CHAPTER XVIII.

THE GATHERING STORM.

“I am sorry you feel like that about it, my dear. She seems to me a nice little girl enough—rather fascinating indeed. She appears very much liked here.”

Mrs. Cossart’s reply was something like a snort, and the toss of her head and set of her mouth showed from whom Effie had inherited some of her little tricks of manner.

“And she is such a nice companion for Effie,” concluded Mr. Cossart after a brief pause.

“A fine companion indeed!” retorted his wife. “A wonderful lot of time she spends with Effie! I call it simply shameful the way she is going on! We bring her out with us at great cost to be a companion for Effie, and here she is from morning to night running after some new people, just because they are rich and well connected, and she hopes to catch the young man for a husband!”

Like many rather easy-going and phlegmatic people, Mrs. Cossart took a good deal of rousing, but when once an idea had thoroughly taken possession of her mind, there was no getting it out, and if it happened to be one of an irritating and disturbing kind, it would gradually work like leaven in her nature, and entirely overset her natural equilibrium. She had been brooding for weeks over the turn affairs seemed taking, but this was the first time she had spoken quite so openly to her husband, and Mr. Cossart was decidedly taken aback.

“Really, my dear, I don’t think such an idea has ever entered Sheila’s head. She is such a child still. She is fond of Miss Adene and these Dumaresqs, and they have taken a fancy to her; but I don’t think you need think such things of her. She is just as happy playing with the little boy as being with young Dumaresq; and it seems to me that he pays quite as much attention to Effie. I have taken care to let him know, in an indirect kind of way, that our little girl will have a pretty dower when she marries. And in these days young men think of such things. High time too, with the land depreciating as it is!”

“Yes, and perhaps if Sheila were not here something might come of it. Effie has twice the character of Sheila, but there is something about the way that little flirt goes on that takes the fancy of people in a way I can’t understand! And if you would believe it, on New Year’s Eve, when I thought Ronald Dumaresq was sitting out with Effie watching the fireworks and so on—if you would believe it he had just turned her over to his aunt, and off he set down the hill in a carro, and found Sheila out on the verandah here, and stayed with her all the time! What do you call that sort of thing, I wonder?”

“Well, my dear, I don’t see that Sheila was in fault. And there were other people out too. She was not alone. If young Dumaresq chose to come and watch the display from here, nobody could blame her.”

“I expect it was a got-up thing between them. She never said a word about it either; I only heard it incidentally a few days ago. She is a very artful young minx—that is what she is!”

Mr. Cossart was uncomfortable. He was a just man and a kindly one by nature; and Sheila’s pretty ways had taken his fancy as they had taken the fancy of others. He had no special matrimonial ambitions for his own daughter. He would very well have liked to see her the wife of Ronald Dumaresq; but, on the other hand, if the young man had other ideas for himself, he would never make a trouble of it.

“There’s as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it,” was a favourite maxim of his, and if Sheila were to get a handsome husband in Ronald, her uncle would wish her joy and be ready to arrange matters for her in fatherly fashion. But he knew by experience that his wife, when once her mind was made up, was inexorable.

“Yes,” continued Mrs. Cossart wrathfully, “you men never see an inch before your noses, but I have had my misgivings ever since Sheila came. Look how things were with the girls and Cyril. I don’t mean that I think much of Cyril—he’s only a Cossart when all’s said and done. All his grand ways won’t make him a better man than his father before him, and of course they’re cousins. Still I had no particular objection, and Effie seemed to think more of him than of anybody else, and to be a good deal taken up with him. But as soon as Sheila came I noticed the difference. It was she who was the attraction then. They were always scheming to get together and ride off alone and all that sort of thing. There was talk about Effie, to be sure, and teaching her to ride; but that was just the excuse. Oh, I know what I am talking about! And now it is just the same thing again. If it were not for Sheila, young Dumaresq would be very attentive to Effie, but as things are he never gets the chance. That girl, with her craving after notice, her laughing ways and bold artful scheming, just winds him round her fingers, and the end of it will be, you’ll see, that she lands the fish, and Effie is left out in the cold!”

“But, my dear, if the young man prefers Sheila (and I’m not at all prepared to think he does; but she is pretty and taking, and he naturally talks to her) I don’t see that we could interfere.”

