CHAPTER SIX.
AT THE COURT.
The girl whose lot has been cast in narrow places, and whose youth hasknown few relaxations, should take heart at the thought of the future.There is a good time coming! However long be the lane, the turning musteventually be reached; and then--ah, then, what zest of delight, whatwhole-hearted, unqualified enjoyment!
If Ruth and Mollie Farrell had been in the habit of paying half a dozenvisits a year,--if, indeed, they had even once before started offtogether on pleasure bent, would they have hailed every incident of thejourney with the delight which they experienced to-day? Not a bit ofit!
They would have grumbled at the wait on the platform, at the stoppagesof the train at country stations, at the draught from the window, thebanging of the door, the constant requests for tickets. They would haveyawned and lolled back in their corners, and eventually shut their eyesand fallen asleep, regardless of the scenes through which they werepassing.
As it was, every fresh stop was a delight. They beamed at the porterwho collected their luggage, paid for return tickets with thecomplacence of millionaires, and thought it lucky that there were tenminutes to spare before the arrival of the train. They tried eachother's weight, to the delight of the onlookers; put a penny in everyavailable slot, and made a reckless expenditure in penny magazines.Last, and greatest luxury of all, Ruth actually ordered a tea-basket tobe handed into the carriage at a half-way station; one basket to do dutyfor two, but still a deliberate extravagance, when refreshments had beenprovided from home; and oh, dear me, how delicious it was to beextravagant for once!
When the train came in, one porter dashed forward to secure window-seatsin an empty carriage, another hurried up with rugs and handbags; groupsof people standing upon the platform looked after the two girls withkindly glances; everybody seemed kind and interested, as thoughunderstanding the nature of their expedition, and wishing them good-speed.
They sat opposite to each other, gazing out of their respective windows,or making an affectation of reading the magazines which lay litteredabout the seat; but the end was always the same, their eyes met inirrepressible smiles, and they began to talk once more.
Real life was so much more interesting than romance!
"I feel so very Lucille-y!" Mollie declared "Travelling on pleasure,with a tea-basket coming to meet me! It was an inspiration of yours toorder it, Ruth! I shall be grateful to you to the end of my life!Let's talk about what we shall do to-night... Let's guess who will bethere, and what they will be like. The lady chaperon, now! Should youthink that the presence of a chaperon implied that there would be youngmen in the party? I hope there are."
"So do I," assented Ruth frankly. "But I fancy that they are morelikely to be old. Some nieces and nephews of Aunt Edna's, aboutmother's age, perhaps--middle-aged couples, with caps and spectacles.How will you feel if we are the only young people there?"
"I refuse to imagine anything so ghastly! The couples may havechildren, mayn't they? I imagine a charming girl who has no sisters,and who will adopt us as her dearest friends, and ask us to stay withher. I rather think she will be dark, and wear eyeglasses, and have abrother who is musical, and has a tenor voice. Then there will beanother man--Sir Somebody or other, who has a big estate in the county.He will be very superior at first, and take no notice of us, but in theend he will be conquered by our modest charms and become a devotedadmirer. Perhaps there may be some couples, but they will be young andfestive, and the chaperon will be a dear old thing with side-ringlets,who will let us do as we like, and take our part with the old man. Thatsounds about the right thing, doesn't it?"
Ruth smiled happily.
"Ah, well! whoever we meet, I am going to enjoy myself. A change, achange--that's what I wanted. Everything will be different, and there'sa world of refreshment in that alone. How thankful I am that UncleBernard asked us both, Mollie! It's half the fun to talk things overtogether."
She lay back in her corner, and gazed out of the window once more,smiling dreamily as a whirl of thoughts flew through her mind. Whatwould have happened before she travelled once more past these flyinglandmarks? What new friendships would be formed--what experiencesundergone--what matters of importance revealed?
Life seemed all to lie ahead; yet from time to time her thoughts driftedback unconsciously to Donald Maclure, and lingered on the memory. Shehad not seen him since the eventful afternoon, but Eleanor had conveyedhis good wishes for a happy visit, and her manner showed she was inignorance of what had occurred.
Ruth was grateful for a silence which left her friendship untouched, andher thoughts of the doctor were gentle and kindly.
"But I couldn't--I couldn't!" she said to herself excusingly. "I don'twant to marry anyone yet. I just want to be young and happy, and have agood time!"
At the half-way station the tea-basket made its appearance, and thegirls sat side by side taking turns at the cup, and nibbling at bread-and-butter and plum-cake like two happy children out for a holiday,which in good truth they were.
