Thus there came a sort of settling down and composure of affairs. Phil Compton and all belonging to him disappeared from the scene, and Elinor returned to all the habits of her old life—all the habits, with one extraordinary and incalculable addition which changed all these habits. The baby—so inconsiderable a little creature, not able to show a feeling, or express a thought, or make even a tremulous step from one pair of loving arms to another—an altogether helpless little{vol. ii_56} bundle, but nevertheless one who had already altered the existence of the cottage and its inhabitants, and made life a totally different thing for them. Can I tell how this was done? No doubt for the wisest objects, to guard the sacred seed of the race as mere duty could never guard it, rendering it the one thing most precious in the world to those to whom it is confided—at least to most of them. When that love fails, then is the deepest abyss of misery reached. I do not say that Elinor was happy in this dreadful breaking up of her life, or that her heart did not go back, with those relentings which are the worst part of every disruption, to the man who had broken her heart and unsettled her nature. The remembrance of him in his better moments would flash upon her, and bear every resentment away. Dreadful thoughts of how she might herself have done otherwise, have rendered their mutual life better, would come over her; and next moment recollections still more terrible of what he had done and said, the scorn she had borne, the insults, the neglect, and worse of all the complicity he had forced upon her, by which he had made her guilty when she knew and feared nothing—when these thoughts overcame her, as they did twenty times in a day, for it is the worst of such troubles that they will not be settled by one struggle, but come back and back, beginning over again at the same point, after we have wrestled through them, and have thought that we had come to a close—when these thoughts, I say, overcame her, she would rush to the{vol. ii_57} room in which the baby held his throne, and press him to the heart which was beating so hotly, till it grew calm. And in the midst of all to sit down by the fire with the little atom of humanity in her lap, and see it spread and stretch its rosy limbs, would suffice to bring again to her face that beatitude which had filled John Tatham with wonder unspeakable. She took the baby and laid him on her heart to take the pain away: and so after a minute or two there was no more question of pain, but of happiness, and delicious play, and the raptures of motherhood. How strange were these things! She could not understand it herself, and fortunately did not try, but accepted that solace provided by God. As for Mrs. Dennistoun, she made no longer any pretences to herself, but allowed herself, as John had advised, to take her blessedness frankly without hypocrisy. When Elinor’s dear face was veiled by misery her mother was sympathetically miserable, but at all other moments her heart sang for joy. She had her child again, and she had her child’s child, an endless occupation, amusement, and delight. All this might come to an end—who can tell when?—but for the moment her house was no more lonely, the requirements of her being were satisfied. She had her Elinor—what more was to be said? And yet there was more to be said, for in addition there was the boy.

This was very well so far as the interior of the house and of their living was concerned, but very soon other {vol. ii_58}difficulties arose. It had been Mrs. Dennistoun’s desire, when she returned home, to communicate some modified version of what had happened to the neighbours around. She had thought it would not only be wise, but easier for themselves, that their position should be understood in the little parish society which, if it did not know authoritatively, would certainly inquire and investigate and divine, with the result of perhaps believing more than the truth, perhaps setting up an entirely fictitious explanation which it would be impossible to set aside, and very hard to bear. It is the worst of knowing a number of people intimately, and being known by them from the time your children were in their cradles, that every domestic incident requires some sort of explanation to this close little circle of spectators. But Elinor, who had not the experience of her mother in such matters, nor the knowledge of life, made a strenuous opposition to this. She would not have anything said. It was better, she thought, to leave it to their imagination, if they chose to interfere with their neighbours’ concerns and imagine anything. “But why should they occupy themselves about us? And they have no imaginations,” she said, with a contempt of her neighbours which is natural to young people, though very unjustifiable. “But, my darling,” Mrs. Dennistoun would say, “the position is so strange. There are not many young women who—And there must be some way of accounting for it. Let us just tell them——”

“For heaven’s sake, mamma, tell them nothing! I{vol. ii_59} have come to pay you a long visit after my neglect of you for these two years, which, of course, they know well enough. What more do they want to know? It is a very good reason: and while baby is so young of course it is far better for him to be in a settled home, where he can be properly attended to, than moving about. Isn’t that enough?”

