MARGARET'S FRIENDSHIP.
Margaret wrote her note to Janetta, and put her friend into something of
a dilemma. She always felt it difficult to leave Mrs. Colwyn alone for
many hours at a time. She had done her best to prevent her from
obtaining stimulants, but it was no easy thing to make it impossible;
and it was always dangerous to remove a restraining influence. At last
she induced an old friend, a Mrs. Maitland, to spend the day with her
stepmother, while she went to Helmsley Court; and having thus provided
against emergencies, she was prepared to spend some pleasant hours with
Margaret.
The day was cold and frosty, with a blue sky overhead, and the ground
hard as iron underfoot. A carriage was sent for Janetta, and the girl
was almost sorry that she had to be driven to her destination, for a
brisk walk would have been more to her taste on this brilliant December
day. But she was of course bound to make use of the carriage that came
for her, and so she drove off in state, while Tiny and Jinks danced
wildly on the doorstep and waved their hands to her in hilarious
farewells. Mrs. Colwyn was secluding herself upstairs in high
indignation at Janetta's presumption--first, in going to Helmsley Court
at all, and, secondly, in having invited Mrs. Maitland to come to
dinner--but Janetta did her best to forget the vexations and anxieties
of the day, and to prepare herself as best she might for the serene
atmosphere of Helmsley Court.
It was more than three months since her father's death, and she had not
seen Margaret for what seemed to her like a century. In those three
months she had had some new and sad experiences, and she almost wondered
whether Margaret would not think her changed beyond knowledge by the
troubles of the past. But in this fancy Janetta only proved herself
young at heart; in later years she found, as we all find, that the outer
man is little changed by the most terrible and heart-rending calamities.
It was almost a surprise to Janetta that Margaret did not remark on her
altered appearance. But Margaret saw nothing very different in her
friend. Her black mourning garments certainly made her look pale, but
Margaret was not a sufficiently keen observer to note the additional
depth of expression in Janetta's dark eyes, or the slightly pathetic
look given to her features by the thinning of her cheeks and the droop
of her finely curved mouth. Lady Caroline, however, noticed all these
points, and was quite aware that these changes, slight though they were,
gave force and refinement to the girl's face. Secretly, she was
embittered against Janetta, and this new charm of hers only added to her
dislike. But, outwardly, Lady Caroline was sweetness and sympathy
personified.
"You poor darling," said Margaret, when she stood with Janetta in Miss
Adair's own little sitting-room, awaiting the sound of the luncheon
bell; "what you must have suffered! I have felt for you, Janetta--oh,
more than I can tell! You are quite pale, dear; I do hope you are better
and stronger than you were?"
"I am quite well, thank you," said Janetta.
"But you must have had so much to bear! If I lost my friends--my dear
father or mother--I know I should be broken-hearted. You are so brave
and good, Janetta, dear."
"I don't feel so," said Janetta, sorrowfully. "I wish I did. It would be
rather a comfort sometimes."
"You have a great deal of trouble and care, I am afraid," said Margaret,
softly. She was resolved to be staunch to her friend, although Sir
Philip had been so disagreeable about Janetta. She was going to show him
that she could take her own way of showing friendship.
"There have been a good many changes in the family, and changes always
bring anxieties with them," said Janetta, firmly. She had particularly
resolved that she would not complain of her troubles to the Adairs; it
would seem like asking them to help her--"sponging upon them," as she
disdainfully thought. Janetta had a very fair share of sturdy pride and
independence with which to make her way through the world.
Margaret would have continued the subject, but at that moment the bell
rang, and Janetta was glad to go downstairs.
It was curious, as she remembered afterwards, to find that the splendors
of the house, the elaboration of service, now produced not the slightest
impression upon her. She had grown out of her former girlish feeling of
insignificance in the presence of powdered footmen and fashionable
ladies' maids. The choice flowers, the silver plate, the dainty
furniture and hangings, which had once excited and almost awed her
imagination, were perceived by her with comparative indifference. She
was a woman, not a child, and these things were but as toys to one who
had stood so lately face to face with the larger issues of life and
death. Mr. Adair and Lady Caroline talked pleasantly to her, utterly
ignoring, of course, any change in her circumstances or recent source of
trouble, and Janetta did her best to respond. It was by way of trying to
introduce a pleasant subject of conversation that she said at length to
her hostess--
"I met Sir Philip Ashley the other day. He is so kind as to say that he
will try to find me some pupils."
