Margaret Vincent

“ Lakeman tried to pump up a little dramatic energy. "Tom Carringford," she said, "do you know that I am the best friend you ever had?"
"I know that you have been awfully good to me."
"Shall I tell you why I telegraphed as I did?"
"I wish you would, for I can't make it out."
"Dawson Farley told me about Margaret Vincent—I have heard a great deal about Margaret [Pg 342] Vincent lately, from a good many sources. Tom," she went on, in a suddenly tragic voice, "I loved Gerald Vincent; I have never really cared for anybody else, but this girl is different; she has been brought up by a common mother." ”

“ Margaret felt, as they drove on again, as if she had found a playfellow, a comrade, some one who made life a wholly different thing. She had never been on equal terms with any one young before—with any one at all who laughed and chattered and looked at the world from the same stand-point as she felt that she and Tom did, though till yesterday she had not set eyes on him. ”

“ She lifted her mother's hands and kissed her fingers. "I cannot, darling!"
"But where would you go in London?" Mrs. Vincent asked, for she herself felt the impossibility of peace at Woodside Farm while Margaret remained and her husband was absent.
"I shall go to Miss Hunstan first. Sometimes I think I should like to be an actress, too."
"You mustn't, Margaret!" Mrs. Vincent cried in terror. "Hannah would never let you enter the house again, for she says that play-actors come from Satan and go to him again when their day is done." ”

“ Lakeman, indignantly—for it was a theory of hers that a claim was always stronger than a plea, and gained more consideration—"that you have no right to marry Margaret Vincent, or anybody else. I mean that you have made my child love you, that you are all the world to her, and you made her believe that she was all the world to you."
"We have never been anything but friends!" ”

“ He came to the conclusion that the safest plan was to propitiate everybody, but it took his breath away to think that he, Jimmy Garratt, house agent of Petersfield and Guildford, grandson on his mother's side of James Morgan, grocer at Midhurst, wanted to marry Miss Margaret Vincent, as he now described her to himself ”

“ Margaret answered, kissing the hands—large, capable hands, that not even the rough farm-work had ever made coarse.
"There'll be a good many months to rest in before he comes," Mrs. Vincent went on; "perhaps it's as well that he's away for a bit."
"But, mother dear, you used to be so active only a little while ago."
"You see, Hannah's older, and likes doing things herself," Mrs. Vincent answered; "and that's as well, too; it gives me time to think over all the years back. I was never able to do it before. You mustn't trouble about me, Margey; when people are getting on they like being quiet." ”

“ Would you have an unbeliever beside your sick-bed?"
"But I want her," Mrs. Vincent said. "I want her and her father," she moaned. "I can't die without seeing them again."
"You are making too much of the illness," Hannah answered, anxiously. "People have more of it before they die."
"Tell Towsey to send for Margaret," Mrs. Vincent said, as if her mind were detaching itself from Hannah's argument.
"She shall not cross the doorstep," Hannah said; "and, if you were dying, it would be for your salvation's sake that I would still say it; for one must have fear of God as well as love of God. ”

“ Vincent shook her head. "I'm better at home," she replied; "travelling is not for old people."
Then, not as if she had generated the thought in her own mind, but as if it had come stealing to her over the Surrey hills from the city far away, [Pg 122] Margaret wondered what it would feel like to go to London by herself, to be among the people there, to see the streets and hear the rumble of the traffic, to live alone, as Miss Hunstan did, in white-and-blue rooms in a quaint old street with a gray-haired woman to wait on her, and, above all, to do something outside in the open. ”

“ Politics are rather low down, you know, Miss Vincent, so they'll suit me. What did you think of Miss Hunstan? I saw her last night; she had fallen in love with you."
[Pg 91]
"Had she?" Margaret exclaimed, joyfully. "I'm so glad. I love her, though I only saw her for a moment."
"I'll tell her so. Every one does. My mother was devoted to her; that's one reason why I am. She's great fun, too, though, of course, she's getting on a bit," he added, with the splendid insolence of youth. "There's something more at the back of this visit," and he looked at Mr. Vincent. ”

