Winefred

“ As for Jack, if, in the morning a suspicion had traversed his mind that he really had been robbed by Mrs. Marley, and that Winefred was aware of it, in his overwhelming happiness at knowing that he was beloved, he had forgotten this wholly.
'I am hanged if I see any just cause or impediment, dear Winnie. I am not rich; indeed that is my disadvantage. Otherwise I venture to think I am not an undesirable party.' He laughed good-naturedly. 'I have robust health, strong arms, as you saw this morning; commonplace wits, and a very firm, dogged resolution that I will have you and no one else. ”

“ The smugglers would certainly have preferred less light and more noise, a howling wind, a blinding fog, and a booming sea.
Above every sound Winefred could hear the throbbing of her heart.
She was now upon the down, where the turf was short, strewn with flints bleached by sun and rain. She crossed it, and descended into a deep, lateral combe, through which a trickle ran into the river. Here were trees, but they were bare of leaves. ”

“ Is it reasonable that Winefred's father should put down a solid lump sum?—put so much money into the hands of an ignorant, half-crazed woman, who has heretofore never had a piece of gold wherewith to bless herself? Not likely, is it? Consider what the father would do in such a case as she pretends—that he has repented of his wrong and is making amends. I do not say he has. I do not believe in her story at all. But let us suppose that he did come here, see Jane Marley and Winefred, and promised to do his best for them. ”

“ Then with a hoarse voice Jane Marley said, as she held her child with a firmer grasp, 'Why, then, we shall not feel the wind and the cold and the rain and our weariness, we shall say good-bye to a stony world. There is no other refuge for us outcasts. Locked in each other's arms, mother and child must die.'
For a moment Winefred was petrified with horror. For a moment she was unresisting as the powerful woman gathered her up and strode with her to the verge, the water oozing about her from the soaked garments under the pressure. ”

“ Cursed be the tongue that proved my undoing, cursed be the heart that devised this new cruelty.'
'Mother!' entreated Winefred, and she put her hand on Jane Marley's mouth.
'Look, look!' cried the outraged woman, thrusting her aside, 'see him sidle towards the door, instead of facing what is unpleasing. That has ever been his way. He has thrust himself into situations that were uncomfortable, into associations that proved irksome, has contracted ties that galled him, and he has never had the courage to accept the consequences of his own acts. ”

“ The feeling that pervaded the neighbourhood made itself very evident to Jane Marley and to Winefred. The mother was indifferent, but it provoked the liveliest resentment in the girl. Winefred was fired with indignation that her mother should be thought capable of dishonesty, and she winced and chafed at the gibes cast at her, or at the insinuations she could not openly resent.
The neighbourhood had conspired to hold aloof from them. No one save good Mrs. Jose would speak to either, except on matters necessitating exchange of words. ”

“ If she failed—the goods would be confiscated, the band [75] broken up, and the captain imprisoned for a lengthy period. At his age he might not live till his term expired.
The stars twinkled, a crescent moon shone, there was frost in the air.
Winefred had formed her plan, and she knew her way. She had to ascend from the undercliff to the down, and the chalky path lay before her as though phosphorescent.
There would have been complete stillness but for the mutter and fret of the sea and the piping of the wind. ”

“ When Winefred had left the room, the doctor's widow said:—'You will excuse the liberty I take, but the interest I feel in your engaging daughter, and the responsibility laid upon me, induce me to speak with a plainness from which I should otherwise shrink. I think, Mr. Holwood, that you have made a mistake. Gentlemen, widowers especially, are liable to fall into errors of judgment that produce results that are deplorable. ”

“ I will tell you my ideas, Jane. You go on consuming your black and miserable thoughts, and it makes you wretched—just like the kitchen cat as will eat [182] black beetles and grows lanky on it—but think of things bright. Trout grow fat on Mayflies. Consider this. Winefred with her handsome face and nimble tongue is certain to catch the fancy of some great gentleman. ”

