Alick would not say a word to hasten him home, especially
as Rachel would have driven Bessie to Timber End,
so that it would only be returning to an empty house.
And such was Mr. Clare’s sociableness and disability
of detaching himself from pleasant conversation, that
the uncle and nephew scarcely started for their walk
across the park in time for the seven o’clock
service. Mr. Clare had never been so completely
belated, and, as Alick’s assistance was necessary,
he could only augur from his wife’s absence
that she was still at Timber End with his sister.
THE END OF CLEVERNESS.
“Where am I?
O vanity,
We are not what we deem,
The sins that hold my heart in thrall,
They are more real than all.”—Rev.
I. Williams.
As the uncle and nephew came out of church, and approached
the yew-tree gate, Rachel came swiftly to meet them.
“Oh, Alick! oh, uncle!” she said breathlessly.
“Bessie says she is shocked to have turned
your house upside down, but we could not go any further.
And her baby is born!” Then in answer to exclamations,
half-dismayed, half-wondering, “Yes, it is
all right, so Nurse Jones says. I could not
send to you, for we had to send everywhere at once.
Mr. Harvey was not at home, and we telegraphed to
London, but no one has come yet, and now I have just
written a note to Lord Keith with the news of his
son and heir. And, uncle, she has set her heart
on your baptizing him directly.”
There was some demur, for though the child had made
so sudden a rush into the world, there seemed to be
no ground for immediate alarm; and Mr. Clare being
always at hand, did not think it expedient to give
the name without knowing the father’s wishes
with regard to that hereditary Alexander which had
been borne by the dead son of the first marriage.
A message, however, came down to hasten him, and
when—as he had often before done in cottages—he
demanded of Nurse Jones whether private baptism were
immediately necessary, she allowed that she saw no
pressing danger, but added, “that the lady was
in a way about it,” and this both Rachel and
her maid strongly corroborated. Rachel’s
maid was an experienced person, whom Mrs. Curtis had
selected with a view to Rachel’s weak state at
the time of her marriage, and she showed herself anxious
for anything that might abate Lady Keith’s excitement,
to which they at length yielded, feeling that resistance
might be dangerous to her. She further insisted
that the rite should be performed in her presence;
nor was she satisfied when Rachel had brought in her
uncle, but insisted on likewise calling in her brother,
who vaguely anxious, and fully conscious of the small
size of the room, had remained down-stairs.
Mr. Clare always baptized his infant parishioners,
and no one was anxious about his manner of handling
the little one, the touch of whose garments might
be familiar, as being no other than his own parish
baby linen. He could do no otherwise than give
the child the name reiterated by the mother, in weak
but impatient accents, “Alexander Clare,”
her brother’s own name, and when the short service
was concluded, she called out triumphantly, “Make
Alick kiss him, Rachel, and do homage to his young
chieftain.”
