
 merely answered ' Yes.' 
 
 " ' I now require that consent/ said he, 
 looking frowningly at his wife, for he saw,
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. . 97 
 
 as I did, that he was not going to have it 
 all his own way, as probably at first was 
 expected. ' Difficulties press severely upon 
 me, Julia/ he continued, ' and even my 
 honour is at stake.' 
 
 " 'Your honour ?' she repeated, as if in a 
 dream. 
 
 11 Approaching where she sat, he placed 
 the deed before her, and offering the pen 7 
 already dipped in the ink, said, 
 
 " ' You will rescue your husband's honour 
 from disgrace, I know, without another 
 word.' 
 
 " She took the pen from his hand, and 
 quietly laid it upon the table. 
 
 " ' I have listened to you, Edward,' she 
 said. ' Do me the justice to listen to what 
 I have to say.' 
 
 "The colonel bit his lip with impatience, 
 but uttered not a word. 
 
 "'You ask,' she began, 'for my consent 
 
 VOL. I. II
 
 98 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 to place all, or nearly all, I possess to dis- 
 charge debts incurred before we met. I 
 was told that you would do so.' 
 
 " 'Then you are not surprised/ observed 
 he, with more of a sneer than a smile, but 
 it seemed to partake of both. 
 
 " ' Perhaps I ought not to be,' she replied, 
 with a melancholy shake of the head, ' and 
 yet I am. I hoped and believed that, what- 
 ever might have been the extravagancies of 
 the past, I, as your wife, and nearly the 
 mother of your child, was loved too well 
 for any such request to be made/ 
 
 " 'Why?' he passionately asked. 
 
 " 'Because,' she returned, shrinking from 
 the angry glance bent upon her, ' complying 
 with it might, and probably would, consign 
 me and my child to ' 
 
 " ' I'll not listen to another word,' inter- 
 rupted her husband, with the fury I never
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 99 
 
 saw in anyone but a Leferne. ' Sign that 
 deed.' 
 
 "' Never, Edward/ she replied, with a 
 decided tone, terror-stricken as she looked, 
 1 I will never sign it.' 
 
 "He now seized her by an arm, upon 
 which he left the purple impression of his 
 rough iron grasp, and, thrusting the pen 
 between her fingers, again said, in a tone 
 and manner almost savage, ' Sign that 
 deed.' 
 
 " With a scream which I never shall 
 forget," said Mr. Thomas Soppy, " she 
 wrenched herself from his hold, and the 
 next moment lay stretched, as I thought, 
 dead upon the floor. The rest you know," 
 continued he. " Within a few hours she 
 was a mother ; but her senses had fled, and 
 she never knew what the pleasure was to 
 kiss her own baby." 
 
 h2
 
 100 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 "No," remarked Harry Girling, sorrow- 
 fully. " Master Aubrey was taken from 
 her from the first. But that couldn't be 
 helped, poor thing !" 
 
 The guest of the evening, having absented 
 himself as long as was deemed expedient 
 from his duties at the Hall, rose with an 
 effort from the caressing seat of feathers, 
 preparatory to taking his departure. Iv} r 
 assisted him to arrange the red-worsted com- 
 forter in its old form, together with the 
 great-coat of infinite dimensions, and, ex- 
 changing a hearty farewell with his enter- 
 tainers, Mr. Thomas Soppy quitted the 
 gamekeeper's cottage as he entered it, a 
 moving mystery.
 
 101 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A UNT MARGARET sat, as was her 
 -*-■*- wont, in her quaintly-carved, high- 
 backed chair, ruminating upon the past. 
 Her white hands and long, taper fingers 
 were clasped together, and in the large, 
 dark room she sat as the last rays of the 
 setting sun threw long, lingering shadows 
 through the sraall-paned casement, alone 
 and thinking. More than one letter, re- 
 ceived in the morning, had monopolised her 
 thoughts the live-long day, and as the night 
 approached she still remained thinking. 
 
 And so her beloved, indulged, spoiled, 
 extravagant, and spendthrift brother, the 
 brave and gallant Edward Leferne, was on
 
 102 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 his way back to England. Such was the 
 information contained in one of the letters 
 lying close at hand upon a table. Aunt 
 Margaret had read it through and through 
 so often that each syllable was stamped 
 upon her memory. Briefly and decisively, 
 as was his custom in settling everything 
 under his control, he had written to state 
 that, " his health being too much impaired 
 to continue longer on active service, he had 
 sold his commission, and should be on his 
 voyage home before she received his letter." 
 Adding a few particulars, as to the name 
 of the vessel, and when she might be ex- 
 pected to arrive, he concluded his epistle 
 by expressing his intention of living with 
 his sister in strict retirement at Greatwood 
 Park. 
 
 The promise read almost too golden to 
 be true, and yet Aunt Margaret had never 
 been hopeless of that time when Colonel
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 103 
 
 Leferne perhaps might be ranked among 
 the good as well as the brave, and if she 
 sometimes felt weary with what appeared 
 so long deferred, she often prayed, when 
 others slept, that, if long coming, it would 
 come at last. 
 
 The sun had set; the long, lingering 
 shadows had gone, and yet Aunt Margaret 
 still remained in the quaintly-carved old 
 arm-chair thinking. 
 
 She had thought long, and would have 
 thought longer, but the creak of a rusty 
 hinge startled her from her reverie, and 
 as the heavy door of the apartment opened, 
 through the application of the natural force 
 of a human hand, Dame Soppy, the better 
 half, in a matrimonial sense, of Thomas 
 Soppy, and sole feminine domestic in that 
 wilderness of a Hall, entered with a rever- 
 ential curtsey, and approached her mistress, 
 with the introductory remark that " it was 
 a fine evening."
 
 104 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 The figure and features of Dame Soppy, 
 with her " get up," may be described in a 
 very few words. Tall and somewhat bent 
 was her form, perhaps with hard work ; for 
 her husband, believing that nature had de- 
 signed him more for ornament than the 
 labours of life, left her to accomplish the 
 whole of her duties unassisted, together 
 with a large proportion of his own, par- 
 ticularly when either unpleasant or irksome. 
 Mr. Thomas Soppy's unexceptional and 
 diurnal rule was to do as little as possible, 
 making good the deficit with as transparent 
 a sham as was ever beheld. 
 
 Dame Soppy's features were round, ruddy, 
 and rustic, giving the decided impression 
 that she had enjoyed country air from the 
 hour of her birth, unmingled at any one 
 moment of her existence with city smoke. 
 
 The " get up " of Dame Soppy consisted 
 of a bleached mob-cap, with a limp, deep
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 105 
 
 frill or border, which flapped over her face 
 when she moved, and probably kept the 
 flies off. Across her remarkably flat 
 bosom a white kerchief was pinned as 
 smooth as if ironed in its position, and 
 without a visible seam or wrinkle. A spot- 
 less apron of corresponding hue was girdled 
 round her waist and fell over the front of 
 a gown of sombre colour, which, covering 
 her ankles, reached her shoes, with soles of 
 great solidity, if sound might be depended 
 upon as a proof of their thickness. 
 
 Such were the figure and features of 
 Dame Soppy. 
 
 "Oh! dame," ejaculated Aunt Margaret, 
 with a slight start, as if her train of thought 
 had been abruptly broken, "I am glad you 
 are come. Be seated, for I have much to 
 tell you." 
 
 Obeying the order in a most becoming 
 and respectful manner, as Dame Soppy
 
 106 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 thought, she perched herself upon the ex- 
 treme edge of a long-legged chair, and 
 looked ill at ease both in body and mind. 
 
 " It will be necessary for us," continued 
 Aunt Margaret, in a. quiet, deliberate tone 
 and manner, " to commence preparations for 
 receiving my brother, Colonel Leferne." 
 
 Dame Soppy's hands rose with an in- 
 voluntary and almost mechanical action. 
 
 "Yes," resumed Aunt Margaret, and 
 there was joy in her voice, " my brother is 
 coming home." 
 
 Dame Soppy positively gasped with the 
 news, but uttered not a w T ord. 
 
 " It is my wish," said Aunt Margaret, " as 
 I think it will please him best, that nothing 
 should be spoken by you, dame, to anyone 
 concerning his return. Reflection tells me," 
 she continued, "that I must learn more 
 than I know at present, before one word 
 is circulated or known in the neighbourhood 
 upon the subject."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 107 
 
 Dame Soppy promised, briefly, to be as 
 mute as a mole. 
 
 " Let the crimson room at the end of the 
 long- gallery/' continued Aunt Margaret, 
 " be got ready for his reception, and have 
 everything in it as it was on the night that 
 he slept there last — that night, dame, on 
 which I thought my heart would break." 
 
 Dame Soppy, as in duty bound, if not 
 from feeling, raised a corner of her white 
 apron to the end of her nose, and sniffed 
 convulsively. 
 
 " After long, long years of absence," said 
 Aunt Margaret, as if now speaking to her- 
 self, " I can well believe that to see his 
 home again, as he left it, would be far more 
 welcome to him than any change." 
 
 Dame Soppy gave a second detonating 
 sniff, finding herself at a loss for an appro- 
 priate remark. 
 
 "The portrait of his wife, however,"
 
 108 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 resumed Aunt Margaret, and her face be- 
 came sad on the instant with the thought, 
 "you will remove. It is better that he 
 should not see that upon his return, and yet 
 God help both him and her !" 
 
 Dame Soppy piously responded "Amen." 
 "If death," continued Aunt Margaret, 
 speaking in an audible whisper and as if to 
 herself — "if death," she repeated, "had 
 separated them, it would have been borne 
 as all such partings have been or must be — 
 with patient submission or without it. But 
 for reason to have been driven out by one 
 rude shock, leaving her a wife and mother, 
 and devoid of the knowledge of being 
 either, was a shaft of Fate, Julia Leferne, 
 too sorrowful to cause my tears to flow. If 
 I could only have wept over the dead, I 
 might been happy." 
 
 At these words Dame Soppy both felt 
 and looked one of the most miserable of 
 the human family.
 
 TOO FxVST TO LAST. 109 
 
 "Shall I unlock the big chest," she in- 
 quired, after a short pause, " and place the 
 Colonel's whips and spurs, the Queen 
 Mary's Cups, and all the odds and ends it 
 holds where he used to put them in his 
 dressing-room ?" 
 
 "Yes," replied her mistress; "let no- 
 thing be omitted in so far as you can recol- 
 lect, exactly as he left it." 
 
 " What shall I say to Sop, ma'am," — the 
 dame invariably curtailed her husband's 
 name of the second syllable — "when Sop 
 sees me making the crimson room again 
 what it was years ago ?" 
 
 " Refer him to me for any explanation he 
 may require," replied Aunt Margaret. " I 
 know that he is somewhat inquisitive." 
 
 " He can't bear anything secret to be 
 kept from him," rejoined Dame Soppy. 
 " He will worry me morning, noon, and 
 night, ma'am, to find out what it all 
 means."
 
 110 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 At this moment the heavy door of the 
 apartment again creaked slightly upon the 
 rusty hinge, and, had it been closed as 
 suddenly as it had been opened stealthily, it 
 might have flattened the end of Mr. Thomas 
 Soppy's nose. Forced by the pressure of 
 impatience, he was endeavouring to render 
 himself master of the situation by playing 
 the eavesdropper, and straining his ears in 
 listening to every word that had been 
 spoken. 
 
 "Shut the door, dame," said Aunt Mar- 
 garet; "the evening becomes cold." 
 
 Mr. Thomas Soppy probably did not hear 
 the mandate ; but no living man has had a 
 door slammed in his face by his wife who 
 was ever more startled, not to add fright- 
 ened, than he.
 
 Ill 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 QAMUEL WIDEO and his assistant, 
 ^ Johnny Tadpole, might have been 
 discovered, one fine morning in the early 
 part of the year, in spirits strongly verging 
 upon ecstasy. The flow of joy, too, was 
 real, and had not been stimulated by 
 " cooper," or any liquid stronger than 
 weak tea; for it was the hour of early 
 breakfast, and, therefore, beyond suspicion. 
 "I reelly" said the dairyman of Bromley 
 Marsh, airing himself as usual with his 
 reverse to the fire — " I reelly,'" repeated he, 
 with emphasis, " never was so obsquatwated, 
 Taddy, in the whole course of my life 
 before. What to say, think, write, or do I 
 don't know."
 
 112 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Johnny Tadpole, with a grin fixed and 
 immutable, continued to stir a spoon round 
 an empty tea-cup with a cheerful chink, as 
 a sort of musical accompaniment to his 
 employer's address. 
 
 "Here we are," resumed he, "with as 
 promising a colt -foal as mortal eyes of man 
 could well behold of the age of six hours 
 old, more or less, as the case may be, not 
 being particular as to minutes." 
 
 " It's a little beauty !" remarked Johnny 
 Tadpole, with a vigorous stir of the spoon. 
 
 "A picter !" ejaculated Samuel Wideo, 
 \vith enthusiasm. " But I should like to 
 know who the artist is that painted it ? A 
 great many of scw-perior people might be 
 puzzled, perhaps, if asked who their fathers 
 were, but there's seldom any doubt," con- 
 tinued he, " about the produce of a 
 thoroughbred mare, and yet here we are 
 with a colt-foal by Nobody-knows- what !"
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 113 
 
 " Never mind, sir, about the father," said 
 his assistant, swaying his head from side to 
 side like the pendulum of a clock. " We 
 know all about the mother, and that's 
 enough for us." 
 
 t€ But it isn't enough for the Stud Book, 
 Taddy," replied Samuel Wideo. " As you 
 grow older, you'll grow wiser, and in due 
 course of time, perhaps, learn what is 
 enough for the Stud Book. When a man," 
 continued he, touching his pigeon breast 
 with an egotistical movement of the. point of 
 a forefinger, "knows that volume from 
 beginning to end, like his A B C, put 
 him down, Taddy, as knowing some- 
 thing." 
 
 Johnny Tadpole stirred the teaspoon with 
 a kind of rapture amounting to violence. 
 
 ''The day may come, Taddy," continued 
 Samuel Wideo, spreading out the tails of 
 his coat in the form of a fan, l< when you 
 
 VOL. I. i
 
 114 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 may look upon the Stud Book as something 
 more than a book of a common sort. You 
 may" — and the speaker looked at the ceil- 
 ing above his head by way of reference — 
 " see, perhaps, in a future page of the Stud 
 Book an entry after this fashion, 'A bay 
 colt, sire unknown, dam Queen Mary, by 
 Gauntlet, by Bright Steel, by Helmet 
 Plume.'" 
 
 " As you have often said, sir," observed 
 his assistant, still engaged with the spoon, 
 " the old mare is a srand-bred un !" 
 
 " The best of blood, Taddy," responded 
 his employer, "the very best of blood. 
 Like the fine old family who owned her 
 stock for generations, a little vicious, per- 
 haps ; but a better breed never was, and 
 never will be. All quality." 
 
 " That's what I like," remarked Johnny 
 Tadpole, with profound admiration. "Give 
 us quality, sir, I say, and never mind a bit 
 o' wice."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 115 
 
 "Well, well, Taddy," returned Samuel 
 Wideo, as if graciously willing and spon- 
 taneously ready to make full and fair allow- 
 ance for " quality." " At the same time," 
 continued he, " we mustn't let quality take 
 hold o' the bit, and bolt. If so be quality 
 does, he, she, or it, as the case may be, is 
 sure to come to grief." 
 
 "What shall we call the little beauty?" 
 asked Johnny Tadpole, who appeared to 
 regard the subject under immediate discus- 
 sion as exhausted. 
 
 " I have been a- thinking o' that," replied 
 Samuel Wideo, " and for the present," con- 
 tinued he, " we'll call him, what he is, the 
 Unknown. For all we can tell he may be- 
 come just the opposite of the name we give 
 him ; but that will do well enough just 
 now." 
 
 Johnny Tadpole did not appear favour- 
 ably impressed with the distinctive title 
 
 i 2
 
 116 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 bestowed upon the little " beauty," but made 
 no critical observation in reply. 
 
 "Now," said Samuel Wideo, taking up 
 the thread of his subject, " I shall put the 
 Unknown, Taddy, under your care and 
 charge from this very hour." 
 
 His assistant felt, for the first time in his 
 existence, the weight of a responsibility. 
 
 " When he can eat a handful of bruised 
 oats," continued his employer, "you'll take 
 care that he has a full and fair allowance of 
 the best that can be bought with money, or 
 credit can procure." 
 
 Johnny Tadpole, at this precise moment, 
 took a mental bird's-eye view of the pecuni- 
 ary resources of the firm, and began to 
 speculate upon raising the wind and other 
 financial expedients. 
 
 "For air and exercise," resumed the 
 dairyman, " we shall have to turn him into 
 the marsh with his mother, and as he is 
 sure to take a spin round it now and then,
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 117 
 
 Taddy, like a meteor, when old enough to 
 know the use of his legs, 3^0 u must watch 
 and see that he doesn't go like a shot into 
 one o' them deep ditches ; for if he did, and 
 nobody near to keep his head above the 
 mud, he'd soon be food for rats and eels." 
 
 The responsibility became still heavier 
 upon the juvenile shoulders of Johnny 
 Tadpole. 
 
 " We'll have a neat and nicely-padded 
 head-stall made for him," said Samuel 
 Wideo, having, it seemed to his . assistant, 
 suddenly become reckless as to expenditure, 
 c{ and then we shall be able to handle and 
 half break him before he's mounted as a 
 yearling," continued he, rapidly building 
 one of those fragile edifices known as a 
 castle in the air. " I always like, Taddy, 
 a foal to be well handled. It saves a deal 
 o' trouble when he comes to be trained." 
 
 "Is the little beauty, then, sir, to be 
 trained for a race-'oss?" inquired John-
 
 118 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 ny Tadpole, with marked astonishment. 
 Samuel Wideo's castle fell like a pack of 
 cards. The matter-of-fact question on the 
 part of his assistant scattered that visionary 
 erection into imperceptible fragments. 
 "To be trained for a race-'oss?" 
 Who would, could, or should find the 
 money to rear, break, train, enter, try, 
 travel, mount, and bring to the post "the 
 bay colt, sire unknown, dam Queen Mary, 
 by Gauntlet, by Bright Steel, by Helmet 
 Plume ?" 
 
 The string of the dairyman's kite was 
 broken, and it fell flapping ignominiously 
 to the ground. 
 
 " Ah, Taddy !" sighed he, drawing a hand 
 across his forehead thoughtfully, " I was at 
 Greatwood Park when I spoke of handling 
 the Unknown, not in Bromley Marsh. No 
 matter, lad. I stand corrected ; but still 
 we'll do our duty with the colonel's foal, 
 for he doesn't belong to us, and, as far as
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 119 
 
 we can, he shall be made as much of as if 
 lie was going to be entered for the Two 
 Thousand, Derby, and Leger." 
 
 11 That he shall," responded Johnny Tad- 
 pole, with fervour, " for he's a little 
 beauty." 
 
 " It may be," resumed Samuel Wideo, 
 " that the colonel will never see either the 
 mare again or the foal ; but I should like 
 him to know that what he once most wanted 
 he has now got. It perhaps would cheer 
 his spirits in foreign parts, Taddy, and make 
 him happy in the hope of seeing some day 
 his favourite old mare with a foal at her 
 foot." 
 
 " How shall we manage to do that ?" 
 inquired his assistant. 
 
 " A letter, I think, might reach him," 
 responded Samuel Wideo, " and you shall 
 write it, Taddy, in what may be called that 
 fine, bold hand of yours, while I'll tell ye 
 what to say."
 
 120 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 The weight of Johnny Tadpole's respon- 
 sibility began to feel something like lead or 
 pig iron. 
 
 " Get the writing materials," said the 
 dairyman, waving a hand with mingled 
 authority and pride of demeanour, " and, 
 between us, we'll see what can be done in 
 the shape of a letter to foreign parts." 
 
 Obedience being among the first points 
 of Johnny Tadpole's education in Bromley 
 Marsh, the writing materials were forthwith 
 produced and arranged upon the table, 
 and, after carefully holding the point of 
 the pen to the light to see that there was 
 no obstructive body in the shape of a hair 
 in it, the amanuensis announced that he 
 was ready to make a commencement. 
 
 Samuel Wideo looked at the floor at his 
 feet, glanced furtively at the ceiling, rubbed 
 his large head violently both back and front, 
 coughed, and said nothing. 
 
 His assistant, prepared with the writ-
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 121 
 
 inn materials before him, waited for the 
 expected signal to start the letter for 
 ''foreign parts," but maintained a strict and 
 discreet silence. 
 
 " I shall do a little bit of anti-Scriptural 
 presently, Taddy," said the dairyman. " I 
 know I shall swear — I feel I shall." 
 
 "What for, sir?" asked his assistant, 
 somewhat alarmed at what appeared to him 
 grave symptoms of disturbance in his em- 
 ployer's mind. 
 
 " Like the mad postman, Taddy," re- 
 sponded Samuel Wideo, "who fancied him- 
 self a big bag of letters, and, in trying to 
 deliver the parcel, busted, I know I shall 
 follow suit presently." 
 
 " Don't, sir," pleaded Johnny Tadpole — 
 " pray don't do that. Take it easy, Mister 
 Wideo — take it easy, sir." 
 
 "The words jib," rejoined the dairyman, 
 polishing his forehead with his dexter hand. 
 "I know what to say, Taddy, but can't say it."
 
 122 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 "Shall I lead off?" considerately asked 
 his assistant. 
 
 " Do," returned Samuel Wideo. 
 
 " Our mare," began Johnny Tadpole, 
 plunging at the simple fact, " having been 
 brought to bed " 
 
 "That won't do," interrupted the dairy- 
 man, with vehement impatience. " Mares 
 are not brought to bed, Taddy." 
 
 The amanuensis was now at as great a 
 loss for words as the intended author of the 
 epistle, and both appeared at a dead lock. 
 
 " I have it !" exultingly exclaimed Samuel 
 Wideo, after a momentary pause. " I have 
 it, Taddy," repeated he. " Begin in that 
 bold hand of yours with a l Sir.' ' : 
 
 " Capital !" ejaculated Johnny Tadpole. 
 " I thought we should get at it at last." 
 
 " Let your up-strokes be a little finer, 
 Taddy," said the dairyman, superintending 
 the penmanship with the eye of a critic, 
 " and if the down-strokes were not quite as
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 1 23 
 
 thick as your thumb, I should say a marked 
 improvement would be seen in your writing." 
 Correction, like truth and tonics, may be 
 wholesome, but, nevertheless, bitter to the 
 taste. Johnny Tadpole had swallowed 
 something which at least brought the colour 
 to his cheeks. The "Sir" having been 
 completed to the accurate dotting of the i, 
 Samuel Wideo resumed his dictation. 
 
 6 'Queen Mary — the old hussy " 
 
 "Wait a bit, sir," interrupted Johnny 
 Tadpole. " Hussy is a hard word to spell, 
 being of two syllables." 
 
