The Clever Woman of the Family

sure! for i

take or

do you thi

love to enslave

lodging and settling himself into it; nay, even going over to Avoncester

ing even restored "Curatocult," though she had written three times, and sent a directed envelope and stamps for the purpose. The paper must be ruined by so discourteous an editor, indeed she had not been nearly so much interested as usual by the last few numbers. If

overrate the

hat I know suffices many. Even intellectual as you are, you can't tell what i

ke an acceptable paper on the lace syste

more difficult to describe from one's

aid Ermine, quite overcome by

I aim at, as you will understand when you have heard my 'Human Reeds,' and my oth

h she hardly felt as if there were, and at any rate a sense of rescue crossed her. Th

r unwilling hand to the latter, "that yo

of horse-dealing. I know no

no, that's not it, Miss Williams' uncle found out that Mr. Keith preached a sermon, or something of th

nd lucid explanation, I think you m

liams told me about, but I'll come another time;" and the wink of his black eyes, and significant shrug of his shoulders at Rachel, were irresistible. They all

forgiven for being the first person

er visitor, "perhaps I may discover which

sister and I made out at luncheon that you ha

k the duty for one of our curates once for a long

liams. He will be very much

and I was about fourteen, just old enough to be delighted to hear clever t

an infliction to listen to," began Rac

e even more striking

eed, I had not

om every one must have heard, had for the last four years been totally blind, but continued to be an active parish priest, visiting regularly, pre

l. "I thought your sister

oad in it, and the cockneys have come down on it and 'villafied' it. My aunt, Mrs. Lacy Clare, has lived there ever

Rachel, in her peculiar affirmative way of aski

certain gleam under his flaxen eyelashes that convinced Ermine that he

ny such thing would be most i

to the excessive diversion of Ermine, who saw that Rachel had never be

just been spoken of, and thinking that perhaps Miss Keith might be a curatolatress, "I am afraid it is not

wants training to be the main strength of the Bish

atify it. "No," Mr. Keith said, "it was very unlucky that Mr. Lifford did not know one note from another; so that his vicar could not delude himself into hoping that his playing on his violin was anything but a nuisance to his companion, and in spite of all the curate's persuasions, he only ind

akes a great

h he is not quite all that a companion might be, my uncle says there would be no keeping the

quite knowing what other answer to make. R

Ermine as one of the family, "is, that he is no impediment to B

enviable position, to have the control of means of doing

he brother, with his

does not

ther Bessie enters this place with a character for chanting, c

with a flash of something like playful spir

able to find out, nor she either. I don't know what may be the effect of example," he add

ays," said Rachel, with no doubts at all; "but she wi

edding will be over. It is high time she

Col

and confidence. I believe no one in the army received so ma

e colour her cheek more deeply than

a Scotsman would ackn

tch?" said Ermine, who had for ye

as lived and died in the -th Highlanders for so many generations that we don't know what

ever in

imagine the trouble it would be to go over the pedigree of every Ke

nt to sea as much as S

oung ladies

f diffused education, as there practised. The only other places I should really care to see are

oitres-I will bear your tastes in mind,

He seems to have some good notions about his sister. She must be just out of the school-room, at the very turn of life, and I will try to get her into my training

nest to say she was sorry, R

ted attachment to many a little Avoncestrian, a creature of beauteous and unmeaning face, limpid eyes, hair that could be brushed, and all her members waxen, as far as could be seen below the provisio

ng gasp, "it ca

is for your aunt?

said Rose, with another gasp, quite oppressed. "Aunt

. Now take her into the verandah

beauty, except that one the little girl left behind on the bench on the esplanade, w

deed, Colin, you have given a great deal of pleasure, where the materials of pleasu

," he said

y and as a study. Please turn my chair a little this way, I want to see t

hat they expected. Violetta was sitting in her "slantingdicular" position on her chair placed on a

e, and we must be very kind to her, because Colonel Keith is so good, and knows your grandpapa; and to tell you a

l, over Ermine's head, as he

afraid I ever could love any one half or one quarter as much as you, my own dear child, not if she were

ose moved off with a doll in either han

smiled, saying, "Tell me, d

ther knew it was for no worse reason that I was made to exchange. But never mind, Ermine, h

