"The best laid schemes o' mice and men
Gang aft a-gley,
And lea'e us nought but grief and pain,
For promised joy."--BURNS.
All next day Lilian treats him as though to her eyes he is invisible.
She bestows upon him none of the usual courtesies of life; she takes no
"good-morrow," nor gives one. She is singularly deaf when he speaks;
except when common etiquette compels her to return an answer to one or
other of his speeches, she is dumb to him, or, when thus compelled,
makes an answer in her iciest tones.
At five o'clock they all start for the Grange, Mrs. Boileau being one of
those unpleasant people who think they can never see enough of their
guests, or that their guests can never see enough of them,--I am not
sure which,--and who consequently has asked them to come early, to
inspect her gardens and walk through her grounds before dinner.
As the grounds are well worth seeing, and the evening is charming for
strolling, this is about the pleasantest part of the entertainment. At
least so thinks Lilian, who (seeing Guy's evident depression) is in
radiant spirits. So does Archibald, who follows her as her shadow. They
are both delighted at everything about the Grange, and wander hither and
thither, looking and admiring as they go.
And indeed it is a charming old place, older perhaps than Chetwoode,
though smaller and less imposing. The ivy has clambered up over all its
ancient walls and towers and battlements, until it presents to the eye a
sheet of darkest, richest green, through which the old-fashioned
casements peep in picturesque disorder, hardly two windows being in a
line.
Inside, steps are to be met with everywhere in the most unexpected
places,--curious doors leading one never knows where,--ghostly corridors
along which at dead of night armed knights of by-gone days might tramp,
their armor clanking,--winding stairs,--and tapestries that tell of
warriors brave and maidens fair, long since buried and forgotten.
Outside, the gardens are lovely and rich in blossom. Here, too, the old
world seems to have lingered, the very flowers themselves, though born
yesterday, having all the grace and modesty of an age gone by.
Here
"The oxlips and the nodding violet grow:
Quite over-canopied with lush woodbine,
with sweet musk-roses and with eglantine."
Here too the "nun-like lily" hangs its head, the sweet "neglected
wall-flower" blows, the gaudy sunflower glitters, and the "pale
jessamine, the white pink, and the pansy freaked with jet," display
their charms; while among them, towering over all through the might of
its majesty, shines the rose,--"Joy's own flower," as Felicia Hemans
sweetly calls it.
Now--being late in the season--the blossom is more scarce, though still
the air is heavy with delicate perfume, and the eyes grow drunk with
gazing on the beauty of the autumn flowers. Through them goes Lilian,
with Archibald gladly following.
All day long he has had her to himself, and she has been so good to him,
so evidently pleased and contented with his society alone, that within
his breast an earnest hope has risen, so strongly, that he only waits a
fitting opportunity to lay his heart and fortune at her feet.
"I can walk no more," says Lilian, at last, sinking upon the grass
beneath the shade of a huge beech that spreads its kindly arms above
her. "Let us sit here and talk."
Archibald throws himself beside her, and for a few minutes silence
reigns supreme.
"Well?" says Lilian, at length, turning lazy though inquisitive eyes
upon her companion.
"Well?" says Archibald in return.
"I said you were to talk," remarks Lilian, in an aggrieved tone. "And
you have not said one word yet. You ought to know by this time how I
dislike silence."
"Blame yourself: I have been racking my brains without success for the
last two minutes to try to find something suitable to say. Did you ever
notice how, when one person says to another, 'Come, let us talk,' that
other is suddenly stricken with hopeless stupidity? So it is now with
me: I cannot talk: I am greatly afraid."
"Well, I can," says Lilian, "and as I insist on your doing so also, I
shall ask you questions that require an answer. First, then, did you
ever receive a note from me on my leaving the Park, asking you to take
care of my birds?"
"Yes."
"And you fed them?"
"Regularly," says Archibald, telling a fearful lie deliberately, as from
the day he read that note to this he has never once remembered the
feathered friends she mentions, and even now as he speaks has only the
very haziest idea of what she means.
