HERBERT TREVOR; OR, THE ROOT OF BITTERNESS. "In man's heart is a sin that is the root of all evil; Whose fibres strangle the affections, whose branches overgrow the mind." СНАР. І. "A family whose study was to make fourpence do as much as others made fourpence- halfpenny do."-BosWELL'S JOHNSON. 66 If you wished to read it, there was abundance of time for you to so," rejoined Anna. Alice did not say what she thought-that she certainly might with ease have got through the book, had not her father and mother, and sister, and Miss Hall, who was on a visit to them, each and all chosen to read it separately. She only sighed a little, and turned a page. "Hurrah!" cried Charlie a minute afterwards, "here's Stephen." Harry, you wasteful boy, another new pen!" cried Anna Seymour, who sat keeping a watchful eye over the proceedings of her young brothers, whilst her fingers were busily engaged in stitching a piece of Irish linen. Harry went on with his writing, quite regardless of his sister's re- It was no wonder Charlie's exclamation was monstrance; upon which she picked up the disso joyous; the face that beamed in upon the carded quill, and lodged it safely in her blotting-party was explanation enough for it; even book. Have you made out Sarah's account Anna's brow relaxed, as she returned the kindly for her, Janey?" she proceeded. Janey, a fat, greeting of Stephen Morewood, who stood half lazy little girl, with a disconsolate air, routed in, half out of the window, exchanging laughing out a small china slate from the drawer of a sofa- remarks with his younger cousins, who instantly table, and commenced scratching in and rubbing gathered round him, until Anna, as Alice raised out some very unintelligible figures. her eyes for a moment, returned to the charge. 66 "How I hate sums!" she cried. "Anna; Ned Balfour says that you think keeping accounts is what the Latin grammar calls rerum omnium primum." "Ned Balfour is a very pert boy, and will give his papa a great deal of trouble by-and-by," returned her sister. "Mamma," she continued, "don't you think it a great pity Mr. Balfour gives that boy such a large allowance? He will repent it, I am certain, getting him into such extravagant ways as it does." Mrs. Seymour, a pale, care-worn looking woman, acquiesced, without much apparent interest in her daughter's opinion; but her husband, looking up from his newspaper, exclaimed that John would have been a ruined boy if he had been so lavishly supplied with pocketmoney. Anna generally had her father and mother on her side of the question; she was, indeed, a model eldest daughter. I am afraid her brothers and sisters were a little in the opposition. And now she directed her attention to a cosy corner, near one of the open French windows, where, on a small couch, half sat, half reclined, a pale slender girl, with a profusion of brown tresses, and large dark startled eyes. "You may as well at once give up reading that book, Alice. I am sure, now that Stephen is come, there will be no more study this evening for any of us." "Alice! Where is she hiding herself?* asked Stephen. "She is sitting with her back to the other window, taking cold." Mrs. Seymour at this looked up. "My dear, you had better move." Before Alice had time to obey, Stephen had passed to the window where she sat, and was leaning over the couch. "Let me see what your studies are, Lily," he said, slightly emphasizing the appellation. Her cheek flushed a little; and Stephen, as he looked over her shoulder, whispered, Herbert is come." She started, smiled, fluttered the pages of her book, and her lips tried to say, "Where is he?" Stephen understood their motion, and replied, "In the study." The book was left in his hand, and she had darted through the window, and in another minute was standing before a glass-door, with a honeysuckle trained round it, at another side of the house. 66 Why, where has Alice vanished to?" asked Anna presently. Alice, we must send off 'The Seven Lamps' to-morrow, or we shall be fined; so I advise you" to make haste." Only let me keep it over to-morrow, please Anna," implored Alice: "I shall have finished it then, I am sure; and I want so very much to "On a message of mine," said Stephen. How fast you are working, Anna! The original little busy bee; is she not, Janey?" "She is working for Mr. Allen now," said Janey, still resentfully remembering the long sum. Anna knew that Stephen's laughing eyes were fixed on her, so she said in explanation "Mamma found he was giving Mrs. Henderson I don't know what fabulous price for making his collars; so she brought them home with her, and I am helping to stitch them." 66 edly. Happy Mr. Allen!" said Stephen, point "Happy Ilverstone, I should say, to have so good a clergyman." "Well, I suppose he is rather an improvement on the poor old Rector. I miss his dear old soporific accents, though, Anna, strange as it may seem to you." "There is a time for everything, Stephen; a time to be serious, as well as a time to laugh." "Aye, so I know, Anna, only too well," retorted her cousin, an expression of trouble for a moment passing over his features. His eyes were fixed on a thick group of shrubs on the lawn. What did he