County versus counter : a novel
Monro, Theodore Russell
i\ \<^.^ f / -) s .>^^' \ ■^ \ «■> y. .qt<v'. L I B RARY OF THE U N 1 VLRSITY or ILLINOIS 823 V.2 .,*< ^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www .org/details/countyversuscoun02mbnr COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER Jl ^OOtl. BY THEODORE RUSSELL MONRO AUTHOR OF THE VAXDELEURS OF PvED TOR," "LOVE LOST, BUT HONOUR WON,' ETC., ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON : CHAPMAN & HALL, 193, PICCADILLY 1878. [All Rights Reserved.] ?A3 CONTENTS OF VOL. II. CHAPTKR rAOM. L A NEST OF HORNETS ----- 1 II. AN ACCOMPLISHED ADVENTURER- - - 14 III. THE PLAN OF THE CAIMPAIGN  FRIEND - 53 VIL HOW MAGGIE LAWRENCE  - 112 XL BEHIND THE VEIL 128 XXL MRS. hunt's CARPET DANCE - - - 143- XIIL CAAIILLA HOWARD FINDS GENTLEMEN IN- SIPID 150 XIV. THE TUG OF WAR 165 XV. barker's opinion of the "counter" - 17& XVL MISS PRISCILLA TURNS UP HER NOSE - - 185 IV CONTENTS. CIIAPTKR PAOB XVII. THE DANCE AT THE PAVILION - - - 199 XVIII. MISS PRISCILLA DEVELOPS A TALENT FOR INTRIGUE 215 XIX. BUNCOMBE TACTICS ----- 226 XX. MISS PRISCILLA'S DINNER-PARTY - - - 246 XXI. EVA AND DIANA 268 XXH. A RASH PROPOSAL 287 *>, COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. 00>H00 CHAPTEE I. A NEST OF HORNETS. N a little house in a dull street in Pimlieo, two ladies sat at supper towards the end of June. They had been to the theatre. The heat had been overpowering, and the play rather dull ; altogether both of them seemed in a dis- pirited^condition. There was champagne on the table, and seltzer and soda water. There was a cold fowl too, and a delicious salad ; but neither of the ladies seemed to have sufficient energy VOL. II. 18 2 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. even to draw a cork, much less to carve a fowl. There was a third place laid at table ; evidently some one else was expected, for w^hom these two were waiting. The elder of the two ladies was a little woman, plump, without being fat, with small features and expressive grey eyes. Her age appeared to be about thirty, but she looked young at night, and old in the morning ; old at any rate until her toilette for the day had been brought to a satisfactory conclusion, so that it was difficult to tell her age. This lady called herself Mrs. Astor. The younger woman was her sister, but extremely unlike her. She was a tall, litlie^ handsome brunette, a woman with pro- nounced features, which in a few years would make her look hard and stern, but which now were very handsome in a mas- culine style of beauty. Her eyes were very A XEST OF HORNETS. 3 dark and large, the lower part of her fi\ce rather heavy, but powerful and expressive. Handsome she undoubtedly was, but hers was not a pleasant face to look upon. It was cold, and set, and cruel. The lips were very tliin, and there was a cuii in them when- ever she spoke, which gave her a sneering and contemptuous look that was very far from agreeable to the majority of those who knew her. She did not appear to be more than eight and twenty, though she certainly was not less. Her name was Lizzy Mul- lins. In aU probability her godfathers and god- mothers, if she had ever had any, had given her the name of Elizabeth or Eliza ; but if so, it had never been made use of in her remembrance or her sister's. As far back as her memory would serve her, she had been Lizzy Mullins. The appearance of these two ladies was a 18—2 4 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. great contrast to their surroundings. The little back parlour in which supper had been laid was grimy, and almost squalid in its appearance ; the tablecloth was not clean, the forks and spoons were of dull metal, the willow-pattern plates were chipped all over, while the once gaudy mirror over the chimney-piece was cracked from end to end. The ladies' dress, on the contrary, was gorgeous in the extreme ; much more so than is at all usual with English women at the theatre ; while both of them were loaded Avith a profusion of jewels which the poverty of their surroundings stamped at once as ^^ Brummagem." Mrs. Astor wore a dress of pale pink satin, fitting very tightly to her plump little figure. Her neck and shoulders were bare, while she had but just laid aside a pair of pink gloves which reached almost to her dimpled elbows. A NEST OF HORNETS. 