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diff --git a/21099.txt b/21099.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..47ed44a --- /dev/null +++ b/21099.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8984 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of More About Peggy, by Mrs G. de Horne Vaizey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: More About Peggy + +Author: Mrs G. de Horne Vaizey + +Illustrator: Unknown + +Release Date: April 16, 2007 [EBook #21099] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE ABOUT PEGGY *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + + +More About Peggy, by Mrs G. de Horne Vaizey + +___________________________________________ + +This is another excellent book by Mrs de Horne Vaizey, +dating from the end of the nineteenth century. While of +course it is dated in its references to the world around +its actors, yet nevertheless their emotions are +well-described, and no doubt are timeless. + +In some ways the world around the people in the book is +recognisable today, in a way which a book written thirty or +forty years before would not have been. They have +electricity, telephones, trains, buses, and many other +things that we still use regularly today. Of course one +major difference is that few people today have servants, +while middle-class and upper-class families of the eighteen +nineties would certainly have had them. + +Today we travel by aeroplane, while in those days, and +indeed for much of my own life, we travelled by ship and +train. It was normal when travelling back to England from +India to disembark at Marseilles, and come on to the +Channel Ports by train, perhaps even spending a week or two +in Italy, en route. I have done it myself. + +So it is not so very dated after all. But I do think there +is a real value in reading the book. Oddly enough, I think +that a boy would benefit from reading any of the +author's books, more than a girl would, because it would +give him an insight into the girlish mind which he could +not so easily otherwise obtain. And as the young ladies of +this book are trying to sort out whom they should marry, +matters do get quite girlish. N.H. +_________________________________________________________ + +MORE ABOUT PEGGY + +BY MRS. GEORGE DE HORNE VAIZEY + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +It was mid-January, and at home in England the ground was white with +snow, but the sun shone down with brazen glare on the blue waters of the +Bay of Bengal, along which a P and O steamer was gliding on its homeward +way. An awning was hoisted over the deck, but not a breath of wind +fluttered its borders, and the passengers lay back in their deck-chairs +too limp and idle to do more than flick over the pages of the books +which they were pretending to read. It was only twenty-four hours since +they had left Calcutta, and they were still in that early stage of +journeying when they looked askance at their fellows, decided that +never, no, never had Fate placed them in the midst of such uninteresting +companions, and determined to keep severely to themselves during the +rest of the voyage. + +The stout lady in the white _pique_ stared stonily at the thin lady in +drill, and decided that she was an "Impossible Person," blissfully +unconscious of the fact that before Aden was reached she would pour all +her inmost secrets into the "Impossible Person's" ear, and weep salt +tears at parting from her at Marseilles. The mother of the sickly +little girls in muslin swept them away to the other end of the deck when +she discovered them playing with the children who inhabited the next +state-room, and the men stared at one another stolidly across the +smoking-room. The more experienced travellers knew that ere a week had +passed the scene would be changed, that a laughing babel of voices would +succeed the silence, and deck sports and other entertainments take the +place of inaction; but the younger members of the party saw no such +alleviation ahead, and resigned themselves to a month of frosty +solitude. + +The ladies dozed amongst their cushions, but the men strolled up and +down the deck smoking their cigars with that air of resigned dejection +which seems to be the monopoly of Englishmen of the upper classes. The +quick movements, animated gestures, and sparkling eyes of the Southerner +were all lacking in these strongly built, well-dressed, well-set-up men, +who managed to conceal all signs of animation so successfully that no +one looking at them could have believed that one was the wit of his +regiment, another celebrated throughout an Indian province for his +courage and daring, and a third an expectant bridegroom! + +About eleven o'clock a diversion was made on the upper deck by the +appearance of two more travellers--an elegant-looking woman accompanied +by her husband, who came forward in search of the deck-chairs which had +been placed in readiness for their use. They were not a young couple by +any means, yet the eyes of the passengers followed their movements with +interest, for they were not only exceedingly good to look upon, but had +an air of enjoyment in their surroundings and in each other's society +which is unfortunately not universal among middle-aged couples. The man +was tall and slight, with the weather-beaten, dried-up skin which tells +of a long residence under burning suns, and he had a long nose, and eyes +which appeared almost startlingly blue against the brown of his skin. +They were curious eyes, with a kind of latent fierceness in their good +humour, but just now they shone in holiday mood, and softened into +tenderness as he waited on his wife. + +No sooner had this interesting couple seated themselves in their chairs +than a chirrup of welcome sounded in their ears, and a beaming little +figure in grey alpaca darted forward to greet them. Though the majority +of passengers in an ocean-going boat may be unsociably inclined at the +start, there are always one or two exceptions to the rule to be found, +in the shape of ultra-friendly souls, who, willy-nilly, insist upon +playing the part of devoted friends to some unresponsive stranger, and +the old lady in question was one of these exceptions. She had begun +operations the night before by quarrelling violently over the possession +of a cabin, had then proceeded to borrow half-a-dozen necessities of the +toilet which she had forgotten, and had advanced to the length of terms +of endearment before the bell sounded for dinner. It was only natural +then that she should exhibit a breathless anxiety to know how her new +friend had fared during the night, and the invalid braced herself to +bear the attack with composure. + +"So glad to see you up this morning, dear!" she cried. "I was afraid +you might be ill, but I asked your daughter about you, and was so +relieved to hear good news. We met on deck before breakfast, and had a +nice, long talk. Such a sweet creature! So different from the fast, +loud-voiced specimens one meets nowadays. Quite an old-world girl, I +declare; sweet, and mild, and gentle... `A violet by a mossy dell, +half-hidden from the eye'--as dear old What's-his-name has it! It does +me good to be with her, and feel her restful influence. You are to be +congratulated on owning such a daughter!" + +"Thank you!" said the mild girl's mother softly. She dropped her +eyelids, and twisted the rings round and round on her slender fingers, +as if for some reason she did not wish to meet the speaker's eye, while +her husband rose suddenly and walked to the end of the deck. When he +came back, five minutes later, he remarked to his wife that there was no +depending on weather signals nowadays; at which innocent remark she +laughed so heartily that the friendly old lady instantly put down +hysterics as the probable explanation of her delicate appearance, and +felt a chilling of sympathy. In a few minutes she took herself off to +some other friends, and the husband and wife whispered smilingly +together, and, after the invariable custom on shipboard, fell to +criticising their companions. + +Perhaps the most striking figure which met their eyes was that of a +young man some thirty years of age, whose walk and carriage plainly +marked him out as an officer in the army. A certain pallor showing +through his tanned skin made it seem possible that he was returning home +on sick-leave, but he was a handsome fellow all the same with aquiline +features and a heavy moustache, and he scanned the scene around him with +an air of languid patronage, as one who felt that the P and O Company +might feel themselves honoured to have the privilege of accommodating +his noble self, and expected that even the ocean should show its best +aspect for his benefit. Of the passengers by whom he was surrounded the +lordly stranger appeared entirely oblivious, not deigning to throw even +a glance in their direction; and so strange a thing is human nature that +the feminine portion, at least, felt their interest heightened by this +indifference, and were increasingly anxious to make his acquaintance. +It did not seem likely that their desire would be granted on this +occasion, at least, for as the morning wore on and the heat of the sun +grew ever stronger and stronger, the object of their admiration took +counsel with himself, and decided that it would be wisdom to retire +within the shelter of the reading-room, and pass the hour before lunch +in the company of a novel which he had brought on board with his +effects. He had carried the book upstairs earlier in the morning, and +placed it in a corner of the room where he believed it would be safe +from alien hands; but, alas! the best-laid plans "gang aft a-gley," and +when he went in search, he met with a shock of disappointment. The book +had been appropriated, and the thief was seated in the very corner which +he had destined for himself, bending over the pages with every +appearance of absorption. Her face was hidden from view, and all that +could be seen was a trim little figure in a trim white gown, a pair of +trim little feet, a sleek brown head, and a well-rounded cheek. No one +could deny that it was a pleasing figure, but the lordly stranger was +too much ruffled in his feelings to be influenced by appearances. His +manner was perhaps a trifle less haughty than it would have been, had +the thief taken the shape of an elderly gentleman, but he never wavered +in his intention, and only stopped for an imperceptible moment in his +progress up the room to demand a return of the volume. + +"Excuse me. Ah! _My_ book, I think! Sorry to interrupt you, but--" + +The young lady laid down the book and lifted her face to his. A flicker +as of mingled surprise and pleasure passed over her features as she saw +who it was that stood before her, but she showed not the slightest sign +of discomfiture. + +"I beg a thousand pardons!" she said, and inclined her head in such a +bow as an empress might bestow on a blundering and ignorant supplicant. +It was such a very grand air for such a small person that the big +officer drew a breath of surprise, and gazed down with a startled +interest. The girl's features were delicately modelled; the brows might +have been drawn with a pencil, so clear and perfect was the arch which +they described, and the brilliant hazel eyes met his with a mocking +glance. For almost the first time in his life a spasm of discomfiture +seized him, a struggling suspicion that his conduct had not been +altogether above reproach. He stood with the book in his hand, +hesitating, uncertain. + +"If you would care to read it, pray keep it! I shall be most happy to +lend it to you." + +The girl waved her hand with a gracious patronage. + +"Not for the world, until you have finished! When you have no more use +for it yourself, perhaps you will be good enough to renew the offer. +Meantime, there are plenty of other books. The library seems very +large." + +"I make a point of never reading the ship's books. You never--aw--know +who has had them last!" drawled the stranger, sweeping a scathing glance +over the well-filled shelves; "and, as a rule, they are in such shocking +condition. People seem to take a malign satisfaction in tearing out the +most important pages, so that, after wading through a whole volume, you +are left in uncertainty as to what really happened." + +"But sometimes that is a blessing in disguise, for by exercising a +little imagination you can make the story end as you like, and spare +yourself the pain of disappointment. I rarely read a book without +reflecting how much better I could have finished it myself," remarked +the young lady, with an assurance which evoked a smile on the officer's +impassive countenance. + +"You don't look much like an authoress," he said, surveying the dainty +little figure approvingly, and calling up a mental picture of the +spectacled and cadaverous female invariably associated with a literary +career in the masculine mind. "I am afraid my imagination will hardly +stand such a strain; but books are the only refuge for the destitute on +a voyage, especially during the first few days, when you find yourself +shut up with a herd of strangers whom you have never met before in the +course of your life. There is only one thing to do under the +circumstances, and that is to lie low, and speak to no one until you +have found your bearings and discovered who is who. If you go about +talking to strangers, you can never tell in what sort of a set you may +land yourself." + +"You can't, indeed! It's appalling to think of!" agreed the young lady, +with a dramatic gesture of dismay which brought her little ringed hands +together in decided emphasis. "For my own part I get on well enough," +she proceeded, contradicting herself with unruffled composure, "for I +can find something interesting in all of my fellow-creatures; but I feel +it for my maid! The couriers and valets are so _very_ exclusive that +she has been snubbed more than once because of our inferior station. +Naturally she feels it keenly. I observe that those people are most +sensitive about their position who have the least claim to distinction; +but as she does my hair better than any one else, and is an admirable +dressmaker, I am, of course, anxious to keep her happy." + +The big man looked down with a suspicious glance. Through his not very +keen sensibilities there had penetrated the suspicion that the small +person in the white frock was daring to smile at him and amuse herself +at his expense; but his suspicion died at once before the glance of +infantile sweetness which met his own. Pretty little thing! there was +something marvellously taking in her appearance. For one moment, as she +had spoken of inferior station, he had had an uneasy fear lest he had +made the acquaintance of some vulgar upstart, with whom he could not +possibly associate. But no! If ever the signs of race and breeding +were distinguishable in personal appearance, they were so in the case of +the girl before him. A glance at the head in its graceful setting, the +delicate features, the dainty hands and feet, was sufficient to settle +the question in the mind of a man who prided himself on being an adept +in such matters. To his own surprise, he found himself floundering +through a complimentary denial of her own estimate of herself, and being +rescued from a breakdown by a gracious acknowledgment. + +"Praise," murmured the young lady sweetly--"praise from Major Darcy is +praise indeed! When `Haughty Hector' deigns to approve--" + +The big man jumped as if he had been shot, and turned a flushed, excited +face upon her. + +"Wh-at?" he gasped. "What do you say? You know me--you know my old +home name! Who are you, then? Who can you be?" + +The girl rose to her feet and stood before him. The top of her smooth +little head barely reached his shoulders, but she held herself with an +air of dignity which gave an appearance of far greater height. For one +long minute they stared at one another in silence; then she stretched +out her hand and laid it frankly in his own. + +"Why, I'm Peggy!" she cried. "Don't you remember me? I'm Peggy +Saville!" + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +Hector Darcy knitted his brows, and started in bewilderment at the +little figure before him. "Peggy Saville!" he repeated blankly. "No, +you cannot mean it! The little girl who had lessons with Rob, and who +saved Rosalind's life at the time of the fire? The little girl I met at +The Larches with the pale face, and the pink sash, and the pigtail down +her back?" + +"The self-same Peggy--at your service!"--and Miss Saville swept a +curtesy in which dignity mingled with mischief. Her eyes were sparkling +with pleasure, and Major the Honourable Hector Darcy--to give that +gentleman his full title--looked hardly less radiant than herself. Here +was a piece of luck--to make the acquaintance of an interesting and +attractive girl at the very beginning of a voyage, and then to discover +in her an intimate friend of the family! True, he himself had seen +little of her personally, but the name of Peggy Saville was a household +word with his people, and one memorable Christmas week, which they had +spent together at The Larches in years gone by, might be safely accepted +as the foundation of a friendship. + +"Of course I remember you!" he cried. "We had fine romps together, you +and I. You danced me off my feet one night, and gave me my death of +cold putting up a snow man the next day. I have never forgotten Peggy +Saville, but you have changed so much that I did not recognise you, and +I did not see your name." + +"I noticed yours in the list of passengers, and then I looked out for +you, and recognised you at once. There was a Darcy look about the back +of your head which could not be mistaken! I meant to ask father to +introduce you to me after lunch, but the book has taken his place. So +you think I have changed! I have `growed,' of course, and the pigtail +has disappeared; but in other respects there is not so much alteration +as could be desired. My father tells me, on an average three times a +day, that I shall remain the same `Peggy-Pickle' all my life." + +"That sounds bad! So far as my remembrance goes, you used to be a +mischievous little person, always getting into scrapes and frightening +the wits out of your companions." + +"Ah!" sighed Miss Saville dolorously. "Ah-h!" She shook her head with +a broken-hearted air, and looked so overwhelmed with compunction for her +misdeeds, that if it had not been for a treacherous dimple that defied +her control, the major would have felt remorseful at awakening a painful +memory. As it was he laughed heartily, and cried aloud: + +"When you look like that, I can see you again with the pigtail and the +white frock, just as you looked that Christmas half-a-dozen years ago! +Your father is right--you have not changed a bit from the little Peggy I +used to know!" + +"I'm a full-fledged young lady now, Major Darcy, and have been `out' for +three whole years. I've grown into `Miss Saville,' or at the very least +into `Mariquita.'" + +"But not to me. I'm part of the old times; Rosalind's brother--Rob's +brother--you cannot treat me like a stranger. Peggy you have been, and +Peggy you must be, so far as I am concerned, for I could not recognise +you by another name. Sit down and tell me all about yourself. How long +have you been in India, and where are you bound for now?" + +"I came out three years ago, when I was eighteen, and now we are going +home for good. I'm so glad, for though I've enjoyed India immensely, +there is no place like the old country. Mother is not strong, so we are +going to stay on the Continent until it is warm enough to return safely. +We shall land at Marseilles, stay a month in the Riviera, and gradually +work our way homewards. When I say home, of course you understand that +we have no home as yet, but we are going to look round for a house as +soon as possible. We know exactly what we want, so it ought to be easy +to get it. A dear old place in the country--the _real_ country, not a +suburb, but within half an hour's rail of town. A house covered with +roses and creepers, and surrounded by a garden. Oh! think of seeing +English grass again--the green, _green_ grass, and walking along between +hedges of wild roses and honeysuckle; and the smell of the earth after +it has rained, and all the little leaves are glistening with water--do +you remember--oh! do you remember?" cried Peggy, clasping her eager +hands, and gazing at her companion with a sudden glimmer of tears which +rose from very excess of happiness. "I don't say so to mother, because +it would seem as if I had not been happy abroad; but I _ache_ for +England! Sometimes in the midst of the Indian glare I used to have a +curious wild longing, not for the Country... that was always there--but +for the dull, old Tottenham Court Road! Don't laugh! It was no +laughing matter. You know how dull that road looks, how ugly and grimy, +and how grey, grey, grey in rainy weather? Well, amidst the glare of +Eastern surroundings that scene used to come back to me as something so +thoroughly, typically English, that its very dreariness made the +attraction. I have stood in the midst of palm and aloes, and just +longed my very heart out for Tottenham Court Road!" + +Major Darcy laughed and shrugged his shoulders. + +"I know the feeling--had it myself; but you will lose it soon enough. +In the East you gasp and long for England; in England you shudder and +long for the East. It's the way of the world. What you haven't got +seems always the thing you want; but no sooner have you got it than you +realise its defects. England will strike you as intolerably dreary when +you are really there." + +Peggy shook her head obstinately. + +"Never! I was ablaze with patriotism before I left, and I have been +growing worse and worse all the time I have been abroad. And it will +_not_ be dreary! What is the use of imagining disagreeable things? You +might just as well imagine nice ones while you are about it. Now _I_ +imagine that it is going to be a perfect summer--clear, and fine, and +warm, with the delicious warmth which is so utterly different from that +dreadful India scald. And father and I are going to turn gardeners, and +trot about all day long tending our plants. Did I tell you that we were +going to have a garden? Oh yes--a beauty!--with soft turf paths, +bordered with roses, and every flower that blooms growing in the +borders. We will have an orchard, too, where the spring bulbs come up +among the grass; and I've set my heart on a moat. It has been the dream +of my life to have a moat. `Mariquita of the Moated Grange!'... Sounds +well, doesn't it? It would be good for me to have an address like that, +for I possess a strong instinct of fitness, and make a point of living +up to my surroundings." Peggy lay back in her seat and coughed in the +languid, Anglo-Indian fashion which was her latest accomplishment. "I +suppose you don't happen to know the sort of house that would suit us?" + +"Within half an hour of London? No! That is too much to ask. It's a +Chateau en Espagne, Peggy, and not to be had in Middlesex. You will +have to do like the rest of the world, and settle down in a red brick +villa, with a plot of uncultivated land out of which to manufacture your +garden. There will be neither green sward nor festoons of roses; but, +on the other hand, the house will contain every modern convenience, and +there will be hot and cold water, electric light--" + +"Don't!" cried Peggy hastily. She lifted her hand with a gesture of +entreaty, and Hector was startled to see how seriously she had taken his +jesting words. "Don't laugh at me! I've been dreaming of it so long, +and it's such a dear, dear dream. Do you realise that in all my life I +have never had a permanent home? It has been a few years here, a few +years there, with always the certainty of another change ahead; but now +we mean to find a real home, where we can take refuge, with all our +possessions around us. Mother and I have talked about it until we can +_see_ every nook and corner, and it is waiting for us somewhere--I know +it is! So don't be sceptical, and pretend that it is not! We won't +talk about houses any more, but you shall tell me your own news. It is +four years since I saw Rob and Rosalind, as they were abroad for the +year before I left England. But you have been home since then, I know." + +"Yes; only eighteen months ago. I should not be back so soon, but I've +had an attack of fever, and am taking a few months off, to pull myself +together. I'm glad our home-goings have taken place at the same time. +What do you want to know? My people were much as usual when I saw them +last; but the mater has not been at all well for some months back. She +has had to leave the house in charge of her sister, Mrs Everett, and go +off to some baths in Germany for a course of treatment, and I believe +she will not return to England until the autumn. Rosalind--" + +"Yes--Rosalind?" + +The major's handsome face softened into a smile, which showed that the +subject of his young sister was pleasant to his mind. + +"Rosalind," he said slowly, "is a circumstance--decidedly a circumstance +to be taken into account! We look to her to redeem the fortunes of the +family, and the mater considers nobody under a royal duke worthy of her +acceptance. She is certainly a lovely girl, and a more agreeable one +into the bargain than I expected her to turn out. She was a spoiled, +affected child, but she took a turn for the better after her accident. +My parents, I believe,"--Major Darcy looked at his companion with a +brightening glance,--"my parents ascribe a great part of the change to +your beneficial influence." + +Peggy's cheeks flushed with pleasure, for she had by no means outgrown +her childish love of a compliment; but she shrugged her shoulders, and +replied in a tone of would-be indifference: + +"Plus the wholesome discipline of having her hair cut short. Poor +Rosalind! Never shall I forget her confiding to me that she was +`wesigned to becoming a hideous fwight,' while all the time she was +admiring her profile in the mirror and arranging her curls to hide the +scar. We had been on very distant terms before that accident; but when +we were both convalescent we took courage, and spoke faithfully to one +another on the subject of our several failings. I told Rosalind, in +effect, that she was a conceited doll, and she replied that I was a +consequential minx. It cleared the air so much that we exchanged vows +of undying friendship, which have been kept to the extent of some half- +a-dozen letters a year. I know much more about Rosalind than I do about +Rob. Please tell me all you can about Rob!" + +"Oh, Rob, you know, was always a boor," said Rob's brother lightly, +"and, upon my word, he is a boor still! He did remarkably well at +Oxford, as no doubt you heard, and then went travelling about for a +couple of years through a number of uncomfortable and insanitary lands. +He has always been a great gardener and naturalist, and he brought home +some new varieties of shrubs and flowers, out of which he makes a fair +amount of money. His principal craze, however, as I understand it, was +to add to his knowledge on the engrossing subject of _Beetles_. He has +written some papers on them since his return, and they tell me he has +made his mark, and will soon be considered a leading authority. I must +say, however, that the whole thing seems to me of supreme unimportance. +What on earth can it matter whether there are ten varieties of beetles +or ten thousand? Rob is just the sort of hard-headed, determined fellow +who could have made himself felt in whatever _role_ he had taken up, and +it seems hard luck that he should have chosen one so extremely dull and +unremunerative." Hector leant his head against the wall with an air of +patronising disgust, for his own profession being one of avowed +readiness to kill as many as possible of his fellow-creatures, he felt a +natural impatience with a man who trifled away his time in the study of +animal nature. He sighed, and turned to his companion in an appeal for +sympathy. "Hard lines, isn't it, when a fellow has society practically +at his feet, that he should run off the lines like that?" + +"De-plorable!" said Peggy firmly, and her expression matched the word. +She shook her head and gazed solemnly into space, as if overpowered by +the littleness of the reflection. "Poor Rob--he is incorrigible! I +suppose, then, he doesn't care a bit for dinners, or dances, or standing +against a wall at a reception, or riding in a string in the Park, but +prefers to pore over his microscope, and roam over the country, poking +about for specimens in the ditches and hedgerows?" + +"Exactly. The mater can hardly induce him to go out, and he is never so +happy as when he can get on a flannel shirt and transform himself into a +tramp. You remember Rob's appearance in his school-days? He is almost +as disreputable to-day, with his hair hanging in that straight heavy +lock over his forehead, and his shoulders bowed by poring over that +everlasting microscope." + +A light passed swiftly across Peggy's face, and her eyes sparkled. One +of the most trying features of a long absence from home is that the face +which one most longs to remember has a way of growing dim, and elusively +refusing to be recalled. In those hot Indian days, Peggy had often +seated herself in her mental picture gallery, and summoned one friend +after another before her: the vicar, with his kindly smiles; Mrs +Asplin, with the loving eyes, and the tired flush on the dear, thin +cheeks; Esther, with her long, solemn visage; Mellicent, plump and rosy; +Rex, with his handsome features and budding moustache; Oswald, +immaculately blond--they could all be called up at will, and would +remain contentedly in their frames until such times as she chose to +dismiss them; but Rob's face refused to be recalled in the same easy +fashion. Now and again, from out the gloom, a pair of stormy eyes would +flash upon her, or she would catch her breath as a stooping figure +seemed to rise suddenly beside the palm-trees; but Rob, as a whole, had +refused to be recalled, until at his brother's words his image had +appeared before her in so vivid and characteristic a guise that it +seemed almost as if Rob himself stood by her side. She drew a long +breath, and chimed in with an eager-- + +"Yes, yes! And his great long arms waving about--I never knew any one +with such long arms as Rob. And a pair of thick, nailed boots, with all +four tabs sticking out, and a tie slipping round to the back of his +neck. It's exactly like him. I can see him now!" + +Hector Darcy shrugged his shoulders. + +"Don't, please! It's not a pleasant prospect. I try to let distance +lend enchantment to the view, for it's bad enough having to go about +with him when I am at home. The fellow would not be bad-looking, if he +took a little care of himself; but he is absolutely regardless of +appearances." + +"He must have an idea that there are other things of more importance. +He was always a ridiculous boy!" murmured Miss Saville sweetly. The +major glanced at her with a suspicious eye, once more disturbed by the +suspicion that she was being sarcastic at his expense, but Peggy was +gazing dreamily through the opposite windows, her delicately cut profile +thrown into relief against the dark wood of the background. She looked +so young, so fragile and innocent, that it seemed quite criminal to have +harboured such a suspicion. He was convinced that she was far too sweet +and unassuming a girl to laugh at such a superior person as Major Hector +Darcy. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +A fortnight later the passengers on board the steamer were +congratulating themselves on having accomplished half their journey, and +being within ten days' sail of England. The waters of the Mediterranean +surrounded them, clear and blue as the sky overhead, a healthful breeze +supplanted the calm, and the spirits of the travellers rose ever higher +and higher. Homeward bound is a very different thing from outward +bound, and every soul on board had some dear one waiting for them in Old +England, some one who had loved them faithfully through the years of +absence, and who was even now counting the days until their return. The +mothers boasted to each other concerning the doings of the children whom +they had left at school, and in the midst of laughter turned aside +suddenly to conceal their tears; the men thought lovingly of the wives +from whom they had parted years before; and one or two radiant +bridegrooms exhibited photographs of the brides whom they were going to +carry back to cheer their exile. + +After a fortnight at sea the company on board this particular steamer +might be said to be divided into four distinct cliques--namely, members +of military and diplomatic services, Civil Service employees, second- +class passengers, and--Miss Mariquita Saville. The young lady must be +taken as representing a class by herself, because while each of the +other divisions kept, or was kept, severely to itself, Peggy mixed +impartially with all, and was received with equal cordiality wherever +she turned. The little person had made such a unique position for +herself that there is no doubt that if a vote had been taken to discover +the most popular person on board, she would have headed the list by a +large majority; but whether her unfailing affability was due more to +pride or humility, Hector Darcy, among others, found it difficult to +determine. + +Major Darcy had attached himself to the Saville party with a +determination hardly to be expected in so languid a man, had even +lowered his dignity to the extent of asking the fellow-passenger who +occupied the coveted seat at table to exchange places with himself, so +that breakfast, lunch, and dinner found him seated at Peggy's side, +finding ever-fresh surprises in her society. Sometimes the surprise was +the reverse of pleasant, for Miss Saville was a prickly little person, +and upon occasion would snap him up in the middle of an argument with a +lack of respect which took away his breath. When any difference arose +between them, she never seemed to have a shadow of a doubt that she was +in the right, and as Hector was equally positive about his own position, +relationships frequently grew so strained that Peggy would rise from the +table half-way through the meal, and stalk majestically out of the +saloon. She invariably repented her hastiness by the time she reached +the deck, for dessert was the part of the meal which she most enjoyed, +so that when the major followed ten minutes later on, bearing a plate of +carefully selected fruit as a peace-offering, he was sure of a gracious +welcome. + +"But you must never contradict me on Tuesdays, I can't support it!" she +said on one of these occasions, as he seated himself beside her, and +watched her raising the grapes to her lips with her little finger cocked +well in the air. "Especially when I am in the right, as you must +admit--" + +"I admit nothing; but I pray and beseech you not to begin the discussion +over again. I am nine years older than you, and must surely be supposed +to know a little more." + +"If you only realised it, that is just the reason why you don't. The +world advances so rapidly with every decade, that you of the last +generation have necessarily enjoyed fewer opportunities than myself and +my contemporaries, and are therefore behind the times. It's not your +fault, of course, and I don't advance it in any way as a reproach, but +still--" + +Major Darcy stared at her, struck dumb by an insinuation of age which +was even more hurtful than that of inferior knowledge; but before he had +recovered himself sufficiently to reply, his companion had finished her +dessert, presented him calmly with the empty plate, and risen to take +her departure. + +"Where are you going?" he queried in an injured tone; for it was one of +his pet grievances that the girl refused to be appropriated by himself +whenever he wished to enjoy her society. "Can't you sit still for an +hour at least? You have been rushing about all the morning. Surely now +you can take a rest!" + +But Peggy shook her head. + +"Impossible! I'm engaged straight away from now until tea-time. The +nurse of those peevish little Mortons is worn out, for the mother is +ill, and can't help her at all, so I promised to amuse the children for +an hour after lunch while she takes a nap. Then I have to play a game +of halma with old Mr Schute, and help Miss Ranger to dress and come on +deck. She thinks she can manage it to-day, and it will do her a world +of good to get some fresh air." + +"But why need you fag yourself for all these people? Surely there is +some one else who can do it. Can you not send your maid to look after +the children, at least, and take that hour to yourself?" + +Peggy smiled with complacent satisfaction. + +"They would scream themselves hoarse. Of all the spoilt, bad-tempered +little ruffians you ever encountered, they are the worst, and there is +not a soul on board who can manage them except myself. Yesterday they +got so cross that I was almost in despair, and it was only by pretending +to be a wild buffalo, and letting them chase me and dig pencils into me +for spears, that I could keep them in any sort of order. When they grew +tired of the buffalo, I changed into a musical-box, and they ground +tunes out of me until my throat was as dry as leather. It kept us going +for a long time, however, for they all wanted to hear their own +favourite tunes, and were so charmed with the variations. I wish you +could have heard the variations! I was so proud of them. The scales +ran up and down just like a real musical-box, the tremolo and arpeggio +chords were fine, and as for the trills, they were simply entr-r- +rancing!" Peggy rolled the `r' with a self-satisfied enjoyment which +made Hector laugh in spite of his displeasure, and finished up with an +explanatory, "I could never expect Parker to pose as a wild buffalo. +She has far too much sense of dignity!" + +"Oh, of course, I acknowledge that you have a wonderful knack with +children! Every one sees that," allowed Hector unwillingly. "It is +very kind and delightful of you to bother about other people as you do; +but what I complain of is the extent of your services, and--aw--the +nature of the recipients! Miss Ranger, for instance, is an impossible +person. What she calls herself I don't know, but she doesn't even begin +to be a lady. I heard her talking the other day, and she has a vile +accent, and not an `h' in her composition." + +"She has enough responsibilities without them at present, poor soul, so +perhaps it's just as well. She has been ill ever since we started, and +has no friend nor servant to look after her. She fell on the floor in a +faint one day while she was trying to dress, and lay there helpless +until the stewardess happened to go in and find her. That sort of thing +sha'n't happen twice on board this ship, if _I_ can help it!" cried +Peggy with a straightening of the slim little back which seemed to add a +couple of inches to her height, and a toss of the head which convinced +Major Darcy that it was no use arguing further on this point. It was +astonishing how often he was forced to retire from post to post in +arguments with Miss Saville, and the consciousness that this was the +case gave him courage to enter yet a third protest. + +"Well, at least, old Schute is hearty enough! There is no necessity to +pity him; and, really, don't you know, he is hardly the right sort of +friend for you. Do you know who he is? The proprietor of one of the +big drapers' shops in Calcutta." + +"It was a very good shop," said Peggy reflectively. "They were most +obliging in sending patterns. Two of the assistants were in a class +mother held for English girls, and they said he was so kind and +considerate, and had even paid to send some of them to the hill, after +they had been ill. I've a great respect for Mr Schute." + +"Quite so; but that's not exactly a reason why you should play halma +with him. I've a respect for him also, if what you say is true, but he +is not in our class, as he himself would acknowledge, and it's not the +thing for you to be seen talking to him. There are certain restrictions +which we must all observe." + +"Excuse me--I don't observe them. I am Mariquita Saville. Nothing that +I can do can alter that fact, or take from me the position to which I +was born," replied Peggy, with that air of overweening pride in her +belongings which had a distinctly humorous aspect in the eyes of her +companion, for though a county name and some well-won decorations are, +no doubt, things to be valued, nothing short of a pedigree traced direct +from the Flood itself would have justified the ineffable assurance of +her manner. + +He was not rash enough, however, to put such a reflection into words, so +he stood in silence until once again the girl turned to leave him, when +he found his tongue quickly enough. + +"You are really going then?" + +"Certainly I'm going!" + +"You'll tire yourself out with those children, and get a headache into +the bargain in the stuffy cabins." + +"I think it's extremely probable." + +"Then why will you be obstinate, and go in spite of all I can, say?" + +"Shall I tell you why?" Peggy raised her head and stared at him with +brilliant eyes. "I must go and help these poor people because _you_-- +and others like you--refuse to do it! I can't bear to see them +neglected, but I should be delighted to share the work with some one +else. Major Darcy, will you do me a favour? Mr Schute is very lonely; +no one speaks to him, and his eyes are so weak that he can't amuse +himself by reading. He is a very interesting old man, and I assure you +his `h's' are above reproach. Will you have a game of halma with him +this afternoon instead of me, and so set me free from my promise?" + +Haughty Hector's stare of amazement was a sight to behold. He, Hector +Darcy, play a game with a tradesman in the saloon of a steamship? +Associate on terms of intimacy with a member of a class who, according +to his ideas, existed for no other reason than to minister to his needs +and requirements? He was breathless with astonishment that such a +request should have been made, and made no concealment of his annoyance. + +"Really," he said loftily, "anything in reason that I could do to assist +you would be too great a pleasure, but what you ask is impossible. You +must see for yourself--" + +"You will not do it, then?" + +"If you will think for one moment, you will realise that you could not +expect--" + +Peggy threw back her head and surveyed him deliberately from the crown +of his head to the tip of his shoes, from his shoes up again until the +hazel eyes met his with a mocking light. + +"I did not expect--I _hoped_; but I see that even that was a mistake! +Good afternoon, Major Darcy, and many thanks for your polite assurances! +It is gratifying to discover exactly how much they are worth." + +She sailed away with her head in the air, leaving Hector to pace the +deck with a frown of thunderous ill-temper disfiguring his handsome +countenance. It was annoying to be worsted by an antagonist of such +small dimensions, but, astonishing as it appeared, he invariably got the +worst of it in a conflict with Peggy Saville! + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +The next two weeks passed away all too quickly. The latter part of the +voyage had been chill and stormy, so that when Marseilles was reached, +Hector Darcy was seized with a conviction that it would be injudicious +for him to risk the dangers of an English spring, and that wisdom +pointed out a preliminary sojourn in the sunny South. This being the +case, it was only natural that he should betake himself to the hotel +where his friends the Savilles were located, and so make a convenient +fourth in their excursions. It would have been difficult to find a +pleasanter party with whom to travel, for father, mother, and daughter +were all in holiday mood, rejoicing in the prospect of home, and a +reunion with that redoubtable Arthur, whose exploits and excellences +were detailed a dozen times a day. They were so happy together, +moreover, and there was so friendly an understanding between them, that +they made an agreeable contrast to those numerous family parties who +reduce a stranger to a condition of misery by their mutual bickerings. +So far from labouring under the impression that any manners were good +enough for the members of their own family, the Saville trio were even +more punctiliously courteous to each other than to strangers, and that +despite the fact that parents and child were on terms of much greater +intimacy than is usual in such relationships. + +Peggy's pride in her father was beautiful to behold, and in the presence +of strangers she paid him a respect so profound that those same +strangers would have been vastly surprised if they could have seen her +rumpling his hair in private, and tying his moustache in a neat little +festoon round his nose, while mother and daughter never seemed to +outgrow the joy of being together again after the years of separation. + +"Oh, my Peg, what should I do without you?" Mrs Saville would cry on +those too frequent occasions when a recurrence of the weary Indian fever +came upon her, and Peggy nursed and comforted her as no hired attendant +could ever do. "Oh, my Peg, what should I do without you? What _shall_ +I do, when you leave me to fly away to a home of your own? You have +spoiled me so much during these last years that I don't know what will +become of me without you, darling." + +"I shall never marry, dear," returned Peggy comfortably. "I'll stay at +home like a good little girl, and wheel my mammie in a Bath chair. +Marriage is a luxury which is forbidden to an only daughter. Her place +is to stay at home and look after her parents!" But at this Mrs +Saville looked alarmed, and shook her head in emphatic protest. + +"No, no--that's a wrong idea! I want you to marry, dear, when the right +time comes. I have been too happy myself to wish to keep you single. +Marriage is the best thing that can happen to a woman, if her husband is +as good and kind and noble as your father. I'm not selfish enough to +spoil your life for my own benefit, Peggy; but when the times comes, +remember I shall be very, very particular about the man you choose." + + "Where, and how, shall I earliest meet him? + What are the words that he first will say?" + +chanted Peggy, with so disastrous an attempt at the correct tune that +Mrs Saville shook with laughter, despite the pain in her head, and +Hector Darcy, entering the room, demanded to know the nature of the +joke. + +"I was singing a little ditty, and mother derided me, as usual. People +always laugh when I sing, and declare that the tune is wrong. They +don't seem to understand that I'm improving on the original. We were +discussing my future husband, and the serenade was in his honour," +explained Peggy with an unconscious serenity, at which her two +companions exchanged glances of astonishment. + +"He is quite an imaginary hero as yet," Mrs Saville explained hastily, +"but the subject having been introduced, I was explaining to Peggy that +I should be extremely difficult to satisfy, and could not consent to +spare her to a man who did not come up to my ideal in every respect." + +"And Peggy herself--what does she say? Has she an ideal, too, and what +shape does it take, if one may ask?" queried Hector, with an +embarrassment of manner which the mother noticed, if the daughter did +not. + +Mrs Saville shaded her eyes with her hands and gazed keenly across the +room to where the two figures stood in the window, the man so tall and +imposing, the girl so small and dainty in her pretty white dress. + +"Oh, I'm not exacting," said Peggy coolly. "I'm going to marry a man +with `heaps of money and a moustache, and a fireplace in the hall,' as +Mellicent used to say when we planned out our future in the old school- +days. Dear old Mill! I wonder if she is as funny as ever, and if she +still mixes up her sentences in the same comical way. I shall be +terribly disappointed if she doesn't. Five, six more weeks before I see +her and all the other vicarage people, and already I'm in a ferment of +impatience. Every mile we travel nearer home, the more I long for the +time to come; and when we get to London I really don't know how I shall +last out the fortnight before I go down to the country." + +"Would it help matters if we invited Mellicent to come and join us in +London? She would enjoy the experience of living in an hotel and house- +hunting with us. You can write and ask her, dear, if you like," said +Mrs Saville fondly; and Peggy clasped her hands together in one of the +old ecstatic gestures. + +"How s-imply lovely! Mother dear, you are an admirable person. There +is nothing in the world I should like so much, and it would be so wise, +too, for Mellicent and I would have time to get through our first +floodgates of talk before I met the others, so that I should not be torn +asunder by wanting to speak to every one at the same time. It will be a +wild dissipation for the dear old girl to stay in an hotel, and she does +enjoy herself so beamingly when she is out for a holiday that it's a +pleasure to behold her. I'll write this very minute!" + +The invitation was despatched forthwith, and such a rhapsodical +acceptance received by return of post as effectually dispelled Peggy's +fears lest her friend might have outgrown her old peculiarities. +Mellicent at twenty-one was apparently as gushingly outspoken, as +amazingly irrelevant, as in the days of short frocks and frizzled locks, +and the expectation of meeting her in four short weeks lent added zest +to Peggy's enjoyment of her new surroundings. + +The headquarters of this happy party was at an hotel situated on the +hill behind Cannes, and every morning a carriage waited at the door, to +drive them to the different places of interest in the neighbourhood. +They bought curious plaques and vases at the Vallauris pottery, went +over the scent manufactory at Grasse, where mountains of rose leaves and +violets are converted into fragrant perfumes, and drove along the +exquisite Cornichi road, which winds round the hillside, and affords a +view of the Mediterranean lying below, blue as a sapphire in the summer +sunshine. In the afternoons Mrs Saville would retire to rest, tired +out by the morning's exertions, and Peggy would say plaintively: + +"Father dear, could you bear the reflections that your only daughter was +pining for an ice and a box of chocolates, and that you had refused to +indulge her for the sake of a few miserable rupees!" and the colonel +invariably replying in the negative, she would array herself in her +smartest frock, and repair with him to Rumpelmeyer's, who, as every one +who has stayed in the Riviera knows full well, is at once the most +wonderful and the most extortionate confectioner who ever tempted the +appetites of men. + +At every visit Peggy and her father groaned afresh at the price of the +bonbons displayed so daintily in their satin boxes; but though they +agreed that it was impossible to indulge any more in such extravagance, +they invariably succumbed to temptation, the colonel ejaculating, "It's +a poor heart that never rejoices. We shall be young only once in our +lives, Peg, so we might as well enjoy ourselves while we can," and Peggy +explaining to her scandalised mother that the expenditure was really an +economy in the end, since she would keep all the pretty cases, fill them +with jujubes, and present them as Christmas presents to deserving +friends! + +At Paris Hector Darcy bade his friends farewell, and Peggy bore his +departure in philosophical fashion. It had been delightful having his +company, for it had seemed like a "bit of home," but he would have been +dreadfully in the way in Paris, where the avowed business of the day was +the purchase of clothes and fripperies. Mrs Saville and her daughter +prepared for the fray with every appearance of enjoyment, and though the +colonel professed a horror of shopping, he yet manifested an agreeable +interest in their purchases. + +"I can't afford to give you _carte blanche_, with all the expenses of +the new house before us," he explained, "but one or two pretty frocks +apiece you must and shall have, while we are on the spot; so go ahead +and make yourself smart, and I'll brace my nerves to face the bill." + +There was no fear that Miss Peggy would not go ahead in such an +occupation. The only difficulty was that she went ahead too fast; but +by dint of forbearance, mingled with judicious firmness, the choice was +made at last, and in due time the dresses came home, the bills were +paid, and Colonel Saville, blessing Providence that he had not six women +to dress instead of two, hurried on the day of departure from a city of +such ruinous fascinations. + +On one happy spring morning, then, behold the Saville trio once more +nearing the white cliffs of Old England--blessed travellers, whose exile +was over, and who could look forward to spending the rest of their lives +in that dear old country which, despite its rain and fog, must ever be +the dearest in the world to true-born Britons. + +They stood together, amidst the bustle of arrival, looking with +sparkling eyes at the well-remembered scene, for there was no necessity +to hurry for the train, and Colonel Saville, with all a soldier's +intolerance of a scramble, decided to wait on board until the general +exodus was over. "Then we will get a porter to take our boxes quietly +ashore," he explained to his companions; and, as if his words had been +overheard, at that very moment a candidate for that post came up from +behind. + +"Carry your boxes, sir? Can I carry your boxes?" cried a breezy voice, +at the sound of which Peggy gasped, Mrs Saville laid her hand over her +heart, and the colonel wheeled round to confront Arthur himself, taller, +broader, handsomer than ever. + +"My boy!" he cried brokenly. + +"Arthur!" gasped his mother, and lay sobbing on the dear, strong +shoulder, while Peggy stroked the tails of his coat, and assiduously +licked away the tears which would insist upon flowing down her cheeks. +Why cry, when she was so happy? The thing was absurd! Why do anything +but laugh, and dance, and sing with mirth, when at long, long last they +were all four together, and Arthur stood before her in solid flesh and +blood? + +"How tall you are! Taller than your father, my dear big son!" + +"How good it is to see you again, my boy! We have wearied for this +day." + +"Oh, Arthur, what a big moustache! What a dear you look! We never, +never expected to see you before we got to London." + +"I was not sure of coming, but I worked it somehow, for I could not wait +an hour longer than was necessary. Peg, you're a lady growed! I looks +towards you! Oh, let us be joyful! This is grand to be together again, +with no more miserable partings ahead. Welcome to England, mother! +First step on the old land--eh? Feels nice and sound beneath your feet, +doesn't it? Just the sort of solid, durable old place to take root in +after a roaming life!" And Arthur led his mother on shore, rattling +away in his old merry style, though the tears shone in his eyes also, +and his voice was not so clear as it might have been. + +The years that had passed since he had seen his parents last had not +been altogether easy ones for him. He had had to face the bitterest +disappointment of his life, to adapt himself to a new and uncongenial +sphere, and, in spite of all his courage, there had been moments when +the task had seemed too heavy to bear. It had been an effort to write +cheerfully, and to refrain from repinings over his lost hopes, but he +had made the effort, and he was rewarded for his forbearance a hundred +times over in this moment of meeting, as he noticed the hollows in his +mother's cheeks, and the grey locks on his father's brow. It had been +hard enough for them as it was. He was thankful he had not laid on them +the additional burden of his own sufferings. + +The reunited family travelled up to town together, and dined in a +private room in the hotel, so that they might be able to talk without +interruption. Arthur was, of course, the hero of the occasion, and was +handed about from one to another of his adoring relatives in a manner +which would have been amusing to an onlooker. First of all Mrs Saville +claimed him, and they sat on the sofa together, stroking each other's +hands like a charming pair of lovers, as a mother and grown-up son +should always be. Then she cast an apologetic glance at her husband, +and made an excuse to move her position, when Colonel Saville took +possession of his "boy," and the two tall figures leant against the +mantelpiece talking "manny talk," as Peggy expressed it, and smoking +their cigarettes. Finally it was Peggy's own turn, and she sat perched +on Arthur's knee, gazing into the dear, handsome face which had always +been her ideal of manly beauty. + +"Fancy, Arthur, just fancy, we are grown-up ladies and gentlemen! I am +twenty-one, and you are twenty-six! Doesn't it seem wonderful? You +look so handsome, dear, so big and important! I suppose you are +important, aren't you? What is your chief like? Does he appreciate +you? Does he defer sufficiently to your advice? Between ourselves, the +English Government isn't so well managed as I could wish. There is a +want of firmness in dealing with Foreign Powers which annoys me greatly. +Next time you get into a muddle at the War Office, just tell them to +apply to me, and I'll set them straight! If I could get the chance of +being Minister of War for a couple of days, I'd settle them! No shilly- +shally for me I I'd show them how the thing ought to be done!"--and +Peggy wagged her head in a fierce and defiant manner, which sent Arthur +into a peal of laughter. + +"Not any more burdened by modesty than you used to be, I perceive, young +lady. I'll be pleased to pass on your message. The chief is a +conscientious fellow, and feels his responsibility so much that it will +doubtless be a relief to him to know that Peggy Saville is to the +rescue. I'll introduce you to him some time soon, when you can have an +opportunity of airing your views." + +"I should like that. I suppose we shall have any amount of invitations +when we are really settled, but just at first we want to devote all our +energies to house-hunting. We are going to drive to the agent's first +thing to-morrow morning, to see what he has to offer us, and then +Mellicent arrives in the afternoon. You knew she was coming, didn't +you, and that I am going home with her at the end of a fortnight?" + +Arthur chuckled softly to himself. + +"Chubby in London! What delirious excitement! I must try to go about +with you sometimes, for it will be great to hear her remarks. She has +never been in town for more than a few hours at a time on a shopping +expedition, and has everything to see. Chubby has developed into a very +creditable specimen, I'd have you know, and she don't appreciate being +called Chubby no more. Consequently, I make a point of addressing her +by no other name! When she gets into a rage she looks surprisingly like +the fat little girl of a dozen years back." + +"Too bad!" cried Peggy, laughing. "None of that sort of thing while she +is here, remember! No one shall tease my visitors but myself. I'm +simply longing to see the dear old girl, and hear all the news about +everybody. Rob is at The Cedars, they say, so I must wait to see him +there, but Rosalind is in town. Oh, Arthur, do you see much of her? Do +you meet her often? Is she a great beauty, and does every one talk +about her and make a fuss of her wherever she goes, as we used to +imagine they would do when she grew up? Do tell me all about Rosalind!" + +Arthur's face stiffened in a curious, unnatural fashion, and his lips +lost their laughing curve, and grew straight and hard. The sparkle died +out of his face, and he looked a boy no longer, but a man, and a man who +had not found his life too easy. He was astonishingly like his father +at that moment, and both mother and sister noted the fact. + +"Oh, that would be a long story, and would take up too much time. For +Rosalind's doings, see the society papers," he cried, with an +indifference too elaborate to be genuine. "To-morrow's issue will no +doubt inform you that she is at some big function to-night, wearing a +robe of sky-blue silk, festooned with diamonds and bordered with rubies. +That's the proper style of thing, isn't it, for a society belle? I see +her occasionally. Lord Darcy is the kindest of friends, and I have +always a welcome at his house. I don't go very often, but I meet them +out, and am vouchsafed a dance, or ten minutes' conversation, if nobody +more important is on the scene. Rosalind is an important personage +nowadays, and can't waste her time on the likes of me; but she is +devoted to you, Peg, and will rush round to see you the moment you let +her know that you are at home." + +But Peggy set her lips, and privately resolved to be in no hurry to +apprise Rosalind Darcy of her return. No one who considered herself too +grand for Arthur should have the chance of associating with his sister. +Dear, darling Arthur! Did he still care, then? Was Rosalind's +beautiful face still a Will-o'-the-wisp to dazzle and ensnare his heart, +and was it possible that she, or any mortal woman, could have the +hardihood to resist Arthur Saville when he came to woo? Peggy sat +silent, but her heart formed a voiceless prayer--a prayer that if in the +future trouble must come, she might be the one to bear it, and that +Arthur might be shielded from a second crushing disappointment. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +The next day the Savilles lost no time in consulting the agent who had +been commissioned to advertise for houses on their behalf, and he in his +turn presented them with a list of a dozen places which were for sale, +eight of which were obviously unsuitable, and none in the very least +like Peggy's ideal abode. This was a bitter disappointment to the +expectant trio, and the disappointment was not softened by the offhand +and independent manner in which they were treated, for the agent hinted +at inordinate expectations, smiled openly at Peggy's inquiry about a +moat, and floated off to attend to another inquirer, as if any other +subject were worth considering when the question of Colonel Saville's +future home was on the _tapis_! + +Mrs Saville left the office with a crestfallen air, but her husband and +daughter stalked forth with their most military stride, and exchanged +glances of kindling irritation on the doorstep. + +"Insubordinate wretch!" cried the colonel, the ends of his moustache +looking fiercer than ever, and his eyes gleaming with anger, for after +ruling as despot over his regiment for so many years, the lack of +deference shown by a mere civilian was a distinct trial to the flesh. +"There's a good deal to be said for our friends the natives after all, +Peg! If one of them had dared to treat me like that--" + +"Just so!" assented Peggy. "I'm with you, father. I _do_ like people +to tremble at my nod, and in this land of freedom no one seems in the +least afraid of us. It's disgraceful. We had better take the train, +and look at this Uplands place. It seems the most likely of any on the +list, so I suppose we ought to see it." + +To the Uplands, then, the trio betook themselves, to find disappointment +number two, for the name had evidently been bestowed in a spirit of +satire on a house situated in a valley, and shut in by a network of +trees. The rooms smelt like so many vaults, and presented a cheerful +pattern of mould upon the walls, while even Peggy's ardour could not +face the task of reducing a wilderness into a garden. A drive of three +miles brought the explorers to yet another desirable residence of so +uncompromisingly bleak and hideous an aspect that they drove away from +the gates without examining the interior, and returned to town fatigued +and discouraged. + +"But we could not expect to find what we wanted the very first day," +Peggy reminded herself cheerily. "Besides, Mellicent is coming! That +is quite enough happiness for one day. In two more hours she will be +here. I'll go downstairs at five o'clock, and wait for her in the +hall." + +When five o'clock arrived, however, a brother officer came to call upon +Colonel Saville, and Peggy was delayed several minutes longer than she +intended, so that when she repaired downstairs it was a little past the +hour when Mellicent was due. It was quite likely that the train had +been behind time, or that difficulties in getting luggage put on a cab +might have delayed her arrival, and Peggy devoutly hoped that this had +been the case, so that she might still be in time to give a friendly +welcome. The hall was, as usual, crowded with visitors. An American +contingent chatted merrily together in one corner; a French marquise +stared around through a gold-rimmed lorgnette; and the usual array of +family parties lolled on ottomans and sofas, scrutinising the passers- +by, and exchanging whispered criticisms, which were neither so +complimentary nor so subdued as might have been desired. A stout lady +and two slim daughters, looking more like fashion-plates than Peggy +could have believed it possible for any human creatures to do, stood +discussing a knotty point together in the centre of the floor, their +voluminous skirts shutting out the view beyond. + +Peggy made a _detour_ to the side, caught sight of a broad, blue serge +back, looking broader than ever from contrast with sylph-like forms, a +coil of yellow hair beneath a sailor hat, and the side of a crimson +cheek. Mellicent! Of course it was Mellicent! There she stood, the +poor dear thing, a statue of misery in the midst of the fashionable +crowd, a roll of shawls clutched in one hand, her dress thick with dust, +and her hair blown into disorder. The critics on the benches sniggered +and whispered to one another, and the French marquise examined her +through the lorgnette with unconcealed amaze; but at the sight of the +familiar figure Peggy's heart leapt within her, for she saw again the +ivy-covered vicarage, and the shabby, sunny schoolroom in which she had +spent such happy days. A hand clutched Mellicent's arm in ecstatic +grasp, and a tremulous voice spoke in her ear. + +"Mellicent, _darling_! Is it really you?" + +"Oh, my goodness, Peggy, have you come at last? Nobody knew where you +were, and they said they'd send, and it's simply awful the way these +wretches stare!" cried Mellicent in a rush, "They sit round in rows, and +glare as if they had nothing in the world to do but quiz the poor new +arrivals as they come in at the door." + +"Which, my dear, is precisely the state of the case. It _is_ +disconcerting, especially when you arrive in the evening, after a +tempestuous Channel passage, and step into a hall aglow with diamonds +and eye-glasses; but turn about is fair play!" cried Peggy reassuringly. +"To-morrow you and I will quiz in our turn, and just think how we shall +enjoy it. Father and I have sat together for hours, criticising and +inventing histories, and you have no idea how entertaining it is. +You'll simply love it." + +"No, I sha'n't. It's unkind and cruel, and must make people simply +dread coming in. If I were the manager, I wouldn't allow it!" declared +Mellicent in righteous wrath; then her eyes turned to her companion, and +a tardy realisation of the position seemed to dawn upon her. "Oh, +Peggy!" she cried, and again, "Oh, Peggy! I'm _so_ glad to see you +again. It has seemed such a long, long time since you went away, and +there was no one like you--no one who could ever take your place." + +Peggy gave an affectionate little grip to the blue serge arm, but made +none of the protests which usually follow such an announcement. Modesty +not being her strong point, she saw no reason to dispute Mellicent's +assertion, so smiled instead, and cried reassuringly: + +"Never mind, I'm back again now, and never going away no more! Dear old +Chubs, you look so fresh, and pink-and-white and Englishy, that it does +me good to see you. This is our sitting-room, and you must come in and +say how do you do to father and mother, and have some tea. Father is +going out with a friend presently, and mother will have a rest in her +bedroom, so we shall have a cosy little chat by ourselves. Don't look +alarmed! They are not a bit fierce, I assure you, but a most mild and +agreeable old couple." + +As she spoke Peggy threw open the door of the sitting-room, and the mild +and agreeable couple bestowed the kindliest of greetings upon their +young visitor; but the surroundings were all so strange and formal that +country-bred Mellicent was overpowered, and could only blush and stammer +in school-girl fashion. Her own perfect consciousness of the fact added +fuel to her embarrassment, and a full-length mirror at the opposite side +of the room presented such an exasperating contrast of rustic +awkwardness and dainty grace, as she and Peggy stood side by side, that +her heart died down within her. Poor Mellicent! her new coat and skirt +had been made by the very best dressmaker in the village, and had been +considered a miracle of elegance by the admiring home circle; so that +she had looked forward to making quite a triumphant entrance, and now +here she was, looking her very worst, and conscious of a dozen +shortcomings as she looked at her friend's graceful figure. Peggy's +features still retained their miniature-like faultlessness of outline, +her pretty hair was coiled about her head in fantastic fashion, she bore +herself with even more than the old assurance, and rustled about the +room in a gown of Parisian manufacture. A little chill of strangeness +and depression settled down on Mellicent's spirits. For the last month +she had lived in constant expectation of this visit, had built a fairy +edifice of dreams concerning it, and already the foundations were +beginning to totter. The great hotel, with its crowd of critical +inmates, was terrifying to the country-bred girl, the graciousness of +her host and hostess appeared formal, when compared with the warm- +hearted cordiality of her Irish mother, and even Peggy herself seemed +transformed into another person. It was no longer Peggy, it was +Mariquita, and Mariquita a dozen times more self-possessed and imposing +than in the days of old. + +When Colonel and Mrs Saville left the room, Mellicent watched with awed +eyes an interview which took place between Miss Peggy and a waiter whom +she had summoned to bring a supply of fresh tea. There were several +other matters to discuss regarding the despatch of letters and parcels, +and the severe though courteous manner in which the young lady conducted +the conversation, reduced the listener to a condition of speechless +amazement. When the door closed behind the man, Peggy met the stare of +the horrified blue eyes, and put a laughing inquiry as to the nature of +her offence. + +"I don't know how you _dare_ talk to him like that!" stammered Mellicent +in return. "He is ever so much older than you, and looks so--so +dignified and grand, and you order him about, and tell him to be +careful, and send him running up and downstairs. I don't know how you +can do it. I'm nervous enough about finding fault with the servants at +home, but with a stranger! A man! I could never summon up courage to +find fault, no matter what mistakes he made. And you are so cool about +it!" + +"My dear, I'm used to it. Consider the position I have had to fill +these last three years in Indiah!" drawled Miss Peggy, and leant her +head against the cushions of her chair with an exhausted air, which +seemed to imply that she had come straight from the duties of Government +House itself. Then suddenly she straightened herself, and attacked the +teapot. + +"I forget if you take sugar in your tea. So few people do nowadays. +And cream? It's rather strong, I'm afraid. Be sure to tell me if it's +exactly as you like." + +"Thank you!" murmured Mellicent faintly. She put the cup down on a +table close at hand, and fumbled nervously with her gloves. + +"P-Peggy!" + +"Yes, dear." + +"Peg-gy!" + +"Yes, Mellicent, what is it?" + +"Oh, Peggy, I feel--I feel so uncomfortable! It's all so strange and +different from what I expected. I thought I should feel at home the +moment I saw you--but I don't, not a bit. You look so grown-up and +proper, and your dress is so grand, and you have done your hair like the +people in the fashion-books, and I never can make out how on earth they +twist it in and out... We are the same age, but you seem ever so much +older, and I don't feel that it is you at all." + +"The inference is, that I never _was_ proper, nor tidy, nor well-dressed +in the old days! Not very complimentary to me, I must say," began Peggy +lightly, and then caught sight of a tear-drop glittering on Mellicent's +eyelashes, which sobered her very quickly. Crying? No, surely not; yet +tears were there, undeniable tears, filling the blue eyes, and rolling +slowly down over the pink cheeks. Peggy dropped down on her knees, and +clasped her hands round the plump blue waist. + +"Why, Mill, what is it? What grieves you, dear? What have I done, or +said, or looked--horrid thing that I am!--to vex you within ten minutes +of your arrival? I never, never meant it!" + +"You haven't done anything! It's my own fault. I'm sorry to be so +silly, Peggy, but all this time I have been longing and longing to see +you, and thinking that it would be just the same as in the old days; +but, oh, Peggy, we've led such different lives, and it's not the same-- +oh, it's not the same at all! I have stood still, but you have moved +on, and there's such a big, big difference. I realised it all of a +sudden, and began to cry like a baby, but it's not your fault. It's +only because I am so fond--so fond of you, Peggy, and so sorry to +think--" + +"You dear, sweet goose! Stop crying this minute, and listen to me. +There is no difference between us, and it's going to be _exactly_ the +same. You are Mellicent Asplin, and I'm Peggy Saville, and after my +very own people I love the dear old vicaragers more than any one else in +the world. I never change in my affections, and in other respects the +day may yet dawn, my love, when you may wish that I had altered +considerably more than I have. Will it help you to recognise me if I +pull your hair, eli?--or tickle you under the chin, eh?--or give a nice +little jolt to your elbow just as you lift your cup, eh?" cried Peggy, +illustrating each inquiry in practical fashion, while Mellicent giggled +in the midst of tears, and dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief. + +"D-o-on't! You'll spoil my dress. Oh, Peggy, it _is_ good of you, and +I did so want to come, and will you really promise not to be ashamed of +me, if I make stupid mistakes, and look dowdy and horrid when we go out +together?" + +"I'll be ashamed of you, and furious into the bargain, if you hint at +such a thing again. I'm not a snob, thank goodness! Now sit up, my +dear, and drop sentiment, and attend to tea. Take a cress sandwich, and +don't cry over it, I beseech you! If there is one thing more +objectionable than another, it is wet salad. Tell me all about home, +and every one in it. Are they looking forward to my advent, and is cook +remembering my favourite puddings? I've got a present for every one-- +such a beautiful white shawl for Mrs Asplin, a tiger skin for your +father's study, some old manuscripts for Esther, as I could not think of +anything she would like better, and--" + +"And what for--How very nice! So kind of you, Peggy, to think of us!" +protested Mellicent, drawing herself up with sudden recollection, but +palpitating with curiosity to hear what her own share might be. "Esther +hopes to get home while you are with us, but she can't tear herself from +her precious pupils for more than a week. She has three little boys +whom she is training for school, and teaching Latin and Greek and +mathematics and all sorts of horrid things. You would hate it, Peggy, +and so would I, but Esther loves it, and grudges every moment she is +away." + +Peggy laughed. + +"I can imagine it! The little rascals scrawling substantives on their +slates--`O frog--To a frog--By, with, or from a frog!' and Esther's +solemn distress over a wrong termination. Isn't it a blessing that we +are made differently, and that some people are born with such wonderful +patience and forbearance? I pity their poor little knuckles if _I_ were +in charge. But then I was always hastily inclined. Your father used to +say that Esther and Rob had far more of the scholarly spirit than Rex, +though he must have worked hard to get through his examinations so well. +Dear old Rex, how I should love to see him again! It seems so funny to +think of him as a full-fledged doctor, with a practice of his own! How +does he like living in the North, and how does he get on?" + +Mellicent shrugged her shoulders uncertainly. + +"Pretty well, only it's such a disgustingly bracing place that no one is +ever ill. Rex says it is most depressing to look out of the windows and +see the healthy faces! He gets so tired waiting for patients who never +come. I stayed with him for a week in the winter, and whenever the bell +rang we used to rush out into the hall, and peer over the banisters to +see who was there, and if it was a patient Rex kept him waiting for ten +minutes by his watch, to pretend that he was busy, though he was really +dying to fly downstairs at once. He makes very little money, and father +has to help him a good deal; but last month something happened which he +hopes will help him on. The mayor of the town had a carriage accident +just opposite his house, and was nearly killed. Wasn't it luck for Rex? +He was so pleased! The mayor was carried into the house, and could not +be moved for days, and the papers were full of `Dr Asplin this, and Dr +Asplin that,' as if he was the biggest doctor they had! The mayoress +seems to have taken a fancy to him too, for she begs him to go to their +house as often as he likes, without waiting to be asked. It will be +nice for Rex to have some friends in the town, for he daren't go far +from home. Oswald and his wife live within an hour's rail, and often +invite him there, but he is afraid to go, in case a patient _should_ +appear!" + +"Oswald's wife! How strange it sounds! I have never heard anything +about her, and am so curious to know what she is like! What account did +Rex bring when he came home from the wedding?" + +"He said he couldn't attempt to describe her, but that you could meet +seventy-six girls exactly like her any day of the week. Rather pretty, +rather fair, rather nice, rather musical! Everything _rather_, and +nothing _very_! and thinks Oswald the most wonderful man in the world. +She can't be very clever herself, if she thinks that, can she? Oswald +was always a regular dunce!" + +"Oh, `dunce' is too strong a word, Chubby! He was not brilliant, but +you must remember that he suffered from contrast with his companions. +Rex was very bright, if he was not exactly clever, and it is not often +that you come across such a really scholarly boy as Rob Darcy!" + +Peggy busied herself with the arrangement of the tea-tray without +glancing in her friend's direction, and with an air of studied +carelessness. She herself knew that she had dragged Rob's name into the +discussion for no other object than to set Mellicent's ready tongue to +work on a subject about which she was longing for information, and she +was alarmed lest her intention might be suspected. Mellicent, however, +had retained her comfortable obtuseness, and rose to the bait with +innocent alacrity. + +"Well, I don't know if _you_ call it scholarly to think of nothing in +the world but beetles, and grubby little plants that no one ever heard +of before; but _I_ call it idiotic. He is worse than Esther, because, +after all, schoolboys are human creatures, and sometimes you can't help +liking them, though they are so tiresome, but nobody could love a +beetle! I said so once to Rob, and he snubbed me dreadfully, and talked +at me for half an hour. I didn't understand half he said--for it was +all in technical beetley language, but it was meant to prove that it was +wrong to say anything of the sort, or refuse to see the beauty hidden +away in the meanest created thing." + +"Quite true! I agree with Rob. He was perfectly right." + +"But, Peggy, a beetle! And to care for nothing else! You have no idea +what a regular old hermit Rob has become. He is perfectly wrapped up in +beetles!" cried Mellicent, with a descriptive elegance of diction, at +which her hearer shuddered visibly. "He takes no interest in anything +else!" + +Peggy smiled, and her head took a complacent tilt. + +"That's bad! That will have to be altered. He'll take interest in +_me_, my dear, or there'll be trouble! I believe in a man devoting +himself to his work, but Rob is too nice to be allowed to bury himself +completely. I must rouse him up! A fortnight from now we will meet +again, and the treatment will begin. Meanest creatures are all very +well in their way, but superior ones demand their own share of +attention. Rob always did as I told him, and he will not disappoint me +now." + +Mellicent gazed at her friend in reflective fashion. She called up +before her a picture of Rob's great stooping form, his shaggy head, and +overhanging brows, and contrasted it mentally with that of the slim +little, neat little, prettiest of elf-like figures before her. No, it +was not in the least likely that Rob would disappoint Peggy Saville. +"Those dreadful Savilles" had now, as ever, the power of enforcing +obedience from their vassals. + +"But all the same," she repeated obstinately, "but all the same he would +have liked you better if you had been a beetle!" + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +The next morning was devoted to another house-hunting expedition, +unsuccessful as its predecessor, while in the afternoon came a fresh +excitement, in the shape of a call from Arthur's "chief," accompanied by +his wife and daughter. Mr Rob had had a slight acquaintance with +Colonel Saville years before, so that the interview lost some of the +stiffness incidental to such occasions; and while the two men talked +together in one corner of the room, their wives exchanged condolences on +the ever-fruitful subject of domestic arrangements, and the three girls +cast curious glances at one another in the intervals of conversation. + +"I am afraid you must find the weather chilly. Our English springs are +very treacherous!" remarked Miss Rollo properly, turning her card-case +round and round in her hands, and blinking rapidly with a pair of shy +grey eyes, veiled by eyelashes of extraordinary length and silkiness. +As the only child of distinguished parents, Miss Eunice Rollo was a +personage of some importance in society; but she appeared much more +afraid of the two girls than they were of her, and kept her eyes fixed +so persistently on the carpet that Mellicent enjoyed an unusual +opportunity of indulging a favourite pastime, and sat braced against the +back of her chair, staring stolidly up and down, down and up, until she +could have passed an examination on the minutest detail of the +stranger's appearance and clothing. As for Peggy, she prattled away on +the engrossing subjects of sun and rain, while her thoughts went off on +an excursion of their own, and busied themselves with criticisms on the +new visitor. + +"Eunice by name, and Eunice by nature! A more Eunicey creature I never +beheld. Grey eyes like Mrs Asplin... I could love her for those +alone, but _so_ solemn! I'd like to wake you up, my dear, and make you +look more like a real live girl, and less like a marionette. The way +that Mellicent stares is disgraceful. She must be made to stop." + +Peggy cleared her throat in meaning fashion, met the wide blue eyes and +frowned a warning. Any other girl in the world would have understood +and obeyed; but Mellicent only gaped the more, raised questioning +eyebrows, and even mouthed a dumb inquiry. Peggy screwed up her face +into a vicious glare of anger, at which moment, it is needless to say, +Eunice seized the opportunity to lift her eyes from the carpet. For one +second amazement held her motionless, then she fell to work on the card- +case with redoubled zeal, and tilted her hat over her face. Her eyes +could not be seen, but her lips were twisted on one side, and her cheeks +grew suddenly, mysteriously pink. Was she laughing? Was she angry? +Peggy could not tell, but she felt an intense curiosity to discover, and +a dawning suspicion that Eunice was perhaps not quite so "Eunicey" after +all. + +"It is very nice to come home to the old country again, and to see all +our friends. Miss Asplin and I had lessons together for four years, so +that, as you may imagine, we have a great deal to talk over now that we +have met again," she explained; and Miss Rollo replied with elaborate +politeness: + +"I can indeed. It must be delightful I hope you will bring Miss Asplin +with you, if you come to us on Wednesday. We are having a reception in +the evening, with music and tableaux. It will be a crush, I'm afraid, +but you may find it amusing. Rosalind Darcy is coming. She has been +staying in the country for a week, but she will be back by then, and +would like to see you, I'm sure. I hope you will be able to come." + +"Oh, I hope so!" The answer came simultaneously from two pairs of lips, +and Mellicent drew in her breath with a gasp of pleasure. It was +beginning already. What excitement--what joy--what delight! Only the +first day of her visit, and behold! an invitation to one of the best- +known houses in London, where with her own eyes she should behold those +great people of the world whom she had read about, but never, never +expected to see. At this rate, Mellicent reflected, she would find +herself on intimate terms at Court before the fortnight was concluded; +and oh! the joy of returning home and speaking in casual tones about +Princes of the Blood, Dukes and Marquises, and Cabinet Ministers, for, +the edification of village hearers! Her complacency vented itself in a +long postscript to the letter already written to her mother, a +postscript of such characteristic nature as delighted that appreciative +lady, and which was read aloud with much unction to her husband, and a +friend of the family who happened to be paying a call at the time, +whereby, as will be seen, certain things came to pass which would not +otherwise have happened. + +The prospect of Mrs Rollo's reception was so dazzling as to throw all +other experiences into the shade; but the two intervening days were full +of excitement, for Peggy was delighted to play "country cousin" for her +friend's benefit, and the two girls drove about from one place of +interest to another, from early morning until late at night. +Westminster Abbey had, of course, special claims on the affections, and +evoked that thrill of mingled awe and patriotism which all true-born +Britons must feel on entering that glorious edifice. When the voices of +the choristers rang out in the psalms for the morning, Mellicent shed +tears on her Prayer-book, and felt icy-cold all the way down her spine, +and Peggy's eyes flashed fire, and the rare colour burned in her cheeks. + +When the service was over the two girls wandered about together gazing +at the monuments, reading the inscriptions which recalled noble deeds, +and exchanging ardent confidences the while. + +"I should like to come here every day," said Mellicent softly, "every +single day. I should like to be a verger, and spend my life in an +abbey. I think I could be awfully good if I lived here always. It +makes one feel so small and insignificant, that one wouldn't dare to be +selfish, and think one's own happiness so important. I can't believe +that it was ever built by men--ordinary common working men. It seems +like a mountain--a great, wonderful thing that God must have made +Himself, and given to His people." + +Peggy looked at her with bright, astonished eyes. + +"You dear thing, what a sweet idea! I feel the same about it; but +perhaps, after all, it was better that men _should_ have made it. It +must have done _them_ good. One cannot imagine that a workman in such a +task could remain `common.' I have read charming stories about men who +have devoted their whole lives to little pieces of carving or ironwork, +to be placed in insignificant corners of old Continental cathedrals. It +did not trouble them that their work would not be seen; they were so +impressed with the spirit of the place that they simply could not endure +to do less than their very, very best, and were willing to remain poor +all their lives in order to be able to do it. That's fine! That's +grand! None of your miserable scamping spirit there. The place made +the men, as well as the men the place." + +"Yes, yes, that's just what I feel. I'd like to do something for it +too, if it were only the dusting," sighed Mellicent, passing her finger +along a ledge of wood, and pensively regarding the ridge of dust on her +light kid gloves. "I assure you, Peggy, the shivers were running down +my back the whole time of that service like a cold-water tap. I was +freezing!" + +"And I was tingling. Oh, to do something big enough--great enough--to +be brought here when I die, and be laid among these fine old heroes! +Isn't it maddening sometimes to be a woman, and feel penned in, in a +wretched little body?" Peggy stood still and faced her companion with +kindling eyes. "At this moment, my dear, the spirit of Hercules is +within me--I feel as if I could lift mountains, and look at _that_." +She held out her hand, staring with intense disfavour at the fragile +little wrist. "That's my weapon! If I tried to lift that _bench_, I +should sprain my wrist. If I work my brain for several hours on end, I +have a sick headache I'm a lion in a cage, dear; a little, miserable, +five-foot cage, and it's no use beating at the bars, for I'll never get +out;" and Peggy stared miserably at the statue of the "third great +Canning" which stood opposite, and sighed her heart out, to think how +impossible it seemed that the name of Mariquita Saville would ever be +emblazoned by his side. + +From the Abbey the sightseers drove to the Academy, where they spent a +couple of hours in making their way through the crowded rooms. Mrs +Saville and her daughter were unaffectedly interested in the pictures, +but Mellicent declared the study of them such a "neck-achey" process +that she soon abandoned the effort, and contented herself with +criticising the people instead. After living all one's life in +provincial parishes where every inhabitant recognised and saluted the +vicar's daughter, it was a little bewildering to find oneself surrounded +by hundreds of absolutely strange faces; a trifle depressing too, to +one-and-twenty, to realise afresh her own countrified appearance, as +slim-waisted _elegantes_ floated past in a succession of spring +toilettes, each one more fascinating than the last. Mellicent sat down +on one of the centre couches and gave herself up to despair. + +"My sleeves aren't right, and my neck isn't right, and my back isn't +right! My skirt sticks out where it should be flat, and is flat where +it ought to stick out. My hat looks like the ark, and my gloves are too +big. I ought to be superior like Esther, and not care a bit, but I +_do_. I care frightfully. I feel a worm, and as it I'd like to crawl +away and hide myself out of sight,"--and Mellicent's fair face clouded +over with an expression of such hopeless melancholy, that Peggy, +catching sight of it, came forward instantly to discover the reason. + +"Tired?" she cried cheerily. "Never mind, we won't be long now, and +then we'll drive home, and you shall be tucked up in bed, and have a +comfy rest. Sight-seeing _is_ tiring... Which do you like best?" + +"The blue, I think, with the lace edgings. The body is so sweet, with +all the tiny, lovely little tucks, and the colour would suit my hair," +said Mellicent plaintively, all unconscious of the open-eyed wonder with +which she was regarded. + +"What has your hair to do with it, and how _could_ a body be covered +with tucks? You are sleepy, dear, and didn't hear what I said. I asked +what picture you liked best." + +"Oh-h, picture! I thought you meant dresses. I was thinking about the +dresses--" + +"Mellicent Asplin, I'm shocked at you! You remind me of the visitor to +Paris who was asked how she liked the Louvre, and replied that the Bon +Marche was cheaper for ribbons. To think that you could sit opposite +some of the finest pictures of the year, and find more enjoyment in +looking at frocks." + +"I haven't enjoyed it at all. I've disenjoyed it horribly. You +wouldn't like it yourself, if you saw seven hundred and fifty girls, and +each one looked seven hundred times nicer than you did yourself. I +detest them all, but I hate the blue one worst! Didn't you see her, +Peggy--pale, _pale_ blue, with white lace and--" + +"Poor old Mill. Come along, dear, we'll go back to the hotel, and not +worry about them any more. You shall come straight to my room, and I'll +give you a tonic that will do you good." + +"I hate tonics. They taste like rusty spoons. I'm quite well, and +don't want it." + +"We'll see about that. It's a new brand, warranted to be especially +efficacious in the case of young females. It isn't in the least like a +rusty spoon, and exercises an exhilarating effect on the spirits. You +wait and see." + +Peggy looked at her friend, and her eyes twinkled. It was evident that +some mystery was in the air, and that the word `tonic' was used in a +figurative rather than a literal sense. Mellicent pondered, hit on the +solution of chocolates, and being an inveterate sweet-tooth, found +consolation in the prospect. Perhaps Peggy was going to present her +with some of the treasures she had brought home from Cannes, in which +case there would not only be the enjoyment of the bonbons themselves, +but the case would remain as a permanent joy and pride. So fascinating +did the idea appear that it was quite a shook to see a long narrow roll +emerge from the wardrobe when the crucial hour arrived. + +"Here is your tonic," said Peggy. "It has come all the way from India, +and was ordered for you a whole year back. I didn't tell you what your +present was the other night, for I wanted you to have the fun of opening +it yourself. I do like opening my own parcels, don't you, and not +knowing what I'm going to see!" + +"Oh, I do! I love it!" agreed Mellicent rapturously, taking the roll in +her arms, and prodding at it with the end of her fingers. "Peggy, how +sweet of you! I know I shall like it... It's very hard, and so +narrow... I can't imagine what it can be. Ordered a year ago--that +sounds as if it had to be made. Is it--er--ornamental or useful?" + +"Oh, useful! very, very useful!" cried Peggy, and chuckled with +enjoyment at Mellicent's gallant attempt to hide disappointment beneath +a pretence of satisfaction. + +"Oh yes, how nice! Useful things are much more--_useful_, aren't they? +I believe it's an umbrella, and yet it's rather thick for that. I can't +imagine what it can be." + +"Cut the string and look! That's the best way out of the difficulty," +suggested Peggy; and Mellicent followed her advice, and slowly unrolled +the parcel on the bed. Silver paper came first, rolls of silver paper, +and a breath of that delicious aromatic perfume which seems an integral +part of all Eastern produce, last of all a cardboard cylinder, with +something soft and white and gauzy wrapped around it. Mellicent +screamed aloud, and jumped about in the middle of the floor. + +"It is! It is!" she cried rhapsodically. "It's a dress like yours-- +like the one that was burned in the fire, and that I loved so much. But +prettier. Oh, Peggy, it's prettier! There are more of the lovely white +silk flowers, and the muslin is softer and finer. You wicked, wicked +girl, how dare you say it was useful!" + +"Because it was true. You can let Carter make it up, and wear it over +your white silk at the Rollos' on Thursday, and if _that_ isn't useful, +what is, I should like to know? I wish you could have seen your face +when I said it was useful. It grew about a yard long." + +"I knew it did, though I tried so hard to smile and look pleased. You +see, Peg, I have nothing but useful things at home, for we can't afford +anything else, and I do so dearly love a taste of luxury now and then. +I simply hate useful presents, and when we get any sent to us they +invariably are of that order, for people say to themselves, `Poor +things, they are not at all well off, better send them something that +will be _of use_.' And I do assure you, my dear girl, that the +Christmas before last I got four dozen handkerchiefs, and five separate +pairs of gloves. Gloves I don't mind, for they are _nicely_ useful; but +I nearly spread out all the forty-eight handkerchiefs on the bed, and +wept over them with sheer rage that they weren't something else... Oh, +you ducky, darling dress! Sha'n't I look nice! Peggy Peggy, I do love +you for thinking of it, and giving me such a pleasure. You can't think +how I shall enjoy being really well-dressed for once in my life." + +"I'm so pleased you are pleased. It's ever so much nicer to give than +to receive. When my three French dresses came home, I was in a bad +temper for the rest of the day, because the collars were too high and +stuck into my chin, and the dressmaker had not carried out all my +instructions; but I'm enjoying this as much as you are, and shall feel a +reflected glory in your appearance on Thursday. I'm so glad Arthur will +be there, for it will be a comfort to see one familiar face among the +throng. I wish--" + +"What?" + +"Nothing. It's lovely to be back again; but sometimes one feels a +little lonely when people are all talking together, and going off into +little groups. In Calcutta it was different, for we knew every one, and +every one knew us. Is one _always_ disappointed, I wonder, when a thing +happens which one had longed for, for years and years? I don't know +what I want, but I want _something_!" cried Peggy drearily, and pressed +her hands to her brow, while her friend looked on with sympathetic gaze. + +"It's tea!" she declared oracularly. "It is five o'clock, and you know, +Peggy, you always did get melancholy if tea was later than usual. Let +us go downstairs and order it at once." + +Peggy slid her hand in her friend's arm with a soft explosion of +laughter. + +"So we will," she said cheerily. "It's a capital explanation. Tea! +Oh, you sensible old Chubby!" + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +Two evenings later Peggy edged her way out of the crowd at Mrs Rollo's +reception, and sat down in a corner with a gasp of relief. Eunice had +been correct in prophesying a crush, for the suite of entertaining-rooms +seemed a solid block of people, and the babel of voices almost drowned +the music, which was being discoursed at intervals by a violinist with a +shock head, a Signor with an Italian name and an English face, and a +lady with an elaborate coiffure, who, in turn, warbled by herself, and +joined in the rendering of impassioned Italian duets. The accompanist +flourished up and down the piano, and the singers held their music at +arm's length, half-acting the words as they alternately frowned and +smiled, and having gone their separate ways throughout three whole +pages, joined together in a conclusive burst of triumph. The babel of +talk went on with even greater energy when the last note had died away, +and Peggy pursed up her lips in doubtful compliment. + +"_That's_ over, thank goodness! I don't know what it was all about, but +she said, `Si,' `Si,' a great many times over, and they seemed happy at +the end, so that's satisfactory. It must be very exhausting to smile so +hard, and sing so loudly at the same time, so I hope other people +appreciated their efforts more than I did." Peggy sighed, and stifled a +yawn. She was feeling just a trifle tired and depressed in spirits, for +the day had been a busy one, and the process of dressing for the evening +had been delayed by one of those careless tricks for which she was +famous. Some trifling alteration having to be made to the belt of her +sash, she had taken it in hand herself, and put it--where? That was the +question. Nowhere in any of the three bedrooms could that belt be +found, and while the brougham waited at the door, and an impatient male +tramped up and down, four distracted females rushed to and fro, opening +drawers, ransacking wardrobes, and burrowing beneath beds. Mrs Saville +grew nervous and hysterical; her husband tugged at his moustache, and +vowed his intention of sending away the brougham and spending the +evening at home if this sort of "foolishness" went on much longer; and +Mellicent was on the point of tears, when at last the missing treasure +was discovered, squashed flat beneath a cushion, in company with a +magazine, a handkerchief, an odd glove, and several stray needles. + +Colonel Saville looked very fierce during the drive which followed. His +light eyes sent out little sparks of fire, and the waxed ends of his +moustache bristled with anger, while Peggy sat opposite him in a little +heap in the corner of the carriage, with her eyebrows peaked into the +old eave-like shape, and the corners of her lips drooping pensively +downward. The meek little, "Yes, father!" "No, father!" which replied +to his strictures, would have melted a heart of stone, and Mellicent was +relieved to see the colonel's frown gradually giving place to the usual +good-natured twinkle. + +"But you must be more careful, child," he said, "or you and I will +quarrel I can't stand disorderly ways. You ought to have a place for +everything." + +"I have, father, but it's generally in the _other_ place!" sighed Peggy +plaintively, whereat her father laughed, despite himself, and peace was +restored. He was very tender to his little daughter during the hour +which followed, as he invariably was after anything had occurred to +cause a cloud between them; but though Peggy found no familiar faces in +the throng, her parents were fortunate enough to discover several old- +time friends, so it came to pass that she now found herself alone for +the moment, and thankfully seized the opportunity of a rest. + +Ten minutes earlier one of the younger men to whom she had been +introduced had asked to be allowed to pilot her to the refreshment-room, +but she had insisted on sending Mellicent in her stead, and now had the +pleasure of beholding that young lady standing in a distant corner, +enjoying an animated conversation, and looking so fresh and bonnie among +the anaemic town-bred girls, that more than one admiring glance was cast +in her direction. Peggy's little face softened into a very sweet +expression of tenderness as she watched her friend, and hugged the +thought that she had had some part in giving her the pleasure which she +was now enjoying. In the pretty white dress, with her hair arranged by +Carter's skilful hands, Mellicent had no cause to be dissatisfied, even +in the midst of this fashionable throng, and the natural girlish +pleasure in looking her best added zest to the evening's enjoyment. +Peggy reflected once more that it was more blessed to give than to +receive, and sitting perched on the ottoman with her little satin shoes +braced against the floor which they barely touched, enjoyed a reflected +pleasure in Mellicent's conversation, blissfully unconscious of the fact +that every expression which flittered over her friend's face was +faithfully reflected on her own. The worst of being born a mimic is +that on occasions one acts a part without being in the least conscious +of so doing, and so while Miss Peggy fondly imagined herself to be +wearing an expression of dignified repose, in reality her features were +never still for the fraction of a second. Mellicent smiled--she smiled +also; Mellicent shook her head--she did the same, until all the little +sprays of the white aigrette shook and quivered again; Mellicent +appeared to question her companion--Peggy's eyebrows peaked themselves +in an inquiring arch; Mellicent cast down her eyes and modestly studied +the carpet--prunes and prisms were reflected on Peggy's face in an +attack of the most virulent description. So it went on for five minutes +on end, the little play being hidden from the surrounding gaze by a bank +of palms, through the boughs of which the unconscious actress studied +her part; but at the end of five minutes something happened which +completely altered the current of Peggy's thoughts. Mellicent's partner +called attention to something at the opposite end of the room, and the +girl turning to look at it, her understudy naturally followed her +example, and straight-way forgot Mellicent and her doings for the rest +of the evening. + +Some one was leaning up against the doorway, studying her in his turn, +and at sight of him Peggy's heart gave a wild dance of agitation. The +crowds of gaily dressed visitors whizzed round and round like pieces of +glass in the old-fashioned kaleidoscope through which she used to gaze +in the vicarage drawing-room; the branches of the palms swayed about in +extraordinary fashion, and the face staring into her own grew dim and +indistinct. But it _was_ the same face. Oh yes! No one else could +possibly possess those deep-set eyes, those rugged features, that heavy +lock of hair across the brow. In spite of all reasons to the contrary, +it was Rob himself, and the next moment his well-known voice sounded in +her ear. + +"Mariquita! Little Peggy! Is this really you?" + +"Oh, Rob!" cried Peggy faintly, and could find no other word. He had +taken the seat beside her, and each gazed into the other's face with +eager eyes, noting the changes which the years had brought to the +familiar features. Rob's skin was burnt brown by the burning sun of the +lands through which he had travelled, his forehead showed deeply graven +lines, and his cheeks had lost their boyish curve, but the atmosphere of +strength and health and honest manliness remained, and exercised the old +magnetic influence over his companion. It was like a breath of mountain +air coming into the heated room, to see Rob's face, and hear his hearty +voice. Peggy drew a deep sigh of contentment, and smiled a happy +greeting. + +"It is just as you said it would be, Rob, our meeting like this! How +long had you been standing there? Did you recognise me at once? Why +are you here at all? I thought you were in the country, and that you +hated going out, and would never accept an invitation if you could help +it!" + +"Circumstances alter cases! I was at the vicarage the other day when +Mellicent's letter arrived, saying you were to be here to-night, and a +sudden temptation seized me to have a look at you, and see what manner +of young lady the years had made of Peggy-Pickle. I came up this +afternoon, astonished Rosalind by offering to accompany her, and +wandered about the room staring curiously at every girl I met. I saw +several in pink dresses that might possibly have been you, but if they +had, I should have marched straight home without troubling for an +introduction. Then I skirmished round to this door, and saw a little +head bobbing about in a way that seemed familiar, and--" + +"And please," inquired Peggy meekly, "how do you like me, now you have +found me? Am I at all what you expected?" + +She lifted her face to his in the old mischievous fashion, and Rob +studied it with a thoughtful gaze. If she hoped to receive a compliment +in reply to her question, she was disappointed. It was not Rob's way to +pay compliments, and there was, if anything, a tinge of sadness in the +tone in which he said: + +"You have changed! It's inevitable, I suppose, but I have always +thought of you as I saw you last, and don't seem to recognise the new +edition. You have grown-up, but you've grown-up very small! There +seems less of you than ever. Was the climate too much for you out +there? I should have liked to have seen you looking stronger, Peg!" + +"Oh, I'm a wiry little person!" said Peggy lightly. "You needn't be +anxious about me;" but she coughed as she spoke, and lay back against +the cushions, for really it was rather nice to have Rob anxious about +her, and to see the troubled tenderness in his eyes! She fluttered her +fan to and fro in a feeble, exhausted fashion, while Rob continued to +stare and to frown. + +"You look too much like the rest of 'em. That's what I complain of!" he +said discontentedly, eyeing the details of her dress, and pointing with +a long brown finger to the bracelets on her wrist. "All these fixings- +up! Have you grown into a fashionable young lady, by any chance, +Mariquita? Are you going to join the social treadmill, and spend your +time in a rush after gaiety and enjoyment? or are you the same little +girl I used to know, who had an ideal of her own, and wanted to do +something grand and noble with her life? Which of the two is it? I +can't decide!" + +"Oh, Rob!" cried Peggy piteously, and clapped her hands together. "Oh, +Rob, it's both! I do want to be good more than anything else in the +world. That wish is always there, at the very bottom of my heart, and +at any moment, if I were called upon to choose, I would give up +anything--anything! to do what was right. But I want to enjoy myself +too, and to have some fun, and go about to everything that is going on, +and wear pretty clothes, and be--be admired, and praised, and flattered! +There! I couldn't say so to any one else, but I always did confide in +you, Rob; and you won't be shocked. I seem to have two separate sides, +and the worst side is often the strongest. Do you think it is very +wrong of me, Rob? I'm so young, you see, so young, and so fond of +amusement!" + +"Poor little Peg!" said Rob tenderly. "Poor little Peg! You were +always an honest little soul, and owned up about your failings. Well, +there it is, and you must fight it out for yourself. No one can help +you in a case like this, and you'll come out all right in the end, so +long as you keep a true heart. I suppose it's only natural that you +should want your fling. Most girls do, and find a mysterious pleasure +in gadding about, and dressing themselves up like dolls." He scanned +her once again with amused, half-angry admiration. "You are mighty +smart, Miss Mariquita--a very fine bird! It must have taken a long time +to put on all those feathers. Are those what you call your feet? Have +you been going in for the binding system in India, may I ask?" + +"What is the matter with my feet?" queried Peggy, in a tone of injury, +as she stretched out two satin slippers, which seemed suddenly to become +of Liliputian dimensions when contrasted with Rob's huge square-toed +shoes. "They are very useful little feet, and can carry me about just +as well as your great ironclads can carry you. You used to say yourself +that I walked uncommonly well for a girl." + +"I did, and I'm glad to find you have not outgrown the accomplishment. +Do you remember the red Tam o' Shanter, Peggy? I found it on its peg +when I went to the vicarage after you had left, and walked off with it +in my pocket. There was a hue and cry when its loss was discovered, for +it had been kept as a sort of fetish, but I refused to restore it. I'll +give it back to you, though, if you will promise to wear it in the +country when I can see you!" + +"I will, with pleasure, every single day when it's not too hot. Dear +old Tam! It will remind me of our old times together, when we were so +happy, and thought ourselves so miserable, because lessons were hard, or +our plans went wrong, or we couldn't agree. But you and I never +quarrelled, Rob, we were always friends, and--" + +"Partners!" said Rob softly; and Peggy stared fixedly across the room, +and once again the floor described that curious upward tilt, and a +kaleidoscope whirl of colour flew past. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +Ten minutes later Peggy emerged from behind the cluster of palm-trees, +and laid her hand on Rob's arm to accompany him to the refreshment-room +below. + +"You still retain your old weakness for ices, then?" he had asked her, +and the "I--do--so!" which came in reply was so emphatic that it evoked +a hearty laugh of approval. A group of people standing near at hand +turned round to stare with amused curiosity at the tall man and his +little partner who were on such good terms with each other, and one or +two of the men, recognising Rob, bowed to him with an air of surprise. +Then they passed into a second room, and Peggy was instantly aware that +something unusual was in the air, for every one seemed flocking together +in one corner and listening in charmed silence to the sound of one +flute-like voice. Peggy had hardly time to catch the sound of a +familiar lisp before there came a quick exclamation of surprise, and a +radiant vision, all pink and white and glitter of diamonds, glided +forward to meet her. + +"It's Mawiquita! It is! Her own little self! A hundwed welcomes, +Peggy! I've just returned to town, and was coming to see you to-morrow, +the vewy first thing. Lady Norton--evewybody--please excuse me for +running away, but Miss Saville is my vewy deawest fwiend, and I have not +seen her for four whole years, so I really must take possession of her +at once." Rosalind flashed a glance round the group of deserted +admirers, and swept along by Peggy's side, smiling down from her +superior altitude, and indulging in a string of demonstrative welcomes, +at which Rob scowled with heavy eyebrows. As for Peggy, she could only +stare, and gasp, and stare again, and blink her eyes, to discover if +this vision were a veritable piece of flesh and blood, or some beautiful +princess out of a fairy-tale, who would suddenly vanish from her sight. +It was one thing to be told that Rosalind was a celebrated beauty, and +to summon up her features in cold mental survey; it was another and more +impressive experience to see the exquisite colouring of the lovely face, +and meet the beguiling glance of the deep blue eyes. Peggy's heart went +out towards the beautiful creature, and she felt a thrill of complacent +pride in the knowledge that Rosalind had left her other friends on +purpose to enjoy her own society. They sat down in a corner of the +refreshment-room and smiled at one another shyly, while Rob went in +search of ices, for though there was much to say, it was not easy to +know where to begin, and after four years' separation there is a certain +constraint between even the oldest of friends. + +"So this is why Rob turned up to-night. I might have guessed as much!" +cried Rosalind, laughing. "But really, Peggy, I have been so accustomed +to thinking of you in India that I never gwasped the idea that you might +be here, till I looked up and saw you walking acwoss the woom with your +head in the air, and the old Mawiquita stwide. I can't tell you how +glad I am to see you. You must come and stay with me, dear, and I'll +tell you all my news, and we can go about together. When can you come? +We shall be in town for some weeks yet, so any time that suits you will +do for me." + +"I'm afraid I can't make any promises at present, Rosalind, for we are +house-hunting, and when we find what we want we shall be busy getting +all in order. The only visit I mean to pay this summer is to Mrs +Asplin at the vicarage, and I am going there with Mellicent in ten days' +time. Mellicent is here to-night; she is staying with us at the hotel." + +"You don't mean it! Mellicent Asplin here! How extwaordinary it +seems!" Rosalind gave a chilly little laugh, and tilted her chin in the +air. "You are vewy couwageous, Mawiquita. I should never have dared +such an experiment. The Asplins are charming in the country, but they +seem out of place in town. And your first season too! What possessed +you to saddle yourself with such a hopeless burden as poor fat +Mellicent?" + +"Poor fat Mellicent is not hopeless at all; she is so much appreciated +to-night that I've not had a chance of a word with her for the last +hour. She is not fat, and looks far too bonnie to deserve any pity; +besides, I wanted to see her badly, and didn't care a bit about her +appearance. I love the Asplins, and would do anything I could to give +them pleasure. They were unspeakably good to Arthur and to me. I don't +know what we should have done without them all the time we were alone." + +Rosalind's face sobered suddenly, and she gave a struggling sigh. + +"You are just the same as ever, I can see, Mawiquita," she said slowly, +"not changed a bit. I'm so glad you have come home, for I want to speak +to you about--oh, lots of things! You don't know how often I have +thought of you, and said to myself, `I'll ask Peggy! I'll see what +Peggy says!' I've never had a girl fwiend that I cared for so much as +you, and I knew you would say just what you thought, however +disagweeable it might be. I think it's vewy bwave to say disagweeable +things, because even if people take your advice, they are always cwoss +with you for giving it. I like people to like me, so I find out what +they want to do, and tell them it is the vewy wisest plan, and they go +away more pleased with me than ever; but I knew you wouldn't do that, +unless you were vewy much changed. I wanted you to be the same, Peggy, +and I heard some things about you lately which set my mind at rest on +that point. You still use big words, I hear, and are vewy, vewy +dignified when any one ventures to contwadict you, but not too dignified +to pass your neighbour salt instead of sugar, or to pretend to arrange a +fwiend's sash, and then tie it in such a way that the poor thing dwagged +her chair with her when she twied to rise. Not too dignified to play +your old twicks still, Peggy Saville." + +"Who has been telling tales about me?" cried Peggy wrathfully. "A +little bird, indeed! A great big bird, you mean. A big enough bird to +have kept his own counsel. It's a poor thing, if one can't have a +little innocent fun in mid-ocean without having it brought up in +judgment against one in a London drawing-room. I'm disgusted with +Hector! He might have kept silence out of gratitude, at least. I never +took any liberties with him." + +"Perhaps he would have liked it better if you had," said Rosalind slyly, +and her eyes looked into Peggy's with a meaning glance. "It's a good +thing I am so fond of you, my dear, or I should have gwown pwetty tired +of your name during the last few weeks. It was extraordinary how every +conversation with Hector worked wound to Peggy Saville. We could not +even ask him to take a second cup of tea without being told how many +cups Peggy Saville drank, and what were her views about cweam and sugar. +I used to time him by my watch, and see how long it would be before he +managed to intwoduce the subject, and seven and a half minutes was the +wecord. The average was five." + +"Very gratifying, I'm sure! Pleased to hear he has such good taste," +laughed Peggy, trying to carry off her embarrassment by carelessness of +manner. She was by no means deaf to Rosalind's insinuation, and the +knowledge that haughty Hector had been so favourably impressed by her +fascinations could not fail to be agreeable to a girlish heart. Hector +prided himself on being the most supercilious of men, and it was a +triumph to have roused him out of his usual indifference. The love of +power was as strong as ever within Peggy's heart, and, it pleased her to +feel that she could influence this experienced man of the world. There +are many ways in which temptation comes to a young girl, and perhaps +none more subtle than this, for in the beginning it seems so innocent, +yet it leads so often to disastrous results. Peggy would have been +horrified if she had been accused of an intention to flirt with Hector +Darcy, and, to do her justice, she was entirely innocent of such a wish, +but she did distinctly hug the thought that it was "fun" to manage him, +and determined in her heart not to throw away the power which she had +gained. + +At that moment Rob came back with the ices which he had managed to steer +safely across the room, and Peggy casting about in her mind for a change +of subject, was not at all grateful to Rosalind for repeating her last +remarks for her brother's benefit. + +"I am just telling Mawiquita how incessantly Hector has talked about her +since his weturn. It seems strange that they should know each other so +well. Nearly two months you were together, weren't you, Peggy? Two +months is a long time, especially when you are travelling. It is as +good as two years at home. I dare say you feel as if you knew Hector +much better than you do Rob, for it is really six years now since you +two saw much of each other." + +Rosalind spoke with a guileless sweetness of manner, and nothing could +have been more innocent than the expression of her eyes; nevertheless +Peggy suspected that a deliberate intention to annoy lurked behind the +amicable manner, for it was evident that there was no more sympathy than +of old between the brother and sister. She flushed indignantly, and was +about to make a heated reply, when two tall figures appeared in the +doorway, and waved an eager greeting. The older of the two was none +other than Hector Darcy himself--(Tiresome creature! to put in an +appearance at such an inopportune moment!)