Short Story

Lake County Press, Issue 2636, 15 June 1916, Page 7

Short Story

I übliahed by Special Arrangement

My Lady of the Snow,

By BE ATP ICE H EBON -MA X W ELL

Author of "The Skirts of Chance," &c, &c. My little lady was a snow-child, as we say in Sussex; for she was born a week before Christmas, and the snow lay on her mother's grave before a month of her baby life was over. 1 have always called her my little lady, though she says 1 am her adopted sister, and makes much of me in her own pretty way; but I know my place and nave never presumed on it, from the day when old Sir Jaspar, angry that the child drooped and faded over her lessons and her play, sent down to the village for me to come and be a companion to her. "Lucy," he said to me, "make Miss fl'smay eat and laugh if you can ; that's all I want you to do. It's bad enough she should be a girl instead of a boy; I don't want any more disappointment and trouble with her." For it seemed as if Sir Jaspar was vexed with Providence for this breach of faith witli a Maturin; and could not forgive Miss Ismav for it. The Manor of Disley had belonged to the Maturins for centuries back, and always son had succeeded to father without a break until now. Now, it would have to pass to one or other of Sir Jaspar's nephews, Felix and Hew, as like as two peas to look at, but as different in nature as weeds are to flowers. Sir Jaspar had no brother, only two sisters—twins—and these were their two sons, born on the same day, though Mr. Felix was, thev said, a few liours older than Mr. Hew; and they must have been about eight years old when Miss Ismay was born and Lady Maturin died. Sir Jaspar took no manner of notice of them until they were grown up and out in the world, and then he sent for Mr. Felix, and made him take the name of Maturin, and come and live at the manor in idleness and dependence. Mr. Felix never liked this; he had a frank high spirit, that chafed at sitting down and waiting for a dead man's shoes, and I believe if it hadn't been for Miss Ismay be would have sha'ken the Manor dust from his feet much sooner than he did. She was only sixteen when he came, and he treated her like a baby sister from the first, as gentle as could be to her, , but I knew what she was to him, for I could see it in his face when he looked at her, only he was biding his time to tell her so! "She is just the fairest thing on God's earth, Lucy," he said to me one day when we were both watching her, standing laughing in the snow, hei head, like a little brown bird's all daintily ruffled, covered with the flakes. She was a slender bit of a thing. with a clear pale face like her mother's family—her mother was a Chcssom, and they are noted for their lovely white complexions—and dark eyes that might have been brown pansies with the dew on them. Such a little mouth, too; sweet and proud, with a . touch of the Maturin 5 s in its pride. , Well, it was for her sake, I knew, that . Mr. Felix kept the peace; for Sir , Jaspar, always cranky with his anti- j quarian hobbies, was enough to provoke a saint, let alone a young man all fire and strength and enterprise. But of a sudden Sir Jaspar took a , new whim, and must needs send for his other nephew, Mr. Hew, and say he should have his choice of an heir betwixt the two cousins. He snapped his fingers at Mr. Felix's right of precedence, and said he meant to have his own way this time. I never liked Mr. Hew. He had the same comely features, the same length of limb and breadth oi shoulder as Mr. Felix, but his nature was different; it was mean and small, as you could tell from his voice, and a look that came in his eyes sometimes. I have heard that there is a warp in the Sussex branch of the Maturin's that comes out now and again. A sort of evil mood and twist of mind that spoils their physical well-being and makes them hard to live with. Mt showed itself in Mr. Hew to all except his uncle, and he was unpopular within doors and without, no man more so in the whole country side. I have seen Miss Ismay shrink at a word of praise from him as though he had struck her; once when he took her hand and held it against her will, her face went red and white, and she cried to me to come to her. I told him he should be ashamed to distress his cousin so, and he turned on mo with words I am not likely to forget. And when he left us my little lady was shaking all over, and she said: "I hate liim, Lucy; I wish he had never come. We were so happy' before." But the difference that his coming made was felt all through the house, and presently there was nothing but strife between him and Mr. Felix; and at last he went, Mr. Hew did, to his uncle with some tales against his cousin, and Sir Jaspar believed him, though not a grain of truth was in them. At last the end came. It was my little lady's seventeenth birthday, and we knew the snow would come, for i always did on that day; and she loved The hills all round the house looked grev and bleak against a leaden sky. and a bank of heavy cloud over Disle\ Corner snowed which way the storn would come. Mr. Felix had sent for some flower; from Italy, anemones they were, for i present to Miss Ismay because she loved to wear crimson "flowers always; and she came to me, her face all flushed rose-pink and her eyes shining, with some of them pinned into her dress. "Aren't thoy lovely, Lucy? Was i not good of Felix to remember what ) like and send so far for them?" She had a great box of them in he? arms, and we put them in all the vases we could find, until her little sitting-room was gay with them. "What did Mr. Hew give you?" I asked. She pointed to a box, unopened, on the table. I took out a little brooch of diamonds and pearls, and asked her if she ought not to wear it. "Not I," she said, "I wanted to give it back to him, but father was angry, so I dared not." It was about an hour later that I was dusting Sir Jaspar's curio-table in the librarv—he would let no one but me touch it—when he came in storming, and Mr. Felix after him. He did not see me, and I was slipping past the screen to get to the floor (for none of us cared to face Sir Jaspar if he was angry) when Mr. Felix shut it, and as they had botl said *more already than I ought to have heard, I felt too frightened to

