All hearts in all places under the blessed light of day say it, each
in its own language--why not in mine?--Hayward's _Translation of
Faust_.
The short winter's day was already nearly over; though the fog had
cleared off, and frost was evidently on the way, it was still dull and
dreary. Eugenia Laurence sat on the rug as close to the fire as she
could get, feeling unusually out of spirits. She could not tell what
was the matter with her, she only felt that it was difficult to believe
herself in the same world as that on which she had closed her eyes last
night. She had fallen asleep in a bewildering haze of delicious
excitement, with vague anticipations of a somehow equally delightful
to-morrow; it seemed to her, that never before had she realised the full
value of her life and youth, and timidly acknowledged beauty; her dreams
had been filled with a new presence--a presence to which, even to
herself, she shrank from giving a name; everything about her--past,
present and future--seemed bathed in light and colour.
She had awakened with an indefinite feeling of expectancy, and had felt
unreasonably disappointed when she found all the commonplace details of
her little familiar world very much the same as usual--a good deal less
agreeable than usual in point of fact, for she was more tired than a
thorough-going young lady would have considered possible as the result
of such very mild dissipation as Mrs Dalrymple's carpet dance, in
consequence of which she slept three hours later than her wont--of
itself a disturbing and depressing consciousness to a girl brought up to
consider punctuality a cardinal virtue--and entered the dining-room only
to find it deserted by its usual cheerful little breakfast party, and to
be told by the servant, that "Miss Sydney" had been sent for early by
the invalid aunt, and feared it would be afternoon before she could
return home.
"How disappointing!" thought Eugenia, as she sat down to the solitary
breakfast, she had little inclination to eat, "when I did so want to
talk over last night with Sydney. I shall never go out anywhere without
her again. I am not half as sensible as she is. How silly it is of me
to feel so dull and unsettled this morning. I shall never want to go
out if it makes me so silly. But oh, how I wish I could have it all
over again to-night!"
Then she sat and dreamed for a few minutes--dreams which sent a smile
and a blush over her pretty face. "Was it--could it be true?" she asked
herself, "that he really thought her so pretty--so charming--as his
tones and looks seemed to whisper?" She remembered every word he had
said, she felt the very grasp of his hand as he bade her good-night.
Then with a sharp revulsion came the remembrance that in all probability
she would never see him again: he had said something about staying some
little time in Wareborough--but what of that? Except for the chance of
meeting him again at Mrs Dalrymple's--a very slight one, this was the
very first time her father had allowed her to go to anything in the
shape of a party at Barnwood Terrace--he might spend years in
Wareborough without their ever seeing each other: her father seldom made
new acquaintances--hardly ever invited any one to his house. And even
supposing anything so extraordinary as that he should do so in this
case, would it be desirable, would she wish it? She looked round with
something almost approaching disgust at the substantial, but certainly
faded and dingy furniture of the room; she glanced out of the window,
the prospect was gloomy and unlovely--Wareborough smoke and its
begriming influences visible in all directions. No, she confessed to
herself, her home was far from an attractive one; all about her would
too surely offend, and repel a fastidious man accustomed, as he
evidently was, to very different surroundings from those of an ugly
little manufacturing town, where money was all in all, culture and
refinement comparatively of little or no account. Her own dress even--
she got up and looked at herself for a minute or two in the
old-fashioned oblong mirror over the mantelpiece--the reflection was not
a flattering one; still it could not altogether destroy the charm of the
fresh young face, the eyes that could look so bright, though just now "a
shadow lay" in them, the rich, soft chestnut brown hair. A little smile
crept into the eyes and softened the curves of the mouth as she looked;
perhaps her face really was rather nice, she had certainly never thought
so much about it before--but her dress? What was wrong with it? It
fitted well, its colour was unobtrusive and even pretty of its kind, the
whole was perfectly suitable and becoming for a young girl of her age
and position; only yesterday it had pleased her very well, but to-day it
utterly failed to satisfy her vague, unreasonable aspirations. Poor
Eugenia, the world began to look very unpromising and dreary again! She
sat down and began to wish, or tried to fancy she wished, she had not
gone to the Dalrymples' the night before--had never had even this little
peep of the beautiful, bewildering world outside her quiet humdrum
middle-class home--the world in which all the women were graceful and
charming, all the men high-bred and chivalrous, with irresistible eyes
and sweet low voices like--"Captain Chancellor's," she was going on to
say to herself, but stopped short suddenly.
