Chapter Five.An Unexpected Visitor.During the next few weeks the workmen took possession of the Grange, and each morning as Kit made her appearance in the schoolroom Christabel had some fresh item of intelligence to unfold.“A blue paper is going up in the bedroom—pale, pale blue, with loops of roses tied with lovers’ knots—s–imply sweet! ... Nothing but brown paper in the little room over the door—nasty, common brown paper like you use for parcels. Hideous! What can they be thinking of?”—and the girls would stare together through the windows, watching every movement of painters and paperers with breathless interest.Later on a still more exciting period was reached, when vanloads of furniture arrived, and their contents were spread about on the roadway. Then the Rendell girls massed themselves in the porch-room, and while they manufactured needle-books, and scattered bran over the floor in the wholesale manufacture of pincushions, Lilias played the part of Sister Anne, sitting with idle hands, reporting progress to the workers, and sounding a bugle-note of warning when any object appeared which demanded attention. The numberless packing-cases were baffling to feminine curiosity, but the furniture itself was so unique that the most prosaic articles assumed a surprising interest. There were no modern designs to be seen here, no cream enamelled bedroom suites, no green wood chairs, nor cosy corners. Everything belonging to the house was of a sombre grandeur which belonged to another country than our own. Sideboards and cabinets of carved Indian wood blocked up the roadway, and made black patches against the oak-panelled walls; overmantels of the same dusky hue stretched up to the ceilings, and Oriental rugs of priceless value, but distressing shabbiness, were spread over the floors, while the lower windows were covered with screens of carved wood, such as are to be seen over the windows of Turkish harems.Lilias, the worldly wise, was pleased to pronounce the equipments of the house as in “a style of quiet magnificence,” but her sisters were less enthusiastic, and Nan screwed up her saucy nose in open disdain.“Very grand and antique-y, and all that sort of thing, but my, how dull! Fancy sitting in that oak-panelled room, with those black ghosts reared up against the walls, and the light shut out by those carved screens. I should go stark, staring mad! Give me something bright and cheerful, and lots of sunshine. What worries me is that there is so little that is feminine and frivolous. I haven’t seen a single thing as yet that looks suitable for a girl’s room.”“But think of the cases! All those dozens and dozens of cases. You can never tell what may be inside them. They may be stored with—”“Treasures of buhl and ormolu!” sighed Kit softly. “That’s what they always say in books, though I haven’t the slightest idea what it means. Wouldn’t it be a terrific blow if there were no girls after all?”But such a possibility the Rendells absolutely refused to admit. The prospect of finding friends of their own age in the deserted Grange had taken such firm hold of their imagination, that Véronique, Evangeline, and Ermyntrude had already become living companions who played a part in their lives, and whose tastes had to be seriously considered in arranging the future. They longed for the time to come when doubt would be put at an end; but the Vanburghs seemed in no hurry to appear, and meanwhile April was at hand, and, as was their custom, Mr and Mrs Rendell prepared to leave home on a short holiday, leaving the girls alone to battle with the terrors of spring-cleaning.Mrs Rendell had strong ideas on the subject of domestic education, and would allow no extra help to be engaged for this yearly upheaval. It was timed to take place in the Easter holidays, and each girl was expected to take a special task in hand, and to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. She herself frankly confessed that she had come to a time of life when she was thankful to be spared fatigue and discomfort; but her husband was not so willing to make the admission, and talked about his proposed absence in an impersonal fashion, which vastly amused his hearers.“Mother has had to bear the burden of housekeeping for over twenty years, and I think it quite time that some of you took it off her shoulders. It is good training for girls to learn everything that has to be done in connection with a house, so for your sakes as well as hers I feel it a duty to take her away.” So he spoke, and Nan rolled her eyes at him in mischievous fashion, poking forward her head until her face was but a few inches from his own.“And—er, what about your own? You do not love the smell of soft soap, do you, dear? I remember last year—”Her father waved his arms helplessly.“Everything tasted of it! Soup, fish, puddings, everything one ate seemed saturated with soft soap; and there is something peculiarly depressing about a house with no carpets on the floors. I feel as if I were going to be sold up; and if there is one thing more aggravating than another, it is to be obliged to sit in a fresh room every day, and have all one’s possessions stored carefully out of sight. Now, remember, whoever dusts the books in the library is only to take out a few at a time, and put them back—ex-actly where she found them!”“Yes, father!”“No servant is to touch them! I know what that means—every book piled on the floor, and stuffed back into the shelves just as they come! You girls are responsible, and must dust them yourselves.”“Mine own fair hands shall do the deed—in gloves, however, for I know those books of old, and shall smother myself in sheets before I begin. I don’t object to a few days’ charing for a change,” said Nan briskly. “I love rushing about in an apron, using my muscles instead of my brain, gathering all the ornaments together, and washing them in a nice soapy bath—”“And watching the water get dirty! Isn’t it lovely?” gushed Agatha enthusiastically. “It isn’t a bit interesting when they are only a little bit soiled. I like figures and things with lots of creases where the dust gets in, and you have to scrub away with a nail-brush, and the water gets black—perfectly black! It’s lovely!”Every one laughed, even Mrs Rendell, though she felt in duty bound to protest at the idea of anything being “black” in her well-kept house; and the girls proceeded to sing the joys of spring-cleaning with youthful fervour.“What I like best are the picnic meals,” said Chrissie. “We always have the same things for lunch—a round of cold salt beef and beetroot, and coffee, and bread and jam. It is all put on the table at once, and we all carve for ourselves, and march about the room with aprons on, and behave as badly as we like. Then we have tea about three, and cold meat again for dinner, and fruit instead of pudding, and are all so stiff that we can hardly move, and all fighting to have the first hot bath. The water gets cold after the second, so it’s a great thing to be first, if you can.”“And there are such amusingcontretemps!” said Maud, the good-natured. “There seems to be a special imp of mischief abroad at these times, for something is bound to go wrong. You can’t guard against it, for it is always the last thing you could expect, and it happens at the worst moment, and in some extraordinary manner stops all the wheels of the machinery. It is really excruciatingly funny—”“You don’t think so at the time! When Agatha knocked a nail into the gas-pipe on Thursday afternoon, when the shops were closed, and all the men had gone off to a beanfeast, you didn’t think it much of a joke then!” said Elsie darkly. “We tried leaving the nail in and smearing the hole with soap, but the gas came out in gusts, and we had to turn it off, and there were only two candles in the house. ... We sat all evening in the dark, and undressed together in one room, because we were obliged to give the servants one of the candles. It wasn’t in the least funny, and you didn’t think so either.”“Oh, I don’t know! It gave us a rest, which we wanted badly, and it is amusing to think of afterwards. I’ve often thought of it, and laughed to myself,”—and Maud laughed again, the happy, kindly laugh which was the outward sign of a sweet-hearted nature.Altogether it was a very cheerful little party of workers whom the parents left behind when the hour for departure arrived. It was a bright, inspiriting spring morning, just one of the days when it is delightful to start off on the first holiday of the year, and Mr and Mrs Rendell looked fully appreciative of the fact. He was attired in a new suit, while his wife, not to be outdone, had provided herself with a pretty blue coat and skirt, and a flowered toque which was perhaps a trifle more summery than the season justified. After twenty-five years of married life, it was still a delight to this husband and wife to steal off for a holiday by themselves, and Mrs Rendell took the same delight in her husband’s approval as when she had first become his wife. Every detail of her attire was daintily correct, and so pretty did she look, so trig and smart, that her six big daughters stared at her in admiration.“Perfectly s–weet!” was Chrissie’s verdict; then her eyes passed on to her handsome, stalwart father, and a twinkle of amusement showed in her eyes. “They both do! And so spick and span—everything new from head to foot. They might be a newly-married couple—a trifle elderly, but ve–ry well preserved! I shouldn’t wonder if people thought they were. How would it be if we hid a little rice?—”“Happy thought! A most delicate attention. Keep them talking for a few minutes while I pay a visit to the kitchen,” cried Nan, deftly nipping up the roll of umbrellas, and disappearing from the hall, to return with the meekest of meek faces, and bid a fond adieu to the parents for whose confusion she had been planning.When the carriage drove off, the conspiracy was divulged to the other girls, who fully appreciated the humour of the position, but were unanimously eager to disclaim responsibility.“I’d give worlds to be there when they open the straps!” cried Agatha. “It will be too killingly funny. They will both jump and get red in the face—father from laughter, and mother from rage. Oh-oh, it’s lovely; but I didn’t do it, remember! I hadn’t a suspicion of it until this minute!”“I couldn’t have allowed it, if you had consulted me, but I’m glad you didn’t!” Maud declared. “It will be exciting hearing how it comes off. They won’t need rugs or umbrellas in the train, but crossing the Channel mother is sure to feel chilly, as she will never sit in the cabin. Father will settle her comfortably in a chair on deck and proceed to unfasten the rugs. Every one will look on, for there is nothing else to do on board ship but stare at your companions. Then patter, patter, patter, down the rice will fall, and roll along the deck. I can see it all! And the more they blush, the younger they will look; and the angrier and more confused they are, the more natural it will seem. Oh, I do hope and trust it comes off on the steamer!”“It would be even better in the train!” said Lilias wisely. “If they once get settled in the train to Paris, they would be stuck with the same people for five mortal hours, whether they liked it or not, and they would stare, and stare, and stare. Whatever father and mother said, it would make no difference, for they would think they were only pretending. Oh, Nan, I wouldn’t be you! You will catch it!”Nan shrugged her shoulders recklessly. “Time works wonders. If they were coming home to-morrow I should tremble; but after ten days’ galumptious holiday it wouldn’t be in human nature to come home and be cross with a poor, hard-working Cinderella. Besides, why should they be vexed? When I’m married you can use as much rice as you like. I don’t mind if I scatter it broadcast wherever I go. I shall just smile back in the people’s faces, and hang on to Adolphus for support. If I can afford a little amusement to my fellow-creatures, I shall not be so selfish as to object; and I must say that for my own part I do adore finding out a bride and bridegroom, and staring at them with all my eyes.”“I shall never marry; but if I do I shall wear my oldest clothes on my honeymoon, and snap at my husband every time he opens his mouth. That’s the way to manage!” said Christabel with an air, and the two elder girls exchanged smiles of amusement. Neither of them volunteered any information as to how she herself would behave in the circumstances, for the nearer such a possibility becomes, the less easy it is to discuss it in indifferent fashion. Lilias dropped her lids in smiling modesty, and Maud’s eyes shone with a happy glow. She was twenty-three now, and for the last four years a secret hope had dwelt in her heart, and invested the future with charm. It had begun on a certain holiday time, when Jim for the second or third time had brought home his friend Ned Talbot for a visit, and Ned had caught his foot in a rabbit-hole, and sprained it so severely that he was a prisoner at Thurston House for weeks, instead of days. Lilias and Nan were away at school at that time, but Maud had finished her education, and shared with her mother the task of amusing the invalid. She read aloud to him; played on the piano; was demolished at Halma; and, above all, talked to him on one topic after another, growing ever more and more intimate, until at the end of the visit it had seemed as if there was no secret which was held back from Ned Talbot’s knowledge. He had not said so much in return, but there was no sense of chill in his reserve. He was naturally silent, and a word from him meant more than many protestations from another. Maud knew that he enjoyed her society by a hundred indefinable signs; and when they bade each other good-bye, the glance of the dark eyes seemed to speak of a warmer interest than that of friendship. Since then four years had passed by, and twice a year at least Ned had contrived to pay a visit to Waybourne.Now that the other girls were at home there were no longer opportunities for uninterrupted converse, for, as the eldest daughter of a large household, Maud was often compelled to busy herself with household duties, leaving the charge of entertainment to the younger girls; but she felt sure that Ned understood, and no trace of dissatisfaction clouded her gentle spirit. She calculated happily that four months had passed since his last appearance, and felt her cheeks flush as she remembered Jim’s accounts of a recent prosperous change in his friend’s business. A great step upward had been taken during the last year, and now, for the first time, Talbot was in a position to keep a wife!This being so, who could tell what might happen next? The hour to which she had looked forward to so long, when Ned would give her a right to love him and to be his helpmeet in life, might be close at hand. Oh, it was a good world, a beautiful world! Life was in its spring, and every opening bud and flower in the green world without seemed to typify the hope in her own heart!The next few days witnessed a perfect rush of industry. It was no light task to complete the cleaning of so large a house in ten days’ time, but many hands make light work; and while the servants scrubbed and scoured, the girls performed the lighter duties, washing ornaments, polishing pictures, turning faded draperies, sewing on new lengths of fringe, until old bottles were, if not exactly converted into new, at least assured a fresh lease of juvenility. There was always a rush to get the work finished a day or two before the parents’ return, for the time that was over was legally the girls’ own, to be employed in whatsoever manner seemed most pleasing. Christabel stayed in bed to breakfast; Agatha ate apples and read novels all day long; Elsie made copious entries in her diary, and wore her hair in the picturesque confusion which she considered becoming, and felt it cruel of her mother to forbid; Nan worked in her studio, and came down to dinner in a flannel shirt; Lilias wore her best clothes, and went up to town to see and be seen; and Maud dreamt dreams at her ease, without the disturbing consciousness of work undone.By the end of the week the carpets were cleaned and ready to put down, and it was decided that the drawing-room felting should be laid first of all, because in itself it was a more lengthy task than the mere laying of squares, and also because the after work of arranging pictures and china would be greater here than elsewhere. The three maids shut themselves in the room together for an hour or more, and at the end of the time adjourned in a body to the library, where the young mistresses were busy arranging books. They looked flushed and discouraged, and each of the three had her own comments to make upon the situation. Cook reported that “that there felting wouldn’t come right nohow.” Mary put her hand to her heart, and said her inside ached with dragging the tiresome thing; and bright-eyed Jane smiled cheerfully, and vowed that “she didn’t believe it never would meet no more.” The girls adjourned into the drawing-room to investigate the difficulty, and found the felting neatly fastened at three sides, but steadily refusing to come within inches of the fourth wall.