, after the first explanation, keep the conversation upon other subjects. So she only answered with another reproving look and smile, and said, "And now I am going to make you useful. The editor of the 'Traveller' is travelling, and has left his work to me. I have been kee

tant woman you

e how easy the step is into literary work; but you must

his task. "Or is this yours? It is not like that of those verses on Mal

n it was then, and it has had to lear

cript entitled 'Curatocult.' Is that the word? I had tak

Ermine, disconcerted, having by

stable, pragmatical, domineering girl! I am thankful that I advised Lady Temple only to take the

lieve she d

huge Irishwoman, whose husband had risen from the ranks;

e brought up toget

e her in good keeping, but the mother and sister go for nothing, and down comes this girl to battle every suggestion with principles pic

I mean to whom they are matters of thought.

is so intolerable to me is that she is a g

ort of visit, and a good scrimmage is refreshing; she is just what I should have been wit

ev

me. But I feel for her longing to be up and doing, and her puzzled chafing agains

en you must be bored to death

all that is unpleasing in her arises from her being considered as the clever woman of the family; having no man nearly connected

even stand her talking about you, thoug

tle greatness of soul in patiently coming down to Mackare

o Myrtlewood, you don'

eople upon me, though Lady Te

ou would have held

more winning than she is in that meek, submissive gentleness! Alison say

tions, Ermine. If you could see the change from the petted creature she was with her mother and husband, almost always the first lady in the place, and latterly with a colonial court of her own,

angerous responsibility to take her away from her ow

unfixed opinions seems to be an unmitigated evil for her and her boys; and no one's feelings need be hurt by her fixing he

offering to direct the envelope, which she refused, as having one already directed by the author. He rathe

etrayal, but all she did was to look at him with her full, steady eyes, and a little twist in each corner of her mouth, as she said, "Indeed! Then we had better enliven it with the recollections of a military secretary," and he was both convinced of what he guessed,

her, and help her to argue out some of her crudities. Indeed she is worth

u going to or

r brother want

rets, set down on a bleak hill side, and every one gone that made it once a happy place, it is not attractive. Moreover, my only u

rge, with no obvious duty,

g his head, and look

e occasion for picking a quarrel? And seriously," she continued, "perhaps it might be good for you if we

se, and I will f

t say

cing you. If you do not change, your mind in that time, I shall loo

de Ermine laugh. "That's what you

than poor little Lady Temple. So," he added, with the same face of ridiculous earnest, "if you continue t

e drew her to him with the smile that had won her whole heart, and listening to every little bit of honesty about "my work" and "Aunt E

to manage, because some day I s

le, "learn to be a useful woman; who knows

d Rose; "I could hem all your handker

e possible; and she took an odd, quaint pleasure in the idea of this match, often when talking to Alison of her views of life and education, putting them in the form of what would become of Rose as Lady Keith; and Colin kept his promise of making no more references to the future. On moving int

Coombe was answerable. Mrs. Curtis groaned and feared the establishment would look flighty; but for the first time Rachel became the colonel's ally. "The worst despotism practised in England," she said, "is that of coachmen, and it is well th

idowhood, on the ground that Colonel Keith advised her to ride with her sons, and that this was incompatible with weeds. "And dear

an Fanny professes, there's more coquetry in a pretty young thing wearing

urtis. "If that colonel were but married, or the other young man! I'm sure s

ays mean to ride with her, an

your riding with these gay officers

her, and to tak

lcade almost daily set forth from Myrtlewood, and was watched with eyes of the greatest vexation, if not by kind Mrs. Curtis, by poor Mr. Touchett, to whom Lady Temple's change of dress had been a grievous shock. He thought her so lovely, so interesting,

arrow for all three to go abreast. And as soon as the colonel had ascertained that she and they were quite sufficient to themselves, and well guarded by Coombe in the rear, he ceased to regard himself as bound to their company, but he and Rachel extended their rides in search of objects of interest. She liked doing the honours of the county, and achieved expeditions which her coachman had hitherto never permitted to her, in search of ruins, camps, churches, and towers. The colonel had a turn for geology, though a wandering life even

cumbed to, giggled at, avoided, nor put down with a grave, prosy reproof. Certainly Alick Keith, as every one called him, nettled her extremely by his murmured irony, but the acuteness of it was diverting in such a mere lad, and showed that if he could only once be roused, he might be capable of better things. There was an excitement in his unexpected manner of seeing thing