Something--what she could not have exactly told--perhaps merely the
matter-of-fact naming of a name--seemed to startle her a little. Her
common sense--in which, after all, she was not deficient, though its
suggestions were often overruled by the quickly-succeeding moods of her
vehement, impressionable nature--came to the rescue, and told her
plainly she was behaving like an extremely silly girl. "Here I am," she
said to herself, with considerable self-contempt, "here I am, wasting
all this day--worse than wasting it, indeed." And with an effort for
which she deserved some credit, she set to work to think how best she
could at the same time punish and cure her fit of folly.
"I know what I can do," she decided. "I shall give the rest of the time
to copying out those two old lectures of papa's. They are very dry
ones--at least, to me--and they are full of technicalities; so I must
attend to them closely, or I shall make mistakes. It will please him
too, for it was only yesterday he asked me to do them, and he won't
expect them so soon."
It was pretty hard work. She got them done, however, before Sydney's
return. Then, feeling somewhat better pleased with herself, but still
more depressed than she could account for (she had yet to learn how
quickly, to a nature like hers, unaccustomed excitement does the work of
physical fatigue), she sat down on the hearth-rug, cowering into the
fire, to listen for her sister's ring. The room was small and plainly
furnished. Its bookshelves and globes and old cottage piano told their
own story; yet, as Eugenia's eyes glanced round it, noticing dreamily
every little familiar detail: an ink-stain on the carpet--she remembered
it for ever so many years--it had been caused by an inkstand overthrow,
one Saturday afternoon that Frank Thurston was spending there; a
penknife-cut on the wax-cloth of the table, which had drawn forth stern
reprimand from kind "Mademoiselle," and cost little Eugenia many tears;
a picture on the wall--a French engraving of one of Scheffer's earlier
paintings, which had taken many a month's joint pocket-money to obtain.
(How well she remembered the day it was hung up!) As each well-known
object in turn caught her glance, she owned to herself she had been very
happy in that little old room. Would a day ever come on which she
should wish herself back again in its safe, homely shelter? She could
not tell what had put all these strange fancies in her head to-day.
What was coming over her? It was too absurd to think that one short
evening's experience had changed her so. Oh, if only Sydney would come
in! It seemed years since they had been talking together about what
they should wear at Mrs Dalrymple's, and yet it had been only yesterday
morning. A ring at last--yes, it was the hall bell. Eugenia was
darting forward, but a sudden thought stopped her. It might not, after
all, be Sydney. It was just about the time a visitor--a stranger
especially--would choose for a formal call. Could it be possible that
her father--she had known him do odd, unexpected things of the kind
sometimes--could he have asked Captain Chancellor to call? He was a
much younger man than her father, and would not stand on ceremony in
such a case; and she had seen them talking together, and shaking hands
cordially at parting. It was just possible. The mere idea set her
heart beating, and sent the blood rushing furiously to her cheeks. She
opened the school-room door cautiously, a very little, and stood with it
in her hand while she watched the servant-maid's slow progress across
the hall. The door opened at last. A man's voice--a gentleman's voice.
Could it be he?
"Then, if Mr Laurence is not at home yet, can I see either of the young
ladies?"
A momentary hesitation on the part of the servant--a quick, light step
outside along the pavement--a pleased exclamation from the visitor.
