More Pages from a Journal | Page 7

my emotion, to warrant an Eden for us in the
future?'
'Mr. Goacher, you take me by surprise. I cannot conceal my regard for
you, but you will not expect an answer upon a matter of such moment
until I have given it most mature consideration. Miss Taggart will be
here directly: I think I hear the bell.'
Mr. Goacher slowly rose: Miss Taggart appeared and announced that
the rooms were secured.
To end this part of the story, it may be added that in about a fortnight
Mr. Goacher's throat was quite well, and he announced to Mrs. Poulter
his intention of resuming active work in the Church. The marriage,

therefore, was no longer delayed.
A little while afterwards Mrs. Goacher discovered that her husband had
been a missionary in the service of the Church Missionary Society and
had consequently been Low, that he had been returned a little damaged
in character; and that resumption of active work was undesirable.
Mrs. Mudge had lunch and tea with a friend. When she came back Miss
Toller told her what had happened.
'I dare say you'll blame me. It was wrong to let my temper get the better
of me, but I could not help it.'
'Help it? The wonder to me is you've stood it so long. I couldn't stand
them; I should have left if they hadn't. Have they paid you?'
'Yes.'
'What, that Goacher? Then he borrowed it!' and Mrs. Mudge laughed
till she cried.
The day wore on and no carrier came for the box. After dinner Miss
Toller told Mrs. Mudge she must go out for a few minutes to get a
charwoman; that she would take the latch-key, and that nobody would
call. She had gone about a quarter of an hour when there was a ring at
the bell. Mrs. Mudge went to the door and, behold, there was Helen!
'The Lord have mercy on us! Why did you run away so suddenly?'
'Don't ask me. Never you say a word about it to me. I'm a sinner:
where's Miss Toller?'
Helen listened in silence as Mrs. Mudge told her the eventful history of
the last twelve hours. She went upstairs: Miss Toller's bedroom door
was open, and on the drawers she saw a little packet tied up with blue
silk.
It was addressed 'for dear Helen.' She tore it open, and there was a
locket and in it was her beloved mistress's hair--the mistress to whom

she had been so cruel, who had so nobly defended her. She threw
herself on the bed and her heart almost broke. Suddenly she leaped up,
flew down into the kitchen, and began washing up the plates and dishes.
Miss Toller was away for nearly an hour; her search for a charwoman
was unsuccessful, and she came back dejected. Helen rushed to meet
her and they embraced one another.
'O Miss Toller, forgive me! When I saw you sitting with that Poulter
and that Goacher, the Devil got the better of me, but--'
'Hush, my dear; I oughtn't to have gone, and never any more from this
day call me Miss Toller. Call me Mary, always from this day-- you
promise me?' and Miss Toller kissed Helen's quivering lips.
Miss Toller did all she could to get other boarders, but none came and
she had a hard time. It was difficult for her sometimes to find a dinner
for herself and Helen. Good Mrs. Mudge was delicately considerate
and often said, 'that meat need not come up again,' and purposely
ordered more than she and Miss Everard could eat, but the butcher's bill
and the milk bill were not paid so regularly as heretofore. Worse than
privation, worse than debt, was the vain watching for inquiries and
answers to her advertisement. What would become of her? Where
could she go? Three more boarders she must have or she could not live,
and there was no prospect of one. If by great good luck she could
obtain three, they might not stay and the dismal struggle would begin
again. Lodging-house keepers are not the heroines of novels and poems,
but if endurance, wrestling with adversity, hoping in despair, be virtues,
the eternal scales will drop in favour of many underground basements
against battlefields. At last, after one or two pressing notices from
landlord and rate- collector, Mrs. Mudge and Miss Everard were
informed that Russell House was to be given up. She and Helen must
seek situations as servants.
Mrs. Mudge and Miss Everard went away at the end of the month. On
the dining-room table after they had gone Miss Toller found two
envelopes directed to her. Inside were some receipts. Mrs. Mudge had
paid all the rent due to the end of Miss Toller's term, and Miss Everard