"I am glad of that," regarding him searchingly. "It would make me
unhappy to think they had been neglected."
"Don't be unhappy, then," returning her gaze calmly and unflinchingly:
"they are all right: I took care of that." His manner is truthful in the
extreme, his eyes meet hers reassuringly. It is many years since Mr.
Chesney first learned the advantage to be derived from an impassive
countenance. And now with Lilian's keen blue eyes looking him through
and through, he feels doubly thankful that practice has made him so
perfect in the art of suppressing his real thoughts. He has also learned
the wisdom of the old maxim,--
"When you tell a lie, tell a good one,
When you tell a good one, stick to it,"
and sticks to his accordingly.
"I am so pleased!" says Lilian, after a slight pause, during which she
tells herself young men are not so wretchedly thoughtless after all, and
that Archibald is quite an example to his sex in the matter of good
nature. "One of my chiefest regrets on leaving home was thinking how my
birds would miss me."
"I am sorry you ever left it."
"So am I, of course. I was very near declining to do so at the last
moment. It took Aunt Priscilla a full week to convince me of the error
of my ways, and prove to me that I could not live alone with a gay and
(as she hinted) wicked bachelor."
"I have never been so unfortunate as to meet her," says Archibald,
mildly, "but I would bet any money your Aunt Priscilla is a highly
objectionable and interfering old maid."
"No, she is not: she is a very good woman, and quite an old dear in some
ways."
"She is an old maid?" raising himself on his elbow with some show of
interest.
"Well, yes, she is; but I like old maids," says Lilian, stoutly.
"Oh, she _likes_ old maids," says Mr. Chesney, _sotto voce_, sinking
back once more into his lounging position. He evidently considers there
is nothing more to be said on that head. "And so she wouldn't let you
stay?"
"No. You should have seen her face when I suggested writing to you to
ask if I might have a suite of rooms for my own use, promising
faithfully never to interfere with you in any way. It was a picture!"
"It pained you very much to leave the Park?"
"It was death to me. Remember, it had been my home all my life; every
stick and stone about the place was dear to me."
"It was downright brutal, my turning you out," says Archibald, warmly:
"I could hate myself when I think of it. But I knew nothing of it,
and--I had not seen you then."
"If you had, would you have let me stay on?"
"I think so," returns he, softly, gazing with dangerous tenderness at
the delicate rose-tinted face above him. Then, "Even so, I wish you had
asked me; I so seldom go near the place, you would have been thoroughly
welcome to stay on in it, had you been the ugliest person breathing."
"So I said at the time, but Aunt Priscilla would not hear of it. I am
sure I heard enough about the proprieties at that time to last me all my
life. When all arguments failed," says Miss Chesney, breaking into a gay
laugh, as recollection crowds upon her, "I proposed one last expedient
that nearly drove auntie wild with horror. What do you think it was?"
"Tell me."
"I said I would ask your hand in marriage, and so put an end to all
slanderous tongues; that is, if you consented to have me. See what a
narrow escape you had," says Lilian, her merriment increasing: "it would
have been so awkward to refuse!"
Archibald gazes at her earnestly. He has been through the hands of a
good many women in his time, but now confesses himself fairly puzzled.
Is her laughter genuine? is it coquetry? or simply amusement?
"Had you ever a proposal, Lilian?" asks he, quietly, his eyes still
riveted upon her face.
"No," surprised: "what an odd question! I suppose it is humiliating to
think that up to this no man has thought me worth loving. I often
imagine it all," says Lilian, confidentially, taking her knees into her
embrace, and letting her eyes wander dreamily over to the hills far away
behind the swaying trees. "And I dare say some day my curiosity will be
gratified. But I do hope he won't write: I should like to _see_ him do
it. I wouldn't," says Miss Chesney, solemnly, "give a pin for a man who
wouldn't go down on his knees to his lady-love."
