In consequence of the registration under the Reform Act it was not
possible for parliament to be dissolved, and an appeal made to the new
constituency, until the end of the year. This was advantageous to Mr.
Ferrars, and afforded him six months of personal security to arrange his
affairs. Both husband and wife were proud, and were anxious to quit the
world with dignity. All were so busy about themselves at that period,
and the vicissitudes of life between continental revolutions and English
reform so various and extensive, that it was not difficult to avoid the
scrutiny of society. Mrs. Ferrars broke to Zenobia that, as her husband
was no longer to be in parliament, they had resolved to retire for some
time to a country life, though, as Mr. Ferrars had at length succeeded
in impressing on his wife that their future income was to be counted by
hundreds, rather than thousands, it was difficult for her to realise a
rural establishment that should combine dignity and economy. Without,
however, absolutely alleging the cause, she contrived to baffle the
various propositions of this kind which the energetic Zenobia made to
her, and while she listened with apparent interest to accounts of deer
parks, and extensive shooting, and delightful neighbourhoods, would just
exclaim, “Charming! but rather more, I fancy, than we require, for we
mean to be very quiet till my girl is presented.”
That young lady was now thirteen, and though her parents were careful
to say nothing in her presence which would materially reveal their real
situation, for which they intended very gradually to prepare her, the
scrutinising powers with which nature had prodigally invested their
daughter were not easily baffled. She asked no questions, but nothing
seemed to escape the penetrative glance of that large dark blue eye,
calm amid all the mystery, and tolerating rather than sharing the
frequent embrace of her parents. After a while her brother came home
from Eton, to which he was never to return. A few days before this
event she became unusually restless, and even agitated. When he arrived,
neither Mr. nor Mrs. Ferrars was at home. He knocked gaily at the
door, a schoolboy’s knock, and was hardly in the hall when his name
was called, and he caught the face of his sister, leaning over the
balustrade of the landing-place. He ran upstairs with wondrous speed,
and was in an instant locked in her arms. She kissed him and kissed him
again, and when he tried to speak, she stopped his mouth with kisses.
And then she said, “Something has happened. What it is I cannot make
out, but we are to have no more ponies.”