Mrs. Falconer

“ It said: 'I have conquered my wilderness.' I have never known another such woman as Mrs. Falconer. She never speaks of herself; but when I am with her, I feel that the struggles of my life have been nothing."
"Yes," he continued, out of kindness trying to take no notice of his companion's silence, "she holds in quietness her land of the spirit; but there are battle-fields in her nature that fill me with awe by their silence. ”

“ Mrs. Falconer left the shop without another word, but with an awful suspicion which the last heedless words of the shoemaker had aroused in her bosom. She left him bursting with laughter over his lapstone. He caught up his fiddle and played The De'il's i' the Women lustily and with expression. ”

“ Miss Evelyn could not wholly deny it, and feeling unable to explain, rejoiced to be spared a reply, for the Squire rose, and putting his hand on Guy's shoulder, said,—
"Tell me, my boy, whose thought was it to identify the present owner with the house, by painting them together in that pleasant scene?"
"My mother's, sir," said Guy, promptly.
"Guy, that is only part of the truth; tell the whole," said the gentle voice of Mrs. Falconer. ”

“ Falconer came up daily to talk to her as to a fellow fanatic, and her temperament roused in Eve an instinctive sense of resistance. She found herself accusing her hostess to herself of intolerance and vindictiveness. It was like listening to a hell-fire sermon preached against the male sex, a denunciation that was subtilised with all the cleverness of a mind that had played with all the scientific theories of the day. Mrs. Falconer was a vitalist. She hated the mechanical school with fine consistency, and clasped hands with Bergson and Hans Driesch. ”

“ Falconer. "I do not know how to answer you."
"Mother," said Guy, "it is impossible for me. You know I must and will work."
"Bravo, young sir," said the Squire; "but you must get back the strength to do it first."
"May I ask for time to think, to consider?" said Mrs. Falconer. "It is too true that we are not in the best of health, but I have accepted an engagement which may greatly conduce to our improvement—"
"It is impossible for you to undertake anything at present, madam," said Mr. Hazelwood, rising. "You have not the strength of a kitten left amongst you, if I'm any judge of appearances. ”

“ The strife which results from believing that the higher love demands the suppression of the lower, is the most fearful of all discords, the absolute love slaying love—the house divided against itself; one moment all given up for the will of Him, the next the human tenderness rushing back in a flood. Mrs. Falconer burst into a very agony of weeping. From that day, for many years, the name of her lost Andrew never passed her lips in the hearing of her grandson, and certainly in that of no one else. ”

“ Falconer and the child were so strongly attached to each other. She knew that Norman Wylde had been in trouble several years before on account of a pretty factory girl, who was reported to have drowned herself, but she had never heard that there was a child in the case. She wondered now if that unfortunate girl had looked like Mrs. Falconer.
“I mean to find out,” she resolved, just as Pansy looked up and asked pleadingly:
“Won’t you give me this child if my husband will allow me to adopt him? I will be like a mother to him, educate him, bring him up to a noble manhood, if he lives.” ”

“ And Mrs. W—, with plans maturing in her hands, and on which no decisive sentence had been passed, made her way to Mrs. Falconer's lodgings, and using the freedom of friendship, walked up unannounced. To her gentle knock, no answer was returned, and she pushed the door open. Mrs. Falconer lay asleep on a couch, tears yet undried on her cheek, and a smile of peace and tranquility on her lips.
The visitor glanced round the apartment. ”

“ Mrs. Falconer asked. "Oh, for one word!"
"We do not think there will be any return of consciousness," the doctors said, "but we cannot tell."
No; no one could tell. And so the sad hours of the night passed, and the dawn broke over the familiar fields, and Fair Acres smiled in the first bright rays of the morning.
Piers had slept curled up in his window-seat, worn out with grief. Mrs. Falconer, too, had slept in an upright position, her head resting against the back of the chair, sleeping for sorrow.
But Joyce did not sleep; she kept watch, hoping, praying for one word of farewell. ”