This last remark under the circumstances is eminently unwise. A moment
later Lilian is made aware of it by the fact of Archibald's rising and
going down deliberately on his knees before her.
"It can scarcely be news to you to tell you I love you," says he,
eagerly. "Lilian, will you marry me?"
"What are you saying?" says Miss Chesney, half frightened, half amused:
"you must be going mad! Do get up, Archie: you cannot think how
ridiculous you look."
"Tell me you will marry me," entreats that young man, unmoved even by
the fact of his appearing grotesque in the eyes of his beloved.
"No; I will not," shaking her head. "Archie, do move: there is the most
dreadful spider creeping up your leg."
"I don't care; let him creep," says Archibald, valiantly; "I shan't
stir until you give me a kind answer."
"I don't know what to say; and besides I can do nothing but laugh while
you maintain your present position. Get up instantly, you foolish boy:
you are ruining the knees of your best trousers."
Whether this thought carries weight with Mr. Chesney I know not, but
certainly he rises to his feet without further demur.
"You spoke about the Park a few minutes ago," he says, slowly; "you know
now you can have it back again if you will."
"But not in that way. Did you think I was hinting?" growing rather red.
"No; please don't say another word. I wonder you can be so silly."
"Silly!" somewhat aggrieved; "I don't know what you mean by that. Surely
a fellow may ask a woman to marry him without being termed 'silly.' I
ask you again now. Lilian, will you marry me?"
"No, no, no, certainly not. I have no intention of marrying any one for
years to come,--if ever. I think," with a charming pout, "it is very
unkind of you to say such things to me,--and just when we were such good
friends too; spoiling everything. I shall never be comfortable in your
society again; I'm sure I never should have suspected you of such a
thing. If I had----" A pause.
"You would not have come here with me to-day, you mean?" gloomily.
"Indeed I should not. Nothing would have induced me. You have put me out
terribly."
"I suppose you like Chetwoode," says Archibald, still more gloomily.
Having never been denied anything since his birth, he cannot bring
himself to accept this crowning misfortune with becoming grace.
"I like everybody,--except Florence," returns Lilian, composedly.
Then there is another pause, rather longer than the first, and
then--after a violent struggle with her better feelings--Miss Chesney
gives way, and laughs long and heartily.
"My dear Archibald, don't look so woe-begone," she says. "If you could
only see yourself! You look as though every relation you ever had was
dead. Why, you ought to be very much obliged to me. Have you never
heard Mr. Punch's advice to young men about to marry?"
"I don't want any one's advice; it is late for that, I fancy.
Lilian--darling--_darling_--won't you----"
"I won't, indeed," recoiling and waving him back, while feeling for the
first time slightly embarrassed; "don't come a step nearer; nobody ever
made love to me before, and I perfectly _hate_ it! I hope sincerely no
one will ever propose to me again."
"_I_ shall!" doggedly; "I shan't give you up yet. You have not thought
about it. When you know me better you may change your mind."
"Do not deceive yourself," gently, "and do not be offended. It is not
you I have an objection to, it is marriage generally. I have only begun
my life, and a husband must be such a bore. Any number of people have
told me so."
"Old maids, such as your Aunt Priscilla, I dare say," says Archibald,
scornfully. "Don't believe them. I wouldn't bore you: you should have
everything exactly your own way."
"I have that now."
"And I will wait for you as long as you please."
"So you may," gayly; "but mind, I don't desire you.
"May I take that as a grain of hope?" demands he, eagerly grasping this
poor shadow of a crumb with avidity, only to find later on it is no
crumb at all. "Don't be cruel, Lilian: every one thinks differently
after a while; you may also. You have said I am not hateful to you; if
then you would only promise to think it over----"
"Impossible," airily: "I never think: it is too fatiguing. So are you,
by the bye, just now. I shan't stay with you any longer, lest I should
be infected. Good-bye, Archie; when you are in a pleasanter mood you can
return to me, but until then adieu."
So saying, she catches her train in one hand and runs away from him fast
as her fleet little feet can carry her.
