War to the Knife 61
He could assure them of that fact, though in days to come another
Massinger Court might arise beneath the Southern Cross. (Renewed
cheering.) He was as fixed here, under Providence (he told them now),
as the "King's Oak" in the Chase. (Loud and prolonged cheering.) He and
his wife had experienced a sufficiency of adventure, by land and sea,
to last them for their natural lives. They desired, in all humility,
to return heartfelt thanks to Almighty God for their restoration to
this pleasant home, and those dear friends whom at one time they never
thought to see again. They hoped to prove their gratitude, by lives of
usefulness in their day and generation.
* * * * *
The adventures of Sir Roland de Massinger and Hypatia his wife,
insomuch as regards peril and uncertainty of war or peace, travel by
land and sea, or even the stormy politics of a new nation, must be
said now to have lost much of their interest. Henceforth Sir Roland
was contented to pursue the ordinary course of the country gentleman
of England, which, if not exciting or adventurous, is surely one of
the happiest lives in the world. He was contented to manage his New
Zealand property through an agent. Indeed, after Mr. Slyde's appearance
in England--that gentleman having received a year's leave of absence,
on account of his wound and eminent services in the war--he was pleased
to place the whole management of Waikato Court and Chase, near the
flourishing township of Chesterfield, in his hands. Mr. Slyde was about
to relinquish his connection with the New Zealand Land Company, having,
as he said with his customary cynicism, been fool enough to encumber
himself with a picturesque and fertile block of land, on the same
river, and also to commit the crowning folly of matrimony with a young
lady to whom he had become engaged just after the war. New Zealand was
bad enough, he averred, but for a man who had been born without the
proverbial silver spoon, England was the worst country in the civilized
world. Therefore, if his comrade, Sir Roland, had sufficient faith in
his intelligence and honesty--rather rare endowments in a colony--he
supposed he could manage both properties with much the same outlay of
cash and industry as his own.
The arrangement was completed, and worked so satisfactorily, that for
many a year Sir Roland had no duties connected with the antipodean
estates beyond supervising the sale of wool, frozen mutton, butter,
cheese, cocksfoot grass seed, and other annual products, which so
excited the admiration of his neighbours and tenants that they could
hardly be made to believe that such satisfactory samples could be
produced out of England, his frozen lamb, equal to "prime Canterbury,"
notwithstanding.
Hypatia is truly happy in her home--blessed with a growing family,
contented with her duties as the wife of a county member, and, above
all, firmly convinced that Roland was the only man she had ever loved.
She is almost convinced, as her outspoken friend Mrs. Merivale (_née_
Branksome) often assured her, that it served her right for her absurdly
altruistic notions and general perversity that she so nearly lost him.
The days are only too short for her employments and enjoyments. Nor
did she abandon the philanthropical obligation, but as the kindly,
generous, and capable Lady Bountiful of the estate, is "earthlier
happy as the rose distilled" than in any imaginable state of "single
blessedness," however advanced and politically eminent.
THE END
LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED.
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ONE OF THE GRENVILLES
By SYDNEY ROYSE LYSAGHT
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