Rachel Noble's Experience.

Clutha Leader, Volume VII, Issue 359, 27 August 1880, Page 7

Rachel Noble's Experience.

° V CHAPTER 111. I Next morning', after we bad separated to our respective employments, Mrs ;"f f; J Mil|gktf sent; for .riie, ' I had to,; intro--1 :;^»ce myself, -for Miss Morgan had gone - otljb^tfs- w«H £s the btbers. "It 'war a- day "; 1 : i tfiat' slie" bad a :music"lesson ; in 7 tdwn . - Iconfess'l was more curious to see Mrs ■■ \" Mdr^fan "' ipince I h ad seen her fa rbily . - .Iji^antedv to know ; in what kind of maternal atmosphere Miss Morgan had : . .;;.;/■■•'■; ," '" ": r ' : "'! ■',-_ . irMisi AJor^an was sitting- in bed, with j H» handsome shawl round her shoulders, I and a very becoming 1 cap on her head She held put her band to me, and said| .*lt is awkward ..for you, Miss j , Noble,/ that you ipome, when I ' afri^ laid up tiere, and tyr' Morgan : is froiti "Kbme^but ; P hope you try to make j yourself comfortable.' - ~^?T?p^ffi~-*t -q". w£sr on ly sot rf or ber ae'ebant, and hoped she would Won be down stairs ag-ain.' : ? '.Well,' she: said, * I don't know, these attacks take me so suddenly and leave : 'in"d ir sd--proitrato; - you have no idea, Miss Noble,' — and I saw her look 'rather keenly at me, I thought, which was -not surprising, considering that F was to be her right hand, and I looked at:herxtoo;^:Bo.far as; I could judge, .rfor, the- curtains nut her in deep shade, the seemed to be about forty-five or ■ no doubt she had been , jfpqdrlpc)king. The under part of her face was full and heavy 3 but she had a fine^aquiline nose, a good forehead still .. smfipth and unwriukled ; her eyes were of a lightish blue, but looked drumlie from^heFTecent illness ; fair hair, of a ▼erj fine texture, was braided below the cap,?r-in the, subdued light I could not make out whether it was mixed with grey yet or not. Though tha room was a large one, with two windows and a fireplace, the air was close. I suggested opening a window a little bit. ' It might be a good thing,' she said, ' but~~they : are not easily opened, I tbink^rv. r~_> ;* ,'.; ■ - . .- - t tried each, and found they were nulled down, and very securely nailed too; 1 ii. communicated my discovery. 'Very lik«?ly,' ; she said; 'it is a whim of Mr Morgan's. 7 As .1 felt sympathy for her in her weak state, I began to show it by enquiring 1 into the particulars of her illness. * 1 she said, ' I don't think my complaints are understood, at least, I am quite sure Dr England knows notbing about them.' ' Indeed/ said I. ' I should have thought Dr England an able man ' ' You have seen him then ; oh yes, I recollect Mr Morgan tell me. He has certainly (jot on Mr Morgan's weak tide most thoroughly, but T think him the merest charlatan. Did he say anything to you of my ailments ?* ' Nothing.' ' Mr Morgan will insist upon employ- ■ ing: him,' although he is not only ignorant, tut rude. I can hardly repeat what, he once said to Lizzie. We had ft person with us for a time, a Miss O'Shee, and he heard Lizzie speakingto her in a. way. which he — a good judge to be sure- — thought uncivil ; he told her that if she were her papa, as she wa§ past being whipt, he would lock heF-inr '■"& T room feed her on bread and- water till she had learned at least to be civil ! What do you think of that for a : medical man ?' *He evidently , does not set himself to curry favour,' I said. * And Jthe best of it was, when I flew up indignantly, Lizzie said that she beliered he was quite riß'ht ; that is a