Vicar's Daughter — Mrs. Cromwell Comes (part 1)

CHAPTER XXXVII. MRS.

CROMWELL COMES.

The moment the legacy was paid, our liabilities being already nearly discharged, my husband took us all to Hastings.

I had never before been to any other seacoast town where the land was worthy of the sea, except Kilkhaven.

Assuredly, there is no place within easy reach of London to be once mentioned with Hastings.

Of course we kept clear of the more fashionable and commonplace St. Leonard's End, where yet the sea is the same,--a sea such that, not even off Cornwall, have I seen so many varieties of ocean-aspect.

The immediate shore, with its earthy cliffs, is vastly inferior to the magnificent rock about Tintagel; but there is no outlook on the sea that I know more satisfying than that from the heights of Hastings, especially the East Hill; from the west side of which also you may, when weary of the ocean, look straight down on the ancient port, with its old houses, and fine, multiform red roofs, through the gauze of blue smoke which at eve of a summer day fills the narrow valley, softening the rough goings-on of life into harmony with the gentleness of sea and shore, field and sky.

No doubt the suburbs are as unsightly as mere boxes of brick and lime can be, with an ugliness mean because pretentious, an altogether modern ugliness; but even this cannot touch the essential beauty of the place.

On the brow of this East Hill, just where it begins to sink towards Ecclesbourne Glen, stands a small, old, rickety house in the midst of the sweet grass of the downs.

This house my husband was fortunate in finding to let, and took for three months.

I am not, however, going to give any history of how we spent them; my sole reason for mentioning Hastings at all being that there I made the acquaintance of Mrs. Cromwell.

It was on this wise.

One bright day, about noon,--almost all the days of those months were gorgeous with sunlight,--a rather fashionable maid ran up our little garden, begging for some water for her mistress.

Sending her on with the water, I followed myself with a glass of sherry.

The door in our garden-hedge opened immediately on a green hollow in the hill, sloping towards the glen.

As I stepped from the little gate on to the grass, I saw, to my surprise, that a white fog was blowing in from the sea.

The heights on the opposite side of the glen, partially obscured thereby, looked more majestic than was their wont, and were mottled with patches of duller and brighter color as the drifts of the fog were heaped or parted here and there.

Far down, at the foot of the cliffs, the waves of the rising tide, driven shore-wards with the added force of a south-west breeze, caught and threw back what sunlight reached them, and thinned with their shine the fog between.

It was all so strange and fine, and had come on so suddenly,--for when I had looked out a few minutes before, sea and sky were purely resplendent,--that I stood a moment or two and gazed, almost forgetting why I was there.

When I bethought myself and looked about me, I saw, in the sheltered hollow before me, a lady seated in a curiously-shaped chair; so constructed, in fact, as to form upon occasion a kind of litter.

It was plain she was an invalid, from her paleness, and the tension of the skin on her face, revealing the outline of the bones beneath.

Her features were finely formed, but rather small, and her forehead low; a Greek-like face, with large, pale-blue eyes, that reminded me of little Amy Morley's. She smiled very sweetly when she saw me, and shook her head at the wine.

"I only wanted a little water," she said.

"This fog seems to stifle me."

"It has come on very suddenly," I said.

"Perhaps it is the cold of it that affects your breathing.

You don't seem very strong, and any sudden change of temperature"-- "I am not one of the most vigorous of mortals," she answered, with a sad smile; "but the day seemed of such indubitable character, that, after my husband had brought me here in the carriage, he sent it home, and left me with my maid, while he went for a long walk across the downs.

When he sees the change in the weather, though, he will turn directly."

"It won't do to wait him here," I said.

"We must get you in at once.

Would it be wrong to press you to take a little of this wine, just to counteract a chill?"

"I daren't touch any thing but water," she replied, "It would make me feverish at once."

"Run and tell the cook," I said to the maid, "that I want her here.

You and she could carry your mistress in, could you not?

I will help you."

"There's no occasion for that, ma'am: she's as light as a feather," was the whispered answer.

"I am quite ashamed of giving you so much trouble," said the lady, either hearing or guessing at our words.

"My husband will be very grateful to you."

"It is only an act of common humanity," I said.

But, as I spoke, I fancied her fair brow clouded a little, as if she was not accustomed to common humanity, and the word sounded harsh in her ear.

The cloud, however, passed so quickly that I doubted, until I knew her better, whether it had really been there.

The two maids were now ready; and, Jemima instructed by the other, they lifted her with the utmost ease, and bore her gently towards the house.

The garden-gate was just wide enough to let the chair through, and in a minute more she was upon the sofa.

Then a fit of coughing came on which shook her dreadfully.

When it had passed she lay quiet, with closed eyes, and a smile hovering about her sweet, thin-lipped mouth.

By and by she opened them, and looked at me with a pitiful expression.

"I fear you are far from well," I said.

"I'm dying," she returned quietly.

"I hope not," was all I could answer.

"Why should you hope not?"

she returned.

"I am in no strait betwixt two.

I

desire to depart.

For me to die will be all gain."

"But your friends?"

