"Will you take down Miss Bedford, Max?" said Mrs Bray, according to
instructions from her son, who, however, was not present, his toilet
having detained him; and, therefore, trembling Ella fell to the lot of
Charley Vining, whom, she knew not why, she seemed to fear now as much
as she did Max Bray.
And yet she could not but own that he was only frank, cordial, and
gentlemanly. Only! Was that all? She dared not answer that question.
Neither could he answer sundry questions put by his own conscience, as
from time to time he encountered angry, reproachful glances from the
woman who sat opposite, but to whom, whatever might have been assumed,
he had never uttered a word that could be construed into one of love.
Somehow or another, during that dinner, Sir Philip's words would keep
repeating themselves to Charley, and at last he found himself muttering:
"Shut myself out from an Eden--from an Eden!" while, when the ladies
rose, and the door had closed upon the last rustling silk, a cloud
appeared to have come over the scene, and he sat listening impatiently
to the drawl of Max, and the agricultural converse of Mr Bray.
It was with alacrity, then, that Charley left the table, when, upon
reaching the drawing-room, he found Laura hovering in a paradise of
musical R's, as she sat at the piano, rolling them out in an Italian
bravura song, whose pages, for fear that he should be forestalled by
Charley Vining, Hugh Lingon rushed to turn over.
"Now Miss Bedford will sing us something," shrieked Mrs Bray; and not
daring to decline, Ella rose and walked to the piano, taking up a song
from the canterbury. But her hands trembled as a shadow seemed to be
cast upon her; and without daring to look, she knew that Charley Vining
was at her side, ready to turn over the leaves.
"If he would only go!" she thought; and then she commenced with
tremulous voice a sweet and plaintive ballad, breathing of home and the
past, when, living as it were in the sweet strain, her voice increased
in volume and pathos, the almost wild expression thrilling through her
hearers, till towards the end of the last verse, when forgetting even
Vining's presence in the recollections evoked, Ella was brought back to
the present with a start, as one single hot tear-drop fell upon her
outstretched hand.
How she finished that song she never knew, nor yet how she concealed her
painful agitation; but her next recollection was of being in the
conservatory with Charley Vining, alone, and with his deep-toned voice
seeming to breathe only for her ear.
"You must think it weak and childish," he said softly; "but I could not
help it," he added simply. "Perhaps I am, after all, only an overgrown
boy; but that was my dear mother's favourite song--one which I have
often listened to; and as you sung to-night, the old past seemed to come
back almost painfully. But I need not fear that you will ridicule me."
"Indeed, no!" said Ella softly. "I can only regret that I gave you
pain."
"Pain! No, it was not pain," said Charley musingly. "I cannot explain
the feeling. I am a great believer in the power of music; and had we
been alone, I might have asked you to repeat the strain. I am only too
glad, though, that my poor father was not here."
There was a pause for quite a minute--one which, finding how her
companion had been moved, Ella almost feared to break; when seeing him
start back, as it were, into the present and its duties, she made a
movement as if to return.
"But one minute, Miss Bedford," said Charley. "You admire flowers, I
see. Look at the metallic, silvery appearance of these leaves."
"Pray excuse me, Mr Vining," said Ella quietly, "but I wish to return
to the drawing-room."
"Yes--yes--certainly!" exclaimed Charley. "But one moment: I have
something to say to you."
"Mr Vining is mistaken," said Ella coldly; "he forgets that I am not a
visitor or friend of the family. Pray allow me to return!"
"Of course--yes!" said Charley. "But indeed I have something to say,
Miss Bedford. Look here!"
He drew the little gold cross from his pocket, and held it up in the
soft twilight shed by the coloured lamps, when his companion uttered a
cry of joy.
"I have grieved so for its loss!" she exclaimed. "You found it?"
"Yes; beneath that tree where you were taking refuge from the rain. I
know it was my duty to have returned it sooner; but I wished to place it
in your hands myself."
"O, thank you--I am so grateful!" exclaimed Ella, hardly noticing the
_empressement_ with which he spoke.
"I wished, too," said Charley, speaking softly and deeply, "for some
reward for what I have done."
"Reward?" ejaculated Ella.
"Surely, yes," said Charley, laying his hand upon the tiny glove resting
upon his arm. "You would accord that to the poorest lout who had been
the lucky finder."
"Reward, Mr Vining?" stammered Ella.
"Yes!" exclaimed Charley, his rich deep voice growing softer as he
spoke. "And but for those words upon the reverse side, I would have
kept the cross as an emblem of my hope. I, too, had a mother who is but
a memory now. But you will grant me what I ask?"
"Mr Vining," said Ella gravely, but unable to conceal her agitation,
"will you kindly lead me back to the drawing-room?"