girl ! Miss, Noble. You never know what absurdity she is to say or do next; tha anxiety she has cost me is inconceivable.' Ob ! what I have suffered one way or another, and nobody understands me, or rather, every body,, mis- . understands, me. r You bave the key of the sideboard, Jliss Noble V ' " ' 'Ym) -■■■■■ ' ; 'Ifeel an attack of toothache coming on ; I have chloroform, but there is just a shade of danger- in using it ; if you will go-down, to the sideboard and bring up .a. beetle of brandy ; I have found a little cotton^dipped in brandy settle it.'; When T returned wirh the brandy, T said : * I" saw' no bottlo that has beenopened j- this will need a screw/ ' Never mind a screw,', she; said ; 'justset the bottle, down; unless the tooth f jfets. worse I'll not need it. I can'nhg^ for Sarah ; I'jl lie down now and cover my head • warmth will per- - haps'CUre^tjand I'll likely sleep; just :.. leave /me;; if;l want anything, I'll ring.' . As -I jfjufflofc jup, the pillow and. put tlje shawl oye.r her. head, she said.' l daresay yda found things in a sad state, ;I am so seldom~equal to looking after them/ :r-r,:;.;-,A j I left the room, 'closing the door , L gentlj,.and returned to my occupation, wnicb was making myself mistress 6i\ houßeholi details. I got interested;, an hour or 'passed, and l I 'began to thinlc j lhad not heard" Mrs ' Mbrganfs i:.belLj7f l concluded she hadlfallen, asleep, and hoping she^nj.igjit be better, ,1 went , ! on f with,my I bußineßs,r I pondered what , : s\i6tia£ J Bki(i Jl 6f'pr r England j r I'could not make out" ; Mft * Morgan at all from , this-first interview. ; -^That- Dr England t v' v shqtilff^^diight ' '»'■^'dbarlataii :^-If |\. I M thiiag^^urin^ I the s|w^ $mox-UJiad.<Ae9n him, it was ■ the total absence of sham. ll is speech

to Miss Morgan was certainly not over courteous, biit ; I %as-suril he'^nafitjbeen irritated by seeing her ride roughshod over -'-the '•> hapless ' Miss'" O ! Shee, :i an f dl F, had no doubt, it was the right speech in the right place ; it would not readily,; be forgotten.- « I <-. wasl pleased to thi n k that Miss Morgan had not taken her mothers' vievv of it. ! At length I went upstairs again. ] I listened as I passed Mrs Morgan's door, but heard -no sound. „I 7 knocked very gentlv — no answer; I knocked louder — still no answer.- I opened the door and went in. without ..noise. . A, strong smell of brandy met me, I looked at the bed where Mrs Morgan; was lying, I went clo«e up ; she made some inarticulate sounds bpptied her ; eyes for a second, and smiled, idiotically. The bottle, broken off by the neck, was flung to the foot of the bed-jit.was empty* The bedclothes were bedropped and smeared with blood that" had trickled from her hands, which were , ( cut. with; the broken glass. Some brandy had been spilt on the bed. ■ T: eagerly grasped the clothes to ascertain how much, for I fancied she had taken enough to kill her. Andi this was the mystery ! I was a fool, not to have guessed it. It seea/ed clear as day now; and I, the ' companion 1 of firm/ sensible tempera- | ment,' had actually ministered to the j very craving I was to be a check upon. Well, I ought to have been told. - I have seen many scenes since, but this was my first, and while standing for a minute, thinking what I would do, my eye, independently of my mind, took everything in that room, so that, to this day, T see it in pre-Raphaelite minuteness of detail, down to the stray slipper sticking out below the wardrobe, and a glass