see there, to cloud his honest, cheerful face? We will return, if you please, to the glassdoor of the study, before which we left Alice standing. She softly turned the handle, and entered, unperceived by a tall, handsome man, who stood gazing intently on a print that hung over the chimney-piece, though the subject was not a particularly attractive one-Misers counting their Treasure. She paused, advanced a step, said softly," Herbert;" then more loudly, and with greater confidence," Mr. Trevor!" He turned at once, his whole countenance lighting up with pleasure as he perceived her; advanced towards her, and took the little hand that was timidly held out to him, whilst he pressed his lips upon her pale cheek, that for an instant glowed intensely. My Lily," he said, "you found me out quickly." Stephen told me," she answered. "Poor old Stephen! Lily, how good he is! I shall believe well of him, when I give up be lieving it of all the world besides." "Yes, he told me you were come; said I should find you here. Oh, Herbert! I am so glad." And the soft eyes filled with tears. "What is it, Lily? They have been plaguing you, I am sure. Come out on the lawn, and tell me all. Stephen said he would ensure us an hour to ourselves undisturbed this evening." And so they passed out together. Poor old Stephen! And perhaps at that very moment it was that his face assumed that sad expression; for it was on a rustic seat behind those shrubs where his eyes were directed, that these two established themselves. "I am very silly, Herbert, I know," said Alice, in answer to his last remark; "I ought not to be fretted by these little foolish trifles; but I could never tell you how painful it is, when I am thinking of some of those beautiful thoughts to which you have led me, or am reading some of those beautiful books that you recommended to me, to have my mind called away to the variety and vexation of common cares and selfish anxieties. That sounds wrong, does it not? As though I were murmuring and dissatified, and aspiring to something beyond the lot that is assigned to me. Please don't misunderstand me. I know that we are not rich, and of course must deny ourselves in many ways, and that I don't think I mind at all; only I want the motive and the manner of our selfdenial to be different to what they are. Now we take thought, and are careful and spare at those times and in those ways that least fall under the observation of people, as if we had no other cloud of witnesses than the eyes of a country neighbourhood. Herbert, I can never tell any one but you what I think. You will understand me, I know." Herbert stroked the glossy tresses caressingly. "Oh, Lily! if I were but rich, for your sake! And who knows? perhaps one day I shall be. My darling, you shall never be tried by these sordid cares, when once you are mine." And "You will say I am very inconsistent and contradictory, Herbert," said Alice, laughing; "but sometimes I think that, for your sake, I should like all these cares-if I felt that I was bearing them instead of you, I mean. then I am angry with myself, because if these are the trials sent me in my present life, I ought to bear them as willingly for-for His sake who sends them me." "Now was I not right, Lily?" said Herbert, smiling; "I said you had been worried with something, and then out it comes that Anna's good management and your own calls of conscience have been doing the mischief. "Tis well your confessor comes down now and then, or the consequences would be frightful to contemplate." "Yes, my confessor always seems to bid me be careful for nothing. Nor am I when you are here, Herbert." "I wish the confessor were told the same thing himself," he said thoughtfully; "but I cannot escape care. It is for you, though, Lily, for you; and that makes every burden light. Have you heard your father speak lately of that commissionership which he said he would try, through Mr. Balfour's interest, to procure for me? I wrote to him the end of last week about it, but had no reply. As I was coming down so soon, I thought it was not worth while to trouble him again with a letter." 66 'Papa was with Mr. Balfour I know this morning, and perhaps something was settled, but he has not told us anything of the result of his visit. When last he spoke about it, Mr. Balfour said another person had applied to him on the same subject, for whom he had promised to interest himself, otherwise he would use all his endeavours to get it for you." idea "Another person, Lily! Have you any who that is? A suspicion has just crossed me. Stephen looked so odd when I talked to him about it just now." "Stephen! Perhaps it is. I wish he had not asked for it." "So do I, indeed, Lily." "Because I should be so sorry if he were dis-, when last autumn he came, accompanied by his appointed." "And I should be still more sorry if he were not, Miss Lily. Charity begins at home. But I see how it is; you think poor Morewood is never to be consoled for the loss of this little foolish face. As if he troubled himself about it any more!" "Now you are silly, Herbert," said Alice, blushing a good deal. "You know that I never will believe that Stephen cared for me except as a cousin, though you are always impressing upon me that he did. If I am vain, it is your fault." "Vain of making a conquest of Morewood!" And Herbert laughed mockingly. 