Mrs. Churchill

“ Churchill's fan tapped the Bishop's wrist.
"It is your duty to lecture her soundly on her descent into the Bohemian ranks of roaming 'bachelor girls,' who, running after tinsel kites they call 'careers,' turn their backs on all home duties, forsake every form of genuine feminine domesticity, cast family ties to the winds and herd in tenements, boat-houses and mountain camps. Professional female tramps!"
"I am very sure he will agree with me in thinking that Mrs. Churchill is cruel in smothering her innocent friend under an avalanche of opprobrious epithets. ”

“ Mrs. Churchill watched her anxiously: perhaps, now that it was too late, she repented having urged the match so peremptorily, as more than one doubt crossed her mind of the future happiness of her gentle and affectionate child. She saw her there—wan, wasted, broken in spirits,—a victim, rather than a bride! ”

“ Churchill smiled pleasantly.
"Oh—one always quarrels about nothing," Churchill answered. He spoke a few words to her; about my aunt; about the way her machine ran—that sort of thing. He behaved toward her as if she were an indulged child, impertinent with licence and welcome enough. He himself looked rather like the short-sighted, but indulgent and very meagre lion that peers at the unicorn across a plum-cake.
"So you are going back to Paris," he said. "Miss Churchill will be sorry. And you are going to continue to—to break up the universe?" ”

“ The squire died in the early spring-time, and the news reached Woodside in less than an hour after Mrs. Temple had found her husband dead. It naturally threw Mr. Churchill, and even his wife, into a state of excitement.
“Now, we must hear from them!” cried Mr. Churchill.
“We will know the truth at last,” said Mrs. Churchill, in a more subdued tone.
“What truth?” answered her husband, sharply. “They were married, and now Mr. John Temple is the squire of Woodlea, and May is his wife—but all the same, I am sorry to hear the old squire has passed away.” ”

“ Lady Churchill governed this great man, in fact, like a child—who himself governed kings. Like the Princess des Ursins, she possessed incontestably certain qualities, a liking and capacity for public business, a knowledge of men, the shrewdness of her sex, the obstinacy of her race, an inconceivable love of domination; but she was hard, vindictive, insatiable of honours and wealth, and united to the pride of a queen the rage of a fury. ”

“ Churchill, who somehow missed seeing his pretty daughter.
Mrs. Churchill said nothing more on the subject. She ate her supper and arranged “the things” that she had brought from Castle Hill to her own satisfaction, and then retired for the night, well satisfied with herself and what she had done during the day.
And the next morning she rose early, as was her usual practice, and began her healthful daily life with her accustomed energy. At half-past eight o’clock she and her husband and the two boys were seated at the well-spread breakfast table, but still May had not appeared. ”

“ And Sarah [Pg 294] felt this too. It was disagreeable that this little “chit” should be raised above her, but Mrs. Churchill knew very well it was true. Her property consisted of one good farm, besides some savings of her first husband. But what was this to the large estates of the squire’s of Woodlea? And Mr. John Temple was heir to these estates, and May was his wife. So Mrs. Churchill had made up her mind to make the best of it. She had also offended her good-looking husband, and Mrs. Churchill did not like being on bad terms with him. ”

“ At this moment she saw her husband coming up the street in his runabout. When Doctor Churchill ran into his office after a case of instruments he had forgotten, his wife cast herself into his arms, in such a state of emotion that he held her close, bewildered.
"What on earth is it, dear?" he asked. "Are you laughing or crying? Here, let me see your face."
"O Andy"--Charlotte would not let her face be seen--"it's Cousin Lula! She's--she's--oh, she's--going away!"
Churchill burst into smothered laughter. "It can't be you're crying," he murmured. "Charlotte, I don't blame you. Look up and smile. ”

“ Thus it came to pass that one winter's day in 1677, at St James's Palace, John Churchill led his bride to the altar, which proved the portal to one of the happiest wedded lives that have ever fallen to the lot of mortals. How little, at that crowning moment, Sarah Churchill could have foreseen those distant days of the future, when she was left to walk alone the last stage of life, in which she would read and re-read, with tear-dimmed eyes, the faded letters which her coldness had wrung from her lover in the flood-tide of his passion and his despair. ”