 " Don't put in hussy," said Samuel Wideo. 
 "That wasn't intended to be put in the 
 letter for foreign parts." 
 
 It now seemed Johnny Tadpole's turn to 
 suggest an amendment. 
 
 "In telling me what to write, sir," said 
 he, again making a survey of the point of 
 his pen, " please don't put in anything 
 which you mean kept out."
 
 124 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Samuel Wideo felt that this might be an 
 improvement in the art of dictation, and 
 determined to avail himself of it. 
 
 " Queen Mary," repeated the amanuensis, 
 giving the tail of the y an extra flourish. 
 "I have done that, sir." 
 
 tl Has this morning dropped a colt- 
 foal," said the dairyman, continuing his 
 narrative. u Sire unknown. Mother and 
 foal doing well." 
 
 Johnny Tadpole, sticking closely to his 
 task, soon came to a stop for additional 
 matter. 
 
 tl Those o's of yours, Taddy," observed 
 Samuel Wideo, peeping over his assistant's 
 shoulder, " are about the size and shape of 
 small birds' eggs. Plainer o's, I should say, 
 were never written." 
 
 This appeared to Johnny Tadpole praise 
 of a doubtful character, and he looked, 
 slantingly, at his recently formed o's with 
 doubt, not to add disfavour.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 125 
 
 " Now give the finishing touch," said the 
 dairyman, "by adding, ' Your obedient 
 servant,' and I'll sign my own name." 
 
 u Is that all?" asked his assistant, slightly 
 astonished at the brevity of the letter for 
 " foreign parts." " Is that all, sir ?" re- 
 peated he. 
 
 " Haven't we told the truth in a few 
 words, the whole truth, and nothing but 
 the truth ?" returned Samuel Wideo. " Such 
 being the case," continued he, " what more 
 is wanted ? In writing and speaking, Tad- 
 dy, people are too apt to waste their ink 
 and breath. We'll set them a better 
 example." 
 
 The letter, being duly signed, and direct- 
 ed to " Colonel Leferne, Great wood Park, 
 to be forwarded/' was now pronounced by 
 Samuel Wideo to be a perfect production of 
 condensed skill and genius.
 
 126 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 mHOMAS SOPPY could not lay claim 
 -*- to the distinction of being an "Ox- 
 ford man," but, as is already known, he had 
 been at Oxford, and was not a little proud 
 of the opportunity of referring to what he 
 called his " University career." 
 
 It was scarcely believed generally that 
 Mr. Soppy — Mr. Thomas Soppy — devoted 
 his leisure to the study of algebraical lan- 
 guage, or that he learned much of mo- 
 nomials, binomials, trinomials, or polyno- 
 mials, and yet, when in a passion — par- 
 ticularly with Dame Soppy — he was sure 
 to give vent to his ill-humour in copious 
 showers of mathematical anathemas, level- 
 ling annoyance of the most confusing and
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 127 
 
 puzzling description upon the heads of the 
 dumb-founded objects of his wrath. 
 
 Now, with some reluctance on the part 
 of the historian, it must be recorded that 
 Thomas Soppy did not easily forget an 
 injury either designed or inflicted upon him- 
 self. It will readily be understood, there- 
 fore, that when the end of his nose was 
 nearly caught upon the door being slammed 
 in his face, the imminent danger and risk 
 did not pass quickly from his memory. Mr. 
 Soppy thought gravely upon what the effect- 
 might have been on the final shape of his 
 organ of smell, and felt at enmity with his 
 wife, of anything but a temporary nature. 
 
 The labour of the day was done. Mr. 
 Soppy, it is true, had not clone much, but 
 was, as usual, taking his ease in the evening 
 by sitting in the still-room in a stuffed- back 
 chair, with elbows to match, and resting 
 his legs and feet by stretching them at an 
 angle which seemed most free from un-
 
 128 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 equal pressure. Physically at ease, how- 
 ever, as Mr. Soppy unquestionably was, a 
 corresponding sensibility did not appl} 7 to 
 his mental condition. Something was going 
 on in the Hall which he could not under- 
 stand. He had listened, peered, peeped, 
 and exerted his best powers to become 
 master of the situation, but obstacles of one 
 kind or other had hitherto frustrated the 
 scheme. He had examined and cross- 
 examined Dame Soppy until his voice be- 
 came hoarse and husky; but adopting the 
 privilege of her sex, either to be voluble, 
 or silent even to stubbornness, she selected 
 the latter course, and, as day succeeded da}^, 
 he could not move the length of a barley- 
 corn towards dissipating the haze which 
 surrounded the "something going on in 
 the Hall." 
 
 Failure, however, was a word not to be 
 found in Mr. Thomas Soppy's lexicon. There
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 129 
 
 was something to find out, and out it should 
 be found, if repeated attacks were sufficient 
 to carry the assault upon the barricade to 
 his knowledge. 
 
 Dame Soppy was his companion in the 
 still-room, and, though the labour of the day 
 was done, she as usual was not taking her 
 ease. Dame Soppy was at work in deftly 
 ironing a starched and bleached cravat, 
 which set off to much advantage the per- 
 sonal appearance of her lord and master, 
 on state and particular occasions. 
 
 Mr. Soppy had, in the attitude described, 
 maintained a moody silence for some minutes, 
 which might be regarded, in a general point 
 of view, as the stormy petrel or harbinger 
 of the coming tempest. The clouds lowered 
 upon his brow, the breeze came, and then 
 the gale. 
 
 "Deinmit!" exclaimed he, without any 
 introduction, " you're an old quadratic equa- 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 tion. And where you can expect to go to " 
 — here he shook his head more in anger 
 than in sorrow — " 1 don't know." 
 
 He paused, but only to take breath. 
 
 11 What was your solemn vow registered 
 at the altar some forty years ago, you 
 ancient axiom ?" he continued, with forcible 
 gesticulation. " Did you not swear, in sick- 
 ness and in health, for better or for worse, 
 to Obey ? You mouldy-headed harmonic 
 progression !" 
 
 Mr. Thomas Soppy was warming on his 
 subject. 
 
 "A wife," he resumed, " may be a multi- 
 plication, and often is so, but she has no 
 right to be a division. Apart or divided 
 from her husband, she's a dissrustinor varia- 
 tion and a beastly proportion !" 
 
 Dame Soppy continued to iron the white 
 cravat in silence, and appeared so far 
 shielded by the armour of indifference that
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 131 
 
 the battery of abuse opened upon her had 
 no palpable effect. 
 
 " A married couple," resumed Mr. Soppy, 
 "as, I believe, Moses, in the early history 
 of the world, declared to the Publicans, 
 must be one body and one mind, having 
 and keeping no secrets from each other, 
 and joyfully sharing their pleasure, pain, 
 and peace. That's what Moses laid down 
 as the law for husband and wife to follow, 
 or I'm greatly mistaken. Do you hear, 
 you common multiple ?" 
 
 Dame Soppy heard beyond the shadow 
 of a doubt, for the expounder of the Mosaic 
 edict raised his voice to a high pitch, and 
 she was anything but deaf; but she gave no 
 reply, and continued her task of ironing the 
 white cravat. 
 
 " My feelings are naturally hammered, if 
 I may be permitted to use the term," con- 
 tinued Mr. Soppy, " to find you in my lady's 
 
 k2
 
 132 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 confidence, and myself out of it. What's 
 going on between ye, I confess not being 
 able to diskiver, although I think I was 
 near being as wise as either w r hen my nose 
 escaped, with a close shave, from being 
 seriously damaged by an act of violence at 
 your wretched hands. You stony-hearted 
 logarithm !" 
 
 If his ears did not receive a false impres- 
 sion, Dame Soppy had some difficulty in 
 suppressing a giggle which momentarily dis 
 turbed her round, red, and rustic cheeks. 
 
 " I hope, and may pray presently," said 
 Mr. Soppy, resuming his subject with un- 
 flagging perseverance, " that you're not add- 
 ing to your list of numerous sins and trans- 
 gressions by laughing at your own iniquity, 
 which might have blemished your husband's 
 nose to the end of his days. You duplicate 
 ratio of a subtriplicate !" 
 
 At length Mrs. Soppy spoke, both to the 
 point and purpose.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 133 
 
 " Hard words, Thomas," said she, still 
 ironing the cravat, ff break no bones, and 
 oftener make the speaker smart than those 
 to whom they are spoken." 
 
 Beholding the imperturbable coolness of 
 his wife, and feeling the generated heat in 
 himself, Mr. Soppy entertained a vivid idea 
 that the illustration of this sentiment was 
 not far removed from the still-room in 
 which he then sat. He was not, liowever, 
 going to abandon the position he had taken 
 up. 
 
 " It's all very well," rejoined he, " to 
 fling an angry man's words back into his 
 teeth, and preach about their breaking no 
 bones ; but when the wife of his buzzurn 
 turns round, so to speak, and locks up her 
 secrets from him, just as she does the door 
 of the crimson-room when she leaves it, 
 and pockets the key, it's enough to make 
 that man howl, if not bellow. You co- 
 efficient of a fraction !"
 
 134 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 " I had my orders from m}^ mistress," 
 replied Dame Soppy, " and have only obeyed 
 them." 
 
 " That may be all very well," rejoined 
 Mr. Soppy, " and I'm not going to stand in 
 the way of your doing your duty to my 
 lady ; but what I want to know is whether 
 you don't owe a duty to me also. You 
 permutation of a surd !" 
 
 "That's not denied, Thomas," returned 
 the dame, in an unruffled tone and manner. 
 
 "Then divulge," added Mr. Soppy, in a 
 voice almost sepulchral — " I say divulge !" 
 
 "Hark!" exclaimed Dame Soppy, "I 
 think I hear the sound of wheels." 
 
 •'And what if you do?" snapped Mr. 
 Soppy. " You inverted quotient I" 
 
 " They have stopped at the lodge gate," 
 she continued, almost breathless with excite- 
 ment as she listened. 
 
 " Eh ?" ejaculated he, for rare, indeed, 
 was the occurrence for the old, gloomy gate
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 135 
 
 at the untenanted lodge to be approached 
 by wheels. 
 
 " I know," gasped Dame Soppy, and the 
 still-room ran round, and everything in it, 
 as she spoke. " I know who it is, Thomas," 
 and, dropping the cravat on the floor, she 
 was about hurrying past him without 
 further explanation, when, catching her 
 adroitly by a handful of garments in the 
 extreme rear, he dragged her backwards, 
 and held her fast. 
 
 u Who is it ?" thundered Mr. Soppy, in a 
 state of mind bordering on lunacy. " You 
 subtracted vinculum !" 
 
 " Let me go," cried Dame Soppy, strug- 
 gling to obtain her freedom. 
 
 ''Never," replied he, and his grasp, if 
 possible, was firmer than before. " I will 
 never let you go until I'm told " 
 
 Mr. Soppy — Mr. Thomas Soppy — was 
 mistaken. 
 
 Before being informed who it was that
 
 136 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 now came towards the Hall with a rattle 
 along the sweeping drive, in a travelling 
 chariot and four post-horses, he dropped 
 the bunch of garments by which he checked 
 the egress of his wife as if they had become 
 much too hot to hold pleasantly. 
 
 Aunt Margaret's voice, in hurried accents, 
 was heard without, and, a moment after- 
 wards, he was staggered and rendered 
 dizzy with a peremptory order to attend the 
 arrival of his master — Colonel Leferne.
 
 137 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 rriHE lilac blossoms had faded, but the 
 -*- laburnums were radiant in their golden 
 hue, albeit winter still lingered on the leaf 
 and flower, as if loth to take his cold, fare- 
 .well kiss. The rays of the sun were pale 
 and sickly, and through copse and grove, 
 and over hill, heath, and moor, a rough, 
 burly wind swept in fitful gusts, awakening 
 things of the glad summer time from their 
 long, death-like sleep. 
 
 It was scarcely weather for an invalid to 
 be out, and yet one might be seen leaning 
 feebly on the arm of Aunt Margaret as the 
 two stood opposite the spot where the 
 much abused daffodils of Sir Harold Leferne 
 flourished so luxuriantly. The bright,
 
 138 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 yellow flowers were withered and dead ; 
 but they nodded their heads still defiantly 
 in the breeze, and seemed to chant, " Worse 
 for wear we may be ; but here we are 
 again as we have been, and shall be again 
 and again." 
 
 u I gave Julia some of those flowers on 
 the day ending the year in which we were 
 married," faintly observed Aunt Margaret's 
 companion, pointing to the bed of daffodils 
 with the end of a cane. 
 
 ' c I recollect, Edward," quietly returned 
 Aunt Margaret. 
 
 " We never had a quarrel before," said 
 her brother, for it was Colonel Leferne who 
 spoke, " and yet scarcely had I given them 
 to her when it proved to be the first and the 
 last." 
 
 " Too true," replied his sister, with a 
 stifled sob. "Too true." 
 
 " You tell me that now, as from that 
 moment," he rejoined, " she remains the
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 139 
 
 same, conscious of no one and of nothing." 
 " Her mind and memory," added Aunt 
 Margaret, " are a perfect blank, devoid of 
 the slightest power to comprehend a single 
 impression of the past or the present." 
 
 Without uttering another word, Colonel 
 Leferne drew a heavy, military cloak more 
 closely around him, and, with a shudder 
 which might have been the effect of ague, 
 placed an arm within one of his sister's and 
 turned from where the daffodils were once 
 more about taking their departure from 
 above ground towards the Hall in Great- 
 wood Park. 
 
 Tall and erect, impaired in constitution as 
 he was, Colonel Leferne looked the soldier 
 from head to heel. His emaciated features, 
 as seen beneath a foraging cap, ornamented 
 with a band of travel-worn gold lace, were 
 darkly bronzed from exposure to the sun ; 
 but so strong was the resemblance to the 
 family portraits in the old picture-gallery
 
 140 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 that he might have been limned for almost 
 any one of them. The knitted and strongly- 
 marked brow, the full and flashing hazel 
 eyes, were those of generations of the 
 Lefernes long since passed away, and the 
 thin, compressed lips, on the upper one of 
 which grew a heavy, dark moustache, curl- 
 ing downwards at the angles of the mouth, 
 bore the traditional expression of resolu- 
 tions that once fixed were seldom known 
 to change. 
 
 The hollow cheek and languid gait as he 
 slowty walked along, resting for support on 
 the arm of his sister, revealed at a glance 
 the present condition of the Colonel's 
 health. His strength of thew and sinew, 
 and bold, iron nerve were gone, but the 
 ruin of manhood that remained was not 
 without attraction. 
 
 "I have come home," said he, in a tone 
 of peevish complaint, " a sorry wreck, 
 Margaret, a sorry wreck, and shall be, as
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 141 
 
 heretofore, a source of trouble and care to 
 
 you." 
 
 " No, no, Edward," replied his sister, 
 looking upwards into his face with an affec- 
 tionate smile as she spoke, and pressing the 
 hand resting on her arm within one of hers, 
 " you were never that to me. I was ever 
 anxious for your welfare, nothing more." 
 
 " Welfare ?" he repeated, with a deeply- 
 drawn sigh. " If thought of by you, Mar- 
 garet, I fear that I never knew what my 
 welfare was, and, if I think of it now " — his 
 voice dropped, and the words which died 
 upon his lips were — " it is too late." 
 
 Softly, however, as they were spoken, she 
 heard them, and quickly rejoined, 
 
 "No, no, Edward; a good purpose is 
 never too late. The past, be it what it 
 may, is beyond control, and they who live 
 long enough to turn back the pages of life's 
 sad history, cannot but regret time misspent, 
 opportunities lost, and the abundant harvest
 
 142 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 garnered from sin, human passions, and 
 errors which mastered their possessors. 
 But the penitent's claim, Edward, to be 
 forgiven is never too late." 
 
 " A part of your argument I know to be 
 true," returned her brother. "We are, 
 indeed, held responsible for what appears 
 to me we cannot prevent. If human pas- 
 sions are innate and act as causes to effects, 
 how is it that we can be free to perform the 
 parts of good and evil ?" 
 
 " In so far as what we do or leave un- 
 done," added Margaret Leferne, in a tone 
 which conveyed a purpose of deep meaning, 
 " we cannot but feel that we are the arbi- 
 trators of our own fate. Specious arguments 
 may be used and sophistical excuses made 
 for deeds of sin, guilt, and crime, bringing 
 their bitter fruits of remorse and self-re- 
 proach, but each and all endowed with 
 reason know full well that, finite as his
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 143 
 
 power may be, man is the controller of his 
 own actions." 
 
 " But what do you allege, Margaret," 
 said the colonel, "as to circumstances 
 surrounding us, which we can no more 
 direct or turn aside than the slathered tern- 
 pest ? We are the very slaves and crea- 
 tures of circumstances." 
 
 " For that which we cannot govern," re- 
 sponded his sister, and her voice faltered 
 with emotion as she spoke, " rest satisfied 
 that divine mercy and justice hereafter will 
 visit with the full measure of forgiveness. 
 For what we have to answer is that which 
 we can control, not that which controls us." 
 
 " It may be so," responded he, thought- 
 fully. " We will not continue the subject 
 further now ; it wearies me." 
 
 At this juncture the figure, form, and 
 substance of Mr. Soppy appeared in the 
 perspective as it loomed between two rows
 
 144 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 of lofty trees forming the avenue in which 
 the Colonel and his sister were sauntering 
 the morning after his arrival. Mr, Soppy 
 — Mr. Thomas Soppy — had met with a 
 shock to his nervous system, in the sudden 
 and, to him, unexpected arrival of his mas- 
 ter, that he was not likety to get over in a 
 way commonly known as a hurry. To say 
 that he was " stunned " would be to assert 
 a condition of mind not strictly in accord- 
 ance with the historical fact, but that the 
 advent of the Colonel expelled temporarily 
 every vestige of his particularly common 
 sense there cannot be the ghost of the sha- 
 dow of a doubt. As he subsequently avow- 
 ed, when his gift of speech returned, he did 
 not know the relative position of his head 
 and his heels, and that it occupied some 
 time to collect his scattered senses in order 
 to decide how he should approach — whether 
 on his head or his heels — the presence of
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 145 
 
 his master. The mind, however, having 
 regained a healthy and proper bias, Mr. 
 Soppy found himself equal to the emer- 
 gency, and conducted himself with habitual 
 politeness and unlimited discretion. 
 
 The buff waistcoat formed a conspicuous 
 object as Mr. Soppy loomed in the distance, 
 and, from the decided curve brought out 
 strongly in the light, seemed to take prece- 
 dence of the wearer. Over and above the 
 ample folds of the stiffly-starched cravat 
 Mr. Soppy's double chin rolled in repeated 
 layers or stratums, and from the highly- 
 polished shoes-on his feet to the elaborately- 
 arranged few and far distant hairs on his 
 cerebrum and cerebellum, it was proclaimed 
 and emphatically announced to the world 
 at large that it was high festival at Great- 
 wood Park. 
 
 In his hand, or, to be more accurate, in 
 the two hands of which he was sole pro- 
 
 vol. i. ' l
 
 146 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 prietor, Mr. Soppy bore a large and massive 
 silver salver, in the centre of which was a 
 small letter, sealed with a wafer and stamp- 
 ed with a thimble. The natural indenture 
 of Mr. Soppy 's nose became intensified as 
 he placed the plebeian-looking epistle on 
 the surface of the silver salver, and, holding 
 it as far off as possible from contact with 
 his olfactory organ, he took his way towards 
 Colonel Leferne, to whom the letter was legi- 
 bly addressed, with the o's as large as, and 
 of a corresponding shape to, small birds' eggs. 
 
 With a step forward, not dissimilar to a 
 skip, and a bend of the most perfect refine- 
 ment, Mr. Soppy presented the silver salver 
 to the colonel, and then with a correspond- 
 ing step, otherwise skip, backwards, stood 
 erect, with his toes turned out in the first 
 position, to await the issue of what might 
 follow. 
 
 " A pleasing announcement," said the
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 147 
 
 colonel, smiling, as he offered the letter to 
 his sister. "You recollect Queen Mary?'' 
 continued he, addressing Mr. Soppy. 
 
 Mr. Soppy ventured to state, without any 
 reservation whatever, that the first thought 
 he had upon waking every morning of his 
 life was Queen Mary, and the last, proba- 
 bly, he should be permitted to entertain in 
 this sublunary world, previous to becoming 
 an angel, was Queen Mary. 
 
 " A grand and noble animal !-" exclaimed 
 the colonel, his eyes lighting up with en- 
 thusiasm, and the colour crimsoning through 
 his bronzed cheeks. " Few men ever 
 possessed her equal," continued he. "And 
 her superior over all distances, Soppy, you 
 and I never saw." 
 
 Mr. Soppy would have regarded it as an 
 optical delusion had a different result been 
 seen even by himself in broad, open day- 
 light, and vouched for as a solemn, incon- 
 
 l2
 
 148 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 trovertible fact by the bench of bishops. 
 
 Thomas Soppy, be it remembered, was a 
 natural-born courtier, and thoroughly knew 
 the concomitant parts of the oil of flattery. 
 
 " And your favourite has a foal!" ex- 
 claimed Aunt Margaret. " "We will regard 
 tins welcome information from your old 
 servant, Samuel Wideo, as an omen of good 
 fortune." 
 
 " To good fortune, Margaret," replied he, 
 " I fear, like many of her favourites and 
 spoiled children, I have been anything but 
 grateful. We will, however, as you sug- 
 gest, look upon it as another of her gifts, 
 and at an opportune moment." 
 
 ''Aubrey will be delighted to learn this 
 piece of intelligence," remarked Aunt Mar- 
 garet ; " for, although he never saw Queen 
 Mary, he knows, I believe, as much as 
 anyone of her triumphs and history." 
 
 "My son, I suppose," languidly observed 
 the colonel, "inherits the tastes of his father."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 149 
 
 Aunt Margaret's lower jaw dropped slight- 
 ly at these words, and a close observer 
 might have seen that her pale face grew 
 paler than before they were spoken. 
 
 " He is, perhaps, too young for me to 
 express an opinion concerning his distinct- 
 ive qualities," she replied. " But you will 
 soon have the opportunity of judging for 
 yourself." 
 
 " I shall be more than pleased to possess 
 it," returned the colonel, with a slight yawn. 
 " I think that you said the term ends to- 
 day." 
 
 "Yes," added Aunt Margaret, "we shall 
 have our dear boy home from Eton to- 
 morrow. But 1 should have sued for leave 
 of immediate absence on your return had it 
 not so happened." 
 
 "It would have been more considerate 
 on your part, Margaret," rejoined Colonel 
 Leferne, again yawning, " than I could have 
 wished. The interval since we met is so
 
 150 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 very long that an insignificant addition to 
 the time could make no sensible difference 
 to either." 
 
 4; Are you then, Edward, not anxious to 
 clasp your son to your heart?" inquired his 
 sister, with something like reproach in her 
 voice and manner. 
 
 cc Inexpressibly so," responded the colonel, 
 " otherwise, I fear, you would place me in 
 the category of unnatural parents, or domes- 
 tic outlaws of some ostracised kind or other." 
 
