“I WISH we could do something for Aunt Anne,” Mrs. Hibbert said to her
husband that evening. “It was very kind of her to send us those
flowers.”
“Let’s ask her to dine.”
“Of course we will—she is longing to see you; still, asking her to dine
will not be doing anything for her.”
“But it will please her very much; she likes being treated with
respect,” Walter laughed. “Let’s send her a formal invitation. You see
these people she is with evidently like her and may give her a hundred
or two a year, quite as much as she wants, so that all we can do is to
show her some attention. Therefore, I repeat, let’s ask her to dine.”
“It’s so like a man’s suggestion,” Florence exclaimed; “but still, we’ll
do it if you like. She wants to see you. Of course she may not be able
to come if her time is not her own.”
“We must risk that—I’ll tell you what, Floggie dear, ask her for next
Thursday, with Fisher and Wimple and Ethel Dunlop. She’ll make the
number up to six, which will be better than five. It will please her
enormously to be asked to meet people—in your invitation say a small
dinner-party.”
“Very well. It will be a comfort if she takes Mr. Wimple off our hands.
Perhaps she will.”
So a quite formal invitation was sent to Aunt Anne, and her reply
awaited with much anxiety. It came the next morning, and ran thus:
“MY DEAR FLORENCE,
“It gives me sincere pleasure to accept the invitation that you
and your dear Walter have sent me for next Thursday. It is long
since I went into society, except in this house, where it is a
matter of duty. But, for your sakes, dears, I will put aside my
sorrow for the evening, and try to enjoy, as I ought, the
pleasure of seeing you both, and of meeting those whom you
honour with your friendship.
“In the happiness and excitement of seeing you the other day,
dear Florence, I forgot to mention one object of my visit. It is
most important to me in my present unfortunate position to hide
my poverty and to preserve an appearance that will prevent me
from being slighted in the society in which—sorely against my
will—I am thrown. Will you, therefore, my dear ones, send me a
black satin sunshade, plain but good, lined with black in
preference to white, and with a handle sufficiently distinctive
to prevent its being mistaken for another person’s if it is left
in the hall when I am paying visits? There are many other things
I require, but I do not like to tax your kindness too far, or,
knowing your generous hearts, to cause you disquiet even by
naming them. At the same time, dear Florence, I am sure you will
understand my embarrassment when I tell you I only possess four
pocket-handkerchiefs fit to use in a house like this. If you
have any lying by you with a deep black border, and would lend
them to me till you require them, it would be a real boon.
“Kiss your sweet children for me. I sent them yesterday a little
token that I did not cease to think of you all as soon as I had
left your presence—as the world is only too prone to do.
“Your affectionate Aunt,
“ANNE BAINES.
“P.S.—I should be glad, my darlings, to have the sunshade
without delay, for the afternoons are getting to be so bright
and sunny that I have requested Mrs. North to have out the open
carriage for her afternoon drive.”
“Really, Walter,” Mrs. Hibbert said, “she is a most extraordinary
person. If she is so poor that she cannot buy a few
pocket-handkerchiefs, why did she send us those presents yesterday?
Flowers are expensive at this time of year.”
“It was very like her. I remember years ago hearing that she had
quarrelled with my uncle Tom because she sent his son a wedding present,
and then he would not lend her the money to pay the bill.”
“Of course we will send her the things, but she is a foolish old lady.
As if I should keep deep black-bordered handkerchiefs by me: really it
is too absurd.”
“Yes, darling, it is too absurd. Still, send her a nice sunshade, or
whatever it is she wants; I suppose a pound or two will do it,” Walter
said, and hurried off to the office.
But Florence sat thinking. The sunshade and the handkerchiefs would make
a big hole in the money allowed for weekly expenses, could not indeed
come out of it. She wished she could take things as easily as Walter
did, but the small worries of life never fell upon him as they did upon
her. She was inclined to think that it was the small worries that made
wrinkles, and she thought of those on poor Aunt Anne’s face. Perhaps
that was why women as a rule had so many more lines than men. The lines
on a man’s face were generally fewer and deeper, but on a woman’s they
were small and everywhere; they symbolized the little cares of every
day, the petty anxieties that found men too hard to mark. She went
through her accounts: she was one of those women who keep them
carefully, who know to a penny how they spent their last five-pound
note. But it was only because she was anxious to give Walter the very
best that could be got out of his income that she measured so often the
length and breadth of her purse. However, it was no good. The old lady
must have her sunshade and her handkerchiefs. So Florence walked to
Regent Street and back to buy them. She went without the gloves she had
promised herself, determined that Catty should wait for a hat, and that
she would cut down the dessert for a week at the little evening dinner.
