MAKING AMENDS.
"It is pleasant to be home again," said Margaret.
For two years she had not seen the Court. For two year's she and her
parents had roamed over the world, spending a winter in Egypt or Italy,
a summer in Norway, a spring or autumn at Biarritz, or Pau, or some
other resort of wealthy and idle Englishmen. These wanderings had been
begun with the laudable object of weaning Margaret's heart away from
Wyvis Brand, but they had been continued long after Margaret's errant
fancy had been chided back to its wonted resting place. The habit of
wandering easily grows, and the two years had slipped away so pleasantly
that it was with a feeling almost of surprise that the Adairs reckoned
up the time that had elapsed since they left England. Then Margaret had
a touch of fever, and began to pine for her home; and, as her will was
still law (in all minor points, at least), her parents at once turned
homeward, and arrived at Helmsley Court in the month of May, when the
woods and gardens were at their loveliest, bright with flowers, and
verdant with the exquisite green of the spring foliage, before it
becomes dusty and faded in the summer-heat.
"It is pleasant to be at home again," said Margaret, standing at the
door of the conservatory one fair May morning and looking at the great
sweep of green sward before her, where elm and beech trees made a
charming shade, and beds of brightly-tinted flowers dotted the grass at
intervals. "I was so tired of foreign towns."
"Were you, dear? You did not say so until lately," said Lady Caroline.
"I did not want to bring you and papa home until you were ready to
come," said Margaret gently.
"Dear child. And you have lost your roses. English country air will soon
bring them back."
"I never had much color, mama," said Margaret gravely. It was almost as
though she were not quite well pleased by the remark.
She moved away from the door, and Lady Caroline's eyes followed her with
a solicitude which had more anxiety and less pride than they used to
show. For Margaret had altered during the last few months. She had grown
more slender, more pale than ever, and a certain languor was perceptible
in her movements and the expression of her beautiful eyes. She was not
less fair, perhaps, than she had been before; and the ethereal character
of her beauty had only been increased by time. Lady Caroline had been
seriously distressed lately by the comments made by her acquaintances
upon Margaret's appearance. "Very delicate, surely," said one. "Do you
think that your daughter is consumptive?" said another. "She would be so
very pretty if she looked stronger," remarked a third. Now these were
not precisely the remarks that Lady Caroline liked her friends to make.
She could not quite understand her daughter. Margaret had of late become
more and more reticent. She was always gentle, always caressing, but she
was not expansive. Something was amiss with her spirits or her health:
nobody could exactly say what it was. Even her father discovered at last
that she did not seem well; but, although he grumbled and fidgeted about
it, he did not know how to suggest a remedy. Lady Caroline hoped that
the return to England would prove efficacious in restoring the girl's
health and spirits, and she was encouraged by hearing Margaret express
her pleasure in her English home. But she felt uneasily that she was not
quite sure as to what was wrong.
"People are beginning to call very quickly," she said, looking at some
cards that lay in a little silver tray. "The Bevans have been here,
Margaret."
"Have they? When we were out yesterday, I suppose?"
"Yes. And the Accringtons, and--oh, ah, yes--two or three other
people."
"Who, mamma?" said Margaret, her attention immediately attracted by her
mother's hesitation. She turned away from the door and entered the
morning-room as she spoke.
"Oh, only Lady Ashley, dear," said Lady Caroline smoothly. She had quite
recovered her self-possession by this time.
"And Sir Philip Ashley," said Margaret, with equal calmness, as she
glanced at the cards in the little silver dish. But the lovely color
flushed up into her cheeks, and as she stood with her eyes cast down,
still fingering the cards, her face assumed the tint of the deepest
rose-carnation.
"Is that the reason?" thought Lady Caroline, with a sudden little thrill
of fear and astonishment. "Surely not! After all this time--and after
dismissing him so summarily! Well, there is no accounting for girls'
tastes."
