"YOU ARE SO SEVERE."
On the next morning Arabella went to church as did of course a great
many of the party. By remaining at home she could only have excited
suspicion. The church was close to the house, and the family pew
consisted of a large room screened off from the rest of the church,
with a fire-place of its own,--so that the labour of attending divine
service was reduced to a minimum. At two o'clock they lunched, and
that amusement lasted nearly an hour. There was an afternoon service
at three in attending which the Duchess was very particular. The Duke
never went at that time nor was it expected that any of the gentlemen
would do so; but women are supposed to require more church than men,
and the Duchess rather made it a point that at any rate the young
ladies staying in the house should accompany her. Over the other
young ladies there her authority could only be that of influence,
but such authority generally sufficed. From her niece it might be
supposed that she would exact obedience, and in this instance she
tried it. "We start in five minutes," she said to Arabella as that
young lady was loitering at the table.
"Don't wait for me, aunt; I'm not going," said Arabella boldly.
"I hope you will come to church with us," said the Duchess sternly.
"Not this afternoon."
"Why not, Arabella?"
"I never do go to church twice on Sundays. Some people do, and some
people don't. I suppose that's about it."
"I think that all young women ought to go to church on Sunday
afternoon unless there is something particular to prevent them."
Arabella shrugged her shoulders and the Duchess stalked angrily away.
"That makes me feel so awfully wicked," said the Duchess of Omnium,
who was the only other lady then left in the room. Then she got up
and went out and Arabella of course followed her. Lord Rufford had
heard it all but had stood at the window and said nothing. He had not
been to church at all, and was quite accustomed to the idea that as
a young nobleman who only lived for pleasure he was privileged to be
wicked. Had the Duchess of Mayfair been blessed with a third daughter
fit for marriage she would not have thought of repudiating such a
suitor as Lord Rufford because he did not go to church.
When the house was cleared Arabella went upstairs and put on her hat.
It was a bright beautiful winter's day, not painfully cold because
the air was dry, but still a day that warranted furs and a muff.
Having prepared herself she made her way alone to a side door which
led from a branch of the hall on to the garden terrace, and up
and down that she walked two or three times,--so that any of the
household that saw her might perceive that she had come out simply
for exercise. At the end of the third turn instead of coming back she
went on quickly to the conservatory and took the path which led round
to the further side. There was a small lawn here fitted for garden
games, and on the other end of it an iron gate leading to a path into
the woods. At the further side of the iron gate and leaning against
it, stood Lord Rufford smoking a cigar. She did not pause a moment
but hurried across the lawn to join him. He opened the gate and she
passed through. "I'm not going to be done by a dragon," she said as
she took her place alongside of him.
"Upon my word, Miss Trefoil, I don't think I ever knew a human being
with so much pluck as you have got."
"Girls have to have pluck if they don't mean to be sat upon;--a great
deal more than men. The idea of telling me that I was to go to church
as though I were twelve years old!"
"What would she say if she knew that you were walking here with me?"
"I don't care what she'd say. I dare say she walked with somebody
once;--only I should think the somebody must have found it very
dull."
"Does she know that you're to hunt to-morrow?"
"I haven't told her and don't mean. I shall just come down in my
habit and hat and say nothing about it. At what time must we start?"
"The carriages are ordered for half-past nine. But I'm afraid you
haven't clearly before your eyes all the difficulties which are
incidental to hunting."
"What do you mean?"
"It looks as like a black frost as anything I ever saw in my life."
"But we should go?"
"The horses won't be there if there is a really hard frost. Nobody
would stir. It will be the first question I shall ask the man when he
comes to me, and if there have been seven or eight degrees of frost I
shan't get up."
"How am I to know?"
"My man shall tell your maid. But everybody will soon know all about
it. It will alter everything."
"I think I shall go mad."
"In white satin?"
"No;--in my habit and hat. It will be the hardest thing, after all! I
ought to have insisted on going to Holcombe Cross on Friday. The sun
is shining now. Surely it cannot freeze."
"It will be uncommonly ill-bred if it does."