The brown-paper parcel was directed and sent off to Mrs. Baines. With a
sigh Florence wished she were more generous, and dismissed the whole
business from her mind.
“Mrs. Baines called, ma’am,” the servant said, when she reached home
that day. “She wanted the address of a very good dressmaker.”
“Is she here? I hope you begged her to come in?” Florence asked, with a
vision of Aunt Anne calling in a hurry, tired by her walk, and
distressed at finding no one at home.
“Oh no, ma’am; she didn’t get out of the carriage when she heard you
were not in. I gave her Madame Celestine’s address, and said that she
had made your best evening dress, as she was very particular about its
being a grand dressmaker.”
“I suppose it was for Mrs. North,” Florence thought. “Poor Aunt Anne is
not likely to want Madame Celestine.”
Then she imagined the spare old lady in a scanty black gown going out
with the pretty and probably beautifully dressed girls to whom she was
chaperon.
As a sort of amends for the unkindness of fate, Florence made some
little soft white adornments for throat and wrists such as widows wear
and that yet look smart, and, packing them in a cardboard box, sent
them—_With kind love to Aunt Anne_. “Perhaps they will gratify her
pride a little, poor dear, and it is so nice to have one’s pride
gratified,” she thought. And then, for a space, Aunt Anne was almost
forgotten.
The days slipped by anxiously enough to the Hibberts—to Walter, for he
knew that Mr. Fisher meant to talk with Florence about something that
had been agreed between them at the office; to Florence, because without
increasing the bills she really could not manage to put that little
dinner together. Walter was particular; he liked luxuries, and things
well managed, and she could not bear to disappoint him. However, the
evening came at last. The flowers and dessert were arranged, the claret
was at the right temperature, the champagne was in ice. Florence went
upstairs to say good-night to the children, and to rest for five
minutes. Walter came in with a flower for her dress.
“It is so like you,” she said as she kissed it; “you are always the
thoughtfullest old man in the world.”
“I wished I had bought one for Aunt Anne as I came along in the hansom;
but I forgot it at first, and then I was afraid to go back because it
was getting so late.”
He dressed and went downstairs. Florence leisurely began to get ready.
Ten minutes later a carriage stopped; a bell rang, there was a loud
double knock—some one had arrived.
“But it is a quarter of an hour too soon?” she said in dismay to Maria
who was helping her.
The maid stood on tiptoe by the window to see who the early comer might
be.
“It’s only Mrs. Baines, ma’am.”
They had learned to say “only” already, Florence thought. She was angry
at the word, yet relieved at its not being a more important visitor.
“I am very vexed at not being dressed to receive her,” she said coldly,
in order to give Mrs. Baines importance. “Make haste and fasten my
dress, Maria.”
There was a sound of some one coming upstairs, a rustle of silk, and a
gentle knock at the bedroom door.
“My darling, I came early on purpose. May I be allowed to enter, dear
Florence?”
The voice was certainly Aunt Anne’s, but the tone was so joyous, so
different from the woebegone one of ten days ago that it filled her
hearer with amazement.
“Come in, Aunt Anne, if you like; but I am not quite ready.”
“I know that, my love. I hoped you would not be;” and Aunt Anne entered,
beaming with satisfaction, beautifully dressed, her long robe trailing,
her thin throat wrapped with softest white of some filmy kind, her shoes
fastened with heavy bows that showed a paste diamond in them, her hands
full of flowers. Florence could scarcely believe her eyes.
“Aunt Anne!” she exclaimed, and stood still looking at her.
“Yes, my love,” the old lady laughed. “Aunt Anne; and she has brought
you these flowers. I thought they might adorn your room, and that they
would prove how much you were in my mind, even while I was away from
you. Would you gratify me by wearing one or two? I see you have a white
rose there, but I am sure Walter will not mind your wearing one of his
aunt’s flowers; and, my love, perhaps you will permit your maid to take
the rest downstairs to arrange before the arrival of your other guests.