They made a pretty picture, and more than one of the passengers upon theplatform cast admiring glances as they passed by. So far, the carriagehad been empty, except for themselves; but, just as the train waspreparing to leave the junction, a young man turned the handle of thedoor, threw a bag on the seat, and leapt in after it. He was on thepoint of seating himself in the place which Ruth had just vacated, but,seeing the scattered papers, checked himself, and took possession of thefurther corner, while the sisters studied him furtively from time totime.
He was tall, he was handsome, he was probably about thirty years of age,and he looked thoroughly bored and out of temper. After one casualglance at the pretty sisters, he unfolded a newspaper, and turned frompage to page seeking for some item of interest. His eyes were blue, hewas clean-shaven, his nose was aquiline, and his nostrils were arched,and had a trick of dilation.
"Like a high-bred horse, who wouldn't like the bridle a single bit," wasMollie's comment, as she turned back to the window; for, after all, theunknown landscape through which the train was now passing was moreabsorbing than the appearance of a stranger who took so little interestin herself.
She gazed and whispered, and dreamed afresh, until at last the name of afamiliar station gave warning that the journey was nearing its end. Inanother ten minutes the train was due to reach Nosely, and in theinterval there was much to be done. Ruth solemnly lifted down the ageddressing-bag, which dated from her mother's youth, and, with a furtiveglance at the stranger in the corner, took out a looking-glass andcarefully surveyed her hair, pulling it out here, tucking it in there,patting it into position with those deft little touches which comenaturally to a girl, but which seem so mysterious to a masculineobserver.
The young man in the corner glanced across the carriage with anexpression of lordly amusement at the foibles of a member of the weakersex; and there was even worse to come, for when Mollie, in her turn, hadarranged her hair, a cloth brush was produced to remove the dust oftravel, and two pairs of well-worn dogskin gloves were thrown into thebag, and replaced by others immaculately new.
Mollie was absolutely without embarrassment in these attentions to hertoilet, but it required a little resolution on Ruth's part to ignore thestranger's presence. Only the reflection, "We will never see himagain!" supported her through the critical moments during which shetrained a fascinating little curl into position on her temple, consciousmeantime of a steady scrutiny from behind the newspaper.
It was something of a shock to see the stranger rise from his seat amoment later, and begin making those preparations which showed that healso was approaching his destination; but, although he alighted atNosely Station, he had disappeared from sight while the girls were stilllooking after their luggage, and when they took their seats in thecarriage which was waiting to convey them to the Court there was no signof him on platform or road.
"That's a comfort!" remarked Mollie thankfully. "I am glad he did notsee where we
were going. How superior he looked when we were prinking,Ruth! I don't like him a bit--do you?"
"Oh, I don't know--I can't think! I'm Berengaria, Mollie! I never_was_ a poor girl travelling third-class, and changing her gloves at thelast moment! I must have been a duchess in my last incarnation, for Ifeel so thoroughly at home in an atmosphere of luxury!" sighed Ruth,leaning back against the cushions, and glancing languidly from side toside. "Our luggage is following behind in the cart. I hope it willarrive soon, for I want to change my blouse. I suppose we shall havetea in the hall with the rest of the house-party, as they do in books,but I hope they won't be assembled when we enter. I should feel awfulwalking in, and knowing that they were all staring and criticising ourappearance, wouldn't you?"
Mollie laughed gaily.
"Not a bit. I'd criticise, too, and shake hands high up--like this--andbe pleasant and condescending. We are Uncle Bernard's nearest relationsremember, and the guests of honour... Now, we are beginning to go upthe hill! You remember mother said there was a long, winding hill, andat the top to the left stood the lodge gates. Don't talk! I don't wantto miss a single thing."
So each girl stared steadily out of her window as the horses slowlymounted the hill path. For the first few hundred yards there werehedges on either side, and beyond them a wide, uneven landscape; thencame a little village, grouped round a square "green," with all thepicturesque accessories of church, ivy-covered parsonage, thatchedroofs, and duck-pond, which travellers look for in a well-conductedEnglish village. This passed, there was another climb upwards, a widerview of the valley beneath, and finally a sharp turn to the left, and along drive leading to the greystone Court, whose beauties photographshad made familiar.
The butler threw open the door as the carriage stopped, and thetravellers thrilled with excitement as they crossed the threshold.First a square vestibule, then the great hall itself, stretching thewhole length of the wing, and turning to the right by the foot of thestaircase.