“Seems as if it’s shrunk itself somehow in the cleaning,” said cook dolefully; but Maud only laughed, and went forward to the rescue in her cheery, capable manner.“Oh, nonsense, cook! If the cleaning did anything, it would stretch it and make it bigger. It is purposely made rather a tight fit, or it would go into wrinkles, which would never do. It only wants a little coaxing. Nan and Agatha, you have the strongest arms, go over there and pull as hard as you can, while Elsie and I push towards you.”No sooner said than done. Maud and Elsie went down on their knees, and travelled slowly across the floor, pushing infinitesimal creases before them, while the others pulled and strained to make the most of the advantage thus given. It was a lengthy business, and the crawling operation was repeated several times over before the first ring could be induced to catch over its nail; but when this was done hope began to revive, and the pushing and tugging was carried on with such vigour that presently the last fastening was secured, and the workers rested from their labours, weary, yet triumphant.“My back!” groaned Elsie, straightening herself with a groan; “it’s broken in two. I feel as if I could never stand erect again.”“My hands!” groaned Agatha, stretching out her arms, and slowly uncurling ten cramped-up fingers. “They ache. Whew! I never worked so hard in my life. I shall be more careful about spilling crumbs on this carpet in the future, now that I know what it means to have it cleaned. How you ever got it up I can’t think. It must have been even more difficult than putting it down.”“Broke every nail I ’ave,” said cook concisely. “It’s not woman’s work, and that’s the truth. We ’ad ought to ’ave ’ad a man to do it that ’ad proper tools; but there, it’s done, thank goodness, for another year, and it’s the worst in the house. Them squares is no trouble.”“No; I think you can manage the squares yourselves; but first of all we will have the furniture brought in here. The house looks so forlorn with the hall blocked up, and if we get one room tidy, we shall feel that we are getting on,” said Maud, who as yet had not risen from the floor, but sat with feet stretched out, gathering resolution to begin work afresh. She stretched out her hands and drew herself slowly along towards the farther side of the room; but scarcely had she moved a couple of feet when she gave an exclamation of dismay, and, stopping short, passed her hand over the surface of the felting.“Whatever is this? Something sticking up through the felting! Sharp little points, here and there. Dozens of them all about! What can they be?”The others hastened to the spot, and gazed with horror-stricken eyes at a number of minute molehills showing distinctly in the felting, and each one presenting a sharp point when investigated by the touch.“It’s nails!” croaked Elsie deeply; and at that cook gave a groan of dismay.“It is, for sure! Them dratted tacks! Your Mar said we was to put in a tack here and there between the rings, and there was a saucerful just there. Somebody has knocked it over, I expect, and scattered them about the floor.”Maud looked round with a despairing glance. The accident had happened in the worst possible position, as such accidents are invariably supposed to do, the nails being spilt a couple of yards from the wall, in such a position that two sides of the carpet must be unfastened before they could be removed. She stared at her sisters, and they stared back in a long, sullen silence.“We can’t do it again, and we sha’n’t!” said Nan recklessly. “Send for a man, and let him break his fingers for a change. I need mine for another purpose.”“Thursday afternoon, my dear. The shops are shut, and not a man to be had.”“Never saw anything like it. It always is Thursday afternoon! Put a table over the place then, and leave the tacks where they are. No one will see them.”“Oh, Nan, as if a table could stay in the same place for a year. Besides, the nails are bound to come out; if we don’t take them away, they’ll work little holes for themselves, and then what would mother say? There’s no use shirking it. The carpet has to come up again, and we shall have to do it.”“It’s too disgusting! All this time wasted, and now to find ourselves farther back than when we started. I could cry!” protested Elsie dolefully; and Maud gave a little flop of impatience.“Oh, so could I—howl, if that would do any good; but it won’t, so we might as well stop talking and set to work. Begin at once, Jane, please; we’ll push, and make it as easy as possible.”The workers crawled wearily back to their posts, while the audience, in the shape of Lilias and Christabel, stood in the doorway and cheered them with derisive comments.“Amusingcontretemps, isn’t it? Reminds one of Maud’s ecstasies the other evening. Quite pleased, aren’t you, Maudie, to have another illustration of the humours of house-cleaning?”“Never mind, darlings, keep cool! You’ll think it very funny in six months’ time. If you work hard you’ll finish by to-morrow morning!”The glances cast upon the miscreants in reply to their witticisms were so threatening, that they ran back to the library to stifle their laughter; but five minutes had not elapsed before they were back again, gasping in consternation.“A caller! Some one at the door! Can’t see properly, but it’s a man! A young man in a frock coat and a tall hat. What shall we do?”“Send him away, of course. Jane, quick! put on a clean apron, and tell the gentleman that Mrs Rendell is away from home. If he asks for us—we are engaged. Sorry you can’t ask him in, as the house is upset. He’ll see that for himself,” added Maud, in a resigned tone, as Jane hurried from the room. “The hall looks as if it were in the midst of a removal, and if he had had any sense he would have known from the look of the windows that we were not in a fit state to receive callers. Anyhow, he will have to go away now.”The visitor, however, refused to go away, for, to the consternation of the listeners, the parley at the front door was succeeded by the sound of footsteps picking their way through the piled-up furniture, and Jane’s suggestion of “The library, sir,” was apparently neglected, for the tramp came nearer and nearer to the drawing-room door. Six pairs of hands were raised to smooth six ruffled heads, Maud twitched down her sleeves, Lilias stood in an attitude of graceful attention, and the next moment the door was thrown open, and Ned Talbot’s deep voice called out a greeting.“May I come in? I refused to be turned away at the door. How does everybody do? You look very busy. I am going to stay and help you.”
During the next few weeks the workmen took possession of the Grange, and each morning as Kit made her appearance in the schoolroom Christabel had some fresh item of intelligence to unfold.
“A blue paper is going up in the bedroom—pale, pale blue, with loops of roses tied with lovers’ knots—s–imply sweet! ... Nothing but brown paper in the little room over the door—nasty, common brown paper like you use for parcels. Hideous! What can they be thinking of?”—and the girls would stare together through the windows, watching every movement of painters and paperers with breathless interest.
Later on a still more exciting period was reached, when vanloads of furniture arrived, and their contents were spread about on the roadway. Then the Rendell girls massed themselves in the porch-room, and while they manufactured needle-books, and scattered bran over the floor in the wholesale manufacture of pincushions, Lilias played the part of Sister Anne, sitting with idle hands, reporting progress to the workers, and sounding a bugle-note of warning when any object appeared which demanded attention. The numberless packing-cases were baffling to feminine curiosity, but the furniture itself was so unique that the most prosaic articles assumed a surprising interest. There were no modern designs to be seen here, no cream enamelled bedroom suites, no green wood chairs, nor cosy corners. Everything belonging to the house was of a sombre grandeur which belonged to another country than our own. Sideboards and cabinets of carved Indian wood blocked up the roadway, and made black patches against the oak-panelled walls; overmantels of the same dusky hue stretched up to the ceilings, and Oriental rugs of priceless value, but distressing shabbiness, were spread over the floors, while the lower windows were covered with screens of carved wood, such as are to be seen over the windows of Turkish harems.
Lilias, the worldly wise, was pleased to pronounce the equipments of the house as in “a style of quiet magnificence,” but her sisters were less enthusiastic, and Nan screwed up her saucy nose in open disdain.
“Very grand and antique-y, and all that sort of thing, but my, how dull! Fancy sitting in that oak-panelled room, with those black ghosts reared up against the walls, and the light shut out by those carved screens. I should go stark, staring mad! Give me something bright and cheerful, and lots of sunshine. What worries me is that there is so little that is feminine and frivolous. I haven’t seen a single thing as yet that looks suitable for a girl’s room.”
“But think of the cases! All those dozens and dozens of cases. You can never tell what may be inside them. They may be stored with—”
“Treasures of buhl and ormolu!” sighed Kit softly. “That’s what they always say in books, though I haven’t the slightest idea what it means. Wouldn’t it be a terrific blow if there were no girls after all?”
But such a possibility the Rendells absolutely refused to admit. The prospect of finding friends of their own age in the deserted Grange had taken such firm hold of their imagination, that Véronique, Evangeline, and Ermyntrude had already become living companions who played a part in their lives, and whose tastes had to be seriously considered in arranging the future. They longed for the time to come when doubt would be put at an end; but the Vanburghs seemed in no hurry to appear, and meanwhile April was at hand, and, as was their custom, Mr and Mrs Rendell prepared to leave home on a short holiday, leaving the girls alone to battle with the terrors of spring-cleaning.
Mrs Rendell had strong ideas on the subject of domestic education, and would allow no extra help to be engaged for this yearly upheaval. It was timed to take place in the Easter holidays, and each girl was expected to take a special task in hand, and to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. She herself frankly confessed that she had come to a time of life when she was thankful to be spared fatigue and discomfort; but her husband was not so willing to make the admission, and talked about his proposed absence in an impersonal fashion, which vastly amused his hearers.
“Mother has had to bear the burden of housekeeping for over twenty years, and I think it quite time that some of you took it off her shoulders. It is good training for girls to learn everything that has to be done in connection with a house, so for your sakes as well as hers I feel it a duty to take her away.” So he spoke, and Nan rolled her eyes at him in mischievous fashion, poking forward her head until her face was but a few inches from his own.
“And—er, what about your own? You do not love the smell of soft soap, do you, dear? I remember last year—”
Her father waved his arms helplessly.
“Everything tasted of it! Soup, fish, puddings, everything one ate seemed saturated with soft soap; and there is something peculiarly depressing about a house with no carpets on the floors. I feel as if I were going to be sold up; and if there is one thing more aggravating than another, it is to be obliged to sit in a fresh room every day, and have all one’s possessions stored carefully out of sight. Now, remember, whoever dusts the books in the library is only to take out a few at a time, and put them back—ex-actly where she found them!”
“Yes, father!”
“No servant is to touch them! I know what that means—every book piled on the floor, and stuffed back into the shelves just as they come! You girls are responsible, and must dust them yourselves.”
“Mine own fair hands shall do the deed—in gloves, however, for I know those books of old, and shall smother myself in sheets before I begin. I don’t object to a few days’ charing for a change,” said Nan briskly. “I love rushing about in an apron, using my muscles instead of my brain, gathering all the ornaments together, and washing them in a nice soapy bath—”
“And watching the water get dirty! Isn’t it lovely?” gushed Agatha enthusiastically. “It isn’t a bit interesting when they are only a little bit soiled. I like figures and things with lots of creases where the dust gets in, and you have to scrub away with a nail-brush, and the water gets black—perfectly black! It’s lovely!”