with the dregs of some" Gregory's mixture in it standingupon a table, upon which also lay, I recollect, poor Fanny's ' Tales of the Castle.' Here, indeed, was the key with a vengeance to everything that was out of jnint, from Miss Morgan's temper to the cracked china. Only the servants were in the house, and I could hardly call them to see their mistress in her present state. What could Ido 1 I was still hesitating, when I heard the house door open and shut. I went to the top of the stairs to see who came. In a minnte or two, a man, whom I had not seen bofoi'e, came up stairs. I looked down j upon him over the banisters. His head was bald, as if a small white saucer had i been turned over on if; round the outside of this there was plenty of black hair. He looked up at a clock as he passed it. His forehead was square, his eyes were black ; a good straight nose stood over lips that were redder, and showed more of the red than any lips I ever saw ; quite a ruff of black hair went round his chin fro m ear to ear ; his bearing was brisk and complacent. I felt this was Mr Morgan. I hardly knew what to say. It was dreadful for a man coming horae pleased, and ready to please, to have to encounter the sig-ht of that room. When his eye fell upon me, he said, lOh ! .you'll be Miss Noblp, I think.' I said l Yes ; Mr Morgan, I presume — the young ladies are out, and I am sorry to say Mrs Morgan is hot so -' ' Why, what's the matter ? He passed, me. into the bedroom — I followed; he looked round and criedi ' Confound it all, how did she get it ? but she would get it, if the devil brought it.' : ( It was I who brought it; Mr Morgan ; Mrs Morgan asked me to bring ;it for her toothache.' 'Toothache!' groaned Mr Morgan, and he turned on his heel, and was going down stairs, when I said, ' Can nothing- be done ? I know nothing of what should be done.' ' Done!' .he said ; ' hang- it. I'm going into town, I'll send out the doctor.' The door shut with a bang that echoed again. Mr Morgan was in;a passion of anger. I thought that if I had been he, I would have felt grieved, humiliated, struck dumb; but I excused him — this was likely not the first nor the fiftieth time he had seen his wife in that state : he must have passed through every gradation of j feeling. i In a very short time some one came in. It was Dr England. I was glad that it was not one of the family returned. He shook hands with me without speaking, looked at the mass on the'bed, and said,' 'Tbe old tiling".' ' ' Will she die V 1 said. .... | « Die ! No, that may be at the e^d of it some day though, but -not—now. She has, a wtulesome dread- off killing herself; that is the one only t King Jt hat keeps her within. bounds.' i ' Bounds ! J I said, ' that bottle wds full and it's empty now.' j .'But she has not drunk it all; slie has spilt some, and^' he said feeling | under the pillows and bringing- out 'a" I small medicine bottle with brandy it it, 'she has kept some for the morning horrors.' ; All this was .so new to me that :I shook and shivered as from cold. \I wondered 'if it was^toAbe= ; my duty to wait by the side of this loathsome looking -woman,; and watch through such a disgusting illness; not that I did not pity her too, — truly she wasja pitiable, object. I asked the doctor if; l, w"as J expected to do thisV"' I .* ■-" '' A ~ L i , ;:^N«,j-nQ,' a f|aid;,he^>' a,:woman will \}e .'liere'i'n a little "wlTo'll stay till this fit" is over, and then it will be". your busiv ness, I fancy to prevent all smuggling.'

