Stanley John Weyman

“ The new top, the new book, the bride—the first joy in the possession of each one of these fades, not gradually, but at a leap, as day fades in the tropics. A chip in the wood, the turning of the last page, the first selfish word, and the thing is done; ecstasy becomes sober satisfaction. It was so with the rector. The first glamour of his good fortune, of his new toy, died abruptly with that evening—with the quarrel with his church warden, and the discovery of the cause of that constraint which he had remarked in Kate Bonamy’s manner from the first. ”

“ The most thoughtless have their moments of care. Even the cat, with its love of home and comfort, will sometimes wander on a wet night. And there are times when Laura, doubting the future and weary of the present, wishes she had had the courage to do as her heart bade her, and make the plunge, careless what the world, and her rivals, might say of her marriage to a curate. For Clode’s rugged face and masculine will dominate her still. Though a year has elapsed, and she has not heard of him, nor probably will hear of him now, she thinks of him with regret and soreness. ”

“ Kate did not say, and her father, with another impatient word or two, rose from the table, and presently went out. She rang the bell mechanically and had the table cleared, and in the same mood turned to the fire and, putting her feet on the fender, began to brood over the coals, which were burning red and low in the grate.
Five times—five times only, counting the Oxford escapade as one, she had spoken to him; and they—“they” meant Claversham, for it was her chief misery to believe that the whole town was talking of her—had made this of it! ”

“ The tea-set twinkled cheerfully on the wicker table, and faint scents of flowers and fabrics filled the room with an atmosphere which he had long come to associate with Laura. It was Laura Hammond, indeed, who had introduced him to this new world. The son of an accountant living in a small Lincolnshire town, he owed his clerical profession to his mother’s ardent wish that he should rise in the world. His father was not wealthy, and, before he came as curate to Claversham, Mr. Clode had had no experience of society. ”

“ Bonamy, He came out of church chuckling; full of a grim delight in the fulfilment of his predictions. It was not his custom to linger in the porch, for he was not a sociable man; but he did so to-day, and, letting Kate and Daintry go on, formed one of a coterie of men, who had no difficulty in coming to a conclusion about the rector.
“He has been studying hard, poor fellow!” said Gregg, with a wink—there is no dislike so mean and cruel as that which the ill-bred man feels for the gentleman—“reading the devil’s books all night!” ”

“ The curate set his teeth together in impotent rage. They were so easy, so unconstrained, on such excellent terms with one another. When Laura, who was secretly quaking, held out the toast to him and let her eyes dwell for an instant on his, he looked away stubbornly. “Were you asking my opinion?” he said in a voice he vainly strove to render cold and dispassionate.
“To be sure,” said the rector, stirring his tea and enjoying himself. “Miss Hammond is not impartial. She is biassed by her bazaar.” ”

“ I am a man. Is he more? Is he as much? I love you with all my being! He cares only to kill time with you! Will you throw me over because he is a little richer, because I am the curate and he is the rector? If so, well, tell me, and I shall understand you!”
It was not the way she had thought he would end. The force, the abruptness, the almost menace of the last four words took her by surprise and subdued her afresh. If she had had any doubt before which of the two men had her liking, she had none now. She knew that Clode’s little finger was more to her than Lindo’s whole hand ”

“ Kate let her work drop and looked dreamily before her. Assuredly the prospect was a dull and uninviting one. Before his coming there had always been the unknown something, which a girl’s future holds—a possibility of change, of living a happier, fuller life. But now she had nothing of this kind before her. He had come and robbed her even of this, and given her in return only regret and humiliation, and a few—a very few—hours of strange pleasure and sunshine and womanly pride in a woman’s influence nobly used. ”

“ Kate answered quickly, letting her work drop for the moment. “I think Jack is one of the noblest, the most generous—yes,” she continued quickly, “the bravest man I have ever known, Daintry.”
Her voice trembled, and Daintry saw with surprise that her eyes were full of tears. “I never thought you felt like that about him,” the younger girl answered penitently.
“Perhaps I did not a little while back,” Kate answered gently, as she took up her work again. “I know him better now, that is all.”
It was quite true. She knew him better now. A fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind. ”

“ But, alas! the archdeacon went farther, and let drop something about concession, and then the boat was over!
“Concession!” said the young man, turning as on a pivot, with every hair of his whiskers bristling, and his voice clear enough now. “What kind of concession do you mean?”
“Well,” said the archdeacon persuasively, “the earl is a choleric man—a most passionate man, I know; and, when excited, utterly foolish and wrong-headed. But in his cooler moments I do not know any one more just or, indeed, more generous. ”

“ The doctor stood in wholesome dread of the curate’s sharp tongue and biting irony, nor would he have accosted him in so free-and-easy a manner now, had he not been a little lifted above himself by something he had just learned.
“Congratulate me? What do you mean?” Clode replied, turning on him with the uncompromising directness which is more “upsetting” to a man uncertain of himself than any retort, however discourteous.
“What do I mean?” the doctor answered, striving to cover his discomfiture with a feeble smile. “Well, no harm, at any rate, Clode. I hope I shall have to congratulate you. ”