66 "I don't see why not," persisted Alice. Stephen Morewood is the best, and truest, and most unselfish "Hush, Lily!" broke in Mr. Trevor! "I shall be jealous." She looked through her long eyelashes beseechingly up to the face that was beaming very graciously upon her, and whose match for beauty she thought it would be hard to find, but to which a less partial judge than herself would have hesitated ere assigning such unqualified commendation. The features were nobly moulded, and there was a soft light in the dark eyes, that was very winning; and yet there was a something in the ensemble of the countenance that repulsed you unaccountably. It was hard to say whether it was in lip, brow, or eye that the disenchantment dwelt, for all alike were finely formed and tinted. Perhaps it was the eager restlessness of the expression, or the lines more deeply traced than was warranted by his years, that led to this disagreeable result; whatever it was, Alice was blind to it, and poured forth unmeasuredly to his ear all her most fondly-cherished opinions and most timid fancies, such as were never allowed to see the light but in his beloved presence, but which Herbert Trevor seemed to possess some cunning art of beguiling from her. Now and then he brought her back from her cloud-world by some home question, for Alice was self-deceived when she spoke of the beautiful thoughts to which he had led her. Love had been her guide, not her lover; but at this time she had not discovered the difference between the two. Scarcely more than a summer ago, she had been playing hide and seek on that very lawn with her brothers, for Alice's was a late childhood and an early womanhood. Between Anna and herself there had never been much sympathy, and the brother who came between them in age had been at sea for some years past; so that it was Harry and Charles who had been her chief associates, except when her cousin, Stephen Morewood, was in the country; then she had a companion of whose patronage she was very proud, and whose kindness and light-heartedness did her good. Still he was older even than Anna; and though that young lady used with some asperity to denounce his boyishness, Alice never felt quite on equal terms with him. But | friend Mr. Trevor, and the shy, drooping little girl found herself the chosen object of that young hero's devotion, a new world opened to her; she tried her wings, and soared at once into regions of which she had hitherto only stolen fitful glimpses, as imagination at intervals withdrew the veil. It was not of this past life now they spoke, for Herbert and she were indulging in visions of the future. Their engagement was to last some indefinite time, until his income was suffi cient to enable them to marry with prudence; and that it seemed might not be so far off, for his talents were such as seemed to ensure his getting on in the world. He had readiness of parts, entire confidence in himself; and whilst he was not too proud to be patronized, he was yet too energetic to bear dependence, whilst with great concentration of purpose he combined much versatility of taste. Their castle-building was brought to an abrupt conclusion, though not till after some time had been devoted to that airy architecture. Anna rang for tea, and as she was preparing it she inquired of Stephen on what mission he could have sent Alice, that it had occupied her so long. "And that book that she has been making such a fuss about lying here all the time," she added, taking up Harry's discarded on the morrow. pen, and addressing the book to be forwarded Mrs. Seymour also murmured an inquiry after Alice; and Stephen, brought to his confessions, replied rather guiltily, "Oh! she is out on the lawn; I will go and call her in;" adding, as he stepped out of the window, "Trevor is here I sent her to him." Immediately there was a great exclamation, and Janey and Charlie rushed out in search of Mr. Trevor; and Anna, turning to her mother, observed, " of course he has dined." Mr. Seymour threw down the paper. "I wish Balfour had given me a decided answer. He said his first applicant had withdrawn his request very suddenly; but as he thought him self pretty sure of succeeding in getting this place for him, or indeed anyone for whom he asked it, he has been trying to persuade him to alter his determination, as he thinks he is acting against his own interests." "I wish Mr. Balfour would consult your interests, I am sure, papa, as well as his unknown applicant's. This long engagement is a very bad thing for Alice; it unsettles her mind, and renders her unfit for everything." Mrs. Seymour. "Yes, mamma, but how will she ever-? Oh, Mr. Trevor! we are very glad to see you, How did you manage to get away from town?" And then Mr. Trevor was received, and greeted, and cross-examined, as people always are on similar occasions. "What was the problem you were trying to solve when we came in, Anna?" asked Stephen, when they were presently assembled round 66 ever-which she had entrusted to him, and which he had forgotten. Anna