Two years!
Not much to look back upon, but a world to look forward to. To
Stephen, dowered though she was with rare personal gifts and with
wealth and position accorded to but few, the hours of waiting were
longer than the years that were past. Yet the time had new and
startling incidents for her. Towards Christmas in the second year
the Boer war had reached its climax of evil. As the news of disaster
after disaster was flashed through the cable she like others felt
appalled at the sacrifices that were being exacted by the God of War.
One day she casually read in The Times that the Earl de Lannoy had
died in his London mansion, and further learned that he had never
recovered from the shock of hearing that his two sons and his nephew
had been killed. The paragraph concluded: "By his death the title
passes to a distant relative. The new Lord de Lannoy is at present
in India with his regiment, the 35th or 'Grey' Hussars, of which he
is Colonel." She gave the matter a more than passing thought, for it
was sad to find a whole family thus wiped out at a blow.
Early in February she received a telegram from her London solicitor
saying that he wished to see her on an important matter. Her answer
was: "Come at once"; and at tea-time Mr. Copleston arrived. He was
an old friend and she greeted him warmly. She was a little chilled
when he answered with what seemed unusual deference:
'I thank your Ladyship for your kindness!' She raised her eyebrows
but made no comment: she was learning to be silent under surprise.
When she had handed the old gentleman his tea she said:
'My aunt has chosen to remain away, thinking that you might wish to
see me privately. But I take it that there is nothing which she may
not share. I have no secrets from her.'
He rubbed his hands genially as he replied:
'Not at all; not at all! I should like her to be present. It will,
I am sure, be a delight to us all.'
Again raised eyebrows; again silence on the subject. When a servant
answered her bell she told him to ask Miss Rowly if she would kindly
join them.
Aunt Laetitia and the solicitor were old cronies, and their greeting
was most friendly. When the old gentlewoman had seated herself and
taken her cup of tea, Mr. Copleston said to Stephen, with a sort of
pomposity:
'I have to announce your succession to the Earldom de Lannoy!'
Stephen sat quite still. She knew the news was true; Mr. Copleston
was not one who would jest on a business subject, and too accurate a
lawyer to make an error in a matter of fact. But the fact did not
seem to touch her. It was not that she was indifferent to it; few
women could hear such news without a thrill. Mr. Copleston seemed at
a loss. Miss Rowly rose and quietly kissed her, and saying simply,
'God bless you, my dear!' went back to her seat.
Realising that Mr. Copleston expected some acknowledgment, Stephen
held out her hand to him and said quietly:
'Thank you!'
After a long pause she added quietly:
'Now, won't you tell us about it? I am in absolute ignorance; and
don't understand.'
'I had better not burden you, at first, with too many details, which
can come later; but give you a rough survey of the situation.'
'Your title of Countess de Lannoy comes to you through your ancestor
Isobel, third and youngest daughter of the sixth Earl; Messrs
Collinbrae and Jackson, knowing that my firm acted for your family,
communicated with us. Lest there should be any error we followed
most carefully every descendant and every branch of the family, for
we thought it best not to communicate with you till your right of
inheritance was beyond dispute. We arrived independently at the same
result as Messrs. Collinbrae and Jackson. There is absolutely no
doubt whatever of your claim. You will petition the Crown, and on
reference to the House of Lords the Committee for Privileges will
admit your right. May I offer my congratulations, Lady de Lannoy on
your acquisition? By the way, I may say that all the estates of the
Earldom, which have been from the first kept in strict entail, go
with the title de Lannoy.'
During the recital Stephen was conscious of a sort of bitter comment
on the tendencies of good fortune.
'Too late! too late!' something seemed to whisper, 'what delight it
would have been had Father inherited ... If Harold had not gone ... !' All the natural joy seemed to vanish, as bubbles break into
empty air.
To Aunt Laetitia the new title was a source of pride and joy, far
greater than would have been the case had it come to herself. She
had for so many years longed for new honours for Stephen that she had
almost come to regard them as a right whose coming should not be too
long delayed. Miss Rowly had never been to Lannoy; and, indeed, she
knew personally nothing of the county Angleshire in which it was
situated. She was naturally anxious to see the new domain; but kept
her feeling concealed during the months that elapsed until Stephen's
right had been conceded by the Committee for Privileges. But after
that her impatience became manifest to Stephen, who said one day in a
teasing, caressing way, as was sometimes her wont:
'Why, Auntie, what a hurry you are in! Lannoy will keep, won't it?'