 Aunt Margaret said nothing in reply, but 
 kept her eyes fixed steadfastly on the ground. 
 
 " I must answer this note," continued he, 
 addressing Mr. Soppy. "Let pen, ink, and 
 paper be placed in the library." 
 
 Mr. Soppy 's nose, having slowly approach- 
 ed the ground on which he stood, once 
 more ascended to an upper current of the 
 atmosphere, and, with majestic deportment, 
 he turned in the opposite direction of his 
 coming.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 151 
 
 " I hope to find my son," observed the 
 colonel, with a short pause, after Mr. Soppy's 
 departure, " a presentable effect of your 
 kindness, Margaret, the labour of my col- 
 lege chum, the vicar, in his elementary 
 tuition, and the discipline and association of 
 Eton. In short," continued he, speaking in 
 a slow, deliberate manner, "if I am to 
 clasp my son to my heart, I must first feel 
 convinced, from an examination of my own, 
 that he is, in every particular, a young gen- 
 tleman worthy of his name." 
 
 "Aubrey will be an ornament to his 
 family," returned Aunt Margaret, with pride 
 at the thought of her handsome nephew. 
 
 " If so," added her brother, " we shall 
 get on remarkably well together. I admire 
 ornaments of society, and, should my son 
 prove himself deserving of the claim of 
 being one, I shall be considerate to his 
 weaknesses, and perhaps blind to his faults." 
 
 41 Reserve your judgment," said Aunt
 
 1 52 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Margaret. "I do not fear, however, but 
 that it will be in his favour." 
 
 " Let me be trustful in your zeal," re- 
 sponded the colonel. " For whatever may 
 have been the indiscretions of the Lefernes, 
 Margaret, for many past generations no 
 question has ever been raised concerning 
 their refinement. My successor, therefore, 
 not to be a gentleman, measured by a high 
 standard of merit, would be sickening in the 
 extreme. " 
 
 " Have you thought or determined what 
 his future career is to be ?" asked his sister. 
 
 "After Eton," replied the colonel, "Ox- 
 ford. Then, I think, a commission in the 
 Guards. What do you think of a commis- 
 sion in the Guards ?" 
 
 Not knowing, perhaps, what to say at the 
 moment, Aunt Margaret coughed slightly. 
 
 " You would delicately remind me, by 
 that significant cough, Margaret," resumed
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 153 
 
 the colonel, " that money will be required 
 to practically carry out this plan, and that 
 it is, as it has been for a long period, a rare 
 medium of power in my possession." 
 
 "I will confess, Edward," she replied, 
 with a smile, " that a thought concerning the 
 means at your command flitted through rav 
 brain." 
 
 " And a sensible thought, too," rejoined 
 the colonel, approvingly. u No one could 
 possibly quarrel with a thought like that. 
 I must, however," continued he, " have an 
 interview with Early, and see what can be 
 done further in raising the supplies to the 
 level of expenditure." 
 
 Aunt Margaret made no observation in 
 reply, but walked on in silence by the side 
 of her brother.
 
 154 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 JOHNNY TADPOLE had been awake 
 
 ^ long before the earliest suburban cock, 
 within a wide circle of Bromley Marsh, had 
 thrown his pugnacious challenge on the 
 breeze ; for his eyelids had not been 
 closed, or his senses steeped in forgetfulness, 
 throughout the livelong, weary night. 
 
 The weight of another responsibility was 
 rather too much for Johnny's nerves. 
 
 " Now, Taddy," exclaimed Samuel Wideo, 
 popping his head into the cupboard, which 
 might be supposed, by a flight of the 
 imagination, to be the bed-room of his 
 assistant, — " now, Taddy," repeated he, " it's 
 time to be stirring, lad. Be alive." 
 
 With the agility of something that was
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 155 
 
 not only alive, but lively, Johnny Tadpole 
 quitted the very small bed on which he had 
 enjoyed many a sound and refreshing sleep, 
 forgetful of the world and its hard knocks, 
 and by the world, with its ready clenched 
 and double fists, forgotten. With the cheer- 
 ful response of, "All right, Mister Wideo," 
 — for Johnny was ever respectful to his 
 patron — he at once began, and soon com- 
 pleted, the general outline and minute 
 details of his toilet. 
 
 It necessarily occupied but a short space 
 of time to plunge his head and face into a 
 basin of fresh, cold spring water, and after 
 wiping them with a discarded article of 
 linen which bore a striking resemblance to 
 a shirt — particularly a blue checked cotton 
 shirt — he ran his fingers upwards through 
 his close-set curls, and there he stood wash- 
 ed and combed. Thrusting his legs — rather 
 spare in the calves — into a pair of clean 
 canvas trousers, pulling a blue cotton shirt,
 
 156 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 fresh from the tub, over his shoulders, 
 and tugging a snow white linen jacket, 
 rather long in the waist, over the shirt, 
 there stood Johnny Tadpole dressed all in 
 his best, minus his shoes and stockings. 
 These, however, were soon added, and in 
 about the time that it occupies to boil an egg 
 lightly, from the moment of receiving the 
 summons "to be alive," there he stood 
 ready dressed to do his duty as previously 
 arranged with Samuel Wideo. It was a 
 duty, however, amounting almost to the 
 solemn, and the weight of the responsibility 
 about to be undertaken felt overwhelming 
 in the extreme. 
 
 Turning his heel upon the cupboard, in 
 which he had slept so long and well, 
 Johnny Tadpole drew a deep, long-drawn 
 sigh, and hastened towards the stable where 
 Queen Mary and the Unknown had just 
 risen, like himself, from the soothing 
 slumber of the night. The old grey mare
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 157 
 
 saluted the appearance of Johnny with a 
 slight, musical, inward neigh, and the Un- 
 known, after stretching his slender limbs, 
 put forth his nose to be rubbed, as was the 
 ' wont of his attendant, by way of a morning 
 greeting. 
 
 "There's no time for play just now," said 
 Johnny, in a tone and manner clearly 
 signifying that his thoughts were far more 
 occupied with business than pleasure, " so 
 keep your nose to yourself. I've got some- 
 thing more to do than rub your nose this 
 morning, I can tell ye." 
 
 The Unknown might have been dis- 
 appointed at this stern announcement; but 
 whatever his feelings were he made no out- 
 ward or visible sign of a mortified spirit, 
 and appeared contented with the passive 
 permission of his mother to commence his 
 breakfast in the primitive manner of a 
 suckling. 
 
 With a readv and liberal hand Johnny
 
 158 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 proceeded to supply Queen Mary with her 
 matin meal, the measure of good, sound 
 oats being not only full but running over, 
 mixed as it was with some fragrant clover 
 cut into chaff. A preliminary draught of 
 pure water from a pail clean enough for 
 the milk to be carried to the most fastidious 
 of customers, and the old grey mare looked 
 as if all her wants for the time being, at 
 least, had been promptly and fully satisfied, 
 albeit in a manner depicting an earnest 
 desire on the part of Johnny Tadpole to 
 save the moments as they flew at all cost 
 and any hazard. 
 
 " Has she got her feed ?" inquired Samuel 
 Wideo, making a hurried appearance at the 
 stable-door, and as if time was capital too 
 precious to be lost. 
 
 " Yes," replied Johnny, with a corres- 
 ponding briskness of deportment, " the old 
 dear's got her beak among the susar." 
 
 O DC 
 
 " Then come and put yours, Taddy,
 
 TOO FxVST TO LAST. 159 
 
 among the fried eggs and bacon." rejoined 
 Samuel Wideo ; " for they're hot and juicy 
 now, and there's not a minute to lose." 
 
 Following closely the footsteps of his 
 employer into the room of small dimen- 
 sions, which constituted the kitchen, and 
 parlour, and all, Johnny found what may 
 be fitly described as a superb and luxurious 
 breakfast awaiting him. There was a loaf 
 of liberal dimensions and good household 
 quality, which carried the invitation upon 
 its surface to " Cut, and come again." There 
 was half a pound of butter, clearly not salt 
 but fresh, and of the highest marketable 
 value ; there was a black teapot, containing 
 tea in the strictest sense of the term, and 
 not water nicknamed tea ; there was a 
 frying-pan, containing eggs and bacon, still 
 fizzing and smoking, and placed in the 
 centre of the table to be within easy reach 
 — open to objection perhaps as an orna- 
 ment, but, viewed in a utilitarian point of
 
 160 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 view, far above criticism. There was un- 
 adulterated milk in all its natural, pristine 
 simplicity ; there was mustard in a white, 
 dumpy-looking pot, free from stain or blem- 
 ish, and too pure to eat much of at once 
 without affecting the eyes. All these delica- 
 cies were spread, collectively and respect- 
 ively, before the eyes of Johnny Tadpole, 
 and scarcely had he beheld them when he 
 was heartily bid to test their quality and 
 "peg away." 
 
 "This morning, Taddy," remarked Samuel 
 Wideo, as intelligibly as a mouth fully 
 charged with eggs and bacon would permit ; 
 for the breakfast was a concern of joint 
 interest in apparently equal divisions, " is 
 what may be called " — the parts of speech 
 being behind the bacon — "your start in 
 life. Soak the crumb in the gravy, Taddy. 
 It eats nicer than when it's dry." 
 
 The instructions being complied with, the 
 dairyman resumed.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 161 
 
 "The result of every great race is in the 
 scales, Taddy, and good men sometimes, 
 like good 'osses, are handicapped too heavy 
 to struggle to the front in that great field 
 called the world, while some of both allot- 
 ted to carry nothing heavier than a pair of 
 boots, Taddy, and worth about the price of 
 a lucifer match, rush from start to finish, 
 and bag the stakes which their masters 
 could have won in a walk, only the unfair 
 weight stopped them." 
 
 Johnny Tadpole began to suspect that he 
 was subjected to a crusher. 
 
 "Now sending you," continued Samuel 
 Wideo, ''to Greatwood Park, in Wiltshire, 
 with Queen Mary and her foal, Taddy," — 
 the parts of speech being still behind a fresh 
 edition of eggs and bacon — "is handicap- 
 ping you, I'm free to confess, at an unfair 
 weight. Butter that crust, it will go down 
 easier." 
 
 vol. I. M
 
 162 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 The crust being on the way it should 20, 
 Samuel Wideo again took up the thread of 
 his discourse. 
 
 " But what was to be done ? The Colo- 
 nel writes and says in his old style, c Send 
 the mare and foal as soon as they can 
 travel,' but not one word does he say how 
 they are to go ; and, what's worse, Taddy," 
 — here the dairyman dropped his voice 
 and glanced suspiciously over his right 
 shoulder, as if expecting to see a detective 
 behind his chair — " he doesn't send a single 
 quid to pay ex's with. Now," continued 
 he, in the same mysterious tone and man- 
 ner, " it's all very well to tell a fellar to do 
 a thing, and quite another to show him the 
 way, or help him how to do it. Like a 
 good many more people I've met with in 
 my travels, the Colonel was always ready 
 to order, but how he was to be obeyed you 
 must find out. Have another cut at that
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 163 
 
 loaf, Taddy, and don't spare the last egg on 
 account of its being the last.'' 
 
 If the assistant had entertained any latent 
 scruple upon the point of its being the last 
 egg, it vanished most completely with en- 
 couragement. 
 
 " Here's a case before us," continued 
 Samuel Wideo a the parts of speech becom- 
 ing much clearer from the eggs and bacon 
 ceasing to operate as an impediment. "The 
 Colonel orders Queen Mary and the Un- 
 known to go over one hundred miles, and 
 there, as usual, he stops short, and no more 
 at present from yours to command, Edward 
 Leferne." 
 
 Johnny Tadpole entertained a faint idea 
 that this was intended as a flash of caustic 
 wit, and, perceiving that he was correct in 
 his conclusion from a furtive glance at his 
 patron's countenance, he broke into a hearty 
 laugh, which, given with great dramatic 
 
 m2
 
 164 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 effect, flattered the dairyman immensely, 
 and he almost thought that he must have 
 said something irresistibly funny, and rather 
 beyond his own comprehension. 
 
 The boisterous laugh, sinking to a few 
 inward chuckles, and at length, to the silent 
 expression of a grin which stretched back 
 the angles of Johnny's mouth almost to his 
 ears, Samuel Wideo once more returned to 
 the subject of interest. 
 
 " Doing the best, as I may say, Taddy, I 
 have ever done, as far as I knew how, 
 under difficulties, I made up my mind to 
 send you by easy stages, young as you are, 
 with the old grey mare and her foal to 
 Greatwood Park. The milk business," con- 
 tinued he, " mustn't stand still, and, there- 
 fore, I can't go further than a few miles 
 t'other side of London ; but I'll see ye well 
 on the road, and if you do just as I've told 
 ye, you'll get to your journey's end like a 
 cripple on a crutch, straight but slow."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 165" 
 
 The assistant was ready with another 
 burst of merriment, but, perceiving no sign 
 of approval, reserved it for another occasion. 
 
 " Above all things," said the dairyman, 
 with great gravity, u don't forget j^he setting 
 sun. You are going due west, Tadcly, re- 
 collect, from Bromley Marsh, and the con- 
 sequence is that the setting sun should shine 
 on your nose. Get it the other way, and 
 you're clean out o' the course, and the 
 wrong side o' the post. Put the setting 
 sun behind and you're done." 
 
 Johnny Tadpole made a religious promise 
 to keep the setting sun in front, if within 
 the power of human legs to control the 
 position of that luminary. 
 
 " Very good," resumed Samuel Wideo. 
 "Then, having settled the setting sun, we'll 
 just touch upon two or three trifling other 
 matters. You're sure to meet or overtake 
 on the way some ver\ 7 curious people, who 
 will be sure to want to know where you
 
 166 TOO FAST TO LAST, 
 
 came from, where you are going to, what's 
 your business, what's your name, who's your 
 mother, and so forth. Now, above all 
 things, except the setting sun, don't be 
 pumped. ..Keep a silent tongue, Taddy, and 
 then along other kinds of roads besides the 
 one you are going this morning you may be 
 thought wise, keeping dark any proof of 
 your being otherwise." 
 
 The assistant registered a vow to " be 
 mum." 
 
 "Ah!" ejaculated the dairyman, "what 
 a glorious thing it would be for people to 
 be mum instead of giving tongue ; there 
 wouldn't be half the mischief in this world, 
 Taddy, if people would only be mum. 
 Finish the loaf, and then we'll start." 
 
 Johnny Tadpole, however, declared, with 
 much emphasis, that the remains of the loaf 
 must remain where they were. The last 
 egg had topped him up.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 167 
 
 "In that case," continued Samuel Wideo, 
 "we'll not lose another minute, for to get 
 the Unknown through the streets before 
 they're crowded should be our first thought. 
 Shoulder vour lus^age." 
 
 Yielding a ready compliance with the 
 mandate, the assistant placed a bundle tied 
 in a blue and white spotted handkerchief, 
 and about the size of a prize-grown turnip, 
 upon the end of a stick, and, shouldering it 
 with ease from probably its lightness, 
 announced that he was ready to begin his 
 start in life. 
 
 "A second or two more," rejoined the 
 dairyman, "and I shall be. To travel over 
 a hundred miles with a mare and foal, cut 
 down the ex's as close as you can, a lad 
 can't do it with nothing. It's not possible, 
 Taddy, and therefore you shan't try. Now, 
 as the Colonel has left me to find out as 
 usual how to obey his orders, I know of no
 
 168 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 better means than to find the money to 
 carry them out." 
 
 From a pocket containing the available 
 balance of cash in hand, Samuel Wideo 
 produced just enough silver to represent 
 one pound sterling. After counting it with 
 some deliberation upon the table to see. as 
 he said, " all was right," he swept the 
 several pieces forming the whole into the 
 broad palm of one of his hands, and pre- 
 sented them to his assistant, observing, as 
 he did so, 
 
 " It's all I've got, Taddy, so more you 
 can't have. Make the most of it." 
 
 " Hadn't you better keep some, sir, just 
 to go on with ?" was Johnny Tadpole's con- 
 siderate interrogatory. 
 
 "It's not twopence a mile, Taddy," re- 
 sponded the dairyman, " taking the journey 
 through, and looking at the pikes, which 
 can't be bilked ; you'll have all your work
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 169 
 
 cut out to reach the Hall with the last 
 farthing of my ready money. Take it with 
 my blessing, if you think it will make it last 
 a little longer." 
 
 All preliminaries being settled, there was 
 nothing to be done before leading out 
 Queen Mary and the Unknown for the 
 commencement of the journey to Great- 
 wood Park.
 
 170 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 "F1MERGING from the silence and soli* 
 -*-^ tude of Bromley Marsh, and turning 
 to that point of the compass which indicated 
 where the setting sun would be when the 
 day waned, Samuel Wideo led the old grey 
 mare, followed by Johnny Tadpole and the 
 Unknown in Indian file. Care and even 
 taste had been displayed in the equipments 
 of Queen Mary and her foal, for the front 
 of the snaffle bridle in which the former 
 "looked through," to apply a term of the 
 stable, was mounted with the Leferne 
 colours, purple and orange, in silk of no 
 mean quality, and the headstall and lead- 
 ing-rein of the Unknown were new, soft, 
 and elastic, and bore the effects generally
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 171 
 
 of a design quite regardless of expense, and 
 as if money was of no object in the outlay. 
 
 Knowing, perhaps, that she again carried 
 the Leferne colours, the old grey mare 
 bore her head aloft, and walked with a 
 proud and dainty tread, closely followed by 
 her foal, as much as to say, "Look at me if 
 you want to know what blood is." 
 
 Bow, however, was not awake, and be- 
 yond long rows of hay and straw carts 
 creeping towards Whitechapel, with their 
 drivers too heavy and lethargic with sleep and 
 beer to give even a passing glance of admi- 
 ration, there was nothing and no one, as 
 yet, to gratify the vanity of Queen Mary in 
 her pilgrimage towards the west. 
 
 Walking at a stout pace, Samuel Wideo 
 soon made the old grey mare's newly-shod 
 feet clatter upon the London stones, and 
 taking a straight line through the almost 
 deserted wilderness of streets, disturbed 
 only the sparrows seeking an early breakfast.
 
 172 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Some wide, some narrow, some straight, 
 some turning, some serpentine, rough and 
 smooth, up-hill, down-hill, now with a bend 
 to the left, and then with a twist to the 
 right — streets, a world of streets. 
 
 Johnny Tadpole was no novice to many 
 parts of this world, and a slight shudder ran 
 through his still small, attenuated frame, to 
 think how much he suffered at the hands of 
 Government — represented by the zealous 
 policeman on the beat — when a denizen of 
 them. It was not so long ago but that he 
 well remembered the stern, unrelenting 
 command to " move on," backed with force. 
 
 The way was long and monotonous, be- 
 tween gloomy rows and blocks of bricks 
 and mortar ; but at length a change became 
 visible in the appearance of the streets. 
 Trees, begrimed and blackened with smoke, 
 began to cast shade and shadow at the end 
 of long, narrow gardens, and these confined 
 spaces appeared left by architectural design
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 173 
 
 for air and light and play-grounds for the 
 cats. Then followed a sprinkling of pre- 
 tentious villas, which by degrees stood 
 wider apart as the distance lengthened, and 
 then came the broad, fair, open country, 
 with its bright green fields stretching far 
 away in endless variety of upland and low- 
 land, hill and dale, mingled with wood and 
 coppice, and sparkling stream — far, far 
 away. 
 
 Removing his hat, Samuel Wideo wiped 
 the perspiration from his brow with the 
 palm of a hand, and, dropping himself upon 
 a sloping bank by the roadside, took a long, 
 deep breath, as a temporary relief to his 
 pedestrian exertions. 
 
 " There, Taddy," said he, " we've put 
 some miles between here and Bromley 
 Marsh without a check. Sit down and rest 
 yourself awhile." 
 
 Johnny Tadpole was quite disposed to 
 follow the example set to recruit his
 
 174 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 strength, for he began to feel weary and 
 depressed in spirits, from the knowledge 
 that, being " well on the road," the time 
 had almost arrived for the separation be- 
 tween the dairyman and himself. 
 
 Upon the halt taking place Queen Mary 
 began to crop the herbage on the bank hard 
 by, and the Unknown to refresh himself 
 in the ordinary manner of a suckling. With 
 an eye to the wants of the immediate future, 
 Samuel Wideo had made a sort of commis- 
 sariat department of one of his capacious 
 coat-pockets previous to leaving Bromley 
 Marsh, and no sooner was he seated than 
 he produced a small stone bottle containing 
 " cooper," and a supply of bread and Ches- 
 hire cheese, formed on a liberal scale for an 
 early luncheon. 
 
 "Now, Taddy," said the dairyman, un- 
 corking the cooper, "take a pull at that, 
 and don't stop while your wind holds out. 
 You're tired, lad, and so am I."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 175 
 
 Doing as he was told with great strictness, 
 the assistant turned somewhat purple in the 
 face before taking the stone bottle from his 
 lips, and failed to make his thanks audible, 
 in returning it to the extended hands of 
 Samuel Wideo, beyond a spasmodic gasp. 
 
 The esculents being divided into fair and 
 convenient proportions were soon being 
 disposed of with much zest and little 
 ceremony, and both seemed as if governed 
 by the same resolve to appear as happy as 
 possible while scarcely concealing the effort 
 which was necessary for acting a decided 
 sham. 
 
 "How do you feel now, Taddy ?" said 
 the dairyman, trying to swallow a hard 
 lump in his throat more indigestible than 
 Cheshire cheese, for it rose from the 
 thought of saying "good-bye" to his little 
 companion by his side. " How do you feel 
 now, Taddy?" repeated he, giving his 
 assistant a sly poke in the ribs with a
 
 176 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 straightened finger, intended for a display 
 of fun, but culminating in failure as decided 
 as was ever witnessed. 
 
 "Feel?" echoed Johnny Tadpole, dream- 
 ingly, and then, perhaps, thinking of the 
 last egg which "topped him up," or not- 
 knowing what to say by way of improve- 
 ment upon the literal fact, added, " I feel, 
 sir, full." 
 
 " In that case," rejoined Samuel Wideo, 
 " pocket the remains of the bread and 
 cheese to fill up gaps when gaps happen. I 
 suppose, however," continued he, " that one 
 more pull at the cooper is not impossible ?" 
 
 Accepting the proffered stone bottle 
 Johnny Tadpole raised it to his lips, and, 
 fixing his eyes with a melancholy expres- 
 sion upon those of his patron, whimpered, 
 "Here's, sir, to our next merry meeting." 
 
 The sentiment almost overcame the feel- 
 ings of the tender-hearted dairyman, but he
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 177 
 
 managed to restrain them so as to prevent a 
 gush of sorrow which otherwise might have 
 rendered him extremely ridiculous in the 
 eyes of a stranger had one been present. 
 