“Then you will stand quietly by to see your own child’s heart broken, whilst this artful little minx carries on her games under our very noses.”

At that Mr. Cossart looked grave and uttered a low whistle.

“Do you mean that our Effie has begun to—to—well, to care for this young man? I never thought her the kind to fall in love just with a handsome face.”

“Ronald Dumaresq has more than a handsome face,” answered Mrs. Cossart with slight asperity, “and I have no hesitation in saying that he has taken Effie’s fancy in a way that no other man has done to my knowledge. The last doctor we consulted about Effie said that some interest of that sort in her life just now might be the best possible thing for her. When first I saw Ronald Dumaresq I thought that he would be the very husband for her; he is well-born, fairly well-to-do, kind-hearted, affectionate, and, I think, very high principled. If you watch Effie when she is talking to him, you will see how she brightens up. But that Sheila is for ever putting herself forward. I wish we had never brought her, and I am certain Effie is beginning to wish the same.”

Mr. Cossart was silent; this was putting the matter in a new light. He rubbed his chin and looked disturbed.

“What are the girls doing now?” he asked as though to gain time.

“We will come and see,” said Mrs. Cossart, rising with a kind of vicious alacrity. “I know nothing, but I can guess. Sheila will by hook or by crook have got Ronald Dumaresq in tow, you will see, and Effie will be left out in the cold, or reduced to fall back on those everlasting Murchison girls! I did not bring Effie out here to throw her into the arms of a tradesman’s daughters!” and Mrs. Cossart gave that little toss to her head which was so like Effie’s.

Husband and wife rose and wandered down the garden paths, too well used to the wealth of flowers and the glint of the sparkling sea to remark upon the beauties before them. Mrs. Cossart’s face was displeased, and his was troubled. Presently the sound of a clear ringing laugh broke upon their ears, and Mrs. Cossart uttered a suggestive snort.

“There’s Sheila, on the tennis court, I expect. Come and see for yourself how she plays companion to Effie!”

They moved on till they could command a view of the court from a terrace above, and then a pretty scene revealed itself to their eyes.

On one side of the net stood Ronald, tennis-bat in hand, his white flannels showing off his slight figure to great advantage. On the other side was little Guy, with Sheila superintending, her bat in his hand, as he made vigorous and often successful attempts to send the ball across to his uncle. Sir Guy and Lady Dumaresq sat together in wicker chairs in the shade, and Miss Adene was sketching the group, a smile on her lips, as her clever pencil travelled swiftly over the paper. Sheila was in the plot, and strove to keep little Guy still from time to time in one of his pretty attitudes. Of Effie there was no trace.

“You see!” said Mrs. Cossart triumphantly.

“Yes, my dear; but you know Sheila offered to help with the child when his nurse was taken ill. We must not complain if she keeps her promise. You allowed her to undertake the task.”

“She gave me no choice, speaking it out before Lady Dumaresq as she did. Of course I saw the motive all the while. As though people like that could not get a temporary nurse!”

“Well, they have done that; but of course a Portuguese woman is not like their own trusted servant. Naturally they do not like the boy left much with her. I cannot find fault with Sheila for trying to help. She is so fond of the little fellow.”

Sheila’s voice came up to them just then clear and sweet.

“Oh, isn’t he a darling! Isn’t he quite too sweet? Lady Dumaresq, I hope Taylor isn’t going to get well just yet, I do so love having him. Mayn’t I give him his bath again to-night? He likes it so when I do. And he is such a little duck!”

Mr. and Mrs. Cossart walked down and approached the group.

“Where is Effie, Sheila?” asked the latter.

Sheila looked round quickly.

“Effie? Oh, she was here just now. We were playing tennis against Mr. Dumaresq. We beat him, but I don’t believe he played up,” and she threw a sparkling glance towards Ronald who was strolling up with Guy perched on his shoulder. “Then Guy wanted to play, and Effie sat down; I thought she was here still.”

“The Miss Murchisons came and asked her to go down the town with them in their carro, and hear the band play at the Casino,” said Miss Adene, looking up from her sketch. “There, Sheila, will that do? It is the best I could get—he is a restless little mortal.”

