The Storgteller.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 357, 22 October 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Storgteller.

OUR RUTHIE.

' Busy, Jack V asked Squire Haslemere, coming into the room where sat his nephew in the easiest of attitudes in a lounging-chair, a favourite author dividing his attention with a couple of retriever puppies gambolling about him. ' Busy, Jack 1' ' Awfully so. Doesn't it look itf

The squire laughed, but his glance at the book was a discontented one.

■ You ought to be out of doors this glorious morning,'he grumbled, " not pottering and poring over the dry and dusty essays of some old heathen.'

« Hem 1' said Jack, ' I wonder who it was clapped me ou the back and declared he was proud of me when I came out top of the list at the last exam, f

' Why so I was proud of you, so I am now ; but you've done with college and ought to be thinking of something else.' ' Yes,' Jack replied ; ' but what else 1 I think I have done my duty by the preserves and the river, made myself agreeable to all our neighbours, and speechified at dinners till I am hoarse. As for accepting your proposal and taking the management of the estate out of your hands, it is not to be thought of. Long live the present ruler! I am content to be heirapparent.' There was moisture in the eyes of Squire Haselemere, though he answered gruffly: 1 What nonsense ! I am growing old, and there's many little odds and ends that I am too stiff and too idle to look after as I used to do. But that's neither here nor there. You asked me what you ought to be doing instead of studying Greek and Latin. Why some pretty, sensible girl, and bringing her here to keep house for us. It is high time you married, Jack.' ' I'll think about it, sir,' responded Jack lazily, 'as you have been doing for the last forty or fifty years'

The squire sighed. ' Heaven forbid that you should degenerate into a crusty old bachelor for the same reason. The dear little soul whom I was to have wedded lies in the churchyard. She was only ill a fortnight.' There was a pause and then he went on more briskly :

| I've always had a fancy that you should marry John Lorymer's daughter. He was your godfather you know. The larger part of his property was entailed and went to his first cousin when he died, poor fellow, three or four years ago; but the Abbey lands, which are worth about one thousand five hundred pounds per annum, came to the young lady, She has just returned from Germany, where she was educated, and they tell me she has grown quite handsome, and is marvellously accomplished.' ' Can it be true V queried Jack, in dubious tones. ' When she used to come here with her father in the long—long ago she was an ugly little brown thing, with whom I remember quarrelling continually.' ' But that's all past and gone. The Abbey lands join ours ; it would be a very suitable match, Jack. Why shouldn't you go up to town for a week or two and make her acquaintance V ' Why should I T Jack began to ask in turn ; but he did not care to vex his good old friend who had been a parent to him in every sense of the word. So he altered his sentence.

' I shall be pleased to have a week or ten days in London if you will go too.' ' I cannot leave home at the beginning of harvest. It wouldn't seem natural,' cried the squire hastily. ' Then let us defer it till the corn is housed ; I am in no hurry to give up my lberty. You seem to forget, sir, that once under petticoat government we shall have to resign all our little privileges, renounce our pet foibles, cure ourselves of our bad habits, and keep the dogs out of the drawing-room. I am afraid we should pay dearly for the honour and glory of bringing home a new queen.' ' Perhaps we should—perhaps we should ; but you ought to get married, Jack, and I should like you to marry Lorymer's daughter. She comes of a good stock, lad.' 1 Where have you been hearing so much about her ?' asked the squire's nephew, settling down amongst his cushions.

' Where ? Oh, I met one of her guardians at the magistrates' meeting last week, and since then I've had a chat with Ruth Baynes at Lowbridge Farm—Farmer Baynes' eldest, you know. She went abroad with the young lady as maid to her, and is now paying a visit to her relations. A nice, modest, intelligent young woman, but doesn't look strong. 'By-the-by, Jack, I promised Baynes I'd send him that clever little book on cheese-making. Where did I put it ?' And the squire fussily searched table?, and ransacked drawers till a suggestion from his nephew induced him to put his hand in his pocket, from which he produced the missing pamphlet.