“ The silence in the cleft was absolute save for an occasional downpatter of dry earth or pebbles, but there was no considerable fall whilst Winefred was there.
The ascent was laborious, nevertheless the girl prosecuted her attempt with resolution, and was finally successful in attaining the turf, but in a condition so soiled that she knew she would be scolded by her mother. ”

“ After a long pause he proceeded, 'It is rough on us men that we should get, not kicks only, but leaden bullets put into us, and he all the ha'pence; but it is a crying iniquity that his son Jack should be brought up to be a gentleman and your Winefred should be left a beggar. ”

“ John Hall, the cheesemonger, has the same.'
'Whether you believe or not matters nothing to me,' said Jane, still swelling with pride. 'All Seaton, all Axmouth, every one shall perceive that we are not as we were; that my Winnie has no more occasion to go along the beach picking up chalcedonies, nor I to trudge the lanes, hawking pins and needles; but that Winefred is a lady, a real lady, with money to spend, dressing like a lady, doing nothing—like a lady. When I hear from Jack Rattenbury, I shall know when to leave this cottage, but do not think that I will take orders or advice from you.' ”

“ Let me smoulder away where she can breathe on the spark; it will only flame into more love for her. I ask no more. I will be speechless in your house if you will—but see her I must. I must look on her, as she moves, like a lady that she is—but I will not approach her to soil her with my touch. Only now and then, when there be none to see, let me kiss the tip of her fingers. I will go down on my knees to ask for this—but I will take nothing less.' Her voice was hoarse with emotion. 'Part from her I will not.'
'Mother,' interposed Winefred, 'I have a word to say. ”

“ The girl has fallen so completely under her thraldom that she has come to regard her almost in the light of a mother. It speaks well for her heart, but ill for your judgment. I can quite understand the power over her gained by a woman who attended her in her childish ailments, who dressed her dolls, and put her hair in curlpapers. But although we must admire the quality of Winefred's heart in clinging to this individual, one can do no other than lament that the attachment has been so close between persons so different in rank. ”

“ Take care how you hunt and beat the thickets without me. I am not a man to be trifled with. If I find that you are going behind my back, I will tread you and your brat into the earth, as though you were snails.'
[72]
CHAPTER XII
BY NIGHT On her return to Rattenbury's cottage, Winefred was thrown into a dubious condition of mind. She had purposed to confide everything to her mother, to tell her about the present of the watch and of what she had overheard. But on coming into her mother's presence she saw that the time was unpropitious. ”

“ Her mother had so often and so earnestly commented to her on lack of social culture as having been the cause of her own undoing, as having blasted her entire life, that Winefred, standing at the threshold of a new career in which this desideratum was to be acquired, felt timorous, lest she should make some great mistake, commit some solecism at the outstart. ”

“ Partly for a selfish reason, because she could not endure to be separated from her daughter, but also because she did not choose that Winefred, the child of a gentleman, should definitely adopt a menial life in a farmhouse till every chance was gone of placing her in a superior situation. The poor mother could find no gate out of her difficulties. ”

“ Nothing could come of his fancy, even were Winefred to lay aside her dislike for him. But he knew, too surely, that she hated him. When they had met, they were like two goats on a plank, clashing horns.
A couple of weeks later Captain Ford said to Jack, 'My lad, I have an errand for you. I can't go myself. You must do the job for me. Borrow as many eyes as there are in a peacock's tail, and use every one. I want you to go to Bath. They tell me that there they saw the stone. It is harder than ours, but it is done, I believe, by water power. ”

“ No doubt he had undergone stormy scenes with Jane that had frightened him, and left on him an impression that could not be eradicated.
'What shall I tell you?' asked Winefred.
'About your youth, and where you lived, and how?'
'We got along, mother and I, as best we could, she hawking tapes and needles, and I—collecting pebbles.'
'There was really no necessity for that.'
'We must live. We had a cottage on the cliffs, but it went to pieces as the cliff cracked and made a chasm. ”