Down the pathway, round under the limes, into another path runs she,
where suddenly she finds herself in Taffy's presence.
"Whither away, fair maid?" asks that youth, removing the cigar from his
lips that he is enjoying all alone.
"I am running away from Archie. He was so excessively dull and
disagreeable that I could not bring myself to waste another moment on
him, so I ran away and left him just _plante la_," says Miss Chesney,
with a little foreign gesture and a delicious laugh that rings far
through the clear air, and reaches Archibald's ears as he draws nearer.
"Come, I hear footsteps," whispers she, slipping her hand into Taffy's.
"Help me to hide from him."
So together they scamper still farther away, until at last they arrive
breathless but secure in the shrubberies that surround one side of the
house.
When they have quite recovered themselves, it occurs to Taffy that he
would like to know all about it.
"What was he saying to you?" asks he _a propos_ of Chesney.
"Nothing," promptly.
Taffy, curiously: "Well, certainly that _was_ very disagreeable."
Lilian, demurely: "It was."
At this Taffy lays his hands upon her shoulders and gives her a good
shake.
"Tell me directly," says he, "what he was saying to you."
"How can I?" innocently; "he says so much and none of it worth
repeating."
"Was he making love to you?"
"No. Oh, no," mildly.
"I'm certain he was," with conviction. "And look here, Lil, don't you
have anything to do with him: he isn't up to the mark by any means. He
is too dark, and there is something queer about his eyes. I once saw a
man who had cut the throats of his mother, his grandmother, and all his
nearest relations,--any amount of them,--and his eyes were just like
Chesney's. Don't marry him, whatever you do."
"I won't," laughing: "I should hate to have my throat cut."
"There's Chetwoode, now," says Taffy, who begins to think himself a very
deep and delicate diplomatist. "He is a very decent fellow all round if
you like."
"I do like, certainly. It is quite a comfort to know Sir Guy is not
indecent."
"Oh, you know what I mean well enough. There's nothing underhand about
Chetwoode. By the bye, what have you been doing to him? He is awfully
down on his luck all day."
"I!" coldly. "What should I do to Sir Guy?"
"I don't know, I'm sure, but girls have a horrid way of teasing a fellow
while pretending to be perfectly civil to him all the time. It is my
private opinion," says Mr. Musgrave, mysteriously,--"and I flatter
myself I am seldom wrong,--that he is dead spoons on you."
"Really, Taffy!" begins Lilian, angrily.
"Yes, he is: you take my word for it. I'm rather a judge in such
matters. Bet you a fiver," says Mr. Musgrave, "he proposes to you before
the year is out."
"I wonder, Taffy, how you can be so vulgar!" says Lilian, with crimson
cheeks, and a fine show of superior breeding. "I never bet. I forbid you
to speak to me on this subject again. Sir Guy, I assure you, has as much
intention of proposing to me as I have of accepting him should he do
so."
"More fool you," says Taffy, unabashed. "I'm sure he is much nicer than
that melancholy Chesney. If I were a girl I should marry him straight
off."
"Perhaps he would not marry you," replies Lilian, cuttingly.
"Wouldn't he? he would like a shot, if I were like Lilian Chesney," says
Taffy, positively.
"'Like a shot'--what does that mean?" says Miss Chesney, with withering
sarcasm. "It is a pity you cannot forget your schoolboy slang, and try
to be a gentleman. I don't think you over hear that 'decent fellow' Sir
Guy, or even that cut-throat Archibald, use it."
With this parting shaft she marches off overflowing with indignation,
leaving Mr. Musgrave lost in wonder at her sudden change of manner.
"What on earth is up with her now?" he asks himself, desperately; but
the dressing-bell ringing at this moment disarms thought, and sends him
in-doors to prepare for dinner.
