The eventful Thursday at length came.They were expected about dark,and ere dusk fires were lit upstairs and below;the kitchen was in perfect trim;Hannah and I were dressed, and all was in readiness.
St. John arrived first.I had entreated him to keep quite clear of the house till everything was arranged: and, indeed, the bare idea of the commotion, at once sordid and trivial, going on within its walls sufficed to scare him to estrangement. He found me in the kitchen, watching the progress of certain cakes for tea, then baking. Approaching the hearth, he asked, “If I was at last satisfied with housemaid’s work?” I answered by inviting him to accompany me on a general inspection of the result of my labours. With some difficulty, I got him to make the tour of the house. He just looked in at the doors I opened; and when he had wandered upstairs and downstairs, he said I must have gone through a great deal of fatigue and trouble to have effected such considerable changes in so short a time: but not a syllable did he utter indicating pleasure in the improved aspect of his abode.
This silence damped me.I thought perhaps the alterations had disturbed some old associations he valued. I inquired whether this was the case: no doubt in a somewhat crest-fallen tone.
“Not at all; he had, on the contrary,remarked that I had scrupulously respected every association:he feared, indeed, I must have bestowed more thought on the matter than it was worth. How many minutes, for instance, had I devoted to studying the arrangement of this very room?—By-the-bye, could I tell him where such a book was?”
I showed him the volume on the shelf: he took it down,and withdrawing to his accustomed window recess,he began to read it.
Now, I did not like this, reader. St.John was a good man;but I began to feel he had spoken truth of himself when he said he was hard and cold. The humanities and amenities of life had no attraction for him—its peaceful enjoyments no charm. Literally, he lived only to aspire—after what was good and great, certainly; but still he would never rest, nor approve of others resting round him. As I looked at his lofty forehead, still and pale as a white stone—at his fine lineaments fixed in study—I comprehended all at once that he would hardly make a good husband: that it would be a trying thing to be his wife. I understood, as by inspiration, the nature of his love for Miss Oliver; I agreed with him that it was but a love of the senses. I comprehended how he should despise himself for the feverish influence it exercised over him; how he should wish to stifle and destroy it; how he should mistrust its ever conducting permanently to his happiness or hers. I saw he was of the material from which nature hews her heroes—Christian and Pagan—her lawgivers, her statesmen, her conquerors: a steadfast bulwark for great interests to rest upon; but, at the fireside, too often a cold cumbrous column, gloomy and out of place.
“This parlour is not his sphere,” I reflected:“the Himalayan ridge or Caffre bush,even the plague-cursed Guinea Coast swamp would suit him better.Well may he eschew the calm of domestic life;it is not his element:there his faculties stagnate—they cannot develop or appear to advantage.It is in scenes of strife and danger—where courage is proved,and energy exercised,and fortitude tasked—that he will speak and move,the leader and superior.A merry child would have the advantage of him on this hearth.He is right to choose a missionary’s career—I see it now. ”
“They are coming!they are coming!” cried Hannah, throwing open the parlour door.At the same moment old Carlo barked joyfully.Out I ran. It was now dark;but a rumbling of wheels was audible.Hannah soon had a lantern lit.The vehicle had stopped at the wicket;the driver opened the door: first one well-known form,then another, stepped out.In a minute I had my face under their bonnets,in contact first with Mary’s soft cheek,then with Diana’s flowing curls.They laughed—kissed me—then Hannah: patted Carlo,who was half wild with delight;asked eagerly if all was well;and being assured in the affirmative,hastened into the house.
They were stiff with their long and jolting drive from Whitcross,and chilled with the frosty night air;but their pleasant countenances expanded to the cheerful firelight.While the driver and Hannah brought in the boxes,they demanded St. John.At this moment he advanced from the parlour.They both threw their arms round his neck at once.He gave each one quiet kiss,said in a low tone a few words of welcome,stood a while to be talked to, and then,intimating that he supposed they would soon rejoin him in the parlour,withdrew there as to a place of refuge.
I had lit their candles to go upstairs,but Diana had first to give hospitable orders respecting the driver;this done, both followed me.They were delighted with the renovation and decorations of their rooms;with the new drapery, and fresh carpets,and rich tinted china vases:they expressed their gratification ungrudgingly.I had the pleasure of feeling that my arrangements met their wishes exactly,and that what I had done added a vivid charm to their joyous return home.
Sweet was that evening. My cousins,full of exhilaration,were so eloquent in narrative and comment,that their fluency covered St. John’s taciturnity:he was sincerely glad to see his sisters;but in their glow of fervour and flow of joy he could not sympathise.The event of the day—that is,the return of Diana and Mary—pleased him;but the accompaniments of that event, the glad tumult,the garrulous glee of reception irked him:I saw he wished the calmer morrow was come.In the very meridian of the night’s enjoyment,about an hour after tea, a rap was heard at the door.Hannah entered with the intimation that “a poor lad was come,at that unlikely time, to fetch Mr.Rivers to see his mother, who was drawing away.”
“Where does she live, Hannah?”
“Clear up at Whitcross Brow, almost four miles off,and moor and moss all the way.”
“Tell him I will go.”
“I’m sure, sir, you had better not.It’s the worst road to travel after dark that can be:there’s no track at all over the bog.And then it is such a bitter night—the keenest wind you ever felt.You had better send word, sir,that you will be there in the morning.”