My Lady Ludlow | Page 9

zealous in all his parish work; and my lady, who was just
as good as she could be to the poor, was often crying him up as a
godsend to the parish, and he never could send amiss to the Court when
he wanted broth, or wine, or jelly, or sago for a sick person. But he
needs must take up the new hobby of education; and I could see that

this put my lady sadly about one Sunday, when she suspected, I know
not how, that there was something to be said in his sermon about a
Sunday-school which he was planning. She stood up, as she had not
done since Mr. Mountford's death, two years and better before this time,
and said -
"Mr. Gray, I will not trouble you for a discourse this morning."
But her voice was not well-assured and steady; and we knelt down with
more of curiosity than satisfaction in our minds. Mr. Gray preached a
very rousing sermon, on the necessity of establishing a Sabbath- school
in the village. My lady shut her eyes, and seemed to go to sleep; but I
don't believe she lost a word of it, though she said nothing about it that
I heard until the next Saturday, when two of us, as was the custom,
were riding out with her in her carriage, and we went to see a poor
bedridden woman, who lived some miles away at the other end of the
estate and of the parish: and as we came out of the cottage we met Mr.
Gray walking up to it, in a great heat, and looking very tired. My lady
beckoned him to her, and told him she should wait and take him home
with her, adding that she wondered to see him there, so far from his
home, for that it was beyond a Sabbath-day's journey, and, from what
she had gathered from his sermon the last Sunday, he was all for
Judaism against Christianity. He looked as if he did not understand
what she meant; but the truth was that, besides the way in which he had
spoken up for schools and schooling, he had kept calling Sunday the
Sabbath: and, as her ladyship said, "The Sabbath is the Sabbath, and
that's one thing--it is Saturday; and if I keep it, I'm a Jew, which I'm not.
And Sunday is Sunday; and that's another thing; and if I keep it, I'm a
Christian, which I humbly trust I am."
But when Mr. Gray got an inkling of her meaning in talking about a
Sabbath-day's journey, he only took notice of a part of it: he smiled and
bowed, and said no one knew better than her ladyship what were the
duties that abrogated all inferior laws regarding the Sabbath; and that
he must go in and read to old Betty Brown, so that he would not detain
her ladyship.
"But I shall wait for you, Mr. Gray," said she. "Or I will take a drive
round by Oakfield, and be back in an hour's time." For, you see, she
would not have him feel hurried or troubled with a thought that he was
keeping her waiting, while he ought to be comforting and praying with

old Betty.
"A very pretty young man, my dears," said she, as we drove away. "But
I shall have my pew glazed all the same."
We did not know what she meant at the time; but the next Sunday but
one we did. She had the curtains all round the grand old Hanbury
family seat taken down, and, instead of them, there was glass up to the
height of six or seven feet. We entered by a door, with a window in it
that drew up or down just like what you see in carriages. This window
was generally down, and then we could hear perfectly; but if Mr. Gray
used the word "Sabbath," or spoke in favour of schooling and education,
my lady stepped out of her corner, and drew up the window with a
decided clang and clash.
I must tell you something more about Mr. Gray. The presentation to the
living of Hanbury was vested in two trustees, of whom Lady Ludlow
was one: Lord Ludlow had exercised this right in the appointment of
Mr. Mountford, who had won his lordship's favour by his excellent
horsemanship. Nor was Mr. Mountford a bad clergyman, as clergymen
went in those days. He did not drink, though he liked good eating as
much as any one. And if any poor person was ill, and he heard of it, he
would send them plates from his own dinner of what he himself liked
best; sometimes of dishes which were almost as bad as poison to sick
people. He meant