I will myself help you to finish your toilette.”
With an air that was a command, she gave the flowers to Maria and
carefully watched her out of the room. Then turning to Florence, she
asked with the joyousness still in her manner, “And now, my dear, tell
me if you like my dress?”
“It is quite beautiful, and so handsome.”
“My darling, I am thankful to hear you say that, for I bought it to do
you honour. I was touched to get your invitation, and determined that
you should not be ashamed of me. Did the housemaid tell you that she
gave me Madame Celestine’s address?”
“Yes. But, Aunt Anne, I hope you bargained with her. She costs a fortune
if you don’t.”
“Never mind what she costs. I wished to prove to you both how much I
loved you and desired to do you honour. And now, my dear, I perceive
that you are ready, let us go down. I have not seen Walter yet, and am
longing to put my arms round his dear neck before any one else arrives
and forces me into a formality that my heart would resent.”
She turned and led the way downstairs. Florence followed meekly, feeling
almost shabby and altogether left in the shade by the magnificent
relation who had appeared for their simple party.
Aunt Anne trod with the footstep of one who knew the house well; she
opened the drawing-room door with an air of precision, and going towards
Walter, who met her halfway across the room, dropped her head with its
white cap on his shoulder.
“My dear Walter, no words can express how glad I am to see you again, to
meet you in your own house, in your own room. It makes me forget all I
have suffered since we parted; it even forces me to be gay,” she
murmured, in an almost sobbing tone.
“Yes, dear, of course it does,” he said cheerily, giving her a kiss.
“And we are very glad to see you. Why, you look uncommonly well; and, I
say, what an awful swell you are—isn’t she, Floggie?”
“He is precisely the same—the same as ever,” laughed out the old lady
just as she had at Brighton seven years before. “Precisely the same. Oh,
my dear Walter, I shall——”
But here the door opened, and for the moment Mr. Wimple’s arrival put an
end to Aunt Anne’s remembrances.
Mr. Wimple was evidently conscious of his evening clothes; his waistcoat
was cut so as to show as much white shirt as possible; his tie looked a
little rumpled, as though the first attempt at making a bow had not been
successful. He shook hands solemnly with his host and hostess, then
looked round almost sadly, and in a voice that was full of grave meaning
said it was cold and chilly.
“Cough better?” Walter inquired.
“Yes, it is better,” Mr. Wimple replied slowly after a moment’s
consideration, as if the question was a momentous one.
“That’s right. Now, I must introduce you to my aunt, Mrs. Baines. Alfred
Wimple is an old schoolfellow of mine, Aunt Anne.”
The old lady put out her gloved hand with the lace ruffle round the
wrist.
“I am glad to meet you,” she said. “It is always a pleasure to me to
meet any one who has been intimately associated with my dear Walter.”
“And to me to meet any one belonging to him,” Mr. Wimple responded, with
much gravity. “Walter is the oldest, and I may say the dearest, friend I
possess.”
“It makes us also friends;” and Aunt Anne gave him a little gracious
smile.
He looked up at her.
“It would be impossible that any one loving my dear Walter should not
possess my friendship,” she said as if explaining her previous speech:
she made it appear almost a condescension. He looked at her again, but
more attentively.
“I am very fond of Walter,” he said.
“It is impossible to help it—dear boy,” she said under her breath as
she looked at her nephew. “It must be a great pleasure to him, Mr.
Wimple, to preserve your affection; the feelings of our youth are so
often lost in oblivion as we grow old—as we grow older I should say, in
speaking to you.”
The other guests entered, Ethel Dunlop a little shy but smiling, as if
aware that being a girl she had more business at dances than at
dinner-parties, but was nevertheless quite happy. And lastly Mr. Fisher.
Alfred Wimple stood on one side till Walter went towards him.
“Fisher, this is a very old friend of mine. I want to introduce him to
you.”
There was something irritating and savouring of mock humility in Mr.
Wimple’s manner as he bowed and said, with a little gulp that was one of
his peculiarities—
“Walter is always conferring benefits upon me—this is a great honour.”
