ONLY a few days after and I found myself in a very handsome apartment. “I can recommend it, ma’am,” Mr. Harbury said to a lady who was standing by the table in the apartment I had just entered.
"Mr. Harbury," said Mrs. Grahame as she laid me gently upon the table by her side, "I can always take your word without the slightest hesitation. Ten guineas is more than I meant to give; but as you say, the watch is well worth the money!"
Soon Mr. Harbury was gone! I could scarcely realize the fact. Was I never to see his kind face again, or to hear him in his simple, honest way speaking to one and another of the blessings of the gospel of peace? Possibly not! And yet, who could tell? Amongst the many changes in this world, who could see into the future and say we had parted never to meet again?
Very different to the simple cottage at Barton was the home in which I now found myself duly established. From little items of information gathered upon various occasions I am now able to tell you something of the early history of the family into whose service I had entered.
Although you may find it difficult to believe my assertion, yet I feel it necessary to tell you that I am not fond of talking. Indeed, I seldom allow myself to indulge in conversation even with my neighbors. I have noticed in my long experience amongst old and young that the greatest talkers are invariably those who do the least. So I cultivated the habit of listening to any conversation worthy of attention.
I make this remark, my dear friends, because there are some people who talk with no object. People who love to hear the sound of their own voices! Talk! Talk! Chatter! Chatter! And all to no purpose. Nobody the better! Nobody the wiser! I wonder, do such people ever think that there is a day coming when they "will have to give an account for every idle word"?
I had not been at Claverton long before I learned that Mr. Grahame had built this beautiful villa about twelve months previous, and that he had done so with a view eventually "to retire from business." As, however, I looked at him night and morning, before and after his return to and from business, I thought that his countenance wore a much more troubled expression than that of a man just ready "to retire from business." I must tell you more about that presently.
With much pleasure I look back to my first days of usefulness in the quiet village of Claverton. Situated at a distance of about three miles from the busy town of Worcester, it was yet far enough away from the smoke to allow the wild flowers to grow in all their luxuriance. Very, very sweet, too, were the songs of the birds as they chanted their praises to their Creator. Sometimes a solo, sometimes a duet; but more frequently a full chorus of songsters making the very air full of melody.
Mrs. Grahame was a generous and noble woman! Though the green sod now covers her earthly resting place, yet of her it may be truly said, "Her works do follow her." Not a poverty-stricken home within the village of Claverton that did not see her enter and endeavor to alleviate the distress. How gladly the sick and suffering welcomed her! Tears for their sorrows were no strangers to her bright, black eyes. And her raven black hair rested soothingly more than once in the long night-watches upon the cold icy brow of some poor laborer's dying child.
Family cares, however, occupied very much of my dear mistress's time. Her eldest daughter, Kate, was at this time about fourteen years of age, and though a daily governess instructed her during the morning hours, Mrs. Grahame knew that her daughter was of an age when the constant, solicitous companionship of a wiser mind than her own was desirable.
Other children there were, though Carrie, Maude and Sydney were yet in the nursery. Two boys, Herbert and Gerald, were away from home; Herbert apprenticed to a mercer in Coventry, and Gerald completing his last term at school.
Kate was the frequent companion of her mother in her afternoon visiting’s. I doubt not that it was the holy influence of that sainted woman's example that did much to produce and develop many a lovely trait in her eldest daughter's character. Self-denial! self-control! Self-forgetfulness! These were amongst the earliest lessons taught by many a humble bedside. What a contrast to the self-indulgence, self-assertion, and self-consideration now to be met with on every hand!
But these quiet, peaceful hours were not to last forever! Days could not flow on with such serenity for a lifetime. After two or three years of this enjoyable existence, I remarked that a very decided change was beginning to come over my mistress. Her step was getting more feeble; not that this in itself would have occasioned any great anxiety, for Mrs. Grahame was no longer young. I could see the raven hair interspersed with slight touches of gray, so that it would have been folly to expect that she would always remain as active as in the days of our earlier acquaintance.
But what troubled one most was the expression of anxiety that could be seen stealing over her sweet face. Often now she directed her daughter's attention to the perishable nature of earthly riches; and in a few simple but touching words she would draw a contrast between such treasures and the "true riches that none can take away."
I have seen the tears dimming the eyes of my dear mistress, when, in the evening hours awaiting her husband's arrival, she sat alone in the pleasant drawing-room. Somehow or other I began to think that the cause of her grief must be something connected with him. Certain rumors also which reached me about this time corroborated my suspicions. I could hear that my master had been speculating largely in some questionable securities. What it was, I could never rightly understand; but one thing was certain, people were shaking their heads significantly about his "credit."
One morning during breakfast the housemaid entered, and addressing Mr. Grahame said, "If you please, sir, Giles wished me to tell you that he should like to be paid by the week for the future."
"Who is Giles?" inquired my master hastily.
"The milkman, sir," replied the girl quietly. "He says he is very glad of your custom really; but he should prefer being paid by the week."
"Tell Giles I won't trouble him any longer with my custom," was Mr. Grahame's impatient retort. Had matters come to this pass! I gave a secret glance at the face of my dear mistress. A red spot was burning upon her cheek, and I could see that it was an effort to her to control herself.
"Will it make much difference, dear William?" she inquired of her husband as the maid quitted the apartment. "The man has served us well since we came here to reside."
"The difference is this, Emily," was the quick rejoinder; "I won't be asked for money when I have not got it! "
Mrs. Grahame said no more. Too well she could see that the money made by steady application to business was now being more rapidly lost in speculation. Besides, during the last two years business had not been quite so prosperous. War with Russia was draining the country of some of its resources, and trade suffered in consequence.
Persuaded also by some unwise acquaintance that building was a very profitable outlay, Mr. Grahame now turned his attention to erecting another villa in the immediate neighborhood of his own dwelling-place. Knowing nothing of the art, and in the hands of unprincipled workmen, no wonder that my master found the cost much greater than he had anticipated. Whether it was this, added to his previous losses that really brought on his ruin, I can hardly say.
From this time there were several retrenchments made in the arrangements of the household. Two servants were dismissed, and I could see that Mrs. Grahame's cause of anxiety had not been groundless. Very patient was she as the knowledge of the position in which her husband stood gradually came upon her.
I have often thought since how many a wife would have upbraided her husband for similar folly! How many would have reproached him for the sorrow and trouble of which he had been the principal cause! But my dear mistress had one Friend to whom she could pour out all the sorrows of her troubled heart. Alone in her chamber, I was witness to the fervency and frequency of her earnest prayers.
Dark days were coming, and God was preparing my mistress for the struggle. Lovingly as before did she talk to her daughter Kate, who by this time had grown into a fair, tall girl of seventeen. Unlike her mother in appearance, Kate was of a fair complexion, with gray eyes and soft, brown hair. Yet there was much in the mind and tone of both mother and daughter to remind and observing stranger of the constant intercourse that must have subsisted between them. Happy is it when mothers and daughters thus find mutual delight in each other's society.
As the necessity for curtailing expenses became patent to the young girl, she was the first to propose that Miss Hamilton's daily lessons should be discontinued. More than that, Kate had taken upon herself the instruction of the three youngest members of the family. Very tiresome, tedious work, too, she sometimes found it with her willful brother and sisters. But it was enough for her to know that she was doing "what she could"; and she was never heard to complain!