0 In her light brown hair, which was sprinkled with gold dust, she wore a paste diamond star and a small spray of pink heather, where her hair was gathered up in a knot at the back of her shapely little head. Miss Mullins looked superb in white silk, trimmed with gold oak-leaves and acorns, wherever such could be placed ; she wore them in her hair, at her breast, as shoulder- knots, and round the skirt of her dress, and her large white aiTQS were covered with bangles, and her neck with a cascade of gleaming glass. Both sisters were delicately tinted : Mrs. Astor pink. Miss Mullins a creamy white ; but the heat of the theatre had told on their complexions, and the result was somewhat streaky and forlorn. '^ Liz," said the elder sister suddenly, " I can't stand this sort of life much Ioniser. It is weary, weary w^ork, and we shall do no b COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. good in ' the little village ;' suppose we try elsewhere ?" " Where on earth are we to go ?" said Liz ; " and where is the money to be found r Mrs. Astor sighed. " Give me the cham- pagne/' she said ; '^ perhaps I shall find an idea when I am less weary. We have come to the end of our tether, my dear, and it will have to be ' neck or nothing.' " She drank off a tumbler of champagne, and passed the bottle to her sister, who refreshed herself in like manner. ''Whatever happens we must make our- selves scarce out of this," said Mrs. Astor. " Duns are becoming too importunate, and the old woman here is beginning to smell a rat." " Let her smell," said Liz; '^she can find out nothing. She must have known we were hard-up, or we should never have come to A NEST OF HORNETS. 7 this beggarly hole ; as long as we can pay her her rent, I don't see what she can say." " Has young Darell said anything more ? You ought to have been able to make him propose to you by tliis time." '' He's not such a fool. These young- London men are too wide-awake for that ; one must find a green country bumpkin for that sort of dodge." '^ How much money have you left from the last breach of promise case, Liz ?" '' Barely thirty pounds. Fancy only land- ing three hundred after all that fuss and bother !" *' It might have been worse," said Mrs. Astor. " He might have preferred to many you rather than part with his money. He was a close-fisted old skinflint." " I think I could have kept out of that trouble," said Liz, laughing. '* He would 8 C;OUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. have been glad to be quit of me at double- the damages." " I think the juiy^would have given you more, my dear, had it been your first pubhc disappointment. Let me see, what did you get from young Jenkyns ?" " Only a thousand," said Liz. " I ought to have had two at least." *' And from young Hopkins ?" " You forget that never came before the- court," said Liz. '•' His father gave me five hundred to hold my tongue, and let the young fool marry his cousin." *^ Ah ! so he did. I had forgotten," said Mrs. Astor dreamily. " Well, we must fish in other waters. Only I do so hate being exiled from London. I would try Paris^ only I can't speak a word of French." '' What sort of fish do you want, Anne ?" " Breaches of promise won't do for me ; I could never go into court after all the scandal A NEST OF HORNETS. y* there has been. I suppose I shall have to get married again I Ugh !" and Mrs. Astor actually shuddered at the idea of matrimony. '' Well, I must admit you had a bad time of it, Anne. Ho^yeve^, you have gained your experience ; of course you ^\ill never make such a goose of yourself again." '' I don't know that. What other course is open to me ? As I said before, breaches of promise are worthless to me now ; as a divorcee no jury would give me a farthing, and I should have to pay costs for the amuse- ment of hearing the man's letters read in public. Xo ! I shall have to marry again ; but I'll take care to choose better than I did last time, and I'll have a sum of money down before the ring is on, on my next matrimonial journey." '' Ah ! if you did that, you might slip the noose and keep the money." '' My dear Liz, I am getting old and faded ; 10 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. I don't mean to tempt fortune too far. If I can get a good offer, I shall take it, provided the man is one I can manage and I have a good settlement. It is not the state of marriage that is objectionable to me as it is to you. It was the husband fate had mated me with. Heavens ! how I did loathe that man !" '' Where is he now ?" '* I am sure I don't know, and don't care ; I only hope he may never cross my path again." " Still you can't say you treated him well, can you ?" ''He treated me worse than I treated him ; but I never put detectives on him as he did on me. If I had, he would never have been able to get his divorce, that I'll swear." ''It is a pity that other one died ! Do you think he would have married you V A NEST OF HORNETS. 