CHAPTER TWENTY.
Two days before Eunice was expected at Yew Hedge, Peg was summoned fromthe garden to receive a mysterious visitor, and stared in bewildermentto see Rosalind herself awaiting in the drawing-room. No one else waspresent, and in the wery moment of entering Peggy realised that the newswhich she had expected so long was an accomplished fact. There wassuppressed excitement in Rosalind's manner, an embarrassment in herglance, which told their own tale; and the kiss of greeting had hardlybeen exchanged before she was stammering out:
"Mariquita, I came--I wanted to tell you myself--I thought you ought toknow--"
"That you are engaged to Lord Everscourt!" said Peggy, with one lastpang for the memory of Arthur's loss, but keeping her hand still linkedin Rosalind's, in remembrance of her promise to that dear brother. "Ihave been expecting it, Rosalind, and am not at all surprised. I toldyou, you remember, that it was bound to happen. I congratulate you, andwish you every happiness."
"Thank you," said Rosalind meekly; so meekly that the other raised hereyes in astonishment, to see whether the expression emphasised orcontradicted so unusual a tone. The lovely face looked down into hers,wistful and quivering, and the blue eyes softened with tears. "Oh, kissme, Peggy!" she cried. "Be kind to me! I have no sister of my own, andmother is away, and I came to you first of all! I made an excuse andcame down for two nights, just to have a talk with you and to ask you tohelp me!"
"Help you!" echoed Peggy blankly. She was alternately amazed andembarrassed by the manner in which Rosalind leant upon her in everydifficulty; but now, as ever, the spell of the winsome presence provedirresistibly softening, and it was in a far gentler tone that shecontinued. "If everything is settled, in what way do you want my help,Rosalind?"
Rosalind sat down upon the sofa, still retaining her grip of herfriend's hand, and drawing her down on the seat by her own. She staredaimlessly up and down the room, opening her lips as if about to speak,and closing them again in despair of expressing her thoughts, untilsuddenly the words came out in a breathless rush.
"I pwomised to marry him, and I mean to keep my word, but it is harderthan I thought. It would be easier if he were diffewent, but he lovesme so much, and believes in me, and thinks I must care for him too. Ifhe knew I had taken him for his position, he would despise me, and Idon't want him to do that. I have given up so much, and if he turnedagainst me too, what should I have left? It fwightens me to think ofit, and I came away to consider what I had better do, and to talk to youand ask your advice." She looked at Peggy appealingly, and added in abreathless whisper, "I want to do what is right, you know! I want totreat him well! You think I am selfish and worldly, Peggy, but I am notall bad. If I mawwy him, I will do my best. I want him to be fond ofme, not to grow tired or dissatisfied. That would make me wetched."
Peggy smiled pitifully. It was so like Rosalind to be distressed at theidea of losing a love she could not return, and to show a patheticeagerness to make a wrong step right. Her own Spartan judgment couldnever overlook the sin of preferring money before love, but she realisedthat it was too late in the day to preach this doctrine, and cast aboutin her mind for more practical advice.
"If you try to make him happy, that will be your best plan, Rosalind.If I were in your place, I'd try to forget about the past, and thinkonly of the future. I'd find out the very best in him, and be proud ofit, and study his tastes, so that I might be able to talk about thethings he liked best, and be a real companion to him, and I'd begrateful to him for his love, and try to love him in return. Every onesays he is a good fellow and devoted to you, so it ought not to bedifficult."
"No-o!" echoed Rosalind doubtfully. "Only if you are going to lovepeople, you genewally do it without twying, and if you don't love them,little things aggwavate you, and rub you the wong way, which you wouldnever notice in people you really cared for! Everscourt is a goodfellow, but he worries me to distwaction sometimes, and I am so afraidof getting cwoss. I don't want him to think me bad-tempered. I thinkyour plan is very good, Peggy, and I will try to follow it. I ought tosucceed, for you see how anxious I am to do what is right! You can'tcall me selfish this time, can you, for I am thinking only of hishappiness!"
Peggy lifted her brows with arch reproach. "Oh, Rosalind, no! Youthink you are, but you are really distressed about your own position, incase he may ever think you any less charming and angelic than he does atthis moment. It's your own vanity that concerns you, far more than hishappiness."