“ Winefred heaved a despairing sigh. She knew the resolute character of her mother. Suddenly she flung her arms about her, kissed her passionately, and said, 'O mother, if you love me, if you love me at all, do it.'
'No, because I love you; you shall be a lady. No, I will not.'
[271]
CHAPTER XLIV
THE GATE OF THORNS Jack had worked diligently in the office all day. He had been late in arriving, but he apologised, told the truth about his adventure, and promised to work overtime so as to make up for his default. His heart was light. ”

“ Winefred forestalled him. She had picked up the key and presented it to him, lying across her rosy palm, before his person had described a right angle.
'Winnie,' said Holwood in a low tone, 'will you do me a pleasure? I am a man of principle—in the abstract. I subscribe to schools for the education of children in the elements of morality. It is to me a shocking thought that a young person of your age, and sex, should not invoke the blessing of heaven upon the author of your being. ”

“ Winefred, catching her hand, inquired breathlessly, 'What is the meaning of this? It is as though every one were on the cliffs. Surely not an invasion from France?'
'It is rabbits. They are running from the downs and the people are going on to it.'
'What is the matter?'
'I cannot tell. No one knows. Something is going to happen, and your mother has not returned.'
'My mother!'
'She went to the cottage with a carpet-bag to remove her knick-knacks, and has not come back. ”

“ When mother or daughter came into Axmouth or Seaton heads were turned aside, or they were stared at insolently and remarks made behind their backs, perfectly audible and never complimentary.
Jane held up her head the highest, became harsher in manner and more peremptory—even with her child.
Winefred complained to her of the slights to which she was subjected.
[144]
'When we were poor,' said Mrs. Marley, with darkened brow, 'then we were cast out. Now we are rich, we are hated. As they cannot take our money from us, they slander us. We can rub along very comfortably without them. ”

“ In the office, Holwood could not make any way. There will be a retiring pension, and his family is not amiss. Don't make more of an ass of yourself, Frank, than you are by nature. Do not commit yourself till she has been weighed and you have found her worth. Who the deuce is she talking with now? He looks like a seaman out for a holiday.'
The person whom Winefred met as she left the Sydney Gardens was Jack Rattenbury. ”

“ But how do you know that the girl Winefred is a fit person for you to patronise?' asked Miss Jones, with a malicious intonation in her voice.
[278]
'She is related to the Finnborough family.'
'Have the Finnboroughs acknowledged her?'
'They are not in Bath at present. When they learn how greatly admired she is and how much she is talked about——'
'Because of her dialect.'
'No, Sylvana, because of her beauty. How can you be so disagreeable?'
'Mother, send back the tureen as not suited, and cancel your engagement to the butler.'
'Sylvana! how offensively you put things! ”

“ Like a vast number of other people, any pretext served as an excuse for the commission of a wrong; a colourable pretext was the cocaine with which moral sensation was benumbed. Various causes had combined to make Winefred high principled as she was.
Unquestionably there was natural downrightness in her character from the outstart; this had been accentuated by her work in selecting and polishing stones for the lapidary. Too often had she been deceived by a pebble that promised well, and which only after laborious grinding and smoothing had revealed itself to be worthless. ”

“ She was white with the deadly earnestness with which she pleaded.
'And you—to be brought up as a lady,' muttered Jane, scowling, 'and to throw yourself away on a village lout—one, too, who has not the manhood in him to take to the sea and be what his fathers have been.'
'I do not desire to be a lady.'
'I do—it is my one thought, my only ambition.'
'And at Bath,' pursued Winefred, 'everything about me is false. I am expected to pass as one who has lost her mother. You are supposed to be only a nurse! ”

“ She began to cry, not noisily, but with great tears stealing down her cheeks. Then she was silent.
All at once she burst forth, 'O God in heaven, Who has put such love into a mother's heart, Thou alone canst understand me. What if aught should befall me, and she were left alone? She is a handsome girl. I was handsome once, and having no father, no mother to care for me, I came into such sorrow as never was. I cannot endure to think that she—my [20] Winefred, my all—should be kicked about from place to place, friendless, or taken up by such as would only blight her whole life. ”