Every one laughed, even Mrs Rendell, though she felt in duty bound to protest at the idea of anything being “black” in her well-kept house; and the girls proceeded to sing the joys of spring-cleaning with youthful fervour.
“What I like best are the picnic meals,” said Chrissie. “We always have the same things for lunch—a round of cold salt beef and beetroot, and coffee, and bread and jam. It is all put on the table at once, and we all carve for ourselves, and march about the room with aprons on, and behave as badly as we like. Then we have tea about three, and cold meat again for dinner, and fruit instead of pudding, and are all so stiff that we can hardly move, and all fighting to have the first hot bath. The water gets cold after the second, so it’s a great thing to be first, if you can.”
“And there are such amusingcontretemps!” said Maud, the good-natured. “There seems to be a special imp of mischief abroad at these times, for something is bound to go wrong. You can’t guard against it, for it is always the last thing you could expect, and it happens at the worst moment, and in some extraordinary manner stops all the wheels of the machinery. It is really excruciatingly funny—”
“You don’t think so at the time! When Agatha knocked a nail into the gas-pipe on Thursday afternoon, when the shops were closed, and all the men had gone off to a beanfeast, you didn’t think it much of a joke then!” said Elsie darkly. “We tried leaving the nail in and smearing the hole with soap, but the gas came out in gusts, and we had to turn it off, and there were only two candles in the house. ... We sat all evening in the dark, and undressed together in one room, because we were obliged to give the servants one of the candles. It wasn’t in the least funny, and you didn’t think so either.”
“Oh, I don’t know! It gave us a rest, which we wanted badly, and it is amusing to think of afterwards. I’ve often thought of it, and laughed to myself,”—and Maud laughed again, the happy, kindly laugh which was the outward sign of a sweet-hearted nature.
Altogether it was a very cheerful little party of workers whom the parents left behind when the hour for departure arrived. It was a bright, inspiriting spring morning, just one of the days when it is delightful to start off on the first holiday of the year, and Mr and Mrs Rendell looked fully appreciative of the fact. He was attired in a new suit, while his wife, not to be outdone, had provided herself with a pretty blue coat and skirt, and a flowered toque which was perhaps a trifle more summery than the season justified. After twenty-five years of married life, it was still a delight to this husband and wife to steal off for a holiday by themselves, and Mrs Rendell took the same delight in her husband’s approval as when she had first become his wife. Every detail of her attire was daintily correct, and so pretty did she look, so trig and smart, that her six big daughters stared at her in admiration.
“Perfectly s–weet!” was Chrissie’s verdict; then her eyes passed on to her handsome, stalwart father, and a twinkle of amusement showed in her eyes. “They both do! And so spick and span—everything new from head to foot. They might be a newly-married couple—a trifle elderly, but ve–ry well preserved! I shouldn’t wonder if people thought they were. How would it be if we hid a little rice?—”
“Happy thought! A most delicate attention. Keep them talking for a few minutes while I pay a visit to the kitchen,” cried Nan, deftly nipping up the roll of umbrellas, and disappearing from the hall, to return with the meekest of meek faces, and bid a fond adieu to the parents for whose confusion she had been planning.
When the carriage drove off, the conspiracy was divulged to the other girls, who fully appreciated the humour of the position, but were unanimously eager to disclaim responsibility.
“I’d give worlds to be there when they open the straps!” cried Agatha. “It will be too killingly funny. They will both jump and get red in the face—father from laughter, and mother from rage. Oh-oh, it’s lovely; but I didn’t do it, remember! I hadn’t a suspicion of it until this minute!”
“I couldn’t have allowed it, if you had consulted me, but I’m glad you didn’t!” Maud declared. “It will be exciting hearing how it comes off. They won’t need rugs or umbrellas in the train, but crossing the Channel mother is sure to feel chilly, as she will never sit in the cabin. Father will settle her comfortably in a chair on deck and proceed to unfasten the rugs. Every one will look on, for there is nothing else to do on board ship but stare at your companions. Then patter, patter, patter, down the rice will fall, and roll along the deck. I can see it all! And the more they blush, the younger they will look; and the angrier and more confused they are, the more natural it will seem. Oh, I do hope and trust it comes off on the steamer!”
“It would be even better in the train!” said Lilias wisely. “If they once get settled in the train to Paris, they would be stuck with the same people for five mortal hours, whether they liked it or not, and they would stare, and stare, and stare. Whatever father and mother said, it would make no difference, for they would think they were only pretending. Oh, Nan, I wouldn’t be you! You will catch it!”
Nan shrugged her shoulders recklessly. “Time works wonders. If they were coming home to-morrow I should tremble; but after ten days’ galumptious holiday it wouldn’t be in human nature to come home and be cross with a poor, hard-working Cinderella. Besides, why should they be vexed? When I’m married you can use as much rice as you like. I don’t mind if I scatter it broadcast wherever I go. I shall just smile back in the people’s faces, and hang on to Adolphus for support. If I can afford a little amusement to my fellow-creatures, I shall not be so selfish as to object; and I must say that for my own part I do adore finding out a bride and bridegroom, and staring at them with all my eyes.”
“I shall never marry; but if I do I shall wear my oldest clothes on my honeymoon, and snap at my husband every time he opens his mouth. That’s the way to manage!” said Christabel with an air, and the two elder girls exchanged smiles of amusement. Neither of them volunteered any information as to how she herself would behave in the circumstances, for the nearer such a possibility becomes, the less easy it is to discuss it in indifferent fashion. Lilias dropped her lids in smiling modesty, and Maud’s eyes shone with a happy glow. She was twenty-three now, and for the last four years a secret hope had dwelt in her heart, and invested the future with charm. It had begun on a certain holiday time, when Jim for the second or third time had brought home his friend Ned Talbot for a visit, and Ned had caught his foot in a rabbit-hole, and sprained it so severely that he was a prisoner at Thurston House for weeks, instead of days. Lilias and Nan were away at school at that time, but Maud had finished her education, and shared with her mother the task of amusing the invalid. She read aloud to him; played on the piano; was demolished at Halma; and, above all, talked to him on one topic after another, growing ever more and more intimate, until at the end of the visit it had seemed as if there was no secret which was held back from Ned Talbot’s knowledge. He had not said so much in return, but there was no sense of chill in his reserve. He was naturally silent, and a word from him meant more than many protestations from another. Maud knew that he enjoyed her society by a hundred indefinable signs; and when they bade each other good-bye, the glance of the dark eyes seemed to speak of a warmer interest than that of friendship. Since then four years had passed by, and twice a year at least Ned had contrived to pay a visit to Waybourne.
Now that the other girls were at home there were no longer opportunities for uninterrupted converse, for, as the eldest daughter of a large household, Maud was often compelled to busy herself with household duties, leaving the charge of entertainment to the younger girls; but she felt sure that Ned understood, and no trace of dissatisfaction clouded her gentle spirit. She calculated happily that four months had passed since his last appearance, and felt her cheeks flush as she remembered Jim’s accounts of a recent prosperous change in his friend’s business. A great step upward had been taken during the last year, and now, for the first time, Talbot was in a position to keep a wife!This being so, who could tell what might happen next? The hour to which she had looked forward to so long, when Ned would give her a right to love him and to be his helpmeet in life, might be close at hand. Oh, it was a good world, a beautiful world! Life was in its spring, and every opening bud and flower in the green world without seemed to typify the hope in her own heart!
The next few days witnessed a perfect rush of industry. It was no light task to complete the cleaning of so large a house in ten days’ time, but many hands make light work; and while the servants scrubbed and scoured, the girls performed the lighter duties, washing ornaments, polishing pictures, turning faded draperies, sewing on new lengths of fringe, until old bottles were, if not exactly converted into new, at least assured a fresh lease of juvenility. There was always a rush to get the work finished a day or two before the parents’ return, for the time that was over was legally the girls’ own, to be employed in whatsoever manner seemed most pleasing. Christabel stayed in bed to breakfast; Agatha ate apples and read novels all day long; Elsie made copious entries in her diary, and wore her hair in the picturesque confusion which she considered becoming, and felt it cruel of her mother to forbid; Nan worked in her studio, and came down to dinner in a flannel shirt; Lilias wore her best clothes, and went up to town to see and be seen; and Maud dreamt dreams at her ease, without the disturbing consciousness of work undone.
By the end of the week the carpets were cleaned and ready to put down, and it was decided that the drawing-room felting should be laid first of all, because in itself it was a more lengthy task than the mere laying of squares, and also because the after work of arranging pictures and china would be greater here than elsewhere. The three maids shut themselves in the room together for an hour or more, and at the end of the time adjourned in a body to the library, where the young mistresses were busy arranging books. They looked flushed and discouraged, and each of the three had her own comments to make upon the situation. Cook reported that “that there felting wouldn’t come right nohow.” Mary put her hand to her heart, and said her inside ached with dragging the tiresome thing; and bright-eyed Jane smiled cheerfully, and vowed that “she didn’t believe it never would meet no more.” The girls adjourned into the drawing-room to investigate the difficulty, and found the felting neatly fastened at three sides, but steadily refusing to come within inches of the fourth wall.
“Seems as if it’s shrunk itself somehow in the cleaning,” said cook dolefully; but Maud only laughed, and went forward to the rescue in her cheery, capable manner.
“Oh, nonsense, cook! If the cleaning did anything, it would stretch it and make it bigger. It is purposely made rather a tight fit, or it would go into wrinkles, which would never do. It only wants a little coaxing. Nan and Agatha, you have the strongest arms, go over there and pull as hard as you can, while Elsie and I push towards you.”
No sooner said than done. Maud and Elsie went down on their knees, and travelled slowly across the floor, pushing infinitesimal creases before them, while the others pulled and strained to make the most of the advantage thus given. It was a lengthy business, and the crawling operation was repeated several times over before the first ring could be induced to catch over its nail; but when this was done hope began to revive, and the pushing and tugging was carried on with such vigour that presently the last fastening was secured, and the workers rested from their labours, weary, yet triumphant.
“My back!” groaned Elsie, straightening herself with a groan; “it’s broken in two. I feel as if I could never stand erect again.”
“My hands!” groaned Agatha, stretching out her arms, and slowly uncurling ten cramped-up fingers. “They ache. Whew! I never worked so hard in my life. I shall be more careful about spilling crumbs on this carpet in the future, now that I know what it means to have it cleaned. How you ever got it up I can’t think. It must have been even more difficult than putting it down.”
“Broke every nail I ’ave,” said cook concisely. “It’s not woman’s work, and that’s the truth. We ’ad ought to ’ave ’ad a man to do it that ’ad proper tools; but there, it’s done, thank goodness, for another year, and it’s the worst in the house. Them squares is no trouble.”
“No; I think you can manage the squares yourselves; but first of all we will have the furniture brought in here. The house looks so forlorn with the hall blocked up, and if we get one room tidy, we shall feel that we are getting on,” said Maud, who as yet had not risen from the floor, but sat with feet stretched out, gathering resolution to begin work afresh. She stretched out her hands and drew herself slowly along towards the farther side of the room; but scarcely had she moved a couple of feet when she gave an exclamation of dismay, and, stopping short, passed her hand over the surface of the felting.
“Whatever is this? Something sticking up through the felting! Sharp little points, here and there. Dozens of them all about! What can they be?”
The others hastened to the spot, and gazed with horror-stricken eyes at a number of minute molehills showing distinctly in the felting, and each one presenting a sharp point when investigated by the touch.
“It’s nails!” croaked Elsie deeply; and at that cook gave a groan of dismay.
“It is, for sure! Them dratted tacks! Your Mar said we was to put in a tack here and there between the rings, and there was a saucerful just there. Somebody has knocked it over, I expect, and scattered them about the floor.”
Maud looked round with a despairing glance. The accident had happened in the worst possible position, as such accidents are invariably supposed to do, the nails being spilt a couple of yards from the wall, in such a position that two sides of the carpet must be unfastened before they could be removed. She stared at her sisters, and they stared back in a long, sullen silence.
