The Man Between [30]
Park. A visit at such an early hour was unusual, and the old lady looked at him in alarm.
"We are well, mother," he said as she rose. "I called to talk to you about a little business." Whereupon Madam sat down, and became suddenly about twenty years younger, for "business" was a word like a watch-cry; she called all her senses together when it was uttered in her presence.
"Business!" she ejaculated sharply. "Whose business?"
"I think I may say the business of the whole family."
"Nay, I am not in it. My business is just as I want it, and I am not going to talk about it--one way or the other."
"Is not Rawdon Court of some interest to you? It has been the home and seat of the family for many centuries. A good many. Mostyn women have been its mistress."
"I never heard of any Mostyn woman who would not have been far happier away from Rawdon Court. It was a Calvary to them all. There was little Nannie Mostyn, who died with her first baby because Squire Anthony struck her in a drunken passion; and the proud Alethia Mostyn, who suffered twenty years' martyrdom from Squire John; and Sara, who took thirty thousand pounds to Squire Hubert, to fling away at the green table; and Harriet, who was made by her husband, Squire Humphrey, to jump a fence when out hunting with him, and was brought home crippled and scarred for life--a lovely girl of twenty who went through agonies for eleven years without aught of love and help, and died alone while he was following a fox; and there was pretty Barbara Mostyn----"
"Come, come, mother. I did not call here this morning to hear the Rawdons abused, and you forget your own marriage. It was a happy one, I am sure. One Rawdon, at least, must be excepted; and I think I treated my wife as a good husband ought to treat a wife."
"Not you! You treated Mary very badly."
"Mother, not even from you----"
"I'll say it again. The little girl was dying for a year or more, and you were so busy making money you never saw it. If she said or looked a little complaint, you moved restless-like and told her `she moped too much.' As the end came I spoke to you, and you pooh-poohed all I said. She went suddenly, I know, to most people, but she knew it was her last day, and she longed so to see you, that I sent a servant to hurry you home, but she died before you could make up your mind to leave your `cases.' She and I were alone when she whispered her last message for you--a loving one, too."
"Mother! Mother! Why recall that bitter day? I did not think--I swear I did not think----"
"Never mind swearing. I was just reminding you that the Rawdons have not been the finest specimens of good husbands. They make landlords, and judges, and soldiers, and even loom-lords of a very respectable sort; but husbands! Lord help their poor wives! So you see, as a Mostyn woman, I have no special interest in Rawdon Court."
"You would not like it to go out of the family?"
"I should not worry myself if it did."
"I suppose you know Fred Mostyn has a mortgage on it that the present Squire is unable to lift."
"Aye, Fred told me he had eighty thousand pounds on the old place. I told him he was a fool to put his money on it."
"One of the finest manors and manor- houses in England, mother."
"I have seen it. I was born and brought up near enough to it, I think."
"Eighty thousand pounds is a bagatelle for the place; yet if Fred forces a sale, it may go for that, or even less. I can't bear to think of it."
"Why not buy it yourself?"
"I would lift the mortgage to-morrow if I had the means. I have not at present."
"Well, I am in the same box. You have just spoken as if the Mostyns and Rawdons had an equal interest in Rawdon Court. Very well, then, it cannot be far wrong for Fred Mostyn to have it. Many a Mostyn has gone there as wife and slave. I would dearly like to see one Mostyn go as master."
"I shall get no help from you, then, I understand that."
"I'm Mostyn by birth, I'm only Rawdon by, marriage. The birth-band ties me fast to my family."
"Good morning, mother. You have
"We are well, mother," he said as she rose. "I called to talk to you about a little business." Whereupon Madam sat down, and became suddenly about twenty years younger, for "business" was a word like a watch-cry; she called all her senses together when it was uttered in her presence.
"Business!" she ejaculated sharply. "Whose business?"
"I think I may say the business of the whole family."
"Nay, I am not in it. My business is just as I want it, and I am not going to talk about it--one way or the other."
"Is not Rawdon Court of some interest to you? It has been the home and seat of the family for many centuries. A good many. Mostyn women have been its mistress."
"I never heard of any Mostyn woman who would not have been far happier away from Rawdon Court. It was a Calvary to them all. There was little Nannie Mostyn, who died with her first baby because Squire Anthony struck her in a drunken passion; and the proud Alethia Mostyn, who suffered twenty years' martyrdom from Squire John; and Sara, who took thirty thousand pounds to Squire Hubert, to fling away at the green table; and Harriet, who was made by her husband, Squire Humphrey, to jump a fence when out hunting with him, and was brought home crippled and scarred for life--a lovely girl of twenty who went through agonies for eleven years without aught of love and help, and died alone while he was following a fox; and there was pretty Barbara Mostyn----"
"Come, come, mother. I did not call here this morning to hear the Rawdons abused, and you forget your own marriage. It was a happy one, I am sure. One Rawdon, at least, must be excepted; and I think I treated my wife as a good husband ought to treat a wife."
"Not you! You treated Mary very badly."
"Mother, not even from you----"
"I'll say it again. The little girl was dying for a year or more, and you were so busy making money you never saw it. If she said or looked a little complaint, you moved restless-like and told her `she moped too much.' As the end came I spoke to you, and you pooh-poohed all I said. She went suddenly, I know, to most people, but she knew it was her last day, and she longed so to see you, that I sent a servant to hurry you home, but she died before you could make up your mind to leave your `cases.' She and I were alone when she whispered her last message for you--a loving one, too."
"Mother! Mother! Why recall that bitter day? I did not think--I swear I did not think----"
"Never mind swearing. I was just reminding you that the Rawdons have not been the finest specimens of good husbands. They make landlords, and judges, and soldiers, and even loom-lords of a very respectable sort; but husbands! Lord help their poor wives! So you see, as a Mostyn woman, I have no special interest in Rawdon Court."
"You would not like it to go out of the family?"
"I should not worry myself if it did."
"I suppose you know Fred Mostyn has a mortgage on it that the present Squire is unable to lift."
"Aye, Fred told me he had eighty thousand pounds on the old place. I told him he was a fool to put his money on it."
"One of the finest manors and manor- houses in England, mother."
"I have seen it. I was born and brought up near enough to it, I think."
"Eighty thousand pounds is a bagatelle for the place; yet if Fred forces a sale, it may go for that, or even less. I can't bear to think of it."
"Why not buy it yourself?"
"I would lift the mortgage to-morrow if I had the means. I have not at present."
"Well, I am in the same box. You have just spoken as if the Mostyns and Rawdons had an equal interest in Rawdon Court. Very well, then, it cannot be far wrong for Fred Mostyn to have it. Many a Mostyn has gone there as wife and slave. I would dearly like to see one Mostyn go as master."
"I shall get no help from you, then, I understand that."
"I'm Mostyn by birth, I'm only Rawdon by, marriage. The birth-band ties me fast to my family."
"Good morning, mother. You have