A FIT OF AMIABILITY
Rupert came down to breakfast the next morning. He was cold, sick,
shivery; little better than he had felt the previous night; his chest
sore, his breathing painful. A good fire burnt in the grate of the
breakfast-room--Miss Diana was a friend to fires, and caused them to be
lighted as soon as the heat of summer had passed--and Rupert bent over
it. He cared for it more than for food; and yet it was no doubt having
gone without food the previous day which was causing the sensation of
sickness within him now.
Miss Diana glided in, erect and majestic. "How are you this morning?"
she asked of Rupert.
"Pretty well," he answered, as he warmed his thin white hands over the
blaze. "I have the old pain here a bit"--touching his chest. "It will go
off by-and-by, I dare say."
Miss Diana had her eyes riveted on him. The extreme delicacy of his
countenance--its lines of fading health--struck upon her greatly. Was he
looking worse? or was it that her absence from home for three weeks had
caused her to notice it more than she had done when seeing him daily?
She asked herself the question, and could not decide.
"You don't look very well, Rupert."
"Don't I? I have not felt well for this week or two. I think the walking
to Blackstone and back is too much for me."
"You must have a pony," she continued after a pause.
"Ah! that would be a help to me," he said, his countenance brightening.
"I might get on better with what I have to do there. Mr. Chattaway
grumbles, and grumbles, but I declare, Aunt Diana, that I do my best.
The walk there seems to take away all my energy, and, by the time I sit
down, I am unfit for work."
Miss Diana went nearer to him, and spoke in lower tones. "What was the
reason that you disobeyed Mr. Chattaway with regard to coming in?"
"I did not do it intentionally," he replied. "The time slipped on, and
it got late without my noticing it. I think I told you so last night,
Aunt Diana."
"Very well. It must not occur again," she said, peremptorily and
significantly. "If you are locked out in future, I shall not interfere."
Mr. Chattaway came in, with a discontented gesture and a blue face. He
was none the better for his sleepless night, and the torment which had
caused it. Rupert drew away from the fire, leaving the field clear for
him: as a schoolboy does at the entrance of his master.
"Don't let us have this trouble repeated," he roughly said to Rupert.
"As soon as you have breakfasted, make the best of your way to
Blackstone: and don't lag on the road."
"Rupert's not going to Blackstone to-day," said Miss Diana.
Mr. Chattaway turned upon her: no very pleasant expression on his
countenance. "What's that for?"
"I shall keep him at home for a week, and have him nursed. After that, I
dare say he'll be stronger, and can attend better to his duty in all
ways."
Mr. Chattaway could willingly have braved Miss Diana, if he had only
dared. But he did not dare. He strode to the breakfast-table and took
his seat, leaving those who liked to follow him.
It has been remarked that there was a latent antagonism ever at work in
the hearts of George Ryle and Octave Chattaway; and there was certainly
ever constant and visible antagonism between the actions of Mr.
Chattaway and Miss Diana Trevlyn, as far as they related to the ruling
economy of Trevlyn Hold. She had the open-heartedness of the
Trevlyns--he, the miserly selfishness of the Chattaways. She was liberal
on the estate and in the household--he would have been niggardly to the
last degree. Miss Diana, however, was the one to reign paramount, and he
was angered every hour of his life by seeing some extravagance--as he
deemed it--which might have been avoided. He could indemnify himself at
the mines; and there he did as he pleased.
Breakfast over, Mr. Chattaway went out. Cris went out. Rupert, as the
day grew warm and bright, strolled into the garden, and basked on a
bench in the sun. He very much enjoyed these days of idleness. To sit as
he was doing now, feeling that no exertion whatever was required of him;
that he might stay where he was for the whole day, and gaze up at
the blue sky as he fell into thought; or watch the light fleecy
clouds that rose above the horizon, and form them into fantastic
pictures--constituted one of the pleasures of Rupert Trevlyn's life. Not
for the bright blue of the sky, the ever-changing clouds, the warm
sunshine and balmy air--not for all these did he care so much as for the
_rest_. The delightful consciousness that he might be as quiet as he
pleased; that no Blackstone or any other far-off place would demand him;
that for a whole day he might be at _rest_--there lay the charm. Nothing
could possibly have been more suggestive of his want of strength--as
anyone might have guessed possessed of sufficient penetration.
No. Mr. Chattaway need not have feared that Rupert was hatching plots
against him, whenever he was out of his sight. Had poor Rupert possessed
the desire, he lacked the energy.
The dinner hour at Trevlyn Hold, nominally early, was frequently
regulated by the will or movements of the master. When he said he could
only be home at a given hour--three, four, five, six, as the case might
be--the cook had her orders accordingly. To-day it was fixed for four
o'clock. At two (the more ordinary dinner hour) Cris came in.