"Oh, Sydney, there you are! I was just asking if I could see you or
your sister;" and all Eugenia's foolish hopes are crushed flat again.
"He" was only Frank Thurston--stupid, uninteresting, every-day Frank
Thurston: at no time, save for old habit and association, a special
favourite of Miss Laurence's; peculiarly and irritatingly unwelcome just
at present, when the one boon the girl had been craving all day--the
having Sydney to herself--would be destroyed by his intrusion. How
could they talk over Eugenia's adventures with that great boy standing
by, listening to all they said, and putting in his censorious
comments?--as if his being a newly-fledged curate gave him a right of
judgment of things that in no way concerned him! Sydney, of course,
might like it, and accept his opinions; but as for herself--in extreme
disgust at the disappointment he had innocently caused her, and
prophetic indignation at the remarks she felt sure the well-meaning
young clergyman would make, Eugenia softly closed the school-room door,
and retired to the rug again, in vain hopes of being left in peace till
the visitor had departed. But no; such was not to be the case. The
voices came nearer--Sydney's sweet, even, and cheerful as usual;
Frank's, for him, sounding surely eager and excited. What could he be
in a fuss about? In they came; Sydney's fair face glowing with her
quick walk in the cold, and with pleasurable excitement.
"Oh, Eugenia dear, I thought I should never get away from poor aunt.
She is so fidgety to-day! How lonely you must have been all day! I met
Frank as I came in. What do you think he has come to tell us?"
He was in a fuss about something then. Eugenia rather enjoyed it. It
was her turn for once to be cool and critical.
"You do look excited, Frank," she said, provokingly, returning, as she
spoke, to the comfortable seat on the rug, from which she had risen to
meet her sister. "What in the world is the matter? I thought fuss of
every kind was against your principles."
"There are exceptions to every rule," said the young man, stiffly. "Not
that I am in a fuss, as you call it, Eugenia; but if I were it would be
quite excusable."
His tone brought a slight cloud over Sydney's face. The chronic, petty
warfare between these two antagonistic spirits tried sorely her
equanimity. Half unconsciously she turned towards her sister with an
expression in her quiet blue eyes that struck home to Eugenia's good
feeling.
"I don't mean to be teasing, Frank," she said, gently. "I really should
like to know what your news is. It must be good, for Sydney and you
both looked so beaming when you came in."
Eugenia seldom needed to try twice when she really wished to please or
mollify; even the apparently accidental coupling of her sister's name
with his did its work. Frank Thurston's tone was much more gracious as
he proceeded to gratify her curiosity.
"Good news!" he repeated; "I should rather think it was good news. I
have just heard from Gerald, Eugenia. He is home again--all but home
again, at least. His letter was posted at Southampton by himself. He
may be here any time now--sure to be in a few days."
"Gerald back again!" exclaimed Eugenia, with considerable surprise. "I
had no idea there was any chance of his coming so soon. How delighted
you will be to see him again, Frank."
She wished to be cordial, but her tone sounded slightly forced, and
evidently did not satisfy the young clergyman. There seemed a little
inquiry in his voice and manner as he replied--
"Of course I shall be. But not only I: I am sure your father, for one,
will be glad to hear it. Gerald is one of the few men I know who is
thoroughly liked and respected `in his own country.' I am sure he will
be heartily welcomed home again to Wareborough. You two used to be very
fond of him in the old days. He didn't tease you as much as I did.
Dear old fellow!"
"He was very good to Sydney and me--always. We shall all be delighted
to see him again," said Eugenia, rousing herself to speak as heartily as
she saw was expected of her. "Dear me," she went on, thoughtfully, "it
is three years since he went away!"
"He will hardly know us again," said Sydney. "I was scarcely fifteen
then."
"Yet you are less altered than Eugenia," observed Mr Thurston.
It was true. The younger girl, though not quite as tall as her sister,
might easily have been taken for the elder. She had reached her full
height at an earlier age than Eugenia, her figure was rounder, her
expression of face less changeful.