 " Nicely expressed, Taddy," added Samuel 
 Wideo, with a dismal air of cheerfulness, 
 11 and nothing more to the purpose could 
 have been spoken. Here's luck !" and 
 immediately followed the entombment of 
 the last drain of the cooper. 
 
 A pause of some duration and much awk- 
 wardness ensued. Instinctively Johnny Tad- 
 pole felt that at this particular spot his friend, 
 the dairyman, and himself were doomed to 
 part, and no definite time either had or 
 could be fixed for their meeting again. 
 That, probably, would depend upon the 
 caprice or arbitrary will of the colonel, and, 
 in the absence of knowing what his wishes 
 or desire might be with regard to Queen 
 Mary and the Unknown, the future was 
 
 VOL. i. N
 
 178 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 completely dark and hidden upon this 
 interesting point, although occupying the 
 silent thoughts of both. 
 
 " You are well on the road, Taddy," 
 observed Samuel Wideo, with a half- 
 smothered sigh, "and the milk business 
 mustn't stand still." 
 
 " Don't say any more, sir," whimpered 
 the assistant, screwing a couple of knuckles 
 into the corners of his eyes. "In course 
 the milk business mustn't stand still," and 
 then his tears began to fall so copiously 
 that the dairyman mingled in his reflec- 
 tions, as usual, water with the secrets of the 
 trade. 
 
 Without a syllable accompanying the 
 action Samuel Wideo significantly placed 
 the end of the rein of Queen Mary's snaffle 
 bridle into one of Johnny Tadpole's hands, 
 and taking off the Unknown's leading rein 
 he carefully rolled it up and, with a piece of
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 179 
 
 string, fixed it in a compact coil, and gave 
 it to his assistant. 
 
 u He'll follow the old mare better than 
 lead," said he, " but keep the rein handy, 
 in case ye may want it in getting through a 
 town or village. And now," continued the 
 dairyman, in a manner which drew Johnny 
 Tadpole's concentrated thoughts to this part 
 of his address into a small focus, for he 
 knew, as if the words had been already 
 spoken, that the finish was at hand — " and 
 now," repeated he, " go straight, slow, and 
 sure. Be governed by circumstances and 
 the weather where and when to stop ; but, 
 in so far as ye can, Taddy, do as I've told 
 you, and by doing right, which is the best 
 of all rules, the long journey before ye will 
 be shortened many a mile." 
 
 Johnny Tadpole's vow was not expressed 
 beyond a whisper to himself, but, being 
 made in sincerity and truth to " do his best 
 
 n 2
 
 180 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 in doing right," it was, doubtlessly, regis- 
 tered among the last addition of good 
 intentions. 
 
 "Take care of yourself, your money, and 
 your luggage," said Samuel Wideo, " and, 
 above all things, remember the setting sun. 
 Keep it in front, and you're as right as an 
 eight-day clock. Get it behind, and you're 
 done." 
 
 " I'll keep an eye on the setting sun, sir," 
 responded Johnny Tadpole, as if slightly 
 injured in his feelings at the inferred suppo- 
 sition that the setting sun might get the 
 best of him. 
 
 " One last squeeze of your fist, lad," said 
 the dairyman, extinguishing Johnny Tad- 
 pole's hand as he wrung it rather too hearti- 
 ly. " May God bless you, my little man ! 
 Say your prayers, Taddy, as usual, and don't 
 leave me out because I'm out of sight." 
 " Never fear, sir," again whimpered
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 181 
 
 Johnny Tadpole, with the knuckles of his 
 fingers again screwed into the corners of 
 his eyes. " You'll always stand first in my 
 prayers, sir, as it is now and ever shall be, 
 world without end, amen." 
 
 " Amen !" piously responded the dairy- 
 man, and then dropping his assistant's hand 
 suddenly, as if transformed into something 
 much too hot to hold, he started off at a 
 sharp run, retracing his steps again towards 
 Bromley Marsh. 
 
 Johnny Tadpole looked at his retreating 
 figure with tearful eyes, and, when a bend 
 in the road was about to hide the only 
 known friend he possessed from his sight, 
 the dairyman turned and waved one of his 
 hands as a signal of final farewell. The 
 next moment he was gone ; but, before it 
 sank on the quicksands of eternity, "Taddy " 
 opened the flood-gates of his pent-up grief, 
 and wept long and alone.
 
 182 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " TTTHO is that girl, Aubrey," said 
 " Colonel Leferne, as they sat to- 
 gether alone one morning in the library, 
 " that I have seen you, occasionally, walking 
 with ?" 
 
 Aubrey's cheeks reddened at the question, 
 but he affected a carelessness of deportment 
 as he replied, 
 
 " Ivy Girling, the gamekeeper's daughter." 
 
 "A rustic beauty, is she not?" rejoined 
 his father. 
 
 "She is thought so, I believe," returned 
 Aubrey. 
 
 " What do you think?" asked the colonel, 
 fixing a penetrating look into his son's eyes
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 183 
 
 which made Aubrey feel what a searching 
 glance meant. 
 
 " I think her pretty, sir, for a country 
 girl," responded his son, with indifference. 
 
 "So do 7," added the colonel, "and I 
 think her too pretty for a young gentleman 
 of a susceptible nature to make a com- 
 panion." 
 
 " With the approval of my aunt," return- 
 ed Aubrey. "Ivy was my earliest, and, 
 indeed, only playfellow as a child." 
 
 "Indeed!" ejaculated the colonel, with 
 feigned surprise, and raising his thick eye- 
 brows. "And so your unsophisticated aunt 
 beheld with composure your lamb-like gam- 
 bols with the gamekeeper's daughter?" 
 
 " She never raised any objection to my 
 associating with her," added Aubrey, evi- 
 dently offended at the sarcastic tone and 
 manner of his father. 
 
 " Had she done so," responded the colonel,
 
 184 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 with an inward chuckle, " it would have 
 been the first objection, I imagine, that 
 Margaret Leferne ever raised in the whole 
 course of her exemplary life. Take my 
 word for it, Aubrey, that she never opposed 
 man, woman, or child in deed, word, or 
 thought. You probably discovered, as I 
 did long ago, this conspicuous weakness ?" 
 
 " It demanded no keen search, sir, to dis- 
 cover the unexceptionable kindness which 
 my aunt invariably displayed towards me 
 during " 
 
 " The long and silent absence of your 
 doting father," interrupted Colonel Le- 
 ferne, with a suppressed laugh. " Is that 
 what you would have said ?" 
 
 " No," returned Aubrey, stopping, and 
 looking full in his father's face, " I would 
 have said nothing of the kind, sir. I might 
 have added," continued he, "during a child- 
 hood which possessed few joys or pleasures 
 for a child."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 185 
 
 "Don't become sentimental, my dear 
 boy," responded the colonel, preserving the 
 most perfect good-humour, and apparently 
 amused at the portrayed irritability of his 
 son. " There is nothing," continued he, 
 raising the two first fingers of his right 
 hand deprecatingly, "that I detest more 
 than sentiment. Life, in all its phases, is 
 composed of such very plain, striped, not 
 to say ugly facts, that to attempt to decor- 
 ate them with garlands, or describe their 
 grotesque quaintness in the exaggerated 
 language of poetry, is simply to descend in 
 the social scale to the level of an ass." 
 
 "I was merely, sir, giving expression to 
 my thoughts," rejoined Aubrey, with flushed 
 cheeks and flashing eyes, "in what appeared 
 to me the plainest words." 
 
 " Avoid sentiment, my dear boy," re- 
 turned the colonel, keeping his fingers still 
 raised, "and, as far as 1 am concerned, let 
 your verbal communications be made either
 
 186 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 in blank verse or jingling rhyme, as may 
 best accord with your inclination. Devoid 
 of sentiment, I entertain not the smallest 
 dislike to poetry. Referring, however," 
 continued he, " to what would seem to be a 
 grievance in connection with your infancy, 
 I must infer that you possessed the ordinary 
 toys popularly supposed to be inseparable 
 to the male sex in lisping disagreeable- 
 hood? You were supplied, for instance, 
 with marbles, kites, and tops ?" 
 
 " Yes," responded Aubrey, with no pal- 
 pable decrease in his anger, "but I seldom 
 played with either without having a serious 
 lesson from my tutor concerning their me- 
 chanical construction, scientific shape, or 
 ancient origin." 
 
 " So like my dear old college chum," 
 ejaculated the Colonel, repeating the in- 
 ward chuckle. " He must even teach you, 
 Aubrey, in the hours of recreation, as he did 
 his friends at Oxford, when perhaps brew-
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 187 
 
 ing a bowl of bishop. Our vicar was a great 
 expert at bishop," continued he, " and I can 
 hear him now, when dropping in the 
 roasted apples, expatiating upon the laws of 
 gravitation, and, as the pips rose to the 
 surface, proving to demonstration why they 
 floated." 
 
 "In a lecture he was once giving me 
 when spinning a top," said Aubrey, some- 
 what softened with the tale of the bowl of 
 bishop, " he declared that the boys of 
 Rome, in the days of the Csesars, spun tops 
 of precisely the same shape, that they 
 pirated them from the Jews, who brought 
 them originally out of the land of Egypt." 
 
 "Ha, ha!" laughed the Colonel. "Pic- 
 ture to the imagination Cheops or the head 
 of the distinguished family of the Pharaohs 
 spinning tops ! But," and the speaker 
 changed his tone to a confidential whisper, 
 " far better spin tops, Aubrey, than play 
 with dolls."
 
 188 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 "Dolls?" ejaculated his son, with inex- 
 pressible astonishment. 
 
 "Ay," rejoined the Colonel, again lifting 
 his two ringers admonishingly, " there is no 
 more dangerous toy than a doll, Aubrey. 
 Boys," continued he, " after having passed 
 one of the early stages of disagreeablehood, 
 feel an innate repugnance to dolls ; but 
 upon crossing the Rubicon, and entering the 
 succeeding one of blind puppyhood, they 
 are too apt to fall into the fatal error of 
 giving undivided attention to toys of this 
 kind, and I have known clever men — who 
 decidedly ought to have known better — 
 waste the most precious hours of their lives, 
 to say nothing of their fame and fortunes, 
 in playing with painted, powdered, and per- 
 fumed dolls, with no more hearts or souls 
 than can be found in bran or sawdust." 
 
 Aubrey Leferne said nothing in reply, but 
 kept his eyes fixed steadfastly upon those of 
 his father.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 189 
 
 " I see that you begin to comprehend my 
 meaning," resumed the Colonel, dropping 
 his two fingers upon the table before which 
 he sat, and commencing to drum a light 
 operatic air upon its surface. "You are 
 young, Aubrey," continued he, " but, if we 
 are to believe the chronicles of our family, 
 a Leferne is innocent only when in the 
 arms of his nurse. It may seem a severe 
 thing to allege, but, being well acquainted 
 with the chronology of our family, I do not 
 hesitate to declare, without reservation, that, 
 the moment a Leferne can run alone, the 
 world, or at least the dollish part of it, had 
 better look out for squalls." 
 
 "I am sorry to learn, sir," rejoined his 
 son, smiling, " that we should have inherited 
 so objectionable a reputation." 
 
 " There is no disputing the fact," said the 
 colonel, continuing to drum the light oper- 
 atic air with a few variations of his own 
 composition ; " and my sorrow quite equals-
 
 190 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 yours, Aubrey, in the knowledge that for 
 cool, selfish rascaldom, where dolls are 
 concerned, no one in ancient or modern 
 history surpasses a Leferne. In justice " — 
 the air and variations were now stopped — 
 " to many weak, silly, vain, confiding, and 
 departed toys, my dear boy, I feel bound 
 to make this admission, humiliating as it 
 must be to a sensitive mind, taken from a 
 moral point of view." 
 
 " I hope, sir," returned Aubrey, now 
 interested in the conversation, for he felt 
 that he was being talked at in the light, 
 sarcastic tone adopted by his father — " I 
 hope, sir," repeated he, " that the particular 
 conduct to which you refer was not unbe- 
 coming the character to which gentlemen 
 may lay claim." 
 
 "The world is extremely liberal in deal- 
 ing with certain voluntary iniquities, my 
 dear boy," added the colonel, throwing his 
 head back against the lounging-chair in
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 191 
 
 which he was sitting, and looking at his son 
 with half-closed eyelids, " and the gentle 
 born and rich may commit with impunity 
 immeasurably greater acts of transgression 
 than those without the right and title dare 
 contemplate for a single moment of their 
 plebeian lives. Governed, indeed, by the 
 elastic code of society, it is almost impossible 
 to define what may be done or left undone 
 without sacrificing — to repeat your own 
 words, Aubrey — the character to which 
 gentlemen may lay claim. I wish, however, 
 to confine our present discussion to the sub- 
 ject of dolls. Now," continued he, again 
 telegraphing with the two first fingers of 
 his right hand, " Eton and innocence — unso- 
 phisticated innocence — are not popularly 
 supposed to be synonymous terms. An 
 Eton boy with a doll is not generally chosen 
 as a sketch for the illustration of purity." 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha !" laughed his son. " What 
 a picture it would make !"
 
 192 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 "That somewhat boisterous and therefore 
 objectionable laugh of yours, Aubrey/' said 
 the colonel, " revealed a white-lined scar 
 on the lower lip. I have a few here," he 
 continued, spreading a thin white band over 
 his breast, "in a less conspicuous place. 
 How was it gained ?" 
 
 " In ray first fight, sir," was the proud 
 reply, " when I was overmatched in weight 
 and age ; but I won it." 
 
 "Come here," rejoined his father, with 
 a near approach to tenderness in his tone 
 and manner, " and press that scar upon my 
 cheek. It may make, Audrey, an impres- 
 sion upon ray heart." 
 
 With mingled surprise and pleasure at 
 the request, Aubrey Leferne hastened from 
 his seat, and clasping the colonel's out- 
 stretched hands, for the first time in their 
 lives, the white-scarred lip and the bronzed 
 cheek met.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 193 
 
 u And so you won the fight against 
 superior force, eh ?" said his father. " Well 
 done ! Do me the favour to occupy your 
 seat again. Having brought this episode 
 to a finish, we'll again refer to the subject 
 of dolls. As I suspected, Aubrey, I find 
 that you possess a toy of this kind." 
 
 "I, sir?" exclaimed his son. 
 
 " Ay," rejoined the colonel, effectively 
 raising the two fingers, u you ; and I fear 
 the probability of your having trifled with it 
 too long to make a cast off of the plaything, 
 Aubrey, as readily as I could wish, or your 
 welfare demands." 
 
 "You are alluding to Ivy Girling," re- 
 marked his son. 
 
 "As I have been from the beginning of 
 this discussion," said the colonel; "and, to be 
 frank, which you knew as well as myself. 
 Now, I am not about wearying you with a 
 stale, profitless lecture upon ethics, my dear 
 
 vol. i. o
 
 194 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 boy, but take my affectionate assurance that 
 a doll is too dangerous a passenger for your 
 light skiff. Over she must go, sooner or 
 later, or down together you will sink, as 
 certain as any shaft of fate can be." 
 
 "I never thought " 
 
 " Of course you never thought," interrupt- 
 ed his father, with vehemence. " In the 
 daily association with a young and pretty girl 
 you never thought that a dream could 
 become a reality. You never thought of 
 committing the smallest wrong to either 
 Ivy Girling or yourself in what has taken 
 place between ye, and yet — accept it as a 
 warning, Aubrey — no Leferne ever sowed 
 such seeds, whether in youth or manhood, 
 but reaped the harvest of self-imposed 
 sorrow, and, too often, ruin. You see that 
 I can be serious ?" 
 
 "Beyond what I thought to be possible, 
 sir," responded his son. " Your seriousness
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 195 
 
 at the present moment amounts to almost 
 the deepest gloom." 
 
 "I am not generally — as you will find 
 when we are longer, and, consequently, 
 better acquainted — afflicted with fits of grum- 
 ble-on-the-brain, " returned the colonel ; 
 " but having experienced the certainty — not 
 risk — of what toys can inflict upon suffering 
 humanity, Aubrey, I wish to depend upon 
 higher sublunary power than myself — 
 princes, prelates, and potentates — to guide 
 your erratic footsteps from falling into one 
 of the manifold man-traps set by dolls." 
 
 11 Ha, ha, ha," laughed Aubrey Leferne. 
 " Ha, ha, ha !" 
 
 " Your risible muscles may be excited, 
 my dear boy," resumed the colonel, with 
 unruffled gravity, " but / was never more 
 free from the unbecoming, distorting con- 
 vulsion in the whole course of my exist- 
 ence. As a check to your ill-timed mirth, 
 
 o 2
 
 196 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Aubrey, let me impress upon your memory 
 that there is no subject more deserving of 
 serious attention than traps set by dolls. 
 As a father — in the fulness of time I may 
 become affectionate to example — as a father, 
 I repeat," continued he, " it is my para- 
 mount duty to warn you from this entic- 
 ing lure, and to urge the framing of a 
 firm resolution from this time henceforth 
 and for ever to avoid the temptation of 
 dolls' society in general, and that of the 
 gamekeeper's daughter, Ivy Girling, in 
 particular." 
 
 "Is that the conclusion of the homily, 
 sir ?" asked his son, still laughing. 
 
 } DO 
 
 " And a remarkably neat peroration, I 
 should say," replied the colonel, good- 
 humouredly, "if an unprejudiced opinion 
 might be expressed concerning its oratorical 
 beauties." 
 
 " Our family motto is, I believe, i To live 
 with will unfettered,' " rejoined Aubrey.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 197 
 
 " It is," added his father. " Once upon a 
 time, as it is written in the fairy tales of the 
 olden time, I am almost shocked to confess, 
 the Lefernes, my dear boy, were free lances, 
 and a remarkable old scapegrace, who had 
 sold himself, I have no doubt whatever, to 
 the devil, adopted this motto, and had it 
 emblazoned upon his shield. If we may 
 place an average degree of faith in the 
 veracity of the chronicles of our family, 
 nothing could be more reprehensible than 
 the political, social, and moral conduct of the 
 ancient reprobate who selected its motto." 
 
 " And yet I feel disposed to support it in 
 all its integrity," returned his son. 
 
 u Thus precisely following the cloven 
 footsteps of your disgraceful and unscrupu- 
 lous ancestor, who ought to have known 
 better, Aubrey," said the colonel, begin- 
 ning to drum a military air upon the table, 
 by way, probably, of a change in the music, 
 "than to have originated an inscription fit
 
 198 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 only for an outlaw of the blackest type." 
 " It sounds so nobly free," exclaimed his 
 son. 
 
 "But not in the smallest degree less ob- 
 jectionable on that account," responded the 
 colonel. "Too much liberty, even of con- 
 science, may degenerate into licence, and 
 judging from what some of our ancestors 
 are alleged, in song and story, to have done, 
 it seems to me that, like the distinguished 
 old rascal whose authorship of the motto 
 remains unquestioned, they took a most un- 
 justifiable view of their own freedom of 
 action, and were particularly indifferent 
 concerning the effect, or result, where dolls 
 
 C 7 7 
 
 were concerned." 
 
 "Without giving any express promise, 
 sir," rejoined Aubrey, l< to be a perfect 
 stranger to Ivy Girling from this time, no 
 danger need be apprehended from my 
 slight association with our little humble 
 dependent."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 199 
 
 " She's young and prettjr, my dear boy," 
 remarked the colonel, composing a new, 
 soft variation of the military air upon the 
 table, and looking at his son with half 
 closed, sleepy eyes. 
 
 "There is no disputing that," rejoined 
 Aubrey. "I should say," continued he, " that 
 she will make a most beautiful woman." 
 
 " You appear to inherit the fine judgment 
 of a Leferne," returned the colonel. " My 
 own reserved opinion upon the subject, most 
 accurately expressed." 
 
 " But for the smallest suspicion to be 
 felt " 
 
 "Would, of course," interrupted the 
 colonel, " be an insult to common sense. 
 Entertaining, however, something akin to 
 mistrust upon a few points in connection 
 with this beautiful woman whom Time is to 
 develop, I beg to tender an apology to 
 common sense." 
 
 " There is no cause to apprehend danger
 
 200 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 or difficulty, sir," observed Aubrey, rising 
 from his seat as if indisposed to continue 
 the discussion. 
 
 " The subject is, perhaps, exhausted," 
 added the colonel. " Do me the kindness 
 to ring the bell. I want a short interview 
 with that worldly-minded old sham, Soppy."
 
 201 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 JOHNNY TADPOLE, Queen Mary, and 
 ^ the Unknown proceeded on their pil- 
 grimage for a time, and for a distance, with- 
 out any particular adventure befalling them. 
 Now and then, indeed, Taddy's pride was 
 wounded by questions as to the value he set 
 upon the "old crock," and what he would 
 take for " the lot without their manes and 
 tails. ' To all such interrogatories he assumed 
 a stoical indifference which perhaps was 
 not altogether the genuine article ; but 
 an inhabitant or sojourner of Turnham 
 Green put a strain upon his forbearance 
 almost beyond the margin of Christian toler- 
 ation when he announced, in a loud voice 
 and turbulent manner, that " the nearest
 
 202 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 knacker's yard was just round the corner, 
 but to save further trouble he'd buy, then 
 and there, by the pound weight." Johnny 
 Tadpole, in a metaphorical sense, looked 
 daggers at the perpetrator of this deep 
 wound to his feelings, and secretly wished 
 that he was big, brave, and strong enough 
 to administer a sound thrashing to the 
 offender on the spot, without the polite pre- 
 liminary of the professors of the noble art 
 of self-defence by first shaking hands with 
 him. The effect of the wish, however, was 
 the spontaneous thought and knowledge 
 that he was neither one nor the other, and, 
 therefore, he walked on steadily and silent- 
 ly, leading Queen Mary, followed by her 
 foal. 
 
 The locality traditionally spoken of as the 
 identical spot where the two kings indulged 
 in the luxury of smelling one and the same 
 rose, had been gained by marching forward 
 at a pace known as slow and sure. Brent-
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 203 
 
 ford now possessed the opportunity of star- 
 ing with all its eyes, and gaping with all its 
 mouths, at the small procession as it entered 
 the main but narrow street ; but emulating, 
 perhaps setting a good example to " mind 
 your own business," Brentford took as little 
 notice as possible of the wayfarers, and 
 neither experienced the inconvenience of 
 being pelted with either chaff or stones, 
 which circumstance deserves to be marked 
 with a white stone in favour of its citizens. 
 
 From the clink of the anvil, Johnny Tad- 
 pole became sensible that a blacksmith's 
 forge was close at hand, and, from the 
 sound upon his tympanum, became closer 
 at every stride he took. In a few seconds 
 more he found himself opposite the hissing, 
 roaring furnace, being plied, as it was, with 
 the customary huge bellows, and blown 
 through the agency of a pair of as lusty, 
 muscular arms as a blacksmith upon a large 
 scale was ever qualified to be proud of.
 
