The red rose medled with the white yfere,
In either cheek depeinten lively chear;
Her modest eye,
Her majesty,
Where have you seen the like but there?
SPENSER.
Mr. Grey did not go to church on the Sunday after Margaret's arrival. He
very seldom ventured during the winter to encounter the cold and damp
common to most village churches at that season; from which some persons
augured that he had a bad heart, while others contented themselves by
supposing that he had a delicate chest.
Having seen his little niece warmly packed up in the carriage, he
returned to his library to read the service to himself, and she
proceeded, with some little elevation of feeling, on her way. It was new
to her to have a carriage all to herself, to recline alone in the corner
with her feet in a carriage-mat; and to have Land to hand her out, and
carry her prayer-books to the pew-door. Having deposited Margaret and
her books, and having whispered to her that the Gages' seat was next to
hers, Land withdrew to his own part of the church.
Presently, a tall, elderly man of imposing appearance, with an empty
sleeve, and hair touched with grey, opened the door of the Gages' seat,
and stepped back that the young lady by his side might pass in. These,
Margaret was sure, were Captain Gage and his daughter. Captain Gage cast
one quick glance from his clear blue eyes at Margaret, and then took his
seat. Miss Gage lingered a second longer, without any apparent rudeness
of manner, from a genuine reluctance to remove her eyes from so lovely a
face. Although Miss Gage was all fur and black velvet, yet her regal
figure and magnificent stature could not be mistaken.
She was strikingly like her father, with straight features, light brown
hair, and calm, clear, full-opened blue eyes; but although it was
impossible to deny to her face the regularity of an antique statue, and
the sweetness of expression that almost always accompanies regularity,
she possessed one drawback in the eyes of Margaret; she must have been
two or three and twenty, at least, an age that to a girl of seventeen
seems to approach very near to the confines of the grave.
Margaret possessed too correct a sense of her religious duties to spend
her time in watching her neighbours, but as they sat just in front of
her, she could not raise her eyes without seeing them; and before church
was over, she had become perfectly acquainted with Miss Gage's
appearance, from the large ruby that flashed on her white hand, to the
purple prayer-book inlaid with silver in which she looked out all the
places for her father.
Mr. Grey was very much amused by her account of what she had seen when
she came home. He was very careful that she should have plenty of
sandwiches, and hot wine and water for luncheon to counteract the cold
of the church, and sat listening and smiling to hear her describe Miss
Gage's velvet pelisse and little ermine muff. He saw plainly, he told
her, that she would like a black velvet gown herself. Margaret coloured
and laughed, but could not deny the fact, and the next morning after
breakfast, he told Land to go over to the next town and get one.
"Ready made, Sir?" asked Land, endeavouring to impress upon his mind the
exact height of his young lady.
"No, no, Land; black velvet enough to make a gown for a lady. That is
the way, is it not, my darling?"
Margaret was profuse in her thanks, and was beginning to imagine what a
grand appearance she should make, in it; when Mr. Grey told her, after
looking at her attentively with a smile, that it would make her look
like a little old woman. Her unfortunate height was one great obstacle
to her enjoyment.
Once when she was out walking with Land, she met the Gages. Captain Gage
was pacing leisurely up and down before a cottage, sometimes looking
sharply up into the sky as if watching the weather; and just before
Margaret came up, Miss Gage joined her father from the inside of the
cottage, and said, "I have kept you waiting unmercifully, to-day, my
dear father, but she was so very ill."
"Ill, was she, poor old soul!" said Captain Gage, "take care that she
has all she wants. Give me your basket, Bessy."
But Bessy would not give her father her basket, and they walked out of
hearing.
Margaret grew to be interested in the Gages; she liked to hear all Land
had to tell her in their daily walks about them; and as Captain Gage
divided with Mr. Grey the honour of being the greatest person in that
neighbourhood, he paid the usual penalty of greatness, and could not
stir abroad, or stay at home without having his doings registered. Land
knew to an hour when the ship in which Mr. Hubert was second Lieutenant
arrived at Plymouth, and when Captain Gage set out to meet his son, and
accompany him home. He was likewise well informed as to whether Miss
Gage drove out in the chariot or the britschka, and how many people were
staying at Chirke Weston.
This sort of gossip was certainly not the best thing for Margaret, and
it was contrary to her habits to seek for such amusement; but she felt a
kind of interest in the family, particularly in Miss Gage, that she
could hardly explain to herself.
With regard to her own occupations, she played the organ, she read
history, particularly the books that Mr. Warde either recommended or
lent; as she could not skate, she walked with Land every morning, and
after luncheon Mr. Grey's carriage was at her service if she chose to
drive out. She was quite a little Queen in the house; she had only to
express a wish, and it was fulfilled. She had a very skillful maid
entirely for herself, her dressing-room was fitted up in a style of
elegance that might have served a duchess; in short, her uncle did not
quite know, as Mr. Casement told him, how to spoil her enough. It may be
supposed that she became exceedingly attached to him, in the evening she
sang to him, or sat on a low stool by his side, telling him all the
little pieces of news she might have heard during the day, or relating
with equal interest the historic tales that she was reading, or exciting
his sympathy, by a detail of the uncomfortable period she had passed at
school.
It happened one morning that Margaret walked down to the Vicarage with
Land to exchange a volume of history she had borrowed, and when she was
shown into Mr. Warde's morning room, she found him talking earnestly
with Miss Gage.
"I beg your pardon," said Margaret, drawing back, "I did not know you
were busy."
