THE SURGEON'S DAUGHTERS. The Author of "East Lynne" in the "Argosy."

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2012, 30 May 1885, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE SURGEON'S DAUGHTERS.

The Author of "East Lynne" in the " Argosy."

By Mrs. HENRY WOOD.

(Continued.) Florence laughed a derisive laugh. " Oh, thank you : that ia quite aullicient. You would warn rae to avoid some fate or other, but you don't know what ? Thank you, air, once again, for your valuable advice. I have already said I did not come to seek it." She made him a half-mocking curtsey, and turned to her companions, saying that as their business was over, it was time to be going. The young ladies turned to leave, and tho Wizard rose"To you who did come to seek it, I have no more to add," he said. " Your life," looking at Cicely, " will be one of uneventful calm, bearing lor you no great pleasures and no great pains. And yours," turning to Georgiana, " will be one scene of cares and crosses from the day you relinquish your father's name ; aud his for which you will exchange it, is to you as yet that of a stranger : but do not forget that the life will bring to you its compensations. There is nothing more ; so go baok quickly, all of you, to whence you came." The two sisters laid, eaoh, a heavy piece of silver on the table, as they turned to depart. Florence laid nothing. She was about to follow them, when the old man placed his hand upon her shoulder, his stiange, deep-set eyes riveting their gaze on hers. " You have good seed in your heart," he said earnestly, " and your faults are but those of youth and thoughtlessness : I will not have it on my conscience that I suffered you to pass this threshold without a warning, unavailing though it will be. For the next three or four days, say until Monday— or— perhaps — Tuesday — nay until Tuesday ahall have glided into the womb of the past, keep striotly the Commandments ; break not one cither in the spirit or the letter : und then years of happiness may yet be yours." 11 And if I do not ? " asked FJoronce. " I have told you that you will not. lv loss than the time I have mentioned to you, you will, I fear, have gone whither we are all hastening." " If danger threatens me,'' she persisted, " why not tell <ne its nature, that I may avoid it?"