But, after all, the hunting was not the main point. The hunting
had been only intended as an opportunity; and if that were to be
lost,--in which case Lord Rufford would no doubt at once leave
Mistletoe,--there was the more need for using the present hour, the
more for using even the present minute. Though she had said that the
sun was shining, it was the setting sun, and in another half hour
the gloom of the evening would be there. Even Lord Rufford would not
consent to walk about with her in the dark. "Oh, Lord Rufford," she
said, "I did so look forward to your giving me another lead." Then
she put her hand upon his arm and left it there.
"It would have been nice," said he, drawing her hand a little on, and
remembering as he did so his own picture of himself on the cliff with
his sister holding his coat-tails.
"If you could possibly know," she said, "the condition I am in."
"What condition?"
"I know that I can trust you. I am sure that I can trust you."
"Oh dear, yes. If you mean about telling, I never tell anything."
"That's what I do mean. You remember that man at your place?"
"What man? Poor Caneback?"
"Oh dear no! I wish they could change places because then he could
give me no more trouble."
"That's wishing him to be dead, whoever he is."
"Yes. Why should he persecute me? I mean that man we were staying
with at Bragton."
"Mr. Morton?"
"Of course I do. Don't you remember your asking me about him, and my
telling you that I was not engaged to him?"
"I remember that."
"Mamma and this horrid old Duchess here want me to marry him. They've
got an idea that he is going to be ambassador at Pekin or something
very grand, and they're at me day and night."
"You needn't take him unless you like him."
"They do make me so miserable!" And then she leaned heavily upon his
arm. He was a man who could not stand such pressure as this without
returning it. Though he were on the precipice, and though he must go
over, still he could not stand it. "You remember that night after the
ball?"
"Indeed I do."
"And you too had asked me whether I cared for that horrid man."
"I didn't see anything horrid. You had been staying at his house and
people had told me. What was I to think?"
"You ought to have known what to think. There; let me go,"--for now
he had got his arm round her waist. "You don't care for me a bit. I
know you don't. It would be all the same to you whom I married;--or
whether I died."
"You don't think that, Bella?" He fancied that he had heard her
mother call her Bella, and that the name was softer and easier than
the full four syllables. It was at any rate something for her to have
gained.
"I do think it. When I came here on purpose to have a skurry over the
country with you, you went away to Holcombe Cross though you could
have hunted here, close in the neighbourhood. And now you tell me
there will be a frost to-morrow."
"Can I help that, darling?"
"Darling! I ain't your darling. You don't care a bit for me. I
believe you hope there'll be a frost." He pressed her tighter, but
laughed as he did so. It was evidently a joke to him;--a pleasant
joke no doubt. "Leave me alone, Lord Rufford. I won't let you, for I
know you don't love me." Very suddenly he did leave his hold of her
and stood erect with his hands in his pockets, for the rustle of a
dress was heard. It was still daylight, but the light was dim and
the last morsel of the grandeur of the sun had ceased to be visible
through the trees. The church-going people had been released, and the
Duchess having probably heard certain tidings, had herself come to
take a walk in the shrubbery behind the conservatory. Arabella had
probably been unaware that she and her companion by a turn in the
walks were being brought back towards the iron gate. As it was they
met the Duchess face to face.
Lord Rufford had spoken the truth when he had said that he was a
little afraid of the Duchess. Such was his fear that at the moment
he hardly knew what he was to say. Arabella had boasted when she had
declared that she was not at all afraid of her aunt;--but she was
steadfastly minded that she would not be cowed by her fears. She had
known beforehand that she would have occasion for much presence of
mind, and was prepared to exercise it at a moment's notice. She was
the first to speak. "Is that you, aunt? you are out of church very
soon."
"Lord Rufford," said the Duchess, "I don't think this is a proper
time for walking out."
"Don't you, Duchess? The air is very nice."
"It is becoming dark and my niece had better return to the house
with me. Arabella, you can come this way. It is just as short as
the other. If you go on straight, Lord Rufford, it will take you
to the house." Of course Lord Rufford went on straight and of
course Arabella had to turn with her aunt. "Such conduct as this is
shocking," began the Duchess.
"Aunt, let me tell you."
"What can you tell me?"