The girls' eyes turned in a flash to the tapestry on the walls, and thewooden portraits of ancestors; but besides these historic relics therewere many articles belonging to a later and more luxurious age. Carvedoak tables, laden with books and magazines; chairs and lounges of everydescription; a fireplace brilliant with beaten copper and soft greentiles; leather screens shielding cosy corners; cabinets of china andcurios.
It was even more imposing than imagination had painted it; but--therewas no one there! No Uncle Bernard to speak a word of greeting; noflutter of silken skirts belonging to nice girls who had no sisters, andwere dying to adopt other nice girls without delay; no scent ofcigarettes smoked by interesting young men, who might have sisters ormight not, but who would certainly be pleased to welcome Berengaria andLucille!
Ruth had knitted her dark brows, and drawn herself stiffly erect; Molliewas prepared to smile in benign patronage on less important guests. Itwas a trifle disconcerting to see no one at all but a little, black-robed lady, who came hurriedly forward as they approached the staircaseand stammered a nervous greeting.
"Miss Farrell! Miss Mary! I hope you have had a pleasant journey. Iam Mrs Wolff. Mr Farrell was kind enough to ask me--yes! I hope youare not cold. Your uncle thought you would like to have tea in your ownroom. It will be brought up to you at once. Mr Farrell desired me tosay that he wished to see you both in the library at half-past five.Shall I take you upstairs at once? We have given you one room--a verylarge one; but if you prefer to have two separate ones, it can easily bearranged--yes!"
The girls protested that they wished to be together, and followed theirguide up the broad staircase to a room on the first story, where thecurtains were already drawn, and a cosy tea-table spread before thefire. Mrs Wolff had called it large, and she might truthfully haveused a more emphatic word, for what had originally been the best bedroomin the house had been, like the drawing-room beneath, enormouslyenlarged by the addition of a curved, mullioned window, the entire widthof the floor.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, _nine_! Nine dearlittle windows!" counted Mollie rapturously, as the door closed behindthe figure of the lady chaperon. "What a view we shall have to-morrowmorning, Ruth! Sofas, armchairs, writing-tables, two long mirrors toshow the set of our skirts--this is a room after my own heart! I shallhave one exactly like it when I marry my duke!"
"But I didn't expect to have tea in it, all the same," Ruth objected, asshe took off her hat and jacket. "The house feels very quiet anddeserted. If we hadn't uncle's own word for it, I should think therewas no one here except ourselves. He might have come to meet ushimself! It seems so cold to leave us to strangers!"
"You will be disappointed, my dear, if you expect warmth from UncleBernard. My short interview taught me so much, at least. But he wantsto see us at half-past five, Ruth. I'll prophesy something--he is goingto talk to us about the `important matters'! It would be just like himto explain his position before we have been an hour in the house, sothat there can be no misunderstanding. I'm right--I know I am! We areon the eve of solving the mystery!"
Ruth shivered, and drew closer to the fire.
"Don't make me nervous. It will be bad enough when it comes to thepoint, without thinking of it beforehand!" she cried.
And it was all the easier to change the conversation, as at that momenta maid entered with a tea-tray and a plate of hot, buttered scones.
Tea after a journey is always a most enjoyable meal, and when it wasover the girls made as careful a toilet as could be managed with thematerials at hand, the heavier luggage not having yet made itsappearance. Shortly before half-past five a tap came to the door, and amaid entered with a double request.
"I have come to show you the way to the library, miss; and if you wouldkindly give me your keys before you go, I will have your boxes unpacked.What dresses would you like to wear for dinner?"
The horror of that moment was never to be forgotten. Before Ruth's eyesthere arose, as in a vision, the patches on the under-sleeves of hermorning blouse, the faded dressing-gown, the darns, and make-shifts andpitiful little contrivances of poverty. Her cheeks flamed before thesharp eyes of the abigail, and then flamed again with scorn at her ownfolly.
"It is all neat and clean and tidy. I _won't_ be ashamed of it!" shetold herself angrily, as she turned to search for her keys.
But the evening-dresses! The next moment with a mingling of relief andirritation, she heard Mollie's unabashed reply--
"Oh, we have only black dresses! We will wear the net over-skirts,please!"
Just like Mollie, to wear her best clothes on the first possibleoccasion, instead of prudently storing them up for a special need! Butit was too late to protest; already the maid was leading the way onward.The all-important interview was at hand!