"Indeed," said Lady Caroline, drily. She did not approve of the
introduction of Sir Philip's name or of Janetta's professional
employment. Margaret flushed a little, and turned aside to give her
mother's poodle a sweet biscuit.
"Sir Philip is a kind, good fellow," said Mr. Adair, who had not been
admitted behind the scenes; "and I am sure that he will do what he can.
Do you know his mother yet? No? Ah, she's like an antique chatelaine:
one of the stateliest, handsomest old ladies of the day. Is she not,
Caroline?"
"She is very handsome," said Lady Caroline, quietly, "but difficult to
get on with. She is the proudest woman I ever knew."
The servants were out of the room, or she would not have said so much.
But it was just as well to let this presuming girl know what she might
expect from Sir Philip's mother if she had any designs upon him.
Unfortunately her intended warning fell unheeded upon Janetta's ear.
"Is she, indeed?" said Mr. Adair, with interest. He was the greatest
gossip of the neighborhood. "She is one of the Beauchamps, and of course
she has some pride of family. But otherwise--I never noticed much pride
about her. Now, how does it manifest itself, do you think?"
"Really, Reginald," said Lady Caroline, with her little smile; "how can
I tell you? You must surely have noticed it for yourself. With her
equals she is exceedingly pleasant; but I never knew anyone who could
repress insolence or presumption with a firmer hand."
"What a pleasant person!" said Mr. Adair, laughing and looking
mirthfully at Margaret. "We shall have to be on our good behavior when
we see her, shall we not, my Pearl?"
This turn of conversation seemed to Lady Caroline so unfortunate that
she rose from the table as soon as possible, and adjourned further
discussion of the Ashleys to another period. And it was after luncheon
that she found occasion to say to Janetta, in her softiest, silkiest
tones--
"Perhaps it would be better, dear Miss Colwyn, if you would be so very
kind as not to mention Sir Philip Ashley to Margaret unless she speaks
of him to you. There is some slight misunderstanding between them, and
Sir Philip has not been here for a day or two; but that it will be all
cleared up very shortly, I have not the slightest doubt."
"Oh, I am sure I hope so! I am very sorry."
"There is scarcely any occasion to be sorry; it is quite a temporary
estrangement, I am sure."
Janetta looked at Margaret with some concern when she had an opportunity
of seeing her closely and alone, but she could distinguish no shade upon
the girl's fair brow, no sadness in her even tones. Margaret talked
about Janetta's brothers and sisters, about music, about her recent
visits, as calmly as if she had not a care in the world. It was almost a
surprise to Janetta when, after a little pause, she asked with some
hesitation--
"You said you saw Sir Philip Ashley the other day?"
"Yes," answered Janetta, blushing out of sympathy, and looking away, so
that she did not see the momentary glance of keen inquiry which was
leveled at her from Margaret's hazel eyes.
"What did he say to you, dear?" asked Miss Adair.
"He spoke of my father--he was very kind," said Janetta, unconscious
that her answer sounded like a subterfuge in her friend's ears. "He
asked me if I wanted pupils; and he said that he would recommend me."
"Oh," said Margaret. Then, after another little pause--"I daresay you
have heard that we are not friends now?"
"Yes," Janetta replied, not liking to say more.
For a moment Margaret raised her beautiful eyebrows.
"So Sir Philip had told her _already_!" she said to herself, with a
little surprise. And she was not pleased with this mark of confidence on
Sir Philip's part. It did not occur to her that Lady Caroline had been
Janetta's informant.
"I refused him," she said, quietly. "Mamma is vexed about it, but she
does not wish to force me to marry against my will, of course."
"Oh, but surely, Margaret, dear, you will change your mind?" said
Janetta.
"No, indeed," Margaret answered, slightly lifting her graceful head.
"Sir Philip is not a man whom I would ever marry."
And then she changed the subject. "See what a dear little piano I have
in my sitting-room. Papa gave it to me the other day, so that I need not
practice in the drawing-room. And what about our singing lessons,
Janetta? Could you begin them at once, or would you rather wait until
after the Christmas holidays?"