"Suppose we change characters--Sydney passing for me and I for her--when
Gerald first sees us?" suggested Miss Laurence.
She spoke idly; she was not prepared for Frank's hasty reply.
"No, indeed. I should not like it at all," he exclaimed abruptly.
Eugenia raised her head and looked at him; her eyes opened to their
widest. He coloured a little. "I mean to say," he went on, hurriedly
and rather incoherently, "I mean--it would be nonsense. He could not
mistake you, and I don't like practical jokes--I thoroughly disapprove
of them," he had quite recovered himself by now. "They are
objectionable in every way; they offend against both good feeling and
good taste."
Miss Laurence made no reply. She felt no spirit to-day to argue with
Frank, dictatorial though he was, and she did not want to vex Sydney
again. She only thought the curate a great bore, and wished he would
go. Her silence proved her best ally, for, as no one appeared inclined
to dispute his last dictum, Mr Thurston's attention returned to other
matters.
"I must go," he said, drawing out a shabby silver watch--he was always
intending to treat himself to a better one, but there was a good deal of
distress in Wareborough this winter--"I have a confirmation class at
half-past six, and three sick people to see before that. Oh,
by-the-bye, Eugenia, how did your party go off last night?"
"I never know what people mean by things `going off,'" said Eugenia,
rather superciliously. "If you mean to ask me if I enjoyed myself, that
is quite another thing."
Frank Thurston laughed. He always felt pleasantly good-humoured and
"superior" when Miss Laurence's feathers showed signs of becoming
ruffled.
"I suppose I may infer from that that you _did_ enjoy yourself," he
replied, amiably. "But I mustn't stay to hear your adventures, even if
they were in my line, which they are not likely to be. You must be
anxious to narrate them to Sydney, however, so I must be off."
He shook hands with both sisters quickly, and left them; but, somehow,
Eugenia no longer felt eager to "talk it all over" with Sydney. As the
door closed on their visitor, she strolled to the window and stood there
without speaking for some minutes, looking out at the garden. Sydney,
contrary to her usual habit, had seated herself--out-door wraps, muddy
boots, and all--near the fire, and her sister's silence surprised her.
"Did you _not_ enjoy yourself last night, Eugenia?" she said at length,
with some hesitation.
"I don't know," was the reply. The words were ungracious, but the tone
wearied and dispirited.
"Is anything the matter?" asked Sydney again, after waiting to see if
Eugenia had nothing more to say.
"Oh no--nothing. I am only cross. Don't mind me, Sydney. I'll tell
you all there is to tell when I'm in a better humour. Oh, Sydney!" she
broke off, abruptly, "how dreadfully ugly this garden is!" She was
still staring out of the window. "I do hate this sort of half-town
half-country garden. I wish you hated things too, sometimes, Sydney--it
would be a comfort to me."
"Would it?" said the younger girl, quietly. "I am not so sure of that."
But she got up from her seat as she spoke, and, crossing the room to
her sister, stood beside her at the window. There seemed something
soothing in her near presence. Eugenia's face cleared a little.
Certainly the prospect was not an attractive one. A suburban garden is
seldom satisfactory, and this one was no exception to the rule. There
was about it none of that strange, touching charm of contrast, of
unexpected restfulness, which affects one so curiously in some town
gardens. It was too far out of the town for that, and even had it not
been so, Wareborough, grim yet not venerable, was not the sort of place
in which such an oasis could exist. Wareborough dirt was neither mould
nor decay, but unavoidable nineteenth-century dirt, fresh from the
factories and the tall chimneys. Wareborough noise was the noise,
obtrusive and unmistakeable, of the workshop and the steam-engine--no
muffled, mysterious roar: at no hour of day or night could Wareborough,
distinct from its human element, inspire any but the most practical and
prosaic sentiments; and Eugenia Laurence was of the nature and at the
age to chafe and fret greatly at such surroundings. For she had not
hitherto penetrated much below the surface of things: indignant as she
would have been at the accusation, poetry and beauty were as yet known
to her but in very conventional clothing. She had not yet learned to
feel the beat of the universal "mighty heart," nor been moved to tears
by "the still, sad music of humanity." And in such a mood as to-day's,
this unlovely garden caused her actual pain. Yet there was something to
be said for the poor garden after all. It was praiseworthy even while
almost provoking to see how very hard the stunted shrubs struggled for
existence; a pitiful sort of consciousness seemed to pervade the whole
of having known better days, of having in past years been pretty and
flourishing, though now slowly but surely succumbing to the adverse
influences of the ever-increasing building in the vicinity--the vast
army of smuts, the year by year more heavily laden air.