“ Churchill scarcely saw the point of her daughter's satire. "You are right," she said. "I have done my very best to instill into your mind some knowledge of the world you live in, Adèle. I considered it a duty," she sighed faintly. "Had your poor father been alive, the case might have been different. Women who are thrown on [Pg 84] their own resources, like you and me, my child, must be equal to the task of taking care of themselves."
It was a task in which, apparently, Mrs. Churchill had never failed: she did not certainly look the worse for care and anxiety. ”

“ Never had maid been so cruelly treated by man! After spurning Churchill for months, returning nothing to his ardour and homage but a disdainful shoulder or a gibe, the moment he dares to turn his eyes on any other divinity she is the most outraged woman who ever staked happiness on a man's constancy. But at least her anger served the purpose of bringing Churchill back to his allegiance more promptly than smiles could have done. ”

“ Churchill, calmly. “May has behaved in the most extraordinary manner; she has run away from home.”
Henderson did not speak; he staggered against a chair; he grasped its back to support himself.
“Mr. Churchill and I,” continued Mrs. Churchill, still calmly, “had been away from home for a couple of days, to my place at Castle Hill, and when we returned the night before last, May had left a message with one of the boys that she had a headache, and had gone to bed. Well, yesterday morning she did not come down to breakfast, and I went upstairs to look after her. ”

“ It was so long before she recovered, that her chair was ready first: and, startled at the announcement, she hastened to ask her grandmother's permission for her visit. It was instantly granted; for Mrs. Churchill had always liked Walter, and had taken a personal satisfaction in his literary success. It was a compliment to her discernment. If ever we forgive another's celebrity, it is when it fulfils our own prophecy. But to have him, who had been a little child playing at her feet, dying in desolation and misery, roused every kindly feeling. ”

“ Pleasure of including your husband, Mrs. Churchill, among my distinguished literary friends. I hope he's quite himself. Ay, ay; Miss Lexden that was, eh? Think I've had the pleasure of meeting you, before you took rank as a matron, in the house of my dear old friend Sir Marmaduke Wentworth? Ah! I thought so. Ill now, poor dear fellow,--ill in the Pyrenees; hum, ha! And no cause for any special excitement in the present lamentable case, you say, my dear Mrs. Churchill?--hum! Well, well; death from natural causes, of course. ”

“ Prince Albert and the Queen called themselves Lord and Lady Churchill: the real Lady Churchill was now Miss Spencer, and General Grey became Dr. Grey. They were as excited as children in a new game over playing their parts properly, and the struggles of the two men-servants to remember not to say "Your Majesty" and "Your Royal Highness" amused them immensely. "The lady must be terrible rich," whispered an awe-struck woman to one of the servants, "for she has so many gold rings on her fingers." "And you have many more than I," said the aggrieved monarch to Lady Churchill. ”

“ Churchill,” she said, “your daughter has been here, but she is not here at present.”
“Where is she now, then?” asked Mr. Churchill, somewhat roughly. “For I mean to find her. I have come up to London to find her, and also to find Mr. John Temple, who, I suppose, has taken her away if she has gone from here.”
Again both the sisters gasped. This big strong man seemed to overwhelm them, and they felt themselves almost powerless in his hands.
“The long and the short of it is,” continued Mr. Churchill, “I mean to call Mr. John Temple to account for his conduct to May. ”

“ An elderly lady in widow's black was kneeling beside a man groaning in mortal agony, fanning away the flies already gathering about his face. He wore the uniform of a Union sergeant,—dusty and splotched and torn. A small Testament was clasped convulsively in the fingers of his right band. The left sleeve was empty. Virginia lingered, whelmed in pity, thrilled by a wonderful womanliness of her who knelt there. Her face the girl had not even seen, for it was bent over the man. ”