Strictly speaking, it was ten minutes past two, and Cris burst into the
dining-room with a heated face, afraid lest he should come in for the
end of the meal. Whatever might be the hour fixed, dinner had to be on
the table to the minute; and it generally was so. Miss Diana was an
exacting mistress. Cris burst in, hair untidy, hands unwashed,
desperately afraid of losing his share.
He drew a long face. Not a soul was in the room, and the dining-table
showed its bright mahogany. Cris rang the bell.
"What time do we dine to-day?" he asked sharply of the servant who
answered it.
"At four, sir."
"What a nuisance! And I am as hungry as a hunter. Get me something to
eat. Here--stop--where are they all?"
"Madam's at home, sir; and I think Miss Octave's at home. The rest are
out."
Cris muttered something which was not heard, which perhaps he did not
intend should be heard; and when his luncheon was brought in, he sat
down to it with great satisfaction. After he had finished, he went to
the stables, and by-and-by came in to find his sister.
"Octave, I want to take you for a drive. Will you go?"
The unwonted attention on her brother's part quite astonished Octave.
Before now she had asked him to drive her out, and been met with a rough
refusal. Cris was of that class of young men who see no good in
overpowering their sisters with attention.
"Get your things on at once," said Cris.
Octave felt dubious. She was writing letters to some particular friends
with whom she kept up a correspondence, and did not care to be
interrupted.
"Where is it to go, Cris?"
"Anywhere. We can drive through Barmester, and so home by the
cross-roads. Or we'll go down the lower road to Barbrook, and go on to
Barmester that way."
The suggestion did not offer sufficient attraction to Octave. "No," said
she, "I am busy, and shall not go out this afternoon. I don't care to
drive out when there's nothing to go for."
"You may as well come. It isn't often I ask you."
"No, that it is not," returned Octave, with emphasis. "You have some
particular motive in asking me now, I know. What is it, Cris?"
"I want to try my new horse. They say he goes beautifully in harness."
"What! that handsome horse you took a fancy to the other day?--that papa
said you should not buy?"
Cris nodded. "They let me have him for forty-five pounds."
"Where did you get the money?" wondered Octave.
"Never you mind. I have paid ten pounds down, and they'll wait for the
rest. Will you come?"
"No," said Octave. "I sha'n't go out to-day."
The refusal perhaps was somewhat softened by the dashing up to the door
of the dog-cart with the new purchase in it; and Cris ran out. A
handsome animal certainly, but apparently restive. Mrs. Chattaway came
through the hall, dressed for walking. Cris seized upon her.
"Mother, dear, you'll go for a drive with me," cried he, caressingly.
"Octave won't--ill-natured thing!"
It was so unusual a circumstance to find herself made much of by her
son, spoken to affectionately, that Mrs. Chattaway, in surprise and
gratitude, forthwith ascended the dog-cart. "I am glad to accompany you,
dear," she softly said. "I was only going to walk in the garden."
But before Cris had gathered the reins in his hand and taken his place
beside her, George Ryle came up, and somewhat hindered the departure.
"I have been to Barmester to see Caroline this morning, Mrs. Chattaway,
and have brought you a message from Amelia," he said, keeping his hold
on the dog-cart as he spoke--as much as he could do so, for the restive
animal.
"That she wants to come home, I suppose?" said Mrs. Chattaway, smiling.
"The message I was charged with was, that she _would_ come home," he
said, smiling in answer. "The fact is, Caroline is coming home for a few
days: and Amelia thinks she will be cruelly used unless she is allowed
holiday also."
"Caroline is coming to the harvest-home?"
"Yes. I told Amelia----"
Holding on any longer became impossible; and George drew back, and took
a critical survey of the new horse. "Why, it is the horse Allen has had
for sale!" he exclaimed.
"What brings him here, Cris?"
"I have bought him," shortly answered Cris.
"Have you? Mrs. Chattaway, I would advise you not to venture out behind
that horse. He has not been broken in for driving."
"He has," returned Cris. "You mind your own business. Do you think I
should drive him if he were not safe? He's only skittish. I understand
horses, I hope, as well as you do."
George turned to Mrs. Chattaway. "Do not go with him," he urged. "Let
Cris try him first alone."
"I am not afraid, George," she said, in loving accents. "It is not often
Cris finds time to drive me. Thank you all the same."
Cris gave the horse its head, and the animal dashed off. George stood
watching until a turn in the avenue hid them from view, and then gave
utterance to an involuntary exclamation:
"Cris has no right to risk the life of his mother."
Not very long afterwards, the skittish horse was flying along the road,
with nothing of the dog-cart left behind him, but its shafts.