Grant Allen - Blood Royal: A Novel стр 6.

Jones tertius has a brother at Oxford, Clarence put in very eagerly; and hes a howling swell he lives in a room thats panelled with oak from top to bottom.

And if you get the Scholarship, Dick, his mother went on wistfully, will you have to go and live there, and be away from us always?

Only half the year, mother dear, Richard answered coaxingly; for he knew what she was thinking how hard it would be for her to be left alone in Chiddingwick, among all those unruly children and her drunken husband, without the aid of her one help and mainstay. You know, theres only about five months of term, and all the rests vacation. In vacation Id come home, and do something to earn money towards making up the deficit.

Its a very long time, though, five months, Mrs. Plantagenet said pensively. But, there! she added, after a pause, brightening up, perhaps you wont get it.

Grave as he usually was, Richard couldnt help bursting into a merry laugh at this queer little bit of topsy-turvy self-comfort. Oh, I hope to goodness I shall, he cried, with a twinkle, in spite of that, mother. It wont be five months all in a lump, you know; I shall go up for some six or eight weeks at a time never more than eight together, I believe and then come down again. But you really neednt take it to heart just yet, for were counting our chickens before theyre hatched, after all. I maynt get it, as you say; and, indeed, as father said just now, when one comes to think how many fellows will be in for it who have been thoroughly coached and crammed at the great public schools, my chance cant be worth much though I mean to try it.

Just at that moment, as Dick leaned back and looked round, the door opened, and Maud, the eldest sister, entered.

She had come home from her singing lesson; for Maud was musical, and went out as daily governess to the local tradesmens families. She was the member of the household who most of all shared Dicks confidence. As she entered Harry looked up at her, full of conscious importance and a mouthful of Dutch cheese.

Have you heard the news, Maudie? he asked all breathless. Isnt it just ripping? Dicks going up to Oxford.

Maud was pale and tired from a long days work the thankless work of teaching; but her weary face flushed red none the less at this exciting announcement, though she darted a warning look under her hat towards Richard, as much as to say:

How could you ever have told him?

But all she said openly was:

Then the advertisements come of the Durham Scholarship?

Yes, the advertisements come, Dick answered, flushing in turn. I got it this morning, and Im to go up on Wednesday.

The boys were rather disappointed at this tame announcement. It was clear Maud knew all about the great scheme already. And, indeed, she and Dick had talked it over by themselves many an evening on the hills, and debated the pros and cons of that important new departure.

Mauds face grew paler again after a minute, and she murmured half regretfully, as she unfastened her hat:

I shall miss you if you get it, Dick. Itll be hard to do without you.

But its the right thing for me to do, Richard put in almost anxiously.

Maud spoke without the faintest hesitation in her voice.

Oh yes; its the right thing, she answered. Not a doubt in the world about that. Its a duty you owe to yourself, and to us and to England. Only, of course, we shall all feel your absence a very great deal. Dick, Dick, youre so much to us! And I dont know, she went on, as she glanced at the little ones with an uncertain air I dont know that Id have mentioned it before babes and sucklings well, till I was sure Id got it.

She said it with an awkward flush; for Dick caught her eye as she spoke, and read her inner meaning. She wondered he had blurted it out prematurely before her father. And Dick, too, saw his mistake. Mr. Plantagenet, big with such important news, would spread it abroad among his cronies in the White Horse parlour before tomorrow was over!

Richard turned to the children.

Now, look here, boys, he said gravely: this is a private affair, and weve talked it over here without reserve in the bosom of the family. But weve talked it over in confidence. It mustnt be repeated. If I were to go up and try for this Scholarship, and then not get it, all Chiddingwick would laugh at me for a fellow that didnt know his proper place, and had to be taught to know it.

For the honour of the family, boys and you too, Nellie I hope you wont whisper a word of all this to anybody in town. Consider what a disgrace it would be if I came back unsuccessful, and everybody in the parish came up and commiserated me: Were so sorry, Mr. Dick, you failed at Oxford. But there, you see, you had such great disadvantages!

His handsome face burned bright red at the bare thought of such a disgrace; and the little ones, who, after all, were Plantagenets at heart as much as himself, every one of them made answer with one accord:

We wont say a word about it.

They promised it so earnestly, and with such perfect assurance, that Dick felt he could trust them. His eye caught Mauds. The same thought passed instinctively through both their minds. What a painful idea that the one person they couldnt beg for very shame to hold his tongue was the member of the family most likely to blab it out to the first chance comer!

Maud sat down and ate her supper. She was a pretty girl, very slender and delicate, with a fair pink-and-white skin, and curious flashing eyes, most unusual in a blonde, though she was perhaps just a shade less handsome and distinguished-looking than the Heir Apparent.

All through the meal little else was talked of than this projected revolution, Dicks great undertaking. The boys were most full of it. Our Dick at Oxford! It was ripping simply ripping! A lark of the first dimensions! Clarence made up his mind at once to go up and see Dick his very first term, in oak-panelled rooms at Durham College. They must be oak-panelled. While Harry, who had feasted on Verdant Green for weeks, was anxious to know what sort of gown hed have to wear, and whether he thought hed have ample opportunities for fighting the proctors.

Twas a foregone conclusion. So innocently did they all discount Our Dicks success, and so firmly did they believe that whatever he attempted he was certain to succeed in!

After supper Mr. Plantagenet rose with an important air, and unhooked his hat very deliberately from its peg. His wife and Dick and Maud all cried out with one voice:

Why, surely youre not going out to-night, father!

For to go out, they knew well, in Mr. Planta-genets dialect, meant to spend the evening in the White Horse parlour.

Yes, my dear, Mr. Plantagenet answered, in his blandest tone, turning round to his wife with apologetic suavity. The fact is, I have a very particular engagement this evening. No, no, Dick, my boy; dont try to detain me. Gentlemen are waiting for me. The claims of social life, my dear son so much engaged my sole time for the world my one hour of recreation! Besides, strangers have been specially invited to meet me people who have heard of my literary reputation! Twould be churlish to disappoint them.

And, brushing his son aside, Mr. Plantagenet stuck his hat on jauntily just a trifle askew, with ponderous airiness, and strolled down the steps as he adjusted his Inverness cape on his ample shoulders, with the air of a gentleman seeking his club, with his martial cloak around him.