move, and stayed behind the screen. "I tell you, sir," the old man was saying, "that you are a gambler and a profligate. I have ample proof of /it, and when you deny it you are a liar—an insolent liar as well." There was dead silence for an instant and then Mr. Felix said in a low voice, "No man, not even my mother's brother, shall have the chance of saying those things to mo twice. The Manor ceases to be my home from today; my cousin can * take my place here in tho letter as ho has already done in the spirit. Good-l>ye, sir." There had boon a 6oft tapping • the door, which neither of them hoard, and 1 trembled, for I guessed it was Miss Ismay. She came in quickly, before he hat finished speaking, and forgetting everything except the fear of losing him, she cried out, "No, no Felix, you cannot leave us like this. Father, "you do not wish him to go I am sure, ask him to stay with us. Mr. Felix crossed the room to her, and 1 saw the light that I knew come into his eyes. She made a sweet picture as she stood there, loaning against the door, one hand grasping the handle of it. and the other stretched out to hor father. Ho was speechless with rage, and Mr. Felix said to her quite quietly, "Ismay, your father has heard things about me that are not true. I have no proofs of my innocence, but some clay I may be able to show him he does me injustice. Until then I must go." Sir Jaspar had found his voice by this time and he said, "This is not a subject to discuss with her; she has no right to be here. Leave us, Ismay." Butshe seemed to have more courage with him than ever before. "Father," she pleaded, "won't you believe Felix. Surely you know he would not deceive you." But Sir Jaspar waved her into silence and Mr. Felix himself asked her to go, so with a little sob she turned and ran away. Mr. Felix was just following hor when Sir Jaspar called him back. "I forbid you to speak to her again," he said, and Mr. Felix bowed and went away. I waited in a fever of impatience until Sir Jaspar was busy at his pigeon-holes in the corner, and then I slipped out and ran to find my poor little lady. There was not a sign of her anywhere about, and when I went on to the terrace and called her, there was no answer. It was snowing fast now, crisp dry flakes like feathers, and I knew it would not stop until it had all come down. I felt I should be glad to get my little lady safely in and coax and soothe her. Round the garden I went, to all her favourite nooks and corners, and back to the house, and out again alter that; and still nowhere could I find dier; and then as I passed through the stables I saw the dog-cart ready to start, and Mr. Felix's valise and Gladstone at the back. He came out while I was there, and said a few words of cheery good-bye to the men, and as soon as he caugln sight of me, he came and shook my hand. "Good-bye, Lucy. Tell your little lady that I should have sought her out to say good-bye, but her father said no. I hope her next birthday will be happier than this. She has all tho best wishes of my heart. Take good care of her, I trust to you for that. And then ho swung himself up into the cart and was gone. I followed slowly down the drive, and when I got to the lodge gates, the under gardener's wife ran out to me, and said Miss Ismay had gone through them half-an-hour before, and she had not seen her pass back again. Then I guessed where my little lady was, and I ran up tho road towards Disley Corner as fast as my feet would carry me. The snow was thick now, whirling all round me, I could only see a yard or two ahead, and it troubled me groatly to think Miss Ismay was out in it. Just at the bend of the road I came upon the dog-cart standing still, and the groom said "Mr. Felix is over yonder," with a lift of his elbow towards the Corner. I could not see them, but I knew they must be in the dip at the top of the bank where the sunk fence ends. I climbed up, and the snow was so thick and blinding now, that I could only just distinguish their figures even when I was close upon them. He had both her hands in his, and he was saying, "I will come back somo day, Ismay—if I live—when 1 can lift this weight of dishonour from me. Good-bye. I shall never forget you. Good-bye. And then he lifted her hands to his lips.. "I cannot leave you here alone in the storm," he went on, "let mo drive you back." The tears were raining down her cheeks, but she shook her head. "I am quite safe," she said, "tho snow never hurts me. Go, Felix, please go." But still he said he could not bear to leave her. So then I went to my little lady arid put my arms round her and she turned and laid her pretty head on my shoulder. "I am so glad you are hero, Lucy," Mr. Felix said; "be a sister to her. Take care of her." He kissed her hand again, and went down the bank, and a moment after we heard the dogcart wheels. I took her home and tried to comfort her, for I saw how it was; she had learnt the secret that had been hidden in both their hearts until then. But from that moment we never had sight or sign of Mr. Felix, and he might as well have been buried on that day when he drove away in the snowstorm. Once, two years after, a rumour came that he was dead, killed in a frontier skirmish with some outlandish tribe, and Sir Jaspar looked a little ashamed of himself for some time after that; while Mr. How rejoiced, I could see, and thought that his way was clear, and his inheritance certain at last. Miss Ismay never spoke of him to either of them, but to mo she often talked about Mr. Felix, and she wore always in a little locket round her neck some dried petals of the flower 3 he had given to her. It was just the day before her birthday, three years after he went away, that she called me to her room. "Look here, Lucy," she said, and her eyes were sparkling, and her lips quivering, "I am certain this is Felix. I Read it." She showed me a para- • graph in the morning paper about a Mr. Felix Lawrence—those were his , Christian nanus- who had just been rescued from captivity in the Soudan. "Mr. Lawrence," it said, "made a daring entry into the citadel of Amos i Pasha, one of the leading rebel chiefs, ! who as a renegade British subject has i been specially inimical to his compatriots. Ho succeeded in rescuing two - English officers who had fallen into the • Pasha's hands, and who with his aid • effected their escape, but ho himself ■ was captured by treachery, and has for live months suffered the greatest tor- > turos and indignities at Ames Pasha's ' hands. In spite of this he has on

several occasions contrived to send news to our troops, and not only to save them from disaster and defeat, but to give them such important information as enabled them to conquer the Pasha, and crush the rebellion." "They gave him a banquet at the Cecil last night," said Miss Ismay, "and he made a brilliant speech. I am certain it is Felix." Mr. Hew happened to como in at that moment, and ho said with a sneer, "You credit my poor cousin with a marvellous power then ; a year ago we had authentic news of his* death." (To be Continued.)