 204 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 " What, iny lad ?" exclaimed a deep- 
 toned, thorough bass voice, as the bellows 
 stopped, and the scintillating furnace ceased 
 to throw bright sparks upwards. " What, 
 my lad ?" repeated the thorough-bass voice, 
 as its proprietor strode lazily to the entrance 
 of the forge, " where are ye pointing to 
 with that bit-of-the-days-gone-by, eh ?" 
 
 In his confusion at being thus questioned 
 concerning the ultimate termination of his 
 journey, Johnny Tadpole was nearly giving, 
 as a reply, " The Setting Sun," but checked 
 the answer just in time, and merely men- 
 tioned the next place of importance in his 
 route, and said, 
 
 " Hounslow, sir, where I shall put up for 
 the night." 
 
 "You're on a journey then?" returned 
 the blacksmith, being of an inquisitive turn 
 of mind. 
 
 " I'm on my way to Wiltshire," respond- 
 ed Johnny Tadpole, with excusable pride at
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 205 
 
 being able to announce that such an impor- 
 tant trust had been reposed in him, u with 
 this old mare and her foal — right down 
 among the shires, sir." 
 
 "You're a wee bit too young, lad, for 
 such a weary task," rejoined the blacksmith, 
 folding his arms across his full, broad chest, 
 "and I fear you'll be footsore and heartsore 
 afore ye reach your journey's end. But 
 what do you say to stop here awhile and 
 rest ? We shall have a bit o' dinner pre- 
 sently, and I've accommodation for the 
 cattle in a nice, roomy shed behind." 
 
 There was something so cheery in the 
 invitation that any shade of wavering on 
 the part of Johnny Tadpole must have been 
 dispelled by the heartiness with which it 
 was given, and, in strict accordance with its 
 unequivocal merits, he gave a prompt ac- 
 quiescence to the considerate proposal, ac- 
 companied by his brief but earnest thanks. 
 
 " Then follow me without more ado,"
 
 206 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 said the blacksmith, unfolding his arms 
 slowly, as might have been expected from 
 the movement of a large body, as he led 
 the way through the forge into what would 
 appear to be a back-garden converted into 
 a receptacle for heaps of old horse-shoes, 
 and other exotics of a decidedly iron nature. 
 Rust, dust, and ashes were prolific in the 
 blacksmith's back-garden in the rear of the 
 forge, but flowers there were none. 
 
 "There," continued he, lifting the latch 
 of as crazy-looking a door as ever squeaked 
 discordantly upon a hinge, and throwing it 
 open with no gentle movement, "there's a 
 box big enough for both." 
 
 As if satisfied with her quarters, and an- 
 ticipating a share of the hospitable treatment 
 proffered to her attendant, Queen Mary 
 entered with a ready action, followed by 
 ihe Unknown. 
 
 Under the immediate guidance and direc- 
 tion of the blacksmith, a pail of fresh clear
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 207 
 
 water was brought by Taddy from a fine 
 old Brentford pump, oats, bran, and hay 
 were forthcoming from hidden stores, and 
 sooner than can well be imagined for several 
 particulars to be supplied quickly, without 
 any omission of her requirements, the old 
 grey mare and her foal found themselves 
 under treatment of the most careful and 
 judicious description. 
 
 " Having made them comfortable," ob- 
 served the blacksmith, " we'll now see what 
 we can do for ourselves." 
 
 Almost fearing, from nervousness, to tread 
 the ground on which he walked, Johnny 
 Tadpole accompanied his host once more 
 back into the forge, and from thence, through 
 a side door, into what seemed, to his un- 
 tutored organs of vision, a spot in which 
 a fairy might wish to dwell for a long term 
 of years, renewable upon the expiration of 
 the lease. It was a room, doubtless, of 
 substantial bricks and mortar in which he
 
 20S TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 stood, not a grotto of the imagination spoken 
 of by poets, and yet nothing had hitherto 
 fascinated him so much as what he now 
 beheld. The apartment, limited as it was, 
 appeared to be the centre of the collection 
 of the beauties of art. On the mantel-shelf 
 Adam and Eve, composed for the most part 
 of an elaborate piece of workmanship in 
 small shells, were represented sunning them- 
 selves, in a primitive manner, on a bank 
 fabricated of green cotton velvet, than 
 which the verdure of Eden itself could 
 scarcely have been softer. There were 
 coloured plaster casts of birds, supporting 
 the first parents of the human family, which 
 might be excellent copies of dodos, griffins, 
 the phoenix class, or anything not supposed 
 to have formed part of the collection ad- 
 mitted into the ark. There were question- 
 able likenesses of highly-tinted saints hung 
 in black wooden frames; Saint Peter, arrayed
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 209 
 
 in a scarlet robe falling from his shoulders 
 to his sandals, and properly girded, with a 
 couple of large yellow keys round his waist, 
 being more than ordinarily conspicuous. 
 An illustration of the abrupt ejectment from 
 Paradise was also presented to view, to- 
 gether with a highly imaginative subject, 
 wherein round, red-cheeked countenances, 
 and curly heads with wings for ears, were 
 exhibited in the midst of rolling clouds, 
 suggestive of hail and thunder. There was 
 a bright red lion, in earthenware, lying on a 
 table by the side of a milk-white lamb, and 
 so like a lamb that Johnny Tadpole had not 
 to look more than twice steadfastly to know 
 for what it was meant. A spotted leopard, 
 of the same material, referred also to that 
 blissful epoch when the kid, with which it 
 was fearlessly playing, might do so without 
 suspicion of being utilised to the demand of 
 
 appetite. 
 
 vol. i. r
 
 210 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Upon these, and corresponding objects of 
 interest, Johnny's eyes were fixed with 
 almost rapture ; for anything so attractive to 
 his sight never yet had he the opportunity 
 of beholding. 
 
 "What you see," said the blacksmith, 
 giving his guest just sufficient time to glance 
 around upon the several works of art 
 which fascinated him, " is my missis's 'obby. 
 She goes in for Moses and the Prophets, 
 and has 'em all at her fingers' ends. I'm 
 not up in 'em myself; but she's a wonder." 
 
 " Is she, indeed, sir?" returned Johnn}' 
 Tadpole, for want, perhaps, of something 
 better to say. 
 
 " She is," added the blacksmith, " and a 
 sort of walking dictionary. There's no- 
 thing," continued he, " but what she seems 
 to know nat'rally, and, hadn't it ha' been for 
 my missis, it's my solemn belief I should 
 have gone down to the grave the biggest 
 fool ever buried."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 211 
 
 Johnny Tadpole felt his politeness at 
 stake, and at once joined issue upon the 
 point by expressing the firmest of convictions 
 that this result could not by any possibility 
 have been attained. 
 
 " I'm not so sure o' that," rejoined the 
 blacksmith, expressing dissent by giving his 
 circular, black, cropped head a shake like a 
 dog fresh from the water, and at the con- 
 clusion of a plunge. " I'm not so sure o' 
 that," repeated he. " But, before we talk any 
 further, tell me your name, where you come 
 from, and what particular part o' Wiltshire 
 you're going to." 
 
 Exaggerating, secreting, and reserving no 
 essential particular, Johnny Tadpole re- 
 counted the history he had to tell in a con- 
 cise manner worthy of the strictest imitation. 
 Occupying a seat which he had been invited 
 to take upon entering the apartment of fine 
 
 arts, he kept his eyes modestly bent upon 
 
 p2
 
 212 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 the floor in detailing the events of the past 
 and present, and produced an unbroken 
 chain, link by link, of simple facts which 
 brought him at length to the blacksmith's 
 forge. Upon the conclusion of the narrative 
 he raised his eyes from the ground, and 
 was positively alarmed at again beholding 
 the features of his host, who sat staring at 
 him with fixed, protruding eyeballs, and his 
 lower jaw dropped as if suddenly stricken 
 with paralysis. 
 
 "You don't," gasped the blacksmith, in 
 a kind of convulsive sob, " mean to say that 
 she's " — and he pointed with a turned thumb 
 to the roomy shed then tenanted by the 
 " bit-of-the-days-gone-by " and her foal — 
 "that she's," repeated he, in a double, 
 treble bass, husky voice, " Queen Mary, the 
 flyer of my youth ?" 
 
 "The same, sir," replied Johnny Tadpole, 
 in a tone that placed doubt at defiance. 
 
 "The winner of the Doncaster Cup?"
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 213 
 
 rejoined the blacksmith, with feelings of 
 increasing excitement. 
 
 " The same, sir," repeated Johnny, and 
 the assertion seemed to be hurled with stun- 
 ning effect against the os frontis of the 
 blacksmith. 
 
 "The — the — the winner of half the cups 
 in the United Kingdom?" returned the 
 questioner, as if his brain at length began to 
 reel. 
 
 "The whole of them, sir, I believe ray 
 master, Mister Wideo, said," responded 
 Johnny Tadpole, with great confidence, 
 "and a few over." 
 
 "Let us pray !" ejaculated the blacksmith, 
 bringing the palms of his hands together 
 with a loud crack. 
 
 " What for?" responded Johnny, in utter 
 bewilderment at the suggestion. 
 
 Without giving any reply to the question, 
 the blacksmith rose from his chair with a 
 movement not unlike a blended skip and a
 
 214 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 jump, and, proceeding to a chest of drawers r 
 began to rummage the contents with a 
 hasty and impatient movement. 
 
 ei There !" said he, exultingly, " d'ye see 
 that ?" 
 
 Johnny Tadpole promptly admitted that 
 he saw the object exhibited, through the 
 medium of both eyes. 
 
 " Do you know what it is ?" inquired the 
 blacksmith. 
 
 " It looks to me," replied Johnny, "like a 
 narrer horse-shoe, sir." 
 
 " It's a racing plate," cried the black- 
 smith, having wound himself up to almost a 
 pitch beyond self-control, "and one that / 
 plated Queen Mary with, on her near fore- 
 foot, when she won the Doncaster Cup. I." 
 continued he, " and my missis come from 
 Doncaster. Her name was Dump, mine's 
 Jolly. Only to think that such things 
 should happen in this world ! I have often 
 thought of the old mare — for better was
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 215 
 
 never seen in Yorkshire — and here she is 
 under my own roof. Miracles will never 
 cease !" 
 
 At this moment a mist, upon a small 
 scale, floated into the opened door of the 
 room, and, looming through it, might have 
 been seen the bearer of a dish, the smoking 
 contents of which proved to be the source 
 of the thick and rising vapour. 
 
 "Jane Jolly," said the blacksmith, as the 
 bearer of the dish of a decidedly savoury 
 odour lowered it gently and even tenderly 
 upon the table, already prepared with 
 knives and forks, spread upon a snowy 
 and speckless cloth. "Jane Jolly," re- 
 peated he, u you told me there was an end 
 to miracles. I don't believe it." 
 
 " It's quite optional, Ebenezer," replied 
 the bearer of the dish, now free from the 
 burden, and regarding Johnny Tadpole 
 with surprise, or at least with a look de- 
 manding an explanation of the cause of his
 
 216 TOO FAST TO LAST, 
 
 presence. " Anyone, however, who can 
 believe in miracles ought never to be sur- 
 prised. But who have we here, just in 
 pudding time ? One with a good appetite, 
 I know. I can see that" 
 
 Johnny blushed as he frankly confessed 
 that he generally, at the period of the day 
 directly referred to, was in possession of a 
 keen appetite, and never more so perhaps 
 than on the present occasion. 
 
 Surprise was necessarily in store for Jane 
 Jolly, and she began to think that miracles 
 might not be quite at an end as the black- 
 smith related the respective whys and where- 
 fores of Johnny Tadpole being their un- 
 heralded but welcome guest. Numerous 
 and curt were the exclamations of Jane 
 Jolly — whose maiden name was Dump — as 
 the story proceeded, in conjunction with the 
 steady disappearance of the contents of the 
 savoury dish — under the culinary title of 
 Irish stew — and both seemed, with mute
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 217 
 
 intervals for swallowing on the part of the 
 blacksmith, to be brought to an end at one 
 and the same time. 
 
 " Having had a remarkably good dinner," 
 said the blacksmith, u I'm thankful for it. 
 Jane, get me my pipe, and I'll blow the 
 usual cloud." 
 
 " You think too much of the good things 
 of this life, Ebenezer," replied his wife, 
 reprovingly, u as I have often told ye. Our 
 first parents " 
 
 " Oh !" interrupted her husband, with a 
 groan, " don't get on them subjects, Jane. 
 Leave our first parents alone, there's a dear 
 old gal." 
 
 But the "dear old gal" was not to be 
 flattered from her purpose. Jane Jolly, as 
 she often did upon the commencement of 
 the duties of digestion, had mounted her 
 " hobby," and was determined to have a 
 ride. Ebenezer Jolly had told her the 
 truth — varnished as the tale might have
 
 218 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 been — when lie described her, in an evening 
 walk on the Town Moor at Doncaster, as 
 the finest and best developed Jenny Dump 
 that the muscular biceps of a blacksmith 
 could desire to entwine. He told her that 
 he admired a tall, upstanding gal of five feet 
 eight and a half, her points all round, with- 
 out corners or knobs. He told Jane Dump 
 that he liked black hair, black eyes, black, 
 arched eyebrows, a skin with a tinge of nut- 
 brown in it, and cheeks crimson with health. 
 He told her that she could not keep her 
 mouth open too much or too long, as her 
 te'eth were as pearly as the inside of an 
 oyster shell. He told her all this with 
 several flowery additions, and then, falling 
 upon his knees, asked her " to be his'n," 
 receiving in return a practical reply in the 
 shape of a stinging box on the right ear, 
 with the threat, in the plainest Saxon, that 
 he ''should catch a second box on the other
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 219 
 
 lug if he didn't leave off making a stupid 
 fool of himself." 
 
 If, however, success might be accepted as 
 a proof that Ebenezer Jolly had not ren- 
 dered himself liable to the charge of being 
 without the common measure of brains upon 
 this very particular occasion, then the oral 
 indictment fell flat to the ground, for Jane 
 Dump consented to change her name to 
 Jolly as the blacksmith rose with the cramp 
 in both of the calves of his legs. 
 
 It signifies little, perhaps, how it was that 
 Ebenezer Jolly and his bride migrated from 
 Doncaster to Brentford ; but there they 
 were, in what may be termed a flourishing 
 mundane condition, at the precise moment 
 when Johnny Tadpole had finished his por- 
 tion of the Irish stew, and the discussion 
 upon our first parents was strenuously 
 endeavoured to be cut short at the com- 
 mencement by the already surfeited black- 
 smith.
 
 220 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 11 Leave our first parents alone," repeated 
 he, with something between a sigh and a 
 moan, (i there's a dear old gal." 
 
 " I wish you to understand, Ebenezer," 
 rejoined his wife, placing her knuckles upon 
 her hips, and her elbows forming acute 
 angles, " that I'm not going to let our first 
 parents alone. I never have, and never 
 will. They were sent, I suppose, as exam- 
 ples for us to follow, and if we, as they did, 
 lived innocently on the uncooked fruits of 
 the earth, paying as little regard as possible 
 to raiment, it might be all the better for 
 our immortal souls, whatever it might be 
 for our perishable bodies." 
 
 Ebenezer Jolly knew that the temporary 
 comfort of the forge parlour had fled, and 
 that he must bear the infliction, whether he 
 grinned or otherwise. She whose maiden 
 name was Dump was fairly in the theo- 
 logical saddle, and as determined as a witch 
 upon a broom to have a ride.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 221 
 
 " I have often called your attention, 
 Ebenezer," continued Jane Jolly, " to the 
 Garden of Eden, with the view of improv- 
 ing your taste and morals, and although 
 King Solomon says, ' Hope deferred maketh 
 the heart sick,' I don't quite despair of see- 
 ing you less of a pig, in some respects, than 
 you are at present." 
 
 " Come, come, Jenny," expostulated the 
 blacksmith. " Don't drive a nail into a 
 fellow's soft corn like that ! I didn't give 
 myself an appetite any more than Adam 
 did. We're not masters of our own — " and 
 the blacksmith tapped significantly that 
 division of his frame which was placed a 
 few inches below his expansive chest. 
 
 " That's just the mistake of your life, 
 Ebenezer," returned Jane Jolly, with great 
 force, as she raised her voice. "It isn't to 
 be supposed that our stomachs are our 
 masters, is it ?" 
 
 "In the case of the apple business,"
 
 222 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 meekly added the blacksmith, " I think I 
 may say stomachs won easy." 
 
 "Then take it as a warning, Ebenezer," 
 said his wife, with an admonishing shake of 
 the head. " Recollect what was lost — Eden 
 itself — when stomachs won easy." 
 
 "Being on this particular branch of the 
 subject, Jane," responded her husband, 
 pointing to the red earthenware lion, "I 
 should like to know what the wild beasts 
 fed on when they laid down with the lambs ? 
 We all know," continued he, " what the 
 sustenance was of our first parents, but how 
 about the tigers in Eden, eh?" 
 
 There was no disguising the fact. Jane 
 Jolly both looked and felt at great disad- 
 vantage in the attempt to give a reply. As 
 far as she remembered, there was no au- 
 thority upon the point, and she could neither 
 parry nor avoid the blacksmith's thrust in 
 natural history. Jane Jolly, not being pre-
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 223 
 
 pared with an answer, was necessarily silent. 
 
 At this juncture, however, Johnny Tad- 
 pole came gallantly to the rescue. 
 
 "Perhaps, ma'am," said he, "they lived 
 on milk." 
 
 "Ha, ha!" ejaculated she, with triumph 
 in the tone, " no doubt they did. Nothing 
 more likely than, before sin came into the 
 world, even the tigers lived on milk. A 
 sood thought, laddie, and one that could 
 only come from where good thoughts 
 spring." 
 
 "That being settled, then," added the 
 blacksmith, anxious only for the subject to 
 be brought to a close, " get me my pipe, 
 Jane, and I'll blow the usual cloud."
 
 224 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 OIHE never looked prettier, albeit her 
 ^ upper lip pouted as if lately stung. 
 Ivy Girling had been waiting close by the 
 bed of daffodils, now sleeping with the dead 
 under ground, as the tryst for meeting 
 Aubrey Leferne, and her patience had been 
 sorely tried at his absence, the appointed 
 time having long since passed, stealing 
 away with the dark, fading shadows of the 
 autumn sun. Years ago they had often 
 met at the same chosen spot, with childish 
 intent and purpose, and he never played 
 the laggard then. Why should he now ? 
 
 The question was repeated more than 
 once to herselfj and Ivy's upper lip pouted
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 225 
 
 the more, and her eyes flashed under knitted 
 brows, as she paced fretfully to and fro a 
 short beaten path close to where Sir Harold 
 Leferne's daffodils were lying, like the old 
 knight who failed to keep his terrible vow 
 concerning his own bones, underground. 
 With him, " dust to dust," not so with the 
 daffodils. 
 
 The wind perhaps had something to do 
 with the arrangement, but Ivy Girling's 
 curls danced carelessly over her shoulders, 
 and fell beneath her small cottage straw 
 bonnet in a natural kind of way which 
 might have put highly tried artificial aid at 
 a material discount. It of course was more 
 from accident than design, but the blue 
 ribbon passed over the middle of the crown 
 of the small cottage straw bonnet, and tied 
 in a large bow of truly liberal dimensions 
 under her chin — with a coquettish bearing 
 to one side more than the other — harmo- 
 
 VOL. i. Q
 
 226 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 nized with her fair complexion to the nicety 
 of a shade, and seemed to give the effect of 
 a flattering frame to her features, and to set 
 them off amazingly. The closely-fitting 
 kirtle, coarse as the fabric might be, ex- 
 hibited a figure of which at least Ivy was 
 justified in being somewhat vain, under the 
 extenuating circumstances that Aubrey Le- 
 ferne had so often called her attention to it 
 as an object of his especial admiration. It 
 must be confessed, indeed, that nature had 
 done much for Ivy Girling without the 
 smallest assistance, and the few unimportant 
 details which she apparently had not con- 
 descended to supply, the ready and tasteful 
 hand of Ivy herself furnished in a manner 
 that to be believed must have been seen. 
 A simple flower in her hair was sure to look 
 winning beyond improvement, and if Aubrey 
 essayed to alter the position, as he some- 
 times did, failure was certain and complete, 
 as he was bound to admit.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 227 
 
 Dressed and decked with care to please 
 him, Ivy had waited long and impatiently 
 for his expected advent ; but Aubrey Le- 
 ferne came not, and the dark, fading 
 shadows of the autumn sun grew deeper as 
 the veil of the coming night fell around. 
 
 A light and hurried footfall at length 
 struck upon her ear. Quickly it approached, 
 and Ivy Girling's palpitating heart revealed 
 that it was his. 
 
 " I almost feared," said Aubrey, as he 
 arrived with panting breath, "that you 
 would have left; but it was impossible for 
 me to be earlier." 
 
 "Why?" curtly inquired Ivy, withhold- 
 ing her hand, as he attempted to take it. 
 
 " Come, come, Ivy," replied he, in a 
 soothing tone, " let us meet and part good 
 friends. Eecollect, I leave to-morrow." 
 
 " I am not likely to forget that," she re- 
 joined, in a voice tremulous with emotion. 
 
 Q2
 
 228 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 " But why could you not come before ? " 
 "Listen," returned Aubrey, taking one of 
 her now yielded hands, " and you will not 
 blame me. My father — and I am, as yet, too 
 young and dependent to disobey him — insist- 
 ed upon my remaining after dinner to listen 
 to a kind of lecture from the vicar, and to 
 see, I believe, how far I would submit to be 
 bullied. I bore it pretty well for a time, 
 and put up with a great deal of what, I con- 
 sider, ought to have been met with a facer, 
 or one, two, straight from the shoulder on 
 the nose-end ; but, being a clergyman, a 
 friend of my father, and sipping his wine 
 with his legs stretched under the family 
 table, I did nothing by way of a practical 
 stopper to a long, rigmarole sermon which 
 drove me nearly mad." 
 
 "What was it about?" asked Ivy. 
 " And there sat my father," resumed 
 Aubrey, without heeding the question, 
 "drumming a military air with his fingers
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 229 
 
 on the table, and looking at us with his eyes 
 nearly closed, as if half asleep, enjoying the 
 fun to see me worked up to a froth." 
 
 " I never heard of anything so strange," 
 observed Ivy. " Was the object, then, only 
 to make you angry ?" 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know," added he. " At 
 any rate, they were successful in getting me 
 into a pretty high pitch of wax, and after 
 letting the vicar have a few of my own 
 sentiments, garnished with some flowers of 
 rhetoric not of parliamentary origin, I 
 walked majestically out of the room, and 
 came here as fast as I could, to find you, 
 Ivy, with a tendency to the sulks." 
 
 " I felt the time so long before you 
 came," responded Ivy, as if pleading against 
 the charge. 
 
 "So did I," rejoined Aubrey, "and it 
 was no joke, I can tell ye, to be badgered 
 as I was."
 
 230 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 " But you have not told me a single word 
 of the cause of all this," returned Ivy. 
 
 " Well," added he, " I think the discus- 
 sion had better be dropped altogether ; for 
 I'm particularly sick of it." 
 