“We can’t do it again, and we sha’n’t!” said Nan recklessly. “Send for a man, and let him break his fingers for a change. I need mine for another purpose.”
“Thursday afternoon, my dear. The shops are shut, and not a man to be had.”
“Never saw anything like it. It always is Thursday afternoon! Put a table over the place then, and leave the tacks where they are. No one will see them.”
“Oh, Nan, as if a table could stay in the same place for a year. Besides, the nails are bound to come out; if we don’t take them away, they’ll work little holes for themselves, and then what would mother say? There’s no use shirking it. The carpet has to come up again, and we shall have to do it.”
“It’s too disgusting! All this time wasted, and now to find ourselves farther back than when we started. I could cry!” protested Elsie dolefully; and Maud gave a little flop of impatience.
“Oh, so could I—howl, if that would do any good; but it won’t, so we might as well stop talking and set to work. Begin at once, Jane, please; we’ll push, and make it as easy as possible.”
The workers crawled wearily back to their posts, while the audience, in the shape of Lilias and Christabel, stood in the doorway and cheered them with derisive comments.
“Amusingcontretemps, isn’t it? Reminds one of Maud’s ecstasies the other evening. Quite pleased, aren’t you, Maudie, to have another illustration of the humours of house-cleaning?”
“Never mind, darlings, keep cool! You’ll think it very funny in six months’ time. If you work hard you’ll finish by to-morrow morning!”
The glances cast upon the miscreants in reply to their witticisms were so threatening, that they ran back to the library to stifle their laughter; but five minutes had not elapsed before they were back again, gasping in consternation.
“A caller! Some one at the door! Can’t see properly, but it’s a man! A young man in a frock coat and a tall hat. What shall we do?”
“Send him away, of course. Jane, quick! put on a clean apron, and tell the gentleman that Mrs Rendell is away from home. If he asks for us—we are engaged. Sorry you can’t ask him in, as the house is upset. He’ll see that for himself,” added Maud, in a resigned tone, as Jane hurried from the room. “The hall looks as if it were in the midst of a removal, and if he had had any sense he would have known from the look of the windows that we were not in a fit state to receive callers. Anyhow, he will have to go away now.”
The visitor, however, refused to go away, for, to the consternation of the listeners, the parley at the front door was succeeded by the sound of footsteps picking their way through the piled-up furniture, and Jane’s suggestion of “The library, sir,” was apparently neglected, for the tramp came nearer and nearer to the drawing-room door. Six pairs of hands were raised to smooth six ruffled heads, Maud twitched down her sleeves, Lilias stood in an attitude of graceful attention, and the next moment the door was thrown open, and Ned Talbot’s deep voice called out a greeting.
“May I come in? I refused to be turned away at the door. How does everybody do? You look very busy. I am going to stay and help you.”
Chapter Six.Nan plays Helper.Alas for Maud! Had it been for this that she had lived in dreams since October last, planning afresh, and yet afresh, every detail of the next meeting with Ned? Had it been for this that she had mentally arranged background, occasion, opportunity, sending abroad mother, and sisters five, and seating herself in solitude to await Ned’s arrival? Had it been for this that she had cherished her dainty new blouse, refusing to crush it beneath cloak or shawl, and appearing over and over again in the pink of a bygone age, so that it might appear in its first beauty for Ned’s inspection? Oh, it was hard to have planned so well, and then to be discovered with ruffled hair, flushed cheeks, and unbecoming attire! Lilias was only the more picturesque for her working attire, and was even now shaking hands with the visitor, and welcoming him in pretty, winsome fashion, as the other girls shook down skirts and aprons, and took furtive peeps in the looking-glass.“Mr Talbot. You! This is a surprise. It is delightful to see you again, but we are so upset! We are in the throes of spring-cleaning, as you perceive. Have you come from town? Agatha, Chrissie, bring in a few chairs! This is the only room that has a pretence of a carpet, but at any rate we can give you a chair to sit upon.”“But I don’t want one. I have been sitting in the train, and would rather stand for a change, or, still better, help with some work. Please don’t treat me as a visitor! What were you about when I came in? Laying a carpet? Six of you! It doesn’t take six women to lay one carpet, surely!”Nan groaned dismally.“It does indeed, and then they can’t do it! It’s nasty, horrid, rough, heavy work, only fit for men, and not for our poor little fingers. We had just succeeded, with immense labour, in fastening it all round when we made the cheerful discovery that a boxful of nails are scattered over the floor beneath. You came in at the ghastly moment when it had dawned upon us that it had all to come up again!”Nan waved her hand with a tragic movement towards the little heap of nails, then, making a sudden step forward, caught her foot in a loose piece of braid at the bottom of her skirt, and went rushing forward at a headlong run, to be caught in Ned Talbot’s arms, and so rescued from destruction against a corner of the wall.“Nan, I told you that that braid was torn! I told you to sew it up! Itoldyou you’d trip and hurt yourself,” cried Maud reproachfully; but the culprit only laid her hand over her heart, and gurgled in impenitent amusement.“But I didn’t, you see! I came off all right. It’s only a little end—not worth talking about!”—and she took a couple of pins from the corner of her apron and began fastening up the offending loop, while her sister lifted her hands in disapproval.“Pins? They won’t hold! Better go upstairs and sew it at once. If you don’t, I warn you, Nan,”—but Maud did not get any further in her prophecy, for Ned Talbot came over to her side, and looked down at her with kindly, anxious eyes.“Maud, you look so tired! Don’t trouble any more about the carpet; I’ll manage it for you. What’s the good of a great lumbering six-footer if he can’t manage a little job like that! I’ll have it up and down again before you can say ‘Jack Robinson,’ and then we will have our talk in comfort.”“It’s more difficult than you think,” said Maud dolefully; but Ned only laughed, then proceeded to take off his coat and go down on his knees to attack the obstinate rings. The workers took advantage of the opportunity to adjust hair-pins, and divest themselves of soiled aprons, while Lilias, having no such defects to remedy, developed sudden interest in the work on hand, and knelt down on the floor beside him, holding out first one implement and then another for his use. The softly-tinted face and cloudy golden hair looked lovelier than ever about the long white smock which she had adopted as her working costume, and poor Maud stared at her own heated reflection with increased disfavour, the while she whispered in Nan’s ear—“I suppose he expects to stay for the evening. So awkward! Can we ask him, do you think, when mother’s away?”“Mother would be very much annoyed if we sent away an old friend, who has stayed in the house dozens of times, without even offering him a meal; especially when he has travelled twenty miles to see us!”“But, my dear, what have we got? I can’t give him dinner. There’s nothing in the house but cold meat.”“Cutlets and tinned fruit—the refuge of the destitute! Send Mary flying to the butcher’s!”“It’s Thursday afternoon!”Nan’s groan of dismay brought Ned Talbot’s head round in inquiry. The rings were giving way obediently in his strong grasp, and Lilias was clapping her hands at each fresh success, and chatting away in animated fashion. The sisters waited until the work was resumed, and then continued the whispered conference.“It alwaysisThursday when we want anything. People should never be allowed to shut their shops. Cold meat it must be, then, and nothing else, I’m afraid. We might manage to manufacture a few made dishes from the tinned things in the store-room, butentréesand savouries seem out of place in the middle of spring-cleaning, and the dining-room is impassable—a perfect block.”“We might alter that if we put out the things that are needed for this room. We had better go and do it now, for we don’t seem needed here any longer,”—and Maud cast a wistful look towards the two kneeling figures in the corner. She envied Lilias her position; but it never entered into her honest heart to mistrust her sister’s loyalty, or to put a cynical construction upon this sudden show of industry. All the girls were fond of Ned; it was only natural that Lilias should want to help him. She held out her poor, roughened hands, and looked appealingly at Nan as they stood outside the drawing-room door.“I might wash them, mightn’t I, and put on a pair of cuffs, and a fresh tie? I won’t change my blouse, of course; but he is a man, and wouldn’t notice what I’d done—only perhaps that I looked a little bit nicer!”Nan nodded silently, a lump rising in her throat at the sight of the wistful face. She was the only one of the sisters who had been told the secret of Maud’s heart, and the bond between these two girls was very strong and tender. She watched Maud until she disappeared from sight, with her lips screwed tightly together, and her eyebrows meeting in an ominous frown across her forehead. She felt very fierce and formidable at that moment, and it was a positive relief to be able to vent some of her pent-up irritation in work, so for the next ten minutes she dragged and tugged at the piled-up furniture, making order out of confusion, and carrying the lighter drawing-room articles into the hall, in readiness to be put into their proper places. Then Maud reappeared, smartened up by those subtle touches which every woman knows how to bestow, and no man is able to understand, though the result is patent to his eyes; and after a second consultation on the subject of dinner, a return was made to the drawing-room, to see how the carpet-laying was progressing. Ned Talbot was still on his knees, but now he was fastening instead of unfastening the rings, while Lilias was exhibiting a cup full of sharp, jagged little nails. The dreaded task was almost accomplished, and that in less time than would have been possible with the united efforts of the feminine household.“Done already?” cried the new-comers; and Agatha shook her mane with a melancholy air.“It’s s–imply wondrous! He just pulls, and the thing meets as easy as winking. It doesn’t seem a bit difficult. And to think how we almost killed ourselves! It’s humiliating!”“Don’t feel it so at all. If I am beaten at carpet-laying all my life, I’ll never repine. It’s a woman’s duty to do nice things, and pleasant things, and pretty things, and leave the men to do the hard bits,” said Elsie, standing on one leg to relieve the pain which had come from long kneeling, and looking with melancholy significance at her thin little arms. “Look at those compared to his! Nature never intended me—”Ned fastened the last hook, and straightened his back with a sigh of satisfaction.“Done! That’s all right. I’m glad I came in time, for it’s stiffish work. I am staying in town for a few days, and thought I would chance it this afternoon, and run down to see you for a few hours.”He looked at Maud as he spoke, and she hesitated uncertainly, thinking once again of her mother’s absence, the disordered rooms, the prescribed contents of the larder.“It was very good of you, and we are very pleased. Will you—er—will you be able to stop and dine?”“Thank you very much. Your sister has already asked me. If it wouldn’t be giving you too much trouble.”“Oh, no trouble! I mean, of course, we are very much upset, and I don’t quite know what we can give you, but if you will stay we will do our best!”“Now, Mr Talbot, listen to me!” interrupted Nan decisively. “There are two alternatives open to you, and you can take your choice. Would you rather sit here by yourself, looking at albums and illustrated books while Mary changes her dress, and cook flies into a temper preparing a proper dinner, and Jane helps to tidy the dining-room, and Maud ransacks the store—room, and Elsie polishes up silver, and Chrissie cuts flowers, and I—”Ned Talbot threw up his hands in despair.“Mercy! What next? Please stop, Nan. You make me feel the most shocking intruder. If I am to cause such an upset, the sooner I rush back to the station the better. What is the alternative? Tell it me at once. You said I had a choice!”“The alternative,” said Nan slowly, beaming upon him the while, in a friendly, encouraging fashion, “the alternative is what would happen to us if we were alone, and you had not arrived. Dinner in the schoolroom, with the library pictures ranged along the walls, and the books piled on the floor. No flowers—no fruit—no waiting—no evening dress. Everything on the table at once, and very little of that. Cold beef—very good cold beef! I’ll answer for that, for we’ve had it two days already—potatoes in their jackets, perhaps one other vegetable...”“Nan!” cried Maud protestingly; but Talbot gazed at her with a smile, shadowed only by a faint anxiety.“Pickles?” he queried eagerly. “Put my mind at rest on that point before we go any further! Surely there are pickles?”“Pickles, cer-tainly! As many as you like; but mostly onions, I am afraid, for we like the cauliflowery bits best, and poke about with the fork to get them out first. But there are lots of onions. Cold beef and pickles, then, and something plain and wholesome in the shape of a pudding, such as stewed prunes and rice; biscuits and cheese to follow; and a really good cup of coffee made by our own fair hands.”“It’s a feast for the gods! Nothing I should like better. Don’t you know, Nan, that nine out of ten Englishmen would rather be set down opposite a joint of meat than half a dozen kickshaws! It will be like old times to have a meal in the schoolroom, and if you will really let me stay, and treat me exactly like one of yourselves, I shall enjoy it more than a dozen dinner parties. You will promise faithfully to make no alteration whatever in themenu?”