"Why, Charlotte! why, Mechie! my dear children, where have you been?"
broke in the anxious voice of Uncle Rossiter, who hastened forward from a
side path to meet us.
"Oh, we very foolishly, and very wrongly too, forgot your advice, and went
out on the Flats and lost our way, uncle," cried Charlotte, running to him
and putting her arm within his; and as we proceeded to the hotel she
continued in an off-hand manner, which somehow quite disconcerted me by
its fluent flippancy, describing our having tired of the garden, and how,
when upon the Flats, I had been so enraptured at sight of the beautiful
flowers and occupied in gathering them that she had not liked to disturb
me; moreover, she was highly gratified herself, and so it came to pass
that advice and all else were forgotten, and on and on we wandered.
I did not say anything—indeed, Lotty allowed me no opportunity—and uncle's
answer, when at last spoken, had a tone of gentle reproof and sorrow in it
which went to my heart.
"Neither your aunt nor I thought you would venture beyond the garden after
the warning you had received, it being already late when you went out;
happily, therefore, we were saved the uneasiness your long absence would
certainly have occasioned us."
"Oh yes! as it has turned out it was indeed very lucky you didn't know,
uncle," rejoined Charlotte, quite cheerfully, feeling, I could see,
exceedingly well satisfied that matters were, by her good management,
seemingly drifting into so smooth a channel. "Mechie's and my greatest
uneasiness all the while was the fear that you and auntie would find out
our absence from the garden and be distressed by it; wasn't it, Mechie?"
"Ye—s," I answered rather reluctantly, remembering Charlotte's utter
indifference on that very point, but not knowing at the moment what to
say.
Hurrying on, Charlotte still talking in a vindicating style, we reached
the balcony, and were soon in aunt's presence. She, who was as yet
unconscious of our delinquency and believed we had only been sitting too
late in the garden, dismissed us at once to our bed-room to take off our
damp clothes before tea, which, she said, had been delayed some time by
our absence.
"Now, Mechie, don't you say anything, but let me explain the whole
business to aunt, and I'll make it smooth and right with her, as I did
with uncle," Charlotte said while we were performing our hasty toilet.
"But if you begin any of your blundering accounts, you will only do
mischief. So now mind what I say, and leave it with me."
"I was not aware I was addicted to giving 'blundering accounts' of
anything, Lotty," I answered, feeling rather hurt at such an imputation.
"A simple statement of facts is all that the case requires, and in my
opinion admits of—"
"That's all you know about it," interrupted Charlotte, contemptuously.
"However, it doesn't matter what you think so long as you keep silent,"
she added, quickly. "So now are you ready?—for I am." Saying which, she
left the room, and I hastily followed.
During our absence uncle had told of our misadventure, as described to him
by Charlotte, and I was not surprised, though much grieved, to see a
vexed, grave expression in my aunt's kind face as we came in.
"I am truly sorry, my dear children, that you disregarded your uncle's
advice," she said, gently—"sorry for many reasons; but as I am sure you
know what they are, I will merely observe that you might have wandered
away in so totally wrong a direction as to have made it impossible for
your friends to find you until the morning; and if nothing worse had
befallen you than heavy colds, that alone might ultimately have proved the
death of one or other of you. Besides, you know, my beloved girls, I am
not strong—I am far from that—and believe me, it would be no light matter
to me to experience the hours of apprehension and anxiety consequent upon
your absence under circumstances so distressing."
Although I did not at that moment realize the full meaning of these last
words, there was something in the tone and manner in which they were
spoken and in the expression of her mild face, a trembling, affectionate
earnestness in her voice, which made its way with painful keenness to my
heart. Going to her and clasping my arms round her, I warmly and
repeatedly kissed her cheek, saying how very, very sorry I felt at having
vexed her and dear uncle, hoping they would forgive me and Lotty, and
promising—with an inward determination which it was always afterward my
constant prayer to be assisted in keeping—that nothing should make me ever
again willingly do the smallest thing likely to distress them. Charlotte,
who was seated at the tea-table (she and I made tea alternate evenings),
rose at this instant, and coming to aunt's side, knelt down, and resting
her hands on her lap, exclaimed with great seeming honesty, "I'll tell you
all about it, auntie. I am a better hand at graphic description than
Mechie is."
Charlotte was well aware that the view taken of the case, as regarded
herself, would depend for its light entirely upon her keeping the account
under her own direction. It was not that she had the least intention of
asserting a wilful falsehood or purposely misrepresenting her conduct, but
knowing she had been more in fault than I had, conceived there would be no
harm done in just suppressing some parts wherein she figured alone, and
carelessly throwing all the circumstances of the case into one line of
action, in which we appeared to be mutually in fault, so as to secure
herself from the blame of greater disobedience than I had shown.
Aunt Rossiter laid her hand kindly on Charlotte's head, and looking
affectionately into her fair, handsome upturned face, said: "We will
postpone the account, dear child, till after tea. It is late already, and
we must not keep your uncle waiting any longer."
During tea we had an animated discussion as to the strange animal we saw
under the bush, Aunt Rossiter being of opinion that it was a sick deer
wandered away from the herd, as is their wont when wounded or otherwise
injured, and Uncle Rossiter that it was a cottager's dog lying there to be
quiet. Tigers, he said, had never been known to make their appearance so
low down the country, nor any other savage beasts, with the exception of
monkeys, which were sometimes violent and dangerous.
After tea uncle strolled out on the balcony. The rich Southern moonlight
gave a yet wilder look to the long range of Table Mountains on the one
side and the boundless flats on the other, bringing out in dazzling relief
against the dark surrounding foliage the patches of white sand gleaming
and glittering here and there like molten silver. And now Aunt Rossiter
expressed a wish that each of us would give her a narration of our
evening's adventure—that is, sharing it between us, one commencing and the
other finishing. "And," she added, hastily, seeing a look of alertness in
Lotty's face, bespeaking an eagerness to be the first to begin, "Lotty
being, as she says, the most skilful in describing, shall take upon her
the concluding portion; that, of course, will be the most sensational."
And aunty smiled. "And she can exercise all her eloquence and ability to
render it as interesting as possible. Mechie shall give me the more
matter-of-fact beginning. Now, Mechie."
I perceived, what I do not think Lotty did, that aunt had other and deeper
reasons for wishing to hear this little history of our troubles, and
depended upon having a true statement from me. Thus called upon,
therefore, I very reluctantly described our stroll in the garden and my
enjoyment of its retirement, its shade, its beautiful flowers and wild
scenery. I could not with the least truthfulness include Charlotte in a
participation of these feelings, for she had made no pretence even of
liking it or being at all charmed by the attractions which so pleased me.
On the contrary, she unhesitatingly declared the garden to be stupid. With
yet greater unwillingness I was obliged to admit Lotty's proposal to
extend our walk, and my own objection, on the ground of uncle's advice and
the lateness of the hour; and this I told, though truly sorry to tell of
my sister's fault, for I dearly loved her. But it was a far more painful
feeling to my nature to lie under the imputation of having utterly
disregarded the wishes of our kind friends, and of even setting them
totally at defiance. Albeit I felt my cheeks flush deeply, and my manner
was nervous and my voice low, and I much wished I could have left out this
disagreeable portion of my account, but it might not be. Charlotte, who
from the style of my character well knew what was coming, sat with
disconcerted face and averted looks, gazing out through the large folding
windows on the moonlit scene.