Mrs. Boileau has asked no one to meet them except a lank and dreary
curate, who is evidently a prime favorite with her. He is an Honorable
Mr. Boer, with nothing attractive about him except a most alarming voice
that makes one glance instinctively at his boots under the mistaken
impression that the sound must come from them. This is rather
unfortunate for the curate, as his feet are not (or rather _are_) his
strong point, Nature having endowed them with such a tremendous amount
of heel, and so much sole, innocent of instep, as makes them
unpleasantly suggestive of sledge-hammers.
He is painfully talkative, and oppressively evangelical, which renders
him specially abhorrent to Lilian, who has rather a fancy for flowers
and candles and nice little boys in white shirts. He is also undecided
whether it is Miss Beauchamp or Miss Chesney he most admires. They have
equal fortunes, and are therefore (in his clerical eyes) equally lovely.
There is certainly more of Miss Beauchamp, but then there is a vivacity,
a--ahem--"go," if one might say so, about Miss Chesney perfectly
irresistible. Had one of these rival beauties been an heiress, and the
other rich in love's charms, I think I know which one Mr. Boer would
have bowed before,--not that I even hint at mercenary motives in his
reverence, but as it is he is much exercised in his mind as to which he
shall honor with his attentions.
I think Lilian wins the day, because after dinner he bears down upon her
determinately, and makes for the fauteuil in which she lies ensconced
looking bored and _ennuyee_ to the last degree. Dinner has been insipid,
the whole evening a mistake; neither Guy nor Archibald will come near
her, or even look at her; and now Mr. Boer's meditated attack is the
last straw that breaks the camel's back.
"I consider the school-board very much to blame," begins that divine
while yet some yards distant, speaking in his usual blatant tones, that
never change their key-note, however long they may continue to insult
the air.
"So do I," says Lilian, very gently and sweetly, but with such
unmistakable haste as suggests a determination on her part to bring the
undiscussed subject to an ignominious close. "I quite agree with you; I
think them terribly to blame. But I beg your pardon for one moment: I
want to ask Mr. Chetwoode a question that has been haunting me for
hours."
Rising, she glides away from him over the carpet, leaving Mr. Boer--who
takes a long time to understand anything, and could not possibly believe
in a rebuff offered to himself in person--watching the tail of her long
sweeping gown, and wondering curiously if all the little white frillings
beneath it may not have something to do with a falling petticoat. At
this point he pulls himself together with a start, and fears secretly he
is growing immodest.
In the meantime Lilian has reached Cyril, who is sitting at a table
somewhat apart, gazing moodily at a book containing prints of the chief
villages in Wales. He, like herself, is evidently in the last stage of
dejection.
Bending over him, she whispers in an awful tone, but with a beaming
smile meant to mystify the observant Boer:
"If you don't instantly deliver me from that man I shall make a point of
going off into such a death-like swoon as will necessitate my being
borne from the room. He is now going to tell me about that miserable
school-board all over again, and I can't and won't stand it."
"Poor child," says Cyril, with deepest sympathy; "I will protect you. If
he comes a step nearer, I swear to you I will have his blood." Uttering
this comforting assurance in the mildest tone, he draws a chair to the
table, and together they explore Wales in print.
Then there is a little music, and a good deal of carefully suppressed
yawning, and then the carriages are announced and they all bid their
hostess good-night, and tell a few pretty lies about the charming
evening they have spent, etc.
"Cyril, will you drive me home?" Lilian says to him hurriedly in the
hall, while they are being finally cloaked and shawled. As she says it
she takes care to avoid his eyes, so she does not see the look of amused
scrutiny that lies in them.
"So soon!" he says, tragically. "It was an easy victory! I shall be only
too charmed, my dear Lilian, to drive you to the other end of the world
if need be."
So they start and drive home together placidly, through the cool, soft
night. Lilian is strangely silent, so is Cyril,--the calm beauty of the
heavens above them rendering their lips mute.
"Now glowed the firmament
With living sapphires; Hesperus, that led
The starry host, rode brightest; till the moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length--
Apparent queen!--unveiled her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw."
The night is very calm, and rich in stars; brilliant almost as garish
day, but bright with that tender, unchanging, ethereal light--clear,
yet full of peaceful shadow--that day can never know.
