Her Kingdom by Amy Le Feuvre

IT was not long before Anstice visited Miss Maybrick again, and before she came away, she had been entreated to go to the elder sister and pave the way for a reconciliation between them. At the same time Anstice felt that there was no love in Carrie's heart for her sister, no sorrow for her share of wrong in the past, it was only in hopes of being allowed to stay on in her old home that made her wish for peace.

Justin went up for a few days to town, and Anstice took that opportunity for seeing the elder sister. She was struck, as she entered Borrows Holt, as the farm was called, at the great contrast between the two houses. Here was prosperity and comfort facing you whichever way you looked. Well-kept barns and storehouses, beautiful pastureland, a very pretty garden surrounding the house, and, inside, charmingly furnished rooms.

Miss Harriet Maybrick was the elder of the two sisters, but she did not look it. She was a tall, graceful woman, and except for very fierce dark eyes and bushy eyebrows, and a certain hard compression of her lips, would have been a very handsome woman.

It was an awkward moment when Anstice introduced herself.

"You used to know my husband, and I have been seeing something of your sister at Harscale Hall. It is she who has implored me to come and see you. I hope you will not think me impertinent for doing so."

"I am very pleased to meet Justin Holme's wife," said Miss Maybrick graciously. "I ought, I know, to have called upon you, but I am a busy woman, and gave up society a long while ago. I have been farming my own land. I have heard about you from Mrs. Wykeham. She comes over to see me sometimes."

Her pleasantness made it difficult for Anstice to proceed. They talked about farming and about the lake and Fells, and she asked after Justin's children.

"Mrs. Wykeham has told me that they were running wild. I expect that you have had trouble with them."

"Wonderfully little," said Anstice. "They were mismanaged, and were allowed to get the upper hand of their governesses. I am very fond of them and they know it, but I never mean to spoil them."

Then she suddenly took the plunge.

"Miss Maybrick, at the risk of being thought officious, I come to plead your sister's cause. Have you seen her lately? She is ill and feeble, and very, very miserable. She wants the past forgiven and forgotten. Can you in any way meet her?"

Miss Maybrick's lips were compressed, and her eyes like steel as she replied:

"My sister has run through her fortune and has only herself to thank for the present trouble. She never ceased working on my father's feelings till she got him to make his will in her favour. She boasted of this to me. When she had driven me out of my home, she neglected the property, and let it all tumble into decay and ruin. She became a gambler, and gambled away all that she possessed. For years I have worked and saved and denied myself, so that I should be able to buy back my old home. And now when I have done it, when she knows she can afford to live there no longer, she works upon the pity of strangers and sends them round to me to intercede on her behalf. What does she expect, I should like to know? We are told that, as we sow, so shall we reap. Her harvest has come."

"Yes," said Anstice sadly; "I know that all you say is true, she has been her own worst enemy. It is right and fair that you should take possession of your old home now. But is it necessary to turn her out? Could you not let her have a couple of rooms in one wing?"

A short, bitter laugh escaped Miss Maybrick's lips.

"Did she apportion any rooms for my use after our father's death? He was hardly cold in his grave before she strode into my room and told me that there could be no two mistresses of Harscale Hall. I was out of the house with all my belongings within a fortnight."

"But you had money. She has none. For the sake of your name, and your own high principles of honour and pride, you cannot turn her out of her home as a beggar."

"I think this conversation is waste of time. I never change my mind. If the King himself on his bended knees came and pleaded for her, my answer would be the same. She has made her own bed, let her lie in it."

Anstice rose. It had been a visit made much against her will and liking. And yet, as she shook hands with Miss Maybrick, she could not help saying in her tender way:

"We have all been treated so much better than we deserve. And mercy is such a much grander force than power, that even now I dare to hope that you will find a way out. A way of preserving your dignity of justice, together with a great compassionate love towards the one who has wronged you. May I thank you for listening to me and not being offended at my interference in such a delicate and private family matter?"