She said aloud:
"We ought to return these calls pretty soon, I think. With such old
friends it would be nice to go within the week. Do you not agree with
me, love?"
"Yes, mamma," said, Margaret dutifully.
"Shall we go to-morrow then? To the Bevans first, and then to the
Ashleys?"
Margaret hesitated. "The Accringtons live nearer the Bevans than Lady
Ashley," she said. "You might call on Lady Ashley next day, mamma."
"Yes, darling," said Lady Caroline. She was reassured. She certainly did
not want Margaret to show any alacrity in seeking out the Ashleys, and
she hoped that that tell-tale blush had been due to mere maiden modesty
and not to any warmer feeling, which would probably be completely thrown
away upon Philip Ashley, who was not the man to offer himself a second
time to a woman who had once refused him.
She noticed, however, that Margaret showed no other sign of interest in
Sir Philip and his mother; that she did not ask for any account of the
call paid, without her, by Lady Caroline a day or two later. Indeed, she
turned away and talked to Alicia Stone while Lady Caroline was telling
Mr. Adair of the visits that she had made. So the mother was once more
reassured.
She was made uneasy again by an item of news that reached her ear soon
after her return home. "Mr. Brand is coming back," said Mrs. Accrington
to her, with a meaning smile. "I hear that there are great preparations
at the Red House. His wife is dead, you know."
"Indeed," said Lady Caroline, stiffly.
"Yes, died at Nice last spring or summer, I forget which; I suppose he
means to settle at home now. They say he's quite a changed character."
"I am glad to hear it," said Lady Caroline.
She felt annoyed as well as anxious. Was it possible that Margaret knew
that Wyvis Brand was coming home? In spite of the inveterate habit of
caressing Margaret and making soft speeches, in spite also of the very
real love that she had for her daughter, Lady Caroline did not
altogether trust her. Margaret had once or twice disappointed her too
much.
"His little boy," continued Mrs. Accrington in a conversational tone,
"has been spending the time with Mr. Brand's younger brother and his
wife, one of the Colwyn girls, wasn't she? And the eldest Colwyn girl,
the one who sang, has been acting as his governess. She used to be
companion to old Mrs. Brand you know."
"I remember," said Lady Caroline, and managed to change the subject.
She would have liked to question Margaret, but she did not dare. She
watched her carefully for the next few days, and she was not satisfied.
Margaret was nervous and uneasy, as she had been about the time when
Wyvis Brand made his indiscreet proposal for her hand; it seemed to Lady
Caroline that she was watching for some person to arrive--some person
who never came. Who was the person for whom she watched? so Lady
Caroline asked herself. But she dared not question Margaret.
She noticed, too, that Mr. Adair looked once or twice at his daughter in
a curiously doubtful way, as if he were puzzled or distressed. And one
day he said musingly:
"It is surely time for Margaret to be getting married, is it not?"
"Somebody has been saying so to you," said Lady Caroline, with less
urbanity than usual.
"No, no, only Isabel; she wrote this morning expressing some surprise at
not having heard that Margaret was engaged before now. I suppose," Mr.
Adair hesitated a little, "I suppose she _will_ marry?"
"Reginald, what an idea! Of course Margaret will marry, and marry
brilliantly."
"I am not so sure of that," said Mr. Adair, who seemed to be in low
spirits. "Look at my two sisters, and lots of other girls. How many men
has Margaret refused? She will take up with some crooked stick at last."
He went out without waiting for his wife's reply. Lady Caroline,
harassed in mind and considerably weakened of late in body, sat still
and shed a few silent tears. She was angry with him, and yet she shared
his apprehensions. Was it possible that their lovely Margaret was
turning out a social failure? To have Margaret at home, fading, ageing,
growing into an old maid like the sisters of Reginald Adair, that was
not to be thought of for a moment.
Meanwhile Margaret was taking her fate in her own hands.