" In asking the question, you are but mocking still," he sadly said, " but I will answer it. That some great danger threatens to overtake you, i 3 certain ; its precise nature I know not : such close knowledge is not given us. Bat it seems to me that it will arise out of some fp.ult of your own — I think, self-willed disobedience. Now go : I have fulfilled my duty." He resumed his chair as he spoke, and the three girls turned and were gone. 11 Of all canting, story-telling impoßters," broke out Cicely before they were well in the street, being unable longer to control her exasperation, " that wicked old animal beats all." Cicely truly believed no. For he had said sho would never be married : and if all the wise men breathing had sworn to that, she would not have given credit to it. " You don't believe in him, then ? " said Georgians, whose spirits seemed rather subdued by the visit. " Believe in him 1 " retorted Cicely. " I would give a thousand pound?, if I had it, to be Mayor of Worcester for one day, just to have him put in the stocks. Tho wretohed old idiot 1 " Florence Erckine remained silent, her reflections full of uneasiness and perplexity. She had maintained during the visit a mood of contempt and disbelief : to say that she carae away in auch would be wrong. The extraordinary power with which that man, wizard or no wizard, divined her and Georgiana's moat secret feelings, puzzled her: their jealousy of each other, which she had believed could be known to none ; the positive assertion that neither of them would marry de Courcy ; with the solemn prediction that in a space of time which might be counted by hours, some untoward fate threatened to overtake her, he evidently pointed to death ! Mixed with these thoughts, oame recurring the remembrance <}f that talo of her childhood — that should ahe ever have her fortune told, she would be at the end of her life : this man had now said she was at the end of it. " I told you," she laughed, but the laugh sounded bitterly hollow in her companions' ears — " I told you what you would meet with, Cicely : you will believe in fortune-tellers now 1 And he — he — that daring charlatan, presumed to warn me against breaking the Commandments." Wrapping their shawls round them, and drawing their bonnets over their faces, they hastened through the now lighted streets, and gained their home and got in undiscovered. Sunday was the next day. In the afternoon Captain Erskine went as usual to visit his relative, and Florence afterwards took her way to Mra. Juniper's, the girls having invited her. The disagreeable impression left by the Wizard's words had faded away ; reason had reasserted its power, and Florence was herself again. Tho surgeon's family usually attended church on Sunday evenings, but this night two or three of the girls got themselves excused on the score of the heat, and stayed at home to chatter. When Florence made ready to go home, a servant was waiting to see her thither : but de Couroy, coming in at the moment, told tho maid her services were not requirea, and went with Florence himself. They walked away towards her home, in the sultry, overpowering air, their pace so slow as to be scarcely perceptible, she listening to his honeyed words. Ah I she thought not now of the old Wizard and his predictions ; when with him, the fulness of her happiness was all in all. And thus conversing with each other they neared the cottage. No other dwelling was near to it, no prying eyes could be on view, and de Couroy drew Florence's arm within his, little consoious, either of them, that the worst eyes of all were looking on. At the window of his small drawing-room stood Captain Erskine. He had come home betimes to make certain preparations connected with his fishing-tackle and bait for the morning's excursion. In the midst- of which, happening to look towards the road, he saw his daughter sauntering up tho hill, comfortably leaning on the arm of Of whom * The Captain applied hia double eyeglass to his eye, wiped it, turned it, and tried it again. Why — good saints protect himself and his outraged ancestors I— it wat that connection of Juniper'B ! They have got to the little gate now, and Florence's hand is held in his aalie leads her through it : and Gentleman Erakine'a grizzled hair raises itself in horror, and his gaze glares on his insulted pedigree, hanging opposite, and he brings his indignant face in close contact with the window-panes. Florence saw him ; and turning sick with apprehension, wished de Courcy a hasty good night, and went in. Captain Erskine was by no means a meek man, but never had Florence seen him give way to passion so violent. A half- doubt of the truth flashed across his brain. Florence he knew was beautiful ; while thia fellow, he half acknowledged to himself, was what women aud fools might call attractive. But the doubt was dismissed at once : for Gentleman Erskine's exclusive mind could no more bung itself to suspect Florence capable of an attachment for a man in the position of de Courcy, than for the begrimed official who periodically went up his chimneys : and indeed the ropes on which he himself stood were so exalted, that he could see little difference in tho position of the two, the dispenser of medicines and the ramoneur. Oh, terrible disgrace ! — she had walked with this man (as ho supposed) through the open streets I Worcester had seen her leaning upon the arm of an apothecary, that obscure emigre, who had never known bis grandfather. How could this Btain be wiped out ? As a preliminary step, when his rage had somewhat expended itself, Captain Eiskine forbade hia daughter, in the most positive terms man could use, to join the party to Malvern on the morrow. She shivered, she oried, she pleaded for a retraction of hia prohibition : all in vain. She might with as much effect have set on and petitioned Jupiter. " What shall I say," she sobbed. '• I told them you consented, and they expect me. What exouse can I offer now ? " 41 Excuse to them ! " he cried indignantly, " the obligation is on the other side. Make none. Or say it is my pleasure if you ohoose : aut go you do not." " Oh, papa 1 " " How dare you oppose your will to mine, oven in thought ?" he demanded. " Are you out of your mind ? I forbid you to think or to speak again about their scampering Malvern party. I would rather lock you up, Florence, than suffer you to join it. Disobey me if you dare." When Florenoe rose the next morning, her head aching and her eyes heavy, she found a brief, stern note left for her by her father, who had departed on the fishing excursion. It reiterated his prohibition of the previous night; once more enjoining her not to disobey him. She wrote a line to Mrs. Juniper, saying she was unable to accompany them, and sent it. In answer to it came Mr. de Courcy, requiring, in Mrs. Juniper's name, to know the why and the wherefore. Florence simply said her father wished her not to go ; but of his positive prohibition and his violence she did not like to tell. De Cauroy supposed Captain Erskine's objection might be put down to the score of the beat, which was excessive. He treated the prohibition lightly. Persuasion is wondrouily effective when uttered by loved lips, and Florence wavered. She made a compromise with her conscience, and assuring it that no persuasion should induce her to disobey her father by going to Malvern, she yet consented to accompany de

