Thus engaged, she did not hear steps on the pathway by which she and Janetta had come. A man, young and slim, with a stoop and a slight halt in his walk, with bright, curling hair, worn rather longer than Englishmen usually wear it, with thin but expressive features, and very brilliant blue eyes--this was the personage who now appeared upon the scene. He stopped short rather suddenly when he became aware of the presence of a young lady upon the fence--perhaps it was to him a somewhat startling one: then, when he noted how she was engaged, a smile broke gradually over his countenance. He once made a movement to advance, then restrained himself and waited; but some involuntary rustle of the branches above him or twigs under his feet revealed him. Nora gave a little involuntary cry, dropped her looking-gla.s.s, and colored crimson with vexation at finding that some one was watching her.
"What ought I to do, I wonder?" Such was the thought that flashed through the young man"s mind. He was remarkably quick in receiving impressions and in drawing conclusions. "She is not a French girl, thank goodness, fresh from a convent, and afraid to open her lips! Neither is she the conventional young English lady, or she would not sit on a fence and look at herself in a pocket looking-gla.s.s. At least, I suppose she would not: how should I know what English girls would do? At any rate, here goes for addressing her."
All these ideas pa.s.sed through his mind in the course of the second or two which elapsed while he courteously raised his hat, and advanced to pick up the fallen hand-gla.s.s. But Nora was too quick for him. She had slipped off the fence and secured her mirror before he could reach it; and then, with a look of quite unnecessary scorn and anger, she almost turned her back upon him, and stood looking at the one angle of the house which she could see.
The young man brushed his moustache to conceal a smile, and ventured on the remark that he had been waiting to