"I can tell you a great deal if you will let me. Of course I am quite
prepared to own that I did not intend to tell you anything."
"I can well believe that."
"Because I could hardly hope for your sympathy. You have never liked
me."
"You have no right to say that."
"I don't do it in the way of finding fault. I don't know why you
should. But I have been too much afraid of you to tell you my
secrets. I must do so now because you have found me walking with Lord
Rufford. I could not otherwise excuse myself."
"Is he engaged to marry you?"
"He has asked me."
"No!"
"But he has, aunt. You must be a little patient and let me tell it
you all. Mamma did make up an engagement between me and Mr. Morton at
Washington."
"Did you know Lord Rufford then?"
"I knew him, but did not think he was behaving quite well. It is very
hard sometimes to know what a man means. I was angry when I went to
Washington. He has told me since that he loves me,--and has offered."
"But you are engaged to marry the other man."
"Nothing on earth shall make me marry Mr. Morton. Mamma did it, and
mamma now has very nearly broken it off because she says he is very
shabby about money. Indeed it is broken off. I had told him so even
before Lord Rufford had proposed to me."
"When did he propose and where?"
"At Rufford. We were staying there in November."
"And you asked to come here that you might meet him?"
"Just so. Was that strange? Where could I be better pleased to meet
him than in my own uncle's house?"
"Yes;--if you had told us all this before."
"Perhaps I ought; but you are so severe, that I did not dare. Do
not turn against me now. My uncle could not but like that his niece
should marry Lord Rufford."
"How can I turn against you if it is settled? Lord Rufford can do as
he pleases. Has he told your father,--or your mother?"
"Mamma knows it."
"But not from him?" asked the Duchess.
Arabella paused a moment but hardly a moment before she answered. It
was hard upon her that she should have to make up her mind on matters
of such importance with so little time for consideration. "Yes," she
said; "mamma knows it from him. Papa is so very indifferent about
everything that Lord Rufford has not spoken to him."
"If so, it will be best that the Duke should speak to him."
There was another pause, but hardly long enough to attract notice.
"Perhaps so," she said;--"but not quite yet. He is so peculiar, so
touchy. The Duke is not quite like my father and he would think
himself suspected."
"I cannot imagine that if he is in earnest."
"That is because you do not know him as I do. Only think where I
should be if I were to lose him!"
"Lose him!"
"Oh, aunt, now that you know it I do hope that you will be my friend.
It would kill me if he were to throw me over."
"But why should he throw you over if he proposed to you only last
month?"
"He might do it if he thought that he were interfered with. Of course
I should like my uncle to speak to him, but not quite immediately. If
he were to say that he had changed his mind, what could I do, or what
could my uncle do?"
"That would be very singular conduct."
"Men are so different now, aunt. They give themselves so much more
latitude. A man has only to say that he has changed his mind and
nothing ever comes of it."
"I have never been used to such men, my dear."
"At any rate do not ask the Duke to speak to him to-day. I will think
about it and perhaps you will let me see you to-morrow, after we all
come in." To this the Duchess gravely assented. "And I hope you won't
be angry because you found me walking with him, or because I did not
go to church. It is everything to me. I am sure, dear aunt, you will
understand that." To this the Duchess made no reply, and they both
entered the house together. What became of Lord Rufford neither of
them saw.
Arabella when she regained her room thought that upon the whole
fortune had favoured her by throwing her aunt in her way. She had, no
doubt, been driven to tell a series of barefaced impudent lies,--lies
of such a nature that they almost made her own hair stand on end as
she thought of them;--but they would matter nothing if she succeeded;
and if she failed in this matter she did not care much what her aunt
thought of her. Her aunt might now do her a good turn; and some lies
she must have told;--such had been the emergencies of her position!
As she thought of it all she was glad that her aunt had met her;
and when Lord Rufford was summoned to take her out to dinner on
that very Sunday,--a matter as to which her aunt managed everything
herself,--she was immediately aware that her lies had done her good
service.
"This was more than I expected," Lord Rufford said when they were
seated.
"She knew that she had overdone it when she sent you away in that
cavalier way," replied Arabella, "and now she wants to show that she
didn't mean anything."