"There is no dew on the dry grass to-night,
Nor damp within the shadow of the trees;
The wind is intermitting, dry and light."
Lilian sighs gently as they move rapidly through the still air,--a sigh
not altogether born of the night's sweetness, but rather tinged with
melancholy. The day has been a failure, and though through all its
windings she has been possessed by the spirit of gayety, now in the
subdued silence of the night the reaction setting in reduces her to the
very verge of tears.
Cyril, too, is very quiet, but _his_ thoughts are filled with joy.
Lifting his gaze to the eternal vault above him, he seems to see in the
gentle stars the eyes of his beloved smiling back at him. A dreamy
happiness, an exquisite feeling of thankfulness, absorb him, making him
selfishly blind to the sadness of his little companion.
"How silent you are!" Lilian says, at length, unable to endure her
tormenting reverie any longer.
"Am I?" smiling. "I was thinking of some lines I read yesterday: the
night is so lovely it recalls them. Of course they are as well known to
you as to me; but hear them:
"How beautiful is the night!
A dewy freshness fills the silent air;
No mist obscures, nor cloud, nor streak, nor stain,
Breaks the serene of heaven:
In full-orb'd glory yonder moon divine
Rolls through the dark-blue depths."
"Yes, they are pretty lines: they are Southey's, I think," says Lilian,
and then she sighs again, and hardly another word is spoken between them
until they reach home.
As they pull up at the hall-door, Guy, who has arrived a little before
them, comes forward, and, placing one foot upon the step of Cyril's
T-cart, takes Lilian in his arms and lifts her to the ground. She is so
astonished at the suddenness of this demonstration on his part that she
forgets to make any protest, only--she turns slowly and meaningly away
from him, with lowered eyes and with averted head.
With a beseeching gesture he detains her, and gains for a moment her
attention. He is looking pale, miserable; there is an expression of deep
entreaty in his usually steady blue eyes.
"Lilian, forgive me," he whispers, anxiously, trying to read her face by
the moonlight: "I have been sufficiently punished. If you could guess
all I have endured to-day through your coldness, your scorn, you would
say so too. Forgive me."
"Impossible," returns she, haughtily, in clear tones, and, motioning him
contemptuously to one side, follows Cyril into the house.
Inside they find Lady Chetwoode not only up and waiting for them, but
wide awake. This latter is a compliment so thoroughly unexpected as to
rouse within them feelings of the warmest gratitude.
"What, Madre! you still here?" says Cyril. "Why, we imagined you not
only out of your first but far into your second beauty sleep by this
time."
"I missed you all so much I decided upon waiting up for you," Lady
Chetwoode answers, smiling benignly upon them all; "besides, early in
the evening--just after you left--I had a telegram from dear Mabel,
saying she and Tom will surely be here to dinner to-morrow night. And
the idea so pleased me I thought I would stay here to impart my news and
hear yours."
Every one in the room who knows Mrs. Steyne here declares his delight at
the prospect of so soon seeing her again.
"She must have made up her mind at the very last moment," says Guy.
"Last week she was undecided whether she should come at all. She hates
leaving London."
"She must be at Steynemore now," remarks Cyril.
"Lilian, my dear child, how pale you are!" Lady Chetwoode says,
anxiously taking Lilian's hand and rubbing her cheeks gently with loving
fingers. "Cold, too! The drive has been too much for you, and you are
always so careless about wraps. I ordered supper in the library an hour
ago. Come and have a glass of wine before going to bed."
"No, thank you, auntie: I don't care for anything."
"Thank you, Aunt Anne, I think I will take something," interposes
Florence, amiably; "the drive was long. A glass of sherry and one little
biscuit will, I feel sure, do me good."
Miss Beauchamp's "one little biscuit," as is well known, generally ends
in a substantial supper.
"Come to the library, then," says Lady Chetwoode, and still holding
Lilian's hand, draws it within her arm, and in her own stately Old-World
fashion leads her there.
