"I will speak to her," I mumbled, "most reprehensible."
"I beg you will do nothing of the kind," said Gertrude with asperity.
"The world moves on, my dear Anne, while you sit dreaming in your
cottage; and if you can't raise a finger to help your own niece then
don't try to nullify the benevolent activities of those who can."
"Of course, Gertrude, if you look at it in that way. But a governess!"
"I do look at it in that way; and allow me to tell you, Anne, that you
dress her abominably, and I have advised her to revolt. And her hair! I
spoke to her about it yesterday, and she said you liked her to plaster
it down like that. The child has beautiful hair, very like mine at her
age. It needs releasing. It is not necessary that she should imitate
your severe coiffure."
"Oh! Gertrude, I always brush my own hair back, and surely it is not too
much to ask of my brother's only child who owes everything to me to--" I
became tearful.
"It _is_ too much to ask. You are an egoist, Anne. The poor child looked
quite frightened when I spoke to her yesterday. You mean well, but you
have repressed her. I intend, on the contrary, to draw her out, to widen
her narrowed, pinched existence." Gertrude had said the same of Jimmy
when she married him. Everyone had a pinched existence till she dawned
on them, though it would have been difficult to say who had dared to
pinch Jimmy.
Next day Dulcie came down half frightened, wholly delighted, to confer
with me.
"My dear," I said. "Do exactly what kind Mrs. Cross wishes about your
hair and dress and general deportment. I can't explain, it would take
too long, and when I had explained you would not understand. You may now
take back with you the lilac gown and the sun-bonnet. And, by the way,
what is this Mr. Wilson like who is always coming over?"
"Very, _very_ nice"--with fervour.
"And handsome?"
"Very, _very_ handsome."
"H'm! Now, Dulcie, no nonsense such as you ladled out to me about Herr
Müller, the music master at Dresden. You needn't cry. That is all past
and forgotten. But I want a plain answer. Does this very handsome man
care about chickens?"
"Yes, yes, Aunt Anne. He has taken several prizes."
"Does he come to see you, or Joan?"
Dulcie cogitated.
"At first it was Joan," she said.
Light broke in on me. _That serpent Gertrude!_ She did not think the
poultry fancier good enough for the stolid Joan, but quite good enough
for my exquisite Dulcibella.
"I must go back now," said Dulcie. "I'm dining down because Mr. Cross
likes a game of patience in the evening. It keeps him from falling
asleep. Mr. Wilson is staying to dinner. I'm going to wear my amber
muslin, and Mr. Vavasour is coming to stay. We've seen a good deal of
him lately. Mrs. Cross says he has had a very overshadowed life with his
old mother, and she wants to help him to a wider sphere."