Mr. Fisher looked at him and, with a polite word, turned to Ethel
Dunlop. She was busy with her glove.
“Buttons always come off,” she said, without looking up. Other people
might treat him with deference as an editor; to her he was a mere man.
“But you can at least sew them on; my sex is not so accomplished.”
She seemed to be thinking of something else and did not answer, and a
puzzled look came over his face, as if a girl was a problem he did not
know how to work out. He was an odd looking man, tall and pale, with a
quantity of light hair pushed back from his high forehead. He had almost
tender blue eyes; but there was something hard and firm about the mouth
and square jaw that gave his face a look of strength. He was not a young
man, but it was difficult to believe that he had ever been younger or
would be older; he seemed to have been born for middle age, and the
direction of people and affairs. The awkwardness of middle age that is
not accustomed to womankind overtook him as he stood by Ethel. It was a
little relief to him when dinner was announced.
Aunt Anne turned to Walter, as he went up to her, with a little
inclination of her head and a smile of dignified happiness.
“It is so like a dream to be here with you, to be going down on your
arm—dear children,” she whispered as they descended the narrow
staircase.
Looking back, Florence always felt that Aunt Anne had been the heroine
of that party. She took the lead in conversation, the others waiting for
her to speak, and no one dared to break up the group at table into
_tête-à-tête_ talk. She was so bright and full of life and had so much
to say that she carried all before her. Ethel Dunlop, young and pretty,
felt piqued; usually Mr. Fisher was attentive to her, to-night he talked
entirely to Mrs. Baines. That horrid Mr. Wimple, as she called him in
her thoughts, had been quite attentive when she met him before, but now
he too kept his eyes fixed on the old lady opposite; but for her host
she would have felt neglected. And it was odd how well Aunt Anne managed
to flirt with everybody.
“Mrs. Baines has given me some useful hints about birds,” Mr. Fisher
told Florence with a suspicion of amusement in his voice: “if I had been
as wise formerly as she has made me to-night the white cockatoo might
have been living still. We ought to have met years ago, Mrs. Baines,” he
said, turning to her.
“I think so too,” she said winningly. “It is such a pleasure to meet
dear Walter’s and Florence’s friends,” she added, looking round the
table and giving a strange little wink at the last word that made Mr.
Wimple feel almost uncomfortable. “It is a privilege that I have looked
forward to for years, but that living in the country has hitherto made
impossible. Now that I am in London I hope I shall meet them all in
turn.” Then she lowered her voice and went on to the editor: “I have
heard so much of you, Mr. Fisher, if you will forgive me for saying so,
though a great career like yours implies that all the world has heard of
you.”
“I wish it could be called a great career, my dear lady,” he answered,
feeling that she was a person whose death would deserve a paragraph
simply on account of the extraordinary knowledge of the world she
possessed. “Unfortunately it has been a very ordinary one, but I can
assure you that I am most glad to meet you to-night. I ought to have
been at a City dinner, and shall always congratulate myself on my
happier condition.”
“I should like to see a City dinner,” Mrs. Baines said sadly.
“I wish I could send you my invitations. I go to too many, I fear.”
“I suppose you have been to a great many also, Mr. Wimple?” Aunt Anne
inquired, careful to exclude no one from her little court.
“To one only, I regret to say, Mrs. Baines,” Mr. Wimple answered
solemnly; “four years ago I went to the solitary one I ever attended.”
“Ah, that was during the mayoralty of Sir William Rammage.”
“Do you know him, Mrs. Baines, or do you keep a record of the Lord
Mayors?” Mr. Fisher asked.
“I knew him well, years and years—I am afraid I should shock you—you
are all so young—if I said how many years ago,” she answered; and Mr.
Fisher, who was well on in his forties, thought she was really a
charming old lady.
“He is a great friend of my uncle’s, he is a very old client of his,”
Mr. Wimple said, looking at Mrs. Baines again with his strange fixed
gaze, while Ethel Dunlop thought that that horrid Mr. Wimple was
actually making eyes at the old lady as he did at every one else.
“And may I ask if you also are on intimate terms with him?” Mrs. Baines
said.
