how true is the old proverb—“man proposes but god disposes!” god’s ways are not as our ways. his dealings with us are often mysterious. happy those, who can detect his hand in all the varied chances and changes of the world.
i am not sure that we can quite picture to ourselves the life that had been mr. channing’s. of gentle birth, and reared to no profession, the inheritance which ought to have come to him was looked upon as a sufficient independence. that it would come to him, had never been doubted by himself or by others; and it was only at the very moment when he thought he was going to take possession of it, that some enemy set up a claim and threw it into chancery. you may object to the word “enemy,” but it could certainly not be looked upon as the act of a friend. by every right, in all justice, it belonged to james channing; but he who put in his claim, taking advantage of a quibble of law, was a rich man and a mighty one. i should not like to take possession of another’s money in such a manner. the good, old-fashioned, wholesome fear would be upon me, that it would bring no good either to me or mine.
james channing never supposed but that the money would be his some time. meanwhile he sought and obtained employment to occupy his days; to bring “grist to the mill,” until the patrimony should come. hoping, hoping, hoping on; hope and disappointment, hope and disappointment—there was nothing else for years and years; and you know who has said, that “hope deferred maketh the heart sick.” there have been many such cases in the world, but i question, i say, if we can quite realize them. however, the end had come—the certainty of disappointment; and mr. channing was already beginning to be thankful that suspense, at any rate, was over.
he was the head of an office—or it may be more correct to say the head of the helstonleigh branch of it, for the establishment was a london one—a large, important concern, including various departments of insurance. hamish was in the same office; and since mr. channing’s rheumatism had become chronic, it was hamish who chiefly transacted the business of the office, generally bringing home the books when he left, and going over them in the evening with his father. thus the work was effectually transacted, and mr. channing retained his salary. the directors were contented that it should be so, for mr. channing possessed their thorough respect and esteem.
after the ill news was communicated to them, the boys left the parlour, and assembled in a group in the study, at the back of the house, to talk it over. constance was with them, but they would not admit annabel. a shady, pleasant, untidy room was that study, opening to a cool, shady garden. it had oil-cloth on the floor instead of carpeting, and books and playthings were strewed about it.
“what an awful shame that there should be so much injustice in the world!” spoke passionate tom, flinging his euripides on the table.
“but for one thing, i should be rather glad the worry’s over,” cried hamish. “we know the worst now—that we have only ourselves to trust to.”
“our hands and brains, as tom said,” remarked charley. “what is the ‘one thing’ that you mean, hamish?”
hamish seized charley by the waist, lifted him up, and let him drop again. “it is what does not concern little boys to know: and i don’t see why you should be in here with us, young sir, any more than annabel.”
“a presentiment that this would be the ending has been upon me for some time,” broke in the gentle voice of constance. “in my own mind i have kept laying out plans for us all. you see, it is not as though we should enjoy the full income that we have hitherto had.”
“what’s that, constance?” asked tom hotly. “the decision does not touch papa’s salary; and you heard him say that the costs were to be paid out of the estate. a pretty thing it would be if any big-wigged lord chancellor could take away the money that a man works hard for!”
“hasty, as usual, tom,” she said with a smile. “you know—we all know—that, counting fully upon this money, papa is behindhand in his payments. they must be paid off now in the best way that may be found: and it will take so much from his income. it will make no difference to you, tom; all you can do, is to try on heartily for the seniorship and the exhibition.”
“oh, won’t it make a difference to me, though!” retorted tom. “and suppose i don’t gain it, constance?”
“then you will have to work all the harder, tom, in some other walk of life. failing the exhibition, of course there will be no chance of your going up to the university; and you must give up the hope of entering the church. the worst off—the one upon whom this disappointment must fall the hardest—will be arthur.”
arthur channing—astride on the arm of the old-fashioned sofa—lifted his large deep blue eyes to constance with a flash of intelligence: it seemed to say, that she only spoke of what he already knew. he had been silent hitherto; he was of a silent nature: a quiet, loving, tender nature: while the rest spoke, he was content to think.
“ay, that it will!” exclaimed hamish. “what will become of your articles now, arthur?”
it should be explained that arthur had entered the office of mr. galloway, who was a proctor, and also was steward to the dean and chapter. arthur was only a subordinate in it, a clerk receiving pay—and very short pay, too; but it was intended that he should enter upon his articles as soon as this money that should be theirs enabled mr. channing to pay for them. hamish might well ask what would become of his articles now!
“i can’t see a single step before me,” cried arthur. “except that i must stay on as i am, a paid clerk.”
“what rubbish, arthur!” flashed tom, who possessed a considerable share of temper when it was roused. “as if you, arthur channing, could remain a paid clerk at galloway’s! why, you’d be on a level with jenkins—old jenkins’s son. roland yorke would look down on you then; more than he does now. and that need not be!”
the sensitive crimson dyed arthur’s fair open brow. of all the failings that he found it most difficult to subdue in his own heart, pride bore the greatest share. from the moment the ill news had come to his father, the boy felt that he should have to do fierce battle with his pride; that there was ever-recurring mortification laid up in store for it. “but i can battle with it,” he bravely whispered to himself: “and i will do it, god helping me.”