“ Both beheld the unlucky youth drop through the boughs, and both at once anticipated the most dreadful termination to such a misadventure; for a pitch over the cascade among the savage rocks below, could scarcely be less than fatal. The very instant she saw that the young man had lost his footing, Catherine uttered a loud scream, and then, driven onwards by an irresistible impulse, darted towards the river, to render him what aid she could. As for Miss Falconer, the shock had deprived her of her self-possession, and her tongue clove to her mouth with terror. ”

“ I know no evil of Miss Falconer, and I have heard none. This is the first time I have ever seen her so near to my threshold: and I know not what strange fancy could have brought her hither. As for Miss Catherine, the Captain's daughter, she often comes to inquire about me. Poor child! she fears not the 'old witch,' for she has done no harm to me nor to any other mortal; she does not hate 'wicked old Elsie,' for hatred dwells not in her nature; but she looks with respect and pity upon the miseries of age and penury. ”

“ I want a great deal of teaching yet to make me fit for anything."
"Fit for what?" laughed the Squire. "Is my little wench turning sentimental?"
"Fit to be Squire and Madam Hazelwood's daughter, sir," replied she,—"an honour which all our village folk loyally desire me worthily to apprehend."
"Fit or not, I suppose we have to make the best of it now, young mistress," said her father, who sometimes scarcely seemed to think further improvement needful; "so you had better convince Mrs. Falconer that your education is not completed yet. ”

“ Falconer's son should be so entirely unlike either father or mother. He had dismounted; while old Thomas held the horse, he had helped Joyce into the carriage, and patted the rounded cheeks of the baby, whom her mother now took from her grandmother, and settled comfortably on her knee, while he called out to Falcon, who was in the dickey with Susan and the luggage, not to put out his eyes with a long cane he was brandishing, kicking his feet vigorously all the time, and shouting "Gee up!" ”

“ To Falconer, watching her and listening to her, no tears could have been so terrible as that bitter, dry-eyed wail which seemed to him to echo in a void, where nothing answering to it could have been nurtured into life. The contrast between the artificial woman he had known hitherto, and the woman in the consuming anguish of her motherhood with whom he now found himself face to face, was so amazing that he could make no attempt to grapple with it. ”

“ We meant to have put up at the Falcon Range last night, hoping to have stopped your journey this morning, but the horses were too tired. Is it too late? Cannot you return now? But I forgot—you don't know me. Roger Hazelwood, madam—at your service. Here! Dorothy, Evelyn! Come and speak to Mrs. Falconer, the lady from the Moat."
THE MEETING ON THE ROAD.
Guy and his sister hereupon resisted the strong desire to see again the bright face of the girl as she peeped round from her corner in the carriage, and utterly amazed and confounded, saw the elder lady alight and advance to their mother. ”

“ Falconer, placidly. “But seriously, my dear, here is an opportunity of making an excellent match for Georgiana, if you will be so obliging as not to counteract me.”
“I am the last man in the world to counteract you, my dear; but it will never do,” said Mr. Falconer; “and you will only make Georgiana ridiculous, as she has been several times already, from the failure of these love-matches. I tell you, Mrs. Falconer, Count Altenberg is no more thinking of love than I am—nor is he a man in the least likely to fall in love.” ”

“ She paused, battling for breath; and then, as Falconer tried to speak, she put out her hand to stop him, and went on hurriedly:
“That’s all over! It’s done with! Now you must help me. Your knowledge must help me. You are a man. You will know what to do; how he can be saved! He must be saved! He must!”
She turned away from him with a wild, unconscious gesture, as though his personality had no existence for her save and except as he could serve her purpose, and began once more to pace up and down the room.
Falconer followed her with his eyes, standing motionless and confounded. ”

“ Falconer’s presence suggested one of those subtle ferments that are supposed to stimulate the complex processes of life. She did nothing herself. She was a presence. People came to her when they needed the flick of her advice. She co-ordinated everything.
Eve was introduced to all these girls and women, and was given a table to herself with several sheets of foolscap and a file of papers. Mrs. Falconer came and stood by her, and explained the work she wanted her to do.
“There is nothing like attacking people with facts. They penetrate the British skull! ”