"You have no business to say anything of the kind. If he isdisappointed in me, won't that make him miserable, and if I twy toplease him, is not that making him happy in the best way possible? Butyou always think the worst of me, Peggy Saville, and put a wongconstwuction on what I do. When I pay you the compliment of coming toyou for help, I do think you might be a little kinder and moresympathetic."
"It would be easier to say a lot of polite things that I didn't wean.It is the best proof that I do care for your happiness that I have thecourage to be disagreeable. You know, Rosalind, the plain truth is thatyou want to act a part to gain admiration and applause, but it's absurdto think you can go on doing that all your life, and to a person who iswith you on every occasion. It must be _real_, not pretence, if it isto succeed, so try not to think so much about his opinion of you, andmore about how you can help him, and be the sort of wife he wants. Andif he worries you in any little way, tell him so quietly, and don't letit get into a habit. I'm talking as if I were seventy-seven at the veryleast, and had been married a dozen times over, but you know how easy itis to preach to other people and how clearly one can see their duty! Asa matter of fact, I know nothing whatever about it, but one can arguewith so much more freedom when one is not hampered with facts! I amsorry if I have seemed unkind, but--"
"No, no! I know what you mean. I think you are vewy kind to me, Peggy,considering--considering everything!" murmured Rosalind softly. She satsilent for a moment, gathering courage to ask another question which wasfluttering to her lips.
"Will--will--do you think Arthur will be _vewy_ miserable?"
Peggy's little form stiffened at that into a poker of wounded dignity.She felt it in the worst possible taste of Rosalind to have introducedher brother's name into the conversation, and was in arms at once at thetone of commiseration.
"My brother and I had a talk on the subject when I was in town," shereplied coldly, "and he entirely agreed with me that it was the bestthing for you. He will be in no wise surprised, but only relieved thatthe arrangement is completed. He is very well and in good spirits, andis coming down next week with Eunice Rollo to pay us a visit, when wehave planned a succession of amusements."
"Oh," remarked Rosalind shortly. "Is he, indeed!" She tried to say shewas rejoiced to hear it, but her lips refused to form the lie, forPeggy's words had been so many daggers in her heart. Arthur would be"relieved," he was in "good spirits," he was coming down to enjoyhimself in the country in company with. Eunice Rollo! Could anythingbe more wounding to the vanity which made her treasure the idea ofbroken-hearted grief? Once more Rosalind called Peggy cruel in herheart, and Peggy mentally justified her harshness by reminding herselfthat the knowledge of Arthur's fortitude would do more towards turningRosalind's heart toward her _fiance_ than a volume of moral reflections.Some slave to worship and adore, she _must_ possess, and if she couldno longer think of Arthur in that position, so much the more chance thatshe would appreciate his successor. No more was said on the subject,and in a few minutes Rosalind rose to say good-bye and take her way tothe vicarage.
"For I must congwatulate Esther!" she said, laughing.
"That is to say, if I can contwive to do it without laughing outwight.It is _too_ widiculous to think of Esther being mawwied! She is a bornold maid, and I hear he is quite old, nearly forty, with grey hair andspectacles and a stoop to his back. He teaches, doesn't he, or lecturesor something, and I suppose he is as poor as a church mouse. What inthe world induced the silly girl to acc
ept him?"
"Look in her face and see!" said Peggy shortly. "And don't waste yourpity, Rosalind, for it is not required. Professor Reid is as big a manin his own way as Lord Everscourt himself; and from a worldly point ofview Esther is making a good match. That, however, is not what her facewill tell you. They are going to be married in October, and Mellicentand I are to be bridesmaids."
"And drive to church in a village fly, and come back to a scwamble mealin the dining-woom! Pwesents laid out on the schoolwoom table, and allthe pawishioners cwowding together in the dwawingwoom. I can't justimagine a vicarage marriage, and how you have the courage to face it,Mawiquita, I weally can't think!" cried Rosalind, in her most societydrawl. "You must be _my_ bwidesmaid, dear, and I'll pwomise you acharming gown and a real good time into the bargain. I'm determined itshall be the smartest affair of the season!"