ft'':--.-".--:.-.-' j-.. 1 >.f c ; to A. idbouvG. j -* I wish- 1- m<*y- be -sharp- enough ;for-~ thatkind;of;bußines^;}^hpn I look back on it, it seems as if a cbild might have ..gnessed ( ,the na,tur,e of JVJrs r MorganJLs attack's, \4t I { did l not:''* V'gdve ndfr the , brandy ; , : - «. : r f t. s „;,;.,..., von «/- » • 1 You did V ) 1 Yes. she asked it for tbotßache.' | * The ciocfor smiled grim) j. } 'You will agree with me,' he said, ' that your post is not a sinecure; ido-ybu regret taking it ?'...., ...... j 'If f ha(i known' this, T wouldn't have taken it, tbut as ;I am here, I'll stay; I feel interested.' ; ' Interested '!" In wbdai — in her V and he pointed to the bed../ I * Well, yes, even in her ; it would! be \ a grand thing if she could be cured of such a ha\>it.' • ; ; : '■ * Grand indeed,' said the doctor, j smiling- at, the. gleam of enthusiasm my j words betrayed, '' it's worth frying" ;j I won't discourage you ; ;: she'll be fully more interesting 1 . when, cured, tbjan even now ; but who else interests yoii V ' Miss Morgan does' ; i 'Why?' < She is beautiful.' r ; '"Humph; what's, beauty ; fl.few days of disease, a few rears, at most, and what's beauty V . . ..;.,' ' Quite so,' I said ; ' bi?e wonders "why it should be at all ; red. hair, a broad snub nose, and a squint, are all that the eye can- .desire;' ;, .. .„ : , - • * Ah,' said the doctor, and we stood silent, looking; at Mrs : Morgan, wbo, with as much expression as an id'ot, and hpr cap all awry, lay moving and muttering what I could not make out. Shortly the woman who was 1 to nurse tbe patient came. - She was a respecc-able-looking-, elderly woman, and seemed quite at home. After tha doctor had given his directions, he went into the drawing-room lor a little," and I said to him, 'I hope this new attendant has a " firm, sensible temperament." She will need it.* ' ' The nurse ? Yes, she is thoroughly up to cases of that kind. It's not the first time she has been here. How many similar "p.atients do you suppose' I have in, this suburb, Miss Noble V ; ' Women who drink !' I said.' 'Not many, surely.' _ . 'Eleven fall to my share, id this little corner of L-— ■ — .' ' 'That's appaling!' I said. 'And are you. a total abstainer?' '. 1 No, why should I V 1 Well neither was I last night, but L am now ; my conversion was instantaneous; as I stood' alone beside Mrs Morgan — of course there's no logic in it, irs vastly silly and womanish.' 'There's no harm in it, but f can't see because one man makes a beast of himself that I should abstain from what may be, and is a benefit to me; so you are interested in Miss Morgan? ' She is clever, and foolish, and wilful.' ' Certainly, if these are interesting qualities, she is" profoundly interesting-. I hope she will not be as impertinent to you as she was to your predecessor.' * I shall nor ajlow impertinence to me,' I said quietly. : ' That's what she wants,' said he, 'some one to be head over her; you may do a world of good in this house, Miss Noble. What all have you to do ? To put the household machinery in: order, to make and keep Mrs Morgan a teetotaller, to train the daughters,, to make a cheerful home for father. -and sons, to forget yourself— -if you succeed in any of these trifling' undertakings, you will be well worth sixty pounds per annum.' ! .' " He looked at his watch, and went away, saying 1 , he would call again in the evening 1 .. : : '■.-,' I stood by the drawing-room .fire, and : meditated for a little. Truly I had made a remarkable change from the quiet, even tenor of life under Mr Acroyd's roof, to ! this Honeycomb House, where such a prop, of good "and evil was growing", together, like, the tares and wheat of the parable; <to ma'urity. But hare I was, certainly not by blind chance; and though I ca nn nto t say tha t I did ttoti ot shrin k; ; from it, I determiaed to iemaih,!ari.d dbwhat I could — little .enough as that would probably be. -Towards the ditiner hour, the family began to drop in/ -1: did not see any of them (in truth, I kept out of the way) till we all met, in the diningroom, and then, byf he look arid"demeanour of pach, I knew that the shadow had fallen on- them. :: ' j : John" had . brought :'. .a., friend and fellow-student i to dine -anbSi spend the evening 1 . He enquired^diligently for Mrs Morjsran,' hoped; her illness was not serious, <fee. !