"I wish," said Eugenia, at length, "I wish we either lived quite in the
middle of a great town--I shouldn't mind if it were in the heart of the
city even, in London, I mean--or quite, quite in the country. Up on the
top of a hill or down in the depths of a valley, I don't care which,
provided it was out of sight and hearing of railways and omnibuses, and
smoke and factories, and--and--"
"And shops?" suggested Sydney. "Shops and perhaps churches?"
"No, I like shops. At least, I like buying nice things. You know I do,
Sydney--you are laughing at me," reproachfully. "It isn't nice of you
when I am speaking seriously and want you to be sympathising. As for
churches," she went on, languidly, "I am not sure if I would rather be
without them or not. It is one of the points I have not quite made up
my mind upon yet. Don't look so shocked child, I only said churches--I
didn't say clergymen; and of course, even up on the top of my hill there
would be sure to be a church, with no music, and sermons an hour long."
"Eugenia, what nonsense you do talk sometimes!" exclaimed Sydney, when
her sister at last stopped to take breath. "I cannot understand how
you, who are really so clever, can go on so. It doesn't matter with me,
of course, but a great many people wouldn't like it at all--wouldn't
understand that you were in fun."
"`A great many people' left the room ten minutes ago, my dear Sydney,"
replied Eugenia, coolly. "Don't distress yourself about me. We have
each our special talents, you know; perhaps mine is talking nonsense.
It is a great gift, but of course, like all great gifts, it requires
cultivation."
Sydney did not reply; she turned away, and moved slowly towards the
door.
"I must go and take my things off," she said, quietly.
"No, you mustn't; at least, not till I let you," exclaimed Eugenia.
"Now, Sydney, don't be tiresome. You are not to get cross; I've been
quite cross enough for both. You should be glad to see I've talked
myself into a good humour again. Come here, you crabbed little thing!"
she pulled Sydney with her down into her old place in front of the fire;
"and if you will be good and nice, I'll tell you about last night. Oh,
Sydney it was--I can't tell you what it was--it was so delightful. I
never thought anything in the world could be half so nice."
She had flung herself down on the rug by her sister, and as she spoke
she raised herself on her elbows, her head a little thrown back in her
excitement, her bright, expressive eyes looking up eagerly into Sydney's
face. Sydney looked full of interest and inquiry; over her face, fair
and soft and girlish as it was, there crept an expression of almost
maternal anxiety.
"I am glad you enjoyed it so much," she said, sympathisingly. "Mrs
Dalrymple was very kind, I suppose. Did you see that nice-looking Miss
Eyrecourt again? Is she still there?"
"She was, but I think she was to leave to-day," said Eugenia. Then
after a little pause she went on again--"Yes, she is handsome,
certainly; but, Sydney, I don't think I like her. But never mind about
her. Oh, Sydney, I did _so_ enjoy it all."
"I am very glad," said the younger sister again; "but tell me, Eugenia,
why did you enjoy it so much?"