11 ** Married me ! Of course he would. He was one of the best and kindest fellows in •creation, and he was only waiting for the decree nisi to be made absolute to make me his wife ;" Mrs. Astor laid her head on her hands and burst into a flood of tears. " That's just the worst of you, Anne," said her sister in a hard tone. " You always will show up soft just at the wrong time. If you had no heart at all, like me, you would be ten times happier than you are. Here, have ^another glass of ' fiz.' The man is dead, and there's an end of it." *' But I loved the man !" gasped Anne hysterically. ^' Oh ! my God ! what a wretched woman I am !" The younger woman gazed at the elder with a look of contemptuous annoyance. '' Come, Anne," she said, " this is no time for crying over spilt milk. It's a pity he died so suddenly. Otherwise he might have 12 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. done something for you at any rate. As it is, you must do something for yourself We want our wits about us. Tears ruin the brain for prompt action. Here, drink this !" Mrs. As tor drained another tumbler of champagne. Then she got up and wiped her eyes, and smoothed her hair in the cracked mirror over the fireplace. There was a knock at the street-door ; a knock from a man's hand, not from the knocker. It was repeated three times at intervals. '' That is Con," said Liz, '' pull yourself together, Anne. Don't let him see that you have been crying." Then she Avent to the door and opened it, her silk skirts rustling as she went. She delayed a minute in the hall to give her sister time to efface the traces of recent tears, told the visitor that Anne was not very A NEST OF HORNETS. 13 well. *' The theatre had been so hot, and Anne always felt the gas." Then she threw open the door, and Mr. Conrad Norton entered. CHAPTER II. AN ACCOMPLISHED ADVENTURER. E was a slight, dark, handsome fel- low of about thirty. His figure was symmetrical, and not lacking in either grace or power. He wore his hair very short indeed, and parted in the middle over a remarkably low but good forehead. His chin was clean-shaven, and he wore a heavy black moustache, a good deal curled up at the ends. His complexion was a dead white, more from the thickness of the skin than from lack of health ; and his eyes were AN ACCOMPLISHED ADYENTCJRER. 15 large and clear and lustrous, in colour almost black. His voice was low-pitched, and sin- gularly pleasant in tone ; while his manner was almost caressing, without being familiar^ and jDOSsessed a nameless, indefinable charm, which few women could resist. He was in evening-dress ; the cut of his clothes was perfect, and he wore no jewellery of any sort ; on his well-shaped hand was no ring. Altogether he seemed manly, un« affected, and well bred. " Why did you not come to the theatre to-night V asked Mrs. Astor, as she half rose to receive him. ^'We did not o^ive you up till quite the end of the play." " I was fortunate in makino- a new ac- quaintance at the club," answered Mr. Nor- ton, " whose society was so pleasant that I could not tear myself away." " So pleasant or so lucrative V asked Miss Mullins. 16 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. " The terms are synonymous," said he. '' My young friend had money which he seemed bent on losing, and I preferred to see him through the process of being phicked before he fell into other hands." '^ Can you give him a name ?" asked Liz. " His name is Darell — Augustus Darell ; as empty-headed a young coxcomb as I have met with for many a long day." Miss Mullins looked at her sister. She paused a moment, then she said : '' I have a Darell on hand too ; but he cannot be the same as this one. My young friend is uncommonly wide-awake ; and, be- sides, his name is Adolphus, for I have heard him called * Dolly ' often." '* Dolly Darell !" exclaimed Norton, with a laugh ; " you won't get much out of him. Dolly is a man who has bought experience, and I am proud to say he bought it of me AX ACCOMPLISHED ADVENTUPtER. 17 •several years ago. He has learnt wisdom since then. I should say there is hardly a 'cuter blade in the ' little village ' than Dolly Darell!" '^ Your pigeon may be his brother," sug- gested Mrs. Astor. " May be ; but it is hardly likely. There must be eight years' difference at least be- tween the men ; and Dolly got warmed too much himself when he first came to town, for him to have let this young cub loose in Lon- don by himself I rather hoj^e they are not brothers, for my name was not Norton when I met Dolly Darell." Then these three worthies supped, and put down a considerable amount of champagne, especially Mrs. Astor. They seemed to be on very intimate terms, these three ; and yet there was certainly no flirtation, and no love. They had been use- ful to one another before, and it was pro- VOL. II, 19 18 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. bable they would be so again. Just now, however, the question was how the ladies were to live. They were women with plenty