“No, I have only met him at my uncle’s. He is very rich,” he added, with
a sigh, “and rich people are not much in my way. Literary people and
out-at-elbow scribblers are my usual associates; for,” he went on,
remembering that there was a possibility of doing some business with Mr.
Fisher, and that he had better make an impression on the great man, “I
never met any illustrious members of the profession till to-night,
excepting our friend Walter of course.”
Mr. Fisher looked a little disgusted and turned to the young lady of the
party.
“Have you been very musical lately, Miss Dunlop?” he inquired.
“No,” she answered, “not very. But we enjoyed the concert. It was very
kind of you to send the tickets.”
The editor’s face lighted up.
“I am glad,” he said; “and did you find a pleasant chaperon?”
“Oh yes, thank you. I went with my cousin, George Dighton.”
“Is that the good-looking youth I saw you with once?”
“Youth,” Ethel laughed; “he is three-and-twenty.”
“A most mature age,” and a smile flickered over Mr. Fisher’s grave face;
“and does he often escort you to concerts?”
“Occasionally.”
“He is fortunate in having the privilege as well as the time to avail
himself of it,” the editor said formally. His manner was always
reserved, sometimes even a little stately. Now and then, oddly enough,
it reminded one of Aunt Anne’s, though it was a generation younger, and
he had not her faculty for long words.
“You never seem able to go to concerts. It is quite sad and wicked,”
Ethel said brightly.
He looked up as if he liked her.
“Not often. Perhaps some day if you would honour me, only I am not a
cousin; still I have passed the giddy age of Mr. Dighton.”
“We will, we will,” she laughed, and nodded; “but relations only are
able to survive the responsibility of taking me about alone. Perhaps
Mrs. Hibbert would——”
“Ah yes, Mr. Wimple,” they heard Mrs. Baines say, “I have good reason to
know Sir William Rammage. He is my own cousin, though for years and
years we had not met till we did so a few months since, when I came to
take up my residence in London.”
The old lady’s mouth twitched nervously, the sad note of a week ago made
itself heard in her voice again. Mrs. Hibbert knew that she was thinking
of the unsuccessful appeal to her rich relation, and of the port wine
that had always proved pernicious to her digestion.
“Your cousin!” said Mr. Wimple, and he fixed another long, steady gaze
upon Mrs. Baines, “that is very interesting;” and he was silent.
“Cousins seem to abound in our conversation this evening,” Miss Dunlop
said to Mr. Fisher; “it must be terrible to be cousin to the Lord
Mayor.”
“Like being related to Gog and Magog,” he whispered.
“Even worse,” she answered, pretending to shudder.
But Mrs. Hibbert was looking at Aunt Anne, for it was time to go
upstairs. Mrs. Baines went out of the door with a stateliness that was
downright courage, considering how small and slight she was. Ethel
Dunlop, standing aside to let her pass, looked at her admiringly, but
the old lady gave her back, with the left eye, a momentary glance that
was merely condescending. Unless Aunt Anne took a fancy to people, or
made a point of being agreeable, she was apt to be condescending. Her
manner to young people was sometimes impatient, and to servants it was
generally irritating. She had taken a dislike to Miss Dunlop—she
considered her forward. She did not like the manner in which she did her
hair. She was of opinion that her dress was unbecoming. All these things
had determined Mrs. Baines to snub Miss Dunlop, who ill deserved it, for
she was a pretty, motherless girl of one-and-twenty, very anxious to do
right and to find the world a pleasant dwelling-place.
The old lady sat down on the yellow couch in the drawing-room again, the
same couch on which, a fortnight before, she had sat and related her
misfortunes. But it was difficult to believe that she was the same
person. Her dress was spread out; her gloves were drawn on and carefully
buttoned; she opened and shut a small black fan; she looked round the
drawing-room with an air of condescension, and almost sternly refused
coffee with a “not any, I thank you,” that made the servant feel rebuked
for having offered it. Mrs. Hibbert and Ethel felt that she was indeed
mistress of the situation.
“You are musical, I think, Miss Dunlop,” she asked coldly.
“I am very fond of music, and I play and sing in a very small way,” was
the modest answer.
“I hope we shall hear you presently,” Mrs. Baines said grandly, and
then, evidently feeling that she had taken quite enough notice of Miss
Dunlop, she turned to her niece.