“Certainly, if you wish it.”“And—er—you will not feel it necessary to dress on my behalf! I can make no change myself, so please don’t confound me by your magnificence.”Lazy Nan consented readily enough, but once more the thought of the blue silk blouse sent a pang of disappointment to Maud’s heart. She should not be able to wear it after all, and the long hoarding up had been in vain. She reflected on the disappointing nature of earthly hopes, with a melancholy which would have done credit to Elsie herself, as she took her way downstairs to interview cook on the subject of dinner. It is one thing to give a promise to make no difference in amenu, and another to keep that promise to the letter, as every housekeeper knows; and even if circumstances did not allow of any substantial addition to the meal, there were a dozen little contrivances by which it could be given an air of elegance and distinction. They took time to arrange, however, as all such contriving do, and cook was cross at being asked to undertake fresh duties, and wished to know what people wanted coming worriting about a house when a child in arms could see he wasn’t wanted! Maud smiled at the reflection that, in this instance, the child would be vastly mistaken in his views, but did her best to soothe the offended dignitary; and finally matters were smoothed over by Mary being told off to help in the kitchen, while Maud herself undertook the arrangement of the table.“Nan will help me,” she told herself encouragingly, as she mounted the staircase and saw through the window a procession of girlish figures making their way down the garden path, escorting Ned to a survey of the daffodils and spring bulbs, for which Mr Rendell was famous among amateur gardeners. Lilias walked first, a dainty figure against the background of fresh green; slim little Elsie picked her way daintily over the gravel; Agatha followed, large and beaming; and Christabel majestically brought up the rear. Maud pressed her face against the window and watched with a spasm of envy. Oh, to be out, enjoying herself with the rest—to let everything take care of itself, and take her place by Ned’s side! Too bad to be kept indoors when her opportunity had come at last, and the sun was shining, and all Nature seemed bright and gay! No one seemed to have thought of her, or of offering to help, except Nan—dear, good, thoughtless, and yet most thoughtful of Nans; and here she came, flying three steps at a time, upstairs to the rescue.“Oh, you are here! I’ve been searching downstairs. Out you go! If there’s anything to do indoors, I’ll do it. Your place is in the garden.”“I’ve been in the kitchen, and cook was so cross that I told off Mary to help her. I promised to lay the table.”“I’ll do it for you!”Maud tried not to smile. Well she knew what would happen if the work were left in Nan’s care. Crooked cloth, forks and spoons looking as if they had been tossed upon the table; as likely as not, no cruets nor water-bottles; and a general air of slipshod carelessness, which would more than defeat all her arrangements.“I—er—think I ought to look after it myself,” she said apologetically; “but please help me, dear! If we work together we’ll get it done in no time, and then I can go out and enjoy myself with an easy mind.”“I want you to go now. If you think I can’t manage alone, send in Chrissie. She’s even more particular than you, and I’ll do as she tells me like a lamb!” said Nan, not one whit offended at the implied slight on her own powers; but Maud shook her head.“I couldn’t! I never ask help in an ordinary way, and I couldn’t do it to-day!”“Too proud?”“Much!”“Good for you! I’d feel the same. Come on, then; let’s set to work and get it over. He’ll be wondering what you are doing. Where are the things?”“Mary has taken up some already, and the rest are in the pantry. I’ll tell you what I want, and you can carry up a trayful at a time while I set the cloth. I know exactly how I want everything laid, you see!”“Don’t apologise, my love. I know I’m no good at finnicky work, but I’ll fetch and carry with the best. Knives—yes! Glass—yes! Plates—yes! Leave the plates till the last, and bring up the rest first. Yes’um! I understand! Knives and tumblers for seven. They shall be yours before you can say ‘Jack Robinson.’”“Not too quick, now!” cried Maud warningly; but Nan was off, leaping downstairs in a succession of daring bounds, swinging round corners at break-neck speed, and singing at the pitch of her voice, after the usual decorous and ladylike manner in which she was wont to descend to the lower regions.Left to herself, Maud took a couple of steps towards the window, turned back resolutely, spread the cloth over the table, and went back at a run to peer behind the curtains and see what was going on in the garden. Chrissie and Agatha were strolling about arm in arm; Elsie walked apart, bowed in thought; Lilias flitted among the flower—beds, gesticulating with gracefulabandonas she called Ned’s attention to the choicest blooms. Maud could hear her pretty ecstasies as plainly as though she had been standing by her side.“The little dears! Aren’t they justtoosweet? Don’t you love the first spring flowers? They seem so full of hope and promise!”She had heard it all before, every time that a visitor was taken round the garden; and just for a moment a wish passed through Maud’s mind that her beautiful sister were not quite so fond of acting a part for the benefit of strangers! As a matter of fact, Lilias took less interest in the garden than any of the girls, yet she always gushed the most! The next moment she pulled herself up sharply, abashed to have cherished such uncharitable sentiments, and went on resolutely with the laying of the table. Spoons and forks had been neatly laid in their places before Nan’s approaching footsteps could be heard ploughing upstairs to an accompaniment of jingling glass and steel. She had taken the warning to heart, apparently, for there was a noticeable pause between each footstep; but, alas! when the top of the stair was reached, there came a sudden and violent change in her procedure. Maud heard a gasp, and then, even as she started forward to investigate the cause, in rushed Nan, head foremost, the contents of the tray raining on the ground, while she stumbled helplessly forward, and finally collapsed on the floor in a nest of knives and broken glass, to lift up her voice in a wail of anguish.“Oh, oh, oh! I caught my foot! That horrid braid tripped me up at the very last step, and sent me flying forward. What shall I do?”“I told you,”—began Maud, but stopped abruptly, knowing by experience how trying it was to be reminded of past warnings. “Oh dear, the fright you gave me! To fall down with such a dangerous load. Nan, are you hurt?”“I’m killed!” cried Nan, with a sniff. “Talk of your fright, indeed: I’m shaking all over. I’ll run away and drown myself. Always make a mess of everything I do! What will mother say?”“Don’t worry about that, dear. You were trying to help, and being so good and kind, and half a dozen tumblers are not a deadly thing. That won’t ruin us. It might have been far worse.”“It is!” sighed Nan. “Two water-bottles—the best ones, too. I thought they’d look so nice. Oh dear; oh dear; and just when I thought I was getting on so well! I came up so slowly, stopping at every step. You might have heard me—”“I did; but you know, Nan, I said before—Never mind, it’s done now, so it’s no use groaning. You look so white, dear; I am afraid you have had a shock. Don’t try to do anything more, but go to your room and take some sal volatile, and lie down until dinner.”But at that Nan rose to her feet with a laugh of derision.“I! I act the fine lady, and go to bed for a fall? Not likely. I shall have to work harder than ever to make up for this. The knives might as well go in their places first, and then I’ll go down and get something to brush up the glass. Don’t you come: it’s dangerous walking over here, and I can do it quite well.”“Nan, please leave it to me! I am sure you are hurt, though you won’t acknowledge it. Sit down and rest, if it’s only for five minutes.”But Nan would not be persuaded. She picked up the knives and hobbled round the table, laying them in their places and tossing her head with an air of triumph, oblivious of the fact that a drop of blood marked each stage of her progress, leaving a vivid stain on the fresh white cloth. A groan of dismay from Maud’s lips aroused her attention, whereupon she flushed red with dismay, and stared down at her cut fingers with an air of shocked surprise.It was really too aggravating, and even placid Maud felt aroused to irritation; but it is difficult to upbraid an offender who is herself overcome with penitence, and who lavishes such violent reproaches upon her own head, as Nan now proceeded to do.“Oh, mussey me, I thought they felt queer! They are cut all over. Lockjaw, I suppose. I shall never be able to speak distinctly any more, but have to push all my food between my teeth, like poor Jane Smith. Oh, Maud, Maud, I wanted to help, and I’ve only made things worse than before! I always do. Do please scold and get cross. Don’t look so wretched. Abuse me as I deserve!”“What’s the good?” sighed Maud dismally. “You didn’t mean to do it, and it’s done, and can’t be undone. Come to my room and I’ll bandage your hands. I’m not afraid of lockjaw, but you can’t go about any longer like that. Then we must get a clean cloth, and begin again.”Poor Maud! She set her lips and went through the new duties without shirking or skimping, resolutely avoiding a look into the garden. There was no chance now of being able to join Ned before dinner, and as soon as the meal was over he would be obliged to hurry off to catch the last train. After all the longing and expectation, it seemed as though she were to meet with nothing but disappointment.
Alas for Maud! Had it been for this that she had lived in dreams since October last, planning afresh, and yet afresh, every detail of the next meeting with Ned? Had it been for this that she had mentally arranged background, occasion, opportunity, sending abroad mother, and sisters five, and seating herself in solitude to await Ned’s arrival? Had it been for this that she had cherished her dainty new blouse, refusing to crush it beneath cloak or shawl, and appearing over and over again in the pink of a bygone age, so that it might appear in its first beauty for Ned’s inspection? Oh, it was hard to have planned so well, and then to be discovered with ruffled hair, flushed cheeks, and unbecoming attire! Lilias was only the more picturesque for her working attire, and was even now shaking hands with the visitor, and welcoming him in pretty, winsome fashion, as the other girls shook down skirts and aprons, and took furtive peeps in the looking-glass.
“Mr Talbot. You! This is a surprise. It is delightful to see you again, but we are so upset! We are in the throes of spring-cleaning, as you perceive. Have you come from town? Agatha, Chrissie, bring in a few chairs! This is the only room that has a pretence of a carpet, but at any rate we can give you a chair to sit upon.”
“But I don’t want one. I have been sitting in the train, and would rather stand for a change, or, still better, help with some work. Please don’t treat me as a visitor! What were you about when I came in? Laying a carpet? Six of you! It doesn’t take six women to lay one carpet, surely!”
Nan groaned dismally.
“It does indeed, and then they can’t do it! It’s nasty, horrid, rough, heavy work, only fit for men, and not for our poor little fingers. We had just succeeded, with immense labour, in fastening it all round when we made the cheerful discovery that a boxful of nails are scattered over the floor beneath. You came in at the ghastly moment when it had dawned upon us that it had all to come up again!”
Nan waved her hand with a tragic movement towards the little heap of nails, then, making a sudden step forward, caught her foot in a loose piece of braid at the bottom of her skirt, and went rushing forward at a headlong run, to be caught in Ned Talbot’s arms, and so rescued from destruction against a corner of the wall.
“Nan, I told you that that braid was torn! I told you to sew it up! Itoldyou you’d trip and hurt yourself,” cried Maud reproachfully; but the culprit only laid her hand over her heart, and gurgled in impenitent amusement.
“But I didn’t, you see! I came off all right. It’s only a little end—not worth talking about!”—and she took a couple of pins from the corner of her apron and began fastening up the offending loop, while her sister lifted her hands in disapproval.
“Pins? They won’t hold! Better go upstairs and sew it at once. If you don’t, I warn you, Nan,”—but Maud did not get any further in her prophecy, for Ned Talbot came over to her side, and looked down at her with kindly, anxious eyes.
“Maud, you look so tired! Don’t trouble any more about the carpet; I’ll manage it for you. What’s the good of a great lumbering six-footer if he can’t manage a little job like that! I’ll have it up and down again before you can say ‘Jack Robinson,’ and then we will have our talk in comfort.”
“It’s more difficult than you think,” said Maud dolefully; but Ned only laughed, then proceeded to take off his coat and go down on his knees to attack the obstinate rings. The workers took advantage of the opportunity to adjust hair-pins, and divest themselves of soiled aprons, while Lilias, having no such defects to remedy, developed sudden interest in the work on hand, and knelt down on the floor beside him, holding out first one implement and then another for his use. The softly-tinted face and cloudy golden hair looked lovelier than ever about the long white smock which she had adopted as her working costume, and poor Maud stared at her own heated reflection with increased disfavour, the while she whispered in Nan’s ear—
“I suppose he expects to stay for the evening. So awkward! Can we ask him, do you think, when mother’s away?”
“Mother would be very much annoyed if we sent away an old friend, who has stayed in the house dozens of times, without even offering him a meal; especially when he has travelled twenty miles to see us!”