of brains and some accomplishments, the daughters of a stock-broker who had failed and died, leaving these two girls entirely alone in the world,, and with nothing to live upon. In the first bewilderment of their grief and destitution,, an elderly man, who had known them from childhood, and who wanted a wife, had offered them both a home if Anne would marry him. They were fast girls, not well educated, and quite incapable of making a livelihood as governesses, or, indeed, in any respectable manner. Still, they had no in- tention of being other than respectable ; and, much against her will, Anne, who was desperately in love with a penniless young clerk in the city, at last consented to marry the old gentleman, who was himself a AN ACCOMPLISHED ADVENTURER. 19 broker. He was bad-tempered, dirty in his habits, and repulsive in appearance. The young wife endured him for two years. Then the old love turned up again, hand- somer, fonder, more fascinating than ever ; and driven almost mad by her husband's cold- ness and neglect, she had listened, and had fallen. The husband had become suspicious, and had employed detectives to watch her. Her infidelity had been proved beyond all doubt, and her husband had turned her into the streets. She had gone to the man Avho had been her ruin, and her sister had for a short time become companion to a girl of weak intellect, who was living at Folkestone. Then the man had died suddenly without marrying Anne ; while Liz had inveigled her charge's brother into a promise of marriage, which his family had been glad to nullify by the surrender of five hundred pounds. ]0-2 20 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. The two sisters had Uved on this for a time, and Liz, being entirely without scruples, and finding breaches of promise lucrative, had since landed two more men and mulcted them, one in a thousand and the other in three hundred pounds. During the first two years Anne had given Liz a home ; during the last three Liz had returned the compliment. But now at last they had come to the end of the younger sister's earnings, and some new means of livelihood must be found. There was no need for reticence with Mr. Conrad Norton. He knew their whole his- tory, had known Anne's husband and Anne's lover, and having provided Liz Mullins with her last victim, had pocketed a third of the winnings. Mr. Augustus Darell had parted with one hundred and fifty pounds during his short acquaintance with Mr. Conrad Norton, and AN ACCOMPLISHED ADVENTUBER. 21 the latter gentleman was quite ready to assist the needy sisters in their hour of ad- versity. He listened to the story of their troubles with well-bred concern. " As to duns," he said, '' of course, paying any of them is preposterous. Get what you can in the course of to-morrow from all the tradespeople who can be induced to trust you, and have a telegram sent you to a dying relative about nine in the evening of to- morrow. Spoil the Egyptians to the utmost, and meet me at Blagden's Hotel in Church Street to-moiTow night. We can all put up there for a night or two, while w^e plan a summer tour in the provinces. I have a plan in my head, but it requires reflection and development." Then he departed, and lighting a cigar, strolled home thoughtfully to bed. CHAPTEE III. THE PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN. N the following day, Conrad Norton took rooms for himself, Mrs. Astor and her sister, at Blagden's Hotel, in Church Street. He said the ladies would arrive about ten o'clock in the evening, and he ordered a recherche supper, with cutlets, mayonnaise, lobster-salad, and champagne. He then went out to " spoil the Egyptians," as he termed it ; he proceeded to order boots and shoes, clothes and linen, and even suc- ceeded in obtaining a silver-mounted dress- THE PLAX OF THE CAMPAIGN. 23 ing-case from one credulous tradesman into Avhose shop he had once or twice been with a notorious nobleman Avhose acquaintance he had made abroad. He was careful to avoid shops in much frequented thoroughfares. He wanted Bond Street and Piccadilly for lounging purposes ; so Bond Street and Piccadilly were spared by Conrad Norton. About eight o clock he sent an urgent telegram to Mrs. Astor : *' Your sister dangerously ill. Come in- stantly, and bring Eliza. Had better throw up your lodgings. Do not delay." This telegram Mrs. Astor, apparently in the wildest state of alarm and grief, showed to the landlady. Everything was ready before- hand, and '' the spoils " obtained in the afternoon had not been unpacked ; so, after some pretence at haste in the bedroom, and payment of their trifle of rent, Mrs. Astor 24 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. and Miss Mullins got into a cab, and were seen in Pimlico no