“Oh, but you have got him delightfully!” cried Sheila, taking the sketch-book, her face alight with pleasure. “Oh, isn’t it just that pretty way of his when he tries to hit the ball, and laughs all over his dear little face! See, Lady Dumaresq, isn’t it good? But you can’t have it, for Miss Adene has promised it to me. You know you did, didn’t you—the first good sketch you could catch of him?”

Lady Dumaresq smiled and patted Sheila’s cheek.

“You will make my boy quite vain by your open admiration, my dear; you must remember that he is not quite a baby, and can understand a good deal of what is said.” She looked up at the girl, and then her glance fell upon the Cossarts, and she seemed to divine that something was amiss.

With ready tact she turned to them and said—

“Will you not join us at tea? It is just coming out. We prefer having it brought here to going to the drawing-room; and the people are very kind about indulging us. We want to talk to you about a plan for to-morrow or the next day. We feel we have been idle long enough. We were thinking of taking the excursion to Camacha, and were hoping you would join us. Your daughter seemed pleased with the plan.”

There was something about Lady Dumaresq’s graceful and gracious manner that Mrs. Cossart could never resist. The frown faded from her brow, and she took the seat Ronald brought for her, preparing to be responsive, though she could not forget her regret in Effie’s absence; for naturally Sheila and Ronald consorted together, and they evidently had an infinite number of little jokes in common, and it seemed to her that little Guy made a very strong link between them.

“You know Camacha is a quaint little village lying behind that wooded hill we look at to the right,” said Lady Dumaresq indicating the direction. “It is one of the easy excursions, and it is much more often free from rain cloud than other places in the island. It is about two hours distant, whether we take horses or hammocks or a light carro. We think a picnic up there would be very agreeable. It will be a pleasure to us if your party will join us. The weather is so settled again just now that we feel we ought to take advantage of it.”

“Very kind, I am sure,” said Mr. Cossart heartily. “We shall be delighted to join you. I think I and my old lady had better have a carro, and perhaps two yoke of bullocks, and take the luncheon baskets with us. I suppose you young people will all ride. So would I have done at your age!”

“I think my aunt and my husband will have hammocks,” said Lady Dumaresq, “and I fancy your daughter inclined to that method also. I don’t know whether I can make up my mind to try one. I think I have a greater fancy for a horse.”

“It seems rather cruel work being carried by human bearers,” said Miss Adene. “I did not like it at all at first, but I got used to it. And as they say, it is the men’s livelihood. If visitors do not take hammocks, the bearers starve.”

“We’ll have horses,” cried Ronald, including himself, Sheila, Lady Dumaresq and little Guy in his glance. “Yes, I’ve seen Susa, and he’s got a good little pony, and the boy’s donkey saddle will fit on all right. We’ll take him along with us. The man will walk alongside all the time. Oh, he’ll be as safe as a tree! He’ll like it awfully, won’t you, boy?”

Guy cut capers and clapped his hands. He was a perfectly fearless morsel of humanity, and had ridden the old donkey at home ever since he could get his little legs across its broad back. At nearly four he was wild to have a pony and go with Uncle Ronald and Sheila, and they were equally eager to have him.

When Mr. and Mrs. Cossart went back to the hotel, it was in a more complaisant mood than they had left it.

“You see, my dear,” he said, “they are quite friendly to us.”

“Oh, yes, that is all right enough; but all the same I am not satisfied with the way things are going. I mean to make this excursion to Camacha something of a test case.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know what I mean myself. I mean to keep my eyes well open, and you can do the same. If I am not satisfied with what I see, I have quite made up my mind what to do.”

“And what is that?” asked her husband rather uneasily.

“To pack Sheila straight off home in the _Dunraven Castle_ that is due next Monday or Tuesday.”

(_To be continued._)

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

STUDY AND STUDIO.

A LOVER OF THE “G.O.P.”—1. Albert Loeschorn, a distinguished musical professor of Berlin, was born there in 1819. He was a pupil of Ludwig Berger, taught in Berlin, and has held chamber concerts there. His principal works consist of studies for the pianoforte. The title of “Royal Professor” was conferred upon him in 1868.—2. When a canary moults in July or August, be careful to keep him quiet and free from draughts. Give him once a week a very small quantity of raw beef scraped and moistened with water, with now and then a little of the yolk of hard-boiled eggs, a piece of sponge-cake, and ripe chickweed.

