"Where shall we go?" demanded Tom, tugging at Alexia"s hand.
"Want to go an" see Mrs. Yeslie," murmured Maggie.
"I"m going to look at the shops," declared Floss with emphasis. "I can spend my shilling if I want to, Uncle George said!"
"No, no--not to-day," demurred the governess, quickly. "Listen, children. The shops you can see any day--to-morrow, perhaps; but to-day we will go somewhere else."
"Where else?" demanded Floss, critically, with a fond look at the shilling which he had drawn out of his knickerbocker pocket.
"Into the park," said Alexia. "We will all ride there in a tram-car.
You will like that?"
"Finsbury Park?" questioned Tom. "Oh, all right! I don"t mind. Only, I say, let"s go up to the water where the ducks are!"
"Yes--let"s," added Floss, restoring the shilling to his pocket.
"Want"s some buns to feed "em wiv, poor fings," murmured Maggie, with pathetic intonation.
"Yes, you shall go [to] the water and have the buns," said Alexia. She had been walking rapidly all this time--almost too rapidly for the little feet trotting beside her--and did not pause or speak until they reached Highbury Corner, which was more crowded and busy than usual this warm afternoon. A tram-car was waiting, and she hurried her charges into it, taking no heed of Tom"s desire to sit where he could see the horses, or of Floss"s loudly-expressed determination to ride on the roof. She took her seat, and, leaning back, drew her black gossamer veil tightly over her face, and closed her eyes, seeming to become totally oblivious of her surroundings.
Ellen, sitting with Maggie on her knee, distracted by Tom"s ceaseless questions upon the one side and by Floss"s incessant demands to be put out on the roof upon the other, felt a little sulky and injured. Really it was too bad of mademoiselle! If she came out with the children she might at least take her share in amusing and keeping them quiet. Ellen, at any rate, was not sorry when the park-gates were reached. A plentiful supply of buns was procured, and the children, with shrill screams and whoops of delight, started off for the ducks and the water.
"Oh, dear," cried the nursemaid, quite dismayed at suddenly finding herself alone with the governess, "they"ll lose themselves, Ma"m"selle!
There"s such a many other children about we shall never find "em."
"Keep them in sight, then," said Alexia. "Follow them, Ellen. You had better not wait for me. My head aches, and I cannot walk fast."
"But we shall lose you, too, Ma"m"selle," demurred the girl, hesitatingly.
"No, no; I will follow you slowly. Go; they may fall into the water if you linger."
"Miss Maggie"s nigh sure to, with they buns!" said the girl, taking the alarm, and without any more loitering she darted after the runaways.
Alexia did not follow. For a moment she stood on the broad gravel walk looking about her. Groups of figures were scattered about the smooth turf--young ladies with novels; old ladies with crochet and poodles; nurse- [here a lack in the original text] The girl looked, not at, but around and beyond them; her great eyes seemed to be searching, as if surprised at not seeing something, and yet dreading to see it. Then their expression changed; for a moment her figure swayed; the next she was walking gracefully, slowly, languidly, toward a rustic seat which stood upon the smooth greensward in a somewhat lonely spot. It stood at an angle formed by two flower-beds, and was backed by a clump of shrubbery. Upon it there was one figure seated--that of a man.
The governess approached this figure slowly. A middle-aged man, loosely-dressed, hair turning gray, dark-complexioned, with a scar on his cheek, a scar such as a slash with a keen-edged knife might have made. She approached and pa.s.sed him; she did not look at him; he did not look at her; he appeared to be quite absorbed in absently cutting and fashioning a rough stick with the aid of a large clasp-knife. He gazed before him abstractedly, brushed the splinters of wood from his knee, and laid the knife down upon the seat beside him, the edge of the blade uppermost. The girl shuddered; the ivory pallor of her cheeks grew gray beneath her veil. She pa.s.sed on round the clump of bushes and returned. The man had abandoned his whittling, and, with his chin upon his hand, whistled as he looked down at the gra.s.s at his feet. His right hand played absently with the open knife; now the edge was upward, now downward, now he half closed it, then opened it wide again.
Alexia Boucheafen"s breath came rapidly; one violent throb of her heart almost suffocated her; but, graceful, upright, stately, she pa.s.sed the seat as though it were vacant; she did not appear to glance at the man sitting there, toying with the knife, and whistling under his breath.
She pa.s.sed him, and, as she did so, her gloved hand made a swift motion, and a white object gleamed upon the turf behind her. A paper had fluttered from her fingers, and lay close to the rustic seat.
Tom, Floss, and Maggie, flinging pieces of bun to voracious ducks, were delighted--far too absorbed to remember their governess; and Ellen, finding herself fully occupied in keeping their hats on their heads and themselves outside the railings that surrounded the lake, had also forgotten Miss Boucheafen completely. The girl was quite startled when she saw the tall dark figure suddenly beside her, the great bright eyes shining through the black veil. And how pale she was--her cheeks were quite white!