more. Soon after their arrival at Blagden's Hotels Mr. Norton joined them, and they proceeded, with the aid of lobster-salad and champagne, to discuss their future plans. *' It has quite recently come to my know- ledge," said Norton, " that an old friend of mine has succeeded in catching a real earl, and has married him. I have often heard of the nobleman in question, though we have never met, and I believe he is a weak sort of idiot, who drank away Avhat little brains he had long ago. I feel sure the countess will not refuse to consider my claims, as an old friend of hers before her marriage ; and, if once I can make good my own footing in that neighbourhood, I can, of course, smooth the Avay for you. The nobleman I speak of is Lord Margate ; his place is Coddesley, about a mile out of a deadly- THE PLAN OF THE CAMPAION. 25 lively little country town in Sandshire, called Olton Priors. The ])laee is doubtless dull, but I think, when you have heard me out, you ^vill say that a dull place is the best for our purpose. The townspeople are greener than spring onions, and there is a little furnished house to be let, by the year, in Olton Priors itself, w^hich you two might take, and, of course, never pay for, unless with other people's money." "How did you find out all this. Con?' said Mrs. Astor. '' I don't think Sandshire will do at all. One mio^ht as well g-o to Stomoway, or the Hebrides." '^Wait till you have heard me out, my dear madam. You know I am very fond of a bout vdth the gloves. It keeps one's hand in for real fighting, and, in my vagabond sort of life, a knowledge of the ' noble art ' is of great importance. Well, I looked in at the ' Owl and Dragon ' the other day, and had a ^6 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. few rounds with Bill Nash, the Koehanipton Pet ; and, while I was there, a chap came in whom Bill knew something of, and to whom he was giving lessons in the ' noble art.' When we had both had our fill of Nash's punishment, we had a round together, and this made us rather chums. We talked a good deal about the wrestling at Lillie Bridge and the Welsh Harp, and so on; and he told me about some famous wrestling matches which took place at Moreton Basset, in Sandshire, about a month ago, in which a friend of his, one Victor Boss, had borne off the prize against all-comers. Then I found Moreton Basset was not far from Olton Priors, a place I have some interest in on many accounts ; and when I asked him about the neighbourhood, and the people who lived in it, I found he knew something about everybody there, being himself the son of the landlord of the principal hotel in the place. THE PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN. 27 " What is the man s name '?" asked Liz. '* Is he likely to be useful ?" "His name is George WaiTe, and he is not likely to be useful in the way you mean, Liz ; but I mean to make him of great use in fui-thering some little plans of my own. I have shown him about the ' Httle village,' and put him up to a thing or two he didn't know before, and, in short, been very civil to the fellow. In return for my civilities, I mean to stay at that hotel of his, in Olton Priors, for a month or two this summer, and to renew my acquaintance with my Lady Margate ; and I thought the little furnished house might be a pleasant summer retreat, in which you could besporfc yom'selves till for- tune favours you." " I don't see that your going to this man's hotel will give us any opening in life," said Liz, in a discontented tone. " Wait a bit," answered Norton. " This 28 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. fellow, Warre, is very confidential, and has given me a sketch of the leading families in* that part of the world. You remember Broom, the counter-jumper, who made a fortune in tallow, or railway-grease, or some- thing of that sort? At any rate, you remember the name 1 Well, this Broom has built a great stucco mansion on one bank of the Shale, near Olton Priors, and has called it — appropriately enough, by the way — Buncombe. This man has a son, called Plantagenet, who is very proud of the descent the Herald's office found for his- father, from the house of Anjou. This amiable youth is of a very amorous tem- perament, and his heart is as yet free. If one of you can't come round this soft young. Croesus, it will be your own faults. If you, Anne, really intend matrimony, from all I hear you can't feather your nest better than. by going in for the ring." THE PL AX OF THE CAMPAIGX. 