'Oh, my dear,' she replied, shaking her head, 'I can understand your
own reticence, for you don't want to seem greedy and in a hurry about
your new possessions. But when people come to my age there's no time
to waste. I feel I would not have complete material for happiness in
the World-to-come, if there were not a remembrance of my darling in
her new home!'
Stephen was much touched; she said impulsively:
'We shall go to-morrow, Auntie. No! Let us go to-day. You shall
not wait an hour that I can help!' She ran to the bell; but before
her hand was on the cord the other said:
'Not yet! Stephen dear. It would flurry me to start all at once;
to-morrow will be time enough. And that will give you time to send
word so that they will be prepared for your coming.'
How often do we look for that to-morrow which never comes? How often
do we find that its looked-for rosy tints are none other than the
gloom-laden grey of the present?
Before the morrow's sun was high in the heavens Stephen was hurriedly
summoned to her aunt's bedside. She lay calm and peaceful; but one
side of her face was alive and the other seemingly dead. In the
night a paralytic stroke had seized her. The doctors said she might
in time recover a little, but she would never be her old active self
again. She herself, with much painful effort, managed to convey to
Stephen that she knew the end was near. Stephen, knowing the wish of
her heart and thinking that it might do her good to gratify her wish,
asked if she should arrange that she be brought to Lannoy. Feebly
and slowly, word by word, she managed to convey her idea.
'Not now, dear one. I shall see it all in time!--Soon! And I shall
understand and rejoice!' For a long time she lay still, holding with
her right hand, which was not paralysed, the other's hand. Then she
murmured:
'You will find happiness there!' She said no more; but seemed to
sleep.
From that sleep she never woke, but faded slowly, softly away.
Stephen was broken-hearted. Now, indeed, she felt alone and
desolate. All were gone. Father, uncle, aunt!--And Harold. The
kingdoms of the Earth which lay at her feet were of no account. One
hour of the dead or departed, any of them, back again were worth them
all!
Normanstand was now too utterly lonely to be endurable; so Stephen
determined to go, for a time at any rate, to Lannoy. She was
becoming accustomed to be called 'my lady' and 'your ladyship,' and
the new loneness made her feel better prepared to take her place
amongst new surroundings.
In addition, there was another spur to her going. Leonard Everard,
knowing of her absolute loneliness, and feeling that in it was a
possibility of renewing his old status, was beginning to make himself
apparent. He had learned by experience a certain wisdom, and did not
put himself forward obtrusively. But whenever they met he looked at
her so meekly and so lovingly that it brought remembrances which came
with blushes. So, all at once, without giving time for the news to
permeate through the neighbourhood, she took her way to Lannoy with a
few servants.
Stephen's life had hitherto been spent inland. She had of course now
and again been for short periods to various places; but the wonder of
the sea as a constant companion had been practically unknown to her.
Now at her new home its full splendour burst upon her; and so
impressed itself upon her that new life seemed to open.
Lannoy was on the north-eastern coast, the castle standing at the
base of a wide promontory stretching far into the North Sea. From
the coast the land sloped upward to a great rolling ridge. The
outlook seaward was over a mighty expanse of green sward, dotted here
and there with woods and isolated clumps of trees which grew fewer
and smaller as the rigour of the northern sea was borne upon them by
the easterly gales.
The coast was a wild and lonely one. No habitation other than an
isolated fisher's cottage was to be seen between the little fishing-
port at the northern curve away to the south, where beyond a waste of
sandhills and strand another tiny fishing-village nestled under a
high cliff, sheltering it from northerly wind. For centuries the
lords of Lannoy had kept their magnificent prospect to themselves;
and though they had treated their farmers and cottagers well, none
had ever been allowed to settle in the great park to seaward of the
castle.
From the terrace of the castle only than one building, other than the
cottage on the headland, could be seen. Far off on the very crest of
the ridge was the tower of an old windmill.
