MARGARET.
Janetta looked so rueful at this remark that her father laughed a little
and pulled her ear.
"I am not given to taking much notice of what the world says," he told
her, "and if I thought it right for you to go to Brand Hall I should
take no notice of town talk; but I think that I can't decide this matter
without seeing Mrs. Brand for myself."
"I thought you had seen her, father?"
"For ten minutes or so, only. They wanted to ask me a question about the
healthiness of Brand Hall, drains, and all that kind of thing. That
young Brand struck me as a very sullen-looking fellow."
"His face lightens up when he talks," said Janetta, coloring and feeling
hurt for a moment, she could not have told why.
"He did not talk to me," said her father, drily. "I am told that the
other son has pleasanter manners."
"Cuthbert? Oh, yes," Janetta said, quickly. "He is much more amiable at
first sight; he made himself very agreeable to Nora and me." And
forthwith she related how the second son had made acquaintance with her
sister and herself.
Mr. Colwyn did not look altogether pleased.
"H'm!--they seem very ready to cultivate us," he said, with a slight
contraction of the brow. "Their father used not to know that I existed.
Janet, I don't care for Nora to see much of them. You I can trust; but
she is a bit of a featherbrain, and one never knows what may happen.
Look to it."
"I will, father."
"And I will call on Mrs. Brand and have a chat with her. Poor soul! I
daresay she has suffered. Still that does not make her a fit companion
for my girls."
"If I could be of any use to her, father----"
"I know that's all you think of, Janet. You are a good child--always
wanting to help others. But we must not let the spirit of self-sacrifice
run away with you, you know."
He pinched her cheek softly as he spoke, and his daughter carried the
long supple fingers of his hand to her lips and kissed them tenderly.
"Which reminds me," he went on rather inconsequently, "that I saw
another of your friends to-day. A friend whom you have not mentioned for
some time, Janetta."
"Who was that?" asked Janetta, a little puzzled by his tone.
"Another friend whom I don't quite approve of," said her father, in the
same half-quizzical way, "though from a different reason. If poor Mrs.
Brand is not respectable enough, this friend of yours, Janet, is more
than respectable; ultra-respectable--aristocratic even----"
"Margaret Adair!" cried Janetta, flushing to the very roots of her hair.
"Did you see her, father? Has she quite forgotten me?" And the tears
stood in her eyes.
"I did not see Miss Margaret Adair, my dear," said her father kindly. "I
saw her mother, Lady Caroline."
"Did you speak to her, father?"
"She stopped her ponies and spoke to me in the High Street, Janet. She
certainly has very winning manners."
"Oh, has she not, father!" Janetta's cheeks glowed. "She is perfectly
charming, I think. I do not believe that she could do anything
disagreeable or unkind."
Mr. Colwyn shook his head, with a little smile. "I am not so sure of
that, Janetta. These fine ladies sometimes do very cold and cruel things
with a perfectly gracious manner."
"But Lady Caroline would not," said Janetta, coaxingly. "She was quite
kind and sweet to me all the time that I stayed at her house,
although----"
"Although afterwards," said Mr. Colwyn, shrewdly, "she could let you
stay here for weeks without seeming to remember you, or coming near you
for an hour!"
Janetta's cheeks crimsoned, but she did not reply. Loyal as she was to
her friend, she felt that there was not much to be said for her at that
moment.
"You are a good friend," said her father, in a half-teasing,
half-affectionate tone. "You don't like me to say anything bad of her,
do you? Well, my dear, for your comfort I must tell you that she did her
best to-day to make up for past omissions. She spoke very pleasantly
about you."
"Did she say why--why----" Janetta could not complete the sentence.
"Why they had not written or called? Well, she gave some sort of an
explanation. Miss Adair had been unwell--she had had a cold or something
which looked as if it might turn to fever, and they did not like to
write until she was better."
"I knew there was some good reason!" said Janetta fervently.