 After a slight, very slight pause, Ivy 
 remarked, 
 
 " I see that vou do not wish to tell me 
 
 «/ 
 
 what passed." 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Aubrey, with vehe- 
 mence, " what's the use of driving a fellow 
 mad twice in less than half an hour ?" 
 
 "It's far from my wish," said Ivy, "to 
 be the cause of annoying you ; but I suspect, 
 from what you told me a short time since,, 
 that I was the subject of the vicar's lecture." 
 
 "Well, supposing you were?" responded 
 he, irritably, " who cares what the old 
 drone said ? I never did, and never will." 
 
 " But I may have to do so," rejoined 
 Ivy, in a quiet tone, which produced a
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 231 
 
 marked change in Aubrey Lef erne's care- 
 less and angry manner. 
 
 " Why," returned he. " What have you 
 to fear from hi in ?" 
 
 "The displeasure of my father," replied 
 Ivy. "A few words from his lips, and I 
 might wish that either you or I had never 
 been born." 
 
 " Don't talk in that way," added Aubrey. 
 "We've been happy together, I'm sure, for 
 a great many years, and now, because we're 
 bigger and older, I'm told that I ought to 
 take no more notice of you. Pretty sort of 
 conduct that would be for all the birds' 
 nests you brought me, and the fairy tales 
 you used to relate by the hour together 
 when there was nobody else but Soppy to 
 say one word of fun to me." 
 
 "And yet it would be right," replied she, 
 although the words faltered on her lips. 
 " It is remembered by others, you see, if not
 
 232 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 by us, that, as year succeeds year, children 
 become less childish." 
 
 " Those are about the very words used 
 by the old drone himself,' 1 retorted Aubrey, 
 11 in winding up his homily. How did you 
 learn them, Ivy?" 
 
 " The same thoughts sometimes," returned 
 she, " produce the same words." 
 
 " Well !" and he spoke as if his teeth 
 were clenched together, " as you seem to 
 agree with him, or them, in thoughts and 
 words, we had better, I suppose, be strangers. 
 Let it be so from this night, and from the 
 spot on which we stand." 
 
 Ivy gave no reply, but she turned away 
 her face, paler grown, to hide some very 
 hot tears threatening to scald her cheeks. 
 
 " I cared little or nothing what my 
 father said upon the matter, or the vicar 
 preached," resumed Aubrey. " If not my 
 own master now, I shall be, and when of 
 age, Soppy says, my mother's fortune will
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 233 
 
 be mine, and it's all in hard cash. Won't I 
 let them see then who shall dictate to me !" 
 
 The tears were now trickling down Ivy's 
 face ; but not a word escaped her lips. 
 
 " Remember," continued he, "that it was 
 no wish of mine that any difference should 
 be made in cfUr old companionship ; but, as 
 you join in the cry of its being right that it 
 should end, I shall make no further stand 
 against it. I return to Eton to-morrow, 
 and, when we meet again, it shall be in 
 accordance with your present expressed 
 desire — that is, as if we had never met." 
 
 His quick ear caught a stifled sob, and 
 the sound appeared to lessen the acerbity 
 of his tone. 
 
 " Why all this should be, however," 
 added he, " I'm at a loss to know. People 
 who, properly, may be called old sinners 
 are too apt to judge of others by them- 
 selves. They seem to think that nothing 
 can be right which, beheld through their
 
 234 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 own smoked glasses, looks shady. But 
 what more harm or wrong can there be, 
 Ivy, in our walking and talking together 
 now than when, as little children, we made 
 daisy-chains together, you, I recollect, doing 
 all the work and I sat by looking idly on?" 
 
 "The fault is, I fear," replied she, with 
 an effort, " your disregard of your father's 
 advice and wishes, which have been urged 
 in so unmistakeable a manner, and, if con- 
 tinued to be resisted, will certainly lead to 
 evil of some kind or other. I shudder to 
 think," continued Ivy, " what a few words, 
 uttered to my father, might cause our 
 humble home to be." 
 
 " That being so," rejoined Aubrey, and 
 the upper and lower teeth seemed to have 
 met again, " there shall be no cause for the 
 few words to be spoken, and your humble 
 home, therefore, will be left undisturbed. 
 I'm not going to beg for your society, how- 
 ever much I may wish for its continuance."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 235 
 
 11 You must remember your position," 
 suggested Ivy, and her words were firmer 
 as she spoke. 
 
 " I do," returned he, with passion and 
 pride in his demeanour, " and 1 mean to 
 maintain it." 
 
 "The difference is so great between 
 yours and mine," argued Ivy, " that I am 
 no longer a fitting companion for you. 
 The time was when neither remarks nor 
 sneers could be made on our being seen to- 
 gether ; but that is past. You must know 
 as well as I do that from what has taken 
 place this day our final separation is as cer- 
 tain as if one were already dead. Colonel 
 Leferne never permits trifles to stand in 
 his way." 
 
 "Perhaps not," responded Aubrey, 
 " neither will his son when he has the power 
 to tread them under foot. As he has done, so 
 will I, and, as our family motto has it, ' live 
 with will unfettered.' "
 
 236 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 " May it ever guide you in the path to 
 make you happy !" returned she. 
 
 " And so lead me to the grave at last, a 
 good, old man. Ha, ha, ha ! Is that the 
 conclusion to the solemn entreaty, Ivy ?" 
 said he, in a tone and manner which jarred 
 painfully on the young girl's feelings. 
 
 " Excuse me, sir," remarked somebody, 
 looming in space in the form of a gigantic 
 magpie, for his breast was white, and the 
 remaining parts of his plumage looked as 
 black as those of a venerable crow. 
 " Excuse me, sir," repeated somebody, 
 making the lowest of bows, in the shades of 
 evening, now of considerable density, "but 
 the Colonel sent me to say that if you will 
 do him the great favour to return to the 
 dining-room as soon as you've done — you'll 
 excuse me, sir, in repeating the Colonel's 
 exact words, for he gave me the order with 
 those two fingers of his lifted up, which 
 means be particular or look out — as soon as
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 237 
 
 you've done," repeated Mr. Soppy, for the 
 gigantic magpie was that valuable retainer 
 himself, " making a young fool of yourself, 
 he will have much pleasure in relating a 
 few most interesting historical facts con- 
 cerning dolls. You will receive this, sir, if 
 you please," concluded Mr. Soppy, " as a 
 privileged communication." 
 
 "How did my father know that I was 
 here ?" fiercely inquired Aubrey. 
 
 " My own impression is, sir," responded 
 Mr. Soppy — Mr. Thomas Soppy — " that the 
 Colonel did not know you were here ; but, 
 suspicion haunting minds not altogether 
 hinnocent, he sent me as straight as a line 
 to this very spot to see, sir, if so be this was 
 not the identical locality in which you might 
 be found — to repeat his exact words — 
 making a young fool of yourself. You will 
 receive this, sir, if you please, as a privileged 
 communication." 
 
 " Do you mean to say," said Aubrey r
 
 238 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 with almost ungovernable passion, as he 
 strode dangerously close to Mr. Soppy, 
 " that you have dogged my footsteps ?" 
 
 "Nothing could be further, sir, from my 
 thoughts." replied Mr. Soppy, moving a few- 
 steps backwards for safety and for succour 
 from threatening danger, ef or legs. The 
 Colonel's orders were to find you, sir, and 
 deliver his message, which I have done, I 
 hope, in the delicate manner of a privileged 
 communication." 
 
 " Then be the bearer of my reply to 
 him." 
 
 "No, no," interposed Ivy; "do not send 
 one word to render him, perhaps, more 
 angry than he is." 
 
 " You had better, 1 think, sir," suggested 
 Mr. Soppy, persuasively, " return with me 
 and hear what the Colonel has to say about 
 dolls. He never starts a subject, sir, but 
 what he thoroughly unearths."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 239 
 
 Aubrey appeared to struggle with his 
 feelings in silence for a few seconds, and 
 then, in a voice husky with passion, said, 
 
 " I'll join ray father presently. Tell him 
 so, and leave me now." 
 
 Mr. Soppy bowed low and retired, his 
 form diminishing by degrees amid the 
 shades of evening until lost to sight, but 
 not to memory.
 
 240 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 FT1HE setting sun had been kept in his 
 -*- proper position. Long shadows, out 
 of all proportion to body and limb, were 
 thrown in the direct rear of Johnny Tad- 
 pole as he progressed in his pilgrimage to- 
 wards the west, and not for one moment 
 did he feel "done" from the temporary 
 tangent of an angle. Over the hills and far 
 away, the setting sun was always in his 
 front, and as he dipped beneath the horizon 
 in all the splendour of the god of day, 
 decked in robes of purple, crimson, and 
 rainbow tints, Johnny offered, with eyes 
 turned devotionally upwards, a hearty 
 thanksgiving that he had not been " clone."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 241 
 
 There were several places of note and 
 distinction now left behind, and Johnny 
 Tadpole, as yet, was neither footsore nor 
 heartsore. The satisfactory condition of 
 his feet might be accounted for from adopt- 
 ing the practical suggestion of the Brentford 
 blacksmith that Queen Mary should be 
 subjected to carrying the slight penalty 
 of his feather weight, where " the going 
 
 o i CO 
 
 was good," instead of his own small 
 forked limbs; and, as Her Majesty seemed 
 to bear her burden with indifference amount- 
 ing almost to contempt, nothing could be 
 more perfect than the arrangement to each 
 and both concerned. The daughter of 
 Gauntlet, by Bright Steel, by Helmet 
 Plume, jogged along the roadside turf, 
 sometimes walking at her ease, sometimes 
 trotting not altogether to the ease of her 
 rider, who, being temporarily churned, tried 
 his best to look like milk set for cream, and 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 failed, as might be expected, while the Un- 
 known gamboled and frisked far before and 
 greatly behind in a free and easy manner 
 which supported the theory of his having 
 been immensely indulged frcm his infancy 
 upwards, if not spoiled. 
 
 After Brentford then in routine came 
 Hounslow as a place of note, famous, as 
 Johnny Tadpole well knew from song and 
 story, for the exploits of one Dick Turpin, 
 and other celebrated gentlemen of the road, 
 whose morals were lax when their ex- 
 chequers were low, Johnny surveyed the 
 heath with interest, and began to speculate 
 upon the possibility of his having been a 
 highwayman himself in days of old, suppos- 
 ing he had been born at an earlier period 
 of the world's history, although in corres- 
 ponding circumstances, as connected with 
 himself. Johnny thought of his accident 
 with the baker's cart wheel, and arrived by
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 243 
 
 a short cut at the philosophical conclusion 
 that a great many fortunes and misfortunes 
 may be more of an irresponsible nature 
 than a responsible one. By degrees, and 
 by the exercise of a discretion belonging to 
 a head older than the shoulders on which 
 it was placed through the medium of a thin 
 neck, Johnny Tadpole had surmounted the 
 difficulties of Staines, and Egham, and Bag- 
 shot — historical associations of knights of 
 the road again cropping up — and, nursing 
 his pecuniary resources with tender care 
 and great solicitude, Basingstoke was reached 
 without an approach to exhaustion, mental, 
 physical, or monetary, and, keeping the 
 setting sun in the assigned position with a 
 fixed and steadfast purpose, the pilgrim to 
 the west began to think of his preliminary 
 thanksgivings as the shrine — Greatwood 
 Park — became hourly an object of ad- 
 ditional interest as the distance decreased 
 
 r2
 
 244 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 between him and the stately mansion of the 
 Lefernes. 
 
 Andover had been gained without anv 
 important let, check, or impediment, and 
 previous to crossing the swift-running and 
 clear, shallow stream, in which speckled 
 trout rise to flies of the summer day, Johnny 
 Tadpole dismounted from the back of Queen 
 Mary, and, giving her head freedom from 
 the rein, she walked up to her middle in 
 the river, and, plunging her nostrils into the 
 fresh water, sucked in a deep, long, sobbing 
 draught, with a zest not to be misunder- 
 stood. The Unknown, however, only wet- 
 ted his dainty pasterns, and, standing at a 
 respectful distance, looked at his lady 
 mother with pricked ears and full, staring 
 eyeballs, as if communing with himself 
 whether he should follow or not. 
 
 For lack of a wider, larger, and more 
 convenient cup, Johnny Tadpole placed his 
 two hands together, and, scooping up the
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 245 
 
 water between them at his feet, was about 
 to drink as deep a draught as his united 
 palms would permit, when somebody or 
 something arrested his attention, and, lost 
 by the hesitation, it trickled quickly away, 
 even to the last drop. 
 
 " What, Taddy," exclaimed somebody so 
 very close to his elbow that he rubbed 
 familiarly against it, as he sat on the edge 
 of the rush-grown stream, "is it you, or a 
 remarkable beast of a boy, who takes upon 
 himself a shape that doesn't belong to him?" 
 
 " Boiled beans and butter, what a lux- 
 ury ! " exclaimed Johnny, in a tone almost 
 objectionable, perhaps, from the extreme 
 fervour of the ejaculation. " Why, if it isn't 
 you, sir, Mister Billy Bottles !" 
 
 " It is so" replied the scion of the house 
 of Bottles, " and no mistake. There's but 
 one o' the old breed left," continued he, 
 " and it may be just as well there is no 
 more o' the stock ; for if we were plentiful.
 
 246 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Taddy, upon my soul we should have to 
 swallow each other ! We should so" 
 
 "But what brought vou here, sir?" in- 
 quired Taddy, in utter amazement at the 
 meeting. 
 
 Billy Bottles jerked a conspicuously bat- 
 tered, limp, and shapeless white hat, with a 
 wisp of black crape round it, at an acute 
 angle over his right eye, and, placing both 
 hands into the depths of his penniless 
 pockets, widened the position of his legs, 
 and resorted to the statesmanlike policy of 
 commanding the position before running the 
 risk of being outflanked. 
 
 "First of all," replied he, "tell me, 
 Taddy, what made you turn your back 
 upon that swindling concern in Bromley 
 Marsh, where more pump water is sold 
 under the name o' milk than weak eyes 
 ever beheld, for wandering down in these 
 foreign parts ?" 
 
 Without a single mental reservation,
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 247 
 
 Johnny Tadpole related every particular, 
 and not the most suspicious of mankind 
 would or could have doubted the accuracy 
 of a single syllable of the simple narrative. 
 
 " Seeing the old mare and her colt foal 
 with ye," said Billy Bottles, "I knew pretty 
 well what you were going to tell me before 
 you began, Taddy. I did so." 
 
 Johnny Tadpole felt an instinctive admir- 
 ation for the speaker's powers of penetra- 
 tion. 
 
 "Now it so occurs," resumed Billy 
 Bottles, " that / am also pointing for Great- 
 wood Park. Hearing of the arrival of the 
 Colonel, I knew, if he had a guinea left, I 
 shouldn't be turned away without a bit of 
 it. I did so" 
 
 "Mr. Wideo, sir," responded Johnny, 
 "always said he was much too liberal, with- 
 out the Bank of England had been at his 
 back." 
 
 "A perfect gentleman," rejoined Billy
 
 248 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Bottles, with a patronizing shake of the 
 head. u Have you a shilling, Taddy," con- 
 tinued he, producing three much-used and 
 bilious-looking cards, " which you don't 
 particularly want ?" 
 
 "I haven't many shillings left, sir," re- 
 turned Johnny, with a sickly smile, " but I 
 think I could spare one if so be you— — " 
 
 " Don't say another word," interrupted 
 Billy Bottles, kneeling and spreading out 
 the three cards upon the ground in front of 
 Johnny Tadpole, " but keep your eyes fixed 
 on them." 
 
 Johnny complied with the directions, and 
 stared at the three decidedly dirty cards 
 with blinkless eyelid. 
 
 "There's the king o' diamonds," said 
 Billy, placing the Court card, with a slow, 
 deliberate movement, upon the ground with 
 the face downwards, " and there's the 
 knave o' spades," continued he, with a cor- 
 responding action, "and there's the queen
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 249 
 
 o' hearts, all of a row, Taddy. Keep your 
 eyes fixed straight on 'em," said he, "or 
 you may make a mistake. Now, I'll bet 
 you a single shilling, just once and no more, 
 that you can't turn up the queen o' hearts 
 in less than twice. I will so." 
 
 "Why, Mister Bottles!" exclaimed John- 
 ny, with positive surprise at the exposed 
 innocence of the colonel's ex- trainer, "it 
 would be picking your pocket, sir." 
 
 Billy Bottles drew back the angles of his 
 mouth, in the form of a broad grin, at the 
 suggested possibility of such a . sacrilege 
 being perpetrated. 
 
 " Never mind that," rejoined he, with an 
 inward chuckle, " but try your luck, and 
 turn up the queen o' hearts." 
 
 With the confidence which a foregone 
 conclusion may be supposed to create, 
 Johnny suddenly pounced with finger and 
 thumb upon what he steadfastly believed to 
 be the queen of hearts, and brought to light
 
 250 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 the black and begrimed features of the king 
 of diamonds. 
 
 Billy Bottles surveyed the mute astonish- 
 ment of the juvenile speculator out of the 
 corners of his eyes with a keen relish of en- 
 joyment, and watched in silence the victim 
 of a deceived vision examining the card, still 
 held between his finger and thumb, as if 
 doubting the evidence of his senses. 
 
 "There's nothing more likely to lead to 
 wrong," said he at length, " than our own 
 eyes, Taddy. A man thinks he sees a clear 
 path straight before him, and the moment 
 afterwards finds his nose flattened against a 
 stiff post. He does so" 
 
 "I could have sworn " 
 
 "In course you could," interrupted Billy 
 Bottles. "And like a sporting pal o' mine, 
 who was always swearing from the hour of 
 his birth until he was released from swear- 
 ing for want of breath, you would have
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 251 
 
 been a little perjured villain, if you had 
 sworn. You would so, Taddy." 
 
 "But, sir " 
 
 " No buts," again interrupted Billy Bot- 
 tles. " Lies is lies, pepper 'em with buts 
 and ifs as much as you like. But come 
 along," continued he. " Catch hold of the 
 old mare's head, and let's step on our jour- 
 ney. At the next public, Taddy, I'll stand 
 treat with your shilling, I will so"
 
 252 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 /COLONEL LEFERNE and his son's late 
 ^-^ tutor, the vicar, were seated together, 
 after dinner, in the quiet enjoyment of a 
 mutual exchange of reminiscences of days 
 long since passed away, but still remember- 
 ed with a lively sense of their having been 
 stern realities and not misty dreams. 
 
 There was no apparent change in the 
 colonel since his arrival at Greatwood Park. 
 His features were still pale, and the general 
 lassitude and slow, wearied movement of 
 his limbs showed that, as yet, there was 
 little, if any improvement in his health. A 
 contracted expression now and then knit- 
 ting the brow with deep furrows and a 
 nervous twitching of the compressed lips
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 253 
 
 were, occasionally, evidence of inward pain, 
 borne, however, without the faintest sigh or 
 murmur. 
 
 " I must die," Aunt Margaret had heard 
 him once whisper, when communing with 
 himself ; " but not like a coward. A 
 Leferne dies but once." 
 
 " You are free from suffering, I hope, to- 
 night?" said his companion. 
 
 "Yes, Bob," replied the colonel, faintly; 
 " pretty well so," and he drew a white, 
 bloodless hand across his forehead, as if 
 assuring himself of the truth of the hazarded 
 assertion. 
 
 "We have spoken, perhaps, too much 
 and too long for your strength," rejoined 
 his friend. "Compose yourself, my dear 
 Ned, for a few minutes in silence by way of 
 a passive restorative to nature's exhausted 
 energies, while I help myself to another 
 glass of the disentombed old port of your 
 ancestors — fine judges, I must confess — as
 
 254 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 an active and agreeable agent for rendering 
 me a corresponding service." 
 
 "Are you, then, suffering from exhaus- 
 tion, Bob ?" asked the colonel, smiling as he 
 drummed his fingers upon the table to a 
 favourite air. 
 
 " I cannot allege that I fear any sudden 
 collapse of the physical system," responded 
 his friend, helping himself to the additional 
 glass of the disentombed old port ; " but 
 preventing mischief is better than resorting 
 to the remedy for its cure. Your health !" 
 
 As far as outward appearances went, no 
 one could possibly have less cause for appre- 
 hending either immediate or remote effects 
 from the collapse of the physical system 
 than the Reverend Robert Roundhead, M.A., 
 of Greatwood Vicarage, to which ecclesi- 
 astical benefice belonged only the small 
 tithes of a large parish in the gift, absolute 
 and uncontrolled, of the knightly family of 
 the Lefernes.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 255 
 
 From the popular belief of his possessing 
 a constitution which defied friction, he was 
 familiarly known among a choice set of 
 Oxford undergraduates as " Old Nails," and 
 from his lean, hard, straight, tall, and fine- 
 drawn figure, this distinction was occasion- 
 ally supplemented by his being referred to 
 as ic Old Nee die- wire." It was a tradition 
 of Brazennose that no day or night was too 
 long for " Old Nails." He could ride, row, 
 run, jump, bowl a ball, or guard a wicket 
 with the picked few of the University. 
 When the war-cry of " gown and town " 
 was raised, the pet of Brazennose might be 
 invariably seen using his natural weapons of 
 offence and defence with admirable skill and 
 punishing force, and so frequently was he 
 conspicuous as a leader in these frays that 
 after the infliction of ordinary proctor pains 
 and penalties, combined with an unlimited 
 number of austere warnings, he was finally 
 threatened with peremptory expulsion.
 
 256 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 " Old Needle-wire," however, floated like a 
 buoyant cork over all difficulties, and, taking 
 his degree with unexceptionable credit, 
 quitted the University with the conceded 
 double first-class honours of being the best 
 man " at all in the ring" that Oxford ever 
 possessed. 
 
 As kindred spirits, Edward Leferne and 
 "Old Nails" were college chums, and, the 
 worldly prospects of the latter not being 
 particularly bright, he was glad to accept, 
 at the hands of his friend, the vacant living 
 of the vicarage of Greatwood ; albeit the 
 great tithes went to enrich the lay pro- 
 prietor, and the small tithes to keep the 
 head of the local church in a state not over- 
 burdened with riches. There was, however, 
 little to do, and no questions asked concern- 
 ing the way in which things were done, and, 
 as the Reverend Robert Roundhead desired 
 to entail upon himself as little trouble as
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 257 
 
 possible concerning all parochial duties, no 
 arrangement could possibly be more in 
 unison with his heart-felt wishes of being at 
 perfect ease with his flock, and permitting 
 his flock to be at undisturbed ease with 
 him. There were no unseemly bickerings, 
 controversies, or dissensions concerning 
 High Church, Low Church, or no church. 
 The Vicar of Greatwood was never heard to 
 rebuke anyone for his principles, or, indeed, 
 for the want of them, and it would appear 
 that peace reigned undisturbed from a total 
 absence of the elements of discord. 
 