Janetta reflected. "I should like to begin them at once, dear, if I can
manage it."
"Have you so many pupils, then?" Margaret asked quickly.
"Not so very many; but I mean--I am afraid I cannot spare time to come
to Helmsley Court to give them. Do you go to Beaminster? Would you very
much mind coming to our house in Gwynne Street?"
"Not at all," said Margaret, ever courteous and mindful of her friend's
feelings. "But I must speak to mamma. It may be a little difficult to
have the horses out sometimes ... that will be the only objection, I
think."
But it seemed as if there were other objections. For Lady Caroline
received the proposition very coldly. It really took her aback.. It was
one thing to have little Miss Colwyn to lunch once a week, and quite
another to send Margaret to that shabby little house in Gywnne Street.
"Who knows whether the drains are all right, and whether she may not get
typhoid fever?" said Lady Caroline to herself, with a shudder. "There
are children in the house--they may develop measles or chicken-pox at
any moment--you never know when children of that class are free from
infection. And I heard an odd report about Mrs. Colwyn's habits the
other day. Oh, I think it is too great a risk."
But when she said as much after Janetta's departure, she found Margaret
for once recalcitrant. Margaret had her own views of propriety, and
these were quite as firmly grounded as those of Lady Caroline. She had
treated Janetta, she considered, with the greatest magnanimity, and she
meant to be magnanimous to the end. She had made the gardener cut Miss
Colwyn a basket of his best flowers and his choicest forced fruit; she
had herself directed the housekeeper to see that some game was placed
under the coachman's box when Miss Colwyn was driven home; and she had
sent a box of French sweets to Tiny, although she had never seen that
young lady in her life, and had a vague objection to all Janetta's
relations. She felt, therefore, perfectly sure that she had done her
duty, and she was not to be turned aside from the path of right.
"I don't think that I shall run into any danger, mamma," she said,
quietly. "The children are to be kept out of the way, and I shall see
nobody but Janetta. She said so, very particularly. I daresay she
thought of these things."
"I don't see why she should not come here."
"No, nor I. But she says that she has so much to do."
"Then it could not be true that she had no pupils, as she told Sir
Philip," said Lady Caroline, looking at her daughter.
Margaret was silent for a little time. Then she said, very
deliberately--
"I am almost afraid, mamma, that Janetta is not quite straightforward."
"That was always my own idea," said Lady Caroline, rather eagerly. "I
never quite trusted her, darling."
"We always used to think her so truthful and courageous," said Margaret,
with regret. "But I am afraid----You know, mamma, I asked her what Sir
Philip said to her, and she did not say a single word about having
talked to him of our leaving Miss Polehampton's. She said he had spoken
of her father, and of getting pupils for her, and so on."
"Very double-faced!" commented Lady Caroline.
"And--mamma, she must have seen Sir Philip again, because he had told
her that we--that I--that we had quarreled a little, you know." And
Margaret really believed that she was speaking the truth.
"I think it is quite shocking," said Lady Caroline. "And I really do not
understand, dearest, why you still persist in your infatuation for her.
You could drop her easily now, on the excuse that you cannot go to
Beaminster so often."
"Yes, I know I could, mamma," said Margaret, quietly. "But if you do not
mind, I would rather not do so. You see, she is really in rather
difficult circumstances. Her father has left them badly off, I suppose,
and she has not many advanced pupils in Beaminster. We always promised
that she should give me lessons; and if we draw back now, we may be
doing her real harm; but if I take--say, a dozen lessons, we shall be
giving her a recommendation, which, no doubt, will do her a great deal
of good. And after that, when she is 'floated,' we can easily drop her
if we wish. But it would be hardly kind to do it just now, do you
think?"
"My darling, you are quite too sweet," said Lady Caroline, languidly.
"Come and kiss me. You shall have your way--until Easter, at any rate."
"We should be giving Sir Philip no reason to blame us for want of
generosity, either," said Margaret.
"Exactly, my pet."
There was again a silence, which Margaret broke at last by saying, with
gentle pensiveness--
"Do you think that she will ask me to be her bridesmaid, mamma, if she
marries Sir Philip? I almost fancy that I should decline."
"I should think that you would," said Lady Caroline.