"Lor, Ma"m"selle," she cried, with loud-voiced sympathy, "how bad you do look!"
"I"m tired," said Alexia abruptly. "Children, are you ready to go?"
"Ready? Why, we ain"t had half a walk!" demurred Tom.
"I"m hungry!" exclaimed Floss, tugging at Miss Boucheafen"s gown.
"Maggie went an" threw all the buns to the ducks, she did--little stupid."
"You "tory, I never! You eatened two yourself, you did," Maggie declared indignantly. "You"s a geedy boy--a dedful geedy boy! Isn"t he a geedy boy, Ma"m"selle?"
"Never mind, we will get more buns as we go out," said Alexia. "Come now, children. I am tired--my head aches. We will come some other time--to-morrow perhaps--and stay longer. Come now."
They walked away from the water, and gained the broad path leading to the gates. Alexia slackened her pace, and, releasing Floss"s hand, but still retaining Maggie"s, fell slightly behind, sauntering slowly, playing with the b.u.t.tons of her cloak, keeping her eyes fixed straight before her. They were pa.s.sing a seat close to the edge of the path, upon which a man was sitting--a middle-aged, loose-jointed man with gray hair. A bright object lay at his feet--a small ball of gorgeous tints; the child saw it, uttered a delighted cry, and struggled to release her hand. It was released and she started to pick up the prize.
It was hardly in her grasp when she screamed out, frightened, for the man with the gray hair had taken hold of her arm, and was speaking to her, not roughly, although his voice was harsh and stern.
"My little one--see, the lady has dropped this paper. Give it to her; and as for this bauble, take it. Go!"
He released her. The child was scared, but she held in one hand the paper he had given to her, in the other the gay-colored ball. He pointed peremptorily after the tall retreating figure of Alexia Boucheafen, and, frightened at his frowning face, the child darted toward "Ma"m"selle."
"Ma"m"selle, Ma"m"selle!" She tugged at the governess"s dress, at her hand. ""Ook what he dave me!"--holding up the ball. "Nice, nice man, vewy nice! Floss s"an"t have it, he s"ant--Floss a geedy boy. He dived it me for meself. Oh, an" yes!"
With a sudden remembrance of something less absorbing than the ball, she held up the paper--a mere folded sc.r.a.p. Alexia seized it eagerly, held it fast in her hands, asked almost inaudibly:
"Who gave it to you, child?"
"Him did. You droppened it. Him," said the child, turning round to point. Then she cried out blankly, "Oh, him"s gone!"
Miss Boucheafen glanced behind her hastily. The seat by which the gay-colored ball had lain was empty. She opened the paper, and read within it, written in a blood-red color, the one word "Absolved!"
Doctor Brudenell found his nephews and niece unusually excited and talkative when, as was his custom, he came up after his dinner to see them in Miss Boucheafen"s pleasant sitting-room. The rides in the tram-cars, the park, the buns, and the ducks were enlarged upon in turn; and then Maggie produced her ball, and plunged onto such broken and lavish praises of the "vewy nice man" that the Doctor looked at the governess for enlightenment.
"A gentleman in the park, sir, gave her the ball," explained Miss Boucheafen gravely.
"And zou a letter!" cried Maggie.
"And also returned me a paper that I had dropped," amended Alexia.
"I see. Well, don"t smash more windows with the ball than you can help," said the Doctor, putting his niece down upon her feet.
He rose and approached the stately young governess, standing, beautiful in the light of lamp and fire, one hand drooping at her side, the other lying upon the marble of the mantel-piece, hardly whiter and hardly colder. George Brudenell had begun to think that her coldness and gravity suited her beauty--laughter, blushes, dimples would have spoiled it. Her frigid manner did not repel him now; it had a charm for him which no warmth and graciousness could have had; and yet, perversely he longed intensely to see her both kind and sweet. How beautiful she was! He glanced at her reflected face in the mirror, and winced and frowned and bit his lip, seeing his own beside it. A small, plain, dark, clean-shaven man--he was her very ant.i.thesis.
Intellectual-looking, pleasant, refined he might perhaps claim to be considered; but how utterly, painfully unattractive he must be to her!
"I am glad to hear that you have been out, Mademoiselle," he said kindly.
"The day was so fine--it tempted me," replied Alexia.
"A very good thing; the confinement was telling upon you," resumed the Doctor. "Let me advise you to try to get out once at least every day."
"I shall do so, sir, with your permission--now."
"Now that the first plunge is taken," he remarked good-humoredly.
"Well, that is wise. Do not go too far, or let these youngsters trouble you too much either out of doors or in, and you will soon feel the benefit."
"You are very good, sir," murmured the governess; "but I am quite well--indeed, quite strong."