MONA.—1. Robert Browning’s poem “How they brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix” is founded on no historical incident, but describes a purely imaginary “ride.”—2. Our summer takes place when the earth is at aphelion (furthest from the sun) because the sun’s rays fall more vertically upon our part of the world at that time. Two questions are our limit.

INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE.

B. F., Scotland, would like to correspond with an Italian girl. She is 15 years of age, very musical, and understands Latin, but not Italian. Would the Italian girl “write a letter in English with the corresponding Italian written below?”

MISS MARGARETHE SCHOLTZ, 115, Friedrichstrasse, Berlin, a teacher, would like to correspond with another lady teacher, aged between 28 and 36. She “has no objection to writing to any foreign country.” Miss Scholtz says, “You would be surprised to see how many girls here read THE GIRL’S OWN PAPER.”

FLANNEL-FLOWER, New South Wales, “in the bush,” wishes to arrange a correspondence with a French girl. She is 25, fond of reading and music, the French language and literature. She would write in English, the correspondent in French.

MISS MARGARET SPEIR, Newton Farm, Newton, Glasgow, wishes to correspond with a French and a German girl. She is 18, but her correspondents might be a few years older or younger.

“LOUISA,” Aberdeen, who is studying French, would like to correspond with a French girl about her own age (16). The correspondent might write either in English or French, but “Louisa” would write in French.

MISS ANICE CRESS has received no less than twelve letters from Roumania, Belgium, France, and England, and says, “I feel that life is indeed pleasant when I receive such kind, interesting, and instructive letters from my dear fellow readers and correspondents.”

MISS RUTH E. A. PERRITT, 59, Elmbank Street, Glasgow, is anxious to correspond regularly with a young French lady of her own age (17). We hope some French girls will reply to our Scottish correspondents.

MISS EMILY JACOB, Belfield, Raheny, Co. Dublin (a typewriter, etc.), and MISS F. BARTRAM, Pleasant View, Clay Lane, Clay Cross, Derbyshire, offer to correspond with “NELLIE.”

MRS. BARNARD, Coomooboolaroo, Duaringa, Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia, sends us six pictorial postcards for “O MIMOSA SAN,” and asks for “a few bridges in exchange.” We cannot, as we have often said, undertake any postal communication in connection with this column, and have not “_O Mimosa San’s_” address.

AILEEN JACQUES (aged 13½), Queen Street, Tramore, Co. Waterford, Ireland, wishes to correspond with a French girl of her own age, each to write the other’s language.

MISS ETHEL KNEESHAW, Pembina, North Dakota, U.S.A., would like to exchange duplicate stamps with MADEMOISELLE FRANÇOIS. Why does she not write to her direct? Her address has been given more than once.

CARMEN would like to correspond with a Spanish girl of good family, about her own age (18). Address: Maria Ricciardi, Madonna dell’ Aiuto, 28, Naples, Italy.

MISS MARIE DURAZZO, Piazza Meridiana 2, Genoa, Italy, will send an illustrated post-card to any reader of THE GIRL’S OWN PAPER who will send her one.

L. K. B. (not proficient in French) desires to correspond with a young French lady, and would correct her English letters.

EXCELSIOR is very anxious to study mathematics, Latin, and French by correspondence. She would help in all English subjects in return, and adds also, “perhaps some lonely girl in a land across the sea might be pleased to have letters telling of our great England, sent regularly.” We quote a sentence or two from her letter to the Editor: “THE GIRL’S OWN has been my very own paper since 1890; and however lonely or tired I may feel, it needs but the new number of THE GIRL’S OWN to put new life into me. If we could but gather round you, what a babel there would be! Girls _can_ talk, and what a great deal we should wish to say!”

SUNSHINE wishes to correspond in English with an Irish, Scotch, or French girl of 15 or 16. Address: Miss L. Handson, 84, Cartergate, Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire.

MISS M. THEYNE, Wiedendamm 2, Riga, Russia, a Russian girl aged 22, wishes to correspond with “LAURA” (March). We thank her for her pleasant letter.

MEDICAL.

