All of Mrs. Tarleton’s old friends sent flowers, and many of them
attended the funeral service, which took place in the death chamber.
Mrs. Hayne had decided that a church funeral would be too expensive,
and her boarders would have objected to the association of a coffin
with the back parlour. Lee, holding Cecil’s hand tightly, sat in a
corner, looking smaller and darker than ever in her black frock, the
novelty of which had mitigated her grief for the moment. All of the
ladies kissed her and told her that she must be sure to come to see
them; and Mrs. Montgomery, who had just returned from Europe, and was
very much agitated, asked her to come home with her at once. But Lee
only shook her head. She and Cecil had other plans.
Her cot was taken into Miss Hayne’s room and she went to school as
usual. Her grief waxed rather than waned, and she stooped so that Mrs.
Hayne put her into braces, which confirmed her gloomy views of life.
But her woman’s instincts were very keen, and she knew that if she was
to have the solace of Cecil’s companionship, she must reserve her tears
for solitude. He was very kind, and informed her that he loved her the
better because she had such a jolly lot of grit and kept her back up
(Lee had not mentioned the braces), and that his father--who hated
Americans--had condescended to say that Lee was a jolly little thing,
and had more character and good sense at the age of eleven than his own
selection had accumulated in five-and-thirty years.
She and Cecil took many long walks, and rode back and forth on the
Oakland and Sausalito boats, munching molasses candy; Cecil was rapidly
falling a victim to the national vice. One day the father and son took
her to the country on a fishing expedition. It was a very long day, and
it was very hot. She sat on the bank and watched the others fish. Their
concentration amounted to genius, and except at luncheon, which she
prepared, they never addressed a word to her. She had never seen Mr.
Maundrell look so happy, and as for Cecil, his hazel eyes sparkled like
champagne. In spite of the blue sky, the warm sunshine, the beautiful
depths of the redwood forest, the singing stream, she felt lonely and
depressed, and went home with a sun-burned nose, and a heart full of
those obscure forebodings which assail woman when man forgets the
lesson of civilisation and pays a brief and joyous visit to the plane
of his sovereign ancestors.