' Here it is ! bow odd ! And how stupid of me to forget whore Iliad put it. Baynes must have it at once. Jennings shall take it—hang the fellow, where is he? Never to ba found when I want him !' ' For that you must blame me,' said Jack, ' as I have just despatched him to the town to get one of ray fishing rods spliced. But Baynes shall have the promised book, for I'll carry it to Lowbridge myself. The stroll w<ll do me good, and it will be an excellent opportunity for finishing that sketch I began for you of the Domesday Oak on the green outside his gate.' Away went Jack Halsemere, to meet Farmer Baynes about a hundred yards from his own dwelling, mounted on a stout cob, and hurrying off to some fields at a considerable distance, where the reapers were just beginning their pleasant toils.

He would have turned back, for he was too loyal to his landlord to be wanting in civility and hospitality to his landlord's son by adoption. But this Jack forbade.

'l'm not going to hinder you, farmer, Yes, I'll go into the house and have a rest, for I came across the uplands and the hcafc was intense ; bat you may safely leave me to Mrs Baynes. She will give me a cup of milk or cider, and have a gossip with me while I drink it.' So Mr Baynes suffered himself to be persuaded, and trotted down the lane while Jack went leisurely round to the back of the house, where he expected to find its comely, chatty mistress.

All the doors and windows wore set wide to catch what little air was stirring, but there was no one in the great kitchen save a young girl who was singing to herself as she moved about it.

She wore a pale blue print dress, well protected by an enormous apron, and just under her chin she had pinned a bunch of the last roses — damask and odorous of the dying summer.

The merry " Tra-la-la " that ended her song drowned the echo of Jack's footsteps, and she went hither and thither quite unconscious that she was no longer alone; standing on tip-toe—she had pretty feet and slender ankles—to reach a jar of sugar from a high shelf, and displaying well-rounded arms in the effort.

The next minute she might be seen standing at a tablo she had drawn under a casement that was shaded with the leaves and tendrils of a vine, intent on the very prosaic task of making apple-pasties to be sent into the harvest-field that afternoon, as a bonue-bouche to the reapers.

With the eye of an artist, Jack Halsemere stood at the half-open door, watching and admiring the easy, graceful movements of the slender, girlish figure, and the dexterity with which the shapely, if not very small hands, patted and rolled out the dough, and laid it in tins ready to be filled with the ruddy fruit piled in a basket beside her. At last she caught sight of the masculine form at the door, but only gave it a cursory glance. Such interruptions were but too common to require more than the customary formula: ' You want Mr Baynes 1 He is out. Would you like to leave a message V 1 1 have seen the farmer,' replied Jack, advancing, ' and he invited me to rest awhile, and taste his cider.'

He was doubtfully surveyed while he was speaking, a little flush of wild-rose pink stealing into the cheeks of the girl as she rested on her rolling-pin and listened, though she betrayed no embarrassment. If this was Ruth Baynes, she had quite lost all her natural rusticity during her long sojourn on the Continent with her young mistress.

Promptly she spread a white cloth on a smaller table, and went to and from the larder and the dairy, smiling at Jack's protests as she set a brown loaf and cream cheese before him, that he had not intended to give her so much trouble. ' How shall I make amends f he demanded. 'By helping you in turn?'

' No, not at making tarts,' he added, as she demurely offered him a paste-cutter. ' I could not do that as deftly as you. But I believe I can peel apples. May I trv ?'

The basket and a knife were handed to him, with a hint that the oven would be ready for baking the pasties before they were finished, unless the workers were diligent. So Jack shaved off the long ribbons of peel, and Miss Baynes, as he respectfully called her, halved and quartered, and sliced the fruit indefatigably, till every dish was full, and covered with an outwork of crust, and borne away by a stout, rosy serving-lass to an outer kitchen, where Mrs Baynes herself was superintending the making and baking of a larger batch of bread than usual.

But neither ■ Jack nor his fair companion had been silent while they worked. He had put in a claim as an old acquaintance, and she had admitted it. ' Not that I should have recognized you, Mr Haslemere. You were such a puny boy—you don't mind me saying it, do you I —when I last saw you !'

1 How long since ?—six years or seven 1 Time works wonders —very pleasant ones sometimes. I am told that my old playmate, Miss Lorymer, has developed into a beauty and a femmc savante.'