“My dear Florence,” she said, “I think Mr. Wimple is charming. He has
one of the most expressive countenances I ever beheld.”
“Oh, Mrs. Baines, do you really think so?” Ethel Dunlop exclaimed.
“Certainly I do.” And Mrs. Baines turned her back. “Florence, are not
you of my opinion?”
“Well, Aunt Anne, I hardly know——” And happily the entrance of the men
prevented any further discussion. Somehow conversation flagged a little,
and silence threatened to fall on the party. Florence felt uneasy.
“Are we to have some music?” Walter asked presently. In these days music
after dinner, unless it is very excellent or there is some special
reason for introducing it, is generally a flag of distress, a sign that
dulness is near. Florence knew it, and looking at Ethel tried to cover
it by asking for a song.
“Ethel sings German songs delightfully, Aunt Anne,” she said; “I think
you would enjoy listening to her.”
“I should enjoy listening to any friend of yours,” the old lady
answered. But Miss Dunlop pleaded hoarseness and did not stir.
Mr. Wimple roused himself a little. “I am sure Mrs. Baines plays,” he
said, standing before her. Aunt Anne gave a long sigh.
“My playing days are over,” she answered.
“Oh no, Aunt Anne,” laughed Walter, “we cannot allow you to make that
excuse.”
In a moment she had risen.
“I never make excuses, Walter,” she said proudly; “if it is your
wish—if it will give you pleasure I will touch the keys again, though
it is long since I brought myself even to sit down before an
instrument.”
She took her place at the piano; she pulled out her handkerchief, not
one of the black-bordered ones that Florence had sent her a week ago,
but a dainty one of lawn and lace, and held it for a moment to her
forehead; then suddenly, with a strange vibrating touch that almost
startled her listeners, she began to play “Oft in the stilly night.”
Only for a moment did the fire last, her fingers grew feeble, they
missed the notes, she shook her head dreamily.
“I forget—I forget them all,” she said to herself rather than to any
one else, and then quickly recovering she looked round and apologized.
“It is so long,” she said, “and I forget.”
She began softly some variations on “I know a bank,” and played them
through to the end. When they were finished she rose and, with a little
old-fashioned bow to the piano, turned to Florence, and, saying, with a
sweet and curious dignity, “Thank you, my dear, and your friends too,
for listening to me,” went back to her seat.
Mr. Wimple was near her chair, he bent down to her.
“You gave us a great treat,” he said, as if he were stating a scientific
fact.
Mrs. Baines listened to his words gravely, she seemed to revolve them in
her mind for a moment before she looked up.
“I am sure you are musical, Mr. Wimple,” she said, “I can see it in your
face.”
“Aunt Anne,” Walter said, passing her, “should you mind my opening this
window?”
“No, my darling, I should like it,” she answered tenderly.
Mr. Wimple gave a long sigh.
“Lucky beggar he is; you are very fond of him?”
“Oh yes,” she answered, “he is like my own son;” and she nodded at
Walter, who was carrying on a laughing conversation with Ethel Dunlop,
while his wife was having what seemed to be a serious one with Mr.
Fisher. She looked round the room, her gaze rested on the open window.
“I think the carriage must be waiting,” she said, almost to herself.
“I will tell you;” and Mr. Wimple went on to the balcony. “It is a
lovely night, Mrs. Baines,” he said, and turning back he fastened his
strange eyes upon her. Without a word she rose and followed him.
“Aunt Anne,” Florence said, “you will catch your death of cold; you
mustn’t go out. Walter dear, get my thick white shawl for Aunt Anne.”
“Oh no, my love, pray continue your conversation; I have always made a
point of looking up at the sky before I retire to rest, therefore it is
not likely to do me harm.”
“I wouldn’t let it do you harm for the world,” Mr. Wimple whispered.
She heard him; but she seemed to digest his words slowly, for she nodded
to herself before, with the manner and smile that were so entirely her
own, she answered—
“Pray don’t distress yourself, Mr. Wimple, I am accustomed to stand
before the elements at all seasons of the year, and this air is not
likely to be detrimental to me; besides,” she added, with a gentle
laugh, “perhaps though I boasted of my age just now I am not so old as I
look. Oh, dear Walter, you are too good to me—dear boy;” and she turned
and let him wrap the thick white shawl about her. He lingered for a
moment, but there fell the dead silence that sometimes seems to chase
away a third person, and, feeling that he was not wanted, he went back
to Ethel Dunlop. It was a good thing Aunt Anne liked Alfred, he thought.