29 *^ But the man has a father, you said, Con. Fathers are averse to a divorcee for an only son with money." '' Why should they know anything about the divorce ?" said Con. " You may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. If you go down to Olton Priors at all, go as a widow — husband died in Australia ten months ago — desirous of retirement in a rural district. After the first month go into half mourning, after the first three, marry this young spark if you can, and make him pay for getting rid of you, if you can't." " The last is more in Liz's way than mine. And what shall you want for the introduction. Con, and the light of your countenance throughout the campaign ? Now that we are on the subject, we may as well have it all in black and white." " If it is another breach of promise case, I shall want a third of the profits. If a 30 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. marriage, a thousand pounds down six months after the knot is tied." "The idea promises sport at any rate," said Liz, *'and the furnished house seems ready to hand." " We might shoot at a pigeon and hit a crow," said Mrs. Astor. " If we were sure we should get into good society, I think it would be worth the trial. There must be plenty of other men besides the Broom sprig." " Lady Margate leads society down there," urged Con Norton. '' I do not think she will refuse to call on you, if I ask her to do so." There was a sneer on the young man s face as he said this, which was not lost on the sisters ; a sneer which marred the beauty of his face, and made his expression that of a devil incarnate. " To whom does this house you speak of belong ?" asked Mrs. Astor. THE PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN. 31 "To an old lady of the name of Trevor — Miss Priscilla Trevor. Of course if you are her tenants, she will feel bound to take some notice of you. You know better how to get round an old maid than I can tell you. She knows everybody in the place, and for miles round, while the very fact of your being in a house of hers will give you an air of re- spectabihty, and make the tradespeople wait for their money until you are married to somebody or — or clear of the place." " Suppose we were to meet some one who knew us !" said Liz, '* Well, suppose you do ! Come back to town by the next train, and I will do the same. We shall at least have had some months of existence at other people's expense, and if we can't amuse ourselves as well, I think it will be our own fault. Come, will you go 1" 32 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. '' I'm all there/' said Liz, laughing. '' If Anne likes it, I will go." " There is no choice," said Anne, " at least I can think of nothing better." ' '' Very well then, let us go," said Norton. '*^ Now you girls go to bed, and I will write to Warre to take the furnished house." CHAPTEK IV. THE HORNETS SETTLE. T was immediately on Warre's return to Olton Priors, that Conrad Nor- ton's letter reached him at the Trevor Arms. It was a day or two after Miss Priscilla's garden-party, but yet in the last days of June. Victor Ross had looked in at the Trevor Arms to see Warre, on his way from Black Kock to his timber-yard ; and Warre showed him Norton's letter and told him in glowing VOL. n. 20 34 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. terms of the new friend he had made in London. *^ A regular slap-up swell, and no mistake," said Warre, speaking of Norton. " Thorough- bred every inch of him ; and can't he handle his mauleys, that's all ! A clean-built, smart young chap, and as handsome as paint 1 Now read his letter." Victor read as follows : " Blagden's Hotel, " Church Street, W. ''June 2PJJl *' My dear Warre, " I have found Miss Trevor a tenant for the summer months, or by the year, if Miss Trevor prefers that arrangement. *' A very old friend of mine, a Mrs. Astor, who has recently been left a widow, desires to find some secluded spot in which to recover the first great shock of her irreparable loss. THE HORNETS SETTLE. 35 " She will be accompanied by her sister, a young lady who has created a great sensation in London by her beauty; but they would prefer that you should find a couple of servants, a housemaid and a cook, who would be able to enter upon their duties at once, should Miss Trevor accept my friends as tenants. *' Mrs. Astor will be willing to meet any wishes Miss Trevor may express as to terms, as long as they are within reason. Money is no object to Mrs. Astor, her husband's death having left her in very affluent cir- cumstances. " If Miss Trevor agrees, telegraph to me here. Mrs. Astor is in delicate health, and needs immediate change of air. " I think of coming down with them to see them comfortably into their new quarters, and if you will keep a room for me, I will 20—2 3G COUNTY VEliSUS COUNTER. put up at the Trevor Arms, and renew our intimacy so pleasantly made in town. *' Yours most sincerely, '' C. Norton." '' I know Miss Priscilla is very anxious to let ^The Willows,'" said Victor, as he