“ He shrugged his shoulders. “First find a man worthy to hold the office,” he said.
“I shall find him.... I know Mrs. Churchill. She will know her husband’s friends and supporters—the men who worked for his election and whom he trusted.”
“The idea is good,” said Evan. “Suppose you act without delay.”
Carmel found Mrs. Churchill in the kitchen, giving a hearty welcome, in spite of her baking, to the visitor.
“Set,” said Mrs. Churchill, “and lemme pour you a cup of tea. Always keep it simmerin’ on the back of the stove in case of headache.” ”

“ John Temple had taken her away to the seaside for a few days, and she was out of London when I was there. But I expect we shall be hearing from her shortly; and to-morrow morning I’ll go over to the Hall and see the squire, and tell him the news. Ay, and in spite of madam, I expect we’ll be having her staying at the Hall in no time, and what will you think of that, Sarah?” And Mr. Churchill laughed aloud, and patted his wife’s comely chin.
This was, however, a little more than Mrs. Churchill’s temper could bear.
“Well, I hope it will end well,” she said, tartly; “unequal marriages rarely do.” ”

“ He’s a sly, quiet fellow, with a sneer on his face always, and if he’s done any harm to May he had best look to himself. He came between her and me, I know; and he’ll rue the day, I swear it on my soul, if he’s done any wrong to the girl.”
“My dear Mr. Henderson, this is folly,” began Mrs. Churchill.
But with a suppressed oath Henderson broke away from her, leaving Mrs. Churchill not a little alarmed at the wild recklessness of his whole manner and bearing. [Pg 174] And when she told her husband of his visit he was not over-well pleased. ”

“ Churchill's sound common-sense was like a blast of north wind: it swept away sundry vapors, it invigorated the heart that a succession of evils had rendered distrustful of good. And Margaret's pathetic story, her truth, her goodness, her life of devotion—for all these had, insensibly to herself, shone out in her simple narrative—filled her hearer with admiration, elevated her conception of human nature, made her believe (a humanizing belief to many natures) , in looking back upon her own mistrust, that her judgment was not always infallible. ”

“ Churchill, even though his private character was blemished by sordid avarice, the most unamiable of all vices. He had wound up and turned his whole machine to please and engage. He had an inimitable sweetness and gentleness in his countenance, a tenderness in his manner of speaking, a graceful dignity in every motion, and an universal and minute attention to the least things that could possibly please the least person. This was all art in him; art of which he well knew and enjoyed the advantages; for no man ever had more interior ambition, pride, and avarice, than he had. ”

“ Churchill, in Queen’s Square. You know Queen’s Square?” Franklin bowed. “You must expect,” continued Mr. Spencer, “to meet with several disagreeable things, and a great deal of rough work, at your first setting out; but be faithful and obedient to your mistress, and obliging to your fellow-servants, and all will go well. Mrs. Churchill will make you a very good mistress, if you behave properly; and I have no doubt but you will.”
“Thank you, sir.” ”

“ My girl will step into her shoes when the old gentleman dies, for the Hall goes to the heir I’m told, and I’ll have my son-in-law for my landlord—but I was always proud and fond of May.”
Mrs. Churchill composed her lips and tried to swallow her mortification. But after all she was a sensible, though a hard woman, and she saw it was no use trying to throw cold water on her husband’s elation at the [Pg 293] good fortune of his daughter. She therefore went up to him and kissed him. ”

“ Churchill has a profound historical sense and the thought of himself as a part of the broad stream of the British people, flowing from the distant past into the limitless future, is never absent from his speaking and writing. He is never just Churchill, he is Churchill of British history, of the Marlboroughs, but now more than ever Churchill of the British people, with whom he has established a community of feeling seldom equaled in the relationship of leader to people. It has always been Hitler’s boast that “I am Germany!” ”

“ I realised that Miss Churchill accorded me toleration on its account, that I was regarded as one of the Grangers of Etchingham, who had taken to literature.
"I met your aunt yesterday," Miss Churchill continued. She had met everybody yesterday.
"Yes," I said, non-committally. I wondered what had happened at that meeting. My aunt and I had never been upon terms. She was a great personage in her part of the world, a great dowager land-owner, as poor as a mouse, and as respectable as a hen. She was, moreover, a keen politician on the side of Miss Churchill. ”