It was very strange--now that she had Sydney all to herself
comfortably--Sydney, as eager to hear, as ready to be sympathising as
the most exacting narrator could demand, it seemed to Eugenia she had
nothing to tell. At first the younger sister felt rather puzzled, but
before long the mystery was explained--an accidental allusion to the
hero of the evening by name, and Sydney understood the whole; understood
it, young as she was, far better than Eugenia herself. The discovery by
no means diminished her anxiety, the cause for which she, perhaps, a
little exaggerated. She knew her sister's fitfulness and
impressionability; she suspected, though but dimly, the unsounded depths
beneath. Yet she made an almost unavoidable mistake in judging this
vivid, complex, immature nature too much by her own. How could a girl
of seventeen, wise though she might be for her years, have done
otherwise?
She kept her suspicions to herself, her misgivings also at first, but
she did not altogether succeed in concealing her gravity.
"What are you looking so gloomy about, Sydney?" said Eugenia.
"I don't quite know. I can't exactly say why I feel so--not gloomy,
Eugenia, but anxious," she replied. "I am not sure that I like that
Captain Chancellor, however handsome and charming he is. I don't think
it was _quite_ nice of him picking you out in that conspicuous way. It
must have made people notice you."
"_That_ would never trouble me," said Eugenia, loftily; but still the
half-expressed doubt in her sister's words seemed to echo some hitherto
unacknowledged instinct in herself. Sydney went on speaking--
"I have often felt a sort of vague dread of finding ourselves really
grown-up, Eugenia. Papa _can't_ enter into things as a mother could,
though he is so kind and gentle. We seem to be thrown so on our own
resources. I don't, of course, mean so much with regard to myself;"
here a faint tinge of pink crept over her face; "I am wonderfully,
unusually fortunate; but that does not make my anxiety for your
happiness the less; I wish we had a mother, Eugenia."
"So do I," said the elder girl, wistfully. "Even if she had lived a few
years with us it would have been different. But not even to be able to
remember her! We can't expect papa to see that we are too much thrown
upon ourselves, for he has never seen it otherwise. And, of course,
Aunt Susan is less than no good. However, Sydney," she went on, in a
different tone, "as far as regards this Captain Chancellor, whom, for
some reason--I don't know what, I don't think you quite do yourself--you
are so afraid of, you may set your mind at rest. I have been thinking
very seriously to myself to-day. I thoroughly understand myself and the
whole position of things, and I am very well able to take care of
myself. I am not going to have my head turned so easily."
Sydney smiled, and shook her head.
"I hope not," she said. Eugenia grew more earnest.
"Don't look so unconvinced," she remonstrated. "Even supposing I were
so contemptibly silly, do you think I couldn't stop in time--do you
think I would let any one--even you--find it out? But, after all, what
is more to the purpose, and will satisfy you better than all my
assurances, the chances are very small that I shall ever meet this
dangerous person again. So forget all about him, Sydney, and I shall
too. By-the-bye, how strange it will seem to have Gerald Thurston here
again. I am glad for papa's sake."
"And for our own sakes too," said Sydney, with some indignation. "I
think you are strangely ungrateful, Eugenia. Have you forgotten how
very, very kind he was to us--to you especially? I know you cried
bitterly when he went away."
"Did I? I was a child," said Eugenia, indifferently. But immediately
her mood changed. "No, Sydney," she exclaimed, "it _is_ ungrateful of
me to speak like that; I do remember and I shall always like Gerald.
But Frank provokes me into seeming uninterested by the fuss he makes
about Gerald, as if such a piece of perfection never existed before.
And you're nearly as bad yourself. Now, don't look dignified. I cannot
help being contradictory sometimes. Kiss me, Sydney;" for by this time
Sydney had risen and was really leaving the room, but stopped to kiss
her sister as she was told. "That's a good child, and thank you for
your advice, or warning, whichever it was, though I really don't need it
as much as you think. I promise to forget all about Captain Chancellor
as fast as I can. There now, won't that please you?"