“But, my dear, what have we got? I can’t give him dinner. There’s nothing in the house but cold meat.”
“Cutlets and tinned fruit—the refuge of the destitute! Send Mary flying to the butcher’s!”
“It’s Thursday afternoon!”
Nan’s groan of dismay brought Ned Talbot’s head round in inquiry. The rings were giving way obediently in his strong grasp, and Lilias was clapping her hands at each fresh success, and chatting away in animated fashion. The sisters waited until the work was resumed, and then continued the whispered conference.
“It alwaysisThursday when we want anything. People should never be allowed to shut their shops. Cold meat it must be, then, and nothing else, I’m afraid. We might manage to manufacture a few made dishes from the tinned things in the store-room, butentréesand savouries seem out of place in the middle of spring-cleaning, and the dining-room is impassable—a perfect block.”
“We might alter that if we put out the things that are needed for this room. We had better go and do it now, for we don’t seem needed here any longer,”—and Maud cast a wistful look towards the two kneeling figures in the corner. She envied Lilias her position; but it never entered into her honest heart to mistrust her sister’s loyalty, or to put a cynical construction upon this sudden show of industry. All the girls were fond of Ned; it was only natural that Lilias should want to help him. She held out her poor, roughened hands, and looked appealingly at Nan as they stood outside the drawing-room door.
“I might wash them, mightn’t I, and put on a pair of cuffs, and a fresh tie? I won’t change my blouse, of course; but he is a man, and wouldn’t notice what I’d done—only perhaps that I looked a little bit nicer!”
Nan nodded silently, a lump rising in her throat at the sight of the wistful face. She was the only one of the sisters who had been told the secret of Maud’s heart, and the bond between these two girls was very strong and tender. She watched Maud until she disappeared from sight, with her lips screwed tightly together, and her eyebrows meeting in an ominous frown across her forehead. She felt very fierce and formidable at that moment, and it was a positive relief to be able to vent some of her pent-up irritation in work, so for the next ten minutes she dragged and tugged at the piled-up furniture, making order out of confusion, and carrying the lighter drawing-room articles into the hall, in readiness to be put into their proper places. Then Maud reappeared, smartened up by those subtle touches which every woman knows how to bestow, and no man is able to understand, though the result is patent to his eyes; and after a second consultation on the subject of dinner, a return was made to the drawing-room, to see how the carpet-laying was progressing. Ned Talbot was still on his knees, but now he was fastening instead of unfastening the rings, while Lilias was exhibiting a cup full of sharp, jagged little nails. The dreaded task was almost accomplished, and that in less time than would have been possible with the united efforts of the feminine household.
“Done already?” cried the new-comers; and Agatha shook her mane with a melancholy air.
“It’s s–imply wondrous! He just pulls, and the thing meets as easy as winking. It doesn’t seem a bit difficult. And to think how we almost killed ourselves! It’s humiliating!”
“Don’t feel it so at all. If I am beaten at carpet-laying all my life, I’ll never repine. It’s a woman’s duty to do nice things, and pleasant things, and pretty things, and leave the men to do the hard bits,” said Elsie, standing on one leg to relieve the pain which had come from long kneeling, and looking with melancholy significance at her thin little arms. “Look at those compared to his! Nature never intended me—”
Ned fastened the last hook, and straightened his back with a sigh of satisfaction.
“Done! That’s all right. I’m glad I came in time, for it’s stiffish work. I am staying in town for a few days, and thought I would chance it this afternoon, and run down to see you for a few hours.”
He looked at Maud as he spoke, and she hesitated uncertainly, thinking once again of her mother’s absence, the disordered rooms, the prescribed contents of the larder.
“It was very good of you, and we are very pleased. Will you—er—will you be able to stop and dine?”
“Thank you very much. Your sister has already asked me. If it wouldn’t be giving you too much trouble.”
“Oh, no trouble! I mean, of course, we are very much upset, and I don’t quite know what we can give you, but if you will stay we will do our best!”
“Now, Mr Talbot, listen to me!” interrupted Nan decisively. “There are two alternatives open to you, and you can take your choice. Would you rather sit here by yourself, looking at albums and illustrated books while Mary changes her dress, and cook flies into a temper preparing a proper dinner, and Jane helps to tidy the dining-room, and Maud ransacks the store—room, and Elsie polishes up silver, and Chrissie cuts flowers, and I—”
Ned Talbot threw up his hands in despair.
“Mercy! What next? Please stop, Nan. You make me feel the most shocking intruder. If I am to cause such an upset, the sooner I rush back to the station the better. What is the alternative? Tell it me at once. You said I had a choice!”
“The alternative,” said Nan slowly, beaming upon him the while, in a friendly, encouraging fashion, “the alternative is what would happen to us if we were alone, and you had not arrived. Dinner in the schoolroom, with the library pictures ranged along the walls, and the books piled on the floor. No flowers—no fruit—no waiting—no evening dress. Everything on the table at once, and very little of that. Cold beef—very good cold beef! I’ll answer for that, for we’ve had it two days already—potatoes in their jackets, perhaps one other vegetable...”
“Nan!” cried Maud protestingly; but Talbot gazed at her with a smile, shadowed only by a faint anxiety.
“Pickles?” he queried eagerly. “Put my mind at rest on that point before we go any further! Surely there are pickles?”
“Pickles, cer-tainly! As many as you like; but mostly onions, I am afraid, for we like the cauliflowery bits best, and poke about with the fork to get them out first. But there are lots of onions. Cold beef and pickles, then, and something plain and wholesome in the shape of a pudding, such as stewed prunes and rice; biscuits and cheese to follow; and a really good cup of coffee made by our own fair hands.”
“It’s a feast for the gods! Nothing I should like better. Don’t you know, Nan, that nine out of ten Englishmen would rather be set down opposite a joint of meat than half a dozen kickshaws! It will be like old times to have a meal in the schoolroom, and if you will really let me stay, and treat me exactly like one of yourselves, I shall enjoy it more than a dozen dinner parties. You will promise faithfully to make no alteration whatever in themenu?”
“Certainly, if you wish it.”
“And—er—you will not feel it necessary to dress on my behalf! I can make no change myself, so please don’t confound me by your magnificence.”
Lazy Nan consented readily enough, but once more the thought of the blue silk blouse sent a pang of disappointment to Maud’s heart. She should not be able to wear it after all, and the long hoarding up had been in vain. She reflected on the disappointing nature of earthly hopes, with a melancholy which would have done credit to Elsie herself, as she took her way downstairs to interview cook on the subject of dinner. It is one thing to give a promise to make no difference in amenu, and another to keep that promise to the letter, as every housekeeper knows; and even if circumstances did not allow of any substantial addition to the meal, there were a dozen little contrivances by which it could be given an air of elegance and distinction. They took time to arrange, however, as all such contriving do, and cook was cross at being asked to undertake fresh duties, and wished to know what people wanted coming worriting about a house when a child in arms could see he wasn’t wanted! Maud smiled at the reflection that, in this instance, the child would be vastly mistaken in his views, but did her best to soothe the offended dignitary; and finally matters were smoothed over by Mary being told off to help in the kitchen, while Maud herself undertook the arrangement of the table.
“Nan will help me,” she told herself encouragingly, as she mounted the staircase and saw through the window a procession of girlish figures making their way down the garden path, escorting Ned to a survey of the daffodils and spring bulbs, for which Mr Rendell was famous among amateur gardeners. Lilias walked first, a dainty figure against the background of fresh green; slim little Elsie picked her way daintily over the gravel; Agatha followed, large and beaming; and Christabel majestically brought up the rear. Maud pressed her face against the window and watched with a spasm of envy. Oh, to be out, enjoying herself with the rest—to let everything take care of itself, and take her place by Ned’s side! Too bad to be kept indoors when her opportunity had come at last, and the sun was shining, and all Nature seemed bright and gay! No one seemed to have thought of her, or of offering to help, except Nan—dear, good, thoughtless, and yet most thoughtful of Nans; and here she came, flying three steps at a time, upstairs to the rescue.
“Oh, you are here! I’ve been searching downstairs. Out you go! If there’s anything to do indoors, I’ll do it. Your place is in the garden.”
“I’ve been in the kitchen, and cook was so cross that I told off Mary to help her. I promised to lay the table.”
“I’ll do it for you!”
Maud tried not to smile. Well she knew what would happen if the work were left in Nan’s care. Crooked cloth, forks and spoons looking as if they had been tossed upon the table; as likely as not, no cruets nor water-bottles; and a general air of slipshod carelessness, which would more than defeat all her arrangements.
“I—er—think I ought to look after it myself,” she said apologetically; “but please help me, dear! If we work together we’ll get it done in no time, and then I can go out and enjoy myself with an easy mind.”
“I want you to go now. If you think I can’t manage alone, send in Chrissie. She’s even more particular than you, and I’ll do as she tells me like a lamb!” said Nan, not one whit offended at the implied slight on her own powers; but Maud shook her head.
“I couldn’t! I never ask help in an ordinary way, and I couldn’t do it to-day!”
“Too proud?”
“Much!”
“Good for you! I’d feel the same. Come on, then; let’s set to work and get it over. He’ll be wondering what you are doing. Where are the things?”
“Mary has taken up some already, and the rest are in the pantry. I’ll tell you what I want, and you can carry up a trayful at a time while I set the cloth. I know exactly how I want everything laid, you see!”
“Don’t apologise, my love. I know I’m no good at finnicky work, but I’ll fetch and carry with the best. Knives—yes! Glass—yes! Plates—yes! Leave the plates till the last, and bring up the rest first. Yes’um! I understand! Knives and tumblers for seven. They shall be yours before you can say ‘Jack Robinson.’”
“Not too quick, now!” cried Maud warningly; but Nan was off, leaping downstairs in a succession of daring bounds, swinging round corners at break-neck speed, and singing at the pitch of her voice, after the usual decorous and ladylike manner in which she was wont to descend to the lower regions.
Left to herself, Maud took a couple of steps towards the window, turned back resolutely, spread the cloth over the table, and went back at a run to peer behind the curtains and see what was going on in the garden. Chrissie and Agatha were strolling about arm in arm; Elsie walked apart, bowed in thought; Lilias flitted among the flower—beds, gesticulating with gracefulabandonas she called Ned’s attention to the choicest blooms. Maud could hear her pretty ecstasies as plainly as though she had been standing by her side.
“The little dears! Aren’t they justtoosweet? Don’t you love the first spring flowers? They seem so full of hope and promise!”
She had heard it all before, every time that a visitor was taken round the garden; and just for a moment a wish passed through Maud’s mind that her beautiful sister were not quite so fond of acting a part for the benefit of strangers! As a matter of fact, Lilias took less interest in the garden than any of the girls, yet she always gushed the most! The next moment she pulled herself up sharply, abashed to have cherished such uncharitable sentiments, and went on resolutely with the laying of the table. Spoons and forks had been neatly laid in their places before Nan’s approaching footsteps could be heard ploughing upstairs to an accompaniment of jingling glass and steel. She had taken the warning to heart, apparently, for there was a noticeable pause between each footstep; but, alas! when the top of the stair was reached, there came a sudden and violent change in her procedure. Maud heard a gasp, and then, even as she started forward to investigate the cause, in rushed Nan, head foremost, the contents of the tray raining on the ground, while she stumbled helplessly forward, and finally collapsed on the floor in a nest of knives and broken glass, to lift up her voice in a wail of anguish.
“Oh, oh, oh! I caught my foot! That horrid braid tripped me up at the very last step, and sent me flying forward. What shall I do?”
“I told you,”—began Maud, but stopped abruptly, knowing by experience how trying it was to be reminded of past warnings. “Oh dear, the fright you gave me! To fall down with such a dangerous load. Nan, are you hurt?”
“I’m killed!” cried Nan, with a sniff. “Talk of your fright, indeed: I’m shaking all over. I’ll run away and drown myself. Always make a mess of everything I do! What will mother say?”
“Don’t worry about that, dear. You were trying to help, and being so good and kind, and half a dozen tumblers are not a deadly thing. That won’t ruin us. It might have been far worse.”
