第17章 A TRAGEDY OF TWO AMBITIONS(4)

Determined as was his nature,he wept hot tears upon the books,and was immeasurably more wretched that afternoon than the unwelcome millwright.In the evening he sat down and wrote a letter to his brother,in which,after stating what had happened,and expatiating upon this new disgrace in the gipsy wife,he propounded a plan for raising money sufficient to induce the couple to emigrate to Canada.

'It is our only chance,'he said.'The case as it stands is maddening.For a successful painter,sculptor,musician,author,who takes society by storm,it is no drawback,it is sometimes even a romantic recommendation,to hail from outcasts and profligates.But for a clergyman of the Church of England!Cornelius,it is fatal!

To succeed in the Church,people must believe in you,first of all,as a gentleman,secondly as a man of means,thirdly as a scholar,fourthly as a preacher,fifthly,perhaps,as a Christian,--but always first as a gentleman,with all their heart and soul and strength.Iwould have faced the fact of being a small machinist's son,and have taken my chance,if he'd been in any sense respectable and decent.

The essence of Christianity is humility,and by the help of God Iwould have brazened it out.But this terrible vagabondage and disreputable connection!If he does not accept my terms and leave the country,it will extinguish us and kill me.For how can we live,and relinquish our high aim,and bring down our dear sister Rosa to the level of a gipsy's step-daughter?'

CHAPTER III

There was excitement in the parish of Narrobourne one day.The congregation had just come out from morning service,and the whole conversation was of the new curate,Mr.Halborough,who had officiated for the first time,in the absence of the rector.

Never before had the feeling of the villagers approached a level which could be called excitement on such a matter as this.The droning which had been the rule in that quiet old place for a century seemed ended at last.They repeated the text to each other as a refrain:'O Lord,be thou my helper!'Not within living memory till to-day had the subject of the sermon formed the topic of conversation from the church door to church-yard gate,to the exclusion of personal remarks on those who had been present,and on the week's news in general.

The thrilling periods of the preacher hung about their minds all that day.The parish being steeped in indifferentism,it happened that when the youths and maidens,middle-aged and old people,who had attended church that morning,recurred as by a fascination to what Halborough had said,they did so more or less indirectly,and even with the subterfuge of a light laugh that was not real,so great was their shyness under the novelty of their sensations.

What was more curious than that these unconventional villagers should have been excited by a preacher of a new school after forty years of familiarity with the old hand who had had charge of their souls,was the effect of Halborough's address upon the occupants of the manor-house pew,including the owner of the estate.These thought they knew how to discount the mere sensational sermon,how to minimize flash oratory to its bare proportions;but they had yielded like the rest of the assembly to the charm of the newcomer.

Mr.Fellmer,the landowner,was a young widower,whose mother,still in the prime of life,had returned to her old position in the family mansion since the death of her son's wife in the year after her marriage,at the birth of a fragile little girl.From the date of his loss to the present time,Fellmer had led an inactive existence in the seclusion of the parish;a lack of motive seemed to leave him listless.He had gladly reinstated his mother in the gloomy house,and his main occupation now lay in stewarding his estate,which was not large.Mrs.Fellmer,who had sat beside him under Halborough this morning,was a cheerful,straightforward woman,who did her marketing and her alms-giving in person,was fond of old-fashioned flowers,and walked about the village on very wet days visiting the parishioners.These,the only two great ones of Narrobourne,were impressed by Joshua's eloquence as much as the cottagers.

Halborough had been briefly introduced to them on his arrival some days before,and,their interest being kindled,they waited a few moments till he came out of the vestry,to walk down the churchyard-path with him.Mrs.Fellmer spoke warmly of the sermon,of the good fortune of the parish in his advent,and hoped he had found comfortable quarters.

Halborough,faintly flushing,said that he had obtained very fair lodgings in the roomy house of a farmer,whom he named.

She feared he would find it very lonely,especially in the evenings,and hoped they would see a good deal of him.When would he dine with them?Could he not come that day--it must be so dull for him the first Sunday evening in country lodgings?

Halborough replied that it would give him much pleasure,but that he feared he must decline.'I am not altogether alone,'he said.'My sister,who has just returned from Brussels,and who felt,as you do,that I should be rather dismal by myself,has accompanied me hither to stay a few days till she has put my rooms in order and set me going.She was too fatigued to come to church,and is waiting for me now at the farm.'

'Oh,but bring your sister--that will be still better!I shall be delighted to know her.How I wish I had been aware!Do tell her,please,that we had no idea of her presence.'

Halborough assured Mrs.Fellmer that he would certainly bear the message;but as to her coming he was not so sure.The real truth was,however,that the matter would be decided by him,Rosa having an almost filial respect for his wishes.But he was uncertain as to the state of her wardrobe,and had determined that she should not enter the manor-house at a disadvantage that evening,when there would probably be plenty of opportunities in the future of her doing so becomingly.