E. MESSENT.—We have over and over again said that we know of no really efficient and safe way of permanently removing superfluous hairs from the face. All chemical epilators are either injurious to the skin, or are else useless; indeed, most of them are both. It is obvious that no chemical depilatory can be safe to use, for to prevent the growth of hair it must destroy the hair root, and as the hair root is placed deeply in the skin, the chemical has got to deeply destroy the skin before it can commence its work. We know of many epilators which will destroy the skin of the face, but not one of them can be trusted even to injure the hair roots! Then as regards electrolysis, we know it is frequently used for destroying hairs, but it is not one case in a hundred that this treatment can benefit. It can permanently remove half-a-dozen hairs or so, but as to destroying a beard or moustache, why you would have to have generation after generation of electrolysers at work before all the hair was destroyed. And even where electrolysis is practised, a permanent cure is exceedingly uncommon, and the expense of this treatment is very considerable. But if you cannot permanently remove unwelcome hairs, you can with ease destroy them temporarily either by pulling them out or by cutting them down. The latter is by far the best way of removing superfluous hairs, and is the only way which is absolutely safe.

J. H. R.—1. Powdered boracic acid is very useful for those who suffer from excessive perspiration. Another powder consisting of one part of salicylic acid to ninety-nine parts of powdered silica, is also frequently used for the same purpose.—2. Liquid ammonia is a very good preparation with which to soften hard water. Ordinary household ammonia is quite equal to the various patent preparations. About a tablespoonful of strong ammonia will soften about twenty gallons of London water. Failing ammonia, common washing soda is as good as anything, and is certainly cheap enough for everybody. You can easily tell if you have added enough of the ammonia or soda to the water by feeling it with the hand, when the hard feel of ordinary tap water gives place to the unctuous feel of soft water.

JANET.—It is quite impossible to say what is causing noises in the ear without a personal interview. Many conditions, some slight, some grave, produce this symptom, and the necessity for a careful diagnosis is obvious. We would, therefore, be doing you an injustice to attempt to “cure” you. You must go to an aurist and get his opinion on the matter. A course of quinine might do you good, but very likely it would only make you worse.

ARIEL.—Sarsaparilla is one of those drugs whose action upon the human organism is practically nil! Indeed, it is not too much to say that, if taken by a man in any quantities, it will produce no effect whatever. It is no new remedy; it has been tried and tried, and found wanting. The decoction of sarsa has a decided action, but it is due to the water in it, and not to the sarsaparilla!

HENRIETTA.—The symptom you mention is one of the manifestations of the milder degrees of hysteria. A little rigid mental training would soon cure you.

INEXPERIENCED.—The best temperature for a working room is between 55° F. and 60° F. For a bedroom, between 50° F. and 55° F. For the sick-room for ordinary cases, between 55° F. and 65° F. For some respiratory diseases, the temperature must be kept between 62° F. and 70° F. In these diseases the temperature must be kept constant, great care being taken that the room does not get cold in the early hours of the morning.

COUNTRY MOUSE.—Earache is by no means always due to trouble with the ear. Indeed, pain of any kind is an uncommon symptom of ear disease, and it is only in acute inflammation of the drum that pain is at all common. Earache is most often a “referred pain,” that is, it is a pain in one nerve due to irritation of another nerve connected with it. This phenomenon of referred pain is exceedingly common. The nerve which chiefly supplies the skin about the ear is a branch of the inferior dental nerve, which supplies the sensation to the lower teeth. Consequently the presence of carious teeth in the lower jaw is an exceedingly common cause of earache, and is for certain the cause of the pain which you suffer. You can tell whether pain about the ear is due to ear trouble or to this referred pain, because in the former case the pain is deeply seated, whereas in referred pain the pain is situated in the skin about the ear. Moreover, in this latter case the skin about the ear may be acutely tender.

MISCELLANEOUS.

MRS. C——S.—You give no pseudonym. In the Annotated Bible there is a note on this subject which points out that Nahash may have been another name of Jesse, the father of David. The ancient Jews are said to have thought that Abigail and Zeruiah were daughters of David’s mother by Nahash, King of Ammon, before her marriage with Jesse, as it is not said they _were daughters of Jesse_ anywhere, although they are called sisters of David. All this is, however, conjectural. Nahash means a serpent.