laughed, glanced at Mr. Trevor, and then said honestly, I was trying to determine what sort of housekeeper Alice would make." "What sort of housekeeper Alice will have, rather," said Mr. Trevor. "Oh, Herbert !" even Janey laughed. "Of course, if that is to be the style of your establishment, my problem falls to the ground," said Anna, contemptuously. "Mr. Trevor," called out Charlie from the side-table where the younger ones sat, "Anna has a book with the scale of expenditure from £50 a-year up to £1000. Ask her to lend it you." "I wonder what the living of Ilverstone is a-year," cried Harry, in a loud whisper to his brother. "You are not required to join in the conversation, boys," was the rebuke he received. No, indeed, Charlie, I shall not give you more sugar; your tea is sweet enough already." Mr. Trevor looked annoyed, and Alice's face was very apt to catch any expression worn by his. He turned to Mr. Seymour-" Alice tells me you have seen Mr. Balfour to-day, sir? Am I allowed to ask the result of your interview?" "It was not so satisfactory as I could wish, Trevor, though there is only one rival at present, and he ready to withdraw from the field; but Mr. Balfour is trying to persuade him to a decision more in accordance with his own interests, and men don't usually need much persuasion to act in that manner." "Not much, indeed, sir." And Herbert laughed; but before making any further reply, gave a quick searching glance at Stephen Morewood, who sat looking very embarrassed, and rather awkward, whilst this dialogue went on; then he said, "I can but hope, though, that Mr. Balfour's arguments may not prevail, or that this appointment may not be of the same infinite importance to his friend as to myself; that he has no such dear interests as I have, knit up in the success of his application." He spoke in his sweetest, most feeling accents; and Stephen Morewood, after getting very red, exclaimed, "Don't distress yourself about it, Trevor; I was the person of whom Mr. Balfour spoke, but nothing should induce me to accept the situation, now that I know you are anxious to obtain it. We had better let him know this as soon as possible, otherwise the place may be obtained by some other parties through different interest." "Suppose we walk to the Grove this evening," suggested Anna. "Fanny promised me some petunias, and I want to remind her of her promise." And so ere long most of the party were on their way to Mr. Balfour's very elegant and luxurious mansion, where they were received with much cordiality by his daughter, who instantly commenced a playful warfare with Mr. Trevor, on the score of some commission "Don't you find his memory very treacherous, Alice?" she asked. "No, that she doesn't," said Janey, stoutly, for she was a devoted ally of Herbert's. "You should see the lovely souvenir he brought her to-day. She showed it me as we were coming in to tea. Have you got it with you, Alice dear? "Tis such a beauty of a portemonnaie." 'Janey, though Ned is not in, I daresay you may go and pay your respects to the bulfinch," said Stephen, trying to divert her from a theme which he saw was distressing her sister; but Anna had caught her words, and burst out laughing-"A portemonnaie for Alice, who never has a farthing in her purse, not even a show guinea, like the Miss Primroses!" "And who turns away her eyes from beholding vanity at the Ilverstone fair; she is so dreadfully afraid of being ruined by its temptations," continued Miss Balfour. "Alice, Mr. Allen will never forgive you for refusing to work for that Infant School Bazaar of his, on the score of not being able to afford it." "It was the truth, so I don't care," said Alice, now perfectly at her ease. "You could very well afford it, if only you would condescend to manage your allowance a little better," said Anna reprovingly. "I hate bazaars, and I am sure you do, too, Alice," said Herbert, whose brow every moment grew darker and darker. "Is your father disengaged, do you think, Miss Balfour?" asked Stephen. "It was really business with him that brought us here this evening." Very polite of you to me, I must say, Mr. Morewood; I will inquire." And Fanny rang the bell. 66 My uncle went in search of him to the library," said Stephen. "Oh! then he is disengaged. Perhaps you would go to him there, as it is only Mr. Seymour is with him.", And Stephen carried off his friend, very glad to be released from the society of Anna and Miss Balfour, and yet feeling very much as if he were leaving his Lily in merciless hands, from which she was sure of receiving unworthy treatment. But when he returned to her again, it was with a smoother brow and a brighter aspect than he had worn at all; and as Stephen and he parted that night, he said emphatically, "I shall never forget this, Morewood." "It seems quite deceitful to receive all these acknowledgments," said Stephen to himself, as with rather a moody air he entered his mother's have acted thus, and yet I cannot tell him so." "It is not for his sake that I drawing-room. His reflections were cut short by his mother's bright smile of welcome. "You have left a happy party, I am sure, Stephen." He caught a glimpse of himself in the glass, and smiled rather bitterly. "You did not learn that from my face, I should think, mother." 