Peggy murmured a few non-committal words, and Rosalind floated away,restored to complacency by the contrast between the prospect of her ownwedding and that of poor old Esther. They would indeed be differentoccasions; and so thought Peggy also, as she stood watching her frienddepart, contrasting her lovely restless face with Esther's radiant calm,and the gloomy town residence of Lord Darcy with the breezy countryvicarage.
The next morning at breakfast Colonel Saville discussed the comingweddings from an outsider's point of view.
"Two presents!" he groaned. "That's what it means to me, and prettygood ones too, I suppose, for everything has grown to such a pitch ofextravagance in these days that one is expected to come down handsomely.When we were married we thought ourselves rich with twenty or thirtyofferings, but now they are reckoned by hundreds, and the happyrecipients have to employ detectives to guard their treasures. Esther,I suppose, will be content with a piece of silver, but we shall have tolaunch out for once, and give Miss Darcy something worthy of herposition."
"I think, dear, if we launch out at all it must be for Esther, notRosalind. If I had my way, I should give some pretty trifle toRosalind, who will be overdone with presents, and spend all we can spareon something really handsome for Esther," said his wife gently; andPeggy cried, "Hear! Hear!" and banged such uproarious applause with herheels that the colonel felt himself hopelessly out-voted.
"If you had your way, indeed!" he grumbled, pushing his chair back fromthe table and preparing to leave the room. "When do you _not_ get yourway, I'd like to know? It's a case of serving two masters with avengeance, when a man has a wife and a grown-up daughter! Settle it toplease yourselves, and don't take any notice of me. I'm going outshooting, and won't be home until tea-time, so you will have plenty oftime to talk it over in peace and quietness!"
Peggy ran after him with a little skip, slipped her hand through hisarm, and rubbed her face coaxingly against the shoulder of his roughtweed suit.
"He is just a down-trodden old dear, isn't he? So mild and obedient--aperfectly nonentity in his own house! No one trembles before him! Henever lays down the law as if he were the Tsar of All the Russias, ortwenty German Emperors rolled into one! Now does that really mean thatyou are to be out for lunch? I'm housekeeper, you know, and it makes adifference to my arrangement. You won't say you are going to be out,then appear suddenly at the last moment?"
"Not I! I shall be miles away, and cannot spare the time to come sofar; but for that matter I cannot see why it should make any difference.One person more or less can be of no importance."
"He is though, very much indeed, when it happens to be the head of thefamily!" remarked Peggy sagely to her mother when they were left alone,"because I don't mind confessing to you, dear, that, owing to theagitation consequent on my interview with the fair Rosalind, I entirelyomitted to post my order for the butcher! If father had been at home, Ishould have been compelled to drive over in the heat and dust; but as itis, I can send a card by the early post, and the things will be here fordinner. You don't object, I know, for you have a mind above trifles,and I can provide quite a nice little meal for two."
"Oh, I don't mind for myself, but do be careful to send your ordersregularly, darling!" pleaded her mother earnestly. "We are so entirelyin the country that a day might come when you were not able to getsupplies at the last moment, and _then_ what would you do? Imagine howawkward it might be!"
"I'd rather not, if you don't mind! It would be quite bad enough if itreally happened. We won't anticipate evil, but have a lazy morningtogether in the garden, browsing in deck-chairs, and eating fruit atfrequent intervals. It is so lovely to sit under one's own trees, inone's own garden, with one's very own mummie by one's side. Girls whohave lived in England all their lives can never appreciate having homeand parents at the same time, in the same way in which I do. It seemsalmost too good to be true, to be really settled down together!"
"Oh, thank God, we never were really separated, Peg! One of the heart-breaking things of a life abroad is that parents and children so oftengrow up practical strangers to each other; but you and I were alwaystogether at heart, and your dear letters were so transparent that Iseemed to read all that was in your mind. It was partly Mrs Asplin'sdoing too--dear good woman, for she gave you the care and motheringwhich you needed to develop your character, yet never tried to take myplace. Yes, indeed, we must do all we can for Esther! Find out whatshe would like, dear, and we will go to town together and buy the bestof its kind. I can never do enough for Mrs Asplin's children."
There was so much to talk about, so much to discuss, that when lunch-time approached both mother and daughter were surprised to find howquickly the morning had passed. It was so cool and breezy sitting underthe shade of the trees that they were both unwilling to return to thehouse, and at Peggy's suggestion orders were given that lunch should beserved where they sat.