--and Arthur was his +companion, looking well, what Arthur always _did_ look in his sister's +eyes--the handsomest and most distinguished man in the room. Peggy had +seen him earlier in the evening, but through all the embarrassment of +meeting Hector with his sister's words still ringing in her ears, she +was acutely conscious of every detail of his meeting with Rosalind; her +little rustling movement of agitation, the flash in his eyes, above all, +the eloquent silence with which hand met hand. Alas, poor Arthur! no +need to wonder any longer if he cared, with that look on his face, that +tell-tale light in his eye! After the first quick glance his sister +averted her eyes, as from something sacred, and poured out a flood of +rapid, inconsequent talk to the new-comer. Hector was unaffectedly +delighted at the meeting, and became unusually lively, as he retailed +items of information about different passengers on board the steamer, +whom he had met since his return to England, while Peggy in her turn had +her own little histories to add to the store. + +"You remember the old lady in the alpaca dress who called me a `restful +influence'? It appears she is the head of the millinery department in +one of the Calcutta shops, and was on her way to Paris to study +fashions. We ran across her in a restaurant there, and she told us all +about it, and offered to get my hats at wholesale prices. I thanked her +kindly, but taking note of the fact that she was wearing a purple toque +with trimmings of crimson and green, politely but firmly refused." + +"I should think so, indeed! Terrible old person! How you ever endured +her as you did, I cannot understand. Remember young Chamberlain? +Handsome fellow with big nose and square shoulders. I met him the other +day in Piccadilly with a brand-new wife. Married the week he came back, +after seven years' engagement. Introduced me to his wife with as much +side as if no one had ever been married before!" + +"How sweet of him! He was a really nice man. He always went into the +services on Sunday, and joined ira the hymns, instead of lolling about +at the other end of the deck, like many of the men. He had some friends +travelling second-class, too, and wasn't a bit ashamed of it, but used +to go and see them regularly. I hope he will be very, very happy. Was +she pretty?" + +"Not an atom! Might have been once on a time, perhaps, in the +prehistoric ages, but she is too pale and faded nowadays. By no means +in her first bloom, I assure you." + +"Well, she has lost it in waiting for him, so he would be a mean wretch +if he liked her any the worse. _Such_ a joke! You remember that fat +old man with the crimson face who was so furious with little Miss Muir +when she spoke against Gladstone? He jumped up and down like a Jack in +the Box, and said he was `surprised, madam, that any one of your +intelligence, madam, should be so blinded by prejudice, madam--' You +remember how we looked on from afar, and christened him `A Study in +Scarlet'? Well, two days ago, mother had a letter from Miss Muir +herself, and they are going to be married in August! It seems he never +rested until he converted her to his own views, and then he was so +pleased with her for agreeing with him that this is the result. She +seems so happy, poor old dear, and says that though hot-tempered he has +a warm and loving heart. I notice that people with especially violent +tempers always take refuge behind the plea of loving hearts! Whom else +have you seen?" + +"I had an invitation to call upon the Shores, and went on Sunday week. +Miss Eveline was in greater form than ever. I am sure you would have +liked to see her." + +Peggy shrugged her shoulders viciously. + +"K-r-r-eature! Don't allude to her in my presence, please. No one +shall hear me breathe a word about a member of my own sex, but of all +the miserable, contemptible, mean little wretches that ever breathed, +she was the worst! I'll _never_ have anything to say to a girl who +snubs her own mother before strangers, and makes fun of her poor old +father, because he has given her a better education than he had himself. +One day he was talking to me about the view, and enjoying himself so +much--he really was a most affable old man--when she happened to come up +and overhear him say something about the `Hopen haspect!' She shrugged +her shoulders and smiled at me, and I turned a basilisk countenance upon +her and glared, lit-er-ally gl-ared with anger." Peggy turned her head +with a delighted remembrance of her own severity, then once more +softened into smiles. + +"Any news of my _dear_ friend, General Andrews? You have seen him, of +course? Did he ask for my address?" + +"I am afraid not. I really can't remember that he did." + +Peggy sighed. + +"He promised me a tiger skin," she said sorrowfully, "and a brass tray, +and some carved ivories, and a dressing-gown, and an elephant's foot! +The elephant's foot was to be mounted for me, and he gave me the choice +of how it was to be done, and said he would take it to a skilful man. I +think he must have killed a whole herd of elephants, for he promised a +foot to every girl on board. He was a most promising creature, and his +intentions were admirable. I am sure that at the time he meant all he +said, and I can't blame him for his forgetfulness, for my own memory is +at times sadly defective." + +She glanced roguishly in Rob's face as she concluded, as if recalling +past mishaps, and he smiled in return, but in a strained, unnatural +fashion which she was quick to notice. Rob knew none of the people of +whom she had been talking with his brother, and could enter into none of +the jokes which were associated with their names. It was only natural, +therefore, that he should feel debarred from the conversation. + +Peggy drew a long breath of dismay. What a strange world it was, and +how differently things turned out from what one expected! To think that +at this first meeting it should be _Rob_ who was left out in the cold, +and not Hector; Rob who stood aside and was silent, Hector who laughed +and talked with the ease of intimate friendship! It gave her a +miserable feeling of self-reproach that it should be so; and yet how was +she to blame? The situation had arisen naturally enough. + +She gave a little movement of impatience, and her thoughts went off at a +tangent, while in appearance she was still listening attentively to +Hector's reminiscences. + +Rosalind and Arthur were whispering together with longer pauses between +the sentences than is usual in the converse of friends. She was smiling +into his face in her sweetest, most winsome manner, but he did not look +happy. His face wore the same troubled, fighting expression which his +sister had noticed on the evening of her arrival in London. + +Hector's complacent serenity stood out in soothing relief at once from +Arthur's strain and Rob's moody silence, for moody Rob looked indeed, +with his closed lips and heavy brows. A vivid remembrance flashed into +Peggy's mind of a schoolboy, raising his head from a microscope and +scowling darkly at some unhappy wight who had incurred his displeasure, +and with the remembrance a wild longing to be a school-girl again, in +short frocks and pigtail, a scrap of a school-girl who could swing +herself on to the table to pinch his arm, or mimic each gesture as it +came, pulling her own sleek locks into an imitation of his shaggy crop, +and scowling so darkly that, against his will, he was forced into +laughter. Many a time in the days gone by had she smoothed the "black +dog" off Rob's back in some such fashion; but now the age of propriety +had dawned, and it was not permitted to take such liberties. + +"I'm a lady growed, and I'll act according," said Peggy to herself; "but +dear, dear me, what a handicap it is! He would enjoy it so much, and so +should I. Well, at least I can say I want to go upstairs, and then we +can have another nice talk. I haven't said half or a quarter of what is +in my mind." + +She rose from her seat, turning towards Rob to claim his escort; but +before she had time to speak, Hector's arm was thrust forward, and +Hector's voice protested eagerly: + +"Let me take you. I have so much to tell you yet. Take my arm, and let +me pilot you through the crowd." + +Peggy stood hesitating and uncertain between the two tall brothers. + +"But--" she began feebly, and then looked at Rob, waiting for him to +finish the sentence. + +So far Rob had made no protest, but the moment he met that glance, there +came a sudden flash to the eye, a straightening to the back, which made +a startling transformation in the aspect of the dreamy student. + +As he stood thus, he was as tall as Hector himself; the rugged strength +of his face made him an even more imposing figure. + +"But Peggy came down with me," he said firmly, "and it is my place to +take her back." + +"Nonsense, my dear boy. You have had your talk. It's my turn now. +Peggy and I have a great many things to say to each other, and--" + +"Plenty of opportunities ahead in which to say them. To-night will not +be your only meeting. Take my arm, Peggy," said Rob sternly; and Peggy +gasped and took it, and marched away meek and blushing, conscious to the +very curls on her neck of the amazed disgust with which Hector watched +her retreat. + +Outside, in the corridor, her eyes met Rob's, and she made a little +grimace of alarm. + +"_Now_ you have done it! How furious he looked!" + +"Serve him right," said Rob lightly. "And I'll do it again the very +next time he comes interfering between you and me! There are some +things, Mariquita, that a fellow can _not_ be expected to stand!" + +Peggy gave a happy little trill of laughter. After all, there were some +good points about being grown-up. At that moment she had no hankering +whatever for the days of pigtails and pinafores! + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +Rob went back to The Larches next day, faithful to a decision expressed +to Peggy at the reception. + +"I have seen you now, Peg," he said, "and have gratified my curiosity, +so I shall go back to my work and the country, until such time as you +deign to shed the light of your presence upon us. It's no use staying +here, for you will be up to your ears in engagements all day long, and +I'm never fit to speak to in London, in any case. I hate and detest the +place, and feel in an abominable rage the whole time I am here." + +"How strange--and I love it! I made father take me for a drive on the +top of a City omnibus the other day, and it was just thrilling. I love +the roar and rush and bustle, and the feeling that one is in the very +centre of the world, and that inside those big bare buildings, and among +those jostling crowds, the greatest men in the world are at work, making +literature--making kingdoms--making history! I look at the different +people as they pass, and wonder who they are, and what they are doing +and feeling and thinking. It's like a big, wonderful puzzle, which one +will never, never be able to solve, but which keeps one enthralled and +wondering all the same." + +Rob's dark face softened tenderly as he looked at the little figure +sitting so erect by his side, with the flush of excitement on her +cheeks, and her young eyes aglow with enthusiasm. + +"Or a story-book?" he said gently. "You used always to compare life to +a story-book, Peggy, and comfort yourself in tribulation by the +reflection that it would all work out right in the third volume. Well, +_you_ find your most interesting chapters in the City, and I find mine +under the hedges in a country lane. It's all a matter of taste, but you +have as much right to your opinion as any one else." + +"Oh, but I love the country, too," cried Peggy quickly. "You know I do! +We want to have our home in the country, and I intend to have the most +beautiful garden in the county. I have never yet seen a garden which +came up to my ideal, and I mean to show how things should be managed, +and to enjoy myself ever so much in planning it out. All the same, it +must be near town, so that we can run up when we feel inclined. People +first, and Nature second--them's my sentiments! I could not be happy +separated from my fellow-creatures." + +Rob smiled in a patient, forbearing manner. + +"Women are by nature gregarious. They can't help themselves, poor +things! Whatever they do, they need an audience. It's no satisfaction +to them to possess anything, unless they can show it off to a so-called +friend and make her green with envy. `What is the good of a nice house? +No one sees it!' That is Rosalind's cry, when by any chance we are +without visitors for a week at a time. `What is the use of wearing +pretty clothes? Nobody sees them!' The idea of enjoying a thing for +itself alone is unattainable to the feminine mind." + +"Don't be superior, please! It's so easy to sneer and be sarcastic at +other people's expense. I could scorch you up at this moment if I +chose, but I refrain. Snubbing is a form of wit which has never made +any appeal to my imagination," cried Peggy grandiloquently, and Rob +chuckled to himself with delighted appreciation. + +"Bravo, Mariquita! Score for you! I hide my diminished head. Look +here, though, I've got an idea which I present as a peace-offering. If +you don't succeed in getting a house near town, what do you say to Yew +Hedge, in our neighbourhood? It's to be sold, and you used to admire it +in the old days, I remember. It's a quaint, old-fashioned place, with a +drawing-room out of which you could make great things; six acres of +land, and some fine trees. Altogether you might do worse, and although +it is further in the country than you wish, there are several human +creatures in the neighbourhood who would be delighted to welcome you!" + +"Rob, you admirable person! You have the most delightful ideas! Yew +Hedge! I have never been inside the house itself, but I remember +peeping over the hedge and admiring the grounds, and it would be just +scrumptious to be near you all. I'll speak to father about it at once, +and it will be a comfort to have something in the background, to keep up +our spirits if our search continues to be as unsuccessful as it is at +present." + +Another week's house-hunting proved the truth of Peggy's words, for if +it had not been for the thought of Yew Hedge, the wanderers would have +begun to think that there was no resting-place for them within their +native land. House after house was visited, and house after house +proved unsuitable or, in those rare instances when all requirements were +fulfilled, so far beyond Colonel Saville's purse as to transform +perfection into aggravation, pure and simple. It seemed as though Fate +were shutting every avenue in order to advocate the claim of Yew Hedge; +but, though Peggy secretly rejoiced over the fact, she could not induce +Arthur to share her feelings. + +"It's a charming old place, I grant you," he said, on one of the +precious, too rare occasions when brother and sister found an +opportunity for a confidential chat, "and, personally, I think nothing +of the distance. When you are once settled in the train, you might as +well have an hour and a half's journey as forty or fifty minutes', but +there are other considerations. For my own sake I wish the house had +been situated anywhere in the kingdom but just where it is--within half +a mile's distance of the Darcys'." + +Peggy looked up quickly, for this was the nearest approach to a +confidence which Arthur had made, and though she did not wish to force +him into speech, she was equally anxious not to miss an opportunity. + +"You mean, Arthur, you mean because of--" + +Arthur rose from his seat, and paced restlessly up and down the room. + +"I mean, Peg, that I want to be with you dear people as much as +possible, and at the same time to see as little as possible of--other +people! When one is perfectly conscious of a temptation, the wisest +plan is to keep out of its way. It is no use deliberately playing with +fire, and then praying to be `delivered.' I've thought out that subject +for myself through some pretty hard times these last few years, and have +come to a final conclusion. We must do our own share in keeping away +from the danger, and not trifle away the strength we ask for. This is a +little confidence for yourself alone, dear. I don't care to worry the +parents with my affairs, or to influence their choice, but I want you to +know the reason if I don't enter into your plans so heartily as you +expect." + +"But, Arthur dear, it seemed--it struck me that `other people' seemed to +find it a temptation too! Surely if you both--" + +"Then I must think for both, and be the more careful. The hardest +temptation of all, Peg, is one that seems just within grasp, but of +which conscience says one should not take advantage. Think what this +means! I have a hundred or two a year from the dear old godfather, and +a few more for my salary--in all about as much as a fashionable lady +would spend on clothes and jewellery. Even with what my father and-- +hers might be willing to add, it would mean comparative poverty for +years to come, and some people are not made for poverty, and could not +be happy under such conditions." + +"There are things which are worth more than money!" + +"To you and me, yes, Peg, a thousand times, but not to every one! The +bent of a lifetime does not easily alter. One may think it does under +the stress of strong feeling, but it is a very difficult matter when it +comes to living a restricted life day after day, month after month, and +to giving up the luxuries and pleasures to which one has been +accustomed. It is better to face a definite sorrow, than life-long +regret and repining." Arthur's face hardened into a determination which +had in it a sadness which Peggy was quick to understand. The bitterest +drop in the poor fellow's cup was the consciousness that the girl whom +he loved was neither strong nor unselfish enough to value happiness +before worldly prosperity, and his sister's heart grew hot with +indignation at the thought that any one dared to think herself too good +for Arthur Saville! + +"I hope and pray, Arthur, that when the time comes for you to marry, +your wife will realise that she is a most blessedly fortunate woman, and +not harbour any delusions about making a martyr of herself! You are +perfectly right in wishing to keep out of the way under the +circumstances, and I will do the same. I never wish to see `other +people' again, or to speak to her, or to have anything whatever to do +with her." + +"If you want to please me, you will see as much of her as you can, for +you can help the poor girl more than any one else. She is fond of you, +and knows that you return her affection." + +"I don't! I won't! How can I be fond of her when she makes you +unhappy? If you are not grand enough for her, then neither am I; but I +have yet to learn that the Savilles are unworthy of any alliance which +they may choose to make. I can't be a hypocrite even to please you, +Arthur, and I'll have nothing more to say to Rosalind Darcy from this +hour!" protested Peggy violently, then suddenly melted into tears, and +laying her head on Arthur's shoulder, proceeded to contradict every word +she had spoken. "Yes, I will! I'll do anything you want, but, oh, why +did you do it? Why did you fall in love at all? Why couldn't you go on +loving me best, and being happy and comfortable?" + +Peggy wept and moaned, and Arthur shook her by the shoulder with all a +man's horror at the sight of tears. + +"Hold hard, Peg! Hold hard! For pity's sake don't cry! Your eyes will +be crimson in another moment, and the Rollos will be coming in to tea, +and wondering what on earth is the matter. So unbecoming, too! What a +funny little fright you do look, to be sure!" said Arthur shrewdly, and +chuckled in triumph as Peggy stopped short in the middle of a sob, and, +with two tears in the very act of rolling down her nose, rushed to the +nearest mirror and began dabbing at her face with a minute pocket- +handkerchief. + +"Horrors! They do look red. I'll go up to my room and stand in a +draught, and you must keep the visitors occupied till I come down. +Don't let father get impatient. I'll come back the moment I am +respectable," she cried, and flew breathlessly from the room, just in +time to avoid Mrs and Miss Rollo, who entered by another door. + +The "country cousin" sight-seeing had been carried on with much gusto in +the intervals of house-hunting, and more than once Eunice Rollo had been +included in the party, for, like many Londoners born and bred, she had +neglected to visit places close at hand, and was delighted to have so +pleasant an opportunity of making their acquaintance. + +The three girls spent an afternoon in the British Museum, and discussed +Mollusks and Lepidoptera with surreptitious pauses to yawn behind the +glass cases, until the first barriers of formality were broken down by +the fascination of Egyptian mummies, and the thrilling, imaginary +histories which Peggy wove concerning their life on earth. They went +over the Tower, and enlivened the tedium of a Beefeater's life by +discussing in his presence how best to steal the treasured Koh-i-nor; +and finally, they visited the National Gallery, and on their return +Mellicent and Eunice sat on Peggy's bed, while that young person +represented some of the celebrated portraits for their benefit, with the +aid of such properties as the room afforded. + +"Portrait of a young girl, by Sir Peter Lely," announced the clear +voice; and the audience turned their heads, to behold a demure visage +framed by braided hairy a white towel pinned severely across the +shoulders, and a milk-white blossom held in a mittened hand. The chintz +curtain with its bouquets of flowers made an admirable background for +the youthful figure, and the lamb-like innocence of expression was +touching to behold. Eunice gripped her companion's arm and pointed +breathlessly to the feet peeping out beneath the short white skirt. The +flat black shoes with the sandal-like crossings were the exact +counterpart of those in the picture; but how in the name of mystery had +Peggy managed to produce them? Eunice discussed the question with +Mellicent in the pause during which they were requested to "look the +other way," and had reached the solution of goloshes and ribbon, when +"Gloriana, by Rubens!" was introduced to their notice. + +Miss Peggy reclined against a background of cushions, beamingly +conscious of a transformation so complete as to be positively startling +to behold. A trio of sponges pinned round the head gave the effect of +an elaborate coiffure, above which was perched a scarlet turban +decorated by half-a-dozen brooches, holding in position as many +feathers; a blue dressing-gown opened over an underskirt composed of an +eiderdown quilt, which gave an appropriately portly air to the figure, +and by some mysterious process a double chin had been produced for the +occasion! Gasps of delight from the bed greeted this masterpiece; but +the third impersonation was most successful of all, when the audience +shrieked aloud to behold Lady Macbeth glaring upon them from a yard's +distance, enveloped in bath sheets, and wearing such an expression of +horror on her face as chilled the blood to behold! + +"Not all the spices of Arabia can sweeten this little hand!" hissed +Peggy, shaking her little paw in the air, while Mellicent screamed with +delight and pounded the ground with her heels, and Eunice lay prone +against the bedpost in a silent paroxysm of laughter. To see Eunice +Rollo laugh was a delightful experience, and one which was worth some +trouble to enjoy. Not a sound issued from her lips, not an exclamation +marked her enjoyment; like a helpless image she sat, and shook, and +trembled, and quivered from head to foot, while her face grew pink, and +the tears rose in her eyes, and streamed unheeded down her cheeks. The +sight of her, dumb, shaking, weeping--roused the other girls to +uncontrollable mirth, and the louder they laughed, the more did Eunice +weep; the more violently did they gesticulate and prance about the room, +the closer did she hug her bedpost, the more motionless she appeared. + +To be forced into laughter, real, honest, uncontrollable laughter, as +opposed to the forced guffaw of society, seemed a new experience to this +only child of busy and pre-occupied parents; and it needed only Arthur's +assurance that he had never seen the girl so bright and animated to put +the final touch to Peggy's growing liking. + +On the present occasion Eunice and her mother had come to tea at the +hotel, and as Rosalind and Hector were also expected within the next +half-hour, it was quite necessary that Peggy should get her eyes in +order without delay. She was not in a mood to give a cordial welcome to +the destroyer of her brother's happiness, and, despite her efforts to +the contrary, there was a chill in her manner which Rosalind was quick +to note. It worried her, as it had worried her in the old girlish days +when Peggy Saville had refused to pay the homage which she expected from +her companions, and now, as then, she put forth all her fascinations in +order to subdue the unruly spirit. The princess in the fairy-tale +seemed again the only creature to whom to compare her as she sat +enthroned on the sofa, her lovely face alight with smiles and dimples. +Eunice Rollo looked like a little grey mouse beside her, the very colour +seeming to be absorbed from her face by the brilliancy of the contrast, +while bonnie Mellicent appeared of a sudden awkward and blousy. + +"Rosalind makes every one else look a fright, the moment she comes into +a room. I shudder to think of the guy I must appear. Poor dear Arthur! +I don't wonder at his devotion. She is so lovely that she fascinates +one in spite of oneself!" sighed Peggy, trying to harden herself against +the glances of the sweet caressing eyes, and feeling her heart softening +with every moment that passed. + +All her thoughts were centred on Rosalind and Arthur, and she presided +over the tea-tray with a sublime absence of mind which afforded Hector +Darcy much amusement. His own cup was filled last of all, and seating +himself beside her he gravely extracted from it six separate lumps of +sugar, which he ranged in a neat little row on a plate. + +"Seeing that you asked me twice over if I took sugar, and on hearing +that I did not, immediately ladled in the largest pieces you could find, +I conclude that there is something weighing on your mind," he said +markedly. "What is it? Nothing unpleasant, I hope--nothing serious?" + +"A bad habit of thinking of several things at the same time, coupled +with the fatigues of a London season. That is the explanation!" sighed +Peggy, patting the discarded lumps into a pulp with her spoon, and +moulding them into pyramid shape with as earnest an air as if her life +depended on the operation. "We have been terribly energetic--flying +about all day long and living in a perfect whirl of excitement." + +"And yet I never meet you. I look out for you every day, but in vain. +We never seem to go to the same places." + +"Ah, you are among the rank and fashion, you see, and we are country +cousins doing the sights. You visit the real people, and we stare at +the images at Madame Tussaud's. You attend private views, and we go in +with the rabble. You go to luncheon parties at The Star and Garter, and +we have buns and tea in an ABC shop, and pay an extra penny for cream. +We move in different circles, Major Darcy," cried Peggy, with a toss of +the head which contradicted the humility of her words. "It is not to be +expected that we should meet. To-morrow morning we are going to the +Zoo." + +The big officer looked down at her with admiring eyes, paused just long +enough to give added effect to his words, and then said deliberately: + +"May I go with you?" + +"Certainly not!" replied Peggy promptly; and when Hector demanded her +reason, "You would be too great a strain upon us," she explained. "We +should have to behave properly if you were there, and that would spoil +the fun. You would be shocked at our behaviour, or if you were not +shocked, you would be bored, and that would be even more disastrous." + +"Try me and see. There is no fear of my being bored, and I promise +faithfully to be so far from shocked that I will do every single thing +that you do yourself." + +"Go round with the crowd and see the animals feed?" + +"Certainly, if you wish it." + +"Give biscuits to the elephants?" + +"With pleasure! I'd do anything for an elephant. Finest beast you can +find." + +"And nuts to the monkeys?" + +"Er--is that a necessary condition? I really cannot face the monkey- +house in this weather." + +"Walk round the parrot-house and examine every cage, and offer your +finger to be bitten?" + +"I would wait outside until you came back." + +"That's shirking. If I let you off the monkeys, I should insist upon +the parrots; but the most important of all is the dromedary. Will you +have a penny ride with us round the grounds on the back of a dromedary?" + +"My dear Peggy! Anything in reason to enjoy the pleasure of your +society, but really--" + +"Nobody shall come with us to the Zoo who is too proud to ride on the +dromedary," said Peggy firmly. "I told you you would be shocked, and +you see I was right; but Mellicent and I have no pride at all where +animals are concerned, and we intend to do every possible thing that can +be done. We will have to defer our next meeting for another occasion, +Major Darcy." + +"Not longer than Fwiday, I hope, Peggy," interrupted Rosalind sweetly. +"I want you to keep Fwiday afternoon disengaged, and come with us to +Lady B's garden-party, which will be one of the things of the season. +The Pwince and Pwincess will be there, and everybody who is in town, and +there is to be a pastowal play beneath the trees, so that altogether it +will be worth seeing. You will come, won't you, Peggy? You really must +pwomise to come." + +"The Prince and Princess! Oh, how lovely! I'm simply dying to see the +Princess! Only yesterday I said that I could not bear to go away +without seeing her. If she were at a garden-party, we could get quite +near, and see her face, and her clothes, and hear her speak. How +_simply_ lovely!" ejaculated Mellicent rapturously. "Oh, we must go, we +must manage it! We have no engagement for Friday, Peggy, have we? +Nothing that could not be put off?" + +The idea that she herself might not have been included in Rosalind's +invitation had never occurred to Mellicent's innocent mind. Since her +arrival in town she had been treated as an honoured guest, and if on any +occasion it had been impossible for both girls to enjoy a pleasure, it +had been Peggy who stayed at home and gave place to her friend. +Mellicent had wondered more than once when Rosalind Darcy intended to do +her share towards the entertainment of her vicar's daughter, and now was +aglow with delight on receiving the invitation which of all others she +had most desired. She was too much excited to notice Rosalind's +discomfited surprise, but awakening came all too soon. + +"Dear Mellicent, I am sowwy, but I cannot take more than one fwiend," +she murmured caressingly. "Evewybody is asking for invitations, and it +would not do to encroach too far on Lady B's hospitality. Another time, +when Peggy is not going, I should be delighted to take you with me--" + +"But, Rosalind, I can't go on Friday. I am dreadfully disappointed, for +it is just the sort of thing I should love, and if I had only an +ordinary engagement I would put it off, but it is not. An old school- +friend of mother's is coming up from the country especially to see us, +and we could not possibly put her off, as we have already had no end of +difficulty to fix a day. Letters and telegrams have been flying to and +fro, and if we altered the date there is no saying when we should meet. +I am very, very sorry, but it is impossible to go with you." + +"But surely you could be spared for the afternoon! You would see your +fwiend in the morning, and at dinner--" + +"She won't arrive until lunch-time, and must leave again at six o'clock. +She will travel four hours in the train just to spend the afternoon +with us, so I could not possibly go out; but there is no reason why +Mellicent should stay in too. She could go instead of me." + +Peggy would not have ventured to make such a suggestion had not +Rosalind's own protestations opened the way, but as it was she felt no +diffidence in making it, and the change from despair to rapture on her +friend's expressive face went far to console her for her own +disappointment. But if Mellicent's expression was significant, +Rosalind's was even more so. Her lips tightened, the colour deepened in +her cheeks, and her eyes sent forth an unmistakable gleam of vexation. +She hated being forced into an unpleasant position, but there was one +thing which she would hate even more--to be obliged to take a dowdily +dressed, countrified-looking visitor to one of the social events of the +season, and at all risks this must be avoided. Mellicent would probably +be offended, Peggy furious, Arthur pained and disappointed--she knew it +beforehand, and lamented the knowledge; but, as Arthur had said, the +bent of a lifetime is too strong to be overcome in a moment. Rosalind +would have been ready to protest that she cared a hundred times more for +her friends' feelings than for her own dignity, but when it came to the +test she sacrificed them without hesitation in the interest of selfish +pride. + +"I am sowwy, but if you cannot go, Peggy, I think we had better leave it +alone for the pwesent. Some day we may all be able to arrange to go +together, but Lady B's will be a gweat cwush, and I shall meet many +fwiends, and be so much engrossed. Mellicent would not enjoy herself +without you. She would know nobody." + +There was a dead silence. Hector stared at his shoes; Peggy gave a +short, _staccato_ cough; and Arthur looked swiftly across the room, to +see how Mellicent bore herself beneath this unmerited snub. She was +seated on the sofa beside Eunice Rollo, slightly in advance of himself, +so that only a crimson cheek _was_ visible, and a neck reddened to the +roots of the hair, but Arthur saw something else, which touched him even +more than his old friend's distress--a little grey-gloved hand which +shot out from its owner's side and gripped the broad waist; a little +hand that stroked, and patted, and pressed close in sympathetic embrace. +Arthur's lips twitched beneath his moustache, but he said no word; and +presently Rosalind rose and took her departure, feeling the atmosphere +too charged with electricity to be agreeable. + +Contrary to his usual custom, Arthur did not accompany her downstairs, +so that he returned from the door in time to hear the explosion of +indignation which followed her departure. Mellicent stamped up and down +the floor, breathless and tearful; Eunice stared at the floor; and Peggy +sat erect as a poker, with a bright spots of colour on either cheek, and +lips screwed into a tight little button of scorn. + +"Don't speak to me!" she was saying. "Don't ask my opinion. I am +bereft of speech. Never, in all my existence, have I ever beheld such +an exhibition of snobbish disloyalty--" + +"Mellicent, my mother has a ticket," put in Eunice. "You can go with +her and take my place. I have seen the Princess scores of times. Oh, +please don't cry, it isn't worth it, indeed it isn't!" + +"I'd scorn to cry. I wouldn't condescend to shed a tear for the nasty +horrid thing!" cried Mellicent, mopping with her handkerchief at the +continuous stream which rolled down her cheeks. "It is she who should +cry, not I. If I _am_ poor and shabby, I know how to behave. I'm a +lady, and Rosalind Darcy is a c-cad. She _is_, and I don't care who +hears me say it! I've known her all my life, and she's ashamed to be +seen with me. I'll go home to-morrow, I will! I'll stay at home where +people love me, and don't choose their friends for the cl-clothes they +wear!" + +Mellicent burst into fresh tears, and Peggy looked anxiously into +Arthur's face. It was drawn and fixed, and his lips were set, as if in +endurance of actual physical pain. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +Four days before Peggy left town she had an amusing encounter with one +of her old friends. The little party had divided, and while Mrs +Saville and Mellicent shopped in the West End, the colonel and his +daughter drove into the City to visit a collection of the pictures of +one of the old masters. They were sauntering through the second room +when Peggy's attention was attracted by a group standing at a few yards' +distance--a lady, a gentleman, and two little boys with Eton collars and +round-about jackets--a family group for a ducat, yet surely, surely +there was something familiar in the figure and bearing of the supposed +mother! She was tall and dignified, her clothes were quite miraculously +tidy, and the smooth, fair hair was plaited in Puritan fashion round the +head. + +"Can it--can it be?" queried Peggy to herself; then, catching sight of a +long grave face, "It _is_!" she cried with a flash of joy, and walking +forward, planted herself deliberately in the stranger's path. What she +anticipated came precisely to pass, for the lady stepped back from her +position, collided violently with herself, and began hurriedly to +apologise. + +"I beg your pardon! I did not see--I hope I have not hurt you." So far +in fluent unconsciousness; then suddenly she stopped short, gasped, +hesitated, stared hard at the face before her, and ejaculated a +breathless, "_Peggy--Saville_!" + +"Esther Asplin! I knew it was you! I knew no one else in the world +could possess that back hair! How extraordinary to come across you +here! It's a marvel that Mellicent was not with me, but we were both +looking forward to seeing you at the vicarage at the end of the week!" + +"I am on my way home now. I go down by the six o'clock train, and took +the opportunity of bringing the boys into town to see some of the +sights. They are such dears, Peggy. The one with the red hair is a +genius. You should see his Latin prose! The fat one is a lovable +little soul, but terribly stupid and lazy; a great trial to my patience. +I suppose Mellicent has told you all about my work, and how happy I am? +The parents are such charming, cultivated people. The mother is a +sister of Professor Reid, the gentleman who is with us now." She rolled +her eyes meaningly towards the cadaverous-looking man who had fled to +the end of the room at Peggy's approach. "He was one of our lecturers +at Girton, and recommended me to his sister when I left. Such an honour +for me, for he is one of the finest men in the `Varsity'--So wonderfully +learned and clever!" + +"He _looks_ it," remarked Miss Peggy, regarding the lanky, stooping +figure with a crinkle of disdain in her saucy little nose. "Just +exactly my idea of a learned professor. Does he ever brush his coat?" + +Esther flushed, and bridled with displeasure. + +"I never inquired," she returned coldly. "In conversation with +Professor Reid one has something better to do than discuss coats. He +was kind enough to offer to meet us in town, and to take the boys home +after I leave to-night, and it is a privilege to go about with him. +I'll introduce you to him if you like, and--" + +"You'd better not. I am sure he wouldn't like it. Let me introduce you +to father instead. He is wondering what new friend I have discovered, +and will be so much interested when he knows who it is." + +Colonel Saville came forward in response to his daughter's summons, and +greeted her friend with much cordiality, while Peggy was agreeably +surprised to note the easy self-possession with which Esther sustained +her part in the conversation. Contact with the world had rubbed away +the rusticity of manner which still characterised Mellicent, and though +by no possibility could Esther be called pretty, there was an undeniable +attractiveness about the tall, neat figure and intellectual face. Peggy +knew that her father was agreeably impressed, for the colonel had a +tell-tale expression, and could by no possibility manage to hide his +feelings. If he were bored, dreariness feebly described his appearance; +if he were annoyed, his eyes sent out little sparks of fire, and every +hair in his moustache bristled on its own account; if he were sad, he +lost in five minutes the last remnant of youth, and appeared a wan old +man; while if he were pleased, he might have passed as Arthur's brother, +so alert and beaming was his demeanour. On the present occasion he was +all smiles and bows, and joked elaborately with the little pupils, who +were brought up and introduced, when, to Peggy's amusement, the genius +preserved a stolid demeanour, while the fat, little dunce displayed an +agreeable animation. + +"An exceedingly sensible, pleasant young woman," was the colonel's +verdict as he left the room; and Peggy peered round over her shoulder, +and beheld the sensible young woman rearranging the fat boy's tie while +the professor cautiously retraced his steps towards her. + +A few days later Peggy scrambled her possessions together to prepare for +her visit to the vicarage. Carter, Mrs Saville's maid, had departed to +pay a visit to her relatives in the country, and in her absence her +young mistress complacently folded her dressing-gown on top of muslin +dresses, pressed a jewel-box over a chiffon bodice, and remarked, with a +sigh of satisfaction, that it was a blessing to be able to wait on +oneself, and to be beholden to no outsider; after which she straight-way +left her keys on the dressing-table, and drove off to the station in +blissful unconsciousness. Mellicent was divided between grief at +leaving dear, beautiful, exciting London and anticipation of the +reflected glory with which she would shine at home as the restorer of +Peggy to the household; and in the vicarage itself all was excitement +and expectation, the old cook concocting every dainty she could think of +in a kitchen heated up to furnace-heat; Mr Asplin mowing the lawn in +hot haste, because the daisies _would_ spring up in impertinent fashion +in the hot dry weather; Mrs Asplin flying from one room to another, +patting cushions into shape, and artfully placing little tables over +worn spots on the carpet; and Miss Esther laying out clean towels, and +flicking infinitesimal grains of dust from the chairs and tables. The +sight of disorder was a positive pain to Esther's orderly eyes. It was +reported of her that in the midst of a Latin examination she had begged +to have a blind put straight, since its crooked condition distracted her +mind; and therefore it may be surmised that on the present occasion +Robert Darcy met with no very cordial reception, when he was discovered +stamping about the newly swept rooms in a pair of dusty shoes, +scattering fragments of leaves and stubble behind him. + +"Bless the child, it will seem all the more home-like to her if it's not +all spick and span! Don't pick them up, Esther. I like to see them. +It was good of you to come over, Rob, for I'm not myself at all without +a boy in the house, and it does me good to see your dear dirty boots," +cried Mrs Asplin, and blinked her eyes, trying hard to keep down the +tears which _would_ rise at the thought of Max in his far-off home, and +all the train of mischievous, happy-hearted lads who had been under her +care, and who were now fighting the world for themselves. Every morning +as she woke, and felt the tired pressure at her head, she felt a pang of +relief at the remembrance that there was no longer the old necessity to +be up and doing. Every evening as she rested on the old sofa she +remarked afresh to her husband how sweet it was to be alone, and to have +the rest and peace of a quiet house; but between the two ends of the day +there came a dozen other moments, when she longed for the cheery bustle, +the clamour of youthful voices, the presence of the merry young band. +Such a moment came to her now, and the tears were already glistening in +the sweet grey eyes when the sound of wheels crunched up the drive, the +vicar dashed into the house to shed his alpaca coat, and his wife and +daughter flew excitedly into the garden. The carriage stopped, a blue- +robed damsel leapt out of either door, and for the next two minutes four +female figures were so inextricably mixed together that it would have +been difficult to an onlooker to say which was which, or to apportion +the waving arms and bobbing heads to their proper owners. The vicar +stood in the background, looking on with a comical gleam of amusement on +his long face, while Rob shrugged his shoulders and looked bored and +superior, as men are fond of doing when women enjoy themselves in a way +which they themselves cannot understand. Presently, however, the +kaleidoscope-like mass dissolved into its component parts, and a young +lady advanced towards the vicar with a pretty flushed face beneath a +French hat, and two little hands stretched out in greeting. Mr Asplin +looked at her critically. _Was_ it Peggy? For a moment memory was +baffled by the sight of the elegant young lady, but a second glance +revealed the well-known features--the arched brows and kitten-like chin. +For the rest, the hazel eyes were as clear and loving as ever, and the +old mischievous gleam shone through the tears. + +"Is it Mariquita?" he cried, and Peggy stood on tiptoe to kiss his +cheek, and hung on to the lapels of his coat, saying tremulously: + +"No, it's Peggy! I never was Mariquita, you know, unless I was going to +be scolded in the study; and you couldn't possibly scold me the first +day. Are you half as pleased to see me as I am to be back again?" + +"God bless you, child!" he said softly, and laid a tender hand on her +cheek. The bud had blossomed into a flower; the little school-girl whom +he had loved so well had grown into a woman, and her early grace and +charm were sweet in the old man's sight. He thanked God for them, as he +thanked Him for all beautiful things--the sunshine which gave colour to +the flowers, the green restfulness of the land, the song of the birds in +the trees. "You are very welcome, dear. It does me good to see you +among us once again." + +"And looking so well. You are quite blooming, Peggy; and so smart as +she is too! Deary, deary me, is that what they call the fashion?" cried +Mrs Asplin, holding the girl in outstretched arms, and turning her +slowly round and round, to take in the details of her attire. "You look +so spruce, child, that I hardly knew you; but there, it won't be long, I +expect, before the true Peggy peeps out. Come in, darling. There's a +new rug in the hail; don't trip over it! We have been saying we needed +it for five years back, but it was bought only last week, to smarten the +house for your coming. Those are Esther's certificates in the corner, +and you must see the new cretonne in the drawing-room. All the chairs +are recovered. We finished them only last week." + +"Tut, tut!" cried Peggy, and shook her head in dismay at such reckless +extravagance. She had not had a chance of exchanging any further +greeting with Rob than a smiling nod, while she and Esther cast curious +glances at one another across the room, renewing the impressions of +their first meeting. Peggy thought it one of the prettiest sights in +the world to see Mrs Asplin hang on to the vicar's arm and drag him +with her about the house, forgetful of everything but her instinctive +desire to be near him in her rejoicing; the prettiest thing in the world +to see the tenderness in his eyes. She looked at them mischievously, +and then of a sudden her own eyes began to blink, for all those four +years of absence had left their mark on the dear faces; they had changed +as well as herself; but with them it was not the blossoming of the bud +into the flower, it was rather the losing of those last leaves which had +lingered from life's summer. The vicar's shoulders were more bowed; the +lines on his face more deeply graven; his wife's hair had grown silvery +about the temples, and the pathetic, tired look in the grey eyes must +surely be permanent nowadays, since not even the excitement of meeting +could chase it away. She was even sweeter-looking than of old, but had +she always been so thin, so transparently delicate in colour? Do what +she would, Peggy could not keep back her tears, and Mrs Asplin caught +sight of them, and produced her own handkerchief in instant response. + +"Ah, Peg, I know what you are thinking. The old home is not like itself +without the boys. I feel it too, dear, I feel it too. Not a single boy +would we have had in the place, if Rob had not taken pity on us, bless +him! It seems so strange after having had so many of them all these +years." + +"It seems very quiet and peaceful, if you ask me! and if I'm _not_ a +boy, I've been away, and I do think I deserve a little attention!" cried +Mellicent, aggrieved. "If it had been Max who had come home, you +wouldn't all be crying and moaning for the girls. You would forget +there were such things in the world. It's not our fault that we happen +to be girls, and we have our feelings all the same. No one speaks to +me! No one says they are pleased to see me! No one makes the slightest +fuss because I am home!" + +"Darling!" cried her mother, and rushed to take her in her arms. "My +precious baby, I'm just delighted to have you back; but you know how it +is--the thought of old times made me sad for the moment. We seemed such +a small party without the boys." + +Mellicent grimaced and hitched her shoulders in petulant fashion. Then +she looked at Peggy, and a flash of amusement passed from eye to eye. + +"Let's have tea!" she said shortly. "It's good for the spirits, and we +are both hungry. It's to be in the schoolroom, I suppose, mother, as we +asked. Peggy died to have tea there again, and was so afraid that it +would be laid out in style in the drawing-room that she made me ask you +to have it exactly the same as in the old times. I told her it was no +use, that you would have out all the best things, whatever we said." + +"But you didn't, Mrs Asplin, did you? There are halfpenny buns, aren't +there, and scones, and damson jam, and the old thick cups and saucers?" + +"Bless me, no, child! The very best china; cakes from Buzzard's, with +icing on the top, strawberries and cream, and every luxury you can +imagine. The schoolroom, yes; but you don't suppose I'd feed my +prodigal on halfpenny buns! Come and see all the good things that are +waiting;" and Mrs Asplin led the way towards the schoolroom, with the +complacent air of a housekeeper who has reason to be satisfied with her +preparations, while the two girls followed with elbows in suspiciously +close proximity. Another moment and the door was thrown open, when Mrs +Asplin immediately gave a shriek of surprise, and fell prone against the +wall. There stood the long table, set out with flowers and silver, and, +in the centre seat, sat a handsome frock-coated figure, with every dish +and plate of edibles massed around him in a solid circle of temptation. +The silver cake-basket was in the centre, plates of scones, macaroons, +and biscuits bordered each side; while the interstices were filled in +with bowls containing jam and fruit. On his own plate there were piled +at one and the same moment, a meringue, a slice of plum cake, two +biscuits, and a jam tart, and, in default of tea, he had filled his cup +from the cream jug, and was even at this moment wiping the tell-tale +drops from his moustache. + +"That blessed boy!" cried Mrs Asplin, clasping her hands in delight. +"There never was any one like him. He guessed how I should feel--he +always _did_ guess! I might have known that he would come. But how? +When? Where? He was not in the carriage with the girls." + +"Got out at the gate, mater, and came in at the window. Wanted to get a +start of you all at tea," said Arthur, coming forward, serviette in +hand, to receive the kiss and hug of welcome which he was never too old +to enjoy. He had divined that Peggy's advent would make the gap in the +household even more felt than usual, and his kindly instinct had been to +fill that gap as much as possible; but no other reason would he +acknowledge for his presence than the necessity of escorting two +frivolous young women who could not be trusted to take a journey on +their own account, and his hosts were too full of delight at his +appearance to dispute the point. + +"Second fiddle!" sighed Peggy with a shrug. "It's meself that's second +fiddle this moment, when 'twas the whole orchestra I expected to be. +Take me away, somebody, before I break down altogether, and show me some +of the old haunts until tea is ready." + +"Peggy, don't be absurd!" Esther said solemnly; but Peggy marched +determinedly out of the room, and, with the exception of Mr and Mrs +Asplin and Arthur, every one followed and stood looking on while she +pushed open the swing door of the cloak-room, and poked her little head +round the corner. + +"Where's my peg?" she cried. "If I find any other wretched creature's +clothes hanging on my peg, I'll--" then she stopped suddenly, darted +forward with a squeal of delight, and closed the door behind her. She +was not hidden more than a minute, but in effect it seemed to have been +a long, long time, for when the door reopened, the French hat had +disappeared, and it was the real old Peggy-Pickle who smiled and nodded +and peaked her brows beneath the scarlet cap. + +"The Tam o' Shanter! Rob has brought it back after all these years. He +kept it until you could wear it again. Goodness, how touching! I never +thought _you_ would turn sentimental, Rob!" cried Mellicent the +tactless, and the next moment devoutly wished she had held her peace, as +Rob scowled, Esther pinched her arm, and Peggy trod on her toe with +automatic promptness. She turned on her heel and strode back to the +dining-room, while Peggy flicked the cap off her head, trying hard to +look unconscious, and to continue her investigations as if nothing +embarrassing had occurred. + +"There's the old stain on the floor where I spilt the ink, and the +little marks all the way upstairs where the corners of my box took off +the paint. Dear, dear, how home-like they look! I must see cook after +tea, and Diddums, my sweet little kitten. How is the darling? As +pretty and fluffy and playful as ever?" + +"Peggy dear, do _not_ be silly!" + +"Esther dear, I cannot help it! I'm too happy to be sensible. Let me +be silly for just one day. _What_, is that Diddums? That ugly, lanky, +old cat? You've aged terribly, Diddums, since I saw you last. Ah me, +ah me, the years tell on us all! Tell me, dear--be faithful!--are you +as much shocked at the change in _me_?" + +Peggy looked up archly, and met Rob's deep, earnest gaze. She put down +the cat, rose suddenly, and thrust her hand through Esther's arm. Her +cheeks were very pink, her eyes astonishingly bright. Esther looked at +her critically, and pursed up her lips in disapproving fashion. + +Certainly Peggy had grown into a very pretty girl, but it was a thousand +pities that she had not yet outgrown the eccentricities of her youth. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +When Peggy had been staying a week at the vicarage, her parents came +down from town on a two days' visit, especially arranged to give them an +opportunity of looking over Yew Hedge. Colonel Saville's scant supply +of patience was fast giving out beneath the strain of disappointment, +and he declared his intention of buying the first habitable house he +saw, while his wife and daughter were reluctantly forced to the +conclusion that it was impossible to procure an ancestral estate at the +price of a suburban villa. Yew Hedge, therefore, appeared the refuge of +the destitute, and a fly being hired from the village inn, and Mrs +Asplin invited to take the fourth seat, the little party drove off to +inspect the house in mingled hope and fear. + +The thick hedge which gave the name to the house skirted the country +road for some hundreds of yards, while a carriage drive of commonplace +propriety led up to a square stone house, which could by no possibility +have been termed either beautiful or picturesque. Mrs Saville's face +fell into an expression of martyr-like despair, and the colonel looked +fierce and frowning; but, like many good things, and people also, Yew +Hedge showed its worst points on the surface, and modestly hid its +Virtues out of sight. There was a large flower and vegetable garden +behind the house, the entrance hall was roomy with an old-fashioned +fireplace in the corner, the drawing-room contained an abundance of +those nooks and corners beloved of modern decorators, and Peggy fairly +capered about with exultation when she entered the dining-room and +beheld panelled oak walls and a frescoed ceiling. + +"Father, it's settled! We take this house on the spot. These walls +decide it. Think how inspiring it will be to live our lives against a +background of carved oak!" she cried in a rapture, and the colonel +tugged at his moustache with a smile of complacent satisfaction. + +"Looks about right, Peg, doesn't it? That Indian furniture would look +well in here, and the old delf. We'll put all the delf here, I fancy, +and--" + +"And have blue walls in the drawing-room--blue paper and white wood, and +a touch of yellow in the draperies. I saw some brocade at Liberty's +which would be the very thing!" chimed in his wife, while Mrs Asplin +gasped and looked askance at the extraordinary trio who began to discuss +the furnishings of a house before they had even ascended the staircase. +She coughed in a deprecatory manner, and said: + +"The reception rooms are certainly fine--they have always been +considered the strong point of the house, but the bedroom accommodation +is not nearly so good. There are fewer rooms than you would expect, and +they are mostly small. I'm afraid you will be disappointed when you see +them." + +"If there are three or four decent rooms, that is all we need. I want +my home for myself, and not for a crowd of visitors. One spare room, or +two at most, is all I would have furnished if there were a dozen empty. +Give me retirement and a quiet home life!" cried the colonel, whereat +his wife and daughter exchanged glances of amusement, for if ever there +lived a man who adored his fellow-creatures, and delighted in crowding +his house from floor to ceiling with unexpected guests, that man was +Colonel Saville, and would be until his death. + +Mrs Asplin understood the meaning of that glance, and giving up the +colonel as a hopeless case, addressed herself instead to his wife. + +"And I am afraid the pantry is poor, and the scullery also. Mrs Selby +used to complain of them and of the lack of conveniences. There are no +cupboards, and the--" + +It was of no use. Mrs Saville was as intractable as her husband, and +refused to listen to any warning. + +"Dear Mrs Asplin," she said sweetly, "I don't know anything about +cupboards. We never worried about these things in India; the servants +managed somehow, and I presume they can manage here. The entertaining +rooms are large enough to take in our furniture, and Peggy likes them. +Those are the great points which we have to consider. If there are +enough bedrooms to take us in, I think we shall be satisfied." + +This Saville trio was the most impracticable party of house-hunters whom +the vicar's wife had ever known, and she wondered no longer at the +difficulty they had experienced in finding a house to their taste, when +she noted the spirit in which they surveyed the present premises. A +convenience was not a convenience at all if it interfered with a fad or +fancy, and a serious drawback was hailed with delight if it appeared in +quaint or unexpected fashion. As a matter of fact, the purchase of the +house had been a foregone conclusion, since the moment when Peggy had +beheld the oak walls of the dining-room, and within twenty-four hours +from that moment it was a concluded fact. + +Ah, then and there was hurrying to and fro, and endless journeys up to +town, and interviews with obstinate decorators, who would insist on +obtruding their own ideas, and battles waged with British workmen, who +could not understand why one shade of a colour was not as good as +another, or wherein lay the deadly necessity that they should match. +Peggy put a penny in the slot and weighed herself on the machine at the +station every second or third day, to verify her statement that she was +wasting to a shadow beneath the nervous strain. She was left at the +vicarage in order to superintend the workmen, while Colonel and Mrs +Saville stayed in town to interview furniture dealers and upholsterers; +and every morning she walked over to Yew Hedge and made a procession +round the rooms, to note what progress had been made since the day +before. Half-a-dozen men were at work, or, to be strictly accurate, +were _engaged_ to work, at the house; but beyond the fact that it grew +steadily dirtier and dirtier, and that the splashes of whitewash and +shavings of paper stretched further and further down the drive, it was +difficult to see what progress was being made. + +Then Peggy made a desperate resolve, begged a bundle of sandwiches from +the old cook, packed it with sundry other properties in a basket, and +announced her intention of spending the day at Yew Hedge, and keeping +the men up to their work by the influence of her presence. Mrs Asplin +laughed at the idea of their being awed by anything so small and dainty, +but small as she was Miss Peggy had contrived to instil a very wholesome +awe of herself among the workmen. She never expressed open disapproval, +and was invariably courteous in manner, but there was a sting in her +stately speeches which made them wince, though they would have found it +difficult to explain the reason of their discomfiture. On the present +occasion the usual group of idlers was discovered lazing in the hall +when the little white figure appeared suddenly among them. They flushed +and slouched away, but the young lady was all smiles and amiability. + +"Good-morning!" she cried. "I have brought my tools with me to-day, for +I am going to stay and garden. If you can spare the time, I shall be +much obliged if you will boil some water for me later on, but it will do +when you make your own tea. Don't let me interrupt your work! I shall +be in the garden, if you want to consult me at any time, so we shall all +be busy together!" + +The abashed faces stared at her in a solid wall of discomfiture, and +Peggy retreated hastily, and paused behind a harberry fence to have her +laugh out, before repairing to the shed where the gardening tools were +stored. Then she unrolled an apron, tied it over her skirt, rolled up +her sleeves to protect the starched little cuffs, took a rake in one +hand and a hoe in the other, and surveyed the prospect. With ambition +untempered by ignorance, she had openly avowed her intention of +possessing the finest flowers in the county, and giving an object-lesson +in gardening to ignorant professors of the art, so that it was more than +time to begin preparation. + +"The finest garden in the county!" Even allowing for the prejudices of +possession, it was impossible to bestow such a title upon Yew Hedge in +its present unkempt condition. The house had been unlet for two years, +during which time the grass had grown coarse and rank, wallflowers and +forget-me-nots were dying a lingering death in the borders, and nothing +was coming on to take their place. It was not the first time that Peggy +had given her mind to this subject, but so far she had not succeeded in +finding a solution of the difficulty, nor had the suggestion of the +village gardener met with her approval. + +"It's bedding-out as you want," he had explained. "You must bed out. +That's the tastiest thing for those 'ere round beds, and the tidiest +too. They last well on into the autumn, if it comes in no sharp frosts. +There's nothing like them for lasting!" + +"Like _what_? Do you mean geraniums?" + +"Ay, geraniums for sure, and calcies, and lobelias, and a nice little +hedge of pyrethrum. Can't do better than that, can yer? Geraniums in +the centre,"--he drew a circle on the ground with the end of his stick, +and prodded little holes here and there to illustrate his plan. "A nice +patch of red, then comes yellar, then the blue, then the green. In +circles or in rows, according as you please." + +"I seem to have seen it somewhere! I have certainly seen it," mused +Peggy solemnly, so solemnly, that the poor man took her words in good +faith, and looked at her with wondering pity. + +"I should say you 'ad! You couldn't travel far without seein' of 'em in +the summer time. There's nuthin' else to see in a manner of speaking, +for they all 'as 'em. 'Igh and low, gentle and simple." + +"Then I won't!" quoth Peggy unexpectedly. "Henceforth, Bevan, when +sightseers come to the neighbourhood, send them up to Yew Hedge to +inspect the one garden in England which does not go in for bedding-out! +If I want fireworks, I'll have them in gunpowder on the fifth of +November, but not in flowers if I know it! It's an insult to Nature to +rule a garden in lines and transform a bed into a mathematical figure!" + +The old gardener looked at her more in sorrow than in anger, and shook +his head dejectedly as he went back to his work. He had the gravest +doubts about the sanity of a young lady who objected to "bedding-out;" +but if Peggy gained no approval from him for her new-fangled notions, +she reaped her reward in Rob's unaffected delight, when the conversation +was detailed for his benefit. + +"Bravo, Mariquita!" he cried. "I recognise in you the instinct of the +true gardener--a rare thing, let me tell you, to find in a woman. Women +like show and colour, a big effect, rather than interesting detail, but +I'm thankful to find you are an exception. Come over to-morrow and see +_my_ garden! I keep a corner for myself at the end of the shrubbery, +and forbid any of the men to touch it, and I flatter myself I have some +treasures you won't find in any other garden in England. I brought them +home from my travels, and have coaxed them to grow by looking after them +myself and studying their little ways. They need a lot of care, and get +sulky if they are not humoured, but it's the whole interest of gardening +to master these little eccentricities." + +"Just my sentiments!" cried Peggy; but when in due time Rob escorted her +to see his precious garden, her face was blank with disappointment. Two +straggling beds with a rockery filling up the corner, and scarcely a +gleam of colour from one end to another! That at least was the effect +from a distance, but as the proprietor pointed out his treasures, +insignificant little blossoms were distinguishable among the greenery, +and flowers the size of a threepenny piece were produced proudly from +lurking-places and exhibited for admiration. They all came from some +unheard-of spots at the other side of nowhere, had been reared with +prodigious difficulty, and were of such rarity and value that the heads +of public gardens had paid special pilgrimage to The Larches in order to +behold them. Peggy's eyebrows went up in a peak, and her face +lengthened, but it was no use, she could not be enthusiastic, could not +even affect an interest in the struggling little lives. + +After exclaiming: "How strange!" "How odd!" and "Fancy that!" a dozen +times in succession, her very powers of exclamation seemed to depart, +and she was reduced to sighs and grunts of response. In the middle of +the history of a jungle plant which was the glory of the collection, Rob +suddenly lifted his head and put a startling question: + +"Are you interested? Do you care to hear about it?" + +Peggy looked at him and made a little sign of apology. + +"Not--_much_, Rob! It's curious, of course, but very `niggly,' don't +you think? It makes no effect at all in the bed." + +Rob rose from his knees, flicked the dust off his trousers, and cleared +his throat in that dry sepulchral manner which people adopt when they +long to say something sharp and cutting, but are too high-minded to +allow themselves to do so. Then he pushed his cap back from his head, +whistled three bars of a popular tune, and said politely: + +"There are some pink peonies coming out in the drive. Better come along +and see them." + +"Robert Darcy, I will--not--be--patronised!" cried Peggy, flashing +indignant eyes upon him from the altitude of his highest waistcoat +button. "Don't pink peony me, if you please! If it comes to a matter +of taste, I prefer my own to yours. You have an interesting museum, +sir, but, allow me to tell you, a most inadequate garden!" + +Then Rob was obliged to laugh, and in that laugh lost the last trace of +vexation. + +"Sorry, Peg! I'm a crusty beggar, but it's your own fault if I expected +too much. You were always so patient with my hobbies that I thought you +would be interested in this too. I'll do penance for baring you by +helping to arrange your garden in the way you _do_ like. We'll draw out +our plans together, or rather you shall give the orders, and I'll do the +work. Any leading ideas to offer?" + +"Harmony of colour, and sequence of effect. A constant succession of +flowers, assorted as to size, and forming agreeable contrasts to their +neighbours. No red and magentas next door to each other in _my_ garden, +thank you! Order in disorder, and every season well represented!" + +"I see," said Rob gravely. "It's an admirable idea, Mariquita, +admirable! We'll set to work at once. By means of digging up +everything that is in the beds at present, working diligently, and +waiting until you are old and grey-headed, there is no reason why you +should not attain your ambition in the course of the next twenty years!" + +But Peggy had no intention of waiting twenty years, or twenty months +either. Immediate effect was what she demanded, and she said as much to +Rob, and repeated the words with much emphasis, backing into a bed as +she spoke, and trampling some cherished seedlings to pieces with her +sharp little heels, whereupon Rob hastily called her attention in an +opposite direction, and promised meekly to further her desire. + +Not for worlds would she have acknowledged the fact to another, but as +Peggy stood this afternoon surveying the empty beds before her, sundry +prickings of conscience began to rise, lest perchance she had been too +hasty in her decision to have naught to say to bedding-out plants. +Something must be done, and that quickly, or she trembled to think what +her friends and relatives would have to say upon the subject of the +"finest garden in the county." With a vision of a prophetess she saw +before her paths of green sward arched with roses, a lily garden, sweet +and cool, and fragrant harmonies of colour massed against the trees; but +these were in the future, and in the present there were only empty beds, +with little sprigs of green peering up here and there through the dry +caked soil. + +"At least I can dig up the beds and get rid of the weeds, and then +perhaps for this summer only we might take refuge in geraniums and +begonias. Just for one summer, till something else will grow." She +sighed, and set to work with her spade, giving it a push into the ground +with her foot in professional style, and pausing to gasp and straighten +her back between every second or third attempt. Astonishing what hard +work it was, and how hot one got all of a sudden! Peggy gathered the +weeds together, moralised darkly on their number, and set to work on the +surrounding beds, digging so vigorously that in an hour's time she felt +as if a week in bed would be barely sufficient to recoup her exhausted +energies. Too weary to cross to a seat, she was holding on to her +spade, and slowly straightening her back, when she became conscious that +the foreman had approached from the house, and was regarding her with +curious eyes. + +"There's two pieces short of that there paper for the drawing-room," he +announced. "I thought fourteen pieces would ha' done it; but it's been +a mistake, it seems. 'Ave to get it made, I suppose, to finish the +corner." + +"Oh, how dreadfully, dreadfully tiresome! We will have to wait weeks +and weeks before we can get it, and it will keep everything back." + +Peggy wrung her tired hands and looked the image of despair. + +"You said that you were sure fourteen pieces would be enough; and we +told you at the time to be careful, as it had to be made!" + +"Ay, it do seem a pity, don't it? They rarely ever gets it the same +shade a second time," the man replied blandly. Then he jerked his thumb +towards the flower-beds, and put a deprecatory question: "Didn't you +like them, then? Wasn't they your fancy?" + +"I don't know what you are talking about. Was what my fancy?" + +"Those 'ere things as they put in yesterday. I thought, maybe, they was +something special, from the care they took about 'em." He gave an +explanatory kick with his foot to the weeds piled up on the gravel path, +and there was a pause of two whole minutes before a weak little voice +inquired faintly: + +"Who took such care? Who put them in? I don't understand." + +"The young master up at The Larches and one of his gardeners. They was +here for a good two hours. We wondered to see you scratching them up. +Joe says to me, he says, `Go down and tell her,' he says. `Oh,' I says, +`she knows what she's about!' I says. `She's not the sort to do a +trick like that,' I says." + +Peggy's lips positively ached with the effort of twisting them into a +smile. + +"That was very kind of you," she said. "It would be a silly trick, +would it not? Do you think you could boil the kettle for me now? I +feel badly in need of some tea." + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +Rob received Peggy's confession of her latest gardening exploit with a +roar of good-natured laughter. She had been afraid lest he might be +angry, or--what would have been even worse--superior and forbearing; but +he was neither the one nor the other. Such a genuine, Peggy-Pickle +trick, he declared, was worth taking some trouble to enjoy, and went far +towards consoling him for the advent of a fashionable young lady in the +place of his mischievous little friend. His generosity was not +sufficient, however, to prevent him from enlarging on the exceeding +beauty of the seedlings which had been so ruthlessly disturbed, and +Peggy listened in an agony to a string of names wherein syllables ran +riot. _Salpiglossis_! Alas, alas! she had not the faintest idea what +the flower was like, but the name was exquisite, all-satisfying. It +rolled off her tongue with sonorous effect. To speak of it alone would +have been joy. She looked so meek and wretched that Rob nerved himself +to fresh efforts, and wrought miracles on her behalf, so that if by any +chance she admired a plant in The Larches' garden, that plant was +transplanted bodily to Yew Hedge, and smiled a welcome to her on her +next approach. + +The gardener pointed out the folly of moving plants in bloom, and +prophesied failure; but no failure came, for plants have their likes and +dislikes, like other living creatures, and there is no doubt that they +are more amiably disposed to some people than to others. If another man +had been rash enough to disturb their flowering, they would have sulked +for the rest of the season, and made him suffer for his boldness; but no +plant ever sulked at Robert Darcy. He had simply to lay it down in any +spot he liked, and, behold, it grew and flourished! His fingers seemed +to possess the power to impart health and strength, and, thanks to his +care, Peggy soon felt safe from ridicule, at least on the score of her +garden, and could devote herself with an easy mind to the work indoors. +She experienced the usual string of aggravations which are known to +every one moving into a new house; tradesmen took twice the allotted +time to fulfil an order, and eventually sent home the wrong article; +patterns selected were invariably "out of stock"; escapes of gas made it +necessary to deface newly decorated walls; and effects which were +intended to be triumphs of artistic beauty, turned out snares and +disappointments. From the lofty frame of mind which aims at nothing +short of perfection, Peggy subsided by degrees into that resigned +melancholy in which the exhausted strugglers feel that "anything will +do," if only, by chance, a house may be made fit to live in. + +It was on the occasion of a final visit to town, two days before the +removal, that Mrs Asplin surprised Peggy by expressing a desire to bear +her company. + +"I have several things to do, and I should like to go when I can have +your help," she said; and the vicar's face instantly assumed an +expression of the profoundest dejection. He knew that his wife's +expeditions into town invariably demanded toll in the shape of a nervous +headache the next day, and hastened to raise his usual note of protest. +Why need she go? Could she not send her order by post, or could not +Peggy buy what was wanted? Why tire herself needlessly, when she had no +strength to spare? She knew very well--"How unwell I shall be!" +concluded his wife for him with a laugh. "Really and truly, Austin +dear, I want to do something this time that no one else can do for me. +I'll promise to be careful, and drive about all the time, and get a good +lunch." + +"Penny omnibuses, and tea and scones! I know your days in town. Ah, +well, a wilful woman must have her way! If you have made up your mind +to go, it's no use arguing; but I don't know what it can be you need so +badly. We seem to have everything we need." + +"Blessed, blessed, ignorance of man!" cried Peggy, rolling her eyes to +the ceiling. "It's all very well for you, sir, who can never wear +anything but a black coat and hat, but consider the fascinations of +summer fashions to poor defenceless women! Mrs Asplin and I want to +look at the shops, and groan in chorus over all the distracting +fripperies which we want so badly, and can't afford. We pretend we have +weighty business; but that is the true explanation, isn't it, dear?" + +"Oh yes--I love shop windows!" replied Mrs Asplin vaguely. She had +wandered to the window, and stood looking out on to the garden, with her +back turned to her companions. Peggy would have followed, but, on her +approach, the other walked quickly forward and began stooping over the +flower-beds, and snipping off the withered blossoms. For some reason it +was evident that she did not wish to be followed, and Peggy felt an +uneasy pang at the sight of her flushed, exhausted face. During her +lengthened visit to the vicarage she had become more and more conscious +of the lack of strength shown by the dear mistress of the house. Her +spirit was as cheery as ever, but she no longer raced up and down in her +old impetuous manner, but rather spent half her time resting on the +sofa, with the busy hands lying idly on her lap. + +She did not like to make any protest, since Mrs Asplin's mind was +evidently set on going to town, but she privately registered a +determination to charter a hansom by the hour, and see that the shopping +expedition was conducted in the most luxurious manner possible. + +It did not seem as if there was much to be done after all, for Peggy's +business being concluded, her companion invested in a yard of ribbon, +and some Berlin wool, and then pronounced her shopping finished. + +"But there is something else I have to do, dear," she explained, +catching the girl's glance of amazement. "The real reason why I came up +to-day was to see a doctor. I did not wish to distress them at home, +but I've not been feeling well, Peg; I have not been well for a long +time. I have made an appointment with a doctor in Harley Street, and if +you will go with me I'll be very grateful. I am not nervous, but--but +it feels a little bit lonesome to go alone!" + +She turned her face towards the girl and smiled at her, with sweet, +tired eyes, and Peggy's heart gave a sickening throb of apprehension. +She put out her hand and slid it lovingly through the other's arm. + +"Of course I'll go, and proud that you ask me! Poor darling! so that is +the way you do your shop-staring! It is just like you to allow yourself +to be blamed, rather than give pain or anxiety. I thought you were +looking ill, and am so glad you have made up your mind to consult a +first-rate man. He will find out what is the matter, and put you right +again in no time." + +"He can't put new works into an old machine. Not even the cleverest +doctor can do that. The springs are giving out, Peg, and I can only be +repaired, not cured. I don't expect to be made well, but I want to keep +going if possible, for the sake of Austin and the children. I have been +intending to pay this visit for a year back, but I kept putting it off +and off. I was afraid of what he might say." + +"Nonsense! Afraid, indeed! He'll laugh at your fears, and give you a +tonic which will make you perfectly well again." + +Mrs Asplin smiled, and was silent. Twenty-one could not be expected to +realise the weakness and pain which come as companions, and not as +guests; the weakness which must grow greater instead of less; the pain +which cannot be charmed away. It is not to be wished that it should, +for youthful optimism has its own work to accomplish in the world; but +it would tend to a better understanding between old and young, if the +latter would remember that it is the lack of hope which makes the +bitterest drop in the cup of age! To bear the weary ache, and know that +it will grow worse; to feel one power after another slipping away, and +to realise that it is for ever; to be lonely, and to see the loneliness +closing in ever deeper and deeper. Ah, think of it, young impatient +soul! Think of it and be tender, be loving! Spare not the sweet gift +of sympathy. The time will come when you will long to have done still +more. + +Peggy held Mrs Asplin's hand in her own as they sat waiting together in +the doctor's study, and kept her seat sturdily through the interview +which followed. She felt instinctively that her presence was a support +to her friend, and that the consciousness of her sympathy was a support +during the trying ordeal. The doctor questioned, and the patient +replied. He scanned her face with his practised eyes, felt her pulse, +and produced a stethoscope from the table. Then for a time there was +silence, while he knelt and listened, and listened again, and Peggy +heard her own heart throb through the silence. He was an old man, with +an expression full of that large tenderness which seems the birthmark of +the true physician, and he lingered over his task, as if unwilling to +face what lay beyond. At last he rose and laid the stethoscope +carefully on the table, letting his fingers linger over the task. Peggy +heard him catch his breath in a struggling sigh, and for a moment his +eyes met her own, anxious and troubled. + +"Well?" queried Mrs Asplin gently. "Well, tell me the verdict!"--and +the doctor crossed the room again and seated himself by her side. + +"My dear lady, you ask a hard question. It is difficult to say in a few +words all that one thinks of a case. You are not strong; you need rest. +I will prescribe for you, and see you again later on, and meanwhile I +should like to see your husband, if he could have a talk with me here. +There are certain rules which I should like you to observe, but we don't +care to trouble patients with these matters. It is simpler and better +to instruct their friends." + +Mrs Asplin looked at him steadily, a smile lighting up her face. + +"Ah, doctor, it won't do. You can't take me in at all!" she cried in +her winsome Irish voice. "It's the truth I want, and no pretence. My +husband believes that I am shop-gazing in Regent Street, and that's all +he is going to hear about this visit. He is delicate himself, and puts +an altogether exaggerated value on his old wife. Indeed, he'd worry us +both to death if he knew I were ill. Don't be frightened to speak +plainly. I am not a coward! I can bear the truth, whatever it may be. +It is the heart that is wrong?" + +"Yes," he said, and looked at her with kindly eyes. There was an +invincible fascination about Mrs Asplin which strangers were quick to +acknowledge, and it was easy to see that admiration and respect combined +to make his task exceptionally trying. "Yes, the heart is very weak. +It can never have been strong, I think, and you have not spared +yourself. You are the kind of woman who has lived, in the fullest sense +of the word; lived in every faculty--" + +"Every single one, and I'm thankful for it! I've been so happy, so +rich, so sheltered! Whatever happens now, I have been one of the most +fortunate of women, and dare not complain. So tell me, please, what +does it mean? To what must I look forward?" + +"You must face the fact that you can no longer afford to live at full +pressure. You must be content to let others work, and to look on +quietly. I fear you must face increasing weakness and languor." + +"And for--how long? My children are still young. I should like to see +them settled. I should like to feel my husband had other homes open to +him when he was left alone. If I am _very_ careful--for how long?" + +Peggy closed her eyes with a feeling of suffocation. The pulses in her +ears were beating like hammers, the floor seemed to rock to and fro +beneath her feet, and the doctor's voice sounded from an immense +distance. + +"Perhaps three years. I don't think more. If you ask me for an honest +opinion, I should say probably three years--" + +Three years to live, and then--_death_. Three years longer in that +happy home, and then good-bye to all who loved her. Three years! Three +years! The words repeated themselves over and over in Peggy's brain as +she sat motionless in her chair, staring at the opposite wall. Outside +in the street an organ was grinding out a popular air, the front door +opened and shut, and footsteps passed along the hall, a little heathen +idol upon the mantelpiece nodded his head at her in mocking fashion. +Some one was talking at the other end of the room in a quiet, level +tone, as if nothing extraordinary had happened. It was surely--surely +not Mrs Asplin herself? + +"Thank you! It is kinder to tell me the truth; but the time is shorter +than I expected. I should like to ask one more question. Shall I be +doing my husband a wrong in keeping this from him? Could he do anything +to prolong my life? I am most anxious not to throw this shadow over our +home; but if he could help in any way, it would, of course, be my duty +to spare him the pain of knowing afterwards that more might have been +done." + +"He could do nothing except shield you from exertion, and that you can +do for yourself. I should say, on the whole, that it would be better +for you, even physically speaking, to secure the cheerfulness of +surrounding that would come from ignorance, than to be continually +reminded of yourself by the anxiety of your family. Remember always +that you are your own best doctor! I have told you the worst, and now I +may add that I have known people in as precarious a condition as +yourself live twice, and even three times the time specified by their +doctors. You know what is needful--a peaceful life without excitement; +fresh air, rest, and, above all things, the specific which our Quaker +friends have named for us, `_The quiet mind_.'" + +His voice dropped to a softened cadence as he spoke those last words, +and the tears started in the listener's eyes. + +"Yes--yes! I know. I'll remember that. Thank you, thank you for all +your kindness!" + +The eyes of doctor and patient met in a long, steady glance, which had +in it a light, as of recognition. They were friends indeed, though they +met for the first time to-day; for they were bound together by the +closest of ties, in that they both served and trusted a common Master! +In that moment, when as it seemed she stood upon the brink of death, +Mrs Asplin's mind travelled with lightning speed over the years which +had passed since she first gave herself and her concerns into the hands +of her Saviour, and trusted Him to care for her in this world and the +next. Had He ever failed her? A thousand times, no! Sickness, +anxiety, even death itself, had visited her home, but the peace which +was Christ's parting gift to His disciples had dwelt in her heart, and +He Himself had never seemed so near as when trouble fell, and for a time +hid the sun in the skies. If she had known beforehand that she was to +lose her first-born darling, to spend long years in painful anxiety +about her husband's health, and to see her children's future crippled +for lack of means to give them the best opportunities, her heart would +have sunk with fear, and she would have declared the trial too great for +her strength; yet He had enabled her to bear them all, and with each +fresh trial had given a fresh revelation of His mercy. She had +submitted to His will, weeping, it may be, but without bitterness or +rebellion, and the reward had come in the serene peacefulness which +possessed her soul. Christ had done all this for her, and now in this +latest trial she looked to Him to support and comfort to the end. + +"Thank you, doctor," she murmured once more; and a moment later Peggy +and Mrs Asplin were in the passage, following the old butler towards +the door. It seemed years and years since they had paced it last, but +nothing had changed. The man let them pass out without a glance in +their direction, as though it were the most commonplace thing in the +world for people to receive a death-warrant in the course of half an +hour's visit. The pavement outside was flooded with sunshine, carriages +were driving to and fro; two men walking along together broke into a +peal of laughter as they passed; a newsboy shouted out some item of +popular interest. Nobody knew, nobody cared! The great, noisy, cruel +world jostled on its way as if such things as death and parting had no +meaning in its ears. Peggy's young heart swelled with bitterness. She +dared not speak to Mrs Asplin, dared not trust her own voice, but she +drew the thin hand through her arm, and gripped it with passionate +fervour. They walked on in silence the length of the block, then +stopped instinctively, and exchanged a long, earnest look. Mrs +Asplin's eyes were shining with a deep inward glow, the colour had come +back to her cheeks, her expression was calm and peaceful. + +"Peggy, child!" she exclaimed softly; "you are so white! This has been +a strain for you, dearie. You must have lunch at once." + +Even at this supreme moment of her life her first thought was for +others, not herself! + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +The pre-occupation of Peggy's manner during the next week was easily +attributed to the responsibility of superintending the settling down in +the new house. From morning until night she was rushing about from one +worker to another, planning, instructing, superintending, and when night +came she crawled into bed, a weary, sore-footed little mortal, to fall +asleep before her head well touched the pillow. The revelation of Mrs +Asplin's danger lay like a shadow across her path, but beyond a few +brief words in the train, the subject had never been mentioned between +them after leaving the doctor's study. + +"I hope I have not been selfish, Peggy, in taking you with me to-day," +Mrs Asplin had then said anxiously. "I can only tell you that you have +helped me greatly, and thank you with all my heart for your sympathy. +Later on, dearie, we will have a talk together, and I will tell you what +is in my mind; but first of all I must fight my own battles, and gain +the prize of which the doctor spoke. `_The quiet mind_,' Peg! When +that comes, it will take away the sting!" + +That was all, nor through the weeks that followed did ever a word or a +look in the presence of her family betray the dread that lay at Mrs +Asplin's heart. Peggy, running in and out of the vicarage, would always +find a smile awaiting, and a cheery word of greeting. At first she felt +awkward and constrained, but by degrees the first painfulness of the +impression wore away, and with the natural hopefulness of youth it +seemed that the doctor must have taken an unnecessarily gloomy view of +the case, since a patient in so precarious a condition could surely not +be so bright, so cheery, so interested in the affairs of others! On her +first few visits to the vicarage, the girl had felt that it would be +sacrilege to smile or jest as of yore, but it was impossible to keep up +this attitude when Mrs Asplin herself sparkled into mischief and led +the bursts of laughter. That dreadful half-hour grew more and more +unreal, until at times it seemed a veritable dream. + +A fortnight after the removal into Yew Hedge, a letter arrived from Mrs +Rollo, inviting Peggy to come up to town on a two or three days' visit, +to attend some festivities, and enjoy her brother's society. Arthur had +not been able to leave town during the last few weeks, and the desire to +see more of him, and to be able to help him if possible, were powerful +inducements in his sister's mind. She anxiously considered if by any +possibility the household could exist deprived of her important +services, and slowly accepted the assurance that it could! The +furniture had been arranged, pictures hung and re-hung, and what +remained to be done in the way of blind-fitting, curtain-hanging, and +the like, could surely be managed without the assistance of a master +mind. She was sorry to leave the dear, new home, but three days would +quickly pass, while, apart from the joy of seeing Arthur, it would be +delightful to get to know something more about that baffling personage, +Miss Eunice Rollo. + +Eunice was at the station to meet her visitor, all propriety and polite +condolence on the fatigue of the journey; and Peggy, never to be outdone +in grandeur of diction, replied in Mariquita fashion, so that an +elaborate conversation all about nothing was carried on throughout the +drive home. Mrs Rollo was out, Arthur busy in the study, and three +long hours loomed ahead before it would be time to prepare for dinner. + +"This is dreadful! We seem to be beginning all over again, from the +very first moment we met!" sighed Peggy to herself. "What on earth can +I talk about next? If I could only make her laugh, we should get on +better, but I can't be funny to order. At the present moment I have not +a joke in my composition, and it's getting serious, for we have +exhausted the weather and the miseries of removing into a new house, and +the health of every single person we know. There's nothing for it but +books! I'll turn her on to books, and dispute everything she says, and +that ought to keep us going for an hour at least." She cleared her +throat, and was just beginning an insinuating, "Have you read--" when +she met an earnest look from the grey eyes, and Eunice said miserably: + +"I know what you are thinking! I saw you looking at the clock. You +don't know how to pass the time, or what to say next. I'm dreadfully +sorry to be so stupid, but the more I want to talk, the more dumb I +become. I can't describe the sensation, but perhaps you have felt it +for yourself. Do tell me! Do you know what it is like to be shy? Did +you ever feel it?" + +Peggy cudgelled her brains, unwilling to admit that any human experience +was beyond her ken, but no! not one single instance of the kind could +she remember. She had felt lonely at times, silent and unsociable, but +never shy! She shook her head. + +"No--never! I love meeting strangers. It is like opening a new book. +You can never tell what good friends you may become. When I meet some +one for the first time, I look into her eyes, and say to myself--`What +is she? Why is she? What does she think? Right away down at the +bottom of her heart, what is she like? Do we belong to each other at +all, or is there no single point where we can meet?' It is so +interesting! I assure you I drove through the City the other day in an +omnibus, and discovered an affinity on the opposite seat! We just +looked at each other, and a sort of flash passed from her eyes to mine, +and I said to myself, `Oh, I _do_ like you!' and I knew as well as +possible that she was thinking the same of me. We never spoke, and may +never meet again, but we _were_ friends all the same, and when I went +away I said in my heart, `Good-bye, dear, good luck! So pleased to have +met you!' At other times I've seen people--Gr-r-r!" she hitched her +shoulders to her ears and spread out her hands in disgust, "quite +respectable and ordinary-looking creatures, but there! I wouldn't touch +them with the end of my umbrella!" + +Eunice regarded her with pensive envy. + +"Oh dear, I wish I felt like that! It would be like a book, as you say. +I love reading, but I always think real life is so different." + +"And so much better! It's _true_," cried Peggy ardently, "and the other +is pretence. I think it's a glorious thing to live, and just most +marvellously and wonderfully interesting. Why, think of it--every day +is a mystery. You make your plans in the morning, but you know nothing +of what may happen before night! People sigh and moan over the +uncertainty of life, but that is ungrateful, for there are happy +surprises as well as sad, and all sorts of pleasant things cropping up +which one never expects. And it ought to go on growing more and more +beautiful as we grow older, and can appreciate and understand." + +"Yes," sighed Eunice softly. "Oh yes, and so it will--for you, Peggy, +at least, for you have the gift of happiness. I feel things too, but I +can't express my feelings. I want to act, and I hang back trembling +until some one else steps forward. I try to speak, and my lips won't +move. You don't know how dreadful it is to feel as if two iron bands +were placed round your mouth and would not _let_ you speak!" + +Peggy laughed in conscience-stricken fashion. + +"I--don't!" she cried comically, and her eyebrows went up in a peak. "I +have a pretty considerable fluency of language, as an American cousin +would say, and the worst of it is, I speak first and think afterwards! +Your iron bands remind me of the man in the dear old fairy-tale who was +under the spell of a wicked magician, and had iron straps bound round +his heart. There was only one way in which they could be broken, and no +one knew what it was, but one day a peasant woman took pity on his +sufferings and tried to nurse him, and snap! one of the bands broke off +and fell to the ground. Another time a little child brought him some +food, and snap again! another disappeared. Last of all the beautiful +princess chose him for her husband before all her rich suitors, and +dropped two things upon his cheek--a kiss and a tear, and at that all +the other bands broke at once, and he was free. Perhaps that story +really meant that the man was shy and reserved, as you are, Eunice, and +could never show his real self until he found friends to love and +understand. I am not going to shed tears over you, my dear, but may I +kiss you, please? You only shook hands when we met at the station." + +Eunice rose up swiftly and knelt down at Peggy's feet. Her face was +lifted to receive the offered kiss, and the flush upon her cheeks, the +smile on her lips revealed such unexpected possibilities of beauty as +filled the other with admiration. The features, were daintily +irregular, the skin fine and delicate as a child's, the hair rolled back +in a soft, smoke-like ripple. The two girls looked at one another long +and steadily, until at last Eunice said falteringly: + +"What do you see in _my_ eyes, Peggy?" and Peggy answered promptly: + +"I see a friend! Please let me go on seeing her. While I'm here, +Eunice, give the carpet a rest and look at me instead. You can't deny +that I'm better worth seeing." + +"Oh, you are, especially when you pull faces!" responded Eunice +unexpectedly. "Peggy, some day, when there is nothing else to do and +you are not tired, will you imitate people for me again? Will you? +Will you do Hector Darcy and Miss Asplin and your father when he is +angry? I have never laughed as much in my life as when you imitated the +National Gallery pictures, and Mr Saville says that these are even +funnier. It must be delightful to be able to mimic people, if you are +sure they won't think it unkind." + +"Oh, but I invariably do it before them, and they don't mind a bit. It +amuses them intensely, and it's such a joke to see their faces. They +wear such a funny, sheepish, found-out sort of expression. Certainly, +I'll give you a _seance_ whenever you like. How would it be if I began +by imitating Miss Rollo and the iron bands, welcoming a young friend +from the country?" + +Eunice gasped and fell back in her chair; whereupon, taking silence for +consent, Peggy placed her cup on the table, and crossed to the end of +the room, where she went through a life-like pantomime of the scene +which had happened on the station platform an hour before. The bows, +the hand-shakes, the strained smiles of greeting were all repeated, and +two chairs being drawn together to represent a carriage, Miss Peggy +seated herself on the nearer of the two, and went through so word- +perfect a repetition of the real dialogue as left her hearer speechless +with consternation. Eunice heard her own voice bleat forth feeble +inanities, saw her lips twist in the characteristic manner which she +_felt_ to be so true, listened to Mariquita's gracious responses, and +saw, (what she had not seen before), the wide yawns of weariness which +Peggy averted her head to enjoy. The tremulous movement of her body +grew more and more pronounced, until presently the tears were rolling +down her cheeks, and she was swaying in her chair in silent convulsions +of laughter. To see her laugh sent Peggy into responsive peals of +merriment; to hear Peggy laugh heightened Eunice's amusement; so there +they sat, gasping, shaking, no sooner recovering some degree of +composure than a recurring chuckle would send them off into a condition +more helpless than the last. + +In the midst of one of these paroxysms the door opened, and Arthur stood +upon the threshold transfixed with surprise. To see Peggy laughing was +no uncommon circumstance, but it was a different matter where Miss Rollo +was concerned. During the months which he had spent beneath her +father's roof, Arthur had been sorry for the girl who was left to her +own devices by her pre-occupied parents, and had thought how few +pleasures she enjoyed, but had consoled himself by the reflection that +she had little taste for the ordinary amusements of youth. Like a quiet +little mouse she slipped in and out, never voluntarily opening a +conversation, nor prolonging it a moment longer than was necessary. A +struggling smile had seemed the height of merriment to which she could +attain, so that to see the quivering shoulders and streaming eyes was +indeed a revelation of the unexpected. Arthur's feelings were curiously +contradictory at that moment. He was gratified at the tribute to his +sister's fascination, and yet in some inexplicable manner conscious of a +jarring note in his satisfaction. He himself had always been regarded +as a sufficiently witty and interesting personage. How had it happened +that he had failed where Peggy had succeeded? + +When Eunice left the room to allow brother and sister to enjoy a +confidential chat, the conversation soon drifted to the subject of her +own personality. + +"Why did you never tell me what a darling she was?" Peggy demanded. "I +love her already, and I am going to love her a great deal more. She is +just as sweet as can be, and here have you been living in this house for +months, and never a word have you told me about her, except that there +_was_ a daughter, and that she was twenty-two. It's not like you to be +so unappreciative, my dear! Don't you think she deserves more attention +than that?" + +"I don't think I thought much about her in anyway," replied Arthur, with +that air of masculine superiority which never failed to rouse his +sister's ire. "She seems a nice quiet sort of girl." + +Peggy sniffed contemptuously, and tossed her head in the air. + +"Nice quiet girl indeed! Is that your verdict? She is ch-arming, my +dear, that's what she is, and as for looks--Well, she may not be +striking to the casual observer, but if you take the trouble to look at +her face, it's like a beautiful old miniature. Did you _ever_ see +anything like her eyelashes? They come half-way down her cheeks, and +her eyes are the sweetest I have ever seen, except Mrs Asplin's." + +"Eyes!" echoed Arthur vaguely. "Eyelashes! Really!--I'm afraid I have +never noticed." + +"Then please notice at once. It's time you did. Don't let me have a +bat for a brother, if you please. Some people look so much at other +people that they can't see the people who are staring them in the face!" +cried Miss Peggy elegantly, whereupon Arthur suddenly discovered that it +was time to dress for dinner, and hurried her upstairs to her own room. + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +On the night of Peggy's arrival in London, Eunice voluntarily made +several remarks at the dinner-table; at breakfast next morning she took +a distinct part in the conversation, and at lunch, meeting the roll of +Peggy's eyes, she laughed aloud, nor seemed the least alarmed at the +unexpected sound. Some one else was startled, however, and that was no +less a person than her father himself, who stared over his spectacles +with an expression which Peggy found it difficult to understand, for it +was both grave and glad, troubled and gratified. She wondered if he +approved of this unusual liveliness on the part of his quiet daughter, +but her doubts were put to rest before many hours were over. She had +dressed early for the garden-party to which she was invited in the +afternoon, and was wandering up and down the drawing-room, coaxing on +her gloves, and examining the different pictures and photographs on the +walls, when Mr Rollo entered the room, and stood regarding her +earnestly. + +"I want to thank you, Miss Saville," he began at once, "for the good you +have done my daughter. You have been with us only a few hours, but +already I can trace a most happy effect. I have not seen her so bright +and happy for many a long day. It has often pressed on my mind that the +child suffered for the want of a companion of her own age, but it was +difficult to find a remedy. Now, if by chance you were one of half-a- +dozen daughters, we might have borrowed you from your parents, and kept +you with us most of the year, but as it is, you are a ewe lamb, and I +suppose no possible bribe--" + +"Oh no! my price is above rubies!" cried Peggy, laughing; "but, Mr +Rollo, I shall be delighted to visit Eunice from time to time, and I +want her to come to me in return. I think we are going to be friends; I +hope so, at least, for I have taken a desperate fancy to her, and I am +rarely attracted by strangers!" + +"She is a dear child, a good, unselfish child; but, alas, she has never +been young! She needs rousing, and I think," said Mr Rollo, smiling, +"I think you are the person to rouse her! I hope that you will see a +great deal of each other in the future, in which case I shall owe a +still larger debt of gratitude to your family than I do at present. I +realise my good fortune every day in having your brother's services at +my command, for he is worth all the secretaries I have had before rolled +into one." + +"Ah-h!" cried Peggy, glowing with delight. "Of course! I knew he would +be. Whatever Arthur does, he does better than anybody else. He will be +a great man yet, won't he? Oh, do say he will! It was such a terrible +disappointment for me when he had to give up the Army, and my only +consolation has been the belief that he would distinguish himself in +some other sphere. You do really believe that Arthur will be great +before he dies, don't you, Mr Rollo?" + +The grave man smiled down very kindly into the eager, young face. + +"It is not always the best men who make the greatest mark in the world, +and `greatest,' as you mean it, has many drawbacks, my dear. I should +like to advise you not to set your heart on worldly distinctions, but I +suppose if I did, you would put me down as a prosy old fellow, who did +not practise what he preached, so I'll make you happy instead, by +telling you that I also expect great things of your brother. He is one +of the most brilliant young men of his day, and some time soon we will +send him into the House, and give him a chance there. I don't wonder +you are proud of him. I should have been proud indeed, if Providence +had seen fit to grant me such a son!" + +The sigh with which the sentence ended gave a clue to the bitterest +disappointment of this man's life. It was an abiding regret that he had +no son to follow in his footsteps, and to carry on the good old name; +but he never suspected that his quiet little daughter had divined his +disappointment at her sex, and that the consciousness thereof had been +one powerful factor in damping her spirits. To know that we are a +disappointment to our friends has a paralysing effect on our energies, +and there are many people in the world who have failed simply from want +of encouragement and appreciation. A word of honest praise is as good +as a tonic, and it is too rarely spoken. We feel it our duty to find +fault where blame is merited, but are not nearly so careful to +acknowledge work well done, or to show our gratitude for services +willingly performed. + +Mr and Mrs Rollo loved their daughter dearly, but were too much +engrossed in their different pursuits to pay her much attention, and +believed that, being of a naturally reserved disposition, she would not +value outward demonstrations; wherein they erred, for it is the dumb, +silent folk who most appreciate warm-hearted words and actions. What a +much brighter world it would be if we were more generous in this +respect; how happy we might make our friends, if we gave them the +benefit of our loving thoughts, instead of locking them tightly in our +own breasts! + +Eunice opened like a flower beneath the sunny influence of Peggy's +presence, and drove off to the garden-party with an animation most +unusual under the circumstances. Garden-parties were, as a rule, +unmitigated bores, but this one would be an exception! Peggy would be +there, and where Peggy moved fun and brightness followed in her +footsteps; and Arthur had been despatched by Mr Rollo to take his place +in escorting the ladies. Eunice was persuaded that no man in the world +was nobler than her father, but, socially speaking, he had his defects! +It was a little trying to go about with a man who spent his time +discussing politics with other old gentlemen, forgetting all about the +poor, shy little daughter, who languished in a corner, shivering with +cold, or grilling with heat, as the case might be, and striving, oh, so +vainly I to look as if she were enjoying herself. Nor was Mrs Rollo a +great improvement on her husband, for she also was weighed down with the +responsibilities of Guilds, Causes, and Charities, and invariably found +a fellow-member of committee with whom to discuss knotty problems. This +afternoon, as Eunice sat facing her mother in the carriage, she could +see the nervous fingers pull at the ends of the gloves, and the lips +move in mechanical rehearsal of her next address, but the sight gave her +none of the usual forebodings, for this afternoon, at least, she need +not dread desertion. Arthur and Peggy would be her companions, and +never a word of politics or guilds need they speak, from the time they +arrived until the time they came away! Eunice rambled about the +beautiful grounds with the glee of a child escaped from school, and +played the part of appreciative audience with an enthusiasm which could +not fail to be inspiring to her companions. + +Arthur looked into the smiling face, and listened to the low sweet +laughter with the incredulous amazement of one who has suddenly received +his sight after a spell of blindness. "Bat," indeed, Peggy had rightly +named him, since he had lived for months in the same house as this +delightful creature, and never realised her charm. When they were +resting together on a garden bench under the shade of a tree, Arthur +cast surreptitious glances at Eunice, and formed a new estimate of her +attractions to take the place of the old. He understood little about +dress, but he instinctively felt that the white frock was remarkably +simple for the only child of such distinguished parents, and the +simplicity was in accord with the pale, well-cut face whose chief +characteristics were modesty and sweetness. A little white-gloved hand +lay on her lap, and, as Arthur looked at it, a swift remembrance arose +of the afternoon a few weeks back when he had seen that hand stretched +out to comfort a companion in distress. His lip twitched beneath his +moustache and his smile faded. + +"Ah, well," he said to himself sadly, "we cannot all be alike; but it +does one good to see her--dear, little, gentle thing! She'll make some +one very happy some day, and he will think her beautiful, for he will +see his home in her eyes." + +He went off into a day-dream of his own, a troubled day-dream, poor +fellow, as his day-dreams were apt to be at this time of his life; but +his companions did not notice his adsorption, for one was listening +rapturously, while the other entertained her with imaginary +conversations supposed to take place between different members of the +crowd by which they were surrounded. That she could hear no word of +what was being said, was but an added stimulus to Miss Peggy's inventive +genius, and so aptly did her dialogues follow the expressions and +gestures of the strangers that Eunice shook from head to foot in +irrepressible enjoyment. + +"Goodness, Clementina, here's that impossible Mrs Jones! I thought we +had avoided her so successfully. _Must_ speak now, I suppose. There's +no way of dodging her. `_Dear_ Mrs Jones, how _do_ you do? Such +_ages_ since we met. Is this your daughter? Grown out of knowledge! +It seems but the othah day she was a little girl in short frocks. Quite +impossible, don't you know, to associate _you_ with a grown-up daughter! +Sorry to hurry on, but really--so _many_ friends!' Oh, there's Lord +Algernon Fitznobody coming down that path! Don't let him pass! Waggle +your parasol, Clementina! Cough! Sneeze! Do something to make him see +us! `Don't you remember me, Lord Algernon? How quite too naughty of +you! Mrs Ponsonby de Tomkins, whose purse you picked up in the railway +station in Lausanne. I have heard so much of you since then, for my +sister's aunt's cousin's husband is quite an intimate friend of dear +Lady Fitzroy--' Well, really, Clementina, he need not have rushed away +in such a hurry! He seemed very distrait. He was looking round for +somebody else all the time. Now, see, he is hurrying off to meet her. +_Ah-h_!" + +The deep exclamation of understanding was uttered in the speaker's +natural voice, as, following the direction of the good lady's glance, +Peggy suddenly divined the reason of "Lord Algernon's" pre-occupation. +Rosalind Darcy was approaching, surrounded by the usual bevy of +admirers, her parasol tilted over her shoulder, and her lips curved into +a smile of artificial sweetness. It was easy to see that her +affectation of interest in what was being said was of the thinnest +possible description and Peggy wondered what could be the reason of her +ill-humour, but only for a moment, for presently Rosalind's eyes +wandered to the bench under the trees, and in a flash the sunshine came +back into her face. + +"She was looking for Arthur! She thought he was not here!" Arthur's +sister said jealously to herself; and the next moment Rosalind was +hurrying towards them, leaving the discarded admirers to digest their +rebuff as best they might. Nothing could have been sweeter or more +winsome than her greeting of her friends, but Arthur responded to her +advances with a coldness which astonished his companions. They had not +been present the night before, when Miss Darcy had found it convenient +to ignore his presence, and to forget a promise given to him because a +more distinguished partner had appeared on the scene. Arthur's pride in +himself was by no means of the overweening description affected by his +small sister, but he had too much self-respect to accept a smile one day +at the expense of a snub the next, and Rosalind was given to playing +fast and loose with her friends. It was true, she invariably repented +herself of her rudeness, and endeavoured to make a gracious atonement, +but it was becoming more and more difficult to appease Arthur's wounded +dignity, and to-day she felt an unaccustomed thrill of nervousness at +the sight of his grave, stern face. + +"Arthur, come and walk wound with me!" she commanded with an +unaccustomed note of timidity mingling with the imperious young voice. +"I want to talk to you. Those widiculous men have been boring me to +distwaction, and I want to hear about Yew Hedge. Take me into the wose +garden, and tell me all about Yew Hedge." + +"Peggy can do that better than I, Rosalind. I have been down only for a +few hours. We will all walk round together, and Peggy can give you the +interesting details." + +He stepped to Eunice Rollo's side as he spoke, and, addressing a remark +so pointedly to her that it could not be answered by another, led the +way forward in the direction indicated. Rosalind could have borne the +rebuff more complacently if he had followed in the rear, when she could +have played off her little airs and graces for his benefit, but to +choose another girl before herself, and then to walk on ahead, without +even troubling himself to see if she followed--this was too much for her +composure. Her face clouded over, and though she made a valiant effort +to preserve her composure, it was in vain, and she was glad to find an +outlet for her irritation in pettish complainings. + +"How I do detest garden-parties! Of all the senseless, dead-alive +entertainments they are the worst. Evewy fwesh one is worse than the +last." + +"Why don't you stay away, then? The remedy is in your own hands," +retorted Peggy coolly; but at this Rosalind's ill-humour broke out in +another direction. + +"Peggy Saville, I think it is vewy mean and unkind of you to wefuse to +visit me when I asked you, and then to wush up from the countwee to stay +with new fwiends who have not half the claim upon you that I have. If +you would go to the Wollos', why not to me?" + +"Because you did not ask me at the same time. A month ago it was +impossible for me to get away, and even now I am here for three days +only. I don't wish to appear unfriendly, Rosalind, but--" + +"But you feel it," replied Rosalind, her voice changing suddenly into a +note of honest pathos. "Oh yes, Mawiquita, you are no better at +pwetending than you used to be, and I know quite well that you don't +appwove of me. I hate myself too, and twy to be diffewent, but it is no +use, circumstances are too stwong for me. But it's not the way to make +me better, Peggy Saville, to toss your head at me, and tweat me as if I +were beyond all hope of reformation." + +"Rosalind--oh!" Peggy was breathless with consternation. It was a +horrible accusation, and the worst of it was that conscience told her +that it was true. She stared with penitent eyes into the accusing face, +nodded her head once or twice, and said with conviction: + +"I'm a little wretch! Who am I, I should like to know, to judge another +girl? Dear old Rosalind, snub me all you can, and take no notice of my +airs. I'm not good enough to help you, I'm afraid, but I can't help +loving you, you dear, beautiful thing, and wishing to make you happy!" + +"But, oh, Peggy, I'm misewable! I'm abjectly misewable!" sighed +Rosalind in return. She gave a glance around, to make sure no one was +within ear-shot, and then continued rapidly, "All my life long I've been +bwought up to look forward to this time, and to work and plan and +pwepare for it. Mother talked as if it would repay me for all my pains, +but I've been out thwee seasons now, and I'm tired to death of the +everlasting wound. I get so cross and irritated and weary of it all. I +don't think I have ever been so misewable in