66 Why, what is the matter with it? A little tried, perhaps. Is anything decided with Mr. Balfour yet?" "Yes, mother. I have refused it." His mother's fingers moved a little more rapidly; and then she looked up, and said cheerfully "Well, my dear, I am sure you have acted rightly. At first I was a little startled when you told me your intentions; but I should never presume to advise you contrary to your own opinions, for I am sure that a mind so unselfish as yours cannot fail to be guided by a right judgment." Stephen threw himself down on a sofa near her. "Oh, mother! if you knew how all these kind words oppress me. I am not generous, not unselfish-it is for her sake I do it, and my own. I wished them to be married at once, that so every spark of hope might be put out, and I might be master of myself again. And now that I have given this up, thinking to further her happiness, and at least to convince myself of the truth, that I find it so hard to believe; it is all of no use. وو "How so, Stephen?" "He says, it would be madness to think of marrying, unless he had a permanent appointment; that this is only to be held for a certain number of years, and accordingly that he should look upon it merely as the foundation of his fortune, instead of, as I had hoped, considering it a provision upon which they might marry. Poor dear little girl! if he would but value her as I do!" His mother looked at him compassionately. "Well, Stephen, they say the course of true love never did run smooth; I cannot believe that such true love as yours can run wrong eventually Affection never is wasted."" Stephen started up, and tried to laugh off his dejection. "Listen to my dear mother quoting Shakspere and Longfellow in one breath. There! I will cap your verse, or rather I will do so some day when I have struggled and won the victory over my own heart ""Tis better to have loved and lost, CHAP. II. "Well, now I have all this and more, A vain shadow, truly, is life, even to the best and wisest amongst us. I wonder what it was to the group that were assembled on the lawn of Mr. Seymour's house one fine July morning, a few days after Herbert's arrival? Stephen was there, giving Anna a lesson in budding; and Herbert was turning over the pages of a book, which he intended to review, and from time to time reading aloud choice sentences from it to Alice, who sat beside him embroidering a cigar-case, and who thought his remarks the most brilliant, and his criticisms the most apposite, that ever author was lucky enough to have pronounced in judgment upon his work. It was the life of an unhappy man of genius they were discussing. "That observation of yours was so true, Herbert," said Alice, after a little pause, in which she had been inwardly digesting his last comment. "The employment of such high gifts to such low purposes destroys the harmony of the whole character, and renders the effect of it painful to some, and even in jurious to others. I was thinking, too"-and Alice spoke more reluctantly-" that one might apply that in daily life. If we could but realize the true end of our being, to feel that no man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself, and so whether our talents be many or few, to use them faithfully in the purpose for which they were given us, in our Master's service, that would be a beautiful, a harmonious life, Herbert." Herbert had turned a page whilst she spoke, but his eyes were fixed elsewhere. "Yes, dear," he said, absently. "Stephen, isn't it rather odd I have heard nothing more from Mr. Balfour? It is four days now since he wrote. He must have had an answer." Stephen, who was with great care inserting the bud of a Géant de Bataille, did not imme diately reply; and when he did, it was merely to enter upon an elaborate calculation on the number of days which a letter sent from Ilver stone to London, and thence forwarded to Lord T's place in Dorsetshire (always supposing him to be there), might be upon its journey, and the length of time that might afterwards elapse before that noble statesman returned an answer to Mr. Balfour's communication. Stephen's calculation and Herbert's suspense were sud denly put an end to, by a joyous shout from the study-window, where Janey was dawdling over a page of French vocabulary which Anna had desired her to learn. "Here's my dear Ned!" she cried; and reaching out of the window, they saw her embracing with the utmost fervour the delicate, pretty boy, who clung to his father's hand, rather abashed by the warmth of her geeeting. Herbert had some difficulty to pre vent his reception of the father from equalling it in empressement. Mr. Balfour did not leave him long in doubt of the object of his visit. He brought with him Lord T.'s reply, which was gracious and favourable. He had the greatest pleasure in acting upon Mr. Balfour's recom mendation, and Mr. Herbert Trevor was accordingly nominated one of her Majesty's Commissioners for -. -. What has not her Majesty commissioners for? So Herbert got his appointment, and Mr. Balfour was bound by one tie more to that party of which Lord T. was so |