"It will do me more credit; for what would appear a paltry provisionspread out on the big dining-room table, will look quite sylvan andluxurious against this flowery background," she said brightly, and inthe very moment of speaking her jaw dropped, and her eyes grew blank andfixed, as if beholding a vision too terrible to be real.
Round the corner or the house, one--two--three masculine forms werecoming into view; three men in Norfolk jackets, shooting breeches anddeer-stalker caps; dusty and dishevelled, yet with that indefinable airof relaxation which spoke of rest well-earned. They were no chancevisitors, they had come to stay, to stay to be fed! Every confidentstep proved as much, every smile of assured welcome. Peggy's groan ofdespair aroused her mother's attention, she turned and gave an echoingexclamation.
"Your father! Back after all--and two men with him. Mr Cathcart,and--yes! Hector Darcy himself. I did not know he had come down. Mydear child, what _shall_ we do?"
But Peggy was speechless, stricken for once beyond power of repartee atthe thought of the predicament which her carelessness had brought about.Her own humiliation and cook's disgust were as nothing, compared withthe thought of her father's anger at the violation of his hospitableinstincts. She could not retain even the semblance of composure, andthe nervous, incoherent greeting which she accorded to the strangers wasstrangely in contrast with her usual self-possession.
Hector Darcy looked down into the flushed little face, and listened tothe faltering words, his own heavy features lighting with pleasure. Itwas the first time he had seen Peggy lose her self-possession, and if heconnected the fact with his own sudden appearance, it was no more thanwas to be expected from masculine vanity. He told himself that he hadnever seen her more dainty and pretty than she looked now, in her whitedress, with the touch of pink, matching the colour on her cheeks, andColonel Saville thought the same, and cast a glance of pride upon her ashe cried:
"Back again, you see! I met Cathcart and Hector, as they meant to payyou a call in any case, I thought I had better bring them home with meto lunch. I told them I was not expected, but that my clever littlehousekeeper would be able to give us a meal. Anything you have, mydear; but be quick about it! We don't care what we have, but we want itat once. Waiti
ng is the one thing we cannot stand."
That was the way in which he invariably spoke; but, alas, never werewords more falsely uttered. The "clever little housekeeper" realisedhow difficult would be the task of giving satisfaction, and mentallyrent her garments in despair.
"I will do the best I can, but you must allow me a little grace!" shesaid, twisting her features into a smile. "Mother and I were going tohave our lunch out here, so it will take some time to have the tablelaid. You do not care for a picnic arrangement?"
"No, no, no! Detest out-of-door meals. Nothing but flies anddiscomfort," declared the colonel roundly; and Peggy walked away towardsthe house, profoundly wishing that she could make her escape altogether,and scour the country until the dreaded hour was passed.
Cook was furious, as any right-minded cook would, under suchcircumstances, be.
"How," she demanded, "could she be expected to make anything out ofnothing? She knew her work as well as most, and no one couldn't say butwhat she made the best of materials, but she wasn't a magician, nor yeta conjurer, and didn't set up to be, and therefore could not be expectedto cook a dinner when there was no dinner to cook. It was enough towear a body out, all these upsets and bothers, and she was sick of it.It was no good living in a place where you were blamed for what was notyour fault. She did her best, and saints could do no more!" So on andso on, while Peggy stood by, sighing like a furnace, and feeling it ajust punishment for her sins that she should be condemned to listenwithout excuses. Meekness, however, is sometimes a more powerful weaponthan severity, and despite her hot temper cook adored her youngmistress, and could not long endure the sight of the disconsolate face.The angry words died away into subdued murmurings, she rolled up hersleeves, and announced herself ready to obey orders. "For no one shouldsay as she hadn't done her duty by any house, as long as she lived init."
"It's more than can be said of me, cook, I'm afraid; but help me out ofthis scrape like a good soul, and I'll be a reformed character for therest of my life! This will be a lesson which I shall never forget!"declared Peggy honestly; but she did not suspect in how serious a senseher words would become true. The adventures of that morning were notyet over, and the consequences therefrom were more lasting than shecould anticipate.