“ Falconer often in the bitterness of her heart exclaimed, that she had the most ungrateful children in the world. It seems that it is a tacit compact between mothers and daughters of a certain class, that if the young ladies are dressed, amused, advertised, and exhibited at every fashionable public place and private party, their hearts, or hands at least, are to be absolutely at the disposal of their parents.
It was just when Mrs. Falconer was exasperated by Georgiana’s ingratitude, that her son Buckhurst was obliged to come to London after his marriage, to settle with his creditors. ”

“ Her lovely dark hair was drawn into a loose coil on top of her head, and some curling locks strayed prettily over her white forehead.
“How pretty you are in that white wrapper, Mrs. Falconer. I do not see how such a plain old fellow as my uncle ever induced a beautiful young girl like you to marry him. But, then, these rich old fellows can marry any one they choose!” exclaimed Juliette.
“I do not consider Colonel Falconer old,” Pansy answered resentfully, but further words were prevented by the loud ringing of the doorbell. ”

“ But in the churchyard, she conquered him quite; listened to his tales of the heroes of the Falconers' line; gleaned wonders of village lore from names and dates and epitaphs; trod softly round the tomb beneath the cedars; made him lift her high enough to read the record on the marble slab, and before tripping away,—
"Thank you," she said, gravely. "I wish Mrs. Falconer and the children had not gone away from the Moat; there is plenty of room for us all, and I can't see why they should go; can you, Mr. Spadeley?" ”

“ In the meantime, there must be no grasping at a shadow and losing the substance; no craving for future usefulness in some congenial form, while duty ready to her heart and hand lay before her in God's appointment.
Those closed doors in the village had chilled her, and must be opened somehow; she must try to supply Mrs. Falconer's place. Her devout and humble manner as she took her place in the great family pew at church on Sunday was particularly approved by the clerk, who commented thereon to the good old gardener, who had not yet required the epitaph. ”

“ And the mollified landlady withdrew as the visitor turned with interest to the startled group before him.
"I must also beg your pardon, Mrs. Falconer, but I have been seeking you all the morning, and must now deliver my errand, and get home again. I regret to see that the bloom has faded from these young cheeks, but we will have it back soon; London does not suit young plants."
"They are growing fast," said Mrs. Falconer. ”

“ Now farewell until to-morrow."
"Sir," said Guy as the Squire gave his address in London, "I am very sorry for my rudeness, and I beg your pardon."
"Granted, young sir; and the best proof of good terms between us will be that you accept my invite, and come at once. Our good young parson will see that it is not lost time in your preparations for work. I protest against everything until we see the country bloom on your cheeks again."
"I am at a loss to thank you as I ought, Mr. Hazelwood," said Mrs. Falconer as she followed her visitor down the stairs, "but you must not think me ungrateful." ”

“ Falconer's hand with a gentle pressure; "but we may perhaps meet again under happier circumstances." And drawing back with a curtsey, she re-entered her carriage.
"The sooner the better," said the Squire; "Evelyn is shy, but she means well, silly child. Good-bye, madam; your hand, young sir—we must be friends you know, though the Moat is between us. I hate feuds, and would rather carry your God-speed with us among the people who may be pardoned for feeling that we can't supply your place." ”

“ Very simple was the will, yet a marvel of its kind; no great surprise to some, especially the worthy sexton, who professed to much prescience of things to come, but a very great one to the parties chiefly interested.
The old Moat House and estate of the Falcon Range was left to Master Guy Falconer, subject to certain conditions affecting in some degree the income of the Squire's only child, and also that of Maude Herbert; while Evelyn, with an ample fortune from other sources, was confided to the guardianship of Mrs. Falconer and Mr. Herbert. ”

“ Falconer, 'a most perfect emblem of purity, and in that sense alone there can be no fitter image to be presented to the minds of young women.'
'Very true,' said the doctor. 'And very strange withal,' he thought to himself.
The sisters sang their hymn, made their obeisance, and departed.
The Rev. Dr. Opimian. The hands of these young women do not show signs of menial work.
Mr. Falconer. They are the regulating spirits of the household. They have a staff of their own for the coarser and harder work. ”