“Well, Elinor; at least you will let me say as much as that——”

“Oh, they can surely make it out for themselves. What is the use of always talking a matter over, to lead to a little more, and a little more, till the appetite for gossip is satisfied? Surely, in our circumstances, least said is soonest mended,” Elinor said, with that air of superior understanding which almost always resides in persons of the younger generation. Mrs. Dennistoun said no more to her, but she did take advantage of the explanation thus suggested. She informed the anxious circle at the Rectory that Elinor had come to her on a long visit, “partly for me, and partly for the baby,” she said, with one of those smiles which are either the height of duplicity or the most pathetic evidence of self-control, according as you choose to regard them. “She thinks she has neglected her mother, though I am sure I have never blamed her; and she thinks—of which there can be no doubt—that to carry an infant of that age moving about from place to place is the worst thing in the world; and that I am very thankful she should think so, I need not say.{vol. ii_60}”

“It is very nice for you, dear Mrs. Dennistoun,” Mrs. Hudson said.

“And a good thing for Elinor,” said Alice, “for she is looking very poorly. I have always heard that fashionable life took a great deal out of you if you are not quite brought up to it. I am sure I couldn’t stand it,” the young lady said with fervour, who had never had that painful delight in her power.

“That is all very well,” said the Rector, rubbing his hands, “but what does Mr. Compton say to it? I don’t want to say a word against your arrangements, my dear lady, but you know there must be some one on the husband’s side. Now, I am on the husband’s side, and I am sorry for the poor young man. I hope he is going to join his wife. I hope, excuse me for saying it, that Elinor—though we are all so delighted to see her—will not forsake him, for too long.”

And then Mrs. Dennistoun felt herself compelled to embroider a little upon her theme.

“He has to be a great deal abroad during this year,” she said; “he has a great many things to do. Elinor does not know when he will be—home. That is one reason——”

“To be sure, to be sure,” the Rector said, rubbing his hands still more, and coming to her aid just as she was breaking down. “Something diplomatic, of course. Well, we must not inquire into the secrets of the State. But what an ease to his mind, my dear lady, to think that his wife and child will be safe with you while he’s away!{vol. ii_61}”

Mary Dale not being present could not of course say anything. She was a person who was always dreadfully well informed. It was a comfort unspeakable that at this moment she was away!

This explanation made the spring pass quietly enough, but not without many questions that brought the blood to Elinor’s face. When she was asked by some one, for the first time, “When do you expect Mr. Compton, Elinor?” the sudden wild flush of colour which flooded her countenance startled the questioner as much as the question did herself. “Oh, I beg your pardon!” said the injudicious but perfectly innocent seeker for information. I fear that Elinor fell upon her mother after this, and demanded to know what she had said. But as Mrs. Dennistoun was innocent of anything but having said that Philip was abroad, there was no satisfaction to be got out of that. Some time after, one of the Miss Hills congratulated Elinor, having seen in the papers that Mr. Compton was returning to town for the season. “I suppose, dear Elinor, we shan’t have you with us much longer,” this lady said. And then it became known at the Cottage that Mary Dale was returning to the Rectory. This was the last aggravation, and Elinor, who had now recovered her strength and energy, and temper along with it, received the news with an outburst of impatience which frightened her mother. “You may as well go through the parish and ring the bell, and tell everybody everything,” she said. “Mary Dale will have heard all, and a great deal more{vol. ii_62} than all; she will come with her budget, and pour it out far and wide; she will report scenes that never took place: and quarrels, and all that—that woman insinuated to John—and she will be surrounded with people who will shake their heads, and sink their voices when we come in and say, ‘Poor Elinor!’ I cannot bear it, I cannot bear it,” she cried.

“My darling! that was bound to come sooner or later. We must set our faces like a rock, and look as if we were unaware of anything——”

“I cannot look as if I were unaware. I cannot meet all their cruel eyes. I can see, now, the smile on Mary Dale’s face, that will say, ‘I told you so.’ I shall hear her say it even when I am in my room, with the combe between. I know exactly how she will say it—‘If Elinor had listened to me——’”

“Elinor,” said poor Mrs. Dennistoun, “I cannot contradict you, dear. It will be so—but none of them are cruel, not even Mary Dale. They will make their remarks—who could help it? we should ourselves if it were some one else’s case: but they will not be cruel—don’t think so—they will be full of sympathy——”

“Which is a great deal worse,” Elinor said, in her unreason; “the one might be borne, but the other I will not endure. Sympathy, yes! They will all be sorry for me—they will say they knew how it would be. Oh, I know I have not profited as I ought by what has happened to me. I am unsubdued. I am as impatient and{vol. ii_63} as proud as ever. It is quite true, but it cannot be mended. It is more than I can bear.”

“My darling,” said her mother, again. “We all say that in our trouble, and yet we know that we have got to bear it all the same. It is intolerable—one says that a thousand times—and yet it has to be put up with. All the time that we have been flattering ourselves that nobody took any notice it has been a delusion, Elinor. How could it be otherwise? We must set our faces——”

“Not I, mamma!” she said. “Not I! I must go away——”

“Go away? Elinor!”