She was at that very moment standing in the conservatory opposite a
tall, dark man, who, hat in hand, looked at her expectantly as if he
wished her to open the conversation. She had never made a fairer picture
than she did just then. She was dressed in white, and the exquisite
fairness of her head and face was thrown into strong relief by the dark
background of fronded fern and thickly matted creeper with which the
wall behind her was overgrown. Her face was slightly bent, and her hands
hung clasped before her. To her visitor, who was indeed Sir Philip
Ashley, she appeared more beautiful than ever. But his eye, as it rested
upon her, though attentive, was indifferent and cold.
"You sent for me, I think?" he said politely, finding that she did not
speak.
"Yes." Margaret's voice was very low. "I hope you did not mind my
writing that little note?"
"Mind? Not at all. If there is anything I can do for you----?"
"It is not that I want you to do anything," said Margaret, whose
self-possession, not easily disturbed, was now returning to her. "It was
simply that I had something to say."
Sir Philip bowed. His role was that of a listener, it appeared.
"When I was in England before," Margaret went on, this time with some
effort, "you found fault with me----"
"Presumption on my part, I am sure," said Sir Philip, smiling a little.
"Such a thing will certainly not occur again."
"Oh please hear me," said Margaret, rather hurriedly. "Please listen
seriously--I am very serious, and I want you to hear what I have to
say."
"I will listen," said Sir Philip, gravely; he turned aside a little, and
looked at the flowers as she spoke.
"I want to tell you that you were right about Janetta Colwyn. The more I
have thought of it, the more sure I have been that you were right. I
ought not to have been angry when you asked me to prevent people from
misjudging her. I ought to have written to Miss Polehampton and set
things straight."
Sir Philip made an inarticulate sound of assent. She paused for a
moment, and then went on pleadingly.
"It's such a long time ago now that I do not know what to do. I cannot
ask mamma. She never liked Janetta--she never was just to her. I do not
even know where Janetta is, nor whether I can do anything to help her.
Do you know?"
"I know where she is. At the Red House just now, with Mr. and Mrs.
Cuthbert Brand."
"Then--what shall I do?" said Margaret, more urgently. "Would it be of
any use if I wrote to Miss Polehampton or anyone about her now? I will
do anything I can to help her--anything you advise."
Sir Philip changed his position, as if he were slightly impatient.
"I do not know that there is anything to be done for Miss Colwyn at
present," he replied. "She is in a very good position, and I do not
think she wants material help. Of course, if you were to see her and
tell her that you regret the manifest injustice with which she was
treated on more than one occasion, I dare say she would be glad, and
that such an acknowledgment from you would draw out the sting from much
that is past and gone. I think that this is all you can do."
"I will do it," said Margaret submissively. "I will tell her that I am
sorry."
"You will do well," replied Sir Philip in a kinder tone. "I am only
sorry that you did not see things differently when we spoke of the
matter before."
"I am older now, I have thought more. I have reflected on what you
said," murmured Margaret.
"You have done my poor words much honor," said he, with a slight cold
smile. "And I am glad to think that the breach in your friendship is
healed. Miss Colwyn is a true and loyal friend--I could not wish you a
better. I shall feel some pleasure in the thought, when I am far from
England, that you have her for your friend once more."
"Far from England"--Margaret repeated the words with paling lips.
"Did you not know? I have accepted a post in Victoria. I shall be out
for five years at least. So great a field of usefulness seems open to me
there that I did not know how to refuse it."
Margaret was mute for a time. Then, with a tremendous effort, she put
another question. "You go--alone?" she said.
Sir Philip did not look at her.
"No," he said, kicking a small pebble off the tesselated pavement with
the toe of his boot, and apparently taking the greatest interest in its
ultimate fate, "no, I don't go quite alone. I am taking with me my
secretary--and--my wife. I suppose you know that next week I am going to
marry Miss Adela Smithies, daughter of Smithies the great brewer? We
sail ten days later."