“ His eyes, however, burned with a gloomy rage, and when he recovered himself his voice was pitiless. “You scoundrel!” he said, in the low rich tone which had been so much admired in the church when he first came to Claversham, “what are you doing here? Get up and speak!” And he made as if he would spurn the creature with his foot.
“I am a respectable man,” the rogue whined. “I am—that is I was, I mean, sir—don’t be hard on me—Lord Dynmore’s own valet. I will tell you all, sir.”
“I know you!” rejoined Clode, looking harshly at him. “You were here this morning. And Mr. Lindo gave you money.” ”

“ I may have been wrong—I dare say I was wrong,” continued the curate, growing excited—excitement came very easily to him at the moment—“but I cannot go back from my word. The man’s misery moved me. I thought what I should have felt in his place, and I promised him, in return for his pledge that he would live honestly in the future, that he should go free, and that I would not betray his name to any one—to any one!”
“Well!” exclaimed the rector, his tone one of unbounded admiration in every sense of the word. “When you do a thing nobly, my dear fellow, you do do it nobly, and no mistake! ”

“ Lindo because he is a rector with a living and a position—not though he were six times a rector! But all the same I will not marry a curate! No,” she added in a lower tone, and with a glance which intoxicated him afresh—“not though he be you!”
He stood silent, looking down at her, waiting for more. Neither by word nor gesture did he express dissent. It is possible he already understood, and felt with her.
“To marry a curate,” she continued in a low voice, “is, for a girl such as I am, failure. I have held my head rather high, and I have stood by and seen other girls married. ”

“ Homfray and the archdeacon’s wife were observing her with critical jealousy. “Why, Lord Dynmore,” she exclaimed, “this is most kind of you!”
“How d’ye do? how d’ye do?” said the peer as he advanced. He was a slight, short man with bushy gray whiskers and grizzled hair which, being rather long, strayed over the fur collar of his overcoat. A noble aquiline nose and keen eyes helped to give him, despite his shortness, an air of being somebody. “How d’ye do? Why,” he continued, locking round, “you are quite en fête here.”
“We have been at a bazaar, Lord Dynmore,” Laura answered. ”

“ The rector felt that he was fairly defeated and out-manœuvred; so much so that Mrs. Hammond, whose sympathies were entirely on his side, expected him to break into a furious passion. But the very skill and coolness of his adversary acted as a warning and an example, and by a mighty effort he controlled himself. He rose from his chair with outward calmness, and, saying contemptuously, “Well, I am glad that I know what your opinion is—an open foe is less dangerous than a secret one,” he turned from Clode. ”

“ But, though he was bitterly annoyed with himself, the consciousness that the fault had originally lain with them, and that they had grievously misjudged him, kept his anger hot; for there is no wrath so fierce as the indignation of the man falsely accused. He called them under his breath an uncharitable, spiteful, tattling crew; and was so far unnerved in thought of them that he had entered his dining-room before he remembered that he was engaged to take the mid-day meal at the Town House, as he had done once or twice before, and then walked up with Laura to the schools. ”

“ Jack said gravely, but with a twinkle in his eyes.
“Well, from the loaves and fishes point of view,” Lindo commenced, beginning to walk up and down the room. “I do not think an officer, when he gets promotion, looks only at the increase in his pay. Of course I am glad that it is a good living, and that I shall have a house, and a good position, and all that. But I declare to you, Jack, believe me or not as you like, that if I did not feel that I could do the work as I hope, please God, to do it, I would not take it up—I would not, indeed. ”

“ Mr. Bonamy started, his visions fading rapidly away. “What rector?” he replied, gazing at his client in great astonishment. “Our rector, my lord?”
“The man who calls himself your rector!” the earl growled. “He is no more a rector than I am, and pretty fools you were to be taken in by him!”
“Now that is odd!” the lawyer answered. He spoke absently, his eyes resting on the peer’s face as if his thoughts were far away.
“Odd or not,” Lord Dynmore replied, stamping on the floor with undiminished irritation, “it is the fact, sir! ”

“ Bonamy was not altogether pleased. He had no fastidious objection to the doctor. It did not occur to him that the doctor was not a gentleman. But he did know that he did not like him.
So the lawyer, after one exclamation of surprise, was for a moment silent. Then he asked, “Well Kate, and what did you say?”
“I said No,” Kate answered in a low voice.
“He is a well-to-do man,” Mr. Bonamy said, slowly stirring his tea. “Not that you need think of that only. But you are not likely to know many people who could make you more comfortable. I believe he is skilful in his profession. ”

“ The archdeacon crossed to his supper and speech, and the curate turned into his rooms, and, throwing himself into the big leather chair before the fire, fixed his eyes on the glowing coals, and began to think—to apply what he had just heard to what he had known before.
A living? He had got to get a living. And without capital to invest in one, or the favor of a patron, how was it to be done? ”