“Among strangers; where nobody has heard of me before—where nobody can make any remark. To live like this, among a crowd of people who think they ought to know everything that one is doing—who are nothing to you, and yet whom you stand in awe of and must explain everything to!—it is this that is intolerable. I cannot, cannot bear it. Mother, I will take my baby, and I will go away——”

“Where?” said Mrs. Dennistoun, with all the colour fading out of her face. What panic had taken her I cannot tell. She grew pale to her lips, and the words were almost inaudible which she breathed forth. I think she thought for a moment that Elinor’s heart had turned, that she was going back to her husband to find refuge with him from the strife of tongues which she could not encounter alone. All the blood went back{vol. ii_64} upon the mother’s heart—yet she set herself to suppress all emotion, and if this should be so, not to oppose it—for was it not the thing of all others to be desired—the thing which everybody would approve, the reuniting of those whom God had put together? Though it might be death to her, not a word of opposition would she say.

“Where? how can I tell where—anywhere, anywhere out of the world,” cried Elinor, in the boiling tide of her impatience and wretchedness, “where nobody ever heard of us before, where there will be no one to ask, no one to require a reason, where we should be free to move when we please and do as we please. Let me go, mother. It seemed too dear, too peaceful to come home, but now home itself has become intolerable. I will take my baby and I will go—to the farthest point the railway can take me to—with no servant to betray me, not even an address. Mother, let me go away and be lost; let me be as if I had never been.”

“And me—am I to remain to bear the brunt behind?”

“And you—mamma! Oh, I am the most unworthy creature. I don’t deserve to have you, I that am always giving you pain. Why should I unroot you from your place where you have lived so long—from your flowers, and your landscape, and your pretty rooms that were always a comfort to think of in that horrible time when I was away? I always liked to think of you here, happy and quiet, in the place you had chosen.{vol. ii_65}”

“Flowers and landscapes are pretty things,” said Mrs. Dennistoun, whose colour had begun to come again a little, “but they don’t make up for one’s children. We must not do anything rashly, Elinor; but if what you mean is really that you will go away to a strange place among strangers——”

“What else could I mean?” Elinor said, and then she in her turn grew pale. “If you thought I could mean that I would go—back——”

“Oh, my darling, my darling! God knows if we are right or wrong—I not to advise you so, or you not to take my advice. Elinor, it is my duty, and I will say it though it were to break my heart. There only could you avoid this strife of tongues. John spoke the truth. He said, as the boy grew up we should have—many troubles. I have known women endure everything that their children might grow up in a natural situation, in their proper sphere. Think of this—I am saying it against my own interest, against my own heart. But think of it, Elinor. Whatever you might have to bear, you would be in your natural place.”

Elinor received this agitated address standing up, holding her head high, her nostrils expanded, her lips apart. “Have you quite done, mother?” she said.

Mrs. Dennistoun made an appealing movement with her hands, and sank, without any power to add a word, into a chair.

“I am glad you said it against your heart. Now you{vol. ii_66} must feel that your conscience is clear. Mother, if I had to wander the world from place to place, without even a spot of ground on which to rest my foot, I would never, never do what you say. What! take my child to grow up in that tainted air; give him up to be taught such things as they teach! Never, never, never! His natural place, did you say? I would rather the slums of London were his natural place. He would have some chance there! If I could bear it for myself, yet I could not for him—for him most of all. I will take him up in my arms. Thank God, I am strong now and can carry him—and go away—among strangers, I don’t care where—where there can be no questions and no remarks.”

“But not without me, Elinor!”

“Oh, mother, mother! What a child I am to you, to rend your heart as I have done, and now to tear you out of your house and home!”

“My home is where my children are,” Mrs. Dennistoun said: and then she made a little pause. “But we must think it over, Elinor. Such a step as this must not be taken rashly. We will ask John to come down and advise us. My dear——”

“No, mother, not John or any one. I will go first if you like and find a place, and you will join me after. That woman” (it was poor Mary Dale, who was indeed full of information, but meant no harm) “is coming directly. I will not wait here to see her, or their faces after she has told them all the lies she will have heard.{vol. ii_67} I am not going to take advice from any one. Let me alone, mother. I must, I must go away.”

“But not by yourself, Elinor,” Mrs. Dennistoun said.

This was how it happened that John Tatham, who had meant to go down to the Cottage the very next Saturday to see how things were going, was driven into a kind of stupefaction one morning in May by a letter which reached him from the North, a letter conveying news so unexpected and sudden, so unlike anything that had seemed possible, that he laid it down, when it was half read, with a gasp of astonishment, unable to believe his eyes.