Oourcy to Mrs Juniper's, to tell than in person that she could not go. It was then ten o'clock, the hour Gxsd for starting. The party of invite fticnd-> wera assembling, all eager and joyous, i'.e cuiiagea waited at the door, and Mon nee was tempted on all sides: her scruples w<_re entail-i!, her somewhat confused accounts of her i. tLcr'a " wishes " laughed at. II The heat I " exclaimed Mr?. Juniper, catching up de Gourcy'a roti'in. " Wdl it's bad enough to-day, child, gooJneea knows ; but it won't melt you." Mrs. Juniper added some convincing arguments, their matter aenMb^e enough, the girls said go she should and must, de Gourcy whispered a passionate entreaty, while the good-natured Burgeon declared he would bear all the blame, and appease Captain Erskine. And Florence, overpowered by their persuasions and her own yearnings, at length yielded, her conscience pricking her, and her better judgment fighting a tierce, pitched battle. It was half-past ten when they started, eighteen or twenty or them, & goodly cavalcade. Two post-carriagea from the Crown in Broad-street, and the surgeon's chaise, de Courcy driving the latter. " You will go with me, Florence," he had said to her, as they all stood on the threshold of the door. But, even as he spoke, Georgians Juniper mounted, without assistance, into the front seat of her father's carriage ; and Mr. Juniper, coming up, took Florence's hand, and placed her in one of the large ones by the side of his wife. The post-boys started. Down Broad-street, over the bridge, increasing their speed as they bowled along the open road leading to St. John's, and lessening it as they came to the houses. St. John's pasoed, they drove through the turnpike-gate, and were fairly on the road to M&lrern in all the beat. None could remember such heat a* hung that day over the Faithful City. Mrs. Juniper complained piteously. " What's my face like?" she suddenly asked. '"Is it crimson ? " 11 1 never saw any crimson so red, mamma," answered Julia, turning round from the box, where she was seated with young Mr. Parker, who was reading for the church, there being a living in his family, to look at Mrs. Juniper's face. He had just come down from Oxford, after being plucked in his Little Go. " What a mercy it is that wo thought of bringing that bottled perry 1 " continued Mrs. Juniper. "As to the ale and wine, I don't think we ought to touch it till the sun'a gone down, unless we'd like to be laid up with brain fever. I never felt such a day as this." " Nor anyone el?e in this country, ma'am," observed young Mr. Parker. "It ia said, that strange old wizard has predicted thiaday will be a memorable one. I think ho is about right for once." Julia Battlebridge turned again and glanced at Florence with a meaning look. Florence sat Bilent and pale. She did not absolutely fear the words the strange man had said to her ; she did not positively fear that old prediction of her childhood ; and yet both kept floating in her brain, mingling with tho thoughts of her own disobedience, aird wb»t would be the anger of her father. That strange injunction of the wizard's, Lidding her not break any otthe commandments, had come back to her with vivid vehemence. She had listened in resentment to the unnecessary warning, haughty pride luoving up her own self-sufficiency— she, Florence Erskine, break a commandment ! Yet, not thirty-six hours had elapsed before she had fallen into the snare and the sin : she had broken tho one which says, Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother. Wick was passed, and then the old and most dangerous bridge at Powick, and, passing the turnpike-gate, the horses bore up the aacent, turning off opposite tho Lion. Soon the windings of the road brought the towering hills in view, with their various hues, blue, brown, green, and golden; and de Couroy saw that his pretty white sea-shells were indeed houses. Away cantered tho postboys, on to Newland Common, ita geese as plentiful as ever, leaving on their left the turning to Madresfield, Lord Beauchamp's Heat. The Swan, with its swinging sign-board, passed on the right, the horses began their slow paoe up the Link, noted for its upsets, and the party reaohed the village of Great Malvern at last. They drove to the Crown, and alighted. The carriages were to be left there. Mrs. Juniper was shown to the pleasanteat sittingroom with the lovely view, ordered a plate of sandwiches for those who wished to partake of any, and said the party would return for tea at six o'clock in the evening. It was a programme often carried out ; luncheon on the hills ; tea at the Crown or the Bellevue. Meanwhile the hampers of provisions— Mrs. Juniper's fowls and tartlets and a-la-mode beef were taken from the carriages, now surrounded by a shoal of donkey*), with their ! drivers ; sunburnt women, boys, and girla. " Arc we to ride or walk up ? " " Who asked the question on such a day aa this ? " cried young Mr. Parker, looking down ' from the balcony. " Mrs Juniper shall have that one," pointing to a laigo fctrong grey donkey. " And.lsay, my good donkey-women, give an eye to youi saddles ; they have a habit of turning, you knov*." Mr. de Courcy chose to walk ; not a very wise determination, a3 Mrs. Junipur told him, with the thermometer at ita present height. Sht did not know that the heat and the toilsome climb were to him aa nothing, whilst he could thus keep by the side of Florence Erskine. And so they commenced their asoent of the hill, towards St. Ann's Well, and Mrs. Juniper sincerely wished there was a carriage way to it, that Bhe might avoid the zig-zag path of the jolting donkey. In later years one was made. They took de Couicy to an elevated spot, and then made him turn suddenly to look at the glorious beauty of the scene. Tke amazing expanse of prospect extending out around ; the peaaeful plains, lying broad and distinct ; tho blending together of wood and dale ; the striking contrast of the green fields with the golden hua of the ripening corn ; Bredon Hill there, the Old Ililla here, hills everywhere; tho few mansions scattered about with a sparing hand, giving Ufa to the landacapo ; and Worcester, fair to view, lying near, with its fine old cathedral and St. Andrew's tapering spire. • ' Yes it is very beautiful," sighed de Courcy, drawing a deep breath of reverenoe as he lifted his hat. " Great indeed are the glories of God'a marvellous works !" Mrs. Juniper's voice brought him baok to common life. " If you'll beheva me, them Billy ape? are going to the top I " Turning from his aomewh&t prolonged reverie, de Courcy saw that the younger mem bers of the party were continuing their way up the hill ; the elder ones had dismissed their doukej a and were gathered in and about St. Aun's Well. " Have youlost your w its, you young people ? screamed out Mrs Juniper again. " No, mamma," replied Beasy, looting round. " Why ? " •' If you ride to the top in thin heat, you'll be hall-dead.' "Oh we don't care for that. We Bb.aU be baok for dinner." Mrs. Juniper sat down inside the room at tne Well. Some of the more active ones began to unpack ihe hampers. Ono gentleman, »n ola Worcester lawyer, who was rather puffy, threw himself flat on the grass, wishing ha could get a breath of air. In vain ; the »unoaphere was still as death. {To be continued.)