ANNA MARIA.—1. You would require a proper butter-mould for it.—2. It is never proper to shorten words, such as “cd.,” “wld.,” “wk.” for work, or “tly.” for truly, at least in writing letters. If your time be so limited, it is better to put off writing your letter till you have more time. Such abbreviations are only intended for business men, and are wholly unnecessary in polite letter-writing.

DOWDNEY.—We have not heard of any lady veterinary surgeons, nor do we find that there is any opening for their education as yet. Why spell Britain as “Brittian”? The rest of your letter is quite correct. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons is at 10, Red Lion Square, W.C. Write and inquire of the Secretary.

OPEN SESAME.—We think the best plan is to go to a good and trustworthy hairdresser, if you have determined to have your hair dyed, but we will give you an old-fashioned hair “restorer” or “darkener,” as follows:—rust of iron, 1 drachm, old ale, strong and unsweetened, 1 pint, oil of rosemary, 12 drops. Put this mixture into a bottle, cork very loosely, agitate it daily for ten or twelve days, then after an hour’s waiting, decant the clear portion for use. Rain water may be substituted for the ale if you wish it. This mixture will ironmould linen clothes.

PETITE.—1. It is very difficult to deal with a scratched surface of leather. A kid-restorer will sometimes answer the purpose, or one of the creams sold for Russia leather. White of egg will also act as a restorer, and you might stain the scratches with a green paint.—2. As to your second question, we are of opinion that you would do best by joining the University Correspondence College, 32, Red Lion Square, W.C., particularly as you live so far from London. You could write for terms.

EFFIE.—The loosened back of your book could only be tightened by a binder, and perhaps not even by him, unless he took the back off, when it could be done.

LONELY ONE.—Judging from your letter and its story only, we should say you were very well rid of such a half-hearted lover. And now, we think that at twenty-six, with a delightful profession to occupy you, you ought to be a thankful and happy girl. Throw yourself into your work with your whole heart. Discourage all repining and sorrowful thoughts; be resolute and determined, until your mind shall gain strength and its normal power again. Take plenty of fresh air and exercise, and look only on the sunny side of life. God helps those who help themselves; and He will help you to a happy life.

E. B. H.—We should think that your weight was about normal, if tall for your age. Has anyone been teasing you about it? Don’t mind, you can practise how to preserve a good temper under difficulties. The name Emma is of very ancient date. It comes from the Latin _amata_, signifying loved; and was used as a name of honour in the days of ancient Rome, when it was bestowed on the newly-consecrated vestal by the high priest. It is neither ugly nor common, so far as we can see. You have been taking “chaff” too seriously.

MURIEL.—We suppose that the stains on the teacups are caused by tea; if so, rubbing them well with salt will take them off; and they will sometimes come off when merely scraped with a knife.

ANNIE.—A housemaid in a gentleman’s house would need three cotton dresses, half-a-dozen linen, and half-a-dozen lawn or muslin aprons, and a good black gown for afternoon wear. If you are one of two or three maids, you are under the upper housemaid, and she will instruct you in your duties. These would differ in every house respectively.

AYESHA.—Your writing is very fairly good. The blue velveteen must be cleaned with benzine, or some French chalk, which take out the grease—the latter rubbed in on the wrong side.

FLORENCE.—Lawyer is a general term which comprehends attorneys, solicitors, barristers, and advocates. A barrister is a councillor, qualified and admitted to plead at the Bar, and to take upon him the defence of clients. He is also a conveyancer. An attorney-at-law is an officer of a court of law, legally qualified to prosecute and defend actions in such court, on the retainer of clients. He answers to the solicitor in Chancery, and the proctor in Ecclesiastical and Admiralty courts, and all are comprehended under the general term lawyer.

C. H. M. B.—1. If calling on a lady living with her brother, you would leave two of your husband’s cards.—2. The lady herself, in calling on you, would, of course, leave cards for her brother.

FLOSS.—1. We are much obliged by your kind expression of opinion concerning our paper.—2. The only way to improve your writing is to go back to copies and improve each letter as it comes.

* * * * *

[Transcriber’s Note—the following changes have been made to this text.

Page 710: tho to those—“those made of”.

Page 713: soverigns to sovereigns—“Nine hard sovereigns”.

Page 714: Anne to Ann—“to cook and Ann”.

Page 720: you to your—“your husband’s cards”.]