“ There is nothing to hold him to what is right, or to help him to choose between right and wrong. For my part, I only hope that I may be out of the place before he comes into it again—if he ever does set foot in it again—for I hate the ground he treads on, and the ground that Margaret treads on, too—so now I've said it. It's my belief that the Lord will provide for them both some day according to their deserts."
Mrs. Vincent rose from her chair and stood with her back to the fireplace. ”

“ Margaret started to her feet with a cry of surprise:
"Oh," she said, "how did you know I was here?"
"Miss Hunstan wired—had it ten minutes ago—so got into a hansom and came at once. And now what is the matter?" he asked, just as if he had a right to do so. He sat down in the easy-chair facing her, his face beaming with happiness, even though Mr. Garratt rankled in his memory. "Why are you in London? You said something about coming, in the wood that day, but I didn't think you meant it."
"I am here just as Miss Hunstan is. I have taken these rooms, and want to be an actress as she was." ”

“ This was very awkward, he thought, but for the life of him he didn't believe in it.
"You have been very kind to me," he said; "but it's no good not telling the truth about a thing of this sort—I couldn't marry Lena. I'm very fond of her, but she isn't the kind of girl that I could fall in love with; she flops about and you never know where you have her, and as for her being desperately in love with me, why, I don't believe it. We should worry each other to death if we were married; besides, I mean to marry Margaret Vincent."
"If the grocer hasn't stolen a march on you." ”

“ An unreasonable, undefinable happiness that could not be put into words rose to her heart when she thought of Tom Carringford. She could hear his laughter still, and his merry talk as they made a bower of Miss Hunstan's room; she wanted to see him again already, and something told her that he wanted to see her.
The farm-yard gates were wide open. It was good to see the corner of the Dutch garden again, and in the porch, just as Margaret had known she would be, her mother stood waiting. Mr. Vincent took his wife's hand without a word, and looked into her face with a little smile. ”

“ Lena was enjoying herself immensely. "I have made you angry again," she said; "but you look splendid, just as you did in London. Isn't she beautiful, Miss Barton?"
Hannah could hardly bear it. "I have never been able to see it," she said, as her mother and Mrs. Lakeman entered.
Dawson Farley was standing by the porch. "Are you likely to come to London again, Miss Vincent?" he asked.
"I hope I shall, and soon," Margaret answered; and then she went on eagerly, "I heard that you saw Miss Hunstan first when she walked on the stage holding up a princess's train?" ”

“ He hesitated on his way to the best parlor. "You might call at the post-office and ask when the Australian mail goes," he said.
Mrs. Vincent and Margaret looked after him; then, as was their custom, they gathered up the breakfast things and carried them to the kitchen. Hannah was there already, searching round the shelves and cupboards as if she expected to come upon a hidden crime.
"I've no time to iron those muslins to-day," she said; "you had better do them, Margaret. [Pg 33] I never see why you shouldn't help with things. Mother and I have enough to do." ”

“ It was five o'clock when Margaret knocked at the street door in Great College Street again.
"There's a lady waiting for you," Mrs. Gilman said, as she let her in.
"A lady!" Margaret exclaimed, and hurried up-stairs. In the drawing-room sat Hannah. She wore her blue alpaca frock and black straw hat with the upstanding bow on one side; she had thrown aside her cape, and the moment she saw Margaret she took off her hat as if to prepare herself for the fray. ”

“ Vincent as to Margaret. After all, she had done a wise thing, especially since Mr. Garratt had written, and her father was not coming home just yet. "It's only the beginning that is so difficult," she said to herself, "presently it will be better." She looked at the clock on the mantel-piece. The Lakemans must be safe in Scotland by this time; Hannah was on her way back to Chidhurst. She wondered whether Tom Carringford was in London, and if he had thought of her at all yesterday when he went to the house on the hill to dine—if he had looked across even once at Woodside Farm. ”

