THE SURGEON'S DAUCHTERS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2003, 9 May 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE SURGEON'S DAUCHTERS.

By MRS. HENRY WOOD.

Tin Aulho) of"EastLynnc," in llu " Argoty."

love. — (" Gont inued.) "Of course it is," naid Florence. "What is his name?" " His name is the only item in the correspondence that wo don't like," said Mrs. Juniper. " It's French. But he tolls ua he is thorough, genuine English. Ho is a Mr. de Couroy." " Formerly spelt Coursi'e, I believe," said Julia Battlebridge. "We are dying to see what he's like," she continued in a low voioo to Florence. " And we have got such pretty now dresses : challis, trimmed with green satin. We mean to put them on to-morrow night." 11 Put on what ?" asked Mrs. Juniper, who caught the last words. " Our best bohavior," oried Julia, promptly. But Mrs. Juniper's ears had been quick. " Put on your now challis, will you 1 Look hero, girls ; you will not set up any of your nonßonsicftl flirting with this gentleman. Neither your papa nor me would allow it ; mind that." "Oh dear, no," oried tho girls promptly in answer. " Why wo aro expecting him to bo as old as Adam 1 Mamma, don't you think your fire's burnt up ? " " Hero's tho Cheltenham ooaoh ; the one ho will come by to morrow evening," exclaimed Cicely, as a resounding horn was heard. "Ho is from London, Florence, but ho took Cheltenham on his road to see some friends." " How that guard's a-blowinf? 1 " ojaculated Mrs. Juniper. "And tho coach has slackened its speed as if it wore going to stop." "It is stopping," said Mrs. Juniper. 11 And at our hpuse, too ! and a gentleman Oh mamma I " broke off Cicely, in exoitement, " he is come to-night I " " Who is come? "asked Mrs. Juniper. " Why, he, Mr. de Courcy. It must be 1 Now ho is paying the guard — and now thoy are gotting down his luggage — and now be is knocking at the door. What shall we do in these old merino frocks ? Is there time to dress ? " " Bother to dressing ! " put in startled Mrs. Juniper, "what's to bo done about supper 7 Nothing on earth in the house but some cold hashed mutton and a round of beef in pickle. King the bell for tho cook ; or ono of you girls run and tell her to como to me ; she must send out for Never trust me," broke off poor Mrs. Juniper, "if your papa's not bringing him in here I " It was quite true. Mr. Juniper, seeing that tho dining-room lire looked cold and black, ushered him into the girls' parlor, where he knew there was always a blazing

one. He had been so long u a cd to its httrr that he thought nothing of it, and it npvnr occurred to him to ask what a stranger might think. Tho girls, in spite of their dismay, took in the visitor's appearance at a glance. A tall, prepossessing man, some years under thirty, gentlemanly in manner, free and pleasant in speech, with a rather Fallow complexion, dark eyes, handsome features, and a winning smile. They oould not wall have scon one loss like an elephant, or a monkey in spectacles. He laughed at their npolcgics about "the wron,* room," and the "girls' parlor," and was at home with them at once. Louis de Courcy — " Lewis," it had been always called, he told them, according to English pronunciation— was born in England of French parents ; his ancestors had been scared from their own land at the time of tho great French revolution, and had never returned to it. Louis, the youngest of a large family, had grown up in the entire habits of an Englishman, and, but for his name, none could have suspected thnn any other country than this could put in a claim to him. He had been highly educatod, was clever in hid profession, and had fair prospects as regarded monoy. When ho reached Cheltenham, he had found bis friend") there in deep distress on account of a death in their house, so he had come on to Worcester. Before Mr. de Courcy had been a week in thr surgeon's house, he was a favorito with all its inmates, from Mr. Juniper himself down to Dick, the surgery-boy. Extremely clever, extremely eloquent, or, if we may be permitted to use the expression of Mrs. Juniper, " favored with the gift of the gub," ho took the good-will of people by storm, and tho girls were convinced that a more desirablo husband-in-prospective was not to be found. But they could not all marry him : that wan clear ; co he was, by tacit consent, turned over to gladden the hopes of Georgiana, the others making themselves as agreeable with