"It is well to take a charitable view of things," returned her father,
rather drily; but, seeing her look of protest, he changed his tone.
"Well, Lady Caroline spoke very kindly, my dear, I must acknowledge
that. She wants you to go over to Helmsley Court to-morrow."
"Can I go, father?"
Mr. Colwyn made a grimace. "Between your disreputable friends and your
aristocratic ones, I'm in a difficulty, Janet."
"Don't say so, father dear!"
"Well, I consented," said Mr. Colwyn, in rather a grudging tone. "She
said that she would send her carriage for you to-morrow at noon, and
that she would send you back again between six and seven. Her daughter
was most anxious to see you, she said."
Janetta lifted up a happy face. "I knew that Margaret would be true to
me. I never doubted her."
Mr. Colwyn watched her silently for a moment, then he put his hand upon
her head, and began smoothing the thick black locks. "You have a very
faithful nature, my Janet," he said, tenderly, "and I am afraid that it
will suffer a great many shocks in this work-a-day world of ours. Don't
let it lead you astray, my child. Remember there is a point at which
faithfulness may degenerate into sheer obstinacy."
"I don't think it will ever do so with me."
"Well, perhaps not, for you have a clear head on those young shoulders
of yours. But you must be careful."
"And I may go to Lady Caroline's, father?"
"Yes, my dear, you may. And now I must go: my time is up. I have had a
very pleasant hour, my Janet."
As she raised herself to receive her father's kiss, she felt a glow of
pleasure at his words. It was not often that he spoke so warmly. He was
a man of little speech on ordinary occasions: only when he was alone
with his best-loved daughter, Janetta, did he ever break forth into
expressions of affection. His second marriage had been in some respects
a failure; and it did not seem as if he regarded his younger children
with anything approaching the tenderness which he bestowed upon Janetta.
Good-humored tolerance was all that he gave to them: a deep and almost
passionate love had descended from her mother to Janetta.
He went out to fetch his wife home from her supper-party; and Janetta
hastened up to her room, not being anxious to meet her stepmother on her
return, in the state of rampant vanity and over-excitement to which an
assembly of her friends usually brought her. It could not be said that
Mrs. Colwyn actually drank too much wine or beer or whisky; and yet
there was often a sensation abroad that she had taken just a little more
than she could bear; and her stepdaughter was sensitively aware of the
fact. From Nora's slighting tone when she had lately spoken of her
mother, Janetta conjectured that the sad truth of Mrs. Colwyn's danger
had dawned upon the girl's mind also, and it certainly accounted for
some new lines in Mr. Colwyn's face, and for some additional streaks of
white in his silvering hair. Not a word had been said on the subject
amongst the members of the family, but Janetta had an uneasy feeling
that there were possibly rocks ahead.
At this moment, however, the prospect of seeing her dear Margaret again
completely obliterated any thought of her stepmother from Janetta's
mind; and when she was snugly ensconced in her own little, white bed,
she could not help shedding a few tears of relief and joy. For
Margaret's apparent fickleness had weighed heavily on Janetta's mind;
and she now felt proud of the friend in whom she had believed in spite
of appearances, and of whose faithfulness she had steadily refused to
hear a doubt. These feelings enabled her to bear with cheerfulness some
small unpleasantnesses next morning from her stepmother on the subject
of her visit. "Of course you'll be too grand to do a hand's turn about
the house when you come back again from Helmsley Court!" said Mrs.
Colwyn, snappishly.
"Dear mamma, when I am only going for half a day!"
"Oh, I know the ways of girls. Because Miss Adair, your fine friend,
does nothing but sit in a drawing-room all day, you'll be sure to think
that you must needs follow her example!"
"I hope Margaret will do something beside sit in a drawing-room," said
Janetta, with her cheery laugh; "because I am afraid that she might find
that a little dull."
