A happy woman
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Transcriber's notes: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
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A HAPPY WOMAN
BY
AMY LE FEUVRE
AUTHOR OF "TOMINA IN RETREAT," "THE MENDER,"
"DUDLEY NAPIER'S DAUGHTERS," ETC., ETC.
_"The joy of the Lord is your strength"_
LONDON
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
4 BOUVERIE STREET, E.C.4
Made in Great Britain
OTHER BOOKS BY
AMY LE FEUVRE
—————————————
A BIT OF ROUGH ROAD
BRIDGET'S QUARTER-DECK
THE CHISEL
A DAUGHTER OF THE SEA
THE DISCOVERY OF DAMARIS
HEATHER'S MISTRESS
HER HUSBAND'S PROPERTY
JOYCE AND THE RAMBLER
THE MENDER
ODD MADE EVEN
OLIVE TRACEY
TOMINA IN RETREAT
THE MAKING OF A WOMAN
THE CHATEAU BY THE LAKE
DWELL DEEP
ON THE EDGE OF A MOOR
THE CARVED CUPBOARD
OF ALL BOOKSHOPS
TO
MY SISTER CHARLOTTE
CONTENTS
BOOK I
CHAPTER
I. HER BROTHER'S NEWS
II. AN UNCOMFORTABLE HOUSE
III. A ROW UPON THE LAKE
IV. SPRINGTIME
V. A DAY OUT
VI. THE SECRET TROUBLE
VII. THE INVALID IMPROVES
VIII. A MAN'S DETERMINATION
IX. A DIFFICULT MEETING
X. GRAHAM'S DEPARTURE
XI. A YOUNG VISITOR
XII. "TOO GOOD TO LAST"
XIII. COUSIN ANNA'S HEIR
XIV. A SUMMONS TO TOWN
BOOK II
I. A MOVE TO THE COUNTRY
II. UNWELCOME NEWS
III. MAKING FRIENDS
IV. GRAHAM AND HIS WIFE
V. TROUBLE AT THE HALL
VI. AN EVENING TALK
VII. TOWN LIFE AGAIN
VIII. GRAHAM'S VISIT
IX. A DAY OF SUNSHINE
X. THEIR FUTURE HOME
A HAPPY WOMAN
BOOK I
CHAPTER I
HER BROTHER'S NEWS
THE fire blazed away cheerfully in the grate, throwing flickers of
light across the dusky room.
Sara sat in an easy-chair with her feet on the fender. There was a
quiet serenity and grace about her attitude; her needlework was upon
a small table by her side. Just now she was idle; her slender capable
hands were clasped in her lap, but her large heavily fringed grey eyes
were perplexed with busy anxious thought.
Her surroundings, if not luxurious, were essentially cosy and
homelike. The carpet was a thick Turkey, the leather chairs and large
Chesterfield couch drawn up on the other side of the fire looked made
for comfort. There were two handsome bookcases, a piano, and a large
writing-table between two long narrow windows. But the sporting prints
on the walls, the pipe-racks over the chimney-piece, and the scent of
tobacco in the room were evidences that this was more of a man's room
than a woman's. And yet there were feminine touches in the gracefully
grouped flowers in glass bowls, and in the indescribable woman's
impress on it all.
Sara herself was an attractive figure—not strictly beautiful, but she
had a bright lovable face, which changed perpetually from grave to
gay; a face that one learnt to watch with increasing interest, for it
mirrored a happy and beautiful soul. She had a way of twinkling her
eyes, and pulling down the corners of her mouth when she was amused,
and Sara had the gift of humour in no small degree. Now she was very
serious, and a wistful look had crept into her soft eyes.
Outside there was a distant rumble and roar of motors and 'buses.
The street itself was a quiet one, taxis occasionally dashed past
the house, but there was a continual tramp on the pavement. In a few
minutes, she raised her head.
A taxi had stopped at the door; she heard the click of a latchkey
inserted in the lock, for her door was open; then she heard voices and
steps coming along the hall. For an instant she rose from her chair,
and stood irresolute, then with a quick-caught breath, she reseated
herself. And the next moment a young man and a very pretty girl stood
before her.
"Here we are, Sara! Give us your blessing!"
Sara was on her feet again, she held out both hands to the girl; then
stooping, for she was fully a head the taller of the two, she kissed
her warmly.
"We shall be sisters now, Milly. I am so very glad."
"And so am I," said Milly, prettily. "I have always admired you so
much; and Arnold and I have been saying that you must always live with
us. I couldn't be happy if I felt that I was turning you out of your
home."
Sara winced, then she laughed.
"We need not talk about that," she said, "but I thank you for your
thought of me."
Then Arnold drew the most comfortable chair towards the fire and seated
Milly in it.
"We'll have tea down here, eh?" he asked. "Just as we do when we want
to be cosy."
"I'm afraid Lacy has laid it in the drawing-room with unusual pomp and
splendour. You'll hurt her feelings dreadfully if you make her alter
her arrangements."
Milly laughed.
"You're always in such bondage to Lacy; now, in our house, our servants
do what we want; we don't do what they want!"
Sara looked at the girl reflectively.
