Page:All the Year Round - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/230

 "Like a, like a scoundrel!" cried Marian, her eyes flashing, and all the colour ablaze in her cheeks. "He has been ever since we have been there, either rude and rough, or sulky and unpleasant; but to-day, just before I saw you, not an hour ago, he met me in the fields, and insulted me in the grossest manner, talked about our poverty, and hinted that—hinted" and the remainder of the sentence was lost in a burst of tears.

"Happy hit of mine, that!" muttered the doctor to himself. "I seem to be distinguishing myself to-day! Young ruffian that Tom. He shall have a pretty dose next time I'm sent for to him, I'll take care. Come, my dear, then, you must not mind; he's only a boy—a rude beastly boy with no manners, and no heart either, and not much chest or stomach for the matter of that. You must not mind him. It's a pity he's not nice to you, because he has a certain power in that house; and if he were to pronounce himself as decidedly in opposition to the little scheme I had in my mind, and about which I was going to talk to you, it is very probable it might fall to the ground. But there are various ways of getting over objectionable boys. Lord bless me, in my time I've taken boys into the surgery, and brought them round by a handful of acidulated drops, and have tamed the most refractory by a Tolu-lozenge."

"I scarcely think that Tom Creswell is to be bought over on such easy terms," said Marian, with a faint and weary smile. "But, doctor, what was the suggestion you were about to make?"

"Simply this, my dear. That instead of your removing into Mrs. Swainson's lodgings, which are by no means suited for you, and where I should be very sorry to see you, or into any lodging at all, you should—when I say you I mean, of course, you and Mrs. Ashurst—should remain at Woolgreaves."

"Remain at Woolgreaves? For how long?"

"Well, as romantic or thoughtless people say, 'for ever;' at all events until the condition of each of you is changed—by different means, let us hope."

"And under what conditions is this scheme to be realised? I suppose Mr. Creswell would scarcely take us in as boarders at Woolgreaves, doctor?"

"No, my dear child, no. You are pleased to be satirical, but I am in earnest. That the labourer is worthy of his hire is a principle that has been recognised for centuries, and you shall labour, and for hire. See here, this is how the thought first came into my head. Mrs. Caddy, the housekeeper at Woolgreaves, a very worthy woman, has been ailing of late, and came to consult me last week. Our climate don't do for her. She's a little touched in the chest, and must get away further south for the winter. I told her so, plainly, and she didn't seem at all uncomfortable about it. Her friends live in Devonshire, and she's saved a good bit of money, I should think, since she's been in Mr. Creswell's service. All that seemed to worry her was what they would do at Woolgreaves without her. She harped upon this several times, and at last a ray of light seemed to break upon her as she asked why her place should not be taken by 't' young girl, schoolmaster's daughter'!"

"Dear me! Mrs. Caddy's place taken by me?"

"By you! it was an irreverent way to speak of you, Marian my dear, I'll admit, but there was no irreverence intended. Mrs. Caddy once set going, launched out into an interminable list of your special virtues. There never was a girl who 'cottoned' so completely to her style of pickling and preserving, there never was a girl who so intuitively grasped the great secret of making cherry-brandy, or who so quickly perceived the short-comings of the still-room maid in the matter. And this talk of the worthy woman's gave me an idea."

"The same idea as Mrs. Caddy's?"

"The same, with a difference. Mrs. Caddy's was preposterous, mine is possible. And mine is this. When Mrs. Caddy goes, let it be understood that Mrs. Ashurst has consented to superintend the Woolgreaves household. There would be nothing derogatory in the position; all with whom she would be brought in contact would take care of that, and though she would not have the least qualification for the post, poor woman!—no affront to you, my dear, but she wouldn't—you would be able to keep all smooth, and take care that everything went straight."

"But even such an establishment as Woolgreaves would not require two housekeepers, doctor?

"Of course it would not," said the old gentleman, pleased to see by Marian's brightening face that the proposition was not disagreeable to her. "Of course it would not. Mrs. Ashurst would be the responsible housekeeper, while your