Knapwater Park is the picture--at eleven o’clock on a muddy, quiet,
hazy, but bright morning--a morning without any blue sky, and without
any shadows, the earth being enlivened and lit up rather by the spirit
of an invisible sun than by its bodily presence.
The local Hunt had met for the day’s sport on the open space of ground
immediately in front of the steward’s residence--called in the list of
appointments, ‘Old House, Knapwater’--the meet being here once every
season, for the pleasure of Miss Aldclyffe and her friends.
Leaning out from one of the first-floor windows, and surveying with
the keenest interest the lively picture of pink and black coats,
rich-coloured horses, and sparkling bits and spurs, was the returned and
long-lost woman, Mrs. Manston.
The eyes of those forming the brilliant group were occasionally turned
towards her, showing plainly that her adventures were the subject of
conversation equally with or more than the chances of the coming day.
She did not flush beneath their scrutiny; on the contrary, she seemed
rather to enjoy it, her eyes being kindled with a light of contented
exultation, subdued to square with the circumstances of her matronly
position.
She was, at the distance from which they surveyed her, an attractive
woman--comely as the tents of Kedar. But to a close observer it was
palpable enough that God did not do all the picture. Appearing at least
seven years older than Cytherea, she was probably her senior by double
the number, the artificial means employed to heighten the natural good
appearance of her face being very cleverly applied. Her form was full
and round, its voluptuous maturity standing out in strong contrast to
the memory of Cytherea’s lissom girlishness.
It seems to be an almost universal rule that a woman who once has
courted, or who eventually will court, the society of men on terms
dangerous to her honour cannot refrain from flinging the meaning glance
whenever the moment arrives in which the glance is strongly asked
for, even if her life and whole future depended upon that moment’s
abstinence.
Had a cautious, uxorious husband seen in his wife’s countenance what
might now have been seen in this dark-eyed woman’s as she caught a
stray glance of flirtation from one or other of the red-coated gallants
outside, he would have passed many days in an agony of restless jealousy
and doubt. But Manston was not such a husband, and he was, moreover,
calmly attending to his business at the other end of the manor.
The steward had fetched home his wife in the most matter-of-fact way
a few days earlier, walking round the village with her the very next
morning--at once putting an end, by this simple solution, to all the
riddling inquiries and surmises that were rank in the village and its
neighbourhood. Some men said that this woman was as far inferior to
Cytherea as earth to heaven; others, older and sager, thought Manston
better off with such a wife than he would have been with one of
Cytherea’s youthful impulses, and inexperience in household management.
All felt their curiosity dying out of them. It was the same in Carriford
as in other parts of the world--immediately circumstantial evidence
became exchanged for direct, the loungers in court yawned, gave a final
survey, and turned away to a subject which would afford more scope for
speculation.