Mrs. Oliphant

“ Not a cry, but a sigh. It seemed to wander over all the woods and thrill among the trees. You will say it was only the wind. I cannot tell. To me it was a sigh, personal, heart-rending. And you may suppose what it was to her. The tears dropped from her full eyes. She said, speaking to the air, 'We are parting, you and me. Oh, go you back to Heaven, and let us trouble you no more. Oh, go back to your home, my bonnie lady, and let us trouble you no more!'
'Charlotte!' I cried, drawing her arm more closely through mine. ”

“ Was it possible that a spirit could be 'over-anxious,' as Charlotte said, endeavouring vainly, and yet not undutifully, to take God's supreme guardianship out of His hands? The thought was new to me. To think that a good and blessed creature could so err, could mistake so humanly and persevere so patiently, though never able to remedy the evils, seemed somehow more possible than that a guardian from Heaven could watch and watch for generations with so little result. ”

“ Of course I knew what it was; of course I was aware that nothing could interfere; and yet the opportuneness of the announcement was such, that human nature, accustomed to be balked, would not allow me to believe in the possibility. Then I sprang from my seat. 'I must go,' I cried; 'there is not a moment to lose. Stop all proceedings—do nothing about the going, for God's sake, till I come back.'
'Mr. Temple, what has happened? Charley——,' cried Charlotte, blanched with terror. ”

“ Nothing could be more agreeable, or more unutterably tedious, especially to one who had even accidentally come across and touched upon the real events and excitements of life. Needless to say that I thought of the household at Ellermore almost without intermission. Charlotte wrote to me now and then, and it sometimes seemed to me that I was the most callous wretch on earth, sitting there watching all they were doing, tracing every step and vicissitude of their trouble in my own assured well-being. ”

“ It was one of those nights when the moon, without being visible, softens and ameliorates the gloom, and makes of night a sort of twilight. While I went pacing softly about, to occupy myself a soft small rain began to fall; but this did not affect me in any way. It was rather soothing than disagreeable. I went down to the side of the loch, where the pale light on the water was touched by innumerable dimplings of the rain, then up again, round and round the house, not caring where I went. At this hour I had always avoided the Lady's Walk, I can scarcely tell why. ”

“ He had turned his face to the wall as he had said, and nothing but a long-drawn, occasional sigh told that he was awake. 'I think he is not worse—in body,' she said. 'He has borne it far better than we could have thought possible. But how am I to tell him the way it happened, and how am I to tell him about Ellermore?' She wept with a prostration and self-abandonment which alarmed me; but she stopped my remonstrances and entreaties with a motion of her hand. 'Oh, let me cry! It is the only ease I have,' she said. ”

“ And then he looked up at us, once more a little severely, and brought confusion to all our hopes with one simple question. 'Where is Colin?' he said.
What could be more natural? Charlotte gave me one look, and stood, white as death, motionless, her fingers twisting together. How truly she had said that falsehood was its own punishment, even such falsehood as this! ”

“ Charlotte grew perfectly pale, too, like her father, as she stood and listened. I seem to see them now: the old man with his white head, his ghastly face, the scared and awful look in his eyes, and she gazing at him, all her faculties involved in the act of listening, her very attitude and drapery listening too, her lips dropping apart, the life ebbing out of her, as if something was draining the blood from her heart.
Mr. Campbell's hand dropped. 'She's away,' he said. 'She's away'—in tones of despair ”

“ She gave me a startled look, and put up her hand to dry her wet eyes.
'It is very different,' she said; 'I am living and can work for them. It has come to me all in a moment to see that She is just like me after all. Perhaps to die does not make a woman wise any more than life does. And it may be that nobody has had the thought to tell her. She will have imagined that she could stop any harm that was coming, being here; but if it was not God's pleasure to stop it, how could she? You know she tried,' said Charlotte, looking at me wistfully ”

“ It is just the terror of my life that some accident will happen; that he will find out everything at once.' Then she looked at me steadily, with a smile that was piteous to see, 'Mr. Temple, Ellermore is sold.'
'Is it so—is it so?' I said, with a sort of groan. I had still thought that perhaps at the last moment something might occur to prevent the sacrifice. ”

“ Charlotte had written to me, with a half despair, of the difficulties of their removal. 'My heart almost fails me,' she said; and that was a great deal for her to say. After this I could hesitate no longer. She was afraid even of the revival of life that might take place when her father was brought out of his seclusion, of some injudicious old friend who could not be staved off, and who might talk to him about Colin. 'My heart almost fails me.' I went up to Scotland by the mail train that night, and next day, while it was still not much more than noon, found myself at Ellermore. ”