 Year succeeded year ; but no change 
 was perceptible. In the old Norman church, 
 in which but little of the dust of the 
 knightly family of the Lefernes could have 
 been swept together, although generations 
 lay mouldering beneath its time-worn stones, 
 the Reverend Robert Roundhead performed 
 his duties, on each succeeding Sunday, in 
 
 vol. i. s
 
 258 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 an orthodox manner which defied criticism. 
 If his homily was short it was not the less 
 popular on that account, and, if he failed in 
 the difficult task to please everybody, no- 
 body was heard to dissent or murmur loudly 
 at what he did, or did not. 
 
 The vicar, as he sat opposite his old 
 friend and patron, still retained some of the 
 qualities which distinguished him as " Old 
 Nails." His cheek bones were high, and 
 two small, contracted black eyes twinkled 
 brightly under a pair of beetling, shaggy, 
 grey eyebrows with a penetrating glance. 
 His aquiline nose had been damaged more 
 than once when leading; " Gown " against 
 "Town," but the bridge still remained 
 whole, if the arch was not altogether 
 perfect. To say that the Reverend Robert 
 Roundhead had a mouth might seem super- 
 fluous, but it looked better designed as a 
 model for a buttonhole on a large scale than 
 anything else, exhibiting, as it did, a simple
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 259 
 
 slit. A broad, square forehead, however, 
 from which was carefully combed long, 
 silvery hair — once as black as the raven's 
 wing —to fall over the back of a well-shaped 
 head, revealed intellectual capacity of no 
 mean order, and he had but to speak a few 
 words in that full, deep-toned voice which 
 the ignorant and vulgar cannot imitate, to 
 convince the listener that he had not been 
 so idle as, apparently, he wished to be 
 thought. His face, cleanly shaven, was 
 somewhat florid, and he looked altogether 
 as if health and strength being conceded to 
 him in his youth, they were still the com- 
 panions of his middle age, and had not for 
 a single day deserted " Old Nails." 
 
 " You like the wine?" said the colonel, 
 after a pause, during which he continued to 
 drum a tattoo upon the table ; but so gentle 
 was the touch that not the faintest sound 
 was heard. 
 
 s2
 
 260 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 "With a palate it would be impossible 
 not to do so," replied the vicar, mechanical- 
 ly refilling his glass. 
 
 The silent tattoo terminated abruptly, 
 and instead of bringing the replenished glass 
 to his lips, the vicar let it remain where it 
 stood, and looked at his companion with 
 something like an expression of astonishment. 
 
 A most decided change had certainly 
 taken place in the outward appearance and 
 manner of Colonel Leferne. 
 
 " See if that door is closed," said he, 
 sternly. " We have listeners here, and 
 what I have to say is for your ears alone." 
 
 The door being found to be securely 
 closed, the vicar resumed his seat in silence, 
 as if under military orders, and seemed to 
 forget that a full glass of the disentombed 
 old port remained within easy reach. 
 
 " There is nothing of the past in connec- 
 tion with myself, Bob, " said the colonel, 
 jerking his chair a few inches nearer to that
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 261 
 
 of his companion, " but what is generally, 
 and even perhaps particularly, known to you. 
 Between us there have been few secrets, 
 and, if 1 refer to what has been, you will 
 excuse what would appear to be a prosaic 
 proceeding, and indulge me with patience." 
 
 The vicar was about making an acquies- 
 cing observation in reply, but two raised 
 fingers of the colonel's right hand checked 
 the words, and, whatever they might have 
 been, they died in silence upon his lips. 
 
 " Did it ever present itself to your philo- 
 sophical mind, Bob," resumed the colonel, 
 "that the planets forming the solar system, 
 storms, seasons, months, years, and ages, 
 which move in undeviating cycles, are not 
 more determined and immutable in their 
 course than we are in that which we are com- 
 pelled to take ?" 
 
 The signal for forbearance of speech being 
 again made, the Rev. Robert Roundhead 
 reserved his answer.
 
 262 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 "We may appear to be masters of our- 
 selves and actions," continued the colonel ; 
 " but are we so, in fact ? Sorrow and joy, 
 for the most part, hang upon slender 
 threads, which a breath of fate may snap, 
 and too often does. Now, look at me, Bob." 
 
 The vicar implicitly obeyed the instruc- 
 tions. 
 
 ■' Here am I," said the colonel, " a victim 
 to adverse circumstances over which I have 
 had no more check or control than the ex- 
 press direction of the most erratic of comets." 
 
 The Rev. Robert Roundhead shuffled un- 
 easily in his seat. 
 
 " You would convey a negative to this 
 proposition," resumed the colonel, "and 
 have me remember that I depended upon a 
 continuance of fortune's favours, which I 
 ought to have known was opposed to every 
 law of precedent." 
 
 " Without the slightest intention, my dear
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 263 
 
 Ned, of interrupting your easy flow of 
 thoughts," replied the vicar, " I must paren- 
 thetically remark that your rocket-like, 
 sparkling career was too fast to last." 
 
 " My present condition," rejoined the 
 colonel, with a deeply-fetched sigh, " is in- 
 deed that of the fallen stick." 
 
 The Rev. Robert. Roundhead now de- 
 liberately raised the untasted glass of wine, 
 and, holding it to the light of the bronzed 
 lamp, suspended b}^ massive chains above 
 his head, examined the delicate floating 
 beeswing, with one eye partially closed, 
 and, after a sip which might fairly be de- 
 nominated " copious," cleared his voice and 
 thus began : 
 
 " You were resolved, my dear Ned, both 
 at Oxford, and at the termination of your 
 showy university career, distinguished by 
 many remarkable incidents and episodes, if 
 not by the highest academical honours, to
 
 264 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 be the first man of the day. The pride of 
 your race appeared to be condensed and 
 concentrated in you." 
 
 A slight flush, from chin to brow, spread 
 itself over the colonel's wan features at 
 these words. 
 
 " And it was obvious to all, my dear Ned 
 (including myself), who had the infinite grati- 
 fication of beholding you, in the meridian of 
 your popularity, driving that matchless drag 
 towards Newmarket Heath, drawn by four 
 high-stepping greys, with two outsiders in 
 front in crimson liveries, and your neatly- 
 appointed and well-mounted groom behind, 
 leading a thoroughbred hack, that it must 
 be, sooner or later, dust to dust, and ashes 
 to ashes." 
 
 " I thought myself capable of maintaining 
 the position I determined to occupy," re- 
 marked the colonel, sternly. 
 
 "A sanguine temperament is not adapted 
 for cold, methodical calculation," rejoined
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 265 
 
 the vicar, finishing the wine by a second 
 sip. " But thirty-eight race-horses in train- 
 ing, my dear Ned, twelve hunters, four 
 chargers, eighteen harness-horses, and six 
 of the most perfect hacks that ever were 
 girthed, are not kept on trifles light as air." 
 
 "I have won forty thousand upon the 
 throw of a single main," said the colonel, 
 with a sneer upon his upper lip, as he 
 jerked back his head with an angry, im- 
 patient gesture. 
 
 "And, possibly, lost as much," responded 
 his companion. " Be that, however, as it 
 may, my dear Ned. I cannot quite agree 
 in the defensible position you occupy. We 
 too often blame and bully circumstances of 
 which we are the sole authors." 
 
 11 Well, well," ejaculated the colonel, 
 " right or wrong, it cannot be said but that 
 I had my day, and, if I live, it will come 
 again." 
 
 The Rev. Robert Roundhead began to
 
 26G TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 entertain sudden misgivings concerning the 
 sanity of his friend. 
 
 "Listen," said the colonel, raising the 
 two fingers of the right hand, a signal uni- 
 versally obeyed when it was made. " You 
 men of the Church teach us — or pretend so 
 to do — that there is almost an unlimitable 
 power in faith ; but I never heard it clearly 
 defined. What is it?" 
 
 The vicar thought well before he spoke r 
 and bent his eyes intently upon the polished 
 table just before him as he returned the 
 answer. 
 
 " Faith, my dear Xed, as I interpret it, is 
 the unequivocal assent of the mind, and per- 
 fect trust in undisputed authority." 
 
 ( 'And such a condition may control more 
 than we can well believe," returned the 
 colonel. " Is that not so ?" 
 
 " I have always held the opinion," added 
 the Rev. Robert Roundhead, reflectively y 
 "that, among the hidden, mysterious in-
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 267 
 
 fluences, there is none so great as faith. 
 Unreserved belief is the revealed power of 
 Heaven itself." 
 
 "Then how can I doubt the restoration 
 of my fallen fortunes, Bob ?" said the 
 colonel, his eyes dilating with excitement 
 as he spoke. " I feel — I know that I shall 
 not die the helpless beggar that I am. A 
 few years hence, and Aubrey will be of age, 
 when, if he escapes the trap into which too 
 many of the youthful Lefernes have fallen, 
 all will be recovered. I confess, however," 
 continued he, " that doubts too often arise 
 on this point to make me shudder for the 
 result." 
 
 " You particularly refer, perhaps, to his 
 rustic attraction, Ivy Girling," observed his 
 companion. 
 
 "I have often feared, Bob," responded 
 the colonel, "that she maybe the stormy 
 petrel heralding the tempest which, not- 
 withstanding my faith, may shatter my frail
 
 268 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 bark. I absolutely depend upon no one and 
 nothing standing between my son and me 
 when he can legally act for himself. I am 
 told that my wife's fortune, to a certain 
 extent, can then be utilized when my 
 alchemist plans for the transmutation of the 
 baser metals into gold, Bob, shall be carried 
 out before the admiring gaze of a wonder- 
 stricken world." 
 
 " Might I venture to ask with earnest 
 solicitude," returned the vicar, "whether 
 you have taken, my dear Ned, anything 
 stronger to-day than a few glasses of whole- 
 some claret?" 
 
 " No," replied the colonel, smiling. " If 
 intoxicated, Bob, it is with hope. But 
 what I want to call your particular atten- 
 tion to is the assistance I require at your 
 hands to help me to extinguish this flame 
 kindled too long, and which, I fear, burns 
 with a heat which hot, young blood only 
 supplies. I have watched them, and know
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 269 
 
 from what I have seen that, to avoid the 
 usual mischief which befalls each successive 
 heir to our house, they must not meet 
 a^ain." 
 
 The Reverend Robert Roundhead pressed 
 his lips so tightly together that there was 
 not even the effect of a slit left, and, shak- 
 ing his head, expressed a most decided dis- 
 sent to the proposed arbitrary course. 
 
 " Upon his return home for the next 
 vacation," said the vicar, " I will plumb the 
 depth of this, probably, shallow pool in 
 which Love may have dipped his wings 
 only to strengthen them for a longer flight. 
 But nothing, my dear Ned, could be more 
 inexpedient with my late pupil, whom I never 
 could coach except with kindness, than to 
 attempt to oppose with force any of his 
 whims or caprices. An imperative ' you 
 shall not' would be met with as decided 'I 
 will.' " 
 
 "And yet," returned the colonel, with
 
 270 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 flashing eyes, and speaking through his 
 teeth, " I'm not one of those tame, easy 
 natures who would receive an answer of 
 that kind more than once. When I command 
 my son," continued he, " he must obey." 
 
 "To prolong the subject of this discus- 
 sion," added his friend, " is needless. I 
 will do my best to carry out your wishes, 
 and entertain little doubt of success. Au- 
 brey, at least, will confess to me whether 
 there is any ground for your suspicions, and 
 then we shall know how to act. For my 
 own part, I regard the matter as of the 
 least possible importance, and only as the 
 natural admiration of a boy for a pretty girl 
 with whom he has been associated from his 
 infancy." 
 
 "Young tendrils growing together," ob- 
 served the colonel, commencing "The Dead 
 March in Saul" upon the table, "cling 
 closely. Be it, however, as you will, Bob. 
 I have no doubt that you are right, and
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 271 
 
 leave, therefore, the delicate case in your 
 hands." 
 
 Mr. Soppy — Mr. Thomas Soppy — having, 
 at this particular link in the chain of con- 
 versation, applied a force superior to the 
 resistance, opened the door of the apart- 
 ment, and, being furbished to the full ex- 
 tent of his resources, skill, and taste, looked 
 conscious of an effect which he desired the 
 spectator to appreciate. After clearing his 
 throat of an imaginary impediment, Mr. 
 Soppy proceeded to dispel any baseless 
 conjectures that might have arisen concern- 
 ing the cause of his presence, and, with his 
 heels close together, shoulders back, and 
 breast thrown out, delivered himself of a 
 pithy and, as he hoped, well-digested piece 
 of oratory as follows : — 
 
 " I 'ave the honour to announce, colonel, 
 that Queen Mary, her colt foal, and a small, 
 bony boy 'ave arrived in charge of them. 
 Long as the journey has been, sir, you will
 
 272 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 be pleased to learn that the grand, old 
 hanimal is as fresh as a frisking kitten, and 
 her foal — if I'm any judge — is a picter o r 
 beauty. The bony boy, colonel, is quite 
 beneath any description at my hands, being, 
 as I learn from his own lips, a young savage 
 picked up from the gutter by your old 
 servant, Samuel Wideo." 
 
 "Have my orders been carried out?" 
 said the colonel, sharply. 
 
 "To the utmost extent of my ability, 
 sir," responded Mr. Soppy, believing that 
 but one inference could be drawn concern- 
 ing the perfection of the task committed to 
 his hands. 
 
 " Then come," added the colonel, ad- 
 dressing the vicar, as he rose from his seat, 
 "and let us pay a visit to my idol, once 
 worshipped with the devotion of a fanatic."
 
 273 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 7 MHE jackdaws wheeled around the tower 
 -*- of the old Norman church in the im- 
 mediate vicinity of Greatwood Park, as they 
 had done for successive generations of jack- 
 daws. There appeared to be little or no 
 more change in them than in the gnarled 
 ivy which had grown, and crept, and clung, 
 and twisted, and twined among the grey- 
 rnossed stones for ages long since numbered 
 with the past. There always appeared to 
 be matters of family interest for discussion 
 among the jackdaws. They chattered, like 
 members of the human family, monotonous- 
 ly about their rights and wrongs, and privi- 
 leges, and took advantage of every favour- 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 able opportunity for setting the written 
 laws of property at defiance by robbing their 
 neighbours in a bare-faced, or secret and 
 clandestine manner, as best suited the emer- 
 gency of the position. Nothing, in sober 
 truth, could be more imitative than the 
 jackdaws. They mated in due season, 
 built their nests, reproduced themselves in 
 their successors, quarrelled, fought, plun- 
 dered each other, died either from accident, 
 disease, or age, and made room, when the 
 vacancy occurred, from stern necessity, for 
 their heirs and heiresses ready to occupy 
 the parent perch. So the jackdaws went 
 and came, and the ivy twisted, twined, and 
 crept among the grey-mossed stones of the 
 old Norman church with little outward or 
 visible change as time went on. 
 
 There were narrow niches in the old 
 Norman church, wherein stone figures of 
 Our Lady and attendant saints once stood,
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 275 
 
 but now empty, and bearing passive testi- 
 mony of the hand of violence and triumph- 
 ant days of the Puritan. Richly-stained 
 2flass windows softened and mellowed the 
 light in prismatic colours as they fell on 
 dusty tomb and time-worn monument, ban- 
 ner, helmet, and shield, which stood and 
 were hung against the crumbling walls — 
 silent witnesses of the x past. Proud he- 
 raldic escutcheons, faded and tattered, were 
 suspended here and there, behind which 
 drowsy bats clung and made their homes. 
 Marble figures, as large as life, reclined, with 
 uplifted hands pressed together and faces 
 turned Heaven-ward, singly and in pairs, 
 praying for what, it is to be hoped, had long 
 since been received, considering the position 
 had been maintained for centuries. 
 
 By itself the cenotaph of Sir Harold 
 Leferne — he who had vowed his bones 
 should bleach in the Holy Land — stood 
 
 t2
 
 276 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 apart in the chancel, and in complete 
 harness, with beaver up, the crusader was 
 sculptured in jet black stone, for ever pray- 
 ing with raised eauntletted hands like those 
 who kept him such long, good, and close 
 company. In old English letters, almost 
 illegible, this panegyric to the stately family 
 was deeply cut beneath : 
 
 To the Memory of 
 SIR HAROLD LEFERNE, 
 
 Of the ancient and knightly family of the Lefernes, 
 
 Residents for ages in this County, 
 
 Descended, according to unchallenged tradition, 
 
 from Aubrey Sir Edward, son of John Fitz Balderic Leferne, 
 
 to whom William the First presented 
 
 the Manors of Greatwood. 
 
 The narrow side-door of the old Norman 
 church led into what was known in its 
 earlier days as the sacristy. It was a door 
 with massive iron- wrought hinges, and a 
 huge, quaint-looking lock, out of all propor- 
 tion to its width and height, and when the 
 key — a primitive production of the lock- 
 smith's art — was pushed within it, there was
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 277 
 
 a harsh, grating noise which told of rust. 
 So at least Aunt Margaret thought, as she 
 essayed to enter the sacristy one night 
 when stronger nerves might have quivered, 
 perhaps, to have accomplished a similar task. 
 Wrapped in a black mantle which entire- 
 ly covered her figure, Margaret Leferne 
 looked, in the fitful gleams of the moon, 
 which burst from between rolling masses of 
 storm-driven clouds, as scarcely belonging 
 to things of the earth, but rather of the un- 
 real and incorporeal. Ghastly white were 
 her features as the pale moonlight streamed 
 now and then upon them, and her breath 
 was quick and short as she turned the key 
 with a harsh, grating sound in the huge, 
 quaint-looking lock, and, pressing open the 
 door, glided with noiseless step into the 
 sacristy. Perchance each nook and corner 
 were well known to her, for with unhesitat- 
 ing footstep she passed through the dark, 
 Gothic room, and entered a side aisle of the
 
 278 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 church, and from thence to the chancel, 
 where, pausing to clutch the cross which 
 hung, as usual, upon her bosom, she fell 
 slowly upon her knees before the altar, and 
 became as motionless as the sculptured 
 figure of Sir Harold Leferne, by the side of 
 which she knelt in earnest supplication, 
 whispered as the words were from a sad 
 and sorrowful heart. 
 
 Gloom and silence reigned. The wind of 
 the winter's night moaned through the 
 leafless branches of the trees like voices of 
 troubled spirits, and, save when the moon 
 broke from between black masses of float- 
 ing clouds, not a gleam of light was visible. 
 When, however, the fleeting and uncertain 
 beams darted through the stained glass 
 windows they lit up the interior of the old 
 Norman church with artistic effect, and 
 dusty tomb, and time-worn monument, 
 banner, helmet, and shield flashed out from
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 279 
 
 the depths of darkness, and the marble 
 figures, ever praying with uplifted hands, 
 looked ghastly in the extreme. 
 
 It seemed long, if it were not so, that 
 Aunt Margaret remained a supplicant to 
 heaven for the protection and welfare of 
 those she loved, and not for herself. With 
 her lips she prayed, and also with her heart, 
 that forgiveness might be extended for 
 transgressions of the past, and that tempta- 
 tion to sin, perhaps again and again, might 
 be withstood. 
 
 And this was the lonely woman's petition 
 in the dead and silent hour of the night. 
 
 Rising from her knees, and turning to 
 leave the spot, she saw, in the momentary 
 light afforded by the moon, a figure, dis- 
 tinct as anything in life could be, standing 
 motionless in the centre aisle. Impene- 
 trable darkness followed, and Margaret Le- 
 ferne's blood felt as if turned to ice in her
 
 280 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 veins. Again the moon shone forth, and 
 there stood the figure as palpable to sight 
 as those chiselled in marble around. 
 
 ei Speak," exclaimed Aunt Margaret, 
 hoarsely, as, in a paroxysm of terror, she 
 raised her clasped hands, " and say what 
 or who you are !" 
 
 The pale, sickly light was now stationan T , 
 and, as it fell on the form, it was seen, to 
 raise a hand slowly and press a finger, as if 
 for silence, across its lips, as mute as those 
 of a corpse, which, in that place of the dead, 
 it so closely resembled. 
 
 Dizzy with fear, Margaret Leferne stood 
 rooted to the spot, with fixed and 
 staring eyeballs at the figure, which again 
 melted into shadow, and then into darkness. 
 Upon the light returning it was gone, and 
 without a sound or trace of its having been. 
 
 Margaret Leferne, however, moved not, 
 but stood where she was, gazing with eager 
 and feverish look at vacancy.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 281 
 
 "Heaven have mercy on me!" at length 
 she ejaculated, in a tremulous voice. "Am 
 I, too, becoming mad ?" 
 
 It might be the effect only of a heated 
 imagination, but a long-drawn sigh seemed 
 to fall upon her ear. 
 
 Beads of cold perspiration stood upon 
 the brow of Margaret Leferne, as she stag- 
 gered a few steps forward on tottering 
 limbs down the aisle, and, governed by 
 fear, she hastened into the sacristy, and 
 through the door by which she entered, 
 fleeing along the path leading to the Hall 
 as if pursued by something too horrible for 
 mortal eyes to look upon again.
 
 282 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 rflHINGS pertaining to horses, as well as 
 -*- their noble and ignoble masters, ap- 
 pear to move in circles, and occasionally 
 come back to the point from whence they 
 started. Long years had come and gone, 
 with their inevitable changes and vicissi- 
 tudes, and there stood Queen Mary in her 
 old box again at Greatwood Park, with her 
 colt-foal by her side, and, notwithstanding 
 his sire was unknown, he looked patrician 
 blood from ear to heel. 
 
 The royal advent being expected, due 
 preparations had been made accordingly for 
 the arrival, and Mr. Soppy found himself 
 compelled, from the number of male servants
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 283 
 
 iD the establishment being limited to one, 
 to carry out the short and sharp orders of 
 his master by laying hold of the handle of 
 a broom, and, no scrutinizing eyes being 
 near to wound the sensitiveness of his 
 nature, to set diligently to work, in his 
 shirt-sleeves, and sweep away colonies of 
 spiders, with all their vested rights in webs 
 old as the hills, and accumulated dust which 
 smelt ill-flavoured and mouldy. From some 
 stimulating cause, however, — perhaps the 
 wholesome desire of carrying out with the 
 utmost strictness the colonel's short and 
 sharp orderSj — Mr. Soppy proceeded with 
 his iEgean task with great assiduity, and 
 the stable, neat and trim as a lady's boudoir 
 in other days, began to look something like 
 that when Gauntlet's daughter was as young 
 and promising as her own son — sire un- 
 known. 
 
 Mr. Soppy became warm with the prose-
 
 284 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 cution of his roost unusual work, and, when- 
 ever the outward effects of heat were visible 
 on his manly brow or well-starched shirt, 
 his temper was certain to correspond, and 
 tg be found anything but cool. Dame 
 Soppy, a small bony boy, or anyone of a 
 meek and tame disposition, might have dis- 
 covered that Mr. Soppy — Mr. Thomas 
 Soppy — gave vent to his temper when a 
 certain amount of pressure became disagree- 
 able to bear, and that at no period of his 
 sublunary existence did he feel more in- 
 clined to have recourse to the safety-valve 
 than when warm at his work. 
 