“i may whistle for my new cricket-bat and stumps now,” grumbled tom.
“and i wonder when i shall have my new clothes?” added charley.
“how selfish we all are!” broke forth arthur.
“selfish?” chafed tom.
“yes, selfish. here we are, croaking over our petty disappointments, and forgetting the worst share that falls upon papa. failing this money, how will he go to the german baths?”
a pause of consternation. in their own grievances the boys had lost sight of the hope which had recently been shared by them all. an eminent physician, passing through helstonleigh, had seen mr. channing, and given his opinion that if he would visit certain medicinal spas in germany, health might be restored to him. when the cause should be terminated in their favour, mr. channing had intended to set out. but now it was given against him; and hope of setting out had gone with it.
“i wish i could carry him on my back to germany, and work to keep him while he stayed there!” impulsively spoke tom. “wretchedly selfish we have been, to dwell on our disappointments, by the side of papa’s. i wish i was older.”
constance was standing against the window. she was of middle height, thoroughly ladylike and graceful; her features fair and beautiful, and her dark-blue eyes and smooth white brow wonderfully like arthur’s. she wore a muslin dress with a delicate pink sprig upon it, the lace of its open sleeves falling on her pretty white hands, which were playing unconsciously with a spray of jessamine, while she listened to her brothers as each spoke.
“tom,” she interposed, in answer to the last remark, “it is of no use wishing for impossibilities. we must look steadfastly at things as they exist, and see what is the best that can be made of them. all that you and charles can do is to work well on at your studies—annabel the same; and it is to be hoped this blow will take some of her thoughtlessness out of her. hamish, and arthur, and i, must try and be more active than we have been.”
“you!” echoed arthur. “why, what can you do, constance?”
a soft blush rose to her cheeks. “i tell you that i have seemed to anticipate this,” she said, “and my mind has busied itself with plans and projects. i shall look out for a situation as daily governess.”
a groan of anger burst from tom. his quick temper, and arthur’s pride, alike rose up and resented the words. “a daily governess! it is only another name for a servant. fine, that would be, for miss channing!”
constance laughed. “oh, tom! there are worse misfortunes at sea. i would go out wholly, but that papa would not like to spare me, and i must take annabel for music and other things of an evening. don’t look cross. it is an excellent thought; and i shall not mind it.”
“what will mamma say?” asked tom, ironically. “you just ask her!”
“mamma knows,” replied constance. “mamma has had her fears about the termination of the lawsuit, just as i have. ah! while you boys were laughing and joking, and pursuing your sports or your studies of a night, i and mamma would be talking over the shadowed future. i told mamma that if the time and the necessity came for turning my education and talents to account, i should do it with a willing heart; and mamma, being rather more sensible than her impetuous son tom, cordially approved.”
tom made a paper bullet and flung it at constance, his honest eyes half laughing.
“so should i approve,” said hamish. “it is a case, taking into consideration my father’s state, in which all of us should help who are able. of course, were you boys grown up and getting money, constance should be exempt from aiding and abetting; but as it is, it is different. there will be no disgrace in her becoming a governess; and helstonleigh will never think it so. she is a lady always, and so she would be if she were to turn to and wash up dishes. the only doubt is—”
he stopped, and looked hesitatingly at constance. as if penetrating his meaning, her eyes fell before his.
“—whether yorke will like it,” went on hamish, as though he had not halted in his sentence. and the pretty blush in constance channing’s face deepened to a glowing crimson. tom made a whole heap of bullets at once, and showered them on to her.
“so hamish—be quiet, tom!—you may inquire all over helstonleigh to-morrow, whether any one wants a governess; a well-trained young lady of twenty-one, who can play, sing, and paint, speak really good english, and decent french, and has a smattering of german,” rattled on constance, as if to cover her blushes. “i shall ask forty guineas a year. do you think i shall get it?”
“i think you ought to ask eighty,” said arthur.
“so i would, if i were thirty-one instead of twenty-one,” said constance. “oh dear! here am i, laughing and joking over it, but it is a serious thing to undertake—the instruction of the young. i hope i shall be enabled to do my duty in it. what’s that?”
it was a merry, mocking laugh, which came from the outside of the window, and then a head of auburn hair, wild and entangled, was pushed up, and in burst annabel, her saucy dark eyes dancing with delight.
“you locked me out, but i have been outside the window and heard it all,” cried she, dancing before them in the most provoking manner. “arthur can only be a paid clerk, and constance is going to be a governess and get forty guineas a year, and if tom doesn’t gain his exhibition he must turn bell-ringer to the college, for papa can’t pay for him at the university now!”
“what do you deserve, you wicked little picture of deceit?” demanded hamish. “do you forget the old story of the listener who lost his ears?”