But in spite of her cheeriness her spirits were perceptibly lowered when
she set foot in the victoria that was sent for her at noon. Her
stepmother's way of begrudging her the friendship which school-life had
bestowed upon Janetta was as distasteful to her as Miss Polehampton's
conviction of its unsuitability had been. And for one moment the tears
of vexation gathered in her brown eyes as she was driving away from the
shabby little house in Gwynne Street; and she had resolutely to drive
away unwelcome thoughts before she could resign herself to enjoyment of
her visit.
The day was hot and close, and the narrow streets of old Beaminster were
peculiarly oppressive. It was delightful to bowl swiftly along the
smooth high road, and to enter the cool green shades of the park round
Helmsley Court. "How pleasant for Margaret to live here always!" Janetta
said to herself with generous satisfaction in her friend's good fortune.
"I wonder what she would do in Gwynne Street!" And then Janetta laughed,
and felt that what suited _her_ would be very inappropriate to Margaret
Adair.
Janetta's unselfish admiration for her friend was as simple as it was
true, and it was never alloyed by envy or toadyism. She would have been
just as pleased to see Margaret in a garret as in a palace, supposing
that Margaret were pleased with the garret. And it was with almost
passionate delight that she at length flung herself into her friend's
arms, and felt Margaret's soft lips pressed to her brown flushed cheeks.
"Margaret! Oh, it is delightful to see you again!" she exclaimed.
"You poor darling: did you think that we were never going to meet?" said
Margaret. "I have been so sorry, dear----"
"I knew that you would come to see me, or send for me as soon as you
could," said Janetta quickly. "I trusted you, Margaret."
"I have had such a bad cold," Margaret went on, still excusing herself a
little, as it seemed to Janetta. "I have had to stay in two rooms for
nearly a fortnight, and I went down to the drawing-room only last
night."
"I wish I could have nursed you! Don't you remember how I nursed you
through one of your bad colds at school?"
"Yes, indeed. I wish you could have nursed me now; but mamma was afraid
that I had caught measles or scarlet fever or something, and she said it
would not be right to send for you."
Janetta was almost pained by the accent of continued excuse.
"Of course, dear, I understand," she said, pressing her friend's arm
caressingly. "I am so sorry you have been ill. You look quite pale,
Margaret."
The two girls were standing in Margaret's sitting-room, adjoining her
bedroom. Margaret was dressed completely in white, with long white
ribbons floating amongst the dainty folds of her attire; but the white
dress, exquisitely as it was fashioned, was less becoming to her than
usual, for her face had lost a little of its shell-like bloom. She
turned at Janetta's words and surveyed herself a little anxiously in a
long glass at her side.
"I do look pale in this dress," she said. "Shall I change it, Janetta?"
"Oh, no, dear," Janetta answered, in some surprise. "It is a charming
dress."
"But I do not like to look so pale," said Margaret, gravely. "I think I
will ring for Villars."
"You could not look nicer--to me--in any dress!" exclaimed her ardent
admirer.
"You dear--oh, yes; but there may be visitors at luncheon."
"I thought you would be alone," faltered Janetta, with a momentary
glance at her own neat and clean, but plain, little cotton frock.
"Well, perhaps there will be only one person beside yourself," said
Margaret, turning aside her long neck to catch a glimpse of the shining
coils behind. "And I don't know that it matters--it is only Sir Philip
Ashley."
"Oh, I remember him. He was here when we came back from Brighton."
"He is often here."
"What lovely flowers!" Janetta exclaimed, rather to break a pause that
followed than because she had looked particularly at a bouquet that
filled a large white vase on a table. But the flowers really were
lovely, and Margaret's face expressed some satisfaction. "Did they come
out of your garden?"
"No, Sir Philip sent them."
"Oh, how nice!" said Janetta. But she was a little surprised too. Had
not the Adairs plenty of flowers without receiving contributions from
Sir Philip's conservatories?
"And you have a dog, Margaret?"--as a pretty little white Esquimaux dog
came trotting into the room. "What a darling! with a silver collar,
too!"