 His task being, as he fervently hoped, 
 finished, Mr. Soppy glanced with nice scru- 
 tiny around him to see if it would be likely 
 to pass the keen inspection of the colonel, 
 and, feeling satisfied upon this point, he 
 flung the broom from his hands with need- 
 less violence, and announced without intro-
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 285 
 
 duction that " no earthly pleasure he should 
 enjoy so much as punching somebody's 'ead." 
 
 The impulse, however, to commit a most 
 unjustifiable assault did not last long, and, 
 upon the colonel crossing the threshold of 
 the stable, no one could possibly exhibit a 
 more amiable and pleasant demeanour than 
 Mr. Thomas Soppy. 
 
 The morning succeeding their advent, 
 and when the lark had scarcely shaken the 
 dewdrops from her wings, Queen Mary and 
 the Unknown were enjoying an early break- 
 fast supplied by their faithful attendant, 
 Johnny Tadpole, who had passed a some- 
 what restless night under the manger, 
 among the straw, for want of better lodg- 
 ings. Having attended to their wants and 
 necessities, Johnny took "a header" in a 
 fresh-pumped pail of water, wisped himself 
 as dry as possible with a handful of hay, 
 and, as he said afterwards, " felt as well as 
 could be expected."
 
 286 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 His dress being complete when his shirt- 
 collar was buttoned, Johnny Tadpole 
 thought that it could give no offence to 
 anyone — but in that particular he found 
 himself mistaken, as will be seen presently 
 — if he just had a "look out." The stable 
 window being higher than four feet nothing, 
 he turned the pail, in which he had taken 
 " a header," bottom upwards, and, elevating 
 himself upon the bottom, proceeded to 
 sweep the horizon in a free and easy man- 
 ner by crossing his arms upon the sill of the 
 open window, and resting his chin upon his 
 arms. Nothing, however, could be more 
 natural and comfortable than Johnny's posi- 
 tion, and why Mr. Thomas Soppy should 
 have taken exception to it must rest with 
 himself. That absolute dictator, however, 
 perceiving from his own dormitory, high 
 among the crooked chimneys of the Hall, 
 that the small, bony boy was taking what
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 287 
 
 he considered to be a great liberty, by 
 having a "look out" without his permission, 
 resolved to put an effectual stop to all such 
 misconduct for the future, and, hastening 
 the completion of a negligent and early 
 matin toilet, he rapidly descended from 
 among the crooked chimneys, and, with 
 stealthy tread and dodging manoeuvres 
 which completely covered his approach, was 
 close to Johnny's " look out " before he was 
 aware of being the observed of one observer. 
 
 Upon the eyes of Johnny Tadpole meet- 
 ing those of Mr. Thomas Soppy close beneath 
 the stable window, the former drooped with 
 instinctive modesty, and he felt, without 
 knowing why, abashed. 
 
 " You young logarithm !" exclaimed Mr. 
 Soppy, with the most severe of countenances, 
 " do you know what you're doing?" 
 
 "Nothing, sir," replied Johnny, with 
 raised eyebrows. "I'm doing nothing, sir."
 
 288 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 "Nothing, sir!" repeated Mr. Soppy, in 
 a sarcastic, jeering voice. " Do you mean 
 to tell me, you permutatecl combination, 
 that in abusing the liberty of the subject 
 you're doing nothing?" 
 
 Johnny Tadpole began to suspect that he 
 must have committed some indictable offence 
 against the laws of his country, and, de- 
 pendent upon the rectitude of his conscience, 
 felt resigned to the consequences. The cry 
 for " police " would not have astonished 
 him. 
 
 " Do you mean to tell me, you discounted 
 equation," added Mr. Soppy, rolling his 
 head from side to side, " that you're profit- 
 ably employing your time by staring out o' 
 winder early in the morning, and, in doing 
 nothing, are a-doing what you ought to do ? 
 For shame, you decimal cipher ! Think of 
 the busy bee, which sweet little insect, with 
 ready sting for bony boys, according to my
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 289 
 
 favourite poet, Doctor Watts, gathers honey 
 all the day, and sets an example by eating 
 none. If boys — bony boys — would do the 
 same, what an improvement that would be 
 in their minds and manners ! Shut the 
 winder, you fraction less than a unit, and 
 take hold of a broom. " 
 
 Johnny Tadpole now knew the particular 
 duty which was expected at his hands, and 
 before Mr. Soppy could lift the latch of the 
 stable door, and complete an entrance, the 
 broom was at work with some show if with 
 little purpose. 
 
 " That's right," said Mr. Soppy, com- 
 placently folding his arms across his breast. 
 " Sweeping," continued he, u is one thing. 
 Looking out o' winders another. The colo- 
 nel, my young quotient, will be here before 
 breakfast this morning, and, if every straw 
 isn't in its place, look out, but not out o' win- 
 der, for that with him might be" — dropping 
 
 vol. I. u
 
 290 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 his voice to a solemn bass — "sudden death." 
 
 Johnny shivered slightly at these awful 
 words ; but nevertheless persevered with 
 the broom. Mr. Soppy, seeing the effect 
 produced, resolved to continue in the same 
 strain. 
 
 " You've heard of Blue Beard, I suppose ?" 
 said he. 
 
 Johnny admitted that he had, and con- 
 sidered him a great brute. 
 
 Whether Mr. Soppy was about making an 
 injudicious comparison between his master 
 and the well-known, if not popular hero 
 referred to, will never be known, for he 
 was completely silenced, and greatly sub- 
 dued in demeanour, by the sudden and un- 
 expectedly early appearance of Colonel 
 Leferne himself standing within the door- 
 way of the stable. 
 
 Mr. Soppy bowed stiffly upon the en- 
 trance of the colonel, as a habit either
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 291 
 
 natural or acquired, and Johnny Tadpole 
 instinctively raised a finger and thumb to 
 the straight piece of hair growing in a highly 
 perpendicular condition in the centre of 
 his forehead, and pulled it with as much 
 reverence as could be expressed through 
 such a stiff and wiry medium. 
 
 The colonel, however, was anything but 
 demonstrative, and, taking no notice what- 
 ever of either, strode to the side of Queen 
 Mary, and gazed at her with a fixed look 
 of admiration, which a lover might have 
 bestowed upon his mistress, long lost to 
 sight but cherished in memory. 
 
 " And so thus we meet again," said he, 
 caressing the arched neck of his old fav- 
 ourite, as, with ears thrown back, she con- 
 tinued to eat her corn in the manger, and 
 seemed to be listening attentively to what 
 was being said to her, " with a colt-foal at 
 your foot, eh, my Queen ?" 
 
 u2
 
 292 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Her Majesty was in the habit of lifting a 
 near hind leg in a threatening manner 
 whenever a compliment was paid either to 
 her beauty or accomplishments. 
 
 " She won't kick ye, sir," observed Johnny 
 Tadpole, drawing back the angles of his 
 mouth almost to his ears, as he stood with 
 his crossed hands leaning upon the handle 
 of the broom, and his chin resting upon his 
 hands. " She won't kick ye, sir," repeated 
 he, grinning. " It's only her gammon." 
 
 Mr. Soppy looked at Johnny with an ex- 
 pression of such supreme surprise at his pre- 
 sumption for uttering a syllable in the august 
 presence of Colonel Leferne uninvited that, 
 had Johnny's boots been long enough for 
 the purpose, he would then and there have 
 hidden himself within their depths. 
 
 " A little hollow in the back," continued 
 the colonel, placing a hand tenderly over 
 the part alluded to, " and rather sunken in
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 293 
 
 the eyes, but beautiful still, for all that time 
 has done. Care, too, has been taken of ye. 
 That I can see." 
 
 It was impossible now for Johnny Tad- 
 pole to refrain from paying what he con- 
 ceived to be an opportune tribute of praise 
 to his patron, whom, as he thought, was 
 ever associated with kindness to man and 
 beast, and "bony boys." 
 
 "Mister Wideo, sir," said he, with not a 
 little dread as to ulterior consequences, 
 " always took care o' the old mare first, 
 whatever he might want himself." 
 
 " And did you assist him from anything 
 that you might want ?" asked the colonel, 
 turning, as it would seem, the first look 
 towards Johnny Tadpole. 
 
 " Well, sir," replied Johnny, again bring- 
 ing back the angles of his mouth in close 
 proximity to his ears, and resuming his posi- 
 tion upon the handle of the broom, " I
 
 294 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 couldn't do much ; but what I could do, I 
 did. When times were hard — because cows 
 were dry — I used to go to my money-box, 
 and buy her bran and beans with my savings, 
 while they lasted." 
 
 " While they lasted," repeated the colonel, 
 as he appeared to weigh the conclusion of 
 the sentence. " You could do no more." 
 
 Mr. Soppy, with the prompt instinct of a 
 natural, born courtier, began to smile be- 
 nignly on the fraction less than a unit. 
 
 The attention of the colonel was now be- 
 stowed upon the Unknown occupying the 
 same box with his royal mother. 
 
 " A lengthy colt," said he, expressing his 
 opinion aloud, " good brisket, wide hips, 
 and well let-down quarters. He's been 
 handled, I suppose ?" continued the colonel, 
 addressing Johnny. 
 
 "Like a babby, sir," responded Johnny, 
 still leaning for support on the broom.
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 295 
 
 " He's been my playmate since the day he 
 was born, and can almost do anything but 
 talk. He'd follow me up a ladder, sir, if 
 I were to call him after me." 
 
 " In that case," observed the colonel, in 
 an undertone, as if communing with him- 
 self, "he will not require much breaking. 
 It is not often, Soppy," continued he, "that 
 such legs, knees, and muscular thighs as 
 those are seen in one of his age." 
 
 Mr. Soppy — Mr. Thomas Soppy — was 
 prepared to swear on the spot that the op- 
 portunity was rarer than the rarest gem. 
 
 " You will stop here for a time," said the 
 colonel to Johnny Tadpole, " and continue 
 to attend to the mare and foal." 
 
 This command was given in a manner 
 which conveyed the imperative mood, and 
 Johnny thought, at least, that his inclina- 
 tion might have been consulted by way of 
 preliminary proceedings.
 
 296 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 An irresistible impulse, however, com- 
 mitted him to the compact, and, with a 
 respectful " Yes, sir," he felt that he could 
 no more escape from the net cast over him 
 by Destiny, or the despotic hand of Colonel 
 Leferne, than a small, weak fly from the more 
 than usually strong web of a muscular spider. 
 
 " You will see," continued the colonel, 
 speaking to Mr. Soppy with severity of 
 look, "that the boy is properly attended to. 
 Let him sleep in the house, and tell your 
 wife to be a Mistress Wideo to him." 
 
 Johnny felt the greatest satisfaction at 
 hearing these words, for they supported the 
 hope which glowed in his contracted little 
 breast, that the few words of praise with 
 which he had spoken of the now lonely 
 inhabitant of Bromley Marsh had not been 
 thrown away. 
 
 " If it's your wish " 
 
 " It is my wish," interrupted the colonel,
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 297 
 
 turning irritably upon his heel so as to cut 
 short Mr. Soppy 's remark. 
 
 " I was merely about to venture to hob- 
 serve, Colonel," rejoined Mr. Soppy, speak- 
 ing like one who had met with an unmerited 
 injury, " that, knowing what the duties of 
 a mother air, and willing to perform the 
 same, I myself will be a Missis Wideo to 
 him. During his visit, sir, long or short as 
 the case may be, to Greatwood Park, Tad- 
 pole shall mean the same as Soppy. He 
 shall be, as we used to say at Hoxford, my 
 halter Hego." 
 
 " You've not forgotten your University 
 training, I hear," returned Colonel Leferne, 
 good-humouredly. 
 
 "No, sir, no," added Mr. Soppy, pursing 
 his lips together and looking at the ceiling 
 of the stable above his head with what he 
 believed to be a lofty expression ; " I still 
 fall back upon my classics and mathematics,
 
 298 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 and have forgotten, I believe, more than inde- 
 terminate quantities of spong-headed, addle- 
 brained undergraduates ever remembered." 
 
 " Come, then," said the colonel, laugh- 
 ing, ci solve me a problem." 
 
 Mr. Soppy expressed his utmost readi- 
 ness to do so, but added, with commendable 
 carefulness, " that he had met with pro- 
 blems rayther tough, and which seemed to 
 him designed to puzzle not only the brains of 
 the wise, but also those of the otherwise." 
 
 "Given," said the colonel, raising his two 
 fingers for immediate attention, " that I sell 
 a horse for one hundred pounds and lose 
 twenty per cent on the purchase money, 
 expecting, however, to have made ten per 
 cent, profit, how much will he have fetched 
 less than the estimated value ?" 
 
 " Oss dealing," responded Mr. Soppy, 
 determined to evade what he could not 
 answer, " is anything but a mathematical
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 299 
 
 certainty, unless you put it down as the 
 certainty of a total loss. I should there- 
 fore say, Colonel, that the estimated value 
 of an animal sold under disadvantageous 
 
 circumstances would be " 
 
 "An indeterminate quantity, eh?" added 
 the colonel, laughing, as he left Mr. Soppy 
 to finish the solution of the problem to 
 Johnny Tadpole
 
 300 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " 'V^' ^ 00 ^ p a ^ e? ^ w y" sa ^ ^ e s ame " 
 
 -*- keeper to his daughter as they sat 
 together, as usual, in the cottage parlour 
 one evening after his " rounds." 
 
 " Do I, father ?" she replied, keeping her 
 eyes fixed on the smouldering embers on 
 the hearth, as if intently watching the bright 
 sparks fading away. 
 
 cl Yes," rejoined he, with an impatient 
 movement of his chair, " and I've noticed 
 for some time past that you're not the lass 
 you were. What's the matter or wrong 
 with ye ?" 
 
 "Nothing," she returned, with scarcely a
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 301 
 
 perceptible shake of the head, and still 
 watching the bright sparks fading away. 
 
 A silence of a few seconds ensued, but 
 the gamekeeper shifted uneasily in his seat. 
 
 " Are ye out of health, lass," resumed he, 
 " that you're dull and gloomy loike ?" 
 
 "No," she said, repeating the slight 
 motion of the head. " I am quite well, 
 father. At least, I think so." 
 
 " I wish to God that I could think so," 
 responded the strong man, with a quivering 
 voice. " For months past you've daily 
 looked to me getting paler and thinner, 
 until I can keep the secret no longer from 
 ye, Ivy." 
 
 "What secret?" she exclaimed, with 
 frightened look. 
 
 "The sorrow I feel in the change that I 
 see," he replied. " I cannot sleep for the 
 thought of it, and nights and days it's ever 
 in my mind."
 
 302 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 Ivy looked wistfully at her father as he 
 spoke, and unshed tears rose to swim in her 
 eyes. 
 
 " Since your mother was lost to me, 
 Ivy," he continued, "you have been the 
 sole joy of my life. I've nothing to live for 
 but you, my little lass, and to see ye 
 wasting before my eyes, makes ray heart 
 feel that it's wasting too." 
 
 " If changed as you say, father," returned 
 she, "I am quite unconscious of it." 
 
 " You may be," added he, with an earnest 
 gesture; "but I am not. There's some- 
 thing that preys on your mind, Ivy, 1 
 think." 
 
 " And what can that be ?" she replied, as 
 a sickly smile spread itself over her features. 
 
 " I cannot guess," rejoined her father, 
 " but, if there's anything I can say or do to 
 make ye happier, you have but to tell me 
 what it is, and it shall be done without a 
 second thought."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 303 
 
 Her eyes became full to overflowing, and 
 the tears ran over to course themselves down 
 her cheeks. 
 
 " Perhaps, lass," continued he, " our 
 home is too dull and lonesome for ye, and 
 I'm free to confess that there's little enough 
 here to make a young heart glad." 
 
 61 1 love my home, father," returned Ivy, 
 " and no place in the wide, wide world 
 could I love so well." 
 
 " It is not vour wish, then, that we should 
 leave?" 
 
 11 Leave ?" she repeated, drawing a hand 
 across her brow in a confused manner, as if 
 the word had stunned her. "Leave?" 
 
 " I shouldn't have thought of it myself," 
 added her father; "but parson Roundhead, 
 in speaking of ye, said it was a gloomy 
 place for one o' your age to live in, and he 
 believed that you'd be better away." 
 
 u Perhaps he is right," responded Ivy,
 
 304 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 in a whisper scarcely audible, with her eyes 
 once more fixed upon the bright sparks 
 among the ashes on the hearth. " I might 
 be better away, and yet I must remain." 
 
 " Why ?" asked her father, for the words 
 were not lost upon him. 
 
 " Because I would rather die here," re- 
 plied she, with unwonted energy, " than 
 live elsewhere." 
 
 "Well, well, lass !" said her father, in a 
 soothing voice, " the parson only meant 
 kindly to ye. He was only thinking o' your 
 good." 
 
 " It may be so," rejoined she, with her 
 cheeks flushed with two hectic, burning 
 spots, "but his remedy sounds like cruelty 
 to me. I cannot leave." 
 
 " We'll say no more, then, upon that 
 point," returned the gamekeeper. " I 
 meant only that, if there was anything I 
 could do to make my little girl " — he now
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 305 
 
 rose from his chair, and, with the smile of a 
 loving father as he was, passed a broad, 
 rough palm over her forehead, and twined 
 his fingers tenderly among the silken curls 
 — "to make my little girl," he repeated, 
 pressing a kiss upon one of the hectic, burn- 
 ing spots, " look better and happier. I 
 only wanted to know what it was for it to 
 be done. I'd leave my service in the old 
 family, friends, neighbours, and home for 
 your sake, Ivy." 
 
 "You were ever kind," added his daugh- 
 ter, " and never more so than in your 
 present thoughts of me; but there is no- 
 thing I can have at your hands to make me 
 better or happier." 
 
 " We will wait and watch, then, lass, and 
 see what time will do," said the game- 
 keeper. "The spring flowers will be here 
 soon, and they may bring the bloom upon 
 your cheeks again." 
 
 vol. i. x
 
 306 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 " Among the first of the spring flowers, 
 father," responded Ivy, " are Sir Harold 
 Leferne's daffodils, and perhaps, in remem- 
 bering all I have heard of them, I never 
 feel a wish to welcome the spring." 
 
 "And yet it's a glad season," rejoined her 
 father, " let the gossips say what they will 
 of the daffodils. I often think, Ivy — having 
 no companion to talk to in my rounds — that 
 things of the spring are as wonderful to see 
 as what the parson tells us of the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead." 
 
 "The dead sometimes come to life again 
 before the appointed time," observed Ivy, 
 moodily. 
 
 " What do you mean ?" said he, as if 
 fearing the words meant more than they 
 expressed. 
 
 " Nothing to make you wonder, father," 
 she replied. " But, if you have sometimes 
 thought for want of a companion, so have I."
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 307 
 
 " And too sadly, I fear, lass, of late," re- 
 turned lie ; " but why, I cannot say." 
 
 u Neither can I explain," added she, " if, 
 indeed, it be so." 
 
 "What is that?" cried the gamekeeper, 
 almost at the pitch of his voice, as he stag- 
 gered two or three steps backwards, and 
 pointing to the latticed window as if terror- 
 stricken. 
 
 Ivy did not so much as turn her head, 
 although her breast heaved convulsively, 
 and her expanded eyes showed the fear in 
 her heart as she kept them rigidly fixed 
 before her on the hearth. 
 
 " What do you see, father ?" she asked, 
 in a low, hoarse voice, after a pause of three 
 or four seconds. 
 
 "It is gone now," he replied, with a 
 spasmodic sob, and, as if ashamed at the 
 alarm he had exhibited, added, with a 
 feeble attempt at a laugh, " Perhaps it 
 
 x2
 
 308 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 was only the light of the fire on the glass." 
 
 " Is it gone — quite gone ?" inquired Ivy r 
 still without turning her head. 
 
 " Yes," responded her father, with ghastly, 
 colourless cheeks, and remaining where he 
 stood, looking furtively at the window. 
 " Whatever it was it is gone." 
 
 " It was a " — her eyes now slowly turned 
 in the direction of her father's, as if the 
 temptation to look in the same direction 
 was not to be withstood — " it was a woman's 
 face, was it not?" 
 
 " Have you, then, seen it before ?" asked 
 he, in tremulous accents, as if avoiding an 
 answer. 
 
 "Many times of late," rejoined Ivy, " but 
 I thought it might be a disorder of my brain, 
 and nothing more. When alone," continued 
 she, "and about this time, father, I have 
 seen pressed against that window-pane, a& 
 you have seen to-night, a face which looked
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 8C9 
 
 as if belonging to another world, with 
 blanched, hollow cheeks, and sunken eyes, 
 fixed in a lifeless, corpse-like stare at me." 
 
 " I'm no coward," returned her father, in 
 a short, thick breath, "but I hope never to 
 see that face again. What can it be ?" 
 
 " Heaven alone knows !" added his daugh- 
 ter. " I have told you all I know or have 
 seen." 
 
 11 It's very strange, Ivy," said the game- 
 keeper, laying a hand upon his brow, as 
 if to calm the confusion of his thoughts. 
 u And yet," continued he, " perhaps not so 
 much so as it seems. There was the face, 
 no doubt, and just as you say it looked." 
 
 " Of that you can best judge, father," 
 responded she, "for I did not see it to- 
 night. Its dead eyes make me shiver 
 so." 
 
 " And so they did me," he rejoined, "as 
 well they might ; but we'll talk no more
 
 310 TOO FAST TO LAST. 
 
 about them now. I'll get a stoup of ale, 
 and, when less thirsty, think what's the best 
 to be done." 
 
 "I think I know the best, father," re- 
 turned Ivy, (( if you will listen to rne." 
 
 "To be sure I will," added the game- 
 keeper, relieved with the hope that his 
 daughter's suggestion might fill the void in 
 his own distracted thoughts. 
 
 " Then let us keep this secret as I have 
 kept it," continued Ivy, f 'for I've heard 
 that death soon stills the tongue that speaks 
 of the wraith." 
 
 "Do you think it was a wraith?" asked 
 her father, with icy dread chilling the blood 
 as it felt to stop in his veins. 
 
 "What else can it be?" she replied. 
 " Coming and going like a shadow without 
 a sound, that face, father, belongs to the 
 dead." 
 
 " I — I — I almost think it must," stain-
 
 TOO FAST TO LAST. 311 
 
 lriered he. " I never saw one living look 
 like that. But what can it come for?" 
 
 "Perhaps as the messenger of mercy," 
 rejoined Ivy, solemnly, " to warn us of 
 coming evil. I, at least, have treated it as 
 such, and have prayed, father, the livelong 
 night, that you might be spared even know- 
 ing what it was." 
 
 " It was always so with my little lass !" 
 returned the gamekeeper, folding her in his 
 arms. " Her first and last thought has ever 
 been of her fond old father." 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME, 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY DUNCAN MACDONALD, BLENHEIM HOUSE.
 
 1