“It is!” sighed Nan. “Two water-bottles—the best ones, too. I thought they’d look so nice. Oh dear; oh dear; and just when I thought I was getting on so well! I came up so slowly, stopping at every step. You might have heard me—”
“I did; but you know, Nan, I said before—Never mind, it’s done now, so it’s no use groaning. You look so white, dear; I am afraid you have had a shock. Don’t try to do anything more, but go to your room and take some sal volatile, and lie down until dinner.”
But at that Nan rose to her feet with a laugh of derision.
“I! I act the fine lady, and go to bed for a fall? Not likely. I shall have to work harder than ever to make up for this. The knives might as well go in their places first, and then I’ll go down and get something to brush up the glass. Don’t you come: it’s dangerous walking over here, and I can do it quite well.”
“Nan, please leave it to me! I am sure you are hurt, though you won’t acknowledge it. Sit down and rest, if it’s only for five minutes.”
But Nan would not be persuaded. She picked up the knives and hobbled round the table, laying them in their places and tossing her head with an air of triumph, oblivious of the fact that a drop of blood marked each stage of her progress, leaving a vivid stain on the fresh white cloth. A groan of dismay from Maud’s lips aroused her attention, whereupon she flushed red with dismay, and stared down at her cut fingers with an air of shocked surprise.
It was really too aggravating, and even placid Maud felt aroused to irritation; but it is difficult to upbraid an offender who is herself overcome with penitence, and who lavishes such violent reproaches upon her own head, as Nan now proceeded to do.
“Oh, mussey me, I thought they felt queer! They are cut all over. Lockjaw, I suppose. I shall never be able to speak distinctly any more, but have to push all my food between my teeth, like poor Jane Smith. Oh, Maud, Maud, I wanted to help, and I’ve only made things worse than before! I always do. Do please scold and get cross. Don’t look so wretched. Abuse me as I deserve!”
“What’s the good?” sighed Maud dismally. “You didn’t mean to do it, and it’s done, and can’t be undone. Come to my room and I’ll bandage your hands. I’m not afraid of lockjaw, but you can’t go about any longer like that. Then we must get a clean cloth, and begin again.”
Poor Maud! She set her lips and went through the new duties without shirking or skimping, resolutely avoiding a look into the garden. There was no chance now of being able to join Ned before dinner, and as soon as the meal was over he would be obliged to hurry off to catch the last train. After all the longing and expectation, it seemed as though she were to meet with nothing but disappointment.
Chapter Seven.Doubt and Dread.Maud had just time to change her working attire for a dress which was suitable for the evening, though not sufficiently dressy to break the compact which had been made with the visitor, before the gong sounded, and she returned to the schoolroom to join the other members of the party. Ned was standing beside the fireplace, and greeted her with a pleasant smile as she entered.“You didn’t come out and join us in the garden,” he said; and when she replied with a vague murmur, “Ah, well,” he added lightly, “perhaps you were just as wise. There is a decided nip in the air still, and if you get out of the sun, you are apt to feel chilled.”Maud’s eyes opened with a quick glance of surprise, but she made no remark. The words had chilled her as no east wind could have done. Did Ned really believe that she would have stayed indoors and sacrificed an hour of his society for fear of a slight discomfort? If he thought this, he was indeed unconscious of the true nature of her feelings towards him; and though Maud was the last girl in the world to wear her heart on her sleeve, she had been happy to believe that she and Ned understood each other, and could count on a mutual affection. She did not know which hurt the more, the suggestion of her own indifference or the unruffled serenity with which it was made. As she sat opposite Ned at dinner, she studied his face, to see if she could find there a reflection of the depression which was stealing over her own heart, but looked in vain. Truth compelled her to admit that she had never seen him brighter, more radiant, more full of life and animation. She tried her best to throw off the cloud on her own spirits and to enter into the conversation, but the effort was not a success. The hands of the clock on the mantelpiece held her in fascinated attention. Every stroke seemed, to sound the knell of the bright hopes with which she had looked forward to this meeting, every stroke brought the parting nearer.If Maud did not speak, the other girls more than made up for her silence, talking all together in true Rendell fashion, and telling the news of the last few months in their usual breathlessly eager fashion. Until now, conversation had had no chance of becoming general, and each one had some personal items of information to offer which appeared to her to be of absorbing interest. Lilias had paid a visit to an old school friend, where she had had many pleasing adventures, which she related in characteristic manner. Her sisters often discussed what it was which gave to Lilias’s stories such a suggestive and flattering atmosphere. It must have been something peculiar in the way in which they were told; for though she never said such a thing in so many words, the hearers were yet impressed by the fact that she had played a leading part, had been surfeited with admiration, and positively oppressed by the attentions which she had received! This evening was no exception to the rule; for as she spoke the listeners saw before them a picture of her own lovely figure moving like a queen through the scenes which she described, her humble vassals following in her wake. Lilias must be cleverer than most people supposed, Nan told herself sagely, as she watched the face of the visitor, to see how he was impressed by the recitals. Impossible to say! Ned stared fixedly at his plate, and made no remark. He very seldom looked at Lilias at all, Nan noticed. If it was not too absurd, she would have thought that he really avoided looking in her direction, while at every point in the conversation his eyes turned towards Maud, as if asking her sympathy in his enjoyment. Nan’s spirit rose with a bound, and she burst into the conversation once more, talking every one down by her high, clear tones.“Mr Talbot, do you realise that I’ve growed up since you saw me last? I’ve said good-bye to childish things, and blossomed into a society dame. I’m a lady growed. Didn’t you notice it?”Ned’s eyes gleamed upon her with the deep, kindly glow which Maud knew and loved to see.“I didn’t, Nan; I’m sorry. I thought you looked exactly the same!”“Never noticed my long skirts, or my done-up hair?”“No!” Ned looked surprised, and tilted slightly back in his chair to obtain a better view of Nan’s head. It was really rather puzzling to decide whether her curly mop was intended to be up or down; and the burst of laughter which followed showed how perfectly his uncertainty was appreciated. Nan made a grimace intended to express reckless indifference, and waved her bandaged hand in the air.“Well, itisup! Don’t pay any attention to those silly things. I ought to know best, for I’ve three separate hair-pins sticking into my scalp at the present moment. Jim took me to my first dance when he was at home for Christmas. It was s-imply lovely! I was awfully nervous, for I generally manage to make an idiot of myself if I get a chance; but I got on finely. I fell down full length as I was entering the room, but that was only because the floor was so beautifully polished. I danced every single dance—all waltzes, and the most ex-quisite music. I was introduced to an awfully nice man. He had ears like windmills, and the biggest mouth I ever saw; but he could dance! We went on, and on, and on, as long as the music lasted, and never stopped once; and when it came to an end I was as red as a lobster. It was simply lovely!”Elsie smiled in an elderly and forbearing manner.“More than you were, I expect. I can just imagine how you looked, with your hair all wild, and a crimson face above your white dress. You never think about your appearance, Nan.”“Hope I never may. I haven’t one to think about, and that’s a blessing! It would be so boring to be pretty, and to have to worry about clothes and complexion. I’m thankful there’s none of that nonsense about me,” cried Nan, beaming; and every one of the listeners thought how pretty she looked at that moment, as she tossed her saucy head and smiled her dimpling smile; but they would not for the world have said so, and spoilt the charm of her unaffected self-depreciation. Christabel seized the opportunity, and took up the thread of conversation before any one else had time to come forward.“Mr Talbot, I’ve been waiting to ask you a question. Do you know anybody called Vanburgh? The Grange is let at last, and the gentleman’s name is Vanburgh. We are simply aching to get to know something about them. The furniture has arrived, but nobody is in the house yet, except the servants. We made up our minds that there would be a family of daughters, but we begin to have qualms.” Chrissie was obviously pleased with the effect of that last expressive word, and repeated it once more with artistic relish. “Qualms, yes! Decided qualms. The furniture is so massive. We can’t see anything at all that would suit a girl’s room.”“I can’t give you any help on that point, Chrissie. You can judge better than I; but Vanburgh is an uncommon name, so we ought to be able to find out something about them. Do you happen to know where they have been living till now?”“Here, and there, and everywhere; wandering over the face of the globe! A great deal of the furniture comes from India and Egypt; and one of the workmen came over to ask cook for some hot water one day, and said he believed the master had been travelling abroad. I wanted cook to pump him to find out more, but she said mother had forbidden her to gossip about the neighbours. Such a nuisance! I love gossiping about my neighbours. I remember when I was a little girl, how I used to adore being in the drawing-room when callers came and discussed the affairs of the village. I knew I should be sent away if I appeared to listen, so I used to sit and pretend to play with a doll or a book, while my ears were fairly sticking out of my head with curiosity.”“You little hypocrite! I wouldn’t have believed you could have been so deceitful. But do tell us if you know anything of the Vanburghs, Mr Talbot. Did you ever meet any one of the name?”“I met a man once—a fellow about my own age. He was at Oxford with me, but not at the same college. I saw very little of him.”“That could not be the father, of course. He would have to be a son, and we never arranged for boys. What sort of man was he?”“Humph!”“I beg your pardon.”“Humph!”“What does that mean? What sort of man is supposed to be represented by ‘Humph!’ may we ask?”Silence! Ned Talbot screwed up his lips and shook his head with determined obstinacy. The girls stared at him in silence for a good two minutes. Then Maud spoke again.“Do you decline to say anything but ‘Humph’ on the subject, Ned?”“Absolutely!”“How very interesting!” Nan clasped her hands in delight. “How mysterious! How gloomy! How frightfully suspicious! I’m sure there’s something very dreadful about him, and in that case he will be even more interesting than the girls.”“Nan!”“I can’t help it. We know so many estimable people that it would be delightful to meet somebody bloodthirsty, for a change. Everything in Waybourne is so painfully commonplace that we are simply spoiling for a mystery, as the Americans would say. Now, Mr Talbot won’t commit himself to a definite charge, but his silence is more impressive than words. I’m sure there’s a mystery: something too gruesome and terrible to be divulged.”“You leap to conclusions, Nan. Perhaps I had better state at once that there is nothing at all mysterious about the man I mentioned—nothing of the kind, I assure you.”“Nor bloodthirsty?”“Nor in the faintest shadow of a degree bloodthirsty.”“Nor thrilling, nor gloomy, nor terrible?”“The farthest possible remove from such qualities.”Nan groaned with disappointment.“What a blow! Another nonentity! I hope, then, that your Vanburgh has nothing to do with ours, for he sounds terribly uninteresting. Never mind; when you come down to see us in the summer, we shall have solved the mystery for ourselves; and you will be obliged to come down for our sale, you know. Have you heard anything about our sale?”“I—er—yes; I heard something,”—began Ned hesitatingly. He half turned his head towards Lilias, and then once more stared down at his plate, while she continued for him, in her sweet flute-like voice—“Oh yes; I told him about it. He has promised to come and help me when I get tired. I can’t manage the punt all alone!”Once again was noticed the subtle suggestiveness of Lilias’s manner; but this time it was her pleasure to pose as a martyr—a poor, fragile martyr, to whom had been deputed a hard and ungrateful task, while her companions played in the sunshine. Nothing could be said against an unspoken accusation, especially in the presence of a stranger; but the sisters exchanged meaning glances across the table, and Nan stampedsoviolently upon Elsie’s foot that that melancholy young person writhed on her seat. The best safeguard to the feelings of the family was to change the subject, which Chrissie at once proceeded to do.“But sha’n’t we see you again before midsummer?” she inquired eagerly. “Is this really the only visit you are going to pay us this time? Three skimpy hours! You generally come and stay over a Sunday at least. Can’t you come again before you go north? Mother and father will be home on Thursday.”Ned Talbot flushed suddenly, and bit his lips under his moustache. He was evidently struggling with a spasm of nervousness; and Maud noticed as much, and wondered as to its meaning, even as she blessed Christabel in her heart for her welcome suggestion. Surely, surely Ned would not refuse!“You are very kind,” he said slowly. “I had thought of asking if I might come. I am anxious to talk to Mrs Rendell. If it would not be inconvenient to have me from Saturday till Monday so soon after her return, I should very much like to come.” He looked inquiringly at Maud as he spoke, and she smiled a happy assent.“I am quite sure it will be convenient; but I’ll tell-mother the moment she returns, and she will write to you herself. You will probably hear on Friday.”“Thank you; I hope I may. This afternoon has been all too short, and I have not had time for anything. Not even a glance of ‘Kittay.’ It’s absurd to pretend to have been to Waybourne when one has not seen ‘Kittay’; isn’t it, Christabel?”Chrissie dropped her eyelids, and twisted her lip with an expression of supreme disdain.“I do not say ‘Kittay’; I say ‘Kittee.’ You are too sillay. Whatevah I say you mock me in this ridiculous mannah. I sha’n’t speak to you at all next time.”Talbot made a gesture as of one heaping ashes on his head, and then, glancing at the clock, rose hurriedly from the table.“I must go! Just time to catch the train. I had no idea it was getting so late. That comes of enjoying myself so much. I have had a jolly afternoon. Don’t know when I have had such a good time.” He held out his hand to Maud, and she took it, trying hard to smile as brightly as himself, but it was a difficult task. She would rather he had been less bright, less complacent. She could have been happier if he had gone away with a shadow of her own depression upon his brow. Poor Maud! she turned back from the door with an aching heart. The schoolroom seemed on a sudden unbearably grey and gloomy. Her former peace had given place to an aching doubt.