He had been afraid the latter would not wholly enjoy his evening, but
the old lady seemed to be making up for Florence’s rather scanty
attentions.
“It is impossible to you to be old,” Mr. Wimple said, still speaking
almost in a whisper.
The old lady appeared not to hear him; her hands were holding the white
shawl close round her neck, her eyes were following the long row of
street lamps on the right. The horses, waiting with the carriage before
the house, moved restlessly, and made their harness clink in the
stillness. Far off, a cornet was playing, as cornets love to do, “Then
you’ll remember me.” Beside her stood the young man watching. Behind, in
the drawing-room, dimly lighted by the shaded lamp and candles, the
others were talking, forgetful of everything but the subject that
interested them. Cheap sentimental surrounding enough, but they all told
on the old lady standing out on the balcony. The stars looking down on
her lighted up the soft white about her throat, and the outline of the
shawl-wrapped shoulders, almost youthful in their slenderness. Mr.
Wimple went a little closer, the tears came into her eyes, they trickled
down her withered cheeks, but he did not know it.
“It is like years ago,” she whispered, “those dear children and
all—all—it carries me back to forty—more—eight-and-forty years ago,
when I was a girl, and now I am old, I am old, it is the end of the
world for me.”
He stooped and picked up the handkerchief with the lace border.
“No,” he said, “don’t say that. It is not the end; age is not counted by
years, it is counted by other things;” and he coughed uneasily and
waited as if to watch the effect of his speech before continuing. “In
reality,” he went on, in the hard voice that would have jarred horribly
on more sensitive nerves—“in reality I am older than you, for I have
found the world so much colder than you can have done.” He said it with
deliberation, as if each word were weighed, or had been learnt
beforehand. “I wish you would teach me to live out of the abundance of
youth that will always be yours.”
She listened attentively; she turned and looked towards her left, far
ahead, away into the distance, as if puzzled and fascinated by it,
almost as if she were afraid of the darkness to which the distance
reached. Then she gave a little nod, as if she had remembered that it
was only the trees of the Regent’s Park that made the blackness.
“If you would teach me to live out of the abundance of youth that will
always be yours,” he said again, as if on consideration he were well
satisfied with the sentence, and thought it merited a reply.
She listened attentively for the second time, and looked up half
puzzled—
“I should esteem myself most fortunate, if I could be of use to any
friend of Walter’s,” she answered, with an almost sad formality.
“You have so many who love you——” The voice was still hard and
grating.
“No,” she said, “oh no——”
“There is Sir William Rammage.” He spoke slowly.
“Ah!” she said sadly, “he forgets. And old association has no effect
upon him.”
“Has he any brothers and sisters?” he asked.
“They are gone. They all died years and years ago.”
“It is remarkable that he never married.”
“I suppose his inclinations did not prompt him to do so.”
“He seems to have no one belonging to him.”
“There are hardly any left,” she answered, with a sigh, “and unhappily
he does not appreciate the companionship of those——”
“Aunt Anne, dear Aunt Anne,” Florence said, “do come in, you will catch
your death of cold.”
“My love, the carriage is waiting and you must excuse me; it is growing
late. It has been delightful to be with you, and to meet your friends.”
She shook hands with Mr. Fisher, and bowed to Ethel Dunlop; then she
went slowly out of the room on Walter’s arm, the long train of Madame
Celestine’s dress sweeping behind her.
“Good-night, Mrs. Hibbert,” Mr. Wimple said, and, shaking hands quickly
with the air of a man who has many engagements and suddenly remembered
one that must be instantly kept, he too was gone.
He was just in time to reach the carriage door.
“Mrs. Baines,” he said, “I think you said you were going to South
Kensington—could you take me as far as Queen’s Gate?”
“I wonder where he is going,” Walter said to himself as he went upstairs
again; “I don’t believe he knows a soul in Queen’s Gate.”
[Illustration]
[Illustration]