When they have dismissed the butler, and declared their ability to help
one another, Lady Chetwoode says pleasantly:
"Now tell me everything. Had you an agreeable evening?"
"Too agreeable!" answers Cyril, with suspicious readiness: "I fear it
will make all other entertainments sink into insignificance. I consider
a night at Mrs. Boileau's the very wildest dissipation. We all sat round
the room on uneasy chairs and admired each other: it would perhaps have
been (if _possible_) a more successful amusement had we not been doing
the same thing for the past two months,--some of us for years! But it
was tremendously exciting all the same."
"Was there no one to meet you?"
"My dear mother, how could you suspect Mrs. Boileau of such a thing!"
"Yes,--there was a Mr. Boer," says Florence, looking up blandly from her
chicken, "a man of very good family,--a clergyman----"
"No, a curate," interrupts Cyril, mildly.
"He made himself very agreeable," goes on Florence, in her soft
monotone, that nothing disturbs. "He was so conversational, and so well
read. You liked him, Lilian?"
"Who? Mr. Boer? No; I thought him insufferable,--so dull,--so prosy,"
says Lilian, wearily. She has hardly heard Miss Beauchamp's foregoing
remarks.
"His manner, certainly, is neither frivolous nor extravagant," Florence
returns, somewhat sharply, "but he appeared sensible and earnest, rare
qualities nowadays."
"Did I hear you say he wasn't extravagant?" breaks in Cyril, lazily,
purposely misconstruing her application of the word. "My dear Florence,
consider! Could anything show such reckless extravagance as the length
of his coat-tails? I never saw so much superfluous cloth in any man's
garment before. It may be saintly, but it was cruel waste!"
"How did you amuse yourselves?" asks Lady Chetwoode, hastily,
forestalling a threatening argument.
"As best we might. Lilian and I amused each other, and I think we had
the best of it. If our visit to the Grange did no other good, it at
least awoke in me a thorough sense of loyalty: I cannot tell you," with
a glance at Lilian, "how often I blessed the 'Prints of Wales' this
night."
"Oh, Cyril, what a miserable joke!" says Lilian, smiling, but there is
little warmth in her smile, and little real merriment in her usually gay
tones. All this, Cyril--who is sincerely fond of her--notes with regret
and concern.
"Guy, give Lilian a glass of Moselle," says his mother at this moment;
"it is what she prefers, and it will put a little color into her cheeks:
she looks fatigued." As she says this she moves across the room to speak
to Florence, leaving Lilian standing alone upon the hearth-rug. Guy, as
desired, brings the wine and hands it to Lilian.
"No, thank you," turning from him coldly. "I do not wish for it."
"Nevertheless, take it," Guy entreats, in a low voice: "you are terribly
white, and," touching her hand gently, "as cold as death. Is it because
_I_ bring it you will not have it? Will you take it from Taffy?"
A choking sensation rises in Miss Chesney's throat; the unbidden tears
spring to her eyes; it is by a passionate effort alone she restrains
them from running down her cheeks. As I have said before, the day had
been a distinct failure. She will not speak to Guy, Archibald will not
speak to her. A sense of isolation is oppressing and weighing her down.
She, the pet, the darling, is left lonely, while all the others round
her laugh and jest and accept the good the gods provide. Like a spoilt
child, she longs to rush to her nurse and have a good cry within the
shelter of that fond woman's arms.
Afraid to speak, lest her voice betray her, afraid to raise her eyes,
lest the tell-tale tears within them be seen, she silently--though
against her will--takes the glass Sir Guy offers, and puts it to her
lips, whereupon he is conscious of a feeling of thankfulness,--the bare
fact of her accepting anything at his hands seeming to breathe upon him
forgiveness.
Lilian, having finished her Moselle, returns him the glass silently.
Having carried it to the table, he once more glances instinctively to
where he has left her standing. She has disappeared. Without a word to
any one, she has slipped from the library and sought refuge in her own
room.