Osbaldistone herself would never consent to his leaving us.But some ladies,you know,like a little more subserviency in manner than our friend Dixon can boast."Ellinor made no reply.They were entering the painted flower garden,hiding the ghastly memory.She could not speak.She felt as if,with all her striving,she could not move--just as one does in a nightmare--but she was past the place even as this terror came to its acme;and when she came to herself,Mr.Osbaldistone was still blandly talking,and saying -"It is now a reward for our obedience to your wishes,Miss Wilkins,for if the projected railway passes through the ash-field yonder we should have been perpetually troubled with the sight of the trains;indeed,the sound would have been much more distinct than it will be now coming through the interlacing branches.Then you will not go in,Miss Wilkins?"Mrs.Osbaldistone desired me to say how happy--Ah!I can understand such feelings--Certainly,certainly;it is so much the shortest way to the town,that we elder ones always go through the stable-yard;for young people,it is perhaps not quite so desirable.Ha!Dixon,"he continued,"on the watch for the Miss Ellinor we so often hear of!This old man,"he continued to Ellinor,"is never satisfied with the seat of our young ladies,always comparing their way of riding with that of a certain missy--""I cannot help it,sir;they've quite a different style of hand,and sit all lumpish-like.Now,Miss Ellinor,there -""Hush,Dixon,"she said,suddenly aware of why the old servant was not popular with his mistress."I suppose I may be allowed to ask for Dixon's company for an hour or so;we have something to do together before we leave."The consent given,the two walked away,as by previous appointment,to Hamley churchyard,where he was to point out to her the exact spot where he wished to be buried.Trampling over the long,rank grass,but avoiding passing directly over any of the thickly-strewn graves,he made straight for one spot--a little space of unoccupied ground close by,where Molly,the pretty scullery-maid,lay:
Sacred to the Memory of MARY GREAVES.
Born 1797.Died 1818.
"We part to meet again."
"I put this stone up over her with my first savings,"said he,looking at it;and then,pulling out his knife,he began to clean out the letters."I said then as I would lie by her.And it'll be a comfort to think you'll see me laid here.I trust no one'll be so crabbed as to take a fancy to this 'ere spot of ground."Ellinor grasped eagerly at the only pleasure which her money enabled her to give to the old man:and promised him that she would take care and buy the right to that particular piece of ground.This was evidently a gratification Dixon had frequently yearned after;he kept saying,"I'm greatly obleeged to ye,Miss Ellinor.I may say I'm truly obleeged."And when he saw them off by the coach the next day,his last words were,"I cannot justly say how greatly I'm obleeged to you for that matter of the churchyard."It was a much more easy affair to give Miss Monro some additional comforts;she was as cheerful as ever;still working away at her languages in any spare time,but confessing that she was tired of the perpetual teaching in which her life had been spent during the last thirty years.Ellinor was now enabled to set her at liberty from this,and she accepted the kindness from her former pupil with as much simple gratitude as that with which a mother receives a favour from a child."If Ellinor were but married to Canon Livingstone,I should be happier than I have ever been since my father died,"she used to say to herself in the solitude of her bedchamber,for talking aloud had become her wont in the early years of her isolated life as a governess."And yet,"she went on,"I don't know what I should do without her;it is lucky for me that things are not in my hands,for a pretty mess I should make of them,one way or another.Dear!how old Mrs.Cadogan used to hate that word 'mess,'and correct her granddaughters for using it right before my face,when I knew I had said it myself only the moment before!Well!those days are all over now.God be thanked!"In spite of being glad that "things were not in her hands"Miss Monro tried to take affairs into her charge by doing all she could to persuade Ellinor to allow her to invite the canon to their "little sociable teas."The most provoking part was,that she was sure he would have come if he had been asked;but she could never get leave to do so."Of course no man could go on for ever and ever without encouragement,"as she confided to herself in a plaintive tone of voice;and by-and-by many people were led to suppose that the bachelor canon was paying attention to Miss Forbes,the eldest daughter of the family to which the delicate Jeanie belonged.It was,perhaps,with the Forbeses that both Miss Monro and Ellinor were the most intimate of all the families in East Chester.Mrs.Forbes was a widow lady of good means,with a large family of pretty,delicate daughters.She herself belonged to one of the great houses in --shire,but had married into Scotland;so,after her husband's death,it was the most natural thing in the world that she should settle in East Chester;and one after another of her daughters had become first Miss Monro's pupil and afterwards her friend.Mrs.
Forbes herself had always been strongly attracted by Ellinor,but it was long before she could conquer the timid reserve by which Miss Wilkins was hedged round.It was Miss Monro,who was herself incapable of jealousy,who persevered in praising them to one another,and in bringing them together;and now Ellinor was as intimate and familiar in Mrs.Forbes's household as she ever could be with any family not her own.