I ventured to suggest, feeling my way, and not quite relishing either the form or tone of her utterance.

"I have none but my husband."

"Then your husband?"

I persisted.

"Ah!"

she said mournfully, "he will miss me, no doubt, for a while.

But it _must_ be a weight off him, for I have been a sufferer so long!"

At this moment I heard a heavy, hasty step in the passage; the next, the room door opened, and in came, in hot haste, wiping his red face, a burly man, clumsy and active, with an umbrella in his hand, followed by a great, lumbering Newfoundland dog.

"Down, Polyphemus!"

he said to the dog, which crept under a chair; while he, taking no notice of my presence, hurried up to his wife.

"My love!

my little dove!"

he said eagerly: "did you think I had forsaken you to the cruel elements?"

"No, Alcibiades," she answered, with a sweet little drawl; "but you do not observe that I am not the only lady in the room."

Then, turning to me, "This is my husband, Mr. Cromwell," she said.

"I cannot tell him _your_ name."

"I am Mrs. Percivale," I returned, almost mechanically, for the gentleman's two names had run together and were sounding in my head: _Alcibiades Cromwell_!

How could such a conjunction have taken place without the intervention of Charles Dickens?

"I beg your pardon, ma'am," said Mr. Cromwell, bowing.

"Permit my anxiety about my poor wife to cover my rudeness.

I had climbed the other side of the glen before I saw the fog; and it is no such easy matter to get up and down these hills of yours.

I am greatly obliged to you for your hospitality.

You have doubtless saved her life; for she is a frail flower, shrinking from the least breath of cold."

The lady closed her eyes again, and the gentleman took her hand, and felt her pulse.

He seemed about twice her age,--she not thirty; he well past fifty, the top of his head bald, and his gray hair sticking out fiercely over his good-natured red cheeks.

He laid her hand gently down, put his hat on the table and his umbrella in a corner, wiped his face again, drew a chair near the sofa, and took his place by her side.

I thought it better to leave them.

When I re-entered after a while, I saw from the windows, which looked sea-ward, that the wind had risen, and was driving thin drifts no longer, but great, thick, white masses of sea-fog landwards.

It was the storm-wind of that coast, the south-west, which dashes the pebbles over the Parade, and the heavy spray against the houses.

Mr. Alcibiades Cromwell was sitting as I had left him, silent, by the side of his wife, whose blue-veined eyelids had apparently never been lifted from her large eyes.

"Is there any thing I could offer Mrs. Cromwell?"

I said.

"Could she not eat something?"

"It is very little she can take," he answered; "but you are very kind.

If you could let her have a little beef-tea?

She generally has a spoonful or two about this time of the day."

"I am sorry we have none," I said; "and it would be far too long for her to wait.

I have a nice chicken, though, ready for cooking: if she could take a little chicken-broth, that would be ready in a very little while."

"Thank you a thousand times, ma'am," he said heartily; "nothing could be better.

She might even be induced to eat a mouthful of the chicken.

But I am afraid your extreme kindness prevents me from being so thoroughly ashamed as I ought to be at putting you to so much trouble for perfect strangers."

"It is but a pleasure to be of service to any one in want of it," I said.

Mrs. Cromwell opened her eyes and smiled gratefully.

I left the room to give orders about the chicken, indeed, to superintend the preparation of it myself; for Jemima could not be altogether trusted in such a delicate affair as cooking for an invalid.

When I returned, having set the simple operation going, Mr. Cromwell had a little hymn-book of mine he had found on the table open in his hand, and his wife was saying to him,-- "That is lovely!

Thank you, husband.

How can it be I never saw it before?

I

am quite astonished."

"She little knows what multitudes of hymns there are!"

I thought with myself,--my father having made a collection, whence I had some idea of the extent of that department of religious literature.

"This is a hymn-book we are not acquainted with," said Mr. Cromwell, addressing me.

"It is not much known," I answered.

"It was compiled by a friend of my father's for his own schools."

"And this," he went on, "is a very beautiful hymn.

You may trust my wife's judgment, Mrs. Percivale.

She lives upon hymns."

He read the first line to show which he meant.

I had long thought, and still think, it the most beautiful hymn I know.

It was taken from the German, only much improved in the taking, and given to my father to do what he pleased with; and my father had given it to another friend for his collection.

Before that, however, while still in manuscript, it had fallen into the hands of a certain clergyman, by whom it had been published without leave asked, or apology made: a rudeness of which neither my father nor the author would have complained, for it was a pleasure to think it might thus reach many to whom it would be helpful; but they both felt aggrieved and indignant that he had taken the dishonest liberty of altering certain lines of it to suit his own opinions.

As I am anxious to give it all the publicity I can, from pure delight in it, and love to all who are capable of the same delight, I shall here communicate it, in the full confidence of thus establishing a claim on the gratitude of my readers.

O Lord, how happy is the time When in thy love I rest!

When from my weariness I climb Even to thy tender breast!

The night of sorrow endeth there: Thou art brighter than the sun;

And in thy pardon and thy care The heaven of heaven is won.

Let the world call herself my foe, Or let the world allure.