returned the letter to Warre. " I should say you had better go up and see her about it at once. I am so glad to see you back, George. I wish you were not so much away." Then Victor went off to the timber-yard, and George Warre to the Manor House. Miss Priscilla liked young Warre because Victor liked him. She regretted that Victor should not have a better stamp of friend than the landlord's son ; but he was at least an honest, manly fellow, even if he was rather rough and noisy. She received him, there- fore, graciously, and having read Mr. Nor- THE HOKXETS SETTLE. Si ton's letter, said she knew of no objection to receiving Mrs. Astor as her tenant, and that he might telegraph to Mr. Norton to that effect. In hio'h feather at his success, Georofe Warre went off to the telegraph-office, and at one o'clock that day Con Xorton in- formed Mrs. Astor and her sister that "The Willows " would be ready for them on the 1st of July. Young Warre was of a talkative disposi- tion, and w^as very proud of the friendship of this young London swell he had picked up at Bill Nash's. The result was that all Olton Priors was on the tij)-toe of expecta- tion and excitement about the new-comers before they arrived in the place at all. Humour of course exaggerated everything that Norton had said or implied in his letter. Warre told Brouo^hton, and Brouo'hton told his wife and Miss Spink, who gossiped to 38 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. the Hunts and the Howards, who retailed the news, with enlargements of their own, to every one whom they happened to meet. By the time Norton and the two ladies arrived, it was all over the town that a widow of enormous wealth, and her sister — who was the belle of the London season — had taken ''The Willows" for a year, and curiosity to see them ran high throughout Olton Priors. Norton, in the meantime, had employed himself in getting together material for what he was pleased to call his '' Provincial Tour." He was an accomplished man in many ways, a fair musician and a painter in water-colours. He took care to have in his portmanteau a choice assortment of all the newest songs, to jDlease all tastes, arfd as sketching in Sand- shire would give him an excuse for prolong- ing his stay, if he found it agreeable, he provided himself with painting materials also. THE HORNETS SETTLE. 3<J Before the trio left London there was Tsome discussion about the adoption of names. Astor had already been assumed by the lady who bore that surname, and Norton was the ^^ ahas " that Conrad had chosen for this particular year of grace ; but Liz MuUins had been Liz Mullins these many years. As Eliza MulHns she had pocketed the five hundred, the thousand, and the three hun- dred pounds as compensation for her blighted affections ; as Ehza MuUins she had hooked the brother of the idiot girl at Folkestone, and Jenkyns and Hopkins in London, there- fore it was desirable that before opening a fresh campaign, Eliza Mullins should choose a,nother designation. '' As our provincial torn* is chiefly under- taken on Mr. Broom's account," said Norton, *' I think Liz should consider his probable tastes in her assumption of a name. Descent from some branch of the haute noblesse 40 COUNTY VEKSUS COUNTER. iiiight help to arrange matters. Suppose we change ' Ehza ' into ' Elise/ and ^ MulHns ' into ' Desmouhnes.' How would that do ?" The alteration fell in with Liz Mullins's views, and so that matter was speedily- settled. " The Willows " was a pretty cottage stand- ing back from the high-road between Olton Priors and the Priory, at the foot of the hill on which the parish church was built. Several large weeping- willows in the small garden between the cottage and the road shut out the street beyond, and had probably given the cottage its present name. At the back of the house was a good garden, a coach- house and stable, and a poultry-yard, and beyond these again a small orchard. At the other side of the orchard was a lane called Love Lane, the banks of which were cele- brated for violets and primroses in spring, and was a favourite walk with the good THE HORNETS SETTLE. 