him as so many elder sisters. To Georgiana was left all the rights of flirting, and she did not fail to exercise them on her own account; de Courcy himself proving nothing loth, for he was fully awake to the charms of a pretty girl. " It would be delightful for Georgy to be cettled near us ; and de Courcy would havo to live quite close, being papa's partner," the girls remarked one to another. "We might spend half our time there." Indeed, to havo a married sister thus established they had long regarded as the most fortunate thing that could happen to them—always excepting their own marriage— for at her house they could flirt away at leisure, Be cure from tho discerning eyes of Mrs. Juniper. So the girls set themselves honestly to work to further the flirtation between de Courcy and Geonjiana. In all their walks and rambles, Goorgy was left to his care ; in all the evening parties, and they went to many, he was suro to be her especial cavalier ; it was to her his arm was given, when it was given at all ; it was to her singing his voice would be heard as second. When he came into the girls' parlor for ten minutes' chat, the neat next Georgy was at once vacated to him ; moro than all, when he would be in the humor to breatho words of tender nonsense.in reality meaning nothing, but to a girl's heart implying much, it wafl into Georgy'a ear they were whispered. De Couroy was, by nature, thoughtless, careless of consequences ; he never reflected that these attentions might appear to other people to bear a serious meaning, or that he might be initiating Georgiana, for the first time in her life, into the art of love— love to him. We must now turn to the subject and to the abode of Captain Erskine, who exemplified in his own person the truth of two of the attributes acoorded to Worcester generallypoor and proud. Poor he was, very; and from no man, living within the city walls, did exolusive notions of hateur moro fully shine forth, than from Florence's father, Captain Erskine. In regard to family, he stood on the very loftiest pinnacle ; his ancestors had been tho highest of the high. They were descended originally from royalty, and in later periods had owned lords and chancellors for cousins. He had got his pedigree, setting forth all thia, framed and glazed, aud hanging up in his sitting room. That he was of good descent, appeared to be tho fact ; but ho boasted of it in so ridiculous a manner as to have acquired tho name in the town, derisively applied, of Gentleman Erskine. He held up his head, and literally looked down upon everybody. He was gracious with the Dean when he met him, and condescended to exchange bows with the prebends, but he looked straight over the hats of the minor oanona ; of other people he took no notice. But fortune, alas, had not been co prodigal to Gentleman Erskine as his rank and his merits deserved ; therefore, he lived a most retired life. Want of means did not allow him to frequent the society of the great ; the little were beneath him. It was with much pinching and screwing that he contrived to make both ends meet, when the expenses of his pretty little cottage, just outside the town, containing his daughter and their one maid-servant, were settled at the end of each year. He had sold out of the army before his wife died, and what his small income really was, no one knew. Florence brought up in these exolusive notions, had been allowed to cultivate the acquaintanoo of none. Whether the Captain expected a lord would drop from the sky some day and pick her up, he did not say, but ho certainly allowed her no opportunity to mix with any of inferior rank, except the Junipers. Years back, when Mr. Juniper was attending the Captain professionally, he, the goodnatured surgeon, pitying the isolated condition of the little girl, and the laok of means to afford her suitable instruction, proposed that aho should come to his house daily, and partake (gratuitously) of the music and drawing lessons of Georgiana. Gentleman Erskine was too muoh impressed with the advantages of the proposal to decline it ; though he considered the Juniper family amply repaid by tho condoscension. Ilenoe had Arisen Florence's intimacy at the surgeon's, and it was now so much a thing of habit, that it never occurred to her father to put a stop to it. Still he did not cease to remind Florence from time to time that though very worthy people in their way, thoso Junipers, thoy were persons whom