Maud had just time to change her working attire for a dress which was suitable for the evening, though not sufficiently dressy to break the compact which had been made with the visitor, before the gong sounded, and she returned to the schoolroom to join the other members of the party. Ned was standing beside the fireplace, and greeted her with a pleasant smile as she entered.
“You didn’t come out and join us in the garden,” he said; and when she replied with a vague murmur, “Ah, well,” he added lightly, “perhaps you were just as wise. There is a decided nip in the air still, and if you get out of the sun, you are apt to feel chilled.”
Maud’s eyes opened with a quick glance of surprise, but she made no remark. The words had chilled her as no east wind could have done. Did Ned really believe that she would have stayed indoors and sacrificed an hour of his society for fear of a slight discomfort? If he thought this, he was indeed unconscious of the true nature of her feelings towards him; and though Maud was the last girl in the world to wear her heart on her sleeve, she had been happy to believe that she and Ned understood each other, and could count on a mutual affection. She did not know which hurt the more, the suggestion of her own indifference or the unruffled serenity with which it was made. As she sat opposite Ned at dinner, she studied his face, to see if she could find there a reflection of the depression which was stealing over her own heart, but looked in vain. Truth compelled her to admit that she had never seen him brighter, more radiant, more full of life and animation. She tried her best to throw off the cloud on her own spirits and to enter into the conversation, but the effort was not a success. The hands of the clock on the mantelpiece held her in fascinated attention. Every stroke seemed, to sound the knell of the bright hopes with which she had looked forward to this meeting, every stroke brought the parting nearer.
If Maud did not speak, the other girls more than made up for her silence, talking all together in true Rendell fashion, and telling the news of the last few months in their usual breathlessly eager fashion. Until now, conversation had had no chance of becoming general, and each one had some personal items of information to offer which appeared to her to be of absorbing interest. Lilias had paid a visit to an old school friend, where she had had many pleasing adventures, which she related in characteristic manner. Her sisters often discussed what it was which gave to Lilias’s stories such a suggestive and flattering atmosphere. It must have been something peculiar in the way in which they were told; for though she never said such a thing in so many words, the hearers were yet impressed by the fact that she had played a leading part, had been surfeited with admiration, and positively oppressed by the attentions which she had received! This evening was no exception to the rule; for as she spoke the listeners saw before them a picture of her own lovely figure moving like a queen through the scenes which she described, her humble vassals following in her wake. Lilias must be cleverer than most people supposed, Nan told herself sagely, as she watched the face of the visitor, to see how he was impressed by the recitals. Impossible to say! Ned stared fixedly at his plate, and made no remark. He very seldom looked at Lilias at all, Nan noticed. If it was not too absurd, she would have thought that he really avoided looking in her direction, while at every point in the conversation his eyes turned towards Maud, as if asking her sympathy in his enjoyment. Nan’s spirit rose with a bound, and she burst into the conversation once more, talking every one down by her high, clear tones.
“Mr Talbot, do you realise that I’ve growed up since you saw me last? I’ve said good-bye to childish things, and blossomed into a society dame. I’m a lady growed. Didn’t you notice it?”
Ned’s eyes gleamed upon her with the deep, kindly glow which Maud knew and loved to see.
“I didn’t, Nan; I’m sorry. I thought you looked exactly the same!”
“Never noticed my long skirts, or my done-up hair?”
“No!” Ned looked surprised, and tilted slightly back in his chair to obtain a better view of Nan’s head. It was really rather puzzling to decide whether her curly mop was intended to be up or down; and the burst of laughter which followed showed how perfectly his uncertainty was appreciated. Nan made a grimace intended to express reckless indifference, and waved her bandaged hand in the air.
“Well, itisup! Don’t pay any attention to those silly things. I ought to know best, for I’ve three separate hair-pins sticking into my scalp at the present moment. Jim took me to my first dance when he was at home for Christmas. It was s-imply lovely! I was awfully nervous, for I generally manage to make an idiot of myself if I get a chance; but I got on finely. I fell down full length as I was entering the room, but that was only because the floor was so beautifully polished. I danced every single dance—all waltzes, and the most ex-quisite music. I was introduced to an awfully nice man. He had ears like windmills, and the biggest mouth I ever saw; but he could dance! We went on, and on, and on, as long as the music lasted, and never stopped once; and when it came to an end I was as red as a lobster. It was simply lovely!”
Elsie smiled in an elderly and forbearing manner.
“More than you were, I expect. I can just imagine how you looked, with your hair all wild, and a crimson face above your white dress. You never think about your appearance, Nan.”
“Hope I never may. I haven’t one to think about, and that’s a blessing! It would be so boring to be pretty, and to have to worry about clothes and complexion. I’m thankful there’s none of that nonsense about me,” cried Nan, beaming; and every one of the listeners thought how pretty she looked at that moment, as she tossed her saucy head and smiled her dimpling smile; but they would not for the world have said so, and spoilt the charm of her unaffected self-depreciation. Christabel seized the opportunity, and took up the thread of conversation before any one else had time to come forward.
“Mr Talbot, I’ve been waiting to ask you a question. Do you know anybody called Vanburgh? The Grange is let at last, and the gentleman’s name is Vanburgh. We are simply aching to get to know something about them. The furniture has arrived, but nobody is in the house yet, except the servants. We made up our minds that there would be a family of daughters, but we begin to have qualms.” Chrissie was obviously pleased with the effect of that last expressive word, and repeated it once more with artistic relish. “Qualms, yes! Decided qualms. The furniture is so massive. We can’t see anything at all that would suit a girl’s room.”
“I can’t give you any help on that point, Chrissie. You can judge better than I; but Vanburgh is an uncommon name, so we ought to be able to find out something about them. Do you happen to know where they have been living till now?”
“Here, and there, and everywhere; wandering over the face of the globe! A great deal of the furniture comes from India and Egypt; and one of the workmen came over to ask cook for some hot water one day, and said he believed the master had been travelling abroad. I wanted cook to pump him to find out more, but she said mother had forbidden her to gossip about the neighbours. Such a nuisance! I love gossiping about my neighbours. I remember when I was a little girl, how I used to adore being in the drawing-room when callers came and discussed the affairs of the village. I knew I should be sent away if I appeared to listen, so I used to sit and pretend to play with a doll or a book, while my ears were fairly sticking out of my head with curiosity.”
“You little hypocrite! I wouldn’t have believed you could have been so deceitful. But do tell us if you know anything of the Vanburghs, Mr Talbot. Did you ever meet any one of the name?”
“I met a man once—a fellow about my own age. He was at Oxford with me, but not at the same college. I saw very little of him.”
“That could not be the father, of course. He would have to be a son, and we never arranged for boys. What sort of man was he?”
“Humph!”
“I beg your pardon.”
“Humph!”
“What does that mean? What sort of man is supposed to be represented by ‘Humph!’ may we ask?”
Silence! Ned Talbot screwed up his lips and shook his head with determined obstinacy. The girls stared at him in silence for a good two minutes. Then Maud spoke again.
“Do you decline to say anything but ‘Humph’ on the subject, Ned?”
“Absolutely!”
“How very interesting!” Nan clasped her hands in delight. “How mysterious! How gloomy! How frightfully suspicious! I’m sure there’s something very dreadful about him, and in that case he will be even more interesting than the girls.”
“Nan!”
“I can’t help it. We know so many estimable people that it would be delightful to meet somebody bloodthirsty, for a change. Everything in Waybourne is so painfully commonplace that we are simply spoiling for a mystery, as the Americans would say. Now, Mr Talbot won’t commit himself to a definite charge, but his silence is more impressive than words. I’m sure there’s a mystery: something too gruesome and terrible to be divulged.”
“You leap to conclusions, Nan. Perhaps I had better state at once that there is nothing at all mysterious about the man I mentioned—nothing of the kind, I assure you.”
“Nor bloodthirsty?”
“Nor in the faintest shadow of a degree bloodthirsty.”
“Nor thrilling, nor gloomy, nor terrible?”
“The farthest possible remove from such qualities.”
Nan groaned with disappointment.
“What a blow! Another nonentity! I hope, then, that your Vanburgh has nothing to do with ours, for he sounds terribly uninteresting. Never mind; when you come down to see us in the summer, we shall have solved the mystery for ourselves; and you will be obliged to come down for our sale, you know. Have you heard anything about our sale?”
“I—er—yes; I heard something,”—began Ned hesitatingly. He half turned his head towards Lilias, and then once more stared down at his plate, while she continued for him, in her sweet flute-like voice—
“Oh yes; I told him about it. He has promised to come and help me when I get tired. I can’t manage the punt all alone!”
Once again was noticed the subtle suggestiveness of Lilias’s manner; but this time it was her pleasure to pose as a martyr—a poor, fragile martyr, to whom had been deputed a hard and ungrateful task, while her companions played in the sunshine. Nothing could be said against an unspoken accusation, especially in the presence of a stranger; but the sisters exchanged meaning glances across the table, and Nan stampedsoviolently upon Elsie’s foot that that melancholy young person writhed on her seat. The best safeguard to the feelings of the family was to change the subject, which Chrissie at once proceeded to do.
“But sha’n’t we see you again before midsummer?” she inquired eagerly. “Is this really the only visit you are going to pay us this time? Three skimpy hours! You generally come and stay over a Sunday at least. Can’t you come again before you go north? Mother and father will be home on Thursday.”
Ned Talbot flushed suddenly, and bit his lips under his moustache. He was evidently struggling with a spasm of nervousness; and Maud noticed as much, and wondered as to its meaning, even as she blessed Christabel in her heart for her welcome suggestion. Surely, surely Ned would not refuse!
“You are very kind,” he said slowly. “I had thought of asking if I might come. I am anxious to talk to Mrs Rendell. If it would not be inconvenient to have me from Saturday till Monday so soon after her return, I should very much like to come.” He looked inquiringly at Maud as he spoke, and she smiled a happy assent.
“I am quite sure it will be convenient; but I’ll tell-mother the moment she returns, and she will write to you herself. You will probably hear on Friday.”
“Thank you; I hope I may. This afternoon has been all too short, and I have not had time for anything. Not even a glance of ‘Kittay.’ It’s absurd to pretend to have been to Waybourne when one has not seen ‘Kittay’; isn’t it, Christabel?”
Chrissie dropped her eyelids, and twisted her lip with an expression of supreme disdain.
“I do not say ‘Kittay’; I say ‘Kittee.’ You are too sillay. Whatevah I say you mock me in this ridiculous mannah. I sha’n’t speak to you at all next time.”
Talbot made a gesture as of one heaping ashes on his head, and then, glancing at the clock, rose hurriedly from the table.
“I must go! Just time to catch the train. I had no idea it was getting so late. That comes of enjoying myself so much. I have had a jolly afternoon. Don’t know when I have had such a good time.” He held out his hand to Maud, and she took it, trying hard to smile as brightly as himself, but it was a difficult task. She would rather he had been less bright, less complacent. She could have been happier if he had gone away with a shadow of her own depression upon his brow. Poor Maud! she turned back from the door with an aching heart. The schoolroom seemed on a sudden unbearably grey and gloomy. Her former peace had given place to an aching doubt.