41 people of 01 ton Priors all the year round. This lane eventually led into Shalebourne Wood, and throuo-h that to the rio-ht bank of the Shale, where it joined the main road between Oiton Priors and Shalemouth. The Manor House was but a stone's throw from " The Willows," and had probably at one time formed part of the same j)roperty. It stood on the same side of the street, a little nearer to the Prioiy, a little farther from the town. Miss Priscilla of course knew nothino- more of her new tenants than what she had heard from George Warre, but she wished to show them some civility on their arrival, so Beer was sent to " The Willows " with a basket of fruit and vegetables, and an enor- mous bouquet of roses, with Miss Priscilla Trevor's compliments. Miss Priscilla had herself been over to "The Willows" in the afternoon of that 42 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. day to see that everything was comfortable for the " soi-disant widow " and her lovely sister. Two respectable women had been engaged as cook and housemaid respectively, '' The Willows " had been swept and gar- nished, and the 1st of July saw Mrs. Astor and her sister, Miss Desmoulines, well settled in at the cottage. CHAPTER y. THE OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN. "^g^" N the Sunday following the arrival of the new-comers, the parish church was fuller than usual. It had leaked out through the servants at the '^ The Willows," that Mrs. Astor and Miss Des- moulines would attend morning service there, and not at St. Mark's ; so even the Howards, who usually attended the latter place of wor- ship, because it was nearer Arundel Lodge, trudged up the hill to the parish church on this particular Sunday morning. 44 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. Miss Priscilla waited to give her tenants '^ time to turn themselves/' as she expressed it to Barker, before calling upon them ; but she sent a message to '' The Willows" on Saturday night, to say that if the ladies liked to avail themselves of seats in her pew, there would be two at their disposal on the follow- ing day. The offer was accepted. Mrs. Astor found out from her servants that Miss Priscilla's pew was in the chancel, close up by the altar-rails, and that she would there- fore have to walk tlie whole length of the church to it from the usual entrance. This was satisfactory. Mrs. Astor timed her movements so as to arrive at church in the middle of the Psalms, when every one was standing up, and the high old-fashioned pews were not in the way of those who might wish to see her. She was dressed in widow's mourning, with a widow's cap beneath her bonnet which be- THE OPEXIXG OF THE CAMPAIGX. 45 came her mignonne face extremely well ; and Miss Desmoiilines, as we must now call her, followed her sister up the aisle in a magpie costume of black and white silk and a mara- bout feather in her bonnet. All eyes were turned on them as they sailed up the aisle to Miss Priscilla's pew. Mrs. Aster's veil was down, and she walked with an ah of pensive mournfulness ; but Elise looked strikingly handsome, and fully bore out the reports of her beauty which had reached Olton Priors through the medium of George Warre. Mr. Norton had not accompanied the ladies. He had deemed it inexpedient to be seen with them at first. He did not wish it to be supposed possible that he was in Olton Priors as a lover. That might interfere with the ladies' designs in other quarters ; and, besides, he had his own fish to fry elsewhere. As the ladies took their places. Miss Pris- 46 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. cilia made them a formal little bow, inti- mating that she was the proprietor of the pew. Mrs. Astor inclined herself mourn- fully, Elise bowed smilingly, and all the con- gregation took it for granted that Miss Priscilla had " taken up" the new arrivals ; otherwise they would not have been seated in her pew. After service was over Miss Priscilla in- troduced herself; hoped they had found '^ The Willows" to their taste, and expressed her willingness to call if Mrs. Astor yet felt equal to receiving visitors. The sisters on their part were in modulated raptures with '^ The Willows," the neighbourhood, the scenery, and everything connected with Olton Priors that had yet come under their notice. They thanked Miss Priscilla with much empress ement J and said they should be delighted to see her whenever she could find time to pay them a visit. THE OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN. 47 ^'As far as I am concerned," said Mrs. Astor with a sigh, *' I am more than content to enjoy the retirement of this country Ufe ; but I fear my sister may find it dull, so I must bestir myself for her sake. We must not be selfish even in our grief, must we ?'* and Mrs. Astor had suffered the ghost of a pensive smile to play upon her lips for a moment ; but it was quickly repressed, and the veil was lowered to prevent the outer world from being saddened by the sight of her fictitious grief. '* Poor young woman," said Miss Priscilla to Barker on her return from church ; ^' we must think of something to cheer her. Barker. So young, too, to be a widow, and with such a sweet childish face !" " Bemarkable old cat !" said Elise to Anne as they entered the gate of ^' The Willows." *^ She has taken quite a fancy to you, my dear ; if we work this country under her 48 COUNTY VERSUS COUNTER. 