"I thank you for restoring me the cross, which I had never hoped to see
again."
She held out her hand, and the little ornament was immediately placed
within her palm.
"You see," said Charley, "I trust to your honour. I am defenceless now,
but you will give me my guerdon?"
"Reward?" said Ella again.
"Yes," said Charley eagerly; "I do not ask much. That rose that you
have worn the evening through: give me that--I ask no more."
"Mr Vining," said the agitated girl, "I am poor and friendless, and
here as a dependent. I say thus much, since I believe you to be a
gentleman. You would not wilfully injure me, I am sure; but this
prolonged absence may give umbrage to my employers. Once more, pray
lead me back!"
Charley was moved by the appeal, and he turned on the instant.
"But you will give me that simple flower?" he said.
"Mr Vining," said Ella with dignity, "would you have me lose my
self-respect? I thank you for the service--indeed I am most grateful--
but I cannot accede to your request."
"I had hoped that I might be looked on as a friend," said Charley
gloomily, as he once more arrested his companion's steps; "but there, I
suppose if it had been--Pish! forgive me, pray!" he exclaimed. "How
weak and contemptible I am! Miss Bedford, I am quite ashamed to have
spoken so. But tell me that you forgive me, and--"
"Is Miss Bedford so mortally offended?" said a voice close at their
side. "I have no doubt we can manage to obtain her forgiveness for you,
Mr Vining. But not to-night, as there will not be time.--Nelly wants
you in the schoolroom, Miss Bedford, and then, as it is late, perhaps
you had better not return to the drawing-room this evening."
Ella Bedford started, as, with flashing, angry eyes, Laura Bray stepped
forward from behind the thick foliage of an orange-tree, and then,
without a word--for she could not have spoken, so bitter, so cruel were
the tones, and so deep the sting--Ella glided from the conservatory,
leaving Laura face to face with Charley.
"I am sorry to have interrupted so pleasant a tete-a-tete!" exclaimed
Laura tauntingly.
There was no answer. Charley merely leaned against the open window, and
gazed out upon the starry night; for he could not trust himself to
speak, since every humiliating word addressed to his late companion had
seemed to cut into his own heart; and had he spoken, it would have been
with some hot angry words, of which he would afterwards have repented.
"Had I known that Mr Charles Vining was so pleasantly engaged, I would
not have come," said Laura again bitterly, and with reproach in every
tone of her voice.
Again angry words were on Charley's lips; but for the sake of her who
had left him he crushed them down, as he stood listening to the
impatient foot of the angry girl beating the tiled floor, and seemed to
feel her eyes burning him as they literally flashed with suppressed
rage.
"Perhaps now that Mr Vining is disengaged he will lead me back to the
drawing-room, as it might be painful to his feelings for people
afterwards to make remarks upon our absence."
Charley started at this, and made a movement as if to offer his arm; but
the remembrance of the cruel insult to the dependent yet rankled in his
breast, and he seemed to shrink from the angry woman as from something
that he loathed.
Laura saw it, and a sob of rage, disappointment, and passion combined
burst from her breast. But even then, if he had made but one sign, she
would have softened and thrown herself weeping upon his breast,
reproaching, upbraiding, but loving still, and ready to forgive and
forget all the past. But Charles Vining was touched to the quick, and,
in spite of his calm unmoved aspect, he was hot with passion, wishing in
his heart that Max had been the offender, that he might have quenched
his rage by shaking him till those white teeth of his chattered again.
Then came, though, the thought of Ella Bedford and her position. If he
was cold and distant to Laura, would she not visit it upon that
defenceless girl? Then he told himself she could behave with no greater
cruelty, humiliate her no more, and he felt that he could not play the
hypocrite. His growing dislike for Laura Bray was fast becoming a
feeling of hatred, and facing her for a moment, he was about to leave
the conservatory alone; but no, the gentlemanly courtesy came back--he
could not be guilty of rudeness even to the woman he despised; and
without a word, he offered his arm, and prepared to lead her back to the
drawing-room.
For a moment Laura made as if to take the proffered arm; but at that
moment she caught sight of Charley's frowning, angry face, when, with a
cry of passionate grief, she darted past him, and the next instant he
saw her cross the hall and hurry upstairs.
"Hyar--hyar, Vining, mai dear fellow, where are you?" cried a drawling
voice from the other end of the conservatory.
"Confound it all!" ejaculated Charley, waking as it were into action at
the tones of that voice, when with a bound he leaped from the window out
on to the lawn, thrust out his Gibus hat, crushed it down again upon his
head, and set off with long strides in the direction of the Court.
Volume 1, Chapter XIII.