my life as duwing the last +year!" + +Peggy looked at her thoughtfully. At the moment Rosalind looked dismal +enough, but recalling the occasions when she had seen her in society, +Peggy could not honestly say that "wretched" was the word which best +described her demeanour. On the contrary, a most well-satisfied and +complacent young woman had she appeared, and Miss Peggy shrewdly +suspected that the present distaste was but a transient emotion. + +"If you are so tired of it, why don't you go down to the country, or +join your mother abroad?" she inquired with a stern directness which her +companion found somewhat embarrassing. + +She shrugged her shoulders and gave a little impatient laugh. + +"Because I should like that _worse_! I am bored to distwaction in the +countwy, and poor dear mother would worry herself to death if I left +town just now. She is as ambitious as ever, and will be tewwibly +disappointed if I don't make a bewilliant match before the end of the +season. She is expecting the news of my engagement by evewy letter, and +is working herself up to a fever of anxiety as the time goes by--" + +"And is there--is there some one in particular whom she expects you to +marry?" queried Peggy calmly. Her heart had given a throb of +nervousness at the introduction of the subject, and she had +instinctively lifted her eyes to glance at the handsome figure a few +yards ahead, but her pride would not allow her to show her discomfiture. +No one would have suspected that a personal interest lay behind the +nonchalant question. + +"Oh, of course there are sevewal!" admitted Rosalind naively, "but just +now there is a Special Somebody! Title, estate, family, diamonds, all +complete, just the vewy _parti_ mother had hoped for ever since I was +born. He has spoken to father alweady, and is going to pwopose to me +the first opportunity he gets. I know it quite well. Don't you always +know, Peggy, when they are twying to speak out?" + +"Always!" repeated Peggy, with a little gasp of dismay. "That's too +wholesale a word for me, Rosalind! The only experience of the kind I +have had happened in India, and I was entirely unprepared, for, as a +matter of fact, I cherished a profound aversion for the victim! I +didn't dislike him afterwards, though! I was so grieved for the poor +fellow's distress, so grateful to him for liking me so much, that I felt +quite tenderly towards him. It was the most unpleasant experience I +have ever had, and I want only one more proposal--one to which I can +say, `Yes, please!' and settle down in peace and comfort. Do you care +enough for the _parti_ to be able to say, `Yes, please!' to him, +Rosalind?" + +"I don't dislike him. He is good-looking, and not nearly so stupid as +many of the men one meets. Sometimes I think I could get on with him +reasonably well, but at other times I can't--I weally _can't_ face it! +Then I keep out of his way, and am cold and weserved, and twy to put it +off a little longer. But it will come, I know it will! I shall have to +face it soon, and I feel as I used to do when I was a child and had a +visit to the dentist before me. I twy to forget it, and be happy, but +evewy now and then the wemembwance comes back like a sudden pain, and +catches my bweath. Oh, Peggy, isn't it difficult--isn't it twying? +Aren't you sowwy for me?" + +"No!" said Peggy Saville stoutly. "Not a mite!" She lifted her head +and looked the other squarely in the face. Her eyes were astonishingly +bright, and there was a patch of colour on each cheek. "Pray, why +_should_ I be sorry? If you look upon the question as a pure matter of +business, I cannot see that you deserve any sympathy. I am sorry for +_him_! He seems to be an extremely good bargain, and it is hard on him +to be regarded in the light of a disagreeable necessity. I suppose he +is devoted to you, and hopes, poor wretch! that you are going to accept +him for himself. For you _will_ accept him, Rosalind! That's certain. +You may imagine that you have not made up your mind, but you have! You +could never have the courage to give up all those good things. Why +should you, indeed? They mean more to you than anything else. You +would never feel any temptation to love a man who was not rich!" + +Peggy spoke in crisp, stinging little sentences, her distress on her +brother's account goading her into unusual bitterness; but she was +entirely unprepared for the result of her words, stricken dumb by the +sight of Rosalind's pale glance of reproach, the sudden rush of tears to +the eyes. Broken words struggled for utterance, but she could only +distinguish, "Unjust! Untwue!" before, as Fate would have it, the +couple in front wheeled round, and came back to join them. + +"I wanted to know which way you would prefer to take--" began Arthur, +and then stopped short, horrified at what he beheld. Something that +Peggy had said had touched Rosalind on a tender point, for having once +broken down, she found it impossible to control her distress, and though +she had lowered her parasol so as to form a shield between herself and +the passers-by, she made no attempt to hide from Arthur, but stood +gazing at him like a lovely, distressed child, with lips a-quiver, and +eyes all drowned in tears. He seized her hand with an impulsive +gesture, and questioned her rapidly as to the cause of her distress. +His voice vibrated with tenderness, and Rosalind clutched his arm with +nervous fingers, and stammered pitiful explanations. + +"Peggy--oh, so cruel! So unkind! I asked her advice, and she said--she +said--such cruel things!" + +Arthur cast one glance at his sister, and then appeared unconscious of +her presence. A group of visitors was approaching, and his great desire +was to take Rosalind into some quiet corner of the grounds, where she +could have an opportunity of recovering her self-possession without +being observed by curious eyes. + +"Come with me!" he said gently. "Come down this path to the end of the +shrubbery. If you are in trouble, can't I help you, Rosie? Won't you +let me try?" + +They disappeared from sight, and Peggy walked on in the opposite +direction, her face white and set. The iron had entered into her soul, +for oh, that glance--that glance of cold anger and reproach! Could it +indeed have come from Arthur--Arthur, who never looked at her in anger +before--Arthur, between whom and herself there had never hovered a +shadow of a cloud in all their happy, loving lives? A stranger had +complained of her, and he had accepted the complaint without giving her +an opportunity of justifying herself! Another girl in Peggy's position +might have blamed Arthur in return, and regarded herself as a martyr, +but that was not Peggy's way. Far harder to bear than her own smart +would have been the necessity of admitting a flaw in her idol. Her one +desire was to justify Arthur, and place him beyond the reach of blame. +Before she had taken twenty steps forward, she was saying brokenly to +herself: + +"Yes, I deserved it! It is easy to be sharp, and say cutting things at +another person's expense. I had the chance of speaking kindly, and of +helping her to a better decision, but I let it go, and gave her a sneer +instead. I deserved it, Arthur dear! I _did_ deserve it, but oh! you +must forgive me soon. It's like red-hot knives sticking into my heart +to think that you are angry with me!" + +But Arthur was not thinking about Peggy. He was standing beside +Rosalind at the end of the shrubbery, his eyes shining, his face +beautified by a great tenderness. + +"Now, Rosie!" he cried, "now! Tell me all about it!" + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +Rosalind gave a little sob and flicked her handkerchief across her eyes. + +"Peggy thinks I am worldly," she said brokenly, "and when I twy to +confide in her, she puts her head in the air and looks as if she had no +patience to listen. She says cwuel things!" + +"I'm sorry, Rosalind, and so will she be herself, when she has had time +to think. Peg is a hasty little mortal, but you know how loving and +staunch she is, and I am sure she had not the remotest intention of +wounding you. What was it all about? What was the subject under +discussion?" + +But at this Rosalind blushed and hesitated. A problematical marriage +was no easy matter to explain to Arthur Saville, yet mingled with her +embarrassment was a strange eagerness to hear what he would have to say +on the subject. Never once in all these years had a word of love passed +Arthur's lips, but Rosalind was too experienced a woman of the world to +be in any doubt as to his sentiments. She knew that he loved her, and +had been grateful to him for the reticence which made it possible to +continue on terms of friendship, but at this crisis of her life the old +friendship seemed insufficient, and her heart went out to Arthur in a +rush of love and longing. + +"I asked her advice about--accepting Lord Everscourt!" she said, +faltering; and there was a moment's silence before Arthur replied +quietly: + +"I see! Just so. And Peggy said?" + +"She said she was sowwy for him, not me. She said that I looked upon it +as a business arrangement, and seemed to think that I could never really +care for any man." + +"And was she misjudging you? _Do_ you care for Lord Everscourt, Rosie?" + +She shook her head at him with a soundless movement of lips shaped to +pronounce a "No." + +"But he is a good fellow, I am told, and devoted to you. I don't agree +with Peggy on this question, Rosalind. You have been brought up to +value certain things so highly that you cannot be happy without them, +and if you meet an honest English gentleman who can give them to you, +and love you sincerely into the bargain, I believe that it would be your +best chance of happiness. If you can esteem and respect him, love would +probably follow." + +Rosalind dropped her eyes and stood before him drooping and silent. +This was not what she had expected to hear. Never in her most +despondent moods had she believed it possible that Arthur Saville would +advocate her marriage with another; never had she believed that he could +listen unmoved to such a suggestion! The pain at her heart forced her +into speech, and the words faltered forth with unconscious self- +betrayal. + +"No, I could never love him. It's impossible! I have no love to give." + +"You mean--" began Arthur, and then stopped short, for Rosalind had +lifted her eyes to his in a long, eloquent glance, and in that moment +there were no secrets between them. Rosalind realised the patient, +self-sacrificing love which had kept silence for her sake, and Arthur +Saville knew that all that was best in Rosalind Darcy's nature was given +to him, and that he held the key to the poor starved citadel of her +heart. + +"Oh, Rosie!" he cried brokenly, "is it really so? Am I the happy man, +dear? Do you mean that you care for me instead--that that is the reason +why you cannot love him?" + +"Always, Arthur, oh, always!" whispered Rosalind brokenly. "Ever since +I was a child! I have twied to get over it, but it is no use. I think +of you all the time; I enjoy nothing if you are not with me. I have +behaved badly to you often, but I have suffered for it afterwards. I +have lain awake cwying half the night when you have been vexed with me +and have gone away without saying good-night." + +"Poor child!" sighed Arthur softly. His face was pale, and wore a +troubled expression, very different from that of the ordinary happy +lover who has just listened to such a speech from his lady's lips. "And +I have loved you, too, Rosalind; but I never intended to let you know +it. Perhaps I was wrong, but I doubted my own powers of making you +happy, and thought the best thing I could do for you was to stand out of +the way. But the case is altered now. You love me, and that lays a new +duty on us both. The question is--how much do you love me, Rosie dear? +How much are you prepared to give up for my sake? I am a poor man, and +have my way to make. In ten--a dozen years from now, if I am alive and +well,"--Arthur squared his shoulders and drew himself up with an air of +a man who has a justifiable confidence in his own powers--"I shall have +made a position for myself which will be worth your acceptance; but we +must realise what ten years means. In ten years, sweetheart," he looked +at her with a smile so tender that her eyes fell before his, "you will +be young no longer. You will have passed the best years of your life. +Could you bear to pass them as the wife of a poor man, living in a small +house, without any of the luxuries and pleasures to which you are +accustomed? Do you love me enough to do it _willingly_? I'd work with +the strength of ten men, but I have had more experience of the world +than you, dear, and I know that success cannot come in a day. With all +my love and all my care, I could not shield you from the waiting which +must come first." + +"But--but--" faltered Rosalind, and was silent. The matter-of-fact +manner in which Arthur had followed up the mutual declaration of love by +a proposal of marriage had filled her with consternation. She did love +him, oh yes! If he had been in Lord Everscourt's position, how gladly +she would have been his wife! but his picture of the life which the must +share if she joined in her lot with him sent a chill of dismay through +her veins. Ten years of poverty and obscurity, ten years' work and +waiting, with no possibility of success until youth and beauty had fled, +and she was an uninteresting, middle-aged woman! Rosalind shivered at +the thought, and summoned up courage to protest once more. + +"It is so sudden, Arthur, that I don't know what to say. I was never +sure until now that you weally did care for me. And to talk of being +mawwied so soon--at once!" + +"What else can we do? When you tell me that other men wish to marry +you, you cannot wonder that I want to claim you as my own. You are +troubled about Lord Everscourt, but if you were engaged to me the matter +would settle itself dear, and it would be the best way out of the +difficulty. I will speak to your father at once, and--" + +"No, no!" she cried quickly, so quickly and with such an emphasis of +denial that Arthur looked at her in wonder. "You must not do that. I +won't allow it. He is waiting for me to give an answer to Lord +Everscourt, and he would be so upset and distwessed. He likes you, and +so does mother, but--Oh, you know how it is! You know what they want! +You know how disappointed they would be!" + +"Yes, I know, and I should be sorry for them, for it would be a +reasonable disappointment. You are their only daughter, and from their +point of view Everscourt can do better for you than I; but, my darling, +in this matter you must think first of yourself! It is your life that +is at stake, and it is for you to choose whether you prefer love or +riches. Your parents will bow to your decision, for they love you too +much to destroy your happiness. Your mother would feel it most, but I +would do my best to reconcile her to the disappointment, and as for your +dear, good father, there is one thing which would grieve him infinitely +more than the loss of a brilliant marriage. Can you guess what it is, +Rosie?" + +"No," she said, "no," but her eyes drooped, and she fidgeted uneasily +with the handle of her parasol. Arthur laid one hand over hers with a +quick pressure, and, despite its firmness, his voice was very gentle as +he replied: + +"Yes, you do, dear. You guess what I mean. He would rather see you +married to me than know that you had deliberately sold yourself for +money while your heart was given to another man. In the one case he +would admire your sincerity, in the other he could feel neither +admiration nor respect, nothing--it seems to me--but shame and +humiliation!" + +Rosalind drew in her breath with a deep inhalation. It was true, and +she knew it was true! Lord Darcy had never failed to hold the highest +ideals before his daughter, and it would be a bitter grief to him if she +condescended to an unworthy choice. Already, in imagination, she could +see the shadow fall across the tired old face, and she shivered as if in +pain, for her father's respect and good opinion were very precious in +her eyes. Many a time in days gone past had the fear of his disapproval +held her back from a foolish action, and, in this crisis of her life, it +was more than ever necessary to her peace of mind to retain his +approval. She stood hesitating and trembling, and, unseen to mortal +eyes, the good angel of Rosalind Darcy's life stood by her side at that +moment and whispered counsel in her ear. The worldly motives seemed to +disappear, she looked in Arthur's face and saw, waiting for her, love +and tenderness, with such joy of congenial companionship as for the +moment eclipsed every other consideration. Oh, surely no life was worth +having compared with one spent with him! Her mind ran swiftly over a +dozen possibilities, and in each found a happy solution. Whatever +happened, she could not fail to be content if Arthur were near. He was +so good, so strong, so radiant, that his very presence was a guarantee +of happiness, of something more than happiness, for, with all his +brightness of manner, there was an underlying nobility in Arthur +Saville's character which Rosalind recognised and longed after in the +depths of her vacillating heart. She could be a better woman as his +wife than in any other sphere in life; if she rejected him, she would +reject also her own best chance of becoming a good woman. She knew it, +and a little chill, as of fear, ran through her veins as she +acknowledged as much to herself, for at the bottom of her heart she knew +something else also. She knew that when it came to the point she had no +intention of marrying Arthur Saville. It was sweet to look into his +face and dream for a moment of what might be, but the chains of the +world were too heavy to be broken; the prize for which she had longed +was within her grasp, and she could not throw it aside. The good spirit +spread her wings and flew sadly away, for when a human being sees with +clear eyes the opening of the roads, and deliberately turns in the wrong +direction, the angel who must then step forward to bear her company is +no longer white-robed, but wears a weary countenance and sombre garment. +Sometimes we call her Pain, and sometimes Experience, and there is no +welcome waiting for her where she goes, though sometimes, looking back +over the years, we bless her in our hearts, and realise that she has +taught us lessons which her bright-robed sister was powerless to instil. + +The shadow of future suffering seemed already on Rosalind's beautiful +face as she raised it to Arthur's, and cried tremblingly: + +"Arthur, I cannot! I love you dearly, but I cannot face it! Evewy one +would be so surpwised--so astonished! They would laugh at me behind my +back, and mother would bweak her heart--and--and--oh, I couldn't bear to +give up so much! I could not be happy seeing other people doing things, +and not being able to do them myself. I could not endure to be poor. +If you were even a little better off, I might wisk it, but it is such a +long, long time to wait. Ten years! And, after all, it is not certain. +You might not succeed even then!" + +"No, nothing is certain, not even the success of a worldly marriage, +Rosalind! Health may go, riches may take wings and fly away. Suppose +you married Everscourt, and one of these two things came to pass, where +would your happiness be then? There is only one thing which can be +trusted to remain unchanged, and that is the right sort of love. I +could have given you that love, Rosalind, if you had cared enough in +return to trust yourself to me, but I will not persuade you against your +will. I have an uphill fight before me, and I want a wife who will help +me by her faith, not drag me back by her complaining. I was right in +believing that such a poor thing as my love could have no power with you +against other attractions." + +A note of bitterness rang in Arthur's voice, despite his effort to +restrain it, and Rosalind winced, and held out her hands with a gesture +of protesting pain. + +"You don't understand! You will never understand, and I can't explain. +I can't justify myself, Arthur, or expect you to forgive me, but twy at +least to think of me as kindly as you can. I may not be able to care +for any one in the way you do, but at least I have cared for you most! +I could never be happy again if I thought I had bwoken your heart." + +"You have not broken it, Rosalind," said Arthur quietly. "If you had +loved me truly, and I had lost you, it would have been another matter, +but you have never been mine even in imagination. I could not help +loving you, but there was no hope in my love, only the shadow of this +end hanging over all. Now at last the bolt has fallen, and I have to +face the worst. That is all!" + +"But you won't--you won't do anything rash?" gasped Rosalind, the sight +of the set face sending a dozen wild thoughts of suicide, emigration, +and the like through her foolish brain. "Pwomise me, pwomise me, to be +careful of yourself! Oh, Arthur, tell me, what do you mean to do?" + +Arthur Saville drew himself up with the old soldierly gesture, and the +flash came back to his eyes. + +"Do!" he cried. "Bury the past and begin afresh, Rosalind! This is my +second defeat in life, but I'll go on fighting. I'll win my victories +yet!" + +Rosalind Darcy looked at him and was silent. He was speaking the truth, +and she realised it, as any one must have done who saw the young fellow +at that moment, and noted the strength and determination of the handsome +face. Arthur Saville was not a man whose life could be wrecked by a +woman's folly; there was a future before him, and the time would come +when those who loved him would glory in his achievements. + +In one of the bitterest moments of her life Rosalind Darcy realised that +when this time arrived, she herself would have neither part nor lot in +his successes! + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +When Peggy was dressing for dinner that evening a knock came to her +door, and Arthur's voice demanded entrance. She flew to meet him, and +felt her spirits go up at a bound at the sight of his smile. + +"Have you come to say you have forgiven me?" she asked, linking her arm +in his, and shaking back the mane of hair which fell over the white +dressing-gown. "I am so thankful to see you, for I am appallingly +hungry, and yet to eat a crumb while you were still angry with me, would +have been a moral impossibility. I did not know how to get through +dinner." + +"Angry! When was I angry? I was never angry with you, Peggy kins, that +I know of!" + +"Oh, Arthur! This very afternoon. A most lacerating glance. It cut +into me like knives." + +Arthur laughed; a short, half-hearted laugh which ended in a sigh. + +"Oh, is that all? I was annoyed for a moment, but it seems a small +cause for so much emotion. Can't you bear even a glance of disapproval, +young lady?" + +"No, I can't! Not from people I love, for I do love them so badly, that +there's no peace or comfort for me unless they are pleased with me in +return. I am not blaming you, dear, but it was the first time, you see, +that you have ever taken part against me." + +"Ah, well, it won't happen again; it's the last time as well as the +first!" sighed Arthur wearily. "I came to tell you, Peg, that Rosalind +and I have come to a definite understanding. You knew so much that it +is only fair that you should know the whole. You will soon be asked to +congratulate her on her engagement to Lord Everscourt." + +Peggy marched to the other end of the room, aimed a deliberate blow at +an unoffending wicker work-table and hurled it to the ground. She +glared with an expression of savage satisfaction at the miscellaneous +articles scattered broadcast over the floor, curled her lips scornfully +at her own reflection in the glass, and finally walked back to Arthur's +side, and exclaimed in a tragic voice: + +"I knew it! I knew it was coming! She affected to ask my advice, but I +told her it was waste of time, as she had really made up her mind what +she meant to do. Then she began to cry, and said I was cruel, and went +away with you so willingly that I thought perhaps, after all, I had +judged too quickly, for she _does_ care for you, Arthur, I know she +does! She could not deny that, I suppose?" + +"No, she did not deny it. She loves me in her own way, but it's not my +way, Peg--or yours! She would have been happy with me if I had been +rich, but she is not prepared to make any sacrifices on my account, and +would rather give me up than live a quiet, restricted life. She does +not even understand how much she is losing, poor girl, or how little +satisfaction she will get in return!" + +Peggy set her lips tightly. + +"No, she does not understand, and that makes one sorry for her, for she +misses just the best thing in life. I used to think when I was a child +that the thing I wanted most was for people to love me--not in an +ordinary, calm, matter-of-fact sort of way, you know, but to love me +_frightfully_, and care for me more than any one else in the world! I +used to put myself to any amount of trouble to be agreeable, for even if +I did not care for a person myself, it worried me to death if that +person were not devoted to me! There were thirty-six girls at school +besides the governesses, so you may imagine how exhausting it was to be +nice to them all. Well, I've come to the conclusion that it's a +mistake. It's sweet to be loved, but it's ever so much sweeter to love. +It is so inspiring to forget all about one's tiresome little self, and +care more for somebody else. When I love people, I feel," Peggy threw +back her head and expanded her little shoulders with a terrific breath, +"_omnipotent_! There is nothing I could not _be_ or _do_ or suffer to +help them. The more they need from me the happier I am. Don't you know +how you feel after listening to a beautiful sermon--that you really wish +something disagreeable would happen, to give you an opportunity of +behaving well and being sweet and unselfish? Well, that's just how one +feels in a lesser way to the people one loves on earth. It's how I feel +to you at this moment, Arthur darling, when I know you are suffering. I +wish I could take all the misery and bear it for you. Is your heart +quite broken, you dear old lad?" + +"No, Peg, it is not. I feel miserable enough, but I don't delude myself +that I have received a life-long wound. It has been a dream, you know, +a schoolboy's dream, but I always realised that the princess was not for +me. She is so lovely that one's heart goes out to her instinctively, +but it never seemed possible to think of her as a part of my work-a-day +life. It's dreary work walking in the cold grey light and realising +that the dream is over, but I shall pull myself together as time goes +on, and make the best of what remains." + +"You will be surprised to discover how much that is! There are many +people left who love you and long to make you happy, and in time to come +you will be thankful that things are arranged as they are. There are +dozens of other girls who are far better worth winning--" + +"But I don't happen to want them! That makes all the difference!" +sighed Arthur sadly. "Ah, Peg, it is easy to be philosophical for +another person. I could offer volumes of common-sense consolations to +another fellow in my position, but they fall very flat when it comes to +one's own turn. It is impossible to judge for another person." + +"Yet onlookers see most of the game, and no one could know you and +Rosalind, and not feel that you were a thousand times too good for her! +Think of mother! Think of Mrs Asplin! Compare her with them, and you +will see how different she is. I can quite understand your feelings, +for she fascinated me, too, and, however stern I mean to be, I have to +give in when she takes the trouble to smile upon me; but one wants +something more than pretty ways, and she would have disappointed you, +Arthur, I know she would! You would have found her empty-headed and +unsympathetic just where you needed sympathy most." + +"Ah, well, well, we won't discuss her any more. It is not our business. +If you want to please me, Peg, you will be as friendly as possible when +you meet. She will have her own troubles to bear, poor girl, and it +will be all the easier for you, since you believe that I have had a +fortunate escape." + +He tried to smile, but it was an unsuccessful attempt, and Peggy +realised that the wound was as yet too fresh to bear handling. The time +would come when Arthur would be ready to receive consolation, but now it +was easy to see that depreciation of Rosalind's character only added to +his distress. He did not attempt to contradict his sister's statements, +but no doubt the fact that he was unable to do so was the bitterest drop +in his cup. Peggy clasped her arms round his arm and looked into his +face with wistful eyes. + +"Oh, Arthur, I wonder why it is that the two things which you have cared +for most in your life have both been denied to you? You wanted two +things--just two--and they have both ended in disappointment! If you +had been wilful and selfish, it would have been different, but you never +were that. You worked hard, and thought of other people before +yourself, and still nothing has gone right! How is it? Why is it? Why +should it be?" + +Arthur shook his head sadly. + +"I don't know, Peg. My luck, I suppose," he replied in a tone so +dejected that it brought the tears to his sister's eyes. + +"No, it is not your luck," she contradicted quickly. "I know what it +is--it has just come to me this minute. It is because God has better +things waiting for you! It is all rough and miserable just now, but +further along the path it will get beautiful again. Oh, I believe it +will be very beautiful; and when you get there, Arthur, you will be +thankful that you went on, and did not stop half-way." + +"Dear little Peg," he said fondly, "I hope I shall. It's a cheery +thought, and I'll adopt it forthwith, and try to look ahead, not +backwards, and you must do the same. No more tears, please! You must +help me by being bright and talking persistently of some thing else. +And now I must go, or you will never be ready for that dinner you want +so badly. I'm wery hungry myself, so please don't keep us waiting." + +He hurried out of the room, leaving Peggy to continue her hairdressing +operations with a tear trickling slowly over her cheek, and a +speculative expression in her eye. + +Hungry? But he had no business to be hungry! Never in the course of +her readings had she come across the case of a rejected lover openly +avowing an impatience for dinner, and, despite her anxiety for her +brother's happiness, Peggy could not subdue a certain regret that he +should have showed such a painful inconsistency in the performance of +his part! + +The next day brought the visit to London to a conclusion, but Peggy said +her adieux with the pleasant expectation of meeting her friends again +before many weeks were over. When Parliament rose, Arthur would be +free, and had agreed all the more willingly to come down to Yew Hedge, +as Rosalind and her father would at that time be visiting Lady Darcy in +Switzerland. An invitation to Eunice for the same time had also been +eagerly accepted, and Peggy was full of rose-coloured schemes for the +amusement of her guests. + +"Picture to yourself, my dear," she cried tragically, "that never yet +have I had the pleasure of entertaining a friend in my own domain! I +don't know if you will enjoy yourself, but I am sure that I shall. I +have views on the subject of hospitality, and am anxious to test them. +So I shall treat you like a puppet, and play all sorts of experiments on +you to try the effect. I should wish you to feel tired sometimes in the +morning, and stay in bed to breakfast, so that I could wait upon you, +and to be too lazy to dress yourself now and again, so that I could +arrange your hair in different styles. If you could manage to be a +little ill, it would be charming, for then I could nurse you and be +severe about your diet, but if you keep wen, we will make the best of +it, and entertain the neighbourhood. I'll set to work at once to plan +something original and startling." + +"Oh, do!" cried Eunice eagerly. "I'd love to be startled. I shall look +forward to coming every single day until the time arrives, and be the +most obedient of puppets. You are a dear, Peggy--I _do_ love you! I'm +so grateful to you for being kind to me." + +"It's my nature, dear. Go on deserving it. Three remarks at least I +insist upon at every meal, and if you could increase the number to six, +I should be correspondingly gratified. Don't stare at the carpet, don't +look frightened when there is nothing to be frightened at, and look +after my beloved brother for my sake. Those are my last instructions +for your guidance. Arthur feels lonely sometimes, just as you do, and +it would help you both if you would talk to him sometimes, or, still +better, let him talk to you. Men, my dear," sighed Miss Peggy with an +air of experience, "men like nothing better than to talk of themselves +with a woman as audience. Ask questions about his work, his plans, his +thoughts, and he will go on talking happily, so long as you will sit and +listen to him. You could do that, at least, if you could not talk +yourself." + +"Oh yes, easily. I'd like it. I love to hear him talk," assented +Eunice naively. She fixed her soft shy eyes upon Peggy's face as she +spoke, and that young lady felt that she had shown her usual shrewdness +in suggesting such an arrangement, for a sweeter _confidante_ it would +have been difficult to find, or one more ready with sympathetic +interest. + +With her usual tactfulness Eunice declined to accompany Peggy to the +station, so that her presence should put no check upon the last +conversation between brother and sister, but no reference was made on +either side to the event of two days before. Arthur seemed anxious to +talk on impersonal subjects, so they discussed the old friends and their +doings--Esther and her theories, Mellicent and her romances, and sent +affectionate memories after the two absentees, Rex working his uphill +way in the world, and Oswald in his luxurious home. It was always a +happy task to recall bygone days, and the "Do you remember?" filled up +the conversation until the last moment arrived, and Peggy leant out of +the carriage window looking down upon Arthur with an anxious scrutiny. +The dear face looked worn and thin, and the forehead showed a couple of +lines which she had never seen before. + +"Oh, Arthur, I wish I were staying longer, or that you were coming home +with me!" she cried impetuously. "I can't bear leaving you alone just +now. You need to be petted and coddled and made a fuss of, you dear old +boy, and I am desolated that I can't do it! What is the use of having a +sister, if she can't do anything for you when you are in trouble?" + +"She has done a great deal for me already, and is such a sympathetic +person, Peg, that I am afraid she would spoil me altogether if she had +her way! It's just as well that we have to be separated for a time, for +the less I think of myself the better. It can do no good, and only +unfit me for work. I'm going to set my teeth and begin afresh. +Consolation prohibited, my dear, but hints for support and occupation +thankfully received!" + +And then had Peggy an inspiration! A flash of mischievous enjoyment lit +up the hazel eyes, but before Arthur had time to discover it, it had +disappeared and been replaced by an innocent little smile. + +"You might do a good turn to Eunice by cheering her up after my loss! +It would be beneficial for you to make the effort, and the Rollos would +be grateful. It is not easy to make her talk, but you would find it +worth the effort, for she has sweet thoughts, and--on occasion--a pretty +little wit of her own!" + +"On somewhat rare occasions, I should say," replied Arthur, smiling; but +all the same he looked pleased at the suggestion, and the smile lingered +on his lips, as at some pleasant remembrance. + +When the whistle sounded and the train began to move onwards, he waved +his hand and nodded a cheery assent. + +"Right, Peg! For the credit of the family, your pupil shall not be +allowed to fall back into her old ways. I'll do my duty towards her." + +"Mind you do!" cried Peggy, and flopped down on her seat with a soft +explosion of laughter. "Ha! ha!" she cried aloud. "Ha! ha!" and +flourished her magazine in triumph. + +The next moment she became aware that an old lady seated in the opposite +corner was regarding her with glances of apprehension, and stealthily +fumbling for her umbrella as a possible means of defence. + +"She thinks I am mad!" quoth Miss Peggy to herself, "How truly +gratifying! I must foster the delusion." She turned her magazine +ostentatiously upside down, smiled vacantly at the pictures, and +feigning to fall asleep, watched beneath her eyelashes the compassionate +glances with which she was regarded, shaking the while with inward +laughter! + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +A week after her return to Yew Hedge, Peggy was on her way to tea at the +vicarage, when she was joined by Rob Darcy, who jumped over a wall at +her approach, and exhibited an extraordinary amount of surprise at +seeing her, considering how long he had been on the outlook for just +such an event. + +"Where are you going, my pretty maid?" he demanded, "and--" + +"I'm going to the vicarage, sir," she said promptly, with an +accompaniment of old-fashioned curtsey which brought the twinkle into +Rob's eyes. + +However solemn he might be, he never could resist a smile at Peggy's +saucy ways, and to-day indeed he did not appear solemn at all, but +unusually beaming and radiant. + +"Then I'll go with you, my pretty maid, for I've been asked too, in a +breathless note from Mellicent, with neither beginning nor ending, nor +comma nor full stop. If any one else had written in such a state of +agitation, I should have thought something thrilling had occurred, but +Mellicent is guaranteed to go off her head on the slightest provocation. +Probably it is nothing more exciting than a cake or a teacloth which is +to be used for the first time. She said that I _must_ come, whatever +happened, for it was dreadfully important, but I have really not thought +much about what it could be, for I am accustomed to receiving violent +summonses which mean nothing at all. The first time I ran nearly half +the way, and arrived with a purple face and such a stitch in my side as +nearly finished my mortal career, and she said: `Oh, have you come? I +didn't think you would. I want to show you my new hat!' Another time +she was out, and had forgotten that she had asked me at all; but as she +has asked you too, that will hardly be the case to-day." + +Peggy threw back her head and regarded Rob with a curious scrutiny. +"Methinks I perceive an air of unusual festivity in my venerable friend. +It takes a great deal to rouse him to any sign of feeling, so one must +needs conclude that some important event had occurred. May one inquire +its nature?" + +"Peggy may, if she cares to hear it!" returned Rob briefly. "I have had +one or two pieces of good luck lately, Mariquita, which have cheered me +up. That's all. I want to earn some money, you know, and not depend +entirely on what the father allows me. My books and papers have done +well in one sense, though there's not much money to be made out of +scientific writing, but now I believe I see my way to making a good +thing out of my plants. I think I told you before that I have sold some +of the specimens which I brought home at a very good price, and I have +one shrub in particular which is bringing in quite a little income. +It's a species of broom which I discovered in the most accidental +fashion. I was on a hunting expedition one day when I was in Africa, +and was hiding behind a clump of broom, when I noticed that one bush was +different from the rest. They were plain, but it was mottled in two +distinct shades of the same colour. It was evidently a freak, a disease +of some sort, as such variations generally are, but it was uncommonly +pretty all the same. I had never seen anything of the kind before, and, +without conceit, I may say that I know a good deal more about plants +than the ordinary professional gardener. Well, I examined it, and it +occurred to me, Peg, that it would be a much better day's work to secure +that shrub than to go on with my sport. I unloaded my gun, marked the +spot, and had a look round, to see if I could find any further +specimens, but no, all the rest were the ordinary type. The first bush +was the one exception. Luckily it was not very big, and I managed to +dig it up and get it home alive, and after that there was no difficulty, +for it is healthy enough, and grows almost as well as the common +species. I set to work striking cuttings, and, after waiting until I +had a good supply on hand, sent specimens of the bloom to several big +nurserymen. They took it up at once with the utmost keenness, and I am +now able to sell cuttings as fast as I can strike them, and for a very +good price into the bargain. Of course this won't last for ever, +because by degrees other people will get their own stock, but luckily +the plant is a slow grower, and meantime they are obliged to come to me, +and I have the monopoly of the market. So my travels have turned out +more of a success in a monetary sense than I expected, and I am +beginning to realise that a man who understands botany, and who has also +a love for roaming about forbidden lands, may discover unknown +treasures, and do well for himself by bringing them home. It is a happy +discovery for me, for I have no chance in the beaten lines, and it will +be a solution of many difficulties if I can make a little money in this +way." + +"You will go away, you mean? You will leave England and go abroad?" +queried Peggy, with a feeling that the foundations of the earth were +giving way beneath her, and that life itself was a delusion, since, at a +moment's notice, the pillar of strength on which she had depended above +all others could calmly announce its own purpose of withdrawal. "Do you +mean that you will settle there altogether, and never come home any +more?" She was under the impression that she had put the question in a +calm and impersonal manner, but in reality there was a wistful tremor in +the voice which Rob was quick to catch. + +"I shall be able to answer that question better later on, Mariquita," he +said quietly. "It depends on--circumstances! But, so far as I can see, +these journeys must form an important part of my life; I must come and +go, and as there will necessarily be a certain amount of danger +involved, you needn't speak of it in public at present. It will be time +enough to tell the others, when I am about to start, for they will then +have so much less time to worry. I tell you now because--because I +always _did_ tell you all my plans, I suppose. It's an old habit." + +"And you know that I am too sensible to worry. I promise to be duly +anxious when the time comes, but I really can't agitate myself about +lions' jaws in an English lane, or feel apprehensive of any more savage +assault, than we shall receive at the vicarage if you persist in +dawdling along at this rate! It's very kind of you to make an exception +in my favour, but it's an honour I could have done very well without. +It's a poor thing, I must say, to come home from India, and have old +friends begging you to settle down among them, and then immediately +turning round and saying, `I'm off to Africa!' as if your presence in +the same hemisphere was more than they could bear. You are a champion +wet blanket, Rob! Your items of good news are calculated to drive your +friend into melancholy madness. I hope Mellicent's disclosures will be +of a more agreeable nature, or I shall be sorry I came out at all." + +"I _do_ love to see you in a temper, Mariquita. You are a capital +little spitfire. Go on abusing me, do! You can't think how I enjoy +it!" returned Rob promptly; which request, needless to say, was +sufficient to seal Miss Peggy's lips until the vicarage gate was +reached. + +Two eager faces appeared pressed against a window, and Mrs Asplin and +Mellicent hurried out into the hall to greet their visitors and escort +them into the schoolroom with an air of suppressed excitement. Tea was +laid on the centre table in the old-time fashion which Peggy approved, +and the vicar was standing before the empty grate, trying to look +dignified and proper, with the most comical expression of amusement +twitching his long lean face and twinkling out of his eyes. + +"What do you think?" began Mrs Asplin tragically, seating herself in +state in an old armchair and endeavouring to keep up an imposing front, +despite the fact that the absence of the fourth castor sent her tilting +first to one side and then to the other. "_What_ do you think we have +got to show you in the drawing-room?" + +"What do you think? What do you think?" echoed Mellicent all in one +breath; and the two visitors glanced at each other in mischievous +amusement. These dear, simple-minded people so intensely enjoyed their +little mysteries and excitements that it would be cruel indeed not to +indulge them. Rob ruffled his locks and frowned bewilderment, while +Peggy rolled her eyes to the ceiling and cried: + +"I've _no_ idea, but don't tell; let me guess it! Animal or mineral?" + +"Animal." + +"Fine or superfine?" + +"Not fair! Not fair! You can only put questions that can be answered +by `Yes' or `No.'" + +"How strict you are, to be sure! Well, then, is it mineral? No! +Vegetable? No! Animal? Yes! Ornamental? It _must_ be ornamental, or +you wouldn't be so proud of it!" + +Mellicent and her mother looked at one another and queried with uplifted +eyebrows. The girl formed a vigorous "No!" The woman smiled +indulgently and said: + +"I think it is! I think it is _very_ pretty!" and the vicar could throw +no further light on the subject than to say that he agreed with both. + +"It is useful then?" queried Peggy next; but this question fared no +better than the first. + +"Not a bit," cried Mellicent. "It used to be, or, at least, _part_ of +it did, but now it can do nothing at all but just--" + +"Be careful, dear! You will give them a clue. Oh yes, I think we can +say it is useful. Its general characteristic is usefulness, and it will +soon settle down again into its old ways." + +Peggy turned to Rob with a gesture of despair, and then started afresh +on a different tack. + +"Is it an article in general use? Do you find one in every house?" + +"No, no!" + +"In our house?" + +Giggles from Mellicent, reproving glances from her father, a decided +"No!" from Mrs Asplin. + +"In Rob's house?" + +"N-ot at present!" + +"Could you have more than one in any house at the same time?" + +Flutters of consternation and alarm--mysterious chuckles of laughter. + +"You _could_, but one at a time is enough for most people. Two or three +would be rather embarrassing!" + +"Especially in a small house, because where should we sit in the +evening? There would be no room for us!" said Mellicent meaningly, at +which mysterious reply the listeners grew more mystified than ever. + +"It must be _very_ large!" they murmured thoughtfully. "What can it be? +We shall never guess, so we might as well give it up at once and let +you tell us. What _is_ the wretched thing?" + +"It's not wretched at all! It is very, very happy! It is--take hold of +your chair, Peg, and hold tight! It is--_An Engaged Couple_!" + +"A _wh-wh-what_?" Peggy let her muscles slacken and leant back, limp +and shapeless, against the cushions, while Rob, in his turn, gave a +whistle of amazement. + +"An engaged couple! Oh, I say! Has that deep old Rex stolen a march on +us behind our backs, and brought his _fiancee_?" + +"No, indeed! Nothing of the sort! Rex has no sweetheart except his old +mother. I'd be delighted if he had--that's to say, if he could find a +girl worthy of him, but I've never seen her yet. Guess again, dears! +You are very hot, but it's not Rex." + +"Rosalind!" was Peggy's first thought; but no, it could not be Rosalind. +That, of course, was impossible, while Oswald was already a married +man, and Mellicent obviously out of the question. Who could it be? +Peggy mentally summoned before her every member of the old merry party, +and hazarded yet another suggestion. + +"Not Fraulein? Good old Fraulein, come back from Germany with a long- +bearded professor in her train?" + +"Not Fraulein, no, but the professor might apply. Nearer home, child! +You have not guessed every member of the family yet. You have not +thought of--" + +"Esther!" screamed Peggy, and instantly read confirmation in the smiles +of assent. "It is! It is! Esther and the man with the dusty coat! +Oh, how lovely! How perfectly, deliciously lovely and quaint! Not an +old maid, after all, but the first to be engaged and married! Oh, +Esther, Esther! Who would have thought it? Who would have believed +that you could condescend to such foolishness?" + +"Ha! ha! ha!" guffawed Rob, in rolling, subterranean laughter. "What a +joke! I'll have something to say to Miss Esther on this subject! She +must be made to realise the inconsistency of her conduct. What about +the ladies' school?" + +"Is she fond of him? Is he fond of her? When did it happen? When did +they come? How did they break it to you? Did they walk in together, +hand in hand, and kneel down before you, so that you could say, `Bless +you, my children,' in approved stage fashion?" + +"Yes, they did," cried Mellicent gushingly. "At least, if they didn't, +it was almost as good. She was coming home over Sunday, you know, and +he met her in town, and--and _asked_ her, you know, and then he got into +the train, and intended to go as far as the first station, and he went +on and on, until suddenly here they were, and father and mother and I +were standing on the platform to receive them. And _she_ got out and +_he_ got out, and they looked so silly and she said, `M-m-my friend, +Professor Reid,' and he tried to shake hands with mother three separate +times over, and couldn't find her hand, he was so horribly embarrassed, +and then we all drove home in the most horrible silence, and came into +the drawing-room, and Esther went crimson in the face, and said, `Father +and mother, I want to tell you--Professor Reid has asked me--I have per- +omised to be his wife,' and he scraped his feet on the floor and blurted +out funny short sentences, three words at a time, `Love her dearly,' +`Feel much honoured,' `Object of life,' `Make her happy,' and mother +said, `Oh, my dear child, I am so glad! I am so thankful for your +happiness!' and set to work and cried all the rest of the evening, and +father wriggled about in his coat and looked horribly uncomfortable, and +said, `Hum--hum--hum. Come into the study, and have a smoke!'" + +"My dear Mellicent! You have a most uncomfortable memory! Your +capacity for unimportant detail is truly astounding!" cried the vicar +protestingly; but Mellicent's description had been received with so much +interest by the visitors that the snub had but little effect. She +proceeded to enlarge on the appearance, manner, and eccentricities of +the brother-to-be, while Peggy gasped, gurgled, and exclaimed with a +fervour great enough to satisfy the most exacting of gossips. + +"I never, no, never, heard anything so exciting. Did she tell you that +I met them in London? I remarked on the condition of his coat--inches +thick in dust, I do assure you, and she was haughty, and gave me to +understand that he had something better to do than brush his clothes. I +hope she won't bear me a grudge for my indiscretion. It will be a +lesson to me not to make personal remarks for the future. Dear, dear +me, how I do long to peep in at the drawing-room window! Do you think +they would mind very much, if they looked up and saw my face flattened +against the pane? When are we going to see them, and to what class of +engaged couples do they belong? Proper? Mediocre? Gushingly loving?" + +"H'm!" deliberated Mellicent uncertainly. "He calls her, `My dear.' If +I were engaged, and a man called me `My dear,' I should break it off on +the spot; but I believe he likes her all the same. He kept handing her +the butter and cruet at breakfast every other minute, and he jumps up to +open the door for her, and asks if she doesn't feel the draught. And as +for her, she perfectly scowls at you if you dare to breathe in his +presence. She thinks he is the most wonderful man that ever lived." + +"Quite right too! I mean to be very proud of him myself; for he is to +be my own son. I don't know him yet, but from all we have heard I am +sure it will be easy to take him into our hearts. Peggy dear, we have a +quarter of an hour before tea, and we must not disturb the poor dears +until then, so come into the garden and have a walk round with me. We +haven't had a chat to ourselves for an age of Sundays." + +No, Peggy reflected, this was quite true; but there had been reasons why +she, at least, had avoided _tete-a-tete_ interviews, and she had +believed that Mrs Asplin would be even more anxious than herself to +leave the dreaded subject untouched. Such, however, was evidently not +the case, for no sooner was the garden reached than she burst into +impetuous speech. + +"Oh, Peggy, child, isn't this delightful? Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it +just the most wonderful and unexpected answer to my prayers? Here have +I been troubling my foolish head about what was to become of all these +dear people when I was not here, and now this smooths every difficulty +away. It troubled me to think of my dear girl working for herself, and +finding the fight grow harder and harder as the years passed, as all +women must, and of Austin left to Mellicent's scatter-brained care; but +you see I might have had more faith, for my fears were needless Esther's +home will be a stronghold for the family, and Professor Reid is so +congenial in his tastes that Austin will find unending interest in his +society. Of course they could not live together, but you know the vicar +has decided that he cannot keep on his parish much longer, as he is not +strong enough to do justice to the work, and when the break comes it +would be delightful if he and Mellicent could take a little house near +Esther in Oxford, where they could see her constantly and have the +benefit of her wise advice. It would be a great thing for `Chubby,' +too, for she has as much worldly wisdom as a baby, and indeed her dear +father is little better. It's no wonder I am pleased, is it, Peggy, +when I think of all that this engagement means?" + +Peggy looked at her wonderingly. Flushed cheeks, radiant smiles, eyes +ashine with happiness, and all this pleasure at the thought of what was +to happen after her own death! Twenty-one drew a breath of dismay, and +cried reproachfully: + +"I don't know how you _can_ talk so! I don't know how you can bear to +discuss such things in that complacent fashion. I won't _think_ of it +even, but you seem quite calm about it. You can talk, and even +_laugh_--" + +"Yes!" cried Mrs Asplin quickly. "I can! I'm thankful for it. Many a +time in these last few weeks, Peggy, I've thanked my old father for the +gift of his irrepressible Irish spirit, and I've thanked God too, dear, +that, old and weary as I am, I can still look on the bright side, and +keep a cheery heart. It's a great blessing, Peg, a wonderful blessing, +for it helps not only ourselves, but those around us, over many a dismal +road. You have the gift, so see that you cultivate it, child, and never +let yourself imagine that you are pleasing God by going about with a +gloomy face and a furnace of sighs. The world wants all the sunshine it +can get, and deary me! what a pleasure it is to see a smiling face! +It's just a real help and lift on the way." + +"It's a help to see _you_. I always feel better for it," returned Peggy +earnestly. There was a moment's silence, then suddenly she clasped her +hands round the other's arm with an eager question. "Tell me, what does +it feel like to be face to face with death as you are now? To live with +the expectation of it with you day and night? To know for a certainty +that it is near? Tell me, how does it feel?" + +Mrs Asplin stood still in the middle of the path and drew a long +fluttering breath. Her eyes grew rapt, and she clasped the girl's hand +in an ecstasy of emotion. + +"Peggy, it's--_wonderful_!" she sighed. "It is like being suddenly +lifted on to a plateau and seeing life above the clouds! Everything is +different, everything is altered! Things that were forgotten before +seem now to fill in the whole view; things that were large and looming, +seem, oh, so small, so mean and trifling! I look back, and can hardly +understand how I worried myself about useless trifles--little +shabbinesses about the house, upset of arrangements, clothes and food +and holiday-making. When you once realise the uncertainty of life, they +seem of such unutterable unimportance. And it helps one to be gentle, +too, because if by chance it should happen to be the last day one had to +live, how sad it would be to speak hasty words, or to leave some one +sorrowing because of neglect or unkindness! It makes one long to do +kind things and say cheering words, and oh, so terrified of losing an +opportunity which may never come again! The doctor's verdict was a +great shock to me at first, but I am gradually coming to look upon it as +one of the greatest of blessings, for it's a hasty, impetuous creature +I've been all my days, and this quiet waiting time is going to teach me +many lessons. I ought to be grateful and happy that it has been granted +me." + +Peggy bit her lips and looked at the ground. She could not trust +herself to speak, but in her heart she was saying: + +"And after all, she may live longer than I! Every life is uncertain. +_I_ ought to feel like that too. I ought to climb up to that high +ground above the clouds. It's because she is a Christian that she feels +like that. I used always to think that very good people must be dull +and gloomy, but Mrs Asplin is the happiest creature I know, and so full +of fun... We used to go to her for help in all our school-day pranks, +and now when she knows she is going to die, she is happy still, and +quite calm and bright. I should like--oh, I should like to be good like +that! One can't always be young, and pretty, and happy, and strong; and +if I am going to be a Christian at all, I want to begin now, and not +wait until the troubles begin. That would feel mean! I wouldn't treat +any one on earth like that--ignore him altogether so long as everything +went well, and fly to him for help the moment I was in difficulties... +That awful night when Arthur told us that the doctors would not pass him +for the Army, Mrs Asplin said that there were more ways than one of +being a soldier, and I knew what she meant. `A soldier of Christ!' _I_ +could be that as well as Arthur, and I have been longing to fight all my +life... How does it go? ... + + "`Soldiers of Christ arise, + And put your armour on, + Strong in the strength which God supplies + Through His Eternal Son!' + +"Oh, what a glorious army! What an honour to belong to it! I'm only a +poor little recruit, but if Christ would train me--" + +Peggy's heart swelled with longing, and she clasped her hands nervously +together. It was a great moment, and her wonted self-confidence failed +her on this threshold of another life. The downcast fame grew so +anxious and troubled that Mrs Asplin became distressed at the sight, +and, as usual, took the blame upon herself. + +"Dear child," she said fondly, "I'm afraid I have oppressed you with the +weight of my burdens. It seems a strange thing that I should have +chosen a young thing like you as _confidante_, but at the time my +thoughts seemed to turn naturally to you. If Esther had known how weak +I was, she would have felt it her duty to give up her situation and come +home, and I was most unwilling to interfere with what I then believed to +be her life's work. Mellicent would have been quite overwhelmed, poor +child; and as for my boy, he would have worried himself to death, when +he needs all his courage to help him through these years of waiting. +But you were here, almost like a second daughter, and yet living so much +apart that you would not be constantly shadowed by the remembrance, and +so it came to pass that to you, dear, I opened my heart. You have been +all sweetness and consideration, and for my own sake I have no regrets, +but I shall be miserable if I see you depressed. No more sighs, Peggy, +_please_! I tell you honestly, dear, that I am better in health than I +was two months ago! Rest and care, and freedom from suspense, have done +good work already, so don't begin to lament too soon, for I may cheat +the doctors yet. Now smile and look like yourself, for we can allow no +doleful faces to-day. It is a happy day for me, for once more I have +two sons to love and be proud of. There goes the bell, and we must go +in to tea and to entertain the lovers. Don't be _too_ severe, darling, +for they are very new and most amusingly self-conscious. I am sure poor +dear Esther will feel it quite an ordeal to face you." + +Peggy smiled at that, as it had been intended she should, and the next +moment Mellicent came flying down the path, her eyes dancing with +excitement. + +"They've come!" she cried. "They are in the schoolroom waiting for you. +The professor is standing in the middle of the floor smiling into space +like a china image, and Esther is horribly embarrassed. I told her that +Peggy was here, and she _q-quailed_! Literally quailed before me. I +saw her do it!" + +"She may well quail!" cried Peggy meaningly. She threw back her head, +peaked her brows over eyes of solemnest reproof, and marched into the +house with a Mariquita stride. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +The glance of shamed apprehension which Esther cast at Peggy as she +appeared upon the threshold afforded immense delight to those who +watched the meeting between the two girls. The old danger signals were +all to the fore, as Peggy walked across the room--the peaked brows, +pursed-up lips, and air of gracious patronage; but the dignity of later +years seemed but to have added fresh weapons to her armament. A pigtail +could never by any chance have been so imposing as the glossy coils +which were now wound round the little head. The rustle of silken skirts +heralded her approach in a manner infinitely more stately than the +scamper of thin brown legs, and the wave of the little hand was +emphasised by the twinkle of diamonds. + +Esther grasped the back of her chair and gulped miserably. If only, +only Edward had not been present, she could have faced the worst; but +being still bashful and embarrassed in his presence, she trembled at the +thought of what was to come, and supplicated dumbly with her eyes. + +"My dear Esther, a thousand felicitations! I do indeed rejoice in your +happiness," murmured Peggy sweetly, and pecked her cheek with a +condescending kiss. Esther's face disappeared for a moment, and came +into view again with a fine access of colour and such an expression of +anguish as seemed incomprehensible to those who did not know with what +force Peggy's foot had been pressed on a pet corn, or had not heard the +threatening whisper, "You _would_, would you? Wait till I get you +alone!" which had belied the honeyed words. The two girls stood +together in silence a moment longer, while the other occupants of the +room gazed upon them with curious eyes; then Peggy held out her hand to +the professor in her most fascinating manner. "We should not need an +introduction, Professor Reid, since we are already united by a mutual +love and admiration. I congratulate you truly. To be approved by +Esther has ever been the ambition of her friends. To be chosen above +all others is indeed an honour." + +"I feel it so! I feel it so!" agreed the professor eagerly. He was +charmed to discover so understanding an appreciation of his _fiancee_, +and rose to the bait with innocent alacrity. "I feel very deeply the +responsibility attached to such a trust and my own unworthiness to +possess it, but I know that Esther will be patient with me and help me +to overcome my failings. She is so wise, so gentle--" + +"So sensible--" + +"So sensible, as you observe; so kind, so patient--" + +"So faithful to her resolutions, so strong, so _consistent_ in her +actions!" + +"Consistent, indeed!" echoed the professor, and rubbed his hands with +satisfaction. He saw only a remarkably affable, agreeable little lady, +who expressed herself with great propriety, and could not understand why +at this last word there was a general "family coach" movement in the +room, every one rushing hurriedly to take up a new position, or why +Esther herself should hang her head with an expression of guilty +embarrassment. How was he to know how often in that self-same company +his Esther had sung the praises of a single life, and vowed that no mere +man should be allowed to stand between herself and her life's work. + +Mrs Asplin took refuge at the tea-table, and rattled the cups with a +trembling hand. The vicar tip-toed gently up and down in his carpet +slippers, and, in his efforts to look solemn, dropped his chin until his +face looked about half a yard long. Mellicent spluttered contentedly in +a corner, and Rob rubbed his hands and whispered, "Go it, Peg!" at every +fresh opportunity. + +The conversation during tea-time was conducted mainly between the +professor and Miss Saville, and that young woman's friends listened with +amazed admiration to the high-flown eloquence of her remarks. Who would +have believed that Peggy was so well read, or able to conduct so learned +a conversation? Even her old instructor was surprised at her knowledge, +forgetting for the moment that education is by no means finished when a +girl leaves the schoolroom. Miss Peggy had associated with many clever +men during her four years' sojourn in India, had rubbed her sharp little +wits against theirs, and not only heard but remembered what they had had +to tell. She had likewise had abundant opportunity of cultivating her +natural gift for conversation, and the little minx was by no means sorry +to have an opportunity of quoting _a propos_ remarks in assent to the +professor's axioms, and thus impressing old and new friends at the same +time. + +Rob scowled in the background and scraped his feet on the carpet, a sign +of disapproval peculiarly trying to the nerves of his hostess; but then, +as Mellicent sagely observed, Rob always _was_ furious if Peggy talked +to any one but himself; so that it was no use taking any notice of +_him_, and so soon as tea was over, Mrs Asplin ordered him away with +the two older men, feeling sure that the girls were longing for a chat +by themselves. The two stooping figures went down the garden-path, with +Rob's stalwart form towering behind, and the three women who loved them +watched from the window, and murmured benedictions in their hearts. + +"Austin looks as young as the professor himself, not one bit more bowed. +He is so happy, bless him, to have gained another son." + +"Edward will have a talk with father, and father will find out what he +is like. How intellectual he looks! He has the true scholarly air, +such a contrast to big, lumbering Rob." + +"Two dear good pigmies, but the giant for me! What a comfort to see +brain and muscle together! As a rule one seems to entirely absorb the +other," sighed Miss Peggy happily, then turned to accost Esther with +uplifted finger. "Esther, oh, Esther, who would have thought it?" + +"It was very mean of you, Peggy, to make fun of me like that. I was +most uncomfortable. If Edward had guessed you were making fun--" + +"But he did not, you see, so no harm is done, and you could not expect +to escape scot free. _You_ to get engaged, after all your vows and +protestations! You to fall in love like an ordinary, ignorant girl! +You to condescend to marriage, when you might have spent your life +teaching in a high school! Oh, Esther, Esther, well might I call you +consistent! After this I shall have no more faith in strong-minded +women." + +"Don't call her strong-minded! I won't have it; it sounds too unlovable +for my dear, good girl!" cried Esther's mother fondly, and then +immediately contradicting herself; "And indeed she would need to be +strong-minded," she declared, "to venture to many a literary man. +Tiresome creatures! that they are, always living in the clouds and +coming in late for meals. An aunt of my own married an author, who +ruined his health poring over his desk from morning to night, and half- +way through the night into the bargain. Her great object in life was to +tempt him out of doors, and at first she could never do it; but she was +a woman of resource, and got the better of him in the end. She said she +had nothing to do but to ring the dinner-bell, and out he would fly and +scour the country-side for hours on end! So, indeed, she rang it +regularly half-way through the afternoon, and the poor soul was too lost +in dreams to discover the deception. He just thought he had been out +for ten minutes' constitutional, and that the meal had been kept hot +until his return. I've known several literary couples in my time, but +they were the only really happy pair, for not one woman in fifty has the +wit to manage a man without letting him suspect it. Remember, Esther, +when the professor is aggravating--" + +"He never will be! Mother, how _can_ you?" protested the _fiancee_ +indignantly, at which Mrs Asplin beamed with delight, Mellicent +chuckled, and Peggy groaned in sepulchral fashion. + +"Just wait and see. He'll wear you to a skeleton, my dear, and you +never had too much flesh to boast of. I've heard tales about literary +men which would make your flesh creep. Being late for meals is +nothing--literally nothing! I'm told they never speak for months at a +time when they are in the throes of composition, and habitually sit up +at night writing until they fall asleep, knock over the lamp, and set +the house on fire. You had better keep fire-escapes on every landing, +for you are bound to need them." + +It was of no use. Esther refused to be alarmed or even depressed. She +sat smiling and complacent, her hands folded on her knee, her usually +serious face softened into a radiance of contented happiness. Her state +of illusion was such that, if any one had dared to hint that the +professor might possibly mingle some trifling failing with his many +virtues, she would have laughed the idea to scorn, and her companions +realised as much, and made no further efforts to convince her. + +"It's no use talking!" Mellicent cried in scorn. "She thinks he is +perfect, and that we are all too stupid and ignorant to appreciate him. +It's the way all girls go on when they get engaged, and the only thing +to do is to keep quiet, and let them find out their mistake. They are +mad, poor dears, and don't know what they are doing. Let us talk about +the wedding; that will be more interesting. I have simply ached to have +a wedding in the family, and felt quite low because I thought mine would +be the first, and I should be cheated out of the fun of being a +bridesmaid and having all the fuss and excitement." + +"I am afraid you will have very little of that, Mill, as it is, for it +will be very, very quiet. I should hate a fashionable wedding, and feel +that it took away half the solemnity of the service to have one's +thoughts taken up with dress and furbelows. Edward wants to be married +very soon, in two months, if possible, for he says he has waited long +enough for a home, and there is no reason for delay. We are quite sure +of our own minds, and there will be no difficulty in finding another +governess for the little boys; so, mother dear, we must try to be ready +for a very quiet wedding by that time. I shall not need an elaborate +trousseau, you know; just a few plain, useful dresses." + +Mellicent groaned, and threw up her hands in despair. + +"Oh dear, what a thing it is to be sensible! Just listen to her, Peggy, +with her `few useful dresses.' I must say it's very hard on me, to have +a sister who never takes my feelings into account. What is the good of +having a wedding at all, if it isn't properly done with a choral service +and bridesmaids and pretty frocks? I don't think you _could_ be so +selfish, Esther, as to say I shall not be bridesmaid. I'd break my +heart if you did. Just Peggy and me, and one or two of his relatives, +and Rosalind Darcy, and the little boys as pages to hold up your train. +They would look sweet as pages, and every one has them now.--It's quite +the proper thing." + +But Esther laughed derisively at the very idea. + +"Pages indeed! Trains indeed! I sha'n't have any train to carry. My +own idea is to be married in my travelling-dress at eight o'clock in the +morning, and drive straight to the station; but we must talk it over +with Edward and see what he says. You can call yourself a bridesmaid, +Mill, if you like to stand beside me, and Peggy will be there, of +course, but she will understand that it is no lack of love which makes +me ask her as a guest only. If there were going to be bridesmaids +outside the family, she would be the first to be asked." + +Peggy made a bow of gracious acknowledgment. + +"And I am not so sure that there won't be even yet. Men, I have +observed, are extremely prosaic about other people's weddings and +sentimental about their own. The professor may object to the +travelling-dress, and want to see you in the orthodox white, in which +case Mellicent will have her desire, for, of course, you will give in to +him in that, as in every other instance. I hope he does, for I must +confess I like to see a bride in white." + +"And so do I," agreed the bride's mother. "I think it's a sin for a +girl to be married in anything else when she is young, and the dress has +to be bought in any case for wearing afterwards. You know, Esther dear, +you will be asked out a great deal in Oxford, and you must have a good +trousseau. No one can call me extravagant, but I am determined not to +let you leave home without seeing that you are well supplied, and have +everything that you need." + +Mellicent's eyes brightened with expectation. + +"That's right, mother, that's right! That's the way to talk to her. If +it's too painful to her feelings to buy nice things, you and I will go +up to town and get them for her. Just wait until it comes to _my_ turn, +and won't I enjoy myself just! Oh, dear me, how miserable I've been +many and many a time reading those wonderful accounts of trousseaux in +the newspapers, and thinking that I should never, never have the things +for my own! Dozens of hats, dozens of jackets, parasols to match every +dress, and as for blouses, hundreds, my dears, literally hundreds, of +every sort and description!" + +"Wicked waste and extravagance," Esther said severely. "I have often +wondered how brides in high position can show such a want of taste and +nice feeling in first wasting so much money, and then making a public +show of what is a purely personal matter. It's beautiful and poetic to +prepare new garments for the new home, but it's vulgar and prosaic to +make a show of them to satisfy public curiosity. If I could afford it a +hundred times over, I would not condescend to such folly. Would you, +Peggy? Whom do you agree with now, Mellicent or me?" + +"Both," said Peggy calmly. "I would have no exhibition of my fineries, +but I'd love to have them all the same, and would thoroughly enjoy the +selection. What is more. I believe you will yourself, for, having once +forgotten yourself so far as to get engaged, there is no saying what +folly you may descend to; but whatever you do, dear, I'll help you, and +come over on the eventful morn, to see that your wreath is not put on +_too_ tidily, and to give a few artistic touches to your painfully neat +attire. You will let me be with you on your wedding morning, won't +you?" + +"Indeed I will! I shall want every one I love around me to share in my +happiness; and you, dear Peg, are associated with some of the brightest +recollections of my childhood." + +"Oh, good gracious, now they are getting sentimental! I am going out +into the garden to eat gooseberries!" cried Mellicent, jumping up from +her seat and rushing out of the room. Mrs Asplin hesitated for a +moment, and then followed suit, and the two girls who were left behind +looked at one another with shy, embarrassed glances. For the first time +since the announcement of the great news they were alone together, and +each waited bashfully for the other to speak. Naturally, however, it +was Peggy who first broke the silence. + +"Then you thought it well over, Esther," she said slowly, "and decided +that you would rather marry the professor than go on with your work? +You were so full of ambition for the future and so interested in your +plans that it must have been difficult to give them up and resign +yourself to a quiet domestic life. But I suppose you are quite sure." + +Esther smiled with that ineffable superiority of experience which +divides the engaged girl from her old associates. + +"I never thought it over. I never `decided' or `resigned myself' or +anything of the kind. Edward wanted me, and that was enough. There was +not room in my mind to think of anything but him. To be with him and +help him is all I care for now." + +"And it was no effort, none at all, to give up what you had worked for +all your life? When he asked you to marry him, and you thought of your +work, had you no hesitation, no qualm?" + +"I--I never thought of it! I forgot all about it!" said Esther, +blushing; and Peggy bent forward to kiss her with a smile on her lips +and a tear in her eye. + +"You dear thing! I am so glad! I am so glad! It is all just as it +should be, and I can see you are going to be an ideal Darby and Joan. +You will forgive me, won't you, for saying that his collar was dusty, +for how was I ever to guess that he was going to belong to you? I much +admire the classical outline of his features, and I'll make a point of +studying it exclusively in the future, and never allow my eyes to wander +to his garments. After all, what is dust, that it should be allowed to +affect our estimate of a fellow-creature? He may be as dusty as he +likes, Esther, my dear, and I shall never breathe a word of reproach to +you on the subject." + +"Much obliged, but your generosity is unnecessary. You will never see +_my_ husband dusty, if I know it!" cried Esther in disdain, and blushed +so prettily at the sound of that magic word that Peggy capered round the +room in delight, humming an air the while which was intended to be the +Wedding March, but which was, alas! so lamentably out of tune that +Esther congratulated herself that, even if overheard, it would never be +recognised by the beloved listener in the garden. + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +For the next few weeks Esther's approaching marriage seemed to engross +attention to the exclusion of every other topic. To Mellicent's delight +the professor fulfilled Peggy's prophecy by putting his veto on the +travelling-dress proposition. The wedding should be quiet, the quieter +the better, but Esther must wear the orthodox attire, for he wished to +keep the memory of a white-robed bride with him throughout life. Alone +with Esther, he added one or two lover-like speeches on the point, which +more than reconciled her for the extra fuss and flurry which were +involved in gratifying his desire. A white dress involved bridesmaids, +so Peggy received her invitation, and was the less appreciative of the +position since every day brought with it a fresh interview with +Mellicent, eager, incoherent, brimming over with an entirely new set of +ideas on the all-important subject of dress. Esther herself went about +her preparations in characteristic fashion, thoughtful of expense, of +fatigue for others, yet with a transparent appreciation of her own +importance, which was altogether girl-like and natural, and Mrs Asplin +entered into every detail of the arrangements with whole-hearted zeal. +She was so happy in Esther's happiness, so thankful for the feeling of +additional strength and comfort for the future given by the prospect of +the new home, so proud of her distinguished son-in-law, that the old +merry spirit sparkled forth as brightly as ever, and with it such a +marked improvement in health as rejoiced Peggy's heart to behold. + +"Indeed, it's a perfect fraud I feel!" she explained one day, when the +girl had expressed delight at her altered looks; "for I seem able to do +all I want, while just as soon as I begin a tiresome duty I'm tired all +over, and feel fit for nothing but to lie down on my bed. I can stand +any amount of happiness, Peg, and not one little scrap of worry, and +that's a disgraceful confession for a woman of my years to make to a +girl like you! Ah, well, dearie, I've borne my own share of worries, +and when the old ships are worn out, they don't brave the storms any +more, but sail peacefully up and down the quiet streams. It's just a +useless old derelict I am, and that's the truth of it." + +"Derelict, indeed! You will never be more than seventeen, if you live +to be seventy. You are the youngest member of the family at this +moment, and if you spoke the honest truth you would acknowledge that you +are in your element in the midst of these wedding preparations! I +believe you are far more excited than Esther herself." + +"Indeed and I am. There is nothing I enjoy more than planning and +contriving, and making a great deal out of nothing at all. I've had a +grand turn out of my boxes and cupboards, and brought to light some +forgotten treasures which will come in most usefully just now. It +reminds me of the time before my own marriage, when I sat stitching +dreams of bliss into every seam, and indeed they have been fulfilled, +for I have been a blessedly happy woman! Now just look at these things +half a moment, my child, and tell me what you think I could do with +them. You are so clever at planning, and poor dear Esther is not a bit +of good in that direction. If you could suggest what to make, I could +cut out the patterns and set to work at once." + +Mrs Asplin waved her hands towards a table on which her resurrected +treasures were spread out to view, and Peggy dropped her chin with a +preternaturally solemn expression, to avoid bursting into laughter. It +was such a melancholy-looking bundle, and Mrs Asplin looked so proud of +it, and it was so deliciously like the old vicarage way, to endeavour to +make everything out of something else, and to rummage out a store of old +rubbish, as the first step towards manufacturing a new garment! The +treasures which were to contribute towards Esther's trousseau consisted +of a moth-eaten Paisley shawl, a checked silk skirt of unbelievable +hideousness, a muslin scarf; yellow with age, a broken ivory fan, and a +pair of mittens. A vision of Esther figuring as a bride in this old- +world costume, rose before Peggy's quick-seeing eyes, the checked silk +transforming her slim figure into Mother-Bunch proportions, the shawl +folded primly round her shoulders, the fan waving to and fro in the +mittened hand. Do what she would, she could not control the inward +spasm of laughter; her shoulders heaved and shook, and Mrs Asplin felt +the movement, and turned a quick glance upon her. + +"Laughing? What for? Don't you like them then? You saucy child, and I +thought they were so nice!" + +"Oh, mater dear, and so they are--in their present condition; but the +idea of converting them into fashionable new garments is too funny +altogether. You might as well try to cut up an oak-tree into fancy +borderings. Leave them as they are, dear, and lend them to me, so that +I may dress up and amuse my people. Then they will be doing real good +work." + +"I'll do nothing of the kind. Much obliged to you for the suggestion, +but I can make better use of them than that. You are as bad as +Mellicent, laughing at my poor old treasures. I don't know what the +world is coming to, I'm sure. Such upsetting notions the young folks +are getting." Mrs Asplin swept up the despised trophies in her arms, +and bustled out of the room with a show of displeasure, which, truth to +tell, had little effect upon the culprit. It was not the first, nor the +second, nor the twentieth time that a similar scene had been enacted, +for "mother's resurrections" were a standing joke in the Asplin family, +and the final fate thereof an open secret. However lofty might be the +first suggested use, the end was always the same. Her offerings scorned +by ungrateful relatives, she took refuge in dusters, and patiently +hemmed squares of the rejected fabrics, with which to enrich the already +lordly store of these useful commodities. On the present occasion she +had hardly passed the door before she had decided that for drawing-room +use nothing was really so good as a soft silk duster. The fate of the +old check skirt was sealed! + +The summer passed away very rapidly for Peggy, dividing her time between +two happy homes, on both of which the sun shone as brightly and +continuously as in the world without, and shadows seemed for the present +to have hidden themselves away. Colonel and Mrs Saville were full of +delight in their new home, and the sense of rest and security which came +from being settled down in England, with their children beside them. +Arthur's prospects improved from day to day as he became more widely +known and appreciated, while Peggy was an hourly comfort and delight. +Her post as only daughter was no sinecure, for a delicate mother left +all the household management in her hands, while an exacting father +grumbled loudly if she were not ready to bestow her company upon him at +a moment's notice. Like most men who have lived in India and have been +accustomed to an unlimited number of native servants, Colonel Saville +was by no means easy to satisfy. He expected the household arrangements +to move along as if on oiled wheels, whereas, needless to say, a +_menage_ over which Miss Peggy presided, was subject on the contrary to +some painful vicissitudes. When the post of housekeeper had been +deputed to her, Peggy had been greatly elated by her increased +importance, and with characteristic modesty had expatiated upon her +peculiar fitness for the post, and declared her intention of exhibiting +a really well-conducted establishment to the gaze of the world. She +provided herself with a huge account book, marched about the house +jingling an enormous bunch of keys, and would allow no one else but +herself to weigh out provisions in the store-room. The first week's +bill made Colonel Saville open his eyes, but his daughter explained with +much suavity that, living so far from shops of every description, it was +necessary to lay in a large stock of dried goods, so that one should be +able to supplement a meal on the arrival of unexpected visitors, and +also be independent of the vagaries of parcel post. This was an +unanswerable argument, and the colonel was the more inclined to +acquiesce, since the menus of the last week had been all that even his +exacting taste could desire. + +There were few things which Peggy could not manage to accomplish if she +gave her mind to the subject, and while the novelty of the charge lasted +she spared neither time nor pains to ensure success. The morning's +consultation with the cook was a solemn function with which nothing was +allowed to interfere. New and fantastic arrangements of flowers graced +the dinner-table each day, and the parlour-maid quailed before an eye +which seemed able to descry dust in the most out-of-the-way corners. + +For the first week, then, all went well, and the new housekeeper sunned +herself in an atmosphere of praise and congratulation. The colonel +tugged his moustache and vowed that at this rate she would beat the +"boy" who had managed his Indian home. Mrs Saville murmured: + +"My darling, you are so clever! I can't think how you do it!" and the +cook said that she had seen a deal of the world, and knew her way about +as well as most, but never, no never, had she met a young lady with her +head screwed so straight on her shoulders. + +Protestations, however, do not go on for ever, and it is astonishing how +speedily a new regime loses its novelty, and is taken as a matter of +course. When Peggy had been in command a fortnight, no one thought of +praising her efforts any more, or of expressing satisfaction at their +result. It was simply taken for granted that she would fulfil her duty +without any more being said on the subject. She had been congratulated +on her start, and that was all that was required. One could not be +expected to lay daily tribute of praise at her feet. Unfortunately, +however, this was just what Miss Peggy _did_ expect, and in proportion +as the applause died away, so did her interest in her duties. It grew +monotonous to weigh out everlasting stores: dinners and lunches seemed +to come round with disgraceful rapidity, and the question of food +absorbed an unreasonable amount of time out of one's life. Cook looked +askance when two courses were suddenly cut off the evening dinner, and +cold meat ordered as the _piece de resistance_ at lunch, hut there were +worse things in store! + +There came a morning when she waited for her young mistress's appearance +until ten o'clock came, and eleven, and twelve, and waited in vain, for +Miss Peggy was far away, scouring the country on her bicycle, with never +a thought for home duties until a spasm of hunger brought with it a pang +of recollection. Horrors! she had forgotten all about the morning's +orders and here it was close upon lunch-time, and her father doubtless +already wending his way home, hungrily anticipating his tiffin. + +Surely, surely cook would rise to the occasion and arrange a menu on her +own account! Peggy comforted herself in the certainty that this would +be the case, the while she pedalled home as fast as wheels would take +her. But she was mistaken in her surmises. Mistress Cook had no idea +of being played fast and loose with in this haphazard fashion, and +having, moreover, been elaborately snubbed on a previous occasion when +she had ventured to advance her own views, was not altogether unwilling +to avenge her dignity now that opportunity had arisen. + +When Peggy rushed breathlessly into the kitchen at half-past twelve, +there were the remnants of yesterday's repast spread out on the table +for her inspection, and not one single preparation made for the meal +which was so near at hand. Cook was frigid, Peggy desperate, but +difficulty had the effect of stimulating her faculties, and she +approached the offended dignitary in a manner at once so ingenious and +so beguiling that her anger melted away like snow before the sun. + +"Emergency," quoth Miss Peggy grandiloquently, smiling into the sullen +face--"emergency is the test of genius! You have now one quarter of an +hour in which to prepare a meal, and very poor material with which to +work. Here is a chance to distinguish yourself! I am so ignorant that +I had best leave you to your own resources; but anything you need from +the store-room I will bring down at once. Just give me your orders!" + +Could anything have been more diplomatic? To be asked at the eleventh +hour to fulfil a definite order would have been an additional offence, +but it was not in cook-nature not to rise to so insinuating a bait! +Punctual to time such a tempting little luncheon appeared upon the table +as evoked special praise from the fastidious master, the cook being +commended for the success of omelette, _entree_ and savoury, and Peggy +coming in for her own share of congratulation on her powers as a +caterer. The crisis was passed, and passed successfully, but the +anxiety consequent thereon had the beneficial effect of arousing Peggy's +attention to the danger of her own position, and giving a fresh lease of +life to her energies. Mrs Beeton, the account book, and the keys were +more in evidence than ever, and it was fully a fortnight before the +second relapse recurred. It came on, however, slowly but surely, and +other crises occurred which could not be so successfully overcome, as +when Peggy drove a distance of three miles to interview butcher and +fishmonger, and meeting Rob _en route_ went off on a ferning expedition, +returning home rosy and beaming, to discover an empty larder and a +stormy parent; or again when she forgot the Thursday holiday, and +deferred her orders until closed doors barred her entrance. The stores +were frequently in request in those days, so that monotony became the +order of the day, and the colonel inquired ironically if he were living +in the Bush, since he was put on a diet of tinned food. Peggy peaked +miserable brows, and said she never had seen such a stupid little +village! She did her best. Only this very day she had left an +enthralling story to cycle miles and miles to buy fish and meat, had +suffered tortures _en route_ from the heat and dust, and behold the +shops were closed! It always _was_ Thursday afternoon somehow. She +could not think how it occurred. But the colonel was not so easily +appeased. His moustache bristled and his eyes flashed with the steel- +like glance which always came when he was annoyed. + +"Excuses!" he thundered. "Idle excuses! It is your own fault for +forgetting what it is your business to remember, and it only adds to the +offence to shield yourself by blaming others. Fine thing this, to be +starved in my own house by my own daughter! I'd better sell up at once +and go and live in a club. If you were a practical, well-regulated +young woman, as you ought to be, you would put business first, and make +no more of these stupid blunders!" + +"But I _should_ be so uninteresting! Practical people who never make +mistakes are such dreary bores. Novelty is the spice of life, father +dear, and if you would only regard it in the right light, even a bad +dinner is a blessing in disguise. It does so help one to appreciate a +good one when it comes! At least you must acknowledge that there is no +monotony in my method!" + +But for once the colonel refused to smile, and when he had marched out +of the room, Mrs Saville took advantage of the occasion to speak one of +those rare words of admonition which were all-powerful in her daughter's +ear. + +"Don't worry your father, Peg darling!" she said. "It doesn't matter +for ourselves when we are alone, for we don't care what we eat, but men +are different. They like comfortable meals, and it is only right that +they should have them. Give a little thought to your work, and try to +arrange things more equally, so that we shall not have a feast one night +and a fast the next. Little careless ways like these are more annoying +to a man's temper than more serious offences. It is difficult for you, +I know, dearie, but I won't offer to release you from the +responsibility, for it will be valuable experience. Some day you will +have a house of your own and a husband to consider." + +Peggy gave a grunt of disapproval. + +"I'll marry a vegetarian, and live on nuts," she declared gloomily. +"But I will try to do better, mummie dear, I will indeed, so don't you +worry your sweet head! I'll be as good as a little automatic machine, +and never forget nothing no more. When Eunice comes, I'll ask her to +say, `Lunch, lunch! Dinner, dinner!' to me every morning regularly at +nine o'clock, and then I can't forget. I like Eunice! She is such an +agreeable complement to myself. I can help her where she fails, and she +can do the same for me. You will see, mother dear, that Eunice will +exert a most beneficial influence over me! She is one of those gentle, +mousy people who have an immense influence when they choose to exert +it." + +"She seems to have that. I've noticed it more than once," said Mrs +Saville drily, and her eyes wandered to a closely written sheet which +lay on the table by her side. It was Arthur's latest letter, and in it +his mother's watchful eyes had discovered an unprecedented number of +references to his chiefs daughter. "Miss Rollo did this; Miss Rollo did +that; Miss Rollo said one thing and planned another." Five separate +times had that name been connected with Arthur's own experiences. Mrs +Saville drew her delicate brows together and heaved a sigh. A mother's +unselfishness is never perhaps so hardly tried as when she feels her +ascendency threatened in the affections of an only son. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +Two days before Eunice was expected at Yew Hedge, Peg was summoned from +the garden to receive a mysterious visitor, and stared in bewilderment +to see Rosalind herself awaiting in the drawing-room. No one else was +present, and in the wery moment of entering Peggy realised that the news +which she had expected so long was an accomplished fact. There was +suppressed excitement in Rosalind's manner, an embarrassment in her +glance, which told their own tale; and the kiss of greeting had hardly +been exchanged before she was stammering out: + +"Mariquita, I came--I wanted to tell you myself--I thought you ought to +know--" + +"That you are engaged to Lord Everscourt!" said Peggy, with one last +pang for the memory of Arthur's loss, but keeping her hand still linked +in Rosalind's, in remembrance of her promise to that dear brother. "I +have been expecting it, Rosalind, and am not at all surprised. I told +you, you remember, that it was bound to happen. I congratulate you, and +wish you every happiness." + +"Thank you," said Rosalind meekly; so meekly that the other raised her +eyes in astonishment, to see whether the expression emphasised or +contradicted so unusual a tone. The lovely face looked down into hers, +wistful and quivering, and the blue eyes softened with tears. "Oh, kiss +me, Peggy!" she cried. "Be kind to me! I have no sister of my own, and +mother is away, and I came to you first of all! I made an excuse and +came down for two nights, just to have a talk with you and to ask you to +help me!" + +"Help you!" echoed Peggy blankly. She was alternately amazed and +embarrassed by the manner in which Rosalind leant upon her in every +difficulty; but now, as ever, the spell of the winsome presence proved +irresistibly softening, and it was in a far gentler tone that she +continued. "If everything is settled, in what way do you want my help, +Rosalind?" + +Rosalind sat down upon the sofa, still retaining her grip of her +friend's hand, and drawing her down on the seat by her own. She stared +aimlessly up and down the room, opening her lips as if about to speak, +and closing them again in despair of expressing her thoughts, until +suddenly the words came out in a breathless rush. + +"I pwomised to marry him, and I mean to keep my word, but it is harder +than I thought. It would be easier if he were diffewent, but he loves +me so much, and believes in me, and thinks I must care for him too. If +he knew I had taken him for his position, he would despise me, and I +don't want him to do that. I have given up so much, and if he turned +against me too, what should I have left? It fwightens me to think of +it, and I came away to consider what I had better do, and to talk to you +and ask your advice." She looked at Peggy appealingly, and added in a +breathless whisper, "I want to do what is right, you know! I want to +treat him well! You think I am selfish and worldly, Peggy, but I am not +all bad. If I mawwy him, I will do my best. I want him to be fond of +me, not to grow tired or dissatisfied. That would make me wetched." + +Peggy smiled pitifully. It was so like Rosalind to be distressed at the +idea of losing a love she could not return, and to show a pathetic +eagerness to make a wrong step right. Her own Spartan judgment could +never overlook the sin of preferring money before love, but she realised +that it was too late in the day to preach this doctrine, and cast about +in her mind for more practical advice. + +"If you try to make him happy, that will be your best plan, Rosalind. +If I were in your place, I'd try to forget about the past, and think +only of the future. I'd find out the very best in him, and be proud of +it, and study his tastes, so that I might be able to talk about the +things he liked best, and be a real companion to him, and I'd be +grateful to him for his love, and try to love him in return. Every one +says he is a good fellow and devoted to you, so it ought not to be +difficult." + +"No-o!" echoed Rosalind doubtfully. "Only if you are going to love +people, you genewally do it without twying, and if you don't love them, +little things aggwavate you, and rub you the wong way, which you would +never notice in people you really cared for! Everscourt is a good +fellow, but he worries me to distwaction sometimes, and I am so afraid +of getting cwoss. I don't want him to think me bad-tempered. I think +your plan is very good, Peggy, and I will try to follow it. I ought to +succeed, for you see how anxious I am to do what is right! You can't +call me selfish this time, can you, for I am thinking only of his +happiness!" + +Peggy lifted her brows with arch reproach. "Oh, Rosalind, no! You +think you are, but you are really distressed about your own position, in +case he may ever think you any less charming and angelic than he does at +this moment. It's your own vanity that concerns you, far more than his +happiness." + +"You have no business to say anything of the kind. If he is +disappointed in me, won't that make him miserable, and if I twy to +please him, is not that making him happy in the best way possible? But +you always think the worst of me, Peggy Saville, and put a wong +constwuction on what I do. When I pay you the compliment of coming to +you for help, I do think you might be a little kinder and more +sympathetic." + +"It would be easier to say a lot of polite things that I didn't wean. +It is the best proof that I do care for your happiness that I have the +courage to be disagreeable. You know, Rosalind, the plain truth is that +you want to act a part to gain admiration and applause, but it's absurd +to think you can go on doing that all your life, and to a person who is +with you on every occasion. It must be _real_, not pretence, if it is +to succeed, so try not to think so much about his opinion of you, and +more about how you can help him, and be the sort of wife he wants. And +if he worries you in any little way, tell him so quietly, and don't let +it get into a habit. I'm talking as if I were seventy-seven at the very +least, and had been married a dozen times over, but you know how easy it +is to preach to other people and how clearly one can see their duty! As +a matter of fact, I know nothing whatever about it, but one can argue +with so much more freedom when one is not hampered with facts! I am +sorry if I have seemed unkind, but--" + +"No, no! I know what you mean. I think you are vewy kind to me, Peggy, +considering--considering everything!" murmured Rosalind softly. She sat +silent for a moment, gathering courage to ask another question which was +fluttering to her lips. + +"Will--will--do you think Arthur will be _vewy_ miserable?" + +Peggy's little form stiffened at that into a poker of wounded dignity. +She felt it in the worst possible taste of Rosalind to have introduced +her brother's name into the conversation, and was in arms at once at the +tone of commiseration. + +"My brother and I had a talk on the subject when I was in town," she +replied coldly, "and he entirely agreed with me that it was the best +thing for you. He will be in no wise surprised, but only relieved that +the arrangement is completed. He is very well and in good spirits, and +is coming down next week with Eunice Rollo to pay us a visit, when we +have planned a succession of amusements." + +"Oh," remarked Rosalind shortly. "Is he, indeed!" She tried to say she +was rejoiced to hear it, but her lips refused to form the lie, for +Peggy's words had been so many daggers in her heart. Arthur would be +"relieved," he was in "good spirits," he was coming down to enjoy +himself in the country in company with. Eunice Rollo! Could anything +be more wounding to the vanity which made her treasure the idea of +broken-hearted grief? Once more Rosalind called Peggy cruel in her +heart, and Peggy mentally justified her harshness by reminding herself +that the knowledge of Arthur's fortitude would do more towards turning +Rosalind's heart toward her _fiance_ than a volume of moral reflections. +Some slave to worship and adore, she _must_ possess, and if she could +no longer think of Arthur in that position, so much the more chance that +she would appreciate his successor. No more was said on the subject, +and in a few minutes Rosalind rose to say good-bye and take her way to +the vicarage. + +"For I must congwatulate Esther!" she said, laughing. + +"That is to say, if I can contwive to do it without laughing outwight. +It is _too_ widiculous to think of Esther being mawwied! She is a born +old maid, and I hear he is quite old, nearly forty, with grey hair and +spectacles and a stoop to his back. He teaches, doesn't he, or lectures +or something, and I suppose he is as poor as a church mouse. What in +the world induced the silly girl to accept him?" + +"Look in her face and see!" said Peggy shortly. "And don't waste your +pity, Rosalind, for it is not required. Professor Reid is as big a man +in his own way as Lord Everscourt himself; and from a worldly point of +view Esther is making a good match. That, however, is not what her face +will tell you. They are going to be married in October, and Mellicent +and I are to be bridesmaids." + +"And drive to church in a village fly, and come back to a scwamble meal +in the dining-woom! Pwesents laid out on the schoolwoom table, and all +the pawishioners cwowding together in the dwawingwoom. I can't just +imagine a vicarage marriage, and how you have the courage to face it, +Mawiquita, I weally can't think!" cried Rosalind, in her most society +drawl. "You must be _my_ bwidesmaid, dear, and I'll pwomise you a +charming gown and a real good time into the bargain. I'm determined it +shall be the smartest affair of the season!" + +Peggy murmured a few non-committal words, and Rosalind floated away, +restored to complacency by the contrast between the prospect of her own +wedding and that of poor old Esther. They would indeed be different +occasions; and so thought Peggy also, as she stood watching her friend +depart, contrasting her lovely restless face with Esther's radiant calm, +and the gloomy town residence of Lord Darcy with the breezy country +vicarage. + +The next morning at breakfast Colonel Saville discussed the coming +weddings from an outsider's point of view. + +"Two presents!" he groaned. "That's what it means to me, and pretty +good ones too, I suppose, for everything has grown to such a pitch of +extravagance in these days that one is expected to come down handsomely. +When we were married we thought ourselves rich with twenty or thirty +offerings, but now they are reckoned by hundreds, and the happy +recipients have to employ detectives to guard their treasures. Esther, +I suppose, will be content with a piece of silver, but we shall have to +launch out for once, and give Miss Darcy something worthy of her +position." + +"I think, dear, if we launch out at all it must be for Esther, not +Rosalind. If I had my way, I should give some pretty trifle to +Rosalind, who will be overdone with presents, and spend all we can spare +on something really handsome for Esther," said his wife gently; and +Peggy cried, "Hear! Hear!" and banged such uproarious applause with her +heels that the colonel felt himself hopelessly out-voted. + +"If you had your way, indeed!" he grumbled, pushing his chair back from +the table and preparing to leave the room. "When do you _not_ get your +way, I'd like to know? It's a case of serving two masters with a +vengeance, when a man has a wife and a grown-up daughter! Settle it to +please yourselves, and don't take any notice of me. I'm going out +shooting, and won't be home until tea-time, so you will have plenty of +time to talk it over in peace and quietness!" + +Peggy ran after him with a little skip, slipped her hand through his +arm, and rubbed her face coaxingly against the shoulder of his rough +tweed suit. + +"He is just a down-trodden old dear, isn't he? So mild and obedient--a +perfectly nonentity in his own house! No one trembles before him! He +never lays down the law as if he were the Tsar of All the Russias, or +twenty German Emperors rolled into one! Now does that really mean that +you are to be out for lunch? I'm housekeeper, you know, and it makes a +difference to my arrangement. You won't say you are going to be out, +then appear suddenly at the last moment?" + +"Not I! I shall be miles away, and cannot spare the time to come so +far; but for that matter I cannot see why it should make any difference. +One person more or less can be of no importance." + +"He is though, very much indeed, when it happens to be the head of the +family!" remarked Peggy sagely to her mother when they were left alone, +"because I don't mind confessing to you, dear, that, owing to the +agitation consequent on my interview with the fair Rosalind, I entirely +omitted to post my order for the butcher! If father had been at home, I +should have been compelled to drive over in the heat and dust; but as it +is, I can send a card by the early post, and the things will be here for +dinner. You don't object, I know, for you have a mind above trifles, +and I can provide quite a nice little meal for two." + +"Oh, I don't mind for myself, but do be careful to send your orders +regularly, darling!" pleaded her mother earnestly. "We are so entirely +in the country that a day might come when you were not able to get +supplies at the last moment, and _then_ what would you do? Imagine how +awkward it might be!" + +"I'd rather not, if you don't mind! It would be quite bad enough if it +really happened. We won't anticipate evil, but have a lazy morning +together in the garden, browsing in deck-chairs, and eating fruit at +frequent intervals. It is so lovely to sit under one's own trees, in +one's own garden, with one's very own mummie by one's side. Girls who +have lived in England all their lives can never appreciate having home +and parents at the same time, in the same way in which I do. It seems +almost too good to be true, to be really settled down together!" + +"Oh, thank God, we never were really separated, Peg! One of the heart- +breaking things of a life abroad is that parents and children so often +grow up practical strangers to each other; but you and I were always +together at heart, and your dear letters were so transparent that I +seemed to read all that was in your mind. It was partly Mrs Asplin's +doing too--dear good woman, for she gave you the care and mothering +which you needed to develop your character, yet never tried to take my +place. Yes, indeed, we must do all we can for Esther! Find out what +she would like, dear, and we will go to town together and buy the best +of its kind. I can never do enough for Mrs Asplin's children." + +There was so much to talk about, so much to discuss, that when lunch- +time approached both mother and daughter were surprised to find how +quickly the morning had passed. It was so cool and breezy sitting under +the shade of the trees that they were both unwilling to return to the +house, and at Peggy's suggestion orders were given that lunch should be +served where they sat. + +"It will do me more credit; for what would appear a paltry provision +spread out on the big dining-room table, will look quite sylvan and +luxurious against this flowery background," she said brightly, and in +the very moment of speaking her jaw dropped, and her eyes grew blank and +fixed, as if beholding a vision too terrible to be real. + +Round the corner or the house, one--two--three masculine forms were +coming into view; three men in Norfolk jackets, shooting breeches and +deer-stalker caps; dusty and dishevelled, yet with that indefinable air +of relaxation which spoke of rest well-earned. They were no chance +visitors, they had come to stay, to stay to be fed! Every confident +step proved as much, every smile of assured welcome. Peggy's groan of +despair aroused her mother's attention, she turned and gave an echoing +exclamation. + +"Your father! Back after all--and two men with him. Mr Cathcart, +and--yes! Hector Darcy himself. I did not know he had come down. My +dear child, what _shall_ we do?" + +But Peggy was speechless, stricken for once beyond power of repartee at +the thought of the predicament which her carelessness had brought about. +Her own humiliation and cook's disgust were as nothing, compared with +the thought of her father's anger at the violation of his hospitable +instincts. She could not retain even the semblance of composure, and +the nervous, incoherent greeting which she accorded to the strangers was +strangely in contrast with her usual self-possession. + +Hector Darcy looked down into the flushed little face, and listened to +the faltering words, his own heavy features lighting with pleasure. It +was the first time he had seen Peggy lose her self-possession, and if he +connected the fact with his own sudden appearance, it was no more than +was to be expected from masculine vanity. He told himself that he had +never seen her more dainty and pretty than she looked now, in her white +dress, with the touch of pink, matching the colour on her cheeks, and +Colonel Saville thought the same, and cast a glance of pride upon her as +he cried: + +"Back again, you see! I met Cathcart and Hector, as they meant to pay +you a call in any case, I thought I had better bring them home with me +to lunch. I told them I was not expected, but that my clever little +housekeeper would be able to give us a meal. Anything you have, my +dear; but be quick about it! We don't care what we have, but we want it +at once. Waiting is the one thing we cannot stand." + +That was the way in which he invariably spoke; but, alas, never were +words more falsely uttered. The "clever little housekeeper" realised +how difficult would be the task of giving satisfaction, and mentally +rent her garments in despair. + +"I will do the best I can, but you must allow me a little grace!" she +said, twisting her features into a smile. "Mother and I were going to +have our lunch out here, so it will take some time to have the table +laid. You do not care for a picnic arrangement?" + +"No, no, no! Detest out-of-door meals. Nothing but flies and +discomfort," declared the colonel roundly; and Peggy walked away towards +the house, profoundly wishing that she could make her escape altogether, +and scour the country until the dreaded hour was passed. + +Cook was furious, as any right-minded cook would, under such +circumstances, be. + +"How," she demanded, "could she be expected to make anything out of +nothing? She knew her work as well as most, and no one couldn't say but +what she made the best of materials, but she wasn't a magician, nor yet +a conjurer, and didn't set up to be, and therefore could not be expected +to cook a dinner when there was no dinner to cook. It was enough to +wear a body out, all these upsets and bothers, and she was sick of it. +It was no good living in a place where you were blamed for what was not +your fault. She did her best, and saints could do no more!" So on and +so on, while Peggy stood by, sighing like a furnace, and feeling it a +just punishment for her sins that she should be condemned to listen +without excuses. Meekness, however, is sometimes a more powerful weapon +than severity, and despite her hot temper cook adored her young +mistress, and could not long endure the sight of the disconsolate face. +The angry words died away into subdued murmurings, she rolled up her +sleeves, and announced herself ready to obey orders. "For no one should +say as she hadn't done her duty by any house, as long as she lived in +it." + +"It's more than can be said of me, cook, I'm afraid; but help me out of +this scrape like a good soul, and I'll be a reformed character for the +rest of my life! This will be a lesson which I shall never forget!" +declared Peggy honestly; but she did not suspect in how serious a sense +her words would become true. The adventures of that morning were not +yet over, and the consequences therefrom were more lasting than she +could anticipate. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +It is a well-known axiom that misfortunes never come singly, and if +those misfortunes are brought about by our own carelessness, they are +none the less easy to bear. What were Peggy's feelings then, on going +to her key basket, to find it lying empty on the floor, with never a +sign of its contents to be seen! Where had she put them? Memory +brought back a misty recollection of hurrying through her work the +morning before, in order to begin some more congenial occupation, and of +having laid down the bunch in careless fashion, thinking the while that +she would come back for it later on. But where had she placed it? +Where, oh, where? Up and down the room she raced, to and fro she ran, +wringing her hands in distress, and scanning every inch of wall, floor, +and ceiling with her eager glance. + +"They are staring me in the face most likely; they are right before my +eyes, and I can't see them!" she cried in despair. "My keys! My keys! +If I can't find them, I can do nothing. I shall be disgraced for ever! +I should have given out the stores yesterday, but I put it off, +miserable, procrastinating wretch that I am! Oh, keys, keys, where are +you, keys? Don't hide from me, _please_, I want you so badly--badly!" + +But the keys refused to reveal themselves. They were lying contentedly +in the bottom of a china vase on the staircase, into which they had been +dropped midway in a hasty descent the day before, and, however willing +they might have been to obey their mistress's request, they were clearly +powerless in the matter, since not even the echo of her voice reached +their ears. Peggy searched in a frenzy of impatience, summoned a +housemaid to assist her, and turned the contents of drawers and +cupboards upside down upon her bed, but no success greeted her efforts. +At the end of ten minutes' time she was in a more pitiable plight than +before, since every likely place had been explored, and not the wildest +idea had she where next to repair. + +"Wh-at," quoth the housemaid tremblingly, "what shall I say to cook?" +and at that Miss Peggy's eyes sent out a flash which made her look the +image of her soldier father. + +"Tell her to get on with what she can," she cried. "She shall have the +stores in five minutes from now!" and away she flew downstairs, leaving +the astonished maid to wonder whether her brain had given way beneath +the strain of the occasion. + +Get into the store-room, Peggy was determined she _would_! By fair +means or foul, that citadel must be stormed, and its treasures brought +forth. If the door were closed, the window remained open, and the +gardener's ladder lay conveniently at hand. To scale it so far as the +second storey could be no difficult task for a girl who had been taught +to climb trees and scramble over fences by the most fearless of +masculine guides, and once inside the room the rest was easy, for in the +first flush of careful forethought, a duplicate key had been provided, +which hung on a nail near the door, ready for use if need should arise. +It was characteristic of Peggy that its resting-place should have been +inside the room, instead of out, but there it was, and nothing remained +but to get possession of it as speedily as possible. + +She seized the ladder, then, and dragged it towards the desired spot; it +was so top-heavy that it was with difficulty that she could preserve its +balance, but she struggled gallantly until it was placed against the +sill, and as firmly settled as her inexperience could contrive. To +mount it was the next thing, and--what was more difficult--to lower +herself safely through the window when it was reached. That was the +only part of the proceeding of which she had any dread, but, as it +turned out, she was not to attempt it, for before she had ascended two +rungs of the ladder a voice called her sharply by name, and she turned +to find Hector Darcy standing by her side. + +"For pity's sake, Peggy, what are you doing?" he cried, and laid his +hand on her arm with a frightened gesture. "Come down this instant! +How dare you be so rash? You don't mean to tell me seriously that you +were going to climb that ladder?" + +"A great deal more seriously than you imagine!" sighed Peggy dolefully. +"Oh, why did you come and interrupt? You don't know how important it +is. How did you come to see me here at all?" + +"I was going into the house to give myself a brush up in your father's +room, and I saw a glimpse of your dress through the tree." + +"And the others--are they coming too? I don't want them to see me; they +must not see me." + +"No! No! They are sitting with your mother, having a smoke until lunch +is ready. You need not be afraid; but tell me what is the matter? What +on earth induced you to think of doing such a mad thing?" + +Peggy leant against the ladder, and sighed in helpless resignation. She +had not yet descended from her perch, so that her face was almost on a +level with Hector's own. The hazel eyes had lost their mocking gleam, +and the peaked brows were furrowed with distress; it was a very forlorn +and disconsolate but withal charming little Peggy who faltered out her +humiliating confession. + +"I--have been--so naughty, Hector! I'm supposed to be housekeeper, and +I forgot to send my orders to the tradesmen last night, so that nothing +has arrived this morning. That's my store-room up there, and the key is +lost, and I _must_ get in, or you will have nothing to eat. I daren't +tell father, for he has warned me to be careful over and over again, and +he would be so angry. I'm in a horrible scrape, Hector, and there's no +other way out of it. Do please, please, go away and let me get on!" + +Hector stared at her, his handsome face blank with astonishment. Given +a hundred guineas, he would never have thought of such an explanation, +and coming from a home where the advent of a dozen unexpected visitors +would have made no confusion, he found it difficult to realise the +seriousness of the occasion. There was no doubting Peggy's distress, +however, and that was the important point. Whether she was imagining +her trouble or not, he must come to her aid, and that as quickly as +possible. He stretched out his arms, set her lightly on the ground, and +put his own foot on the ladder. + +"I will stay and help you," he said firmly; "that will be better than +going away! You don't expect me to walk off and leave you to risk your +little neck climbing up ladders to provide food for me, do you? Not +quite, Peggy, I think! Tell me what to do, and I'll do it. You want me +to get into the room up there?" + +Peggy looked at him doubtfully. The window was small, and Hector was +big; she was afraid he would find it no easy task, but his ready offer +relieved and touched her more than she could express, for he had such an +acute sense of his own dignity that it meant much for him to perform +such a feat. + +"You really mean it? It is good of you! You don't mind doing it to +help me?" + +"I'd do a great deal more than that to please you, Peggy, if you would +give me the chance!" + +This was dreadful. He was growing sentimental, gazing at her with an +expression which filled her with embarrassment, and speaking in a tone +which implied even more than the words. She could not snub him in the +face of an offered service; the only hope was to be brisk and matter-of- +fact. + +"Up with you, then!" she cried, stepping back, and waving her hand with +imperious gesture. "Time is precious, and I am already far too late. +I'll watch here until you have got through the window. You will find a +key hanging on a nail. Open the door with it, and you will find me +panting on the threshold!" + +No sooner said than done. Hector attempted no more sentimentalities, +but mounted the ladder and squeezed his heavy form through the store- +room window. It was no easy feat, and Peggy had one or two bad moments +as she watched him trembling on the brink. When one foot had already +disappeared he seemed for a moment to overbalance, and righted himself +only by a vigorous effort, but finally he reached the room, and Peggy +ran to meet him, aglow with relief. The key turned in the lock as she +approached, and she rushed forward to select her stores with hardly a +glance in Hector's direction, though with many eager expressions of +thanks. + +"You are good! I am relieved! You deserve the Victoria Cross at least. +I was quite agitated watching you, but you managed splendidly- +splendidly. Did you get horribly dusty squeezing through?" + +"I think I did, rather. I will go to your father's room and have a +brush. I'll see you at lunch." + +"Yes, yes!" Peggy flew past, her arms full of the tins and bottles for +which cook was waiting, leaving the things which were not immediately +needed to be selected on a second visit. When she returned, five +minutes later, Hector had disappeared, and she had leisure to look +around, and feel a pang of shame at the general disorder. A room with +more elaborate preparation for order, and less success in attaining it, +it would have been difficult to discover. Shelves and cupboards were +profusely labelled, and every nook or corner had been dedicated to some +special use, but, alas! practice had fallen short of precept, and the +labels now served no other purpose than that of confusion, since they +had no longer any bearing on their position. Odd morsels of string and +paper were littered over the floor, and empty cases, instead of being +stored away, were thrown together in an unsightly heap beneath the +window. A broken case showed where Hector's foot had descended, and the +boards lay kicked aside, the nails sticking out of their jagged edges. + +"Misery me! and himself a soldier too, with eyes staring out of every +side of him!" sighed Peggy, with a doleful imitation of Mrs Asplin's +Irish accent. "If this isn't a lesson to you, Mariquita Saville, +there's no hope left! It's most perturbing to have one's secret faults +exhibited to the public gaze. It will be quite an age before I dare put +on airs to Hector, after this!" + +She made a mental vow to set the room in order first thing next day, but +at present could think of nothing but lunch; and when her own +preparations were completed she rejoined the little party in the garden, +and beguiled her father into talking of his past adventures, to prevent +the time from hanging too heavily on his hands. + +Hector did not appear until at last the gong sounded, and when he did, +the first glance at him evoked a chorus of exclamations. His face was +white and drawn, and he dragged one foot after him in halting fashion. +In spite of his air of indifference, it was evident that he was in +considerable pain, and as soon as he saw that deception could not be +kept up, he sank down in a chair, as if thankful to give up the strain. + +"Turned my foot a little, that's all! Afraid the ankle has gone wrong!" + +"Turned your foot! When did you do that? Must have given it a wrench +getting over some of those stiles to-day, I suppose; but you did not +speak of it at the time. You felt nothing walking home?" + +"No!" + +"It has just begun to trouble you now? Pretty badly too, I'm afraid, +for you look pale, old fellow. Come, we must have off that boot, and +get the leg up on a sofa! It won't do to let it hang down like that. +I'll take you upstairs and doctor it properly, for if there is one thing +I do flatter myself I understand, it is how to treat a sprained ankle. +Will you come now, or wait until after lunch?" + +"Oh, have your lunch first, please! It will be time enough when you +have finished. It would be too bad to take you away now, when Peggy has +had so much trouble to prepare a meal for us!" + +Hector smiled at the girl in encouraging fashion, but there was no +answering smile upon Peggy's face. She stood up stiff and straight, her +brows puckered in lines of distress. Hector's evasive answers had not +deceived her, for she knew too well that the accident had happened +after, not before, he had reached Yew Hedge. In some fashion he had +strained his foot in mounting the ladder, and he was now trying to +screen her from the result of her carelessness. To allow such a thing +as that, however, was not Peggy Saville's way. Her eyes gleamed, and +her voice rang out clear and distinct. + +"I am afraid it is I who am to blame. I am afraid you hurt yourself +climbing into the store-room for me. You were quite well when you came +in, so that must have been how it happened. You stepped on a box in +getting through, and it gave way beneath you, and turned your ankle. +That was it, wasn't it?" + +"I--I'm afraid it was. It was stupid of me not to look where I was +going. I thought at the time that it was only a wrench, but it seems to +be growing worse." + +"Box! Store-room! Climbing! What on earth are you talking about?" +echoed Colonel Saville, looking in bewilderment from one speaker to +another. "You two have been up to some mischief together since we +arrived. What was it? I don't understand." + +"Oh, nothing at all! Peggy wanted to get into the store-room without +wasting time looking for a key that was mislaid, and I ran up a ladder +and got in by the window. That was all; but unfortunately I put down my +foot trusting to alight on the floor, leant all my weight on an empty +box, and--this is the consequence!" + +It was an extraordinary statement, despite the matter-of-course manner +in which the words were uttered. It is not usual in well-conducted +households for gentlemen visitors to scramble through windows on the +second storey, or for the daughter of the house to utilise such services +to remedy the effect of her own carelessness. The parents of ordinary +children would have been breathless with horror at listening to such a +recital, but it must be remembered that Arthur and Peggy Saville had +never been ordinary in their habits. From earliest youth they had +scorned the obvious ways of locomotion, had chosen to descend the +staircase on a toboggan improvised out of a kitchen tea-tray rather than +to walk from step to step like rational beings, and to ascend on the +outside rather than the inside of the banisters, so that their +belongings had grown to expect the unexpected, and Major Darcy's +explanation caused less consternation than might have been expected. + +Mrs Saville sighed, and her husband uttered an exclamation of +impatience, but both were much more concerned about the condition of the +invalid than the cause of his accident, for it was evident that with +every moment the pain in the foot grew more severe. + +"A pretty bad consequence, it seems to me!" quoth the colonel grimly. +"I'll tell you what it is, my dear fellow; you had better come into the +library with me at once, and let me take you in hand. The others can +get on with their lunch while Mary brings me what I want. I'll make you +comfortable in ten minutes, and then we'll send over a cart to The +Larches and get a bag packed, and keep you here for a day or two until +you can get about again. Least thing we can do to nurse you round, when +you have hurt yourself in our service." + +Hector protested, but in no very vigorous fashion. Truth to tell, the +prospect of being housed at Yew Hedge, with the colonel as companion and +Peggy as nurse, was much more congenial than the thought of returning to +the big, desolate house where Rob reigned in solitary state and the +sitting-rooms were shrouded in holland wrappings. He allowed himself to +be persuaded, submitted to the sponging and binding which ensued with a +docility which advanced him far in the host's good graces, and ate his +luncheon on the sofa in approved invalid fashion. + +It was not until late in the afternoon that Peggy had a chance of +interviewing Hector alone, and of expressing her thanks for the double +service which he had rendered, but when Mrs Saville retired for her +usual rest, and the colonel accompanied the other guest down the drive, +her opportunity came. She was sitting by the tea-table, which had been +placed close to the sofa for the convenience of the invalid, and Hector +was leaning against his cushions watching her little hands flying in and +out of her work. Peggy always made a great affectation of being busy, +and had at least half-a-dozen pieces of fancy work hidden away in as +many drawers, waiting completion at that indefinite period when she +should remember their existence. She glanced at him now, and tried to +speak, threaded a new length of silk, and stitched more assiduously than +ever, glanced again, began a sentence, broke off in confusion, and to +her inward rage felt her cheeks flaming with colour. + +Why did he stare so fixedly? Why did he look so queer? It was most +embarrassing, most annoying. She would have liked to show her +displeasure, but how could she, when he was suffering through her folly, +and had been so chivalrous in shielding her from blame? + +"I--I want to say all sorts of things," she stammered uncomfortably, +"and I can't think of one! I'm sorry, I'm ashamed, I'm grateful, I feel +a miserable culprit. I don't know what you must think of me and my +miserable carelessness. I wish you would be cross, and say every horrid +thing you could think of. It would help me more than anything else!" + +But Hector only laughed, a cheerful, complacent laugh. + +"I don't feel the least inclined to be cross. I have had no pain since +your father doctored me, and I am remarkably comfortable sitting on this +sofa. I look upon the little _contretemps_ as a blessing in disguise, +since it has gained me some days at Yew Hedge. Don't be sorry any more, +Peggy, but be as grateful as you please, and show your gratitude by +giving me as much of your society as you can spare from your many +interests. My time is growing short now, and I have seen so little of +you lately." + +"You have been so busy going about among your grand friends that you +have had no time to spare for the country. Oh yes, indeed, I'll do all +I can to cheer your solitude. You shall read aloud to me while I sew, +and add up my accounts while I do my housekeeping, and--" + +"Seems to me that is rather the wrong way about, isn't it? I thought +you were to amuse me, whereas it seems--" + +"Reciprocity! Reciprocity!" murmured Peggy, shaking her head at him +solemnly, and cocking her little finger in the air, as she drew her +thread to its full length. "Reciprocity is the basis of all true +friendship! Mutual service, cheerfully rendered, cements and +establishes amicable relationships. If I were to leave you idle, and +pander to your fancies, it would have a most deleterious effect on your +character. I must endeavour to show my gratitude by doing you good, not +harm." + +Hector laid back his head, and chuckled in delighted amusement. + +"Bravo, Peggy! Most excellent sentiments! When all trades fail, you +might turn your attention to composing copy-book headings! It's a field +in which you would certainly make a reputation. You have the most +remarkable flow of moral precepts." + +"I have!" assented Peggy readily. "It's astonishing. I wish my +behaviour bore more resemblance to my conversation, but indeed the two +have never seemed to have any influence on each other. I've sometimes +thought I should like to keep a girls' school, for I could lecture the +pupils so beautifully against all the faults I myself have committed." + +"You will have something better to do than keep a school, Peggy. We +can't spare you for that!" said Hector tenderly. He thought he had +never seen anything prettier than the sparkling, mischievous little +face, or listened to conversation more charming than the quaint, +sententious phrases. What a delight to be with Peggy Saville again +after those weeks of fashionable visiting! What a contrast she was to +the society belles, who made the same remarks, laughed the same laugh, +smiled the same forced artificial smiles! They had bored him to +distraction, but there was no feeling bored in Peggy's society; she was +always interesting, always bright, always charming. He felt no more +doubts as to his own feeling, for absence had made him only the more +appreciative of Peggy's charms. He loved her, he could not endure to +part from her, she must be his wife! He looked at her with a kindling +eye; but Peggy was folding up her work, and did not notice the danger +signal. + +"Ah, well," she said, laughing, "judging from recent experiences that's +just as well, for if I forgot to provide food for the poor dears, and +then set them on break-ankle expeditions to rescue my belongings, the +school might not succeed so well as could be desired. I'm off now to +write some letters which must go by the early post; but before I go I +must just say again how grateful I am for your help to-day, and still +more for the way in which you tried to shield me from blame. You were +very, very good, and I'll not forget it!" + +She held out her hand with a frank gesture of gratitude, and Hector took +it and held it firmly in his own. + +"I'd do more than that to please you, Peggy," he said once more. "A +great deal more than that!" He looked her full in the face with his big +grey eyes as he spoke, and brought his other hand down to press hers +more closely, while Peggy sat with crimson cheeks and downcast eyes, +conscious that she was behaving like any foolish school-girl, yet +miserably incapable of doing otherwise. Then suddenly her hand was +dropped, Hector sat upright with an elaborate affection of indifference, +and a voice spoke from the further end of the room. + +"I beg your pardon. I did not mean to interrupt. I came over with your +bag. I heard you had had an accident." + +"My dear fellow, come in, come in! It is nothing at all. I have merely +given my ankle a turn. Come in, and we will tell you all about it." + +Rob came forward slowly, and Peggy heard as in a dream the murmur of the +two voices, questioning, replying, making arrangements for the future, +but for her own part she could not stir nor lift her eyes from the +floor. She sat in an agony, seeing as in a mirror the scene which had +greeted Rob as he entered the room--Hector's eager glance, her own +embarrassment, his hand and hers clasped tightly together. + +What would Rob think? What _could_ he think? If he judged by +appearances, there could be but one solution, and that was that she was +deliberately encouraging Hector's attentions! + +Peggy felt sure that he would be furiously angry, but Rob's voice had no +sound of anger in it as he talked to his brother. It was even quieter +than usual, with only a slight tone of formality, to show that anything +unusual had occurred. She summoned up courage to glance across the +room, and met the dark eyes fixed full upon her. Rob had beautiful +eyes, and they had never looked more beautiful than at this moment as he +smiled back with tender, reassuring glance. But Peggy's heart died down +within her, for, oh, if Rob were _not_ angry, things were far, far worse +than she had imagined! + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +Rob stayed behind after Peggy left the room, and had a long talk with +his brother. He refused to stay to dinner, it is true, but showed no +signs of ill-temper, and was more gentle than usual in his manner with +Hector, towards whom he usually adopted an air of superiority. He came +over the following day to inquire about the progress of the sprained +ankle, and seemed so anxious to soothe Peggy's embarrassment, so +laboriously pleasant and affectionate, that he succeeded in plunging her +into confusion worse confounded. If only he would scold, storm, rage, +express disgust, or demand apology, how easy it would be to wipe away +the misunderstanding! but it was impossible to offer an explanation of +what was never questioned. The very thought of referring to the subject +of her own accord made Peggy's cheeks burn. The most she could do was +to give Rob an opportunity of speaking, which she did without delay, +walking with him to the gate, and keeping purposely silent the while; +but it was of no use, for he seemed resolved to avoid personal subjects, +would not mention Hector's name, and discoursed on vegetable life to an +audience inclined to wish that such a thing as plant or flower had never +existed! + +Why was not he angry? Peggy asked herself drearily, as she returned to +the house. Another girl might have realised that Rob had not the right +to be angry, seeing that she was in no wise pledged to himself; but at +heart Peggy considered herself pledged, and felt sore and wounded that +Rob did not realise her position. + +Care for another man while Rob was near? Impossible! Share her life +with another, and leave Rob lonely and uncared for? The very thought +sent a pang to her heart. Rob and she had held together since they were +children, they had always belonged to each other; he should have +realised as much, and not have insulted her by believing for a moment +that she could be false to her trust. Peggy's little head tilted back +to a defiant angle, and her lips closed in determined line. Very well, +then; if Rob were not angry, she was! If he chose to take things for +granted, he could do as he pleased. Let him go on being magnanimous and +complacent. Two could play at that game. Never should it be said that +Peggy Saville ran after a man who seemed pleased at the prospect of +getting rid of her. And then, as the drive took a turn which brought it +in sight of the road, Miss Peggy waved her hand towards the library +window, and quickened her pace into a run. There was nobody in the +window, it is true, but then there might have been, and if people chose +to build up theories of their own, it was really a kindness to provide +them with materials! + +So far as Hector himself was concerned, the episode of Rob's unexpected +appearance put an effectual stop to those _tete-a-tetes_ which he had +anticipated. Peggy was as slippery as an eel, and as his ankle kept him +confined to one room, he was obliged to put up with her caprices, and +resign himself to solitude during those hours when host and hostess were +engaged. She would talk to him, read to him, play games with him, amuse +him by a dozen quaint representations and monologues, providing always +that a third person was in the room, but directly they were left alone +together, sudden business summoned her to another part of the house, and +she whisked away before he had time to protest. He longed for his ankle +to be well enough to allow pursuit; but when that time came Arthur and +Eunice were due, and he must needs return to The Larches to make way for +their arrival. It was disappointing, but he reminded himself that he +had at least made one step in advance. Peggy knew what he wished; she +would have time to get accustomed to the idea, and within the next month +he would certainly find his opportunity. + +To Peggy, jarred and wounded with the strain of acting a double part, +what a relief it was to see Arthur's beloved face again, and to discover +at the first glimpse that Rosalind's engagement had had no power to +shadow the radiance of his smile. Whatever he had suffered he had borne +in secret, as his manner was, keeping a brave front to the world, and +seeming to lift the burden of others by the very magnetism of his cheery +presence. Peggy had driven to the station in the lowest possible stage +of dejection, but she felt life worth living again, as Arthur pinched +her arm in acknowledgment of a new coat, gave a dexterous little jerk to +her elbow, which sent her parasol flying along the platform, and +murmured plaintively: + +"Still scattering possessions broadcast! How do you think I can afford +to buy you fineries, if you throw them about in that slipshod fashion?" + +"You may pick it up yourself--I won't!" cried Peggy haughtily; but +before Arthur had a chance of disputing the point, Eunice had stepped +into the breach, and was presenting at once the parasol and her own +smiling face for Peggy's greeting. The shy glance of the grey eyes +affected Peggy with all the old pleasure, for they were so eloquent of +their owner's enjoyment, so charmingly diffident as to the feelings of +others. + +"You dear little Eunice, how are you again? Welcome to Yew Hedge. Such +a pleasah to see you!" cried Peggy, falling into quite a society drawl +in her amiable condescension, and smiling at her friend with a +graciousness unaffected by the fact that her own head came barely up to +Eunice's ear. It was delightful to have a girl visitor! The worst of +Arthur's visits was that he was always running away on some unsociable +masculine pursuit, fishing, shooting, and the like, instead of staying +at home like a sensible fellow and amusing his sister. But Eunice would +be different, for she was the most womanly of womanly women. No +shooting-boots for her, no divided skirts, nor hard felt hats! She was +a remnant of that good old type of which our mothers and grand mothers +were made, timid and nervous in everyday affairs, yet with an unexpected +store of courage which showed itself when danger menaced the welfare of +those she loved. Peggy felt that she had much to learn from this sweet +new friend, and fulfilled her intention of consulting her on household +topics on the first possible occasion. She gave a dramatic recital of +her misadventures, and once more Eunice proved herself a delightful +hearer, for she sighed and groaned at exactly the right points, kept her +eyes fixed attentively on the speaker's face, and while confessing the +utmost horror at the _contretemps_ described, was convinced that she +herself would have fared even worse. + +"For by your own account, Peggy, you managed extremely well when you did +remember. Even cook praised you! Now, I should not forget, because I +happen to have a good memory, but I should provide hopelessly badly from +first to last. I should have no idea what to order, or how to choose, +or make a variety. I have never had anything of the sort to do, you +see. We have a housekeeper who looks after all such things, and I am in +utter ignorance about them!" + +Here was a delightful confession! When you have abased yourself before +a friend, have confessed your own shortcomings, and braced yourself to +bear reproaches, what can be more delightful than to hear that her own +ignorance is greater than yours? Peggy was overjoyed to find herself +restored to a position of superiority, and as usual made the most of the +opportunity. + +"My love," she croaked, "my love!" and up went both hands in elderly +gestures. "But what a lamentable confession! The sphere of a true +woman is Home, and it should be her first duty to master those arts +which are necessary for its comfort. What hired hands can ever minister +to our dear ones so deftly, so efficiently, as those which love has +trained and dutiful affection called to service?" + +Eunice gasped and blinked her eyes, overwhelmed by the flood of Peggy's +eloquence, but when she had abstracted the meaning from the high-flown +phrase, her expression altered into one of dubious protest. + +"I am not so sure! I am afraid a dinner cooked by my loving hands would +not please father nearly so well as the ones he gets from his hired +domestics. I don't think it can always follow--" + +But Peggy was launched on the flood of eloquence, and could not be thus +lightly checked. + +"You must learn!" she cried. "You must educate yourself until you are +so efficient that you could fill every domestic position. Even if you +never do the work yourself, you cannot be a good mistress unless you +understand enough of each maid's work to give instructions, and point +out the remedy for defects. A man, my dear, expects to come home to a +comfortable meal, and it is right that he should get it! We women are +above such considerations, but trifling discomforts are more trying to a +man's temper than more serious offences, and they are apt to become +impatient and irritable." + +"They are! They are! You should just hear father when--" interrupted +Eunice eagerly, but Peggy silenced her with a wave of the hand. When +she herself had smarted beneath her mother's words of reproach, she had +never imagined that she could have the satisfaction of hurling those +same words at the head of another, and she was enjoying herself so +intensely that she was anxious to prolong the experience. + +"Exactly so; and it should be our mission in life to prevent such +friction. There are girls in the present day who sneer at Home Life, +and profess to consider domestic duties as a slavery demeaning to a +woman's dignity, but for my own part I ask no higher sphere. To be +Queen of a Home, Guardian of its happiness, its Architect, Ruler, and +Controller, the Reins of Government grasped within my hands, what more +could I desire?" She gave a toss to her sleek little head, then wheeled +round at the sound of a stifled chuckle, met the grey eyes swimming in +tears, and demanded sternly, "You seem amused! May I ask at what you +are laughing?" + +"He--he--he!" sniggered Eunice softly. "You--you looked so fierce, and +you gave such a tug to the reins! I couldn't help thinking what a hard +driver you would be! You say it is impossible to be a good mistress +unless you are first a good servant, but you don't seem to be very +expert yourself, and yet you can order people about better than any one +I know. I noticed that from the first. People always seem to do what +you want. How do you reconcile that with your argument?" She smiled as +she spoke, not without a spice of triumph at having cornered the +redoubtable Peggy; but she had yet to learn the extraordinary manner in +which that young woman could twist and turn, arguing first in one +direction and then in the other, as suited the convenience of the +moment. On the present occasion she beamed acknowledgment of the +compliment, and cried airily: + +"Some are born to command, and some to serve! It would be idle to deny +that I belong to the former species. If I cannot do the work myself, I +can at least help others to do it, and point out their faults in a +convincing manner. I should like to have a large household of servants, +and make them pass before me in turns, while I sat in an easy-chair and +issued orders, and I should consider that my share of the labour +exceeded theirs, for brain toil is more exhausting than manual. It +takes a great deal of study to manage a household, and as a rule girls +in our position give no thought to the matter. They are engrossed with +the pleasures of society, but a butterfly life would never satisfy me. +My leanings are Domestic. I have an ever-growing desire to become +Domestic!" + +"Oh, so have I!" cried Eunice eagerly. "So have I! Let us be domestic +together, Peggy, do! Let us begin now, while I am here. It would be so +much nicer than trying alone. Do--do let us begin at once!" + +She was quite excited. The grey eyes were shining, and there was a +pretty pink flush on the pale cheeks. Peggy smiled at her, and patted +her knee, with the kindly amusement with which one receives the +petitions of an eager child. + +"Well," she said graciously, "suppose we do! It would be quite amusing. +I am willing, dear, if you will suggest in what way you would like to +begin." + +"We might ask your cook to give us lessons in cooking!" + +"No, my dear, we might not. I couldn't consent to it. Most injudicious +to display your ignorance before a person whom you have to command. You +must think of something else." + +"We might go marketing, and learn what everything costs, and how much +one ought to buy, and--" + +"No use, my dear! We get nothing but meat and fish from the village. +Fruit and vegetables come from the garden, and all the groceries from +town." + +"We might sew." + +"Ha! I have it!" cried Peggy dramatically. "We'll dress-make! What a +joke! We'll each make a blouse, and wear them at dinner one evening. +It will be delightful. Every girl ought to be able to make her own +clothes, and it's so simple, so easy." + +"Is it?" Eunice arched her brows in surprise. "Have you ever tried?" + +"Not exactly, but they were always doing it at the vicarage, and I used +to help. I always drew the designs, and criticised the things when they +were done. It's quite easy. You get a pattern, pin it to the stuff, +cut it out, run it up, and there you are." + +"And you really think I could manage?" + +"Of course you could. We will work together, and I'll help you. That's +to say, if you would like to try." + +"Oh, I should indeed. Fancy wearing something I had made myself! I'd +be so proud. I'll have mine very, very simple, as plain as possible." + +"I sha'n't! Mine shall be elaborate and fussy and mysterious--one of +those things in which you cannot see any fastenings, or imagine how on +earth the owner gets in or out. There's a model in this week's _Queen_ +which will be just the thing, and I have a piece of flowered pink silk +upstairs which will do for you as well as for me. It is a remnant which +I bought in Paris. I have a mania for remnants. I always think they +will come in usefully, but somehow they don't. This will be the +exception, however, and it will be nice to be alike!" + +"Thank you so much; but you won't tell any one what we are going to do, +will you? We had better not say anything yet, in case we don't +succeed." + +"Don't succeed, indeed! Don't let me hear such words, my dear, I beg! +To imagine failure is to invite defeat!" Peggy shook her head with her +most copy-book air. "We shall succeed, and therefore it would be +selfish to keep our plans to ourselves. It will be quite an excitement +in prospect. Let me see: to-day is Tuesday. How would it be if we said +Saturday night?" + +"Too soon! Too soon! I should say a week at the very soonest. We +can't manage in less." + +"Oh yes, we can if we try. We will give up our mornings to work, and +the afternoons to pleasure. There is very little making in a blouse-- +three seams, and the sleeves, that's all! Four days are quite enough; +besides, it is really five, for we will begin this morning." + +"Now? At once? But I haven't thought, I haven't planned, nothing is +ready! Surely it would be wise to wait, and think it over first?" + +But impetuous Peggy could not be brought to acknowledge that +procrastination could ever be wise. If she had had her way, she would +have been hard at work hacking out her blouse within ten minutes of its +first suggestion; but fortunately for all concerned Arthur appeared upon +the scene at this minute, and put down his foot at the mention of +sewing. + +"Not if I know it, on a beautiful summer afternoon! Leave that until it +rains, or I don't need your society. Now I do. I want you to come over +to the vicarage with me, while I pay my congratulations to the bride. +I've got an offering for her too. Something I brought from town, and I +want you to carry it for me." + +"So likely, isn't it?" sniffed Peggy scornfully. "It shall never be +said of me that I trained my brother so badly that I carried even an +umbrella in his company! What is it, Arthur? Do tell us? What have +you got?" + +But Arthur refused to tell. He slung the box on the crook of his stick, +and led the way across the fields, smiling enigmatically at the girls' +inquiries, but vouchsafing no clue to satisfy their curiosity. There +was evidently some mystery afoot, and the expectation of its unravelment +gave a spice of excitement to the coming visit. The box contained +something nice; Peggy felt sure of that, for when Arthur gave a present +he gave something worth having. How pleased Esther would be, and how +embarrassed! What fun it would be to witness the presentation, and help +out her acknowledgments by appropriate cheers and interjections! + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +When the vicarage was reached a reconnoitre round the garden discovered +the murmur of voices in the schoolroom, and marshalled by Arthur the +three visitors crept silently forward until they were close upon the +window, when Eunice hung modestly in the rear, while her companions +flattened their faces against the panes. A shriek of dismay sounded +from within, as Mellicent dropped a work-basket on the floor and buried +her face in her hands, under the conviction that the house was besieged +by wild Indians, and the advance party close upon her. A smaller shriek +echoed from the further end of the room where Esther stood, being pinned +up in a calico lining by the hands of the local dressmaker, and the +smallest shriek of all came from the region of the sewing-machine, where +Mrs Asplin let the treadle work up and down by itself, and clasped her +heart instead of the seam. Esther fled precipitately behind a screen, +Mellicent flopped on a chair, and Mrs Asplin cried loudly: + +"Go away, go away. Come in, dear boy! Is it really you? What in the +world do you mean by startling us like this?" + +"I've told you before, Arthur Saville, that it drives me crazy when +people come suddenly glaring in through the window! You'll kill me +some, day, or turn me into a jibbering idiot, and _then_ you'll be +sorry! Front doors are made to come in by, 'specially--especially when +visitors are with you!" cried Mellicent severely, and at this Mrs +Asplin turned towards Eunice with her sunny, welcoming smile. + +"You are Miss Rollo, aren't you, dear? This bad boy had no business to +bring you in here, but I've heard of you so often from Mellicent that +you don't seem like a stranger. We are hard at work preparing for the +wedding, so you must excuse the muddle. We are delighted to see you!" + +"Oh, Eunice won't mind. She has heard so much about you too, mater, +that she would have been quite disappointed to have found you sitting in +the drawing-room like any ordinary, commonplace person. Sorry I +startled you! I wouldn't make you jibber for the world, Chubby, so I'll +knock next time, to let you know I'm coming. But where's the bride? +Where's the bride? Is she coming out from behind that screen, or have I +to go and fetch her?" + +At that Esther came forth quickly enough, a blue jacket fastened over +the calico lining, and her cheeks aglow with blushes, for here was a +double embarrassment--to face Arthur's banter for the first time since +her engagement, and to be introduced to the great Miss Rollo in a +dressing-jacket! "The great Miss Rollo," however, turned out to be a +simple-looking girl, who looked much more afraid of her companions than +her companions were of her, while when she came face to face with Arthur +he seemed suddenly sobered, and uttered his congratulations in quite a +quiet, earnest voice. Was this Esther? he was asking himself--this +rosy, smiling girl the sober, long-visaged Esther who had seemed so far +removed from youthful romance? Love was indeed a mighty force, if it +could bring about such a change as this--the right sort of love--that is +to say, unselfish, ennobling, a love which has no thought for itself, +but lives in the happiness of another. As Arthur looked at his old +friend, and noted the softening of eye and lip, the new sweetness of +expression, there rose before his imagination another face, which for +many years had seemed to him the most beautiful in the world, but which +now appeared suddenly hard and loveless. He never realised the fact for +himself, but it was really in this moment of meeting with Esther in the +flush of her happiness that the last link was snapped in the chain which +had bound him to Rosalind Darcy. + +The dream seemed to him to have lasted quite a long time, but in reality +the pause was but of a moment's duration, and had been abundantly filled +by Mellicent, who having spied Arthur's parcel was consumed with +curiosity to discover its contents. + +"What's in the box?" she cried with the directness for which she was +celebrated, and Arthur picked up his parcel, and balanced it in his +hands with a roguish glance in the bride's direction. + +"Something for Esther, for the bottom drawer." + +"The bottom drawer! What _are_ you talking about?" + +"Every engaged young woman has a bottom drawer! It's part of the +performance, and you can't be properly engaged without it. It's the +bottom drawer of the wardrobe generally, and all sorts of things live in +it--everything and anything that she can lay hands on, to put aside for +the new house. Fancy work, pictures, pottery, Christmas presents, and +bazaar gleanings--in they go, and when she has friends to tea they sit +in rows on the floor, and she undoes the wrapping, and they groan with +envy, and cry, `How sweet! How perfectly sweet! Won't it look sweet in +the drawing-room!'" + +"You seem to know a great deal about it!" + +"I do! I've heard about it scores of times, and of course I knew that +Esther would have a bottom drawer like the rest." + +"You were mistaken then! Esther has nothing of the sort. I am to be +engaged such a short time, Arthur, that I have had no leisure to think +of such things. In any case, I don't think it is much in my line." + +"Well, you needn't be so superior! If you haven't got a bottom drawer, +you have the next thing to it. Who went over the house the very day she +came home, grabbing all the things that belonged to her, and taking them +up to her room?" cried Mellicent the irrepressible. "Who took the +little blue jug off my mantelpiece? Who took the brass candlestick from +the hall? Who took the pictures from the schoolroom? Who took the +toilet-cover that she said I might have, and left me with nothing but +two horrid mats? You _did_, you know you did, and it is not a bit of +use giving yourself airs!" + +Evidently not. Esther hung her head, and admitted the impeachment. +Well, she _had_ thought that it would be nice to have her own things--it +_did_ seem wise to collect them at once, before she grew too busy! It +was very, very kind of Arthur, and she was truly grateful. Should she +open the parcel now? + +"Of course you must! Your first present! It is quite an event, and +just what I should have expected, that it should come from Arthur. Dear +lad, always so thoughtful!" murmured Mrs Asplin fondly. "Open it on +the table, and we will sit round and watch. Come, Miss Rollo, sit by +me. Perhaps you are in the secret already, and know what it is?" + +"No, we don't know. We inquired, but he wouldn't tell us anything about +it." + +"But it's probably salt-cellars! Men have so little imagination. They +always take refuge in salt-cellars!" + +This from Peggy, while Esther looked polite and murmured: + +"Most useful, I'm sure. Nothing more so!" and Mellicent grimaced +vigorously. + +"Uninteresting, I call it! Now joolery is far nicer. I wish it were +joolery, but I'm afraid it's too big. Open it, do! Cut the string, and +don't fumble all day at one knot! The professor will buy you some more, +if you ask him nicely." + +"Mellicent!" cried Esther deeply; but she cut the string as desired, +laid back the wrappings, and took up a small tissue paper parcel. + +"Just a small trifle. Something useful for the bottom drawer!" murmured +Arthur modestly, and the next moment the parcel fell on the table with a +crash, while every one shrieked in chorus. Something had gone off with +a bang, something fell out of its wrappings and clattered wood against +wood. A mouse-trap! A little, penny mouse-trap of plainest, commonest +description! They could hardly believe their eyes--could do nothing but +exclaim, gasp, and upbraid at one and the same moment. + +"You _said_ it was a wedding present!" + +"I never did. It was you who said that. I said `something useful for +the bottom drawer.' I hope, dear Esther, that you may find it very, +very useful." + +"You mean creature! I hope it may be nothing of the kind; I might have +known it was a trick. Now, what is in the other parcels? because if +there are any more Jack-in-the-box springs, I prefer not to open them. +One shock of that kind is quite enough." + +But Arthur vowed that not another spring was to be found, and, thus +reassured, Esther opened in turns a spice-box, a nutmeg-grater, a box of +matches, a flour dredger, and a bundle of clothes-pegs. + +Each object was greeted with a fresh peal of laughter from the +onlookers, who, having recovered from the first disappointment, +thoroughly enjoyed the joke played upon the sober Esther, while Esther +herself tried hard to be superior and scathing, and Peggy's bright eyes +roamed round in search of a final development. + +It was not like Arthur, she told herself, to disappoint a friend even in +fun, and she felt convinced that the joke would not end as it had begun. +One by one she picked up the scattered articles and examined them +gingerly. The mouse-trap was guiltless of bait, the spice-box empty as +when it left the shop, but the matchbox felt strangely heavy. She shook +it, and felt something tilt forward, peeped inside, and spied a small +morocco box. + +"Joolery! Joolery!" shrieked Mellicent loudly. "It is--I said it was! +Oh, the darling--sweety--pet! I wish--I wish I were going to be +married!" + +It was the daintiest little diamond brooch that was ever seen. A gold +bar with a cluster of stones in the centre; handsome, yet unobtrusive; +brilliant, yet modest; the very thing to suit at once the bride's quiet +taste, and the sphere into which she was going. She was unaffectedly +charmed, holding it out to the light to admire the stones, her own eyes +almost as bright as themselves. + +"Oh, Arthur dear, and I called you mean! It was just like you to choose +a ridiculous way of giving this lovely present. Fancy me with a diamond +brooch--I shall feel so grand. How can I ever thank you enough?" + +Mrs Asplin dropped a tear on the shabby table-cloth, for she never +_could_ resist a tear when she was very happy, and Mellicent wailed +sadly: + +"I wish I were married! I wish I were married! It would suit me far +better than her. I wish I had been engaged first, after all, because +now every one will give Esther a present as a compliment to the family, +and when it comes to my turn they will think they have done their duty, +and send nothing at all, or only some horrid, niggly little thing like a +bread-fork or crumb-scoop! I just know how it will be--" + +"But you won't need presents, dear. You are going to marry a +millionaire, and live in the lap of luxury ever after. You settled that +years ago," said Peggy slyly; but Arthur smiled reassuringly in the +troubled face, and said: + +"Never mind, Chubby, you shall have exactly the same present from me, at +any rate! Diamond brooch, mouse-trap, clothes-pegs, all complete. I'll +stand by you. Just drop me a line when it's settled, and I will look +after them at once." + +"Oh, thank you, Arthur--I will!" agreed Mellicent with a fervour which +evoked a peal of laughter from her companions. Esther gathered together +her possessions and ran off to her own room to put on her dress, and +Mrs Asplin escorted her visitors to the drawing-room, where tea was +served for their refreshment. Another woman might have apologised for +the shabby dress which she had donned for a hard day's work, and felt +uncomfortable at having been discovered in such guise by a young lady +accustomed to move in the highest circle of London society, but that was +not Mrs Asplin's way. She seated herself in the sunniest seat that the +room afforded, and picked off the odd ends of thread which were +scattered over her skirt with smiling unconcern, too much engrossed in +thinking of her guests to have any care for her own appearance. She +made Eunice sit beside her, and seeing that the girl looked shy, chatted +away to her in friendly Irish fashion, so as to put her at her ease. +Her face lightened as she did so, for she was thinking to herself: "But +she is charming! A dear, little tender face that might be quite +beautiful some day. The child is half alive, but if some one woke her +up--I wonder now if Arthur--" She turned suddenly, and met Arthur's eyes +fixed upon her, intent and questioning, as if for some reason he was +keenly interested in her impressions of Eunice Rollo. Was it +imagination, or did he flush beneath her questioning glance? For one +moment she felt sure that he did, but the next it seemed as if she must +have been mistaken, for he was addressing her with all his wonted self- +possession. + +"Mater, I've been telling these girls that I'm going to get up a picnic +next week. I want to arrange some sort of a jollification before Esther +goes, and a picnic seems the best thing to try for in this weather. +Professor Reid will be here, so he will take care of Esther, and I'll +get the two Darcys to join, and hire a chaperon for the occasion. It +would be too tiring for you or my mother, for I want to fly to pasture +new and go some little distance; but if I speak nicely to little Mrs +Bryce, she'll come like a shot, and be an addition to the party, for she +is a dear little soul, and younger than many people of half her age. +You'll trust the girls to me, won't you, if I can fix it up?" + +"Of course I will! It will be a pleasant break in the midst of our +preparations. Where do you think of going? Have you made any plans, or +is it still in the air?" + +Arthur nodded his head in complacent fashion. "Now I'll tell you all +about it! I have been making inquiries for the last few days, and have +pretty well made out my programme. This picnic is to be given in +Esther's honour, and for once I am going to be extravagant, and hire a +saloon carriage to take us in state to the place where we would be. You +live in the country, and woods and dales are no novelty to you, so we +are going to be adventurous this time, and go to the sea!" + +"The sea!" echoed Mrs Asplin in dismay; but her quiet voice was drowned +by the chorus of exclamations in which the girls gave vent to their +delight. To people who live in inland places the very idea of visiting +the sea brings with it a sense of exhilaration, and the expectation of +Arthur's picnic was trebled at once by the sound of that magic name. +They questioned eagerly, even Eunice putting in her query with the rest, +and Arthur smilingly unfolded his scheme. + +A two hours' journey would take them within five miles of an East Coast +village, where some years before he had discovered an ideal spot for a +picnic. This was no less than a tiny island lying out some distance +from the shore--a charming little islet, its shores washed by the waves, +its crest covered with grass, and shadowed by a tuft of trees. There +were a few good boats to be obtained, and the fishermen would help Rob +and himself to row the party across, while, once arrived on the island, +what could be more delightful than to sit on the sand with the waves +splashing up to their very feet, to drink in the fresh sea breeze, and +enjoy their luncheon under the shade of the trees? They would have to +leave early, as it might grow chilly in such an exposed place, but as +the last train left the station at seven o'clock, they would have no +temptation to prolong their stay. + +The chorus of delight grew louder than ever as he spoke, and Mrs +Asplin's feeble objections were scarcely allowed a hearing. The girls +laughed her to scorn when she tried to prove the superiority of places +in the neighbourhood, and even Arthur paid less than his usual deference +to her opinion, though he did check himself in the midst of an +explanation to ask what objections she had to offer to his plan. + +"I--I--Oh, none at all, only it is so far-off, and I'm nervous about +you, dears! If you were late getting back--" + +"But we can't be late! The train settles that question. If that is the +only fear you have, you may put your mind at rest at once, dear. The +train settles that business for us." + +Arthur turned aside, as if the last word had been spoken on the subject; +but Peggy suspected a deeper meaning to Mrs Asplin's words, and hung +back on her way to the gate, to link her arm in that of her kind friend, +and beg for an explanation. + +"Oh, Peg, it's the sea, the cruel sea!" cried Mrs Asplin then. "I have +such a terror of the water since my boy was drowned! It's over ten +years ago now, but it's as fresh with me as if it had been just +yesterday. My bonnie boy! You never saw him, Peg, but he was my first, +and even Rex himself was never quite the same. It's foolish of me, and +sinful into the bargain, for you are in God's keeping, wherever you may +go, and it would be selfish to spoil your enjoyment. I will try to +overcome my fear, but, Peggy dear, you know what good reason I have for +dreading suspense just now--and as you love me, don't let them miss that +train! If you were late, if you didn't appear at the right time, I +should be terrified, and imagine all sorts of horrors. I--I don't know +what would happen to me! Let nothing, _nothing_ make you late. +Remember me, Peg, in the midst of your pleasuring!" + +"Mater, I will!" cried Peggy solemnly. She looked in the sweet, worn +face, and her heart beat quickly. A hundred resolutions had she made in +her life, and alas! had also broken, but this time it would go hardly +with her if she neglected her vow to her second mother. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +The next morning Peggy and Eunice converted the library into a work- +room, and cut out their blouses by the aid of paper patterns borrowed +from Mrs Saville's maid. This dignitary had made several offers of +help, which had been courteously but firmly refused, for the two new +hands were determined to accomplish their task unaided, and thereby to +secure the honour and glory to themselves. + +"The first step is easy enough. Any baby could cut out by a pattern!" +Peggy declared, but an hour's work proved that it would have required a +very intelligent baby indeed to have accomplished the feat. It was +extraordinary how confusing a paper pattern could be! The only thing +that seemed more confusing than the pattern itself was the explanation +which accompanied it. Peggy tossed the separate pieces to and fro, the +while she groaned over the mysterious phrases. "`Place the perforated +edge on the bias of the cloth!' Which is the perforated edge? Which is +the bias? `Be careful to see that the nicked holes come exactly in the +middle of--' I don't know in the least which they call the `nicked +holes!' I can't think what is the use of half these silly little +pieces. If I couldn't cut out a pattern better than that, I'd retire +from the business. Why can't they tell you plainly what you have to +do?" + +So on she stormed, prancing from one side of the table to the other, +shaking the flimsy sheets in an angry hand, and scattering pins and +needles broadcast on the carpet, while Eunice, like the tortoise, toiled +slowly away, until bit by bit the puzzle became clear to her mind. She +discovered that one piece of the pattern stood for half only of a +particular seam, while others, such as collar and cuffs, represented a +whole; mastered the mystery of holes and notches, and explained the same +to Peggy, who was by no means too grateful for her assistance. + +"Well, I'll take your word for it," she said. "I myself can make +nothing out of an explanation so illogical and lacking in common-sense. +I'll cut the stupid thing out as you say, and see what comes of it. +Here goes--" + +Her scissors were in the silk before Eunice had time to protest, and +away she hacked, with such speed and daring that she had finished the +cutting out before the other had finished her careful preparation of the +first seam. + +"Now then for the tacking!" she cried, and for five minutes on end there +was silence, until-- "Dear me!" quoth Miss Peggy in a tone of dismay, +and peaked solemn brows over her work. + +"What is the matter? Has something gone wrong?" + +"Um--yes! Seems to have done. The stupid old silk must have got +twisted about somehow, when I was cutting out this back. The roses are +all upside down!" She spoke in a studiedly careless manner, but +Eunice's face was a picture of woe. To her orderly mind the accident +seemed irretrievable; and yet how was it to be remedied, when +extravagant Peggy had used every fragment of her material? Her face +fell, her voice thrilled with horror. + +"Never! You don't mean it! How dreadful! What will you do? Oh, +Peggy, take mine, do, and let me buy something else for myself." + +"Not an inch! It's no use, Eunice, I will not do it! We are going to +have blouses alike, and that's settled. That's the worst of these +flower patterns, they do cut out so badly: but it is no use grieving +over what cannot be cured. Go on with your work, my dear, and don't +mind me." + +"But what will you--" + +"Sew it up as it is! I'm not sure that it won't look better, after all. +More Frenchy!" and Peggy pinned the odd pieces together, and smiled at +the effect with a complacency which left the other breathless with +astonishment. She seemed oblivious of the fact that she had made a +mistake, and utterly unconcerned at the prospect of wearing a garment in +which the pattern reversed itself in back and front. Such a state of +mind was inconceivable to the patient toiler, who rounded every corner +with her scissors as carefully as if an untoward nick meant destruction, +and pinned and repinned half-a-dozen times over before she could satisfy +herself of the absence of crinkles. Peggy was ready to be "tried on" +before Eunice had half finished the first process, and though she went +obediently at the first call, the ordeal was a painful one to all +concerned. Eunice was so nervous and ignorant that she dare hardly make +an alteration, for fear of making bad worse, while Peggy wriggled like +an eel, turning her head now over this shoulder, now over that, and +issued half-a-dozen contradictory orders at the same moment. + +"The shoulder creases--put the pins in tighter! The back is too wide-- +take a great handful out of the middle seam. Why does it stick out like +that at the waist, just where it ought to go in? Oh, the fulness, of +course, I forgot that. Leave that alone then, and go on to the neck. +Put pins in all round where the band ought to go." + +"Tryings on" were numerous during the next few mornings; but, while +Eunice's blouse gradually assumed a trig and reputable appearance, +Peggy's developed each time a fresh set of creases and wrinkles. +Neither girl was experienced enough to understand that carelessly cut +and badly tacked material can never attain to a satisfactory result, nor +in truth did they trouble very much over the deficiency, for Peggy no +sooner descried a fault, than her inventive genius hit on a method of +concealing it. Revers, niches, and bows were tacked on with a +recklessness which made Eunice gasp with dismay, but she could not deny +that the effect was "Frenchy" and even artistic, for, whatever might be +Miss Peggy's shortcomings as a plain sew-er, she had a gift of graceful +draping which amounted almost to genius. After the first day's +experience Peggy had readily consented to her friend's plea for a week's +preparation, and well it was that she had done so, for it was five good +days before the bodices were sufficiently finished to allow the sleeves +to be taken in hand. Oh, those sleeves! Who would ever have believed +that it could be so difficult to fit such simple things, or to persuade +them to adapt themselves to holes expressly provided for their +accommodation? The girls spent weary hours turning, twisting, pleating +in, letting out, tacking, and untacking, until at length Peggy's long- +worn patience gave way altogether, and she vowed that not once again +should the blouse go on her back until she donned it for the evening's +exhibition. + +"If they are not right this way, they will have to be wrong! I can't +waste all my life fussing over a pair of sleeves. What can it matter +whether they are put an inch one way or the other? They have just not +to settle down and be happy where I put them, for I'm not going to move +them any more!" + +She frowned as she spoke and drew an impatient sigh, which did not +altogether refer to the work on hand. There was a weight on her heart +which refused to be conjured away even by the presence of Arthur and +Eunice, and the interests and occupations which they brought with them. +Rob was angry--no, what was even worse, he was not angry, but, with a +stupid masculine blindness, had taken for granted that his company was +no longer desired. Nearly a fortnight had passed since that miserable +afternoon, and not once had he been inside the gates of Yew Hedge. She +had met him twice, and each time had come home from the interview +feeling more miserable, as Rob elaborately sustained his old friendly +manner. To cry, "Hallo, Peggy!" on meeting; to discuss the doings of +the neighbourhood in an easy-going fashion, as if no cloud hovered +between them, and then to march past the very gates without coming in, +refuse invitations on trumpery excuses, and attend a church at the +opposite end of the parish--such behaviour as this was worse than +inconsistent in Peggy's eyes, it approached perilously near hypocrisy! + +"I don't care!" she told herself recklessly; but she did care all the +same, and her heart gave a throb of relief when on the morning of what +had come to be known in the family as "Blouse day," Arthur announced his +intention of asking both the Darcy brothers to dinner. + +"After your hard work you ought to have an audience to admire and +applaud," he said, "and I shall tell them we want them particularly. +They were asking how your dressmaking was getting on the other day, so I +am sure they will be glad to accept. You won't want an answer, I +suppose, Mistress Housekeeper? They can return with me or not, as the +case may be?" + +"Certainly! Certainly! It makes no difference," said Peggy loftily; +and thus it happened that the girls went upstairs to dress that evening +without knowing who would be waiting to receive them when they made +their entrance into the drawing-room. The blouses were laid out in the +dressing-room which connected the two bedrooms, and to a casual glance +there was no doubt which was the more successful. The one could boast +no remove from the commonplace, the other was both artistic and +uncommon, a garment which might have come direct from the hands of a +French _modiste_. Eunice's face fell as she looked, and she breathed a +sigh of depression. + +"Oh, Peggy, how horrid mine looks beside yours! What a mean, skimpy +little rag! I am ashamed to appear in it. You will look beautiful, +perfectly beautiful! You have done it splendidly." + +Peggy gave a murmur of polite disclaimer, and pursed in her lips to +restrain a smile. + +"Wait until they are on, dear. You can never tell how a thing looks +until it is on," she said reassuringly; but alas, for Peggy, little did +she dream how painfully she would discover the truth of her own words. + +A quarter of an hour later Eunice was hooking the front of her bodice, +when the door burst open and in rushed Peggy, red in the face, gasping +for breath, her neck craned forward, her arms sticking out stiffly on +either side, for all the world like a waxen figure in a shop window. + +"My neck!" she gasped. "My sleeves! They torture me! My arms are +screwed up like sausages. The collar band cuts like a knife. I'm like +a trussed fowl--I'll burst! I know I shall! I'll die of asphyxiation. +What shall I do? What shall I do? What can have happened to make it +like this?" + +"Oh dear! oh dear! You do look uncomfortable. It was big enough when +you tried it on last. You must have drawn in the arm-holes while you +were sewing them. Yes, you have! I can see the puckers, and the +sleeves are stretched so tight too. You didn't take them in again, +surely?" + +"Just a tiny bit. They looked so baggy. But the collar, Eunice, the +collar! For pity's sake take it off! I shall be raw in a moment. Take +the scissors, pull--tug! Get it off as quick as you can." + +"Take it off! But then what will you--" pleaded Eunice; but Peggy's +eyes flashed at her with so imperious a command that she began to snip +without further protest. The band came off easily--astonishingly +easily, and Peggy heaved a sigh of relief, and flapped her arms in the +air. + +"When! That's better. I can breathe again. I could not have borne it +another moment. Now I should be fairly comfortable, if only--only--the +sleeves were a little bigger! It is too late to let them out, but just +round the arm-holes, eh? A little tiny snip here and there to relieve +the pressure?" + +She put her head on one side in her most insinuating fashion, but Eunice +was adamant. Never, she protested, would she consent to such a step. +No seam could be expected to hold, if treated in such fashion. How +would Peggy like it if her sleeve came off altogether in the course of +the evening? There would be humiliation! Better a thousand times a +trifling discomfort than such a downfall as that! + +"Trifling!" echoed Peggy sadly. "Trifling indeed. Shows all you know. +I am suffering tortures, my dear, and you stand there, cool and +comfortable, preaching at me!" She paused for a moment, and for the +first time stared scrutinously at her friend. Eunice looked charming, +the simplicity of her dress giving a quaint, Quaker-like appearance to +the sweet face. Plain as her blouse was, it was a remarkable success +for a first effort, and though it had necessarily a dozen faults, the +whole effect was neat and dainty. + +"What did I tell you?" groaned Peggy dismally. "Who looks better now, +you or I? I look `beautiful,' don't I, perfectly beautiful! It's so +becoming to have no collar band, and one's arms sticking out like +flails! I sha'n't be able to eat a bite. It's as much as I can do to +sit still, much less move about. I'll put on a fichu, and then I can +leave some hooks unfastened, to give myself a little air." + +It seemed, indeed, the best solution, since somehow or other it was +necessary to conceal the jagged silk round the neck. Peggy pinned on a +square of chiffon; but the numerous trimmings over which it lay gave a +clumsy appearance to her usually trim little figure, while discomfort +and annoyance steadily raised the colour in her cheeks. She was +conscious of appearing at her worst, and for one moment was tempted to +throw aside her plan, and take to ordinary evening-dress. Only for one +moment, however, for the next she decided roundly against so mean a +course. What if she had failed? her guest had succeeded, and why rob +her of praise well-earned? After all, would she not have been a hundred +times more distressed if positions had been reversed, and Eunice was +suffering her present discomfort? The cloud left her brow, and she led +the way downstairs with a jaunty air. + +"Come along, come along! I've always vowed that I enjoyed a good +beating, and now I've got a chance of proving the truth of my words. +You are a born dressmaker, my dear, and the sooner I retire from the +business the better. You will be the hero of the occasion, and I shall +be the butt; but don't look so remorseful, I implore you. It has been a +great joke, and some day--years hence!