“i always do listen whenever i can, and i always will,” avowed annabel. “i have warned you so a hundred times over, and now i warn you again. i wish tom would turn bell-ringer! i’d make him ring a peal that should astonish helstonleigh, the day constance goes out as governess. shan’t i have a fine time of it! it’s lessons for me now, morning, noon, and night,—she’s always worrying me; but, once let us get her back turned, and i shall have whole holiday! she may think i’ll do my lessons with her at night; but i won’t!”
the boys began to chase her round the table. she was almost a match for all four—a troublesome, indulged, sunny-hearted child, who delighted in committing faults, that she might have the pleasure of avowing them. she flew out into the garden, first knocking over constance’s paint-box, and some of them went after her.
at that moment mr. yorke came in. you have seen him once before, in his place in helstonleigh cathedral: a tall, slender man, with pale, well-formed features, and an attractive smile. his dark eyes rested on constance as he entered, and once more the brilliant colour lighted up her face. when prospects should be a little better—that is, when mr. yorke should have a sufficient living bestowed upon him—constance was to become his wife. his stipend from the minor canonry was at present trifling.
“judith met me in the hall as i was going into the parlour, and told me i had better come here,” he observed. “she said bad news had arrived for mr. channing.”
“yes,” answered hamish. “the lawsuit is lost.”
“lost!” echoed mr. yorke.
“irrevocably. we were discussing ways and means amongst ourselves,” said hamish, “for of course this changes our prospects materially.”
“and constance is going out as a governess, if she can find any one to take her, and arthur is to plod on with joe jenkins, and tom means to apply for the post of bell-ringer to the cathedral,” interposed the incorrigible annabel, who had once more darted in, and heard the last words. “can you recommend constance to a situation, mr. yorke?”
he treated the information lightly; laughed at and with annabel; but constance noticed that a flush crossed his brow, and that he quitted the subject.
“has the inked surplice been found out, tom,—i mean the culprit?”
“not yet, mr. yorke.”
“charles, you can tell me who it was, i hear?”
there was a startled glance for a moment in charles’s eye, as he looked up at mr. yorke, and an unconscious meaning in his tone.
“why, do you know who it was, sir?”
“not i,” said mr. yorke. “i know that, whoever it may have been deserves a sound flogging, if he did it willfully.”
“then, sir, why do you suppose i know?”
“i met hurst just now, and he stopped me with the news that he was sure charley channing could put his hand upon the offender, if he chose to do it. it was not yourself, was it charley?”
mr. yorke laughed as he asked the question. charley laughed also, but in a constrained manner. meanwhile the others, to whom the topic had been as sanscrit, demanded an explanation, which mr. yorke gave, so far as he was cognizant of the facts.
“what a shame to spoil a surplice! have you cause to suspect any particular boy, charley?” demanded hamish.
“don’t ask him in my presence,” interrupted tom in the same hurried manner that he had used in the cloisters. “i should be compelled in honour to inform the master, and charley would have his life thrashed out of him by the school.”
“don’t you ask me, either, mr. yorke,” said charles; and the tone of his voice, still unconsciously to himself, bore a strange serious earnestness.
“why not?” returned mr. yorke. “i am not a senior of the college school, and under obedience to its head-master.”
“if you are all to stop in this room, i and tom shall never get our lessons done,” was all the reply made by charles, as he drew a chair to the table and opened his exercise books.
“and i never could afford that,” cried tom, following his example, and looking out the books he required. “it won’t do to let huntley and yorke get ahead of me.”
“trying for the seniorship as strenuously as ever, tom?” asked mr. yorke.
“of course i am,” replied tom channing, lifting his eyes in slight surprise. “and i hope to get it.”
“which of the three stands the best chance?”
“well,” said tom, “it will be about a neck-and-neck race between us. my name stands first on the rolls of the school; therefore, were our merits equal, in strict justice it ought to be given to me. but the master could pass me over if he pleased, and decide upon either of the other two.”
“which of those two stands first on the rolls?”
“harry huntley. yorke is the last. but that does not count for much, you know, mr. yorke, as we all entered together. they enrolled us as our initial letters stood in the alphabet.”
“it will turn wholly upon your scholastic merits, then? i hear—but helstonleigh is famous for its gossip—that in past times it has frequently gone by favour.”
“so it has,” said tom channing, throwing back his head with a whole world of indignation in the action. “eligible boys have been passed over, and the most incapable dolt set up above them; all because his friends were in a good position, and hand-in-glove with the head-master. i don’t mean pye, you know; before he came. it’s said the last case was so flagrant that it came to the ears of the dean, and he interfered and forbade favour for the future. at any rate, there’s an impression running through the school that merit and conduct, taken together, will be allowed fair play.”
“conduct?” echoed arthur channing.
tom nodded:—“conduct is to be brought in, this time. one day, when the first desk fell into a row with the head-master, through some mischief we had gone into out of school, he asked us if we were aware that our conduct, as it might be good or ill, might gain or lose us the seniorship. yorke, who is bold enough, you know, for ten, remarked that that was a new dodge, and the master overheard the words, and said, yes, he was happy to say there were many new ‘dodges’ he had seen fit to introduce, which he trusted might tend to make the school different from what it had been. of course we had the laugh at yorke; but the master took no more notice of it. since then, i assure you, mr. yorke, our behaviour has been a pattern for young ladies—mine, and huntley’s, and yorke’s. we don’t care to lose a chance.”
tom channing nodded sagaciously as he concluded, and they left the room to him and charles.