"Yes, I like a white dog," said Margaret, tranquilly. "Mamma's poodle
snaps at strangers, so Sir Philip thought that it would be better for me
to have a dog of my own."
Sir Philip again! Janetta felt as if she must ask another question or
two, especially when she saw that her friend's white eyelids had been
lowered, and that a delicate flush was mantling the whiteness of her
cheek; but she paused, scarcely knowing how to begin; and in the pause,
the gong for luncheon sounded, and she was (somewhat hastily, she
fancied) led downstairs.
Lady Caroline and Mr. Adair received their visitor with great civility.
Sir Philip came forward to give her a very kindly greeting. Their
behavior was so cordial that Janetta could hardly believe that she had
doubted their liking for her. She was not experienced enough as yet to
see that all this apparent friendliness did not mean anything but the
world's way of making things pleasant all round. She accepted her host's
attentions with simple pleasure, and responded to his airy talk so
brightly that he lost no time in assuring his wife after luncheon that
his daughter's friend was really "a very nice little girl."
After luncheon, Janetta thought at first that she was again going to be
defrauded of a talk with her friend. Margaret was taken possession of by
Sir Philip, and walked away with him into a conservatory to gather a
flower; Mr. Adair disappeared, and Janetta was left for a few moments'
conversation with Lady Caroline. Needless to remark, Lady Caroline had
planned this little interview; she had one or two things that she wanted
to say to Miss Colwyn. And she really did feel kindly towards the girl,
because--after all--she was Margaret's friend, and the mother was ready
to allow Margaret her own way to a very great extent.
"Dear Miss Colwyn," she began, "I have been so sorry that we could not
see more of you while our poor Margaret was ill. _Now_ I hope things
will be different."
Janetta remarked that Lady Caroline was very kind.
"I have been thinking of a method by which I hoped to bring you together
a little more--after the holidays. Of course we are going away very soon
now--to Scotland; and we shall probably not return until October; but
when that time comes--my dear Miss Colwyn, I am sure you will not be
offended by the question I am going to ask?"
"Oh, no," said Janetta, hastily.
"Are you intending to give any singing or music lessons in the
neighborhood?"
"If I can get any pupils, I shall be only too glad to do so."
"Then _will_ you begin with dear Margaret?"
"Margaret?" said Janetta, in some astonishment. "But Margaret has had
the same teaching that I have had, exactly!"
"She needs somebody to help her. She has not your talent or your
perseverance. And she would so much enjoy singing with you. I trust that
you will not refuse us, Miss Colwyn."
"I shall be very glad to do anything that I can for Margaret," said
Janetta, flushing.
"Thank you so much. Once a week then--when we come back again. And about
terms----"
"Oh, Lady Caroline, I shall be only too glad to sing with Margaret at
any time without----"
"Without any talk about terms?" said Lady Caroline, with a charming
smile of comprehension. "But that, my dear, I could not possibly
allow. No, we must conduct the matter on strictly business-like
principles, or Mr. Adair would be very much displeased with me. Suppose
we say----" And she went on to suggest terms which Janetta was too much
confused to consider very attentively, and agreed to at once. It was only
afterwards that she discovered that they were lower than any which she
should ever have thought of suggesting for herself, and that she should
have to blush for Lady Caroline's meanness in mentioning them to her
father! But at present she saw nothing amiss.
Lady Caroline went on smoothly. "I want her to make the most of her
time, because she may not be able to study up by-and-bye. She will come
out this winter, and I shall take her to town in the spring. I do not
suppose that I shall ever have another opportunity--if, at least, she
marries as early as she seems likely to do."
"Margaret! Marry!" ejaculated Janetta. She had scarcely thought of such
a possibility.
"It is exceedingly probable," said Lady Caroline, rather coldly, "that
she will marry Sir Philip Ashley. It is a perfectly suitable alliance."
It sounded as if she spoke of a royal marriage!