--I may even see some humour in +the present condition of my arms. I'm accustomed to being teased, and +don't care one little bit how much they deride me!" + +A moment later, as the drawing-room door opened, she realised indeed how +little she cared, for Rob was not there. His excuses had evidently +already been made, for no allusion was made to his absence, while her +own appearance with Eunice was the signal for a general rising, every +one exclaiming and applauding, and walking round in admiring circles. +Eunice was overwhelmed with congratulations, while Peggy had to run the +gauntlet of remorseless family banter. + +Only one voice was raised in her behalf, but Hector Darcy declared with +unblushing effrontery that he voted in her favour, and held to his +decision, in spite of all that the others could say. Peggy deplored his +want of taste, yet felt a dreary sense of comfort in his fealty. It +soothed the ache at her heart, and made her so unconsciously gentle in +return that the major's hopes went up at a bound. + +After dinner, chairs were carried into the verandah, and Peggy made no +demur when Hector set her seat and his own at a little distance from the +rest. Perhaps at heart she was even a little grateful to him for being +so anxious to enjoy her society, for no one else seemed to desire it for +that moment. Colonel and Mrs Saville were talking contentedly +together, Arthur was engrossed with Eunice, Rob--ah, where was Rob? Had +he made up his mind never to enter Yew Hedge again? Peggy turned her +conversational gift to account, and led the subject so subtly in the way +she would have it go, that presently Hector found himself explaining the +cause of his brother's absence, believing that that explanation was +entirely of his own offering. + +"Rob is busy writing a paper for some magazine or review, and can think +of nothing else. You know what he is when he once gets mounted on his +hobby! He would have thought it a terrible waste of time to have left +his papers to come out to dinner." + +Well, well, the time had been when Rob would not have thought it waste +of time to spend an evening with his friend; when not even an article +for a review would have prevented him from witnessing the completion of +an enterprise in which his partner was interested. + +It was a very woe-begone Peggy who crept into bed that evening. Her +arms were stiff and sore from their long pressure, there were the deep +red marks on her shoulders where the seams had pressed into the flesh, +but the ache in her heart was worse to bear than either one or the +other. She burrowed her little brown head into the pillow, and the salt +tears trickled down her nose. + +"Nobody loves me!" she sobbed. "Nobody loves me! Mellicent was right. +He loves beetles better than me!" + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +A week later Arthur's picnic came off under circumstances of unusual +_eclat_. The extravagant fellow had arranged everything on so luxurious +a scale that Mellicent sat in a dream of happiness, building castles in +the air, in which she continually drove about in dog-carts, travelled in +reserved carriages, and ate luncheons provided by Buzzard. Her plump +face assumed quite a haughty aspect, as she mentally acknowledged the +salutations of the crowd, and issued orders to flunkies, gorgeous in +powder and knee-breeches. It was enough happiness just to sit and think +of it, and munch the delicious chocolates which Arthur dispensed among +his guests. + +It was a pretty scene--that group of young people in the Pullman +carriage, the girls in their white dresses, the tall, handsome men, the +cheery little chaperon in the centre. The professor and Esther sat by a +window whispering earnestly together, for having been separated for a +weary length of ten whole days, they had naturally large arrears of talk +to make up. Arthur pointed out the various objects of interest to +Eunice, as the train whizzed past, and Peggy sat glued to the side of +Mrs Bryce, determined not to be monopolised by Hector thus early in the +day. Rob had come with his brother, but she felt little satisfaction in +his presence, knowing that he had tried to refuse the invitation, and +had only yielded on Arthur's assertion that he was needed for help, not +ornament, and must come whether he liked it or not, to lend a hand with +the oars. He looked pre-occupied and solemn, but was absolutely +friendly in his manner, rejoicing in the fineness of the weather, and +congratulating Peggy on the success of her dressmaking experiment, of +which he had heard from his brother. To explain that Hector's report +was entirely prejudiced, seemed but a tacit acknowledgment of his +infatuation, and Peggy blushed in sheer anger at the perversity of Fate, +the while she gave the true version of the affair, and dilated on her +own sufferings. + +"It will be a lesson to me for life not to interfere with the business +of others, and take the bread out of the mouths of professionals by +amateur interference," she concluded grandiloquently, and Rob smiled in +his grave, kindly fashion. It seemed to Peggy that there was an added +kindliness in his smile of late, and several times during the morning +she looked up suddenly, to discover his eyes fixed upon her with a +scrutiny at once so tender, so anxious, and so searching, that she was +obliged to turn aside to conceal her tears. + +When the train arrived at its destination, a couple of carriages +conveyed the travellers on the next stage of their journey, and with +their arrival at the little fishing village came the first hitch in the +programme. Arthur had written in advance to ask that two of the best +boats should be reserved for his party, and that a fisherman should be +in readiness to go in each, so that his friends need not exert +themselves more than they felt inclined. It is one thing, however, to +despatch an order to the depths of the country, and quite another to +find it fulfilled. As a matter of fact, the letter was even now lying +unopened in the village post-office, and Arthur was confronted with the +intelligence that men and boats had departed _en masse_ to attend a +regatta which was taking place some miles along the coast. Only a few +of the oldest and most unwieldy boats had been left behind, and neither +man nor boy could be found to row them. Here was a fine predicament! A +snapshot taken of the party at this moment would have been an eloquent +study in disappointment, and each one looked expectantly at Arthur, +waiting for him to find a solution of the difficulty. + +"Here is a fine pickle! I'm furious with myself, and yet I don't see +what more I could have done. There are two alternatives before us, so +far as I can see--either we must get into one of these old tubs and row +ourselves across, or give up the island altogether, and spend the day +where we are." + +At this there was a groan of dismay, for, truth to tell, the village was +of an uninteresting character, and the sands felt like an oven in the +shadeless noon. To spend the day here would indeed be waste of time, +while only a few miles off lay the island of their dreams--that +wonderful island, with the blue waves splashing its shores, the kindly +trees shading its crest. + +"The island! the island!" cried the girls in chorus, while the men +looked at each other, braced themselves up, and said: + +"We can do it. Why not? It will be a stiff pull, but the day is our +own. We can take our time, and rest when we are tired. Let us go at +once and choose a boat." + +It was Dobson's choice, however, or very nearly so, for the only boats +left were tubs indeed, in which a score of passengers could have been +accommodated as easily as eight. Large as they were, however, there was +one member of the party who seemed diffident about their sea-going +quality, and, wonderful to relate, that person was Peggy herself. + +"Is it safe?" she kept asking. "Is it safe? Are you quite sure it is +safe?"--and her companions stared in amazement at this sudden access of +nervousness. + +"Why, Peggy, you are surely not turning coward in your old age!" Arthur +cried laughingly, as he dragged at the unwieldy bulk. "If you are +afraid of this old bark, I don't know when you would feel safe. It is +like going to sea in a pantechnicon!" + +"And after a voyage to India, too! How funny! I am not a bit afraid, +and I have never been out of England in my life. Are you afraid of +being drowned?" chimed in Mellicent, with an air of superiority which +goaded Peggy past endurance. + +"I was not thinking of myself. It is possible sometimes to be nervous +for another," she blurted out, and the next moment wished her tongue had +been bitten off before she had uttered such a rash remark; for what +could Rob think, or his companions either, but that the person for whom +she was anxious was present among them? They had not heard Mrs +Asplin's words of entreaty, or seen the strained expression on her face +as she murmured, "Remember, dear! Oh, be sure to remember!" + +She turned and walked along the shore by herself, clasping her hands in +a passion of longing and pity. + +"I gave her my promise, and I'll keep it, whatever they think. It will +be my fault if anything goes wrong. I know, and they don't!" + +It was one o'clock before the island was reached, for the row out took a +long time, despite the fact that the amateur oarsmen were all fairly +proficient at their work. Even the professor pulled with a will, while +to see haughty Hector in his shirt sleeves, with his hair matted on his +forehead, was indeed a novel experience. Arthur was stroke, and +Mellicent sat in front and coached him in his duty, to the amusement of +the company and his own unspeakable delight, and Eunice dabbled her hand +in the water, and sent little showers of spray tossing up into the air. +Every now and then, when Arthur made a reply to Eunice more professedly +deferential than usual, her eyes met his, and they smiled at each +other--that smile of happy, mutual understanding which had grown common +between them in the last few months. Peggy intercepted one of the +glances, and felt at once rejoiced and sorrowful; rejoiced because it +was good to see Arthur started on the way she would have him go, +sorrowful because she realised, as many another had done before her, +that his gain must also be her loss, and that just in proportion as +Eunice became necessary to him her own importance must decrease. + +When all was said and done, however, it was impossible to indulge in low +spirits in the hours that followed. Oh, the delights of that island, +the dear, shingly beach with its little pools full of a hundred briny +treasures, the long trails of seaweeds, which were credited with the +gift of foretelling weather as well as any barometer; the tiny crabs +that burrowed among the stones; the sea anemones, the jelly-fish, so +innocent to regard, so deadly to encounter. They were all there, with +tiny little pink-lined shells, and pebbles of marvellous transparency +which must surely, surely, be worth taking to a lapidary to examine! +What cries of delight followed the landing, what hasty summoning of the +whole party to witness some fresh discovery; what trippings on slippery +stones, and splashing of fresh white dresses! Then, too, the long- +checked pangs of hunger asserted themselves, and would no longer be +restrained, and the men were hardly allowed time to fasten the boat, go +imperiously were they hurried on shore with the precious freight of +hampers. + +Lunch was spread beneath the tree, and was no sooner finished than +Mellicent inquired, "When's tea?" a request which the hearers felt bound +to deride, though in reality it found an echo in every heart. +Astonishing as it may appear, a picnic lunch invariably seems to create +a longing for the cup which cheers, and on this occasion the sea air had +a sleepifying influence which increased that desire. + +"I re-ally think we had better have it soon. I can hardly keep from y- +awning all the time!" cried Mrs Bryce, suiting the action to the word, +and such was the result of infection that two pairs of hands went up to +as many mouths even as she spoke. + +"Very well, then, say four o'clock. Can't possibly have it before +then," said Arthur, struggling vainly to keep his jaws together. "Oh, +this will never do. Come down to the rocks, all of you, and get a good +blow to freshen you up. I never saw such a company of sleepers!" + +Eunice and Mellicent followed obediently enough, while the lovers seated +themselves in a quiet corner, and Rob lay down on the sand beside one of +the little pools, to watch the movements of the crawling insects. His +trained glance was quick to understand the purport of what would have +seemed aimless fittings to and fro to an ordinary observer, and soon out +came notebook and pencil, and he was hard at work chronicling a dozen +interesting discoveries. Peggy lingered behind to offer her help to +Mrs Bryce, but that good lady, being secretly anxious to indulge in +forty winks, seconded Hector Darcy's protest in so emphatic a manner +that she had no loophole for delay. She strolled with him down to the +shore, following Arthur and his companions, but not so closely that +there was not a distance of several yards between the two big stones +which had been selected as resting-places. So far as privacy of +conversation was concerned, the yards might have been miles, for the +waves dashed up with a continual murmur, and the breeze seemed to carry +the sound of the voices far out to sea. Peggy clasped her hands on her +knee, and gazed before her with dreamy eyes. Her little face looked +very sweet and thoughtful, and Hector Darcy watched her beneath the brim +of his hat, and built his own castle in the air, a castle which had +grown dearer and more desirable ever since his return to England. The +opportunity for which he had been waiting had come at last, and surely +it was an omen for good that it had come by the side of that sea which +had witnessed their meeting; which, if all went well, would witness +their start together on the new life! + +"I shall be going back to India soon, Peggy," he said softly. "The time +is drawing near;" and Peggy looked in his face, and realised that what +she had dreaded was at hand, and could not be avoided. She heard her +own voice murmur words of conventional regret, but Hector took no notice +except to look still deeper into her eyes. + +"Am I to go alone, Peggy?" he asked gently. "I have been an independent +fellow all my life, and thought I needed no one but myself, but that is +all altered since I met you! I should get along badly now without you +to help me, and share my lot!" + +"Oh, Hector, no! Don't say so. It's all a mistake. How could I help +you? I have been a hindrance, not a help. It was owing to my +carelessness that you hurt yourself, and it was only your generosity +which made light of it. Father says it is a serious thing for a soldier +to sprain his ankle, for it is never so strong again, and may fail him +at a critical moment. I know quite well how much harm I have done you." + +"Do you, Peggy? I don't agree with you there; but if it is so, is not +that all the more reason why you should do me a good turn now? I don't +mind your blaming yourself, dear, if it makes you the more inclined to +be generous. I have loved you ever since we met, and it would be +impossible to part from you now. I need you, Peggy; come to me! Be my +wife, and give me the happiness of having you always beside me." + +He spoke with a whole-hearted earnestness which brought the tears into +Peggy's eyes, but she shook her head none the less firmly. + +"I can't! I can't! It would be doing you a worse injury than the +first. I should be no help to you, Hector, for I don't care for you in +the way you mean, and I could never marry a man unless I loved him with +all my heart. It is all a mistake--indeed it is. You only imagine that +you care for me because you have seen a great deal of me lately, and I +seem part of home and the old life. When you have gone back to India, +you will forget all about me, or be glad that I did not take you at your +word." + +Hector pressed his lips together and gave a strained attempt at a smile. + +"I am not a boy, Peggy. I know what I want, but you--you are so young, +how can you be sure of yourself yet? I am not going to take `No' for an +answer. I will wait--ask for an extension of leave--come home for you +later on. You shall have time, plenty of time, but I will not let you +decide at once. You don't know your own mind!" + +"Oh, Hector!" Even at that critical moment a gleam of fun twinkled in +Peggy's eyes. "Oh, Hector, how can you? No one has ever accused me +before of not knowing my own mind. I know it only too well, and I will +not let you wait on, to gain nothing but a second disappointment. I +should not change, and listen, Hector--it would be a bad thing if I did! +I like you very much--far, far better than I ever believed I could do +when we first met, for you seemed so different then, so haughty and +self-satisfied, that if you had not been Rob's brother I should have +disliked you outright. I see now that I judged you too quickly, but +there is still so much difference between us that we should never be +happy together. You are a man of the world, and like to live in the +world, and conform to its ways, and at heart I am nothing but a +Bohemian. I have no respect for the rules and regulations of Society, +and the only feeling they arouse in me is a desperate desire to break +through them and shock Mrs Grundy. I am erratic, and careless, and +forgetful. I am ashamed of it, and honestly mean to improve, but, oh, +poor Hector, how you would suffer if you had to put up with me during +the process! You ought to marry a clever woman who would keep your +house as you would like it kept, and help you on by her gracious ways, +not a madcap girl who has not learned to manage herself, much less other +people. Dear Hector, I thank you with all my heart for thinking so +kindly of me and paying me such an honour, but, indeed, indeed, it +cannot be." + +She laid her hand on his as she spoke with a pretty, winsome gesture, +and Hector just touched it with his own, and then let it drop. His +expression had altered completely while she was speaking, and he had +lost his air of assurance. Those few words which had dropped out so +unconsciously had convinced him of the hopelessness of his cause more +entirely than any argument. "If you had not been Rob's brother." She +would have disliked him if he had not been Rob's brother. She could not +dislike one who was Rob's brother! Innocent Peggy little suspected the +eloquence of that confession, but Hector understood, and read in it the +downfall of his hopes. He sat gazing out to sea, while she looked at +him with anxious eyes, and for a long time neither spoke a word. +Then--"I could have loved you very dearly, Peggy," he said softly, "very +dearly!" The strong chin trembled, and Peggy's heart yearned pitifully +over him, but she noticed with relief that he spoke in problematical +fashion, as if the love were more a possibility of the future than a +present fact. Men of Hector Darcy's type set an exaggerated value on +anything which belongs to themselves, the while they unconsciously +depreciate what is denied them. Peggy understood that the very fact of +her refusal of himself had lessened her attractions in his sight, and +the knowledge brought with it nothing but purest satisfaction. + +It was a relief to both when the summons to tea relieved them from their +painful _tete-a-tete_, but if they flattered themselves that their +disturbed looks escaped the notice of their friends, they were quite +mistaken. Each member of the party, even to Mellicent herself, was +aware that some development of the situation had taken place since +lunch, and pondered anxiously as to what it could be. At the one moment +it seemed that they must surely be engaged; at the next it was as +evident that they were not; and Mellicent composed imaginary interviews +the while she demolished cakes and biscuits, in which she heard Peggy's +voice murmuring alternate vows of love and friendship. + +"He has proposed to her, I'm certain of it!" she told herself, "and oh, +how I wish I had been there! I'd simply love to have heard him do it. +I'm glad women don't have to ask men to marry them, it must be so +embarrassing to be refused! Now, if Hector Darcy had proposed to me, I +should have said `Yes' out of sheer fright, but Peggy would refuse a +prince to-morrow, if she got the chance. I wonder what she said to him! +In books the girl always says, `I cannot give you my love, but I will +always be your friend.' I should be so cross, if she said that to me, +that I should want to shake her. How could you be friends with a person +who had made you so miserable? ... Now she is smiling at him as +pleasantly as ever ... They _must_ be engaged! I'll be bridesmaid +again, and get a nice present! I wonder what Rob--" + +But at this interesting moment Arthur broke in upon her surmises by +calling attention to the current which was sweeping round the island. + +"Just look at that water rushing past!" he cried. "We didn't notice +anything like that when we rowed across. It was slack tide then, I +suppose, and now it is rising. It is running strong! I say, what about +that boat? We had better look after her at once." + +Rob leapt to his feet before the words were well spoken, and ran +hurriedly forward. His companions watched him go, saw him cross the +plot of grass, come out from beneath the shadow of the trees, and stand +for a moment silhouetted against the sky; then he stopped short, and +threw up his hands with a gesture of dismay. It was indeed a sight to +fill the onlooker with dismay, for the tide had reached the spot where +the boat was moored, and was drifting her rapidly towards the shore! + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +In another moment all the members of the party had left their seats, and +were standing by Rob's side, gazing disconsolately at the lost boat. +Already it had been carried to a considerable distance, and the four men +stared into each other's faces in horrified bewilderment. + +"This is a nice state of things!" + +"What _is_ to be done? How on earth are we to get her back?" + +"She has floated so far--too far, I am afraid, for anyone to swim after +her." + +"I could not last out such a distance. It seems a risky thing to +attempt, much too risky. It would not improve matters to have a +drowning case into the bargain. I am afraid none of us dare attempt +it." + +Then there was a pause, while the girls huddled together in a group, +watching the men's faces with anxious glances. Arthur stood frowning +and biting his moustache, his eyes bright with anger. + +"I should like to shoot myself for my stupidity! Why could I not have +thought of the tide when we were beaching the boat? It would have been +just as easy to drag her up a few yards higher, and then we should have +been safe. We should not have been in such a stupid hurry to be +finished, but I heard Peggy's voice calling to me and--" + +"Oh no, no! Don't say it--don't say it! Arthur, Arthur, don't say it +was my fault!" cried Peggy in a voice of such agonised distress as +startled the ears of her companions. Arthur's eyes turned from the boat +for the first time, and he hastened to her side. + +"Why, Peg," he cried, "what's the matter, dear? Nobody was blaming you; +there is not a shadow of blame to be laid on you. The fault is ours for +not giving more thought to what we were about. Rob and I ought to know +how to beach a boat by this time, seeing the amount of yachting we have +done in our day, but, indeed, I don't need to blame any one but myself; +I was in charge, and should have taken proper care." + +"Well, it is not much use discussing who is to blame; the mischief is +done, and we had better set our wits to work to remedy it," cried the +little chaperon briskly. "If the boat cannot be brought back, I suppose +it means that we must stay here until--" + +"Oh, how exciting! It's just like the _Swiss Family Robinson_, and +_Leila on the Desert Island_. It's as good as being shipwrecked, +without any of the bother," interrupted Mellicent gushingly. "Now, +then, we must make a tent, and examine the trees to see which are good +to eat, and catch crabs and lobsters, and shoot the birds as they fly +past, and Professor Reid shall be the father--the wise, well-informed +man who knows what everything is, and how everything should be done--and +Esther shall be his wife, and--" + +"Mellicent, don't! Don't be silly, dear!" pleaded Esther gently. "It +is not a subject for jokes. Seriously, Arthur, how long may we have to +stay? Is there any chance of being left here for the night?" + +"Not the slightest, I should say. If we don't get back in time for our +drive to the station, the flymen will give the alarm, and some one will +come over to see what has gone wrong. The worst that may happen is that +we shall have to wait until the men get back from their regatta, but you +need have no fear of remaining for the night." + +"But in any case it will be impossible to catch our train." + +"I fear it will. We shall have to make the best of it, and camp at the +inn until morning. It's unfortunate, but there are worse troubles at +sea. Don't look so miserable, Peggy; I promise you, you shall come to +no harm." + +"But, mother--Mrs Asplin--what will they think? If we don't get back +until late, can we send a telegram to them? It is such a tiny place +that the office might be closed." + +Arthur's face clouded over, for this was a view of the case which had +not occurred to him, and former experiences of country villages did not +tend to reassure him. + +"I can't tell you. I will drive to the station and do my best to send a +wire from there, but that's all I can say. There is one comfort: they +know at home that if we miss the seven o'clock train, we are fixed for +the night, so they won't be as anxious as they might otherwise have +been. They will probably guess pretty well what has happened." + +He spoke with an assumption of confidence, but Peggy was not to be +deceived, and she turned on her heel and walked along the shore, +wringing her hands together, and catching her breath in short, gasping +sobs. + +"Help me! Oh, help me!" she repeated over and over again in a quivering +voice, and the cry was addressed to no human ear. She was speaking +direct to One who understood her trouble, who knew without being told +the reason of her anxiety. Not in vain had Mrs Asplin set an example +of a Christian's faith and trust before the girl's quick-seeing eyes. +Peggy had never forgotten her sweet calm on hearing the doctor's +verdict, or that other interview in the vicarage garden when she herself +had first resolved to join the great army of Christ, and the habit was +growing daily stronger to turn to Him for help in all the difficult +paths of life. Now in "this moment of intensest anxiety her first +impulse was to leave her companions," and go away by herself where she +could pour out her heart in a deep, voiceless prayer. She walked round +to the further side of the little islet, and seating herself on the same +stone which an hour earlier had been the scene of her _tete-a-tete_ with +Hector, covered her face with her hands and rocked to and fro in an +abandonment of grief. They could not catch the train ... They could +send no telegram of reassurement; the night would pass--the long, long +night, and no word would be received of their safety ... For her own +father and mother she was not seriously concerned, for they were too old +travellers not to allow for unexpected delays, and had moreover +prophesied more than once that such a scatter-brained party would be +certain to miss their train; but Mrs Asplin with her exaggerated ideas +of distance, her terror of the sea, her nervous forebodings of evil--how +would she endure those long waiting hours? With her imaginative eye, +Peggy saw before her the scene in the drawing-room at the vicarage, as +the hour of arrival passed by without bringing the return of the +travellers; saw the sweet, worn face grow even paler and more strained, +the thin hands pressed against the heart. She recalled the pathetic +plea which had been made to her, and her own vow of remembrance, and +once more the responsibility of the position seemed heavier than she +could bear. "Oh, help me!" she murmured once more. "Help me _now_!" +and then a voice spoke to her by name, and she looked up, to see Rob's +anxious face looking into hers. + +"What is it, Peggy? Something troubles you--something more than you +will tell the others. Can you tell me? Can I help you, dear?" + +It was the old Rob back again at the first hint of trouble, the old Rob, +with no trace of the laboured pleasantness of the past weeks, but with +eyes full of faithful friendship. Peggy gave a gasp of relief, and +clutched his arm with an eager hand. + +"Oh, Rob, yes! I'll tell you! It was a secret, but I must tell some +one, I must have some one to consult." And then in hurried accents she +confided to him her promise to Mrs Asplin, and the sad reason which +made it so necessary to preserve her from alarm. "You see, Rob, it is +very serious," she said in conclusion. "It may be a case of life and +death, for the doctor said she couldn't bear any strain, and when I +promised, knowing so well all that it meant, she will feel she has good +reason for fear, if we do not return. All the night long, and both her +girls here! Oh, Rob, think what it will be! I feel as if I could not +bear it; is if I could run all the way home to comfort her. You always +helped me, Rob; you used to find a way for me out of my old childish +troubles--do help me now! Think of _some_ way by which we can get +back." + +Rob looked at her fixedly, and his lips smiled, but his eyes were grave +and steady. + +"I'll try, Peggy," he said, "I'll do my best. There is nothing I would +not do for Mrs Asplin and--_you_! Remember always, whatever happens, +that nothing you could have done for me to-day would have made me so +happy as asking my help in your trouble." He turned away as he spoke +the last word, for the rest of the party were now approaching along the +sands, bearing with them a branch of a tree, and the table-cloth which +had been used for lunch. It had occurred to Arthur that if a flag could +be erected at this particular spot, it might possibly catch the eyes of +the fishermen, and attract them to call at the island on their way to +the shore, and the idea had been enthusiastically welcomed by his +friends. It is astonishing how speedily the charms of a situation are +minimised when that situation becomes a necessity instead of a choice. +Before the discovery of the missing boat, the island had seemed all that +was charming and romantic; now it seemed suddenly to have become chilly +and forsaken, a bank of sand in a waste of water; a prison-house rather +than a pleasure-ground. Eunice began to shiver, Mrs Bryce felt certain +that the grass was damp, and the professor was full of anxiety about his +_fiancee_. One and all they were thankful for the occupation of +erecting the flagstaff, and Arthur had no lack of assistants in his +task. The hole was dug out to the proper depth with the assistance of +such motley tools as the ferrules of sticks and parasols, and the stones +which were scattered along the beach, while the cloth was sewed to the +stick by the careful Esther, who never by any chance travelled about +without a needle full of cotton in her pocket, in company with such +other usefuls as sticking-plaster, hair-pins, and camphor pills. The +camphor pills were brought forth now, and received a very different +welcome from that which would have been afforded them an hour before. +Even Peggy took her turn with the rest, and though the men drew the line +at such an exhibition of weakness, they hinted that an additional cup of +tea would be acceptable in its stead. + +"We have done all we can, so now let us go back to our meal, and be as +jolly as we can," said Arthur. + +"We will brew a fresh lot of tea and drown our sorrows in the bowl; and +if the viands give out, Mellicent can get us bread from the bread-trees +and milk from the cocoanuts. Rob can climb up and bring one down, as he +is accustomed to savage regions. Where _is_ Rob, by the bye? He was +here ten minutes ago." + +"He walked over to the other end of the island. I'll go round and give +him a call," Hector said; and in default of anything better to do his +companions followed in a long, straggling line, but no sign of Rob did +they find, only a little heap of clothing on the shore--a pair of boots, +a coat, and waistcoat, and a sailor hat, which told their own tale +plainly enough, even without the sight of the dark head which could +presently be observed bobbing up and down between the waves. Rob had +swum off to try to recover the boat, and was risking his life in the +effort!--For a moment horror held his friends dumb, then the men broke +into a chorus of denunciations. + +"He'll never do it! He had no right to go off like that without +consulting us--without saying a word to a soul! A foolhardy trick!" + +"He knew we would not let him try it. He is a capital swimmer, but it's +a stiff pull, and he can't catch her up, for she will drift with the +tide further and further away." + +"_Will_ she? Are you sure? Does she seem to you any further off now +than she was a quarter of an hour ago? I don't think she is. I can see +her just as distinctly. Ah! I believe I understand it now. She has +drifted on to a sandbank, and is not moving at all. Good old Rob! He +knows what he is about. If he can only hold out, he'll get her sure +enough." + +"If--yes, but if he does not? If he gets cramped or exhausted, there is +no one to help him. We should have to stand here helpless, and see him +sink. It was mad--mad--he should not have risked it! I'll give him a +piece of my mind when he gets back!" cried Arthur hotly, and then, "Good +old Rob!" he added in another voice. "Good old Rob! Just like him to +steal away without saying a word to a soul. Just like him to think of +every one else before himself. Give him a cheer, boys! Give him a +cheer to help him along." + +And what a cheer that was that burst forth in response to his words! It +rang over the sea, eloquent with all the hope, and fear, and longing +that were beating in eight anxious hearts; once and yet again it +sounded, with Peggy's high treble ringing out over all the rest. +"Bravo, Rob! Bravo! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!" + +The dark head turned, a white arm waved in the air, and then Rob settled +himself once more to his task, while his friends watched in tense +anxiety. The professor drew Esther's hand through his arm and clasped +it unashamed, and Arthur turned abruptly aside, putting his hands to his +face. + +"I can't watch him;" he cried brokenly. "I must go away. Come and talk +to me till it is over--help me to bear it!" His eyes met Peggy's as he +finished speaking, passed on with an unsatisfied expression, and +fastened upon Eunice. "You!" his expression said as plainly as words +could say it, "I mean _you_!" and Eunice followed without a word. + +At another time the episode would have attracted universal attention, +but the four remaining members of the party were so much engrossed with +their own thoughts that hardly a glance was cast after the retreating +couple. Mrs Bryce was eager to take Major Darcy aside, and ask his +advice as a soldier and campaigner as to what steps could be taken to +prepare for a possible night's vigil. "Hope for the best and prepare +for the worst," was her motto; and she had already hit on a spot where, +by pegging down the branches of trees, and fastening cloaks over the +gaps, a very fair tent could be manufactured. She bore Hector away to +survey it, and Peggy and Mellicent were left alone together, the latter +staring with curious eyes in her companion's face. An hour ago Peggy +had been the most agitated of the party, and had showed a terror +inconsistent with her character, yet now, when there seemed an even +greater need for anxiety, she was calm and quiet, a little white image +of composure. + +"Peggy," she whispered softly, "aren't you frightened? Do you think he +will--get there, Peggy? Do you think he will be--safe?" + +"I know he will be safe, Mellicent." + +"But they say it is so dangerous! They say it is a risk. He _might_ be +drowned!" + +"He will be safe, Mellicent. I am quite sure of it." + +"But, oh, Peggy, how can you tell? How can you be sure?" + +Peggy's eyes came round with a flash, and stared full in Mellicent's +face. + +"Because I love him, Mellicent! Because we belong to one another, Rob +and I, and I cannot live without him. Because I have asked God to take +care of him for me, and I know He will do it!" + +Mellicent shrank back aghast. What a confession to have heard from +Peggy's own lips! Peggy, the reserved and dignified; Peggy, who was so +scrupulously reticent about her own feelings! She could hardly believe +her ears. It seemed unnatural, alarming, almost shocking. Her eyes +dropped to the ground, she shuffled uneasily to and fro, and crept +quietly away. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +Peggy's faith was justified, for though the way was long, and the +current often swept him aside, Rob struggled on gallantly until, after +what seemed an interminable period of suspense, his friends saw him +clamber into the boat as she lay on the sandbank. Then for some minutes +there was no movement, and though it was to be expected that he would +need a rest after his exertions, the faces on shore began to lengthen as +time passed by, and brought no sign of an advance. + +"I don't know how he is going to move her now that he _is_ there! Rob +is strong enough, but one man is little use in a boat of that size. How +can he expect to row her back alone?" + +"Against the tide, too! He would wear himself out, and make no +progress. I expect he recognises that by this time, and will not +attempt it. It would not help us much to see him carried away." + +"He cannot be in a condition to do much pulling, poor fellow! He must +be pretty well played out. I'm afraid after all it has been a waste of +energy." + +"Rob would not have gone if he had not had some plan in his head. He +always thinks before he acts. He would never have risked his life to +get to the boat if he had no means of moving her," said Peggy proudly; +and even as she spoke a simultaneous exclamation of delight went up from +the watchers, as the end of a sail flapped in the breeze. They were at +too great a distance to distinguish the mast, but all had noticed its +presence in the bottom of the boat as they rowed out to the island, and +now realised in a flash its value under the circumstances. Rob would +have no struggling with the oars, he would trust to the sail to carry +him back, and so experienced a yachtsman might be trusted to make the +most of the opportunity. Arthur tossed his cap into the air, and +shouted aloud in pure gladness of heart. Though he had tried to make +the best of the situation, he had been oppressed by dread, and each +moment, as it passed, had seemed to bring with it some fresh possibility +of disaster. The fishermen might not return from their regatta until +the following day; the flymen might not be able to organise a search; +the weather might change, and turn to rain or wind. The very thought of +the consequences of a night spent on the island made him grind his teeth +in despair, while Rob's hazardous expedition had appeared a veritable +last straw. But now, in a moment, everything was changed; what before +had seemed a hopeless, almost criminal attempt, had become practical +certainty, as, borne by the friendly sail, the boat drew nearer and +nearer to her goal. Rob's figure could now be plainly discerned, and +presently even his face was distinguishable as he waved back +acknowledgments of the cheers sent to him across the water. Half-a- +dozen eager hands were waiting to help with the boat as she ran ashore, +and there he stood, the water dripping from his clothes, his hair +ruffled into a veritable mop of dark brown curls, his face beaming with +pleasure and triumph. + +"Got her at last!" he gasped. "Got her at last! Bundle in! Bundle in! +We'll catch our train yet. I'll give you a hand with the hampers." He +had no thought for his own drenched condition, but Arthur shook him +affectionately by the shoulders and cried: + +"You'll do nothing of the kind! We have still ten minutes to spare +before we need start, and you'll just come apart with me and have a good +rub down! You have done your share of the work. Let the others look +after the hampers." + +"And you shall have a cup of tea--a good hot cup the moment you are +ready for it!" cried Mrs Bryce, nodding her cheery head in his +direction. "You are a hero, Mr Darcy, and you shall write your name in +my autograph volume as a reward for valour. This is the first adventure +I've ever had, and I shall brag about it all the rest of my life." + +"And so shall I!" affirmed Mellicent truthfully. "Only I wish I had +swum out myself. It's stupid having an adventure when you are not the +hero." But Peggy said only three short words: "Thank you, Rob!" and +pressed his fingers in an eager grip. + +Ten minutes later they had left the island, and Rob was pulling at the +oars as vigorously as if he felt no fatigue from his previous exertions. +Truth to tell, he did not, for the mind has a more powerful influence +over the body than many of us suspect, and the last hour had revealed a +secret which made it seem impossible ever again to feel tired or +discouraged. Peggy loved him! The doubts of the past weeks had been +but ugly dreams, and he was awake once more, and in the sunshine. +Throughout the drive to the station and the railway journey home, he +kept intentionally apart, not trusting himself to speak to her in the +presence of strangers; but if he seemed neglectful, Arthur abundantly +made up for his absence by hanging lovingly round his little sister, and +waiting upon her with a persistency which seemed to betray some inner +remorse. At last, as they were left together for a few minutes at the +end of the corridor carriage, his discomfort forced itself into words, +and he said uneasily: + +"I feel as if I had neglected you, Peg, and thought too little of you in +the midst of my excitement. If any one had told me that we should be in +danger, and that my first thought would not be of you, I should have +knocked him down for his pains, but--but you saw how it was, and you +can't be more astonished than I am myself! I never thought I was that +kind of fellow. Can you understand how a man could be so weak and +fickle as to believe himself in love with one woman, and then suddenly +discover--" + +"I can understand that a man might believe that he had found his ideal +in one place, and discover that he had made a mistake, and that in +reality it was waiting for him somewhere else; and I call that open- +minded and enlightened--not in the least weak or fickle!" cried Peggy in +reply; whereat Arthur smiled at her with kindly eyes. + +"You nice little dear!" he said. "How refreshing it is to hear one's +conduct described in the right terms! You are a prejudiced judge, I +fear, Peg, but I like your verdict. Don't leap to conclusions now in +your usual impetuous fashion, and believe that everything is settled, +because it isn't, and won't be for a long time to come. I will not pay +_her_ the poor compliment of seeming to regard her as a solace for the +old disappointment. I will wait and work, and try to make myself more +worthy of her, and then if she will allow me, I'll try to pay her back a +little for all she has done for me. There's a good time coming, Peg! +Yes, yes, I feel it! Some day I shall look back, and see that all the +disappointments I have had to bear have worked together to bring you to +the place where I should meet the greatest blessing of my life. So now, +Peggikins, I have made my confession, and I don't know that I should +have done it even to you, but that my conscience upbraided me for having +treated you shabbily to-day." + +"But bless your innocent heart, I knew it long ago. So did Mrs Asplin, +so did mother. So did every one with a head on his shoulders. You +can't go about _staring_ at a person, and keeping your eyes _glued_ on a +person, and looking as if you could never take your eyes _off_ a person +without attracting _some_ attention among intelligent onlookers, my +love! Now, now at this very moment while you are talking to me you are +twisting your head over your shoulder and trying to see what--" + +But at this Arthur fled precipitately to the other end of the carriage, +and Peggy laughed softly to herself, not without a sigh of relief at +having escaped any reproaches on her own account. Her eye followed the +dear, handsome fellow, and her heart swelled with thankfulness at the +thought that his troubles seemed indeed to be drawing to an end and a +brighter day dawning before him. There was little doubt what Eunice's +answer would be when the right time came, while Mr Rollo's enthusiastic +appreciation of Arthur seemed to promise that he also would be pleased +to welcome him into his family. + +"And he will help Arthur on, as he can do so well, and he will become +famous and celebrated, as we always knew he would. I shall see him yet, +my own brother, with every one crowding around and doing him honour!" +she cried to herself in a little rapture of delight, for old dreams die +hard, and she had not yet outgrown the regret for the scarlet coat, the +plumed hat, the array of medals at the breast. + +When the train stopped at the quiet station, a fly and two dog-carts +were in waiting to convey the travellers to their homes, but the +professor and Esther elected to walk, and then the unexpected happened, +for, as Peggy was preparing to drive with the rest, Rob's big figure +loomed suddenly beside her, and his voice said: + +"We will walk, too, Peggy!" and Peggy turned without a word and walked +away by his side. Her little face looked very white in the moonlight, +and the meekness with which she had agreed to his command was so unusual +that Rob looked down at her with an anxious scrutiny. + +"You sha'n't walk all the way," he said, "only just as far as the +vicarage, then you can take Mellicent's seat, but I wanted to have you +to myself for a few minutes first. I want to speak to you." + +"And I to you. Oh, Rob, I have not thanked you half enough, and yet I +want to scold you too. When I asked you to help me, I never meant for a +moment that you should risk your own life--" + +"I know that, Peg; but it was not so great a risk as you think, for I am +almost as much at home in the water as on land, and even if my strength +had given out, I could have floated ashore with the tide. It was well +worth risking, after what you told me." + +"Ah, yes, you have saved Mrs Asplin a terrible experience. You may +have saved her life--and think how much that means to every one who +knows her! You couldn't have a better reward, Rob." + +"I have pleased you, Peggy!" said Rob simply. He made no protestation, +but Peggy understood all that the words implied, and her heart beat fast +with happiness. They had taken the path across the fields, following +the lead of the lovers, whose figures could be seen ahead like two dark +shadows, flitting through the trees, and after these words of Rob's they +walked in silence until the first stile was reached. Rob was over in +one spring, for his long legs found no difficulty in leaping so low a +barrier, but Peggy made three steps of it, and in the last of the three +found her way blocked by a tall, black figure. Rob's hands clasped +hers, Rob's eyes looked into her face, and Rob's voice cried with a +tremor of nervousness in the deep tones: + +"Is this _my_ Peggy? Does she belong to me?" + +"Yes, Rob, always! She always did; but you--you didn't trust her," +replied Peggy, with a firmness which ended in a sob. "You took for +granted--" + +"Peggy, I didn't!" cried Rob earnestly. "Don't think so poorly of me. +I know to what you refer--that afternoon in the library--and now I can +explain all that has troubled you. I had a talk with Hector after you +left, and we discovered that we both wanted the same thing. He thought +he had the first claim, and that it was my duty to stand aside until he +had had his chance, and I agreed that he was right. Not because he was +the older! I would not have acknowledged such a plea in this matter, +but because he had so much more to offer you. Compared to myself he is +a rich man, and you would have been better off with him. I promised to +stand aside and put no obstacle in his way, and having given a promise I +tried to keep it unselfishly, and to show you that I cared for your +happiness before my own by remaining friendly and pleasant." + +Peggy's grimace of disfavour was an eloquent comment. "I hated your +pleasantness!" she said tersely. "I hated your friendship! I wanted +you to be furious, and rage, and storm, and demand an explanation. You +made me very wretched with your `pleasantness,' I can tell you that!" + +"Not half so wretched as I made myself. I wouldn't live through the +last month again for any inducement you could offer; but you are not +altogether free from blame yourself, for you have no idea what a little +poker of dignity you have been to me all the time. Only to-day, when +you asked my help, my own little Peggy came back, and then in the train +Hector gave me a hint of what had happened. Poor old fellow, it's rough +on him, but I can't pity him as I ought, for I am so outrageously happy! +Partners, Mariquita! We are going to be partners all our lives. It +seems too good to be true! I shall have to give up all thought of +journeys to unknown lands; but, thank goodness! work seems to open out +more and more at home, and we will be as happy as sandboys in a little +home near your parents, working together and helping one another as we +can do so well." + +"We will! We will! You shall supply the facts, and I will write them +up. You do write such commonplace English, dear--not one bit +picturesque! Wait until I have worked up your articles for you; you +won't know them, they will be so altered!" + +"I believe you there!" said Rob demurely; but Peggy was launched on the +stream of eloquence, and oblivious of sarcasm. + +"Oh, oh! It will be lovely!" she cried. "We will have the dearest +little house, with a study for you, and a study for me, and a garden, +and a pony cart, and a conservatory, and immaculate servants who do +everything they should do, and never need looking after. And we will +trot about together, and work and play, and do everything just exactly +as we like, and have no one to order us about. Think of it! We shall +be master and mistress--no one can interfere--no one can find fault. If +I forget all about dinner some fine day, there won't be a soul who will +have the right to blame me, or fly into a temper." + +"Oh, won't there just! Don't make any mistake about that!" cried Rob. +"If you forget your duties, you will have me to reckon with, and I am +not too amiable when I'm hungry. It will be my business to help you to +overcome your failings, just as it will be yours to help me with mine." + +"You haven't got any," said Peggy quickly. "At least--I mean, yes, you +have--lots--but I like them. They will keep mine company. No, +seriously, Rob, I'll try to be good. I made up my mind to-day that if +you came back safe, I would try with all my strength to be a better +girl, and overcome my careless ways. And now I have more reason than +before to persevere. I'll begin at once, and try so hard that by the +time we are married I shall be quite a staid, responsible housewife." + +"Humph!" said Rob in ungrateful fashion. "Don't try too hard. I don't +want my Peggy altered out of recognition. There are thousands of staid, +responsible housewives in existence, but Peggy Savilles are rare. I +prefer her of the two." + +"And yet you want to be rid of her! Poor, dear, little thing! If you +get your way, she won't be in existence much longer. How can you make +up your mind to be so cruel?" + +"I shall love Peggy Darcy better," said Rob firmly, and at that Peggy +gave a gulp and relapsed into silence. Peggy _Darcy_! The name brought +with it a dozen thrilling reflections. Rosalind's sister, Hector's +sister, daughter to Lady Darcy, and the dear, kind old lord, and, oh, +most wonderful of all, Rob's wife! His partner for ever, in the truest +sense of the word! The sound of that eloquent word had thrilled through +Rob also, and silenced the word on his lips. His clasp tightened on +Peggy's fingers, and they walked hand in hand through the fields +together, in a blissful trance of happiness which has no need for +speech. + +When the vicarage gates were reached the carriage was already in sight; +but Peggy hung back, and Rob called a passing direction to the coachman +to stop on his way back after leaving Mellicent at the door. Neither he +nor Peggy felt inclined to encounter even the oldest of friends in the +first flush of their happiness, but they stood together watching the +scene which greeted the return of the travellers, and rejoicing in the +ease of mind which they had been instrumental in securing. + +The door opened, and the light of the lamps streamed out into the +darkness. They saw the figure of the Vicar standing upon the threshold, +and that of his wife by his side: they saw Esther and Mellicent run up +the steps, and the mother's arms stretched wide to receive them; then +the door shut once more, and the light died out. The moonlight seemed +cold and wan after that bright ray, but not so cold as it had been +before, for some of the atmosphere of love and kindness for which that +home was famous seemed to have escaped through the open door, and warmed +the hearts of those who looked on. + +"If we can make a home like that, Peg, we shall never be poor, however +little money we may have to spend. We shall have found the greatest +treasure the world can give," said Rob softly; and "Amen!" sighed Peggy +Saville beneath her breath. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's More About Peggy, by Mrs G. de Horne Vaizey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE ABOUT PEGGY *** + +***** This file should be named 21099.txt or 21099.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/0/9/21099/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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