CHAPTER IX. CAPITULATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 251, 22 February 1878, Page 3

CHAPTER IX. CAPITULATION.

The nest morning when we met at breakfast Florence was silent and abstracted. She abstained alike from provoking retort, and audacious assertion, and allowed Mr. Knowles to deal forth much edifying talk "without so much as a single contradiction ; nay, more, when Oswald rallied her on her unusual taciturnity, she could find nothing more brilliant to say by way of answer than that it was so hot. Plans for the day were brought under discussion, including a visit to Exdale Church, Mr. Knowles being desirous ihat the questions in debate about the restoration should be settled on the spot. Mary goodnaturedly consented to accompany him, but Florence pleaded a previous engagement. She was pledged, she said, to escort Edward and the children on a fishing expedition, and shortly after breakfast we saw them depart in the pony-chaise, with a great array of baskets and fishing-rods, Florence herself being the driver. Oswald had challenged the duke and myself to a ride over the property. There was much to examine and talk about — proposed improvements, the repairing and building of farms and rebuilding of cottages, on all which questions Grant was an authority, and displayed his accustomed clear head and knowledge of business. It was late in the afternoon when we returned from our ride, and on reaching the . house, we found chat the fishing party had preceded us only by a i<i\v minutes, and were in the act of descending from the pony-chaise. "What a lather old Dobbin is in " said Oswald. What have you been doing with him, Florry ? " ' ; Dobbin was naughty and ran away," said Mary. "He wouldn't have run," said Alexia, "if Aunt Florry hadn't given him the whip." " Naughty ponies deserve the whip," said Florence. " Now be quick or you'll be late for tea, and I shall get a scolding from the nursery authorities," and the two little girls disappeared from the fecene, Edward remaining behind to witness the departure of the horses for the stable. Before she turned into the house, Florence patted the old pony kindly, and made much of him. I looked at her, and I thought she looked pale and agitated. Grant drew Edward aside. " Has anything been wrong ? " he said. Did old Dobbin really bolt ? " "It was Florence made liim," said Edward. " You see we came home over the downs, and when we reached Baker's Bit (that's where the road turns sharp off from the cliff into the lane), a white donkey came out from the hedge, and startled him, and he shied, and backed to the edge. So Florence gave him a sharp cut, and he set off at a gallop, and Lexy called it running away. He pulled up when he came to the hill, and Florry turned, round, and said : " That was a close shave, Edward ; were you frightened ? ' And I said I was a little, you know, but I told her I had said a ' Hail Mary' and an ' Angel of God,' that we might not go over the cliff, and we didn't." •' I see," said Grant, and ne said, no more. We all met in the drawing-room before dinner. '• How pale you look, Florence,'" said Mary. '" No wonder," said Oswald. " That very high-mettled steed, Dobbin, is reported to have bolted with her. " Oh, it was only the children's nonsense," said Florence. " Dobbin gave a stretch or two just after we passed the Baker's Bit, and Alexia liked to call it running away. By-the-by, Charley, I wonder you don't get posts or something put up there ; the road goes amazingly near the edge of the cliff." "Of course it does," said Oswald. " That's where" the baker's cart went clown, horse and all, so, at least says the Exdale tradition," " Well, I think you ought to prevent the butcher from following him," said Florence, and there the matter dropped. Guests arrived and we went to dinner. Florence had for her next door neighbour an. old gentleman who appeared to be prosy ; but t.he gave him her undivided attention, or seemed to do so. For all conversational purposes, however, she was extinguished, and I was left to speculate whether this result was due to the achievements of the duke or of Dobbin.

During the rest of the evening, Grant had to receive and to return the attentions of the company invited to meet him. But he was one who never forgot, and he watched his opportunity. At a convenient moment when the buzz was general, he found means to approach Florry, and address her without observation. Engaged at a chess* table within car-shot, I was able, while considering the next [move of my queen, to catch their dialogue. "Am I right," said Grant, "in supposing that the drive to-day, by Baker's Bit was not altogether pleasant ? " " She looked at him. Has Edward told you? " she said ; then, after a moment, " I don't want Mary to hear about it ; but the pony, backed ; it's a horrid place ; we were all but falling?' " Was there really danger I ', " Yes," she replied ; " the left wheel must have been over ; I don't know how much Edward saw, but I could see clear down the cliff, two hundred feet to the bottom." " A terrible moment," said the duke. " I have known such in my life : they condense into a second the sensations of years." " They do, indeed," said Florence, " and they clear away many clouds. Then she was silent, but it was a silence that seemed to indicate that there was something- more she half desired to say. Grant did not hurry her ; he held his tongue, and gave her time to gather up her courage ; and at last she found her voice, but it was a very husky one. " I remember your words : I shall never forget them. It is all confussion now, but they will lead me somewhere, I don't yet know where. Only this I want to say : Wlwn I loolied down that pree'vpice I felt that He mas viy Master." •' And I think that is check-mate," said my adversaiy, a mild young parson, astonished at his own success ; but in truth my soul had been rather in my ears than in my eyes, and in my joy at Florry's capitulation I lost my queen and my game. " It's all right," I said : " some losses are a real victory." He stared, as well he might ; and I daresay it was next day reported in Exdale that Mrs. Oswald's brother was more than a little eccentric. " You will let me give you your revenge," he said, replacing the pieces, whilst I continued to play the eaves-dropper ; but there was little more to hear ; only the duke's parting words. "Well, that's all as it should be ; and if you remember imj words, don't forget little Edward's." " How so 1 " "At the edge of the precipice he prayed, and you were saved ; it was a lesson." " Yes, yes," said Florence. " I know what you mean ; I thought of it when he told me." And so the conversation ended. The next morning we left Exdale for a week at Glenleven. Edward was left behind, Florence pledging herself that he should come to no harm, and that riding and fishing should not altogether banish the Latin Grammer. Grant was silent for a while as we drove away ; at last he said : "You were right about that poor child, and I was wrong. One is always wrong in judging that people have no hearts. Everyone has one, only they can't always find it." " I suspect Florry found hers at the edge of Baker's Bit," I said. " Yes, and she was a brave girl, too, to hold her tongue about that adventure for fear of frightening Mary. Most women would have jabbered about it for a fdrtnight." '• The daughters of Eve do not certainly owe you much in the way of compliment," I said : " but my belief is that Florence only needs the faith to rise far above the average, She is a good way off yet, though." " Yes,', said Grant, " but she is in the right way. We must get them to say a lot of rosaries for her at Glenleven."