roached, and thus she for the first time heard the subjects fairly handled. Hitherto she had never thought that justice was done to the argument except by a portion of the press, that drew conclusions which terrified while they allured her, whereas she appreciated the candour that weighed each argument, distinguishing principle from prejudice, and religious faith from conventional construction, and in this measurement of minds she felt the strength, and acuteness of powers superior to her own. He was not one of the men who prefer unintellectual women. Perhaps clever men, of a profession not necessarily requiring constant brain work, are not so much inclined to rest the mind with

generally grudge whatever th

than by a man, and there is no reason that the utterance of anything

. I wondered if you woul

s not worth saying as women can be, and some women are so co

to silence them by palaver

best and most wide-spread writing emanates

enefit of an a

a woman as an authoress, if she does not proclaim herself one; and the diffe

e or not write, there is an instinctiv

tive. The larger and deeper the mind, the more there would be of the genuine humbleness and

leness is not feebleness, nor lowness low

seemed about to add something, but checked himself, and to

rty absorbed by a Scotch peerage, when I want it for so many things! Never. I am sorry for him though. It is hard that a man who can forgive a woman for intellect, should be thrown back on poor little Fanny; and it is gratifying-. But I am untouched yet, and I will take ca

ost confidential moments, "is not dear Rachel looki

e. "I am glad she has consented to have her ha

d not have been so uneasy about dear Fanny. I think, don't you? that there may be another attraction. To be sure, it would be at a te

loss to us; but you see, so clever and odd as she is, and with such peculiar ideas, I shou

ally think it

t I cannot help being struck, and just thinki

grounds on which to found a caution, yet Grace felt full of discomfort and distrust, a feeling shared by Alison, who had never forgiven herself for her half confidence, and felt that it would be wiser to tell the rest, but was withheld by knowing that her motive would actuate her sister to a contrary course. That Colin should detach himself from her, love again, and marry, was what Ermine schooled herself to think fitting; but Alison alternated between indignant jealousy for her sister, and the desire to warn Rachel that she might at

g to announce, with shrugged shoulders, and a face almost making game of himself, that his brother was coming! Lord

ively. "One is never supposed capable of taking care of one's self. With

iving to your bro

r power to make me

nothing to forgive,"

ept out of sight. Even Alison was on her side; not that she was ashamed of either, but she wished that Ermine should see and judge with her own eyes of Colin's conduct, and a

he said, "and I do not wish to

, "only I thought it might save a shock-ap

most warmly; but this matter does not depend on my brother's consent, and even

s proffers of assistance in the et ceteras, and gratefully answered for Coombe's doing the right thing, without troubling herself further. Mrs. Curtis was less easy in her mind, her housewifely soul questioned the efficiency of her niece's establishment, and she was moreover persuaded that Lord Keith must be bent on inspecting his brother's choice, while even Rachel felt as if the toils of fate were being drawn round her, and let Grace embellish her for the dinner party, in an odd sort of mood, sometimes rejectin

ld have shown the colonel's nation, and there was no definable likeness between them, except, perhaps, the baldness of the forehead, but the remains of Lord Keith's hair were silvered red, whereas Colin's thick beard and scanty locks were dark brown, and with a far larger admixture of hoar-frost, though he was the younger by twenty years, and his brother's appearance gave the impression of a far greater age than fifty-eight, there was the stoop of rheumatism, and a worn, thin look on the face, with its high cheek bones, narrow lips, and cold eyes, by no means winning. On the other hand, he was the most finished gentleman that Grace and Rachel had ever encountered; he had all the gallant polish of manner that the old Scottish nobility have inherited from the French of the old regime-a manner that, though Colin possessed all its

e colonel to her, as he rung for the cards, recollecting

ything like old times, and m

subjects in the world-lending library books, and finally repaired to the piano, where Grace was playing her mother's favourite music, in hopes of distracting her mind from Fanny's enormity; and there he stood, mechanically thanking Miss Curtis, but all the time turning a melancholy eye upon the game. Alick Keith, meanwhile, sat himself down near Rachel and her mother, close to an open window, for it was so warm that even Mrs. Curtis enjoyed the air; and perhaps because that watching the colonel had made Rachel's discourses somewhat less ready than u

her usual manner, "you have n

ssion at sixtee

ix-and-twenty!