I care not for the world: I go To this dear Friend and sure.

And when life's fiercest storms are sent Upon life's wildest sea, My little bark is confident, Because it holds by thee.

When the law threatens endless death Upon the awful hill, Straightway from her consuming breath My soul goes higher still,-- Goeth to Jesus, wounded, slain, And maketh him her home, Whence she will not go out again, And where death cannot come.

I do not fear the wilderness Where thou hast been before;

Nay, rather will I daily press After thee, near thee, more.

Thou art my food; on thee I lean;

Thou makest my heart sing;

And to thy heavenly pastures green All thy dear flock dost bring.

And if the gate that opens there Be dark to other men, It is not dark to those who share The heart of Jesus then.

That is not losing much of life Which is not losing thee, Who art as present in the strife As in the victory.

Therefore how happy is the time When in thy love I rest!

When from my weariness I climb Even to thy tender breast!

The night of sorrow endeth there: Thou are brighter than the sun;

And in thy pardon and thy care The heaven of heaven is won.

In telling them a few of the facts connected with the hymn, I presume I had manifested my admiration of it with some degree of fervor.

"Ah!"

said Mrs. Cromwell, opening her eyes very wide, and letting the rising tears fill them: "Ah, Mrs. Percivale!

you are--you must be one of us!"

"You must tell me first who you are," I said.

She held out her hand; I gave her mine: she drew me towards her, and whispered almost in my ear--though why or whence the affectation of secrecy I can only imagine--the name of a certain small and exclusive sect.

I will not indicate it, lest I should be supposed to attribute to it either the peculiar faults or virtues of my new acquaintance.

"No," I answered, speaking with the calmness of self-compulsion, for I confess I felt repelled: "I am not one of you, except in as far as we all belong to the church of Christ."

I have thought since how much better it would have been to say, "Yes: for we all belong to the church of Christ."

She gave a little sigh of disappointment, closed her eyes for a moment, opened them again with a smile, and said with a pleading tone,-- "But you do believe in personal religion?"

"I don't see," I returned, "how religion can be any thing but personal."

Again she closed her eyes, in a way that made me think how convenient bad health must be, conferring not only the privilege of passing into retirement at any desirable moment, but of doing so in such a ready and easy manner as the mere dropping of the eyelids.

I rose to leave the room once more.

Mr. Cromwell, who had made way for me to sit beside his wife, stood looking out of the window, against which came sweeping the great volumes of mist.

I glanced out also.

Not only was the sea invisible, but even the brow of the cliffs.

When he turned towards me, as I passed him, I saw that his face had lost much of its rubicund hue, and looked troubled and anxious.

"There is nothing for it," I said to myself, "but keep them all night," and so gave directions to have a bedroom prepared for them.

I did not much like it, I confess; for I was not much interested in either of them, while of the sect to which she belonged I knew enough already to be aware that it was of the narrowest and most sectarian in Christendom.

It was a pity she had sought to claim me by a would-be closer bond than that of the body of Christ.

Still I knew I should be myself a sectary if I therefore excluded her from my best sympathies.

At the same time I did feel some curiosity concerning the oddly-yoked couple, and wondered whether the lady was really so ill as she would appear.

I doubted whether she might not be using her illness both as an excuse for self-indulgence, and as a means of keeping her husband's interest in her on the stretch.

I did not like the wearing of her religion on her sleeve, nor the mellifluous drawl in which she spoke.

When the chicken-broth was ready, she partook daintily; but before she ended had made a very good meal, including a wing and a bit of the breast;

after which she fell asleep.

"There seems little chance of the weather clearing," said Mr. Cromwell in a whisper, as I approached the window where he once more stood.

"You must make up your mind to remain here for the night," I said.

"My dear madam, I couldn't think of it," he returned,--I thought from unwillingness to incommode a strange household.

"An invalid like her, sweet lamb!"

he went on, "requires so many little comforts and peculiar contrivances to entice the repose she so greatly needs, that--that--in short, I must get her home."

"Where do you live?"

I asked, not sorry to find his intention of going so fixed.

"We have a house in Warrior Square," he answered.

"We live in London, but have been here all the past winter.

I doubt if she improves, though.

I

doubt--I doubt."

He said the last words in a yet lower and more mournful whisper; then, with a shake of his head, turned and gazed again through the window.

A peculiar little cough from the sofa made us both look round.

Mrs. Cromwell was awake, and searching for her handkerchief.

Her husband understood her movements, and hurried to her assistance.

When she took the handkerchief from her mouth, there was a red spot upon it.

Mr. Cromwell's face turned the color of lead; but his wife looked up at him, and smiled; a sweet, consciously pathetic smile.

"He has sent for me," she said.

"The messenger has come."

Her husband made no answer.

His eyes seemed starting from his head.

"Who is your medical man?"

I asked him.

He told me, and I sent off my housemaid to fetch him.

It was a long hour before he arrived; during which, as often as I peeped in, I saw him sitting silent, and holding her hand, until the last time, when I found him reading a hymn to her.

She was apparently once more asleep.

Nothing could be more favorable to her recovery than such quietness of both body and mind.