The "forgetting all about him" was not to be done in a minute, she
found, though she set to work at it vehemently enough; for the leaving
anything alone, allowing a possible evil to die a natural death, as is
not unfrequently the wisest policy, was a negative course quite opposed
to Miss Laurence's principles. Constantly during the next few days she
found herself speculating on the possibility of her meeting Captain
Chancellor again, recalling his words, and looks, and tones; but these
"follies" she did her best to discourage. Never had she been more
active or energetic in her home duties, never more resolutely cheerful.
Sydney watched her, wondered, and admired, but still could not feel
quite as easy in her mind as before the talk in the old school-room.
Eugenia, on the contrary, was eminently pleased with herself, and had
thoroughly recovered her own respect. The task set before her she
imagined to be all but achieved--the goal of perfect mastery of the
impression she now believed to have been a very fleeting one, all but
won.
One day at dinner, within a week of the foggy evening, her father turned
towards her with a startling announcement.
"Oh, by-the-bye, Eugenia, I was forgetting to tell you. I expect two or
three gentlemen to dine here the day after to-morrow. Mr Foulkes, the
school-inspector, you know, Mr Payne, and Frank Thurston--there is just
a chance of Gerald, but Frank hardly expects him so soon, he has been
detained in town by business--and I asked Captain Chancellor, the
Dalrymples' friend. He called on me yesterday at my office to get a
little local information he required, and I was much pleased with him.
He seems very intelligent, and superior to most young men of his
standing. It must be dull for him here--very different from a place
where there is a large garrison--but he says he likes it better."
Eugenia hardly heard her father's last words: she was conscious only of
a rush of tumultuous, bewildering delight. What had become of her
strong-mindedness, her self-control, all her grand resolutions? She
felt that Sydney was purposely not looking at her; it was almost worse
than if she had been. Never mind! Sydney soon would be able to judge
for herself as to whether she were, after all, so very silly. In any
case this was not of her doing--this unhoped-for fulfilment of her
dreams. Dreams she had not encouraged, had kept down with a strong
hand. It had been right to do so; might not this news of her father's
be looked upon as her deserved reward? The idea was a pleasant one; it
excused to herself her own extreme, unreasonable happiness.
The rest of the dinner appeared to her a very feast of the gods; she
herself was radiant with happiness--it seemed to sparkle about her in a
hundred different ways. Even her father was struck with her brightness
and beauty. He held her back for a moment as she passed him when she
and Sydney left the room, and kissed her fondly--an unusual thing for
him to do, and it added to the girl's enchantment.
Only Sydney seemed in low spirits this evening, but she roused herself
at Eugenia's first word of reproach, and wisely refrained, from the
slightest renewal of her former warning. Eugenia's moods were seldom of
long duration. A little cloud came over her sun even before they were
joined by their father from the dining-room. Its cause was a very
matter-of-fact one.
"Oh, Sydney!" she exclaimed, suddenly. "How can we manage to have a
very nice dinner on Thursday? We must have everything good and well
arranged, and there are some things cook never sends up nicely. And
don't you think we might walk to Barton's nursery-gardens to-morrow and
get some flowers? I am sure papa would like everything to look nice."
Sydney professed herself quite willing to speak to cook about exerting
herself to the utmost--to walk any distance and in any direction Eugenia
wished.
So they were very busy the next day, and on Thursday morning they went
to Barton's and got the flowers, as many as they thought they might
afford. There were a few camelias among them, and in arranging them for
the table, Eugenia kept out two--a scarlet one for Sydney, a white one
for herself. But at the last moment the white flower fell to pieces,
which so distressed Sydney that Eugenia had difficulty in persuading her
to allow her own one to remain in its nest among the plaits of her soft
fair hair.
"I don't care for things you don't share, Eugenia. I couldn't be happy
if you weren't," she said, with more earnestness than the occasion
seemed to call for. And Eugenia laughed at her and called her a little
goose, and looked as if she felt little fear that happiness and she
would ever be far apart.