e reply, with his odd little smile;

ter's knowing his age better than he did himself, but adding, politely, "you are

ither by bouncing into her face, or suspending itself by two or three legs in the wax of the candle. Mr. Keith seconded her efforts, but the insect was both lively and cunning, eluding them with a dexterity wonderful in such an apparently over-limbed creature, until at last it kindly rested for a moment with its wooden peg of a body sloping, and most of its thread-like members prone upon a newspaper, where Rachel descended on it with her pocket-handkerchief, and Mr. Keith tried to inclose it with his hands a

d it. "That venerable animal is apparently indifferent to having left a third of two legs behind him," and as he spoke he removed the already half drawn-off left-hand glove, and let Rachel see for a moment that it had only cove

ere

ed, picking it up as if he thought she

her had not the general come in the way! Here was, no doubt, the real enemy, while they had all been thinking of Colonel Keith. A man only now expecting his company! It would sound more absurd. Yet Rachel was not wont to think how things would sound! And this fresh intense dislike provoked her. Was it the unsuitability of the young widow remarrying? "Surely, surely, it must not be that womanhood in its contemptible side is still so strong that I want to keep all for myself! Shame! And this may be the

winnings and her pretty smile, "Please, Mr. Touchett, let this go towards some treat for the school child

y that evening was that Alexander Keith being really somewhat the senior, if the improvement in Fanny's spirits were really owing to his presence, the objection on the score of age would not hold. But, thought Rachel, Colonel Keith being her own, what united power they should have over Fanny. Pooh! she had by no

er experienced from him before, as if old age had brought a disposition to cling to the remnant of the once inconveniently large family, and make much of the last survivor, formerly an undesirable youngest favourite, looked on with jealous eyes and thwarted and retaliated on for former petting, as soon as the reins of government fell from the hands of the

vexed if he had openly slighted them; but Alison, whom the brothers overtook on their way into Mackarel Lane, did not think the colonel looked in the most felicitous frame of mind, and thought

rself was sitting in the shade in the garden, whither, after the first introduction, Colin and Rose brought seats; and the call, on the whole, went off extremely well. Ermine naver let any o

ack again, and in answer to Ermine's "Well," he demanded, "What

Lane? I saw him regarding, me as a species of mermaid or syren, evidently thinkin

t do so, for now that he and I are the last in the entail, there is an opportun

e long thought it woul

he looked into her eyes to see if she would let them show concern, but

me up to Keith's t

one your duty-an

makes the ball remind me of its presence in my chest, and I was told

selves, I allow," she said, that one little wo

ill write to me-abo

at would be the us

nt to get rid of him, and even when he took leave she only remained for a few minutes leaning her cheek on her hand, and scarcely indulged in a sigh before asking to be wheeled into the hous

ages or on horseback, in which he displayed his grand courtesy to Lady Temple, and Rachel enjoyed the colonel's conversation, and would have enjoyed it still more if she had not been tracing a meaning in every attention that he paid her, and considering whether she was committing herself by receiving it. She was glad he was going a

erent things for some time, of his aunt Lady Alison, and of Beauchamp in the old time, so that Ermine enjoyed the renewal of old associations and

d restrained the rising indignation as she recollected what a d

y to see his brother married, but, unfortunately, charges on his estate would prevent him from doing anything

, looking straight before h

"I assure you no one can be more sensible than myself of the extreme forbearance

made her look so handsome was not caused by gratificatio

ou must always possess, I am induced to hope that, as his sincere

er his judgment," said

with so much depending on his making a satisfactory choice, I feel convinced, with every regret, that you will feel it to be for his

t was by the modulation of his Scottish voice, that irritated his hearer u

himself," she said, with a col

rably, most consistently, made him aware that-that what onc

" said

ou still regard him would prevent any encouragement to continue an

t your brother's visits nor striven to prolong them; but if he finds pleasure in th

ve trespassed long on your time, and made a suggestion only w

one's own, not of othe

lly, Miss Williams. Let it be distinctly understood that my brother Colin, in pay

rd. Good morning;" and her courte

essed than she had allowed herself to be for year

n all he said. But, Ailie, I have preached to Colin more than I had a right to do about forgiving his b

here interfering and torment

when it came to threatening me with his giving no help to Col

ed him so that he wi

at I thought burnt out for ever when I lay waiting for death, are stirred up as hotly as they were long ago. The old self is here as strong as ever! Ailie, don't tell Colin about

can you? Eight o

that, you know; and I am so much stronger than I used to be, that you need

ade, was met by what he so little expected to encounter that he had not time to get out of the way-a Bath chair with Alison w

o have met y

ou out so early," h

iful. "Good-bye, I have thought over what passed yesterday, and I

her manner of giving her hand and bending her head as she

then, looking after her, muttered, "