ecclesiology, pronounced Mr. Stafford’s reconstruction
to be absolutely mistaken and impossible, and set
to work on a fresh plan, which, by the bye, he derides
at present. It afforded, however, an excuse for
routing under the ivy and among the stones, but without
much profit. From the mouldings on the materials
and in the stables and the front porch, it was evident
that the chapel had been used as a quarry, and Emily’s
arch was very probably that of the entrance door.
In a dry summer, the foundations of the walls and
piers could be traced on the turf, and the stumps
of one or two columns remained, but the rest was
only a confused heap of fragments within which no one
could have entered as in that strange vision.
Another thing became clear. There had once been
a wall between the beech wood and the lawn, with
a gate or door in it; Chapman could just remember
its being taken down, in James Winslow’s early
married life, when landscape gardening was the fashion.
It must have been through this that the Winslow
brothers were returning, when poor Margaret perhaps
expected them to enter by the front.
We wished we could have consulted Dame Dearlove, but
she had died a few years before, and her school was
extinct.
’And that to-night thou must watch with me
To win the treasure of the tomb.’
Scott.
Some seasons seem to be peculiarly marked, as if Death
did indeed walk forth in them.
Old Mr. Frith died in the spring of 1841, and it proved
that he had shown his gratitude to Clarence by a
legacy of shares in the firm amounting to about 2000
pounds. The rest of his interest therein went
to Lawrence Frith, and his funded property to his sister,
Mrs. Stevens, a very fair and upright disposition
of his wealth.
Only six weeks later, my father had a sudden seizure,
and there was only time to summon Clarence from London
and Martyn from Oxford, before a second attack closed
his righteous and godly career upon earth.
My mother was very still and calm, hardly shedding
a tear, but her whole demeanour was as if life were
over for her, and she had nothing to do save to wait.
She seemed to care very little for tendernesses
or attentions on our part. No doubt she would
have been more desolate without them, but we always
had a baffled feeling, as though our affection were
contrasted with her perfect union with her husband.
Yet they had been a singularly undemonstrative couple;
I never saw a kiss pass between them, except as greeting
or farewell before or after a journey; and if my mother
could not use the terms papa or your father, she
always said, ’Mr. Winslow.’ There
was a large gathering at the funeral, including Mr.
Fordyce, but he slept at Hillside, and we scarcely
saw him—only for a few kind words and
squeezes of the hand. Holy Week was begun, and
he had to hurry back to Beachharbour that very night.