' But it is not true,' he was assured. ' She tried to make the most of her opportunities while in Germany, but she is no genuis.' 'So much the better. Learned ladies are apt to be overpowering.' The long brown eyelashes, resting so prettily on the smooth delicate cheek while a knife passed swiftly through the crisp, firm pippins, were now raised to flash a doubtful look at him.

' Miss Lorymer is not a learned lady; but if she were, would she have any reason—just reason —for being ashamed of it ?' ' Certainly not; and I apologize for the tone of my silly remark ; though on the whole, I don't know that I regret having maddat. Miss Lorymer must have many good and lovable qualities to win such a warmth of affection as her companion has just testified.' ' Oh, but I am not really very fond of her,' he was told. 'At least, I am not blind to her faults and often find myself wishing she were not so—so —but this is not a subject you and I should be discussing, so we will, if you please, talk of something else.' ' Willingly. What shall it be ? The miseries of crossing the Channel 1 or the delight of coming back to England? You, Miss Baynes, seem to have returned unspoiled by life abroad. It is refreshing to see how cheerfully you have fallen back into your old English occupations.'

' Unfortunately, I cannot accept your praises, for 1 learned the little I know of cooking in a German kitchen.'

' But you practise it as if you take a pleasure in it.' ' And so do you, sir,' she retorted. 1 You have proved a most efficient helper.' ' And .liked my work. What a pity it is finished! Cannot you give me something to do V ' There is a sick cow to be drenched, and the poultry to be fed, and some of the late cherries to be picked for preserving,' he was told, with a repressive smile. 'Of three tasks always choose the pleasantest,' and Jack. ' Let us attack the cherries. I know the way to the orchard ; and at the bottom of it on the bank of the river, there is a charming seat where we can rest and and refresh ourself with some of the fruit we have been picking.'

' Morella cherries are too sour to be eaten, and the seat you mention is infested with spiders and beetles !' cried she, tauntingly. ' Give me a basket, and I'll go alone !' ' But I did not mean you to take me at my word !' he added, in his most insinuating manner, as having handed him a Sussex truck she returned. ' Pray come too ! The day is divine, and under the cool shadows of the old trees we could spend a very pleasant hour, and—talk of Miss Lorymer V ' Would she approve of it ? You seem to take a strange interest, in her.'

' My uncle does,' Jack explained

'For myself, Ido not remember much about the young lady ; and if you can suggest more agreeable topics, such, for instance, as your impressions of continental travel —' ' ' By a farmer's daughter, or a lady's-maid,' which title will be the more taking V she queried. ' How sorry I am that I had no impressions worth recording? Are you going to pick those cherries, Mr Hazlemere 1 I must attend to the poultry, so good afternoon.' ' I am very much afraid 1 have been flirting with Miss Lorymer's lady's-maid,'soliloquized Jack, as he sauntered back to his uncle's. ' But the temptation was almost irresistible. I have rarely encountered a more attractive girl; and yet she was not absolutely pretty, nor did she lay herself out to fascinate me. Perhaps it was her quiet simplicity and freedom from all affectations that made her so charming. 1 must not go to Now bridge Farm again while Rut-hie Baynes is there.' .

But this prudent determination did not prevent his rowing down the river the next evening, and pausing at the seat beneath the willows of which he had spoken to oatch a glimpse of a blue dress, and know that Ruthic was sitting there. If they lingered beside the river, sometimes talking, sometimes silent, till the twilight fell upon the quiet scene, there was no harm in it. Jack assured himself, though he went away at last with his heart beating as it had never throbbed before.

No assignation for another interview .vas made, only a casual allusion made by him to his sketch of some elm-trees close by, and the expression of a wish on the part of his hearer to see it.

But this was sufficient to bring Jack to the spot on the following evening.

He was startled at the bitterness of his disappointment when an hour elapsed without Ruthie appearing, and he could not conceal his delight when, just as he had given up all hope of her coming, he saw her flitting through the green shade of the old fruit-trees. Was this love—such love as he had never before experienced 1

And when those soft brown eyes shyly avoided his, was it became his feelings were reciprocated 1 x\.las ! the joy of such meetings was dangerous. He knew it, and yet he could not tear himself away until a shout from the house made the young girl start from his side with the briefest of farewells.

She left Jack remorseful, angry with himself, and making vows to cross her path no more. For three whole days he kept these vows, the squire marvelling what could have made his nephew so spiritless and silent.