■ think every one present must have wished" Him' a hundrpd miles off, but to his eye, J, have no doubt, we all seemed in a very joyous happy mood. Fanny slipped from , the room as,,soqn as. possible j "sometime [ afterwards, in going 1 upstairs, I found her'in r 'her own room' ln" the~dairk r ,"s6bbing l ~as'if her heart would break. I tried -to console her, but she; said,.:' Oh, what will become,.of .poor, mamma.!', , little thing-, 5 I A succeeded., in .;' soothing (her: a liltlp, and stayed lwitli" her till she'went to bed, ap^dolpst.iii^the^sleep of childhood the sense pfjber misery. ■r ,Qn .going- :do wn ,l. lo.und .them f assembled in the drawing'-roQm. Lizzie" was pi ay ing ~a tfa ceo m pan i'me'n t r -6 rt t help! ano to.. thti-.yoices oo r . herself, ; an.d three young- men. J thought they did well, but, of course, I was no judge of m'u'si|c. I s took : my 'knitting l^ ; and ; sat 3/ d6wn by the table ; Mr Morgan^ wa.s^lying£back in an arm-chair, near the fire, bis eyes

-haJf— shut,- -to all— appearance_enjo.y l tv^-~ the music» Turning to me, h« srfid, 'What think you of Lizzie's playing. Miss Noble V j ' I said, ' J thought it very good sn.deed' \ ' She is good at most things, j T have spared no expanse ; they have jail had the best schooling to be had -for money. lam not what is called ian educated man, Miss Noble, but I can see the goad cf it for all that : anything I learned I picked up at my own hand, for when I came to L thirty years ago, now — bow time runs-7rf hadn't a friend in it ; I had only some half-a-crown in my pocket, but I have done pretty well. Yes, I think I may say I have done pretty well. By the way, if there's anything 1 you think should be replaced, or altered about the house, get it done ; make things comfortable, and look after yourself.' j I said, ' I would use my discretion, and do what I could.' 'You would think me short tjris forenoon,' continued Mr Morgan, but the fact is, a man gets irritated ; at times. I told England not to let you know,' and he lovr.ered his voice, ' all about Mrs Morgan ; I had promised her this, to give her another chance.' The music stopped, and he stopped. It began again ; they were fairly into the spirit of it, and I daresay had forgotten for a moment the unpleasant skeleton in the upstairs chamber. Mr Morgan again leant back on his chair, and I wondered how I came to be there, mixed up in the family life and secrets of ' people of whose existence only a week or two ago I had not even been aware. j During a lull of the music, I thought I heard a fumbling outside the door, and! :in a, moment,' the Jdoor }fl£vv lop^n with force, and Mrs" Morgan entered ; in her night-dress ! . I think, as th« saying is, any one of iis might at that moment hsve been bound with a straw. Such a "dreary,Vbleary, \ idioticftK-faceil hM not before seen. She managed with difficulty to get the length of the table, of which she tookhold with tipsy gravity, and in tipsy dialect declared that *we we're Speaking- of herj-we- were- > bla — acking her ca — ter. She drink ! she was ill, had, taken, the wjrqn.g mesdicin'p, but the people in this house would singif she were in her grave ! ; Our visitor looked the other way, and turned over some sheets of music ; Lizzie bent her head over the-' piano ; John, looked at his father ; David was red, confused, fierce ; Mr Morgan turned half round in his chair; with an expression on his frtce I had no wish to translate, and said take that^woraan away;'y John went forward, took hi 9 mother in his arms, and by main force carried h«r from the room. I thought our visitor would leave immediately, bin with considerable delicacy, ihe said,; as if there had been no interruption, 'Miss Morgan, would you. play- -this for me,' and he put a sheet of mnsic. before her. She began mechanically enough, I daresay. -' ; ■ T left the room for a little, and when I returned the effects of the hdusequake seemed to have subsided. The young people drank wine. Mr Morgan, vulgar like myself, mixed toddy," and sent me a glass. I didn't taste it, but I felt it was hardly the time or season for upholding I my new views. J thought that would j be showing*, a want of .consideration for ' their feelings. However, I was tho-' roughly convinced that jf I was to • benefit Mrs M organ, J my step was ' to abstain ; I can't say it was no sacrifice; I hadi often I felKmy self :'. set ! up' by a glass of wine, and I had no< fpar. of becoming a , drunkard, but. how was that unhappy 'woman to 1 be kept from stumbling if she was to be constantly expospd 'to temptation 1 without a single prop ? T saw clearly what was my duty; I hoped that others might in time, come to see what I thought to be theirs. ■ (To be continued.)