The Cockaynes in Paris | Page 5

ear of the Reverend Horace Mohun--griefs which she kept from the world. Before Lucy she spoke freely--being accustomed to regard the timid girl as a child still, whose mind could not gather the threads of her narrative. Lucy sate--not listening, but hearing snatches of the mournful circumstances with which Mrs. Rowe troubled Mr. Mohun. The reverend gentleman was a patient and an attentive listener; and drank his tea and ate his toast (it was only at Mrs. Rowe's he said he could ever get a good English round of toast), shaking his head, or offering a consoling "dear, dear me!" as the droning proceeded. Lucy was at work. If Mrs. Rowe caught her pausing she would break her story to say--"If you have finished 42 account, put down two candles to 10, and a foot-bath to 14." And Lucy--who seldom paused because she had finished her task, as her aunt knew well--bent over the table again, and was as content as she was weary. When she went up to her bedroom (which the cook had peremptorily refused to occupy) she prayed for good Aunt Rowe every night of her dull life, before she lay upon her truckle bed to rest for the morrow's cheerful round of hard duties. Was it likely that a child put thus into the harness of life, would pass the talk of her aunt with Mr. Mohun as the idle wind?
The mysteries which lay in the talk, and perplexed her, were cleared up in due time.
CHAPTER II.
HE'S HERE AGAIN!
"He has but stumbled in the path Thou hast in weakness trod."--A. A. PROCTER.
"He's here again, Mum."
He was there at the servant's entrance to the highly respectable boarding-house in the Rue Millevoye. It was five in the morning--a winter's morning.
Mrs. Rowe hastened from her room, behind the business parlour, in her dressing-gown, her teeth chattering, and her eyes flashing the fire of hate. The boarders sleeping upstairs would not have known the godly landlady, who glided about the house by day, rubbing her hands and hoping every soul under her roof was comfortable--or would at once complain to her, who lived only to make people comfortable--bills being but mere accidental accessories, fortuitously concurrent with the arrival of a cab and the descent of luggage.
"At the back door, mum, with his coat tucked over his ears, and such a cold in his head. Shall I show him in?"
"My life is a long misery, Jane," Mrs. Rowe said, under her voice.
"La! mum, it's quite safe. I'm sure I shouldn't trouble much about it--'specially in this country, as----"
"Silence!" Mrs. Rowe hissed. The thorns in her cross consisted chiefly of Jane's awkward attempts at consolation. "The villain is bent on my ruin. A bad boy he was; a bad man he is. Show him in; and see that Fran?ois doesn't come here. Get some coffee yourself, Jane, and bring it. Let the brute in."
"You're hard upon him, mum, indeed you are. I'm sure he'd be a credit to----"
"Go, and hold your tongue. You presume, Jane, on the privileges of an old servant."
"Indeed I hope not, mum; but----"
"Go!"
Jane went to summon the early visitor; and was heard talking amiably to him, as she led him to the bureau. "Now, you must be good, Mr. Charles, to-day, and not stay more than a quarter of an hour. Don't talk loud, like the last time; promise me. Missus means well--you know she does."
With an impatient "All right" the stranger pushed into the business parlour, and sharply closed the door.
Mrs. Rowe stood, her knuckles firmly planted upon the closed desk, her face rigidly set, to receive her visitor--keeping the table between him and herself. He was advancing to take her hand.
"Stand there," she said, with an authority he had not the courage to defy. He stood there--abashed, or hesitating as to the way in which he should enter upon his business.
"Well!" Mrs. Rowe said, firmly and impatiently.
Mr. Charles, stung by the manner, turned upon his victim. "Well!" he jeered, "yes, and well again, Mrs. Rowe. Is it necessary for me to explain myself? Do you think I have come to see you!"
"I have no money at present; I wrote you so."
"And I didn't believe you, and have come to fetch what you wouldn't send. If you think I'm going into a corner to starve for your personal satisfaction, you are very much mistaken. I'm surprised you don't understand me better by this time."
"You were a rascal, Charles, before you left school."
"School! Pretty school! D--n it, don't blame me--woman!"
Mrs. Rowe was alarmed by the outburst, lest it should wake some of the boarders.
"The Dean and his lady are sleeping overhead. If you don't respect me, think----"
"I'm not here to respect, or think about anybody. I'm cast alone into the world--tossed into it; left to shift for myself,