On the fourth day, while moodily stalking through a wood, Jack Haslemere met Farmer Baynes trotting along on his stout cob, and was greeted with the customary heartiness.

' The top o' the morning and a pleasant walk to ye, sir. Hope you are on a more agreeable errand than I ana, for I'm bound for Dr. Nelson's to ask him to come and see our Ruthie.'

( Is she ill ?' asked Jack, chilled with sudden terror.

' Well, sir, to my mind she is, though she maintains as she isn't. But 'taint like her to go about the house moping an' sighing. Ye see, she weren't strong when she come home, for she and Miss Lorymer had both caught a touch of fever in Germany from some poor servantgirl they nursed. That's why lluthie came straight home as soon as they landed. The foreign doctor said her native air would soon set her up, and we thought it had ; but now her mother's mighty uneasy about her, and so be I.'

The farmer rode on, and Jack, plunging into the deepest recesses of the wood, flung himself down in the fern, and was seen no more till —some hours afterwards—he fastened his boat to the bank at the the bottom of .Farmer Baynes' orchard.

He had not expected to find Ruth there, and he knew it would be dangerous to his peace, if not to hers ; yet when she came noiselessly clown the grassy path and stood before him, how could he resist taking her hands in his and gazing fondly at her downcast face ?

' They tell me you are ill. Yes, you are paler and sadder than you were. It is my fault ? Did my eyes tell you what my lips dared not utter ? Pity me, Ruth, and bid me go. T owe too much to my good old uncle to deceive, or disappoint him. I must not see you again. If I have wounded your

heart, forgive and forget me.' He drew her to his breast, but only to release her ere their lips could meet, and leaping into his boat rowed rapidly away.

' When are we to start for town T he asked his uncle on the morrow. ' Cannot you arrange to go at once 1 Pray do.' 'My dear boy, be reasonable,' pleaded the squire. ' I must have time for consideration, and there are so many things to be attended to first, that I really ' 'Then you'll excuse me, if I decline to wait for you,' interposed Jack.

1 Oh, yes—certainly ! If you are in such a confounded hurry to be off, why go,' retorted his uncle, irritably. ' Though, I suppose,' he added, in more placable tones —" I suppose you can make shift to delay your journey for a day or two, can't you 1 I hate being hurried.'

'Yes, I can wait,' said Jack, so drearily that the squire was vexed with himself for having offered any opposition, and following him to say so.

' I don't believe you are half well, boy ; or else you are so eager to see Miss Lorymer, and begin courting her, that my dawdling ways provoke you. I'll contrive to be ready to morrow, and as early as you like. Does that please you V

But when Jack came home to dinner, haggard and weary with aimless wanderings about the country, the fiist tidings he heard were that the squire had changed his mind.

' I shan't go to London at all, at least not just at present, neither must you. I have guests in the house, lad, and you must assist me in entertaining them. Miss Lorymer and her aunt are here. I found out that they have been in the neighbourhood for a week or longer, staying at Baynes's, and made them come to us at once.'

' Miss Lorymer at Lowbridge Farm !' his wondering nephew echoed.

' Yes, I told you Ruth Baynes had come home. It seems she had caught an illness while in Miss Lorymer's service, and her young mistress couldn't make up her mind to let her out of her sight till she was quite well again. So she came came down to Lowbridge with her, and has been nursing Ruthie, and cheering and helping Ru tine's mother. But here she comes ! Miss Lorymer, my dear, I want to introduce my nephew to you !'

And Jack found himself face to face with his divinity once more. ' I did not deliberately mystify you,' she said, ' you mistook me for Farmer Baynes' daughter, and 1 did not think it necessary to undeceive you ; that was all.' ' You did not know what misery the mistake would cost me,' murmured Jack, drawing his hand across his brow.

' And do I not honour you for

the struggle you have been making ?' faltered Miss Lorymer, with such an eloquent glance, that Jack forgot the presence of the squire, and clasped her to his heart.

' I shall never call you anything but But hie,' he averred.

; And I,' was the laughing response, ' shall stipulate tint once a year you do penance for your flirtation with a farmer's daughter, by taking me to Lowbridge Farm to make apple-pasties J*