"Oh! come in, come in, little one," said Mr. Warde, "we were talking no
secrets. Ah! you want the second volume. Why, what a reader you are!"
"And will you not come nearer the fire, while our good friend is finding
your book?" said Miss Gage to Margaret.
"Thank you," returned Margaret, drawing towards the fire, and ungloving
her beautiful hands.
"Do you like this cold weather?" asked Miss Gage, kindly.
"Yes, when it is a hard frost," returned Margaret; "but I am looking
forward very much to summer time."
"You will find the neighbourhood beautiful in spring," said Miss Gage,
"and I think Mr. Grey has the prettiest place in the county."
"I am glad of that," said Margaret, "I have not half explored it yet."
"I dare say you have plenty of amusements in-doors," said Miss Gage, "I
am sure you have an unfailing one if you are fond of reading."
"Yes, reading and music," said Margaret, "and the house is kept so warm,
that I can play wherever I like on wet days."
"And what do you play at?" asked Miss Gage.
"Battledore," said Margaret, blushing as she made the confession; "but
it is rather stupid with only one player."
"You will give this note to Mr. Grey, little one," said Mr. Warde,
returning to Margaret with her book, "and make good haste home, or you
are likely to be caught in the rain. And now, Miss Elizabeth, I have
done your bidding."
"Thank you very much for your kindness," said Miss Gage, as she shook
hands with him. Then turning to Margaret with a sweet smile and a bow,
she said, "I hope it may happen that we shall be better acquainted with
each other."
Margaret endeavoured to say a few words expressive of her pleasure in
the idea; and then hurried off to Land with her book and note.
Now Miss Gage had begged Mr. Warde to write to Mr. Grey, that she might
know whether it would be agreeable to him that she should make the
acquaintance of his niece. He was recognised as such a determined
invalid by all the country round, that she never thought of calling upon
Margaret, taking it for granted that such a step would be an intrusion
upon Mr. Grey's habits. But she wished much to show her every attention
in her power, from a sincere desire to make her happier than she was
likely to be if always shut up with a nervous old man for her only
companion; and from a hope that her society might be of some advantage
to a girl so much younger than herself; for Margaret was right, Miss
Gage was turned of two-and-twenty.
For acts of disinterested kindness are not quite so frequent as good
people imagine, nor yet so uncommon as selfish people, who never perform
them, would fain make out. The pitiful phrase of nothing for nothing
being unceasingly used by those sorry persons, who give nothing, it is
true; but who invariably take all they can pillage, or beg from every
human being they approach.
Mr. Grey accepted Miss Gage's kind advances with much gratitude, and she
immediately wrote to ask Margaret to dine with her the next day, that
they might lose no time in becoming acquainted with each other. Margaret
was equally pleased; to be sure, the idea of going to a strange house
all alone was rather formidable, but there was a sweetness in Miss
Gage's manner that gave her some confidence. However, the day was not
to be one of unmixed satisfaction, for Mr. Casement came to dinner; and
she was obliged to take his arm into the dining-room instead of her
uncle's, and as they were crossing the hall, he asked her if she did not
wish he was a nice young man; which question had the desired effect of
making her blush, though she longed to tell him that it would be a great
gain if he could be changed into any thing that was nice, young or old.
Then he began to teaze her about her skating, which she bore in silence
till Mr. Grey interfered, and begged him to talk of something else,
which request he complied with immediately by changing his point of
attack, and laughing at her dress, which was in the fashion of the day,
and consequently quite different from any thing that his "old woman"
wore.
This strain of banter, Mr. Grey interrupted by mentioning Miss Gage's
kind invitation.
"Oho!" said Mr. Casement, "then there are some hopes for you, little
woman."
The very manner in which he uttered the interjection, oho! with a little
jerk at the end, was unpleasing to Margaret: she sat with her beautiful
lips compressed, resolved to be silent.
"It is particularly kind in Miss Gage," said Mr. Grey, "knowing the
state of my health to be so bad."
"There is nothing the matter with your health, I am sure," said Mr.
Casement, "you will live to be a hundred!"
Mr. Grey smiled quietly, and made no reply.
"It is all nerves--what are nerves? Don't tell me!" said Mr. Casement.
Mr. Grey did not seem at all inclined to tell him; and Margaret, rising
pettishly from the table, pushed her chair back, and her dessert plate
forward, and turned about to leave the room.
"Going, little woman?" said Mr. Casement, "going to sit in state in the
drawing-room, and play at being grown up?"
"Going away from you, Sir;" returned Margaret, taking courage from being
almost outside the door.
Mr. Grey laughed; although he tolerated Mr. Casement's caustic remarks
from very long habit, he was not at all sorry that any other person
should be less forbearing.
Meantime Margaret had much to think about as she sat over her
embroidery; she was considering first, how she should be dressed on the
morrow, and next, how she should behave. Her one anxiety was always to
conceal her shyness, which she did beneath a repose of manner that
deceived almost every one.
When the gentlemen joined her at tea-time, Mr. Grey was in excellent
spirits. The evening post had brought him a letter from Mr. Haveloc,
announcing his arrival in England, and saying he would be at Ashdale in
a day or two. He was very much attached to his former ward, and the
idea of seeing him so soon gave him great satisfaction; he could not
avoid expressing this feeling several times, unawed by Mr. Casement's
satirical glances, which were alternately directed to Mr. Grey and to
Margaret. She heard the news with anything but pleasure. It would
materially alter her comfort and freedom to have any one staying in the
house; and she forgot Mr. Haveloc's picturesque encounter with the
brigands while musing on the annoyances she was likely to experience
during his visit to Ashdale.