"Yes," she said after a pause, "that's the orthodox way, of course, but
fifteen years of faithful service makes one's heart tender."
"Oh, well," laughed Arnold, "let us come along up, then. It is in
honour of you, Milly, so we won't grieve the poor old soul!"
They went upstairs into a pretty drawing-room. A sweet-faced elderly
woman was putting the finishing touches to a round table wheeled up to
the fire.
"Here, Lacy, is the future Mrs. Arnold Darlington. Don't you think I'm
a lucky man?"
Lacy looked up and almost made an old-fashioned curtsey.
"I wish you both well, sir," she said sedately, but she did not look
overwhelmingly glad as she spoke.
"I'm sure Lacy doesn't approve of me," said Milly, when the old servant
had left the room. "She never did, not from the first day I came to see
Sara here."
Arnold laughed happily. Lacy's opinion was of small importance to him
at this present moment.
Sara took her place at the tea-table, and talk flowed on in an easy
fashion. Milly was slightly excited by her new position, and full of
plans for the future.
"We're going to be married next month," she announced. "We've talked it
all over and settled the day, and my dress, and everything. We've known
each other for two years, and there's nothing to wait for."
"Nothing in the world," responded Arnold fervently; "and we're going
to make a flying visit to Paris, and then will settle in here straight
away."
"You take my breath away with such rapidity," said Sara. "And what do
the parents say, Milly?"
"Arnold is coming to dinner to-night, and then the whole thing will
be settled," said Milly, her eyes roving round the room as she spoke.
"Sara dear, don't you think the curtains rather shabby here? I love
blue in a room. Pale blue Roman satin would be lovely. What do you say,
Arnold?"
"Anything you like," was the answer of the reckless lover. "I suppose
the house ought to be done up a bit. You'll see to that, eh, Sara?"
"Oh," said Milly, eagerly, "you must let me have my say in it. I love
getting new furniture and having fresh paint and papers in a house."
"Yes, it will be your right," said Sara, looking across at the girl
with a friendly smile; "and I can't promise to supervise things, for I
shall be away."
"Away?" gasped Arnold. "Why, Sara, you've never left me. Where can you
go?"
"Ah!" said Sara, with a laugh and mysterious nod. "That's 'my' secret!"
Her brother looked at her wonderingly, but Milly claimed his attention.
She did not seem surprised by Sara's statement, and the young couple
did not stay long after tea.
Milly invited Sara to dinner that evening, but she declined the
invitation.
"It will be better for Arnold to meet your parents alone," she said,
and she saw the relief in Milly's face as she spoke.
When they had left the house, Sara walked downstairs again to the
smoking-room, and sat down at the writing-table to answer a letter
which had come by the morning post, and which had been in her thoughts
all the day. She sealed it and stamped it, then stood up, and clasping
her hands behind her neck, looked at herself in the low mirror over the
fireplace.
"You're strong and comfortable looking," she murmured, giving her
reflection a little nod of approval, "not very young or flighty. And
you've learnt, or you ought to have learnt, to have an unlimited amount
of patience and forbearance to draw from when required. And you must
buck up and do what thousands of other women are doing, for you have
most assuredly burnt your boats behind you now."
Then she added, with a sudden inspiration—
"I'll run over and see Miss Grafton. I won't sit brooding and mooding,
and fermenting the feeling of injury and neglect!"
To say was to do with her. She swiftly went upstairs to her bedroom,
and wrapping a fur cloak around her, sped down the stairs out into the
cold foggy street.
Across the square, she knocked at a house in a terrace.
The door was opened, and a minute later she was shaking hands with a
bright-faced little old lady upon an invalid couch.
"My dear Sara! You whirl in like a fresh breeze. Isn't my room very
warm? My dragon will have the windows shut to-night! And the fire is
big enough to roast an ox. Now, what is your news?"
"What I have expected for a long time. Arnold and Milly are engaged."
"What fools young men can be!"
"Now, don't be nasty. She really is devoted to him, and he to her. They
have a lot to learn, but they will learn it like every one else."
"And when is the wedding coming off?"
"Almost immediately. In a month's time. There is no reason why they
should wait. Arnold has a handsome income, and she, you know, has
plenty of money."
"I hope we are not going to lose you."
"In about three weeks," said Sara, slowly, "I shall be in the wilds of
Westmorland, living with a lonely widow in the capacity of a companion
and help."
"My dear girl!"
Little Miss Grafton looked genuinely shocked and disturbed.
She cast her memory back to the day when the rising young barrister had
come to the opposite house to live with his sister. She had known their
old home in Berkshire; their father had been a small country squire
there. And Sara had hunted with him four days a week during the winter,
and had house-parties of young friends all the summer. She had paid
occasional visits to town after she had been presented at Court, and
had always had plenty of admirers amongst her friends. But since her
father's death, and the break-up of the old home, Sara had withdrawn
herself from much social gaiety.
Mr. Darlington's affairs were found to be in a shocking state after
his death. The estate had to be sold to pay off the accumulated mass
of debts, and Sara came to live with her brother with only an income
of fifty pounds a year which had come to her through her mother. She
and her brother had been all in all to each other till the usual thing