“ There had never been any wealth of male attendants at Ellermore. She took me into the drawing-room, which was deserted, and bore a more formal look than of old. 'Miss Charlotte is mostly with her papa,' the woman said. 'He is very frail; but just wonderful contented, like a bairn. She's always up the stair with the old gentleman. It's no good for her. You'll find her white, white, sir, and no like hersel'.' In a few minutes Charlotte came in. ”

“ Campbell's consent and signature; and tried to believe that at the last moment some way might open, some wonderful windfall come. But when I turned back to the house, this fantastic confidence naturally failed me. I began to contemplate the other side of the question—the new people who would come in. Perhaps 'some Englishman,' as Charley had said with a certain scorn; some rich man, who would buy the moors and lochs at many times their actual value, and bring down, perhaps, a horde of Cockney sportsmen to banish all quiet and poetry from Ellermore. ”

“ Mr. Campbell having recovered his faculties, it was clear that no treaty could be concluded without his consent. (It could not have been legal in any case, but I suppose they had in some way got over this.) I remember Charley turning upon me with a passionate remonstrance, when, almost by violence and pertinacity, I had driven his Cockney sportsman away. 'I cannot conceive what is your object, Temple,' he said. 'Are you mad? my father must give his consent; there is no possibility of a question about it. Ellermore must be sold—and as well to him as to another,' he said, with a sigh. ”

“ She told me that all the arrangements were being completed for the sale of Eller- more, but that her father's condition was still such that they did not know how to communicate to him the impending change. 'He is still ignorant of all that has passed,' Charlotte wrote, 'and asks me the most heartrending questions; and I hope God will forgive me all that I am obliged to say to him. We are afraid to let him see anyone lest he should discover the truth; for indeed falsehood, even with a good meaning, is always its own punishment. ”

“ If in your great generosity there may yet be a thought—a thought that a woman might recompense what was done for her and hers——' Her beautiful countenance, beautiful in its love and tenderness and noble dignity, but so pale, was suddenly suffused with colour. ”

“ For some minutes her father continued silent in his chair. The sunset had faded away, the misty twilight was falling. Marg'ret, guilty and miserable, but still unable altogether to subdue her sobs, throwing her white apron from her head, and looking round with a deprecating, apologetic glance, had withdrawn to the other side of the room. ”

“ Maxwell, who does not mind what he says when he thinks it is for his patient's good, is going to make believe to send him away for change of air; and this is the artifice we shall have to keep up all the rest of his life to account for not going back to Ellermore.' She wrote another time that there was every hope of being able to dispose of it by private bargain, and that in the meantime friends had been very kind, and the 'Works' were going on. ”

“ The question at last came to be whether the 'Works,' the origin of their wealth, should be given up, and the young men disperse to seek their fortune as they might, or whether a desperate attempt should be made to keep up the business by retrenching every expense and selling Ellermore. Charley, it was clear to me, was afraid to suggest this dreadful alternative to his sister; but she was no weakling to shrink from any necessity. She made up her mind to the sacrifice without a moment's hesitation. 'There are so many of us—still,' she said ”

“ He told me that he was glad to go home; that he would have left London some time before but for Chatty, who 'wanted to see a little of the place.' 'I am going to join my son Colin, who has gone home before us—isn't that so, Chatty?' 'Yes, father,' she said. 'Yes, yes, I have grown rather doited, and very very silly,' [1] the old man said, in a tone of extraordinary pathos. 'I am sometimes not sure of what I am saying; but Chatty keeps me right. Colin has gone on before; he has a grand head for business ”

“ Both Charlotte and her father evidently divined my motive, but neither attempted to detain me: indeed she, I thought, though it hurt my self-love to see it, looked forward with a little eagerness to my going. This however, explained itself in a way less humiliating when she seized the opportunity of our last walk together to beg me to 'do something for her.'
'Anything,' I cried; 'anything—whatever man can.'
'I knew you would say so; that is why I have scarcely said I am sorry. I have not tried to stop you. Mr. ”

“ It is my opinion that there is something wrong. Where are my letters? It is not in reason that there should be no letters. After being laid aside from business for a time, to have your letters kept back from you, you will allow, Mr. ”