“ Sir George looked at her shrewdly. "A kind woman at heart," he thought, and then he said aloud, "You know that he is Lord Eastleigh now?"
"Yes, I know; but I can't see that it matters. It won't make any difference to the end."
"You are quite right"; and he shook her hand. "Give my love to Margaret," he said, and turned away. "It would be a good thing," he thought, as he went back across the fields to his house, "if we all lived in the country; people get spoiled when they congregate in cities; that woman looked quite indifferent to Vincent's title. ”

“ She would be all the better for a disappointment, perhaps: a woman who had not been made to suffer generally became a trifle heartless. Besides, what was the girl to him?
"Where is Margaret Vincent staying?" asked Mrs. Lakeman. "When I invited her to Scotland I telegraphed to the theatre, not knowing her private address, and she telegraphed back without giving it, which I thought rather impertinent. Tom, too, has only thought proper to send a telegram every other day lately."
"He has been too much occupied with other things," Farley said, with a little smile. ”

“ Hannah went on, as if she had not heard. "Towsey will put down the irons. Till they are hot, perhaps you had better run out a bit," she added, impatiently; "you always make so much of the air. For my part, I find it better to look after one's work than after one's health; one brings the other is what I think."
Mrs. Vincent had gone slowly towards the best parlor. She opened the door and looked in. "Shall I come to you for a minute, father?" she asked him. Since Margaret's birth she had generally called him "father" ”

“ It's the leading of a good life, the telling of the truth, and the thinking well of others that makes religion and will gain heaven—that's my belief. Those that do different are as good as denying God. I said it to your grandparents long ago, and I say it again to you to-day." Mrs. Vincent's diction was not always strictly correct, but her meaning was clear enough.
"And I know everything about father, too," Margaret said, gently—for somehow she was sorry for Hannah—"and I cannot think why you should hate him—or even why you should hate me." ”

“ She laughed and nodded to him because she was so happy, and because it amused her to see Hannah's sweetheart riding by supremely satisfied with himself, and his spats, and his crop, and bowler hat. He tugged at his mustache when he saw Margaret, and lifted his hat with a little flourish.
"Why, Mr. Garratt," she said, "I didn't know you!"
He was delighted at her manner; he took it as a tribute to his improved appearance; he held his reins tightly and swayed about a little in his saddle, as if his steed were restive.
"Riding is a little more lively, Miss Vincent, than tooling along in a trap ”

“ Tom, too! Margaret thought.
"Well, they seem to think he's looking after Mabel Margetson," the woman answered.
"There'd be some money there," the man said.
"A good bit, no doubt," the woman answered; "but money isn't everything."
No, money isn't everything, Margaret's heart answered them. Money is nothing, after a certain point; nothing is anything except the love of your dearest, the sound of a living voice, the sight [Pg 303] of a dear face, the touch of a thin, gaunt cheek against your own. "Oh, she must live," she cried dumbly to herself, though never a sign or movement betrayed it. ”

“ Margaret began.
"Darling, you must call me Lena."
"That Mr. Garratt comes here to see Hannah, my half-sister, and not to see me."
"Oh, but Tom said that you and he talked to each other all the time," Lena went on in her sugary voice.
"This is just what I expected, considering the goings on," Hannah cried, almost losing control over herself. "But it's not Margaret that he comes to see."
"No one could come and see any one else when she is here," Lena whispered to herself; but Hannah heard, and answered quickly:
"It's she that puts herself forward and forces herself upon him." ”

“ Be worthy of him, dear; be the noble woman you ought to be and give him up."
Mrs. Gilman entered with two telegrams. Mrs. Lakeman gave a little suppressed shriek; but there was unreality in it, and Margaret felt it at the back of her head.
"There's one for you, ma'am, and one for Miss Vincent," Mrs. Gilman said.
Mrs. Lakeman chattered her teeth till Mrs. Gilman had left the room. "I can't open it," she said, and tried to make her hand tremble. But Margaret had read hers already.
"Forgive me, dear," it ran, "I am here with Lena. Better go home.—Tom." ”