The laugh checked Lucia at once in her little outburst of eloquence. She began to blush, the color mounting to her forehead.
"Oh!" she began, "I did not mean to--to say so much. I"--
There was something so innocent and touching in her sudden timidity and confusion, that Mr. Burmistone forgot altogether that they were not very old friends, and that Lady Theobald might be looking.
He bent slightly forward, and looked into her upraised, alarmed eyes.
"Don"t be afraid of _me_" he said; "don"t, for pity"s sake!"
He could not have hit upon a luckier speech, and also he could not have uttered it more feelingly than he did. It helped her to recover herself, and gave her courage.
"There," she said, with a slight catch of the breath, "does not that prove what I said to be true? I was afraid, the very moment I ceased to forget myself. I was afraid of you and of myself. I have no courage at all."
"You will gain it in time," he said.
"I shall try to gain it," she answered. "I am nearly twenty, and it is time that I should learn to respect myself. I think it must be because I have no self-respect that I am such a coward."
It seemed that her resolution was to be tried immediately; for at that very moment Lady Theobald turned, and, on recognizing the full significance of Lucia"s position, was apparently struck temporarily dumb and motionless. When she recovered from the shock, she made a majestic gesture of command.
Mr. Burmistone glanced at the girl"s face, and saw that it changed color a little. "Lady Theobald appears to wish to speak to you," he said.
Lucia left her seat, and walked across the room with a steady air. Lady Theobald did not remove her eye from her until she stopped within three feet of her. Then she asked a rather unnecessary question:--
"With whom have you been conversing?"
"With Mr. Burmistone."
"Upon what subject?"
"We were speaking of Miss Octavia Ba.s.sett."
Her ladyship glanced around the room, as if a new idea had occurred to her, and said,--
"Where _is_ Miss Octavia Ba.s.sett?"
Here it must be confessed that Lucia faltered.
"She is on the terrace with Mr. Barold."
"She is on"--
Her ladyship stopped short in the middle of her sentence. This was too much for her. She left Lucia, and crossed the room to Miss Belinda.
"Belinda," she said, in an awful undertone, "your niece is out upon the terrace with Mr. Barold. Perhaps it would be as well for you to intimate to her that in England it is not customary--that--Belinda, go and bring her in."
Miss Belinda arose, actually looking pale. She had been making such strenuous efforts to converse with Miss Pilcher and Mrs. Burnham, that she had been betrayed into forgetting her charge. She could scarcely believe her ears. She went to the open window, and looked out, and then turned paler than before.
"Octavia, my dear," she said faintly.
"Francis!" said Lady Theobald, over her shoulder.
Mr. Francis Barold turned a rather bored countenance toward them; but it was evidently not Octavia who had bored him.
"Octavia," said Miss Belinda, "how imprudent! In that thin dress--the night air! How could you, my dear, how could you?"
"Oh! I shall not catch cold," Octavia answered. "I am used to it. I have been out hours and hours, on moonlight nights, at home."
But she moved toward them.
"You must remember," said Lady Theobald, "that there are many things which may be done in America which would not be safe in England."
And she made the remark in an almost sepulchral tone of warning.
How Miss Belinda would have supported herself if the coach had not been announced at this juncture, it would be difficult to say. The coach was announced, and they took their departure. Mr. Barold happening to make his adieus at the same time, they were escorted by him down to the vehicle from the Blue Lion.
When he had a.s.sisted them in, and closed the door, Octavia bent forward, so that the moonlight fell full on her pretty, lace-covered head, and the sparkling drops in her ears.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, "if you stay here at all, you must come and see us.--Aunt Belinda, ask him to come and see us."
Miss Belinda could scarcely speak.
"I shall be most--most happy," she fluttered, "Any--friend of dear Lady Theobald"s, of course"--
"Don"t forget," said Octavia, waving her hand.
The coach moved off, and Miss Belinda sank back into a dark corner.
"My dear," she gasped, "what will he think?"
Octavia was winding her lace scarf around her throat.
"He"ll think I want him to call," she said serenely. "And I do."
CHAPTER XIII.
INTENTIONS.
The position in which Lady Theobald found herself placed, after these occurrences, was certainly a difficult and unpleasant one. It was Mr.
Francis Barold"s caprice, for the time being, to develop an intimacy with Mr. Burmistone. He had, it seemed, chosen to become interested in him during their sojourn at Broadoaks. He had discovered him to be a desirable companion, and a clever, amiable fellow. This much he condescended to explain incidentally to her ladyship"s self.
"I can"t say I expected to meet a nice fellow or a companionable fellow,"
he remarked, "and I was agreeably surprised to find him both. Never says too much or too little. Never bores a man."
To this Lady Theobald could make no reply. Singularly enough, she had discovered early in their acquaintance that her wonted weapons were likely to dull their edges upon the steely coldness of Mr. Francis Barold"s impa.s.sibility. In the presence of this fortunate young man, before whom his world had bowed the knee from his tenderest infancy, she lost the majesty of her demeanor. He refused to be affected by it: he was even implacable enough to show openly that it bored him, and to insinuate by his manner that he did not intend to submit to it. He entirely ignored the claim of relationship, and acted according to the promptings of his own moods. He did not feel it at all inc.u.mbent upon him to remain at Oldclough Hall, and subject himself to the time-honored customs there in vogue. He preferred to accept Mr. Burmistone"s invitation to become his guest at the handsome house he had just completed, in which he lived in bachelor splendor. Accordingly he installed himself there, and thereby complicated matters greatly.