she must not, even in thought, exalt into a lovel with their own sphere of life. Floronco dutifully listened ; but she wibhed with her whole heart that all such exclusiveness waa buried at the bottom of the sea. Shot tly after the arrival of Mr. de Courcy, it happened that a distant relative of Captain Erskino's, a Mr. Stanton, was passing through Worcester, and halted thero for a day. He was an old man, somewhat feeble, and in descending the stairs at the Hop-pole, then tho principal inn of the city, he fell and broke liis leg. He received also an internal injury ; and, altogether, it was a doubt whether he would over leavo the town again. When able to bo removed from the Hop-pole, apartmentß were taken for him in Foregate Street, and there he lay still, Captain Erskine dining and spending the evening of every day with him. It was said in the town that the Captain had expectations from him, and that of course it caused him to be attentive. Through these repeated absences from home of her father, Florence was enabled, unquestioned, to spend every evening, if she so willed it, at Mrs. Juniper's. Oh, silly girls ! you four elder Miss Junipers 1 You have but little forethought. You have set your minds upon Georgiana'a gaining do Courcy, vet you daily throw into his society one more beautiful and not Icbg attractive than she is 1 Florence waa for ever being sent tSt by them ; and she went. The

lw< niujw r tic f."'ow»if» long then, and pometimrs a 1 ! (he j.;irlH in a body would take her iiorup, and fomctimen Up Courcy himself was her only companion. Florence had never been forouj/ht into contact with a man so fascinating. If, ii true hid manners to her were not of that free, pallant, openly-attentive nature dinplayed to Georgiana, but there was a subdued tenderness in them when alone with her. infinitely more dangerous. Ab, reader* I it is the old talc ; Gontleman Ernkino might impress upon hifl daughter the superiority of her descent lo those around her, might desoant upon it from night to morn ; but he could not arreat this new, all absorbing passion that was taking root in her heart. There is one thing makes its way in spite of all things — love. It h dangerous to a girl's peace, let me tell you, aye, and to a woman's also, to bo alone with an attiactive companion of the other sex in tho quiet evening hours. Florence would loavo t.he surgeon's pretty early, by halfpast cijjht or so, do Courcy with her to see her fiafoly home. Tho houpe was not far off. When there, she would lay her bonnet and scarf on the table of the little drawing-room, and leaning out at the open window, play with the jessamine and honoy-suokle that grew round its frame ; not that she cared for jessamine or honeysuckle just then. De Couroy, sitting by her, would converse upon no end of subjects — I hardly know what, but if you have ever made ono in these stolen interviews, you on tell. lie wan trying to improve hor French accent ; teaching her to speak whole sentences in the language ; making her conjugate its verbs, aimer amongßt the rest. Florence would begin her lesson ; she was not very pprfact in the verbs ; especially the reflective verbs; thoypuzzk'd her : " Jem'aimo, tv t'aimes, il s'aimo ; nous nous ," and there she would stop, " Nous nous aimons," do Courcy would break in, with his low, silvery voice, It really was a musical voice, but bad it been of a crow's harshness, it would still have been silvery to her oar. " Nous nous aimons," de Courcy would go on, Florence repeating it after him, her heart beating, and her cheek blushing. He could ccc tho blushes in the soft twilight of the evening, and ahe would turn her face from him, in its sweet consciousness, leaving nothing visible to his sight, save its exquisite profllo. They would rarely get to the end of the verb. De Courcy would begin upon some subject more attractive : the bright stars, perhaps, that were beginning to shine, or the pleasant look of the landscape as it cast forth its light and shade in the moonlight. The cottage Btood upon a gentle eminence, and commanded an extensive view of the lovely country, than which none more beautiful can be seen in England. The long chains of the Malvern Hills bounded tho landscape in the distance, and de Courcy was wont to declare that the clustering white houses beneath the hills of Great Malvern looked like fairy seashells embedded amidst moss. The remark has been previously recorded elsewhere : but in truth it was often made. Thus they would wander on insensibly to dearer subjects, he reciting sweet verses at intervals, until they wero both rapt in a maze of poetry and impassioned feeling. Byron's poems, Moore's strains, both more new to the world than they are now; any romance, in short, that he could call to memory. And, during all this time, through the French, and the verbs, and the talking, and the poetry, he was sure to have stolen one of her hands, and to hold it clasped in his. Who would give five shilling! now for the chance of Georgy Juniper? One evening, either the young surgeon had remained too long, or Captain Erskine came home before hie usual hour, but as they stood thero, Florence was startled at the sight of her father comiag up the road. She closed the window, rang the bell in hasty trepidation for candles, and ]UHt as the maid — who had had sweethearts herself, and was awake to things — scuttled them on to the table, and de Courcy roao and stood with his hat in his hand, Captain .Erskine entered. A ceremonious bow between the two gentlemen, courteous on de Courcy's part, stiff and foroed on the Captain's and the former said goodnight, and was gone. " Why, bleas my soul, Florence 1 " uttered the astounded aristocrat, looking round to be sure that he was not dreaming, "it was that French fellow of Juniper's ! " She made some answer, quite unconscioaa what it was. Fortunately the Captain was too muoh milled to listen. 11 Pray what brought him here ? " " I— he " Florence began in her terror and agitation, and then she could get no further : as we all know, conscience does make the very best of us cowards. So aha coughed a sharp succession of cougha, as if something had got into her throat, and turned to the window and began pulling about the muslin curtain? : anything to gain time and calmness. "What's the matter with the curtains?" he continued, sharply. " I ask you what on earth brought that partner of Juniper's here? He was actually sitting down when 1 flrat saw him. Sitting down ! my eyes oould not have deceived me." " He bought this French book of Elizabeth Juniper's," she stammered, indicating a small French story-book ; and, so far, that was true. Bessy had lent it to her and he carried it home in his hand. " And I was at fault in my verb 3, papa, and he offered to set me right 1 " True again. At least, tolerably so. Ah, good sir, good Paterfamilias, groaning over thfso pages and Florence's degeneraoy, do you imagine your own girls tell you the whole truth always ? You were young and in love once : how much did you tell in that golden time? " The devil take the French and their verbs and all connected with them," shrieked Captain Erskine. How dare you stoop to put yourself upon a level with a common fellow of a doctor?" 11 Dear papa," said Florence, bursting into agitated tears. " I thought it no harm to ask him about tho French verbs." " There's every harm," retorted Gentleman Erskine. "Do you forget, Florence, who and what we are descended from? There's not a family in the county can boast the antiquity of ours ; and here I come home and find a professional man's assistant sitting in the same room with you — sitting ! — quite familiar— admitted to an equality 1 Some unheard-of French jackanapes, who may nover have had a grandfather ! " " I am very sorry," murmured Florence. " Sorry 1 that's not the word for it : you ought to be ashamed. If the individual should come up again, let the servant take his message from him at the door, and diimiss him civilly — very strange that the Miss Junipers cannot send a maid with their commissions 1 " Florence sighed, and was wisely silent. " You are getting too old now, Florence, to continue your intimacy with these Junipers," proceeded Gentleman Ernkine, loftily. " They were cettainly kind to you, and all that, and when you wore younger it did not so muoh signify : but it won't do now. Dont' go thero again. Or, at any rate, but very rarely ; and let the acquaintanceship gradually drop. Captain Erskine stopped at that. He iupposed he had said all that was necessary, for it never occurred to his exclusive mind to suspect that his ' daughter could be more tolerant on the subject of "family" than himself. What if he had been in a corner of the room that very evening, and seen all the tacit lovo-making ? He might have vanithed through the iloor with tho shock, after the. manner of the imps in the pantomime!. (To be continued).