'With all my heart,' said Dr. Spencer. 'When my Brahminhee godson-- the deacon I told you of, comes to pay me his promised visit, what doings we shall have! Seriously, I have just had letters from him and from others, that speak of such need, that I could feel every moment wasted that is not spent on their behalf.'
Mr. Wilmot was drawn into Dr. Spencer's house, and heard the letters, till his heart burned within him.
The meeting was at once decided upon, though Ethel could not see why people could not give without speechifying, and her two younger brothers declared it was humbug--Tom saying, he wished all blackamoors were out of creation, and Harry, that he could not stand palaver about his friend David. Dr. May threatened him with being displayed on the platform as a living instance of the effects of missions, at which he took alarm, and so seriously declared that he should join the Bucephalus at once, that they pacified him by promising that he should do as he pleased.
The archdeacon promised a sermon, and the active Dr Spencer worked the nine muses and all the rest of the town and neighbourhood into a state of great enthusiasm and expectation. He went to the Grange, as he said, to collect his artillery; primed Flora that she might prime the M. P.; made the willing Meta promise to entrap the uncle, who was noted for philanthropical speeches; and himself captured Sir Henry Walkinghame, who looked somewhat rueful at what he found incumbent on him as a country gentleman, though there might be some compensation in the eagerness of Miss Rivers.
Norman had hardly set foot in Stoneborough before he was told what was in store for him, and, to the general surprise, submitted as if it were a very simple matter. As Dr. Spencer told him, it was only a foretaste of the penalty which every missionary has to pay for coming to England. Norman was altogether looking much better than when he had been last at home, and his spirits were more even. He had turned his whole soul to the career he had chosen, cast his disappointment behind him, or, more truly, made it his offering, and gathered strength and calmness, with which to set out on tasks of working for others, with thoughts too much absorbed on them, to give way to the propensity of making himself the primary object of study and contemplation. The praise of God, and love of man, were the best cures for tendencies like his, and he had found it out. His calm, though grave cheerfulness, came as a refreshment to those who had been uneasy about him, and mournfully watching poor Flora.
'Yes,' said Dr. Spencer, 'you have taken the best course for your own happiness.'
Norman coloured, as if he understood more than met the ear. Mary and Blanche were very busy preparing presents for Meta Rivers, and every one was anxious to soften to her the thought of this first birthday without her father. Each of the family contributed some pretty little trifle, choice in workmanship or kind in device, and each was sealed and marked with the initials of the giver, and packed up by Mary, to be committed to Flora's charge. Blanche had, however, much trouble in extracting a gift from Norman, and he only yielded at last, on finding that all his brothers had sent something, so that his omission would be marked. Then he dived into the recesses of his desk, and himself sealed up a little parcel, of which he would not allow his sisters to inspect the contents.
Ethel had a shrewd guess. She remembered his having, in the flush of joy at Margaret's engagement, rather prematurely caused a seal to be cut with a daisy, and 'Pearl of the meadow' as the motto; and his having said that he should keep it as a wedding present. She could understand that he was willing to part with it without remark.
Flora met Meta in her sitting-room, on the morning of the day, which rose somewhat sadly upon the young girl, as she thought of past affection and new responsibilities. If the fondness of a sister could have compensated for what she had lost, Meta received it in no scanty measure from Flora, who begged to call George, because he would be pleased to see the display of gifts.
His own was the only costly one--almost all the rest were homemade treasures of the greater price, because the skill and fondness of the maker were evident in their construction; and Meta took home the kindness as it was meant, and felt the affection that would not let her feel herself lonely. She only wished to go and thank them all at once.
'Do then,' said Flora. 'If Lord Cosham will spare you, and your business should be over in time, you could drive in, and try to bring papa home with you.'
'Oh, thank you, Flora. That is a kind treat, in case the morning should be very awful!'
Margaret Agatha Rivers signed her documents, listened to explanations, and was complimented by her uncle on not thinking it necessary to be senseless on money matters, like her cousin, Agatha Langdale.
Still she looked a little oppressed, as she locked up the tokens of her wealth, and the sunshine of her face did not beam out again till she arrived at Stoneborough, and was dispensing her pretty thanks to the few she found at home.
'Ethel out and Norman? His seal is only too pretty--'
'They are all helping Dr. Spencer at Cocksmoor.'
'What a pity! But it is so very kind of him to treat me as a daisy. In some ways I like his present for that the best of all,' said Meta.
'I will tell him so,' said Mary.
'Yes, no,' said Meta. 'I am not pretending to be anything half so nice.'
Mary and Blanche fell upon her for calling herself anything but the nicest flower in the world; and she contended that she was nothing better than a parrot-tulip, stuck up in a parterre; and just as the discussion was becoming a game at romps, Dr. May came in, and the children shouted to him to say whether his humming-bird were a daisy or a tulip.
'That is as she comports herself,' he said playfully.
'Which means that you don't think her quite done for,' said Meta.
'Not quite,' said the doctor, with a droll intonation; 'but I have not seen what this morning may have done to her.'
'Come and see, then,' said Meta. 'Flora told me to bring you home-- and it is my birthday, you know. Never mind waiting to tell Ethel. Margaret will let her know that I'll keep you out of mischief.'
As usual, Dr. May could not withstand her, and she carried him off in triumph in her pony carriage.
'Then you don't give me up yet?' was the first thing she said, as they were off the stones.
'What have you been doing to make me?' said he.
'Doing or not doing--one or the other,' she said. 'But indeed I wanted to have you to myself. I am in a great puzzle!'
'Sir Henry! I hope she won't consult me!' thought Dr. May, as he answered, 'Well, my dear.'
'I fear it is a lasting puzzle,' she said. 'What shall I do with all this money?'
'Keep it in the bank, or buy railway shares!' said Dr. May. looking arch.
'Thank you. That's a question for my cousins in the city. I want you to answer me as no one else can do. I want to know what is my duty now that I have my means in my own hands?'
'There is need enough around--'
'I do not mean only giving a little here and there, but I want you to hear a few of my thoughts. Flora and George are kindness itself-- but, you see, I have no duties. They are obliged to live a gay sort of life--it is their position; but I cannot make out whether it is mine. I don't see that I am like those girls who have to go out as a matter of obedience.'
Dr. May considered, but could only say, 'You are very young.'
'Too young to be independent,' sighed Meta. 'I must grow old enough to be trusted alone, and in the meantime--'
'Probably an answer will be found,' said the doctor. You and your means will find their--their vocation.'
'Marriage,' said Meta, calmly speaking the word that he had avoided. 'I think not.'
'Why--' he began.
'I do not think good men like heiresses.'
He became strongly interested in a corn-field, and she resumed,
'Perhaps I should only do harm. It may be my duty to wait. All I wish to know is, whether it is?'
'I see you are not like girls who know their duty, and are restless, because it is not the duty they like.'
'Oh! I like everything. It is my liking it so much that makes me afraid.'
'Even going to Ryde?'
'Don't I like the sailing? and seeing Harry too? I don't feel as if that were waste, because I can sometimes spare poor Flora a little. We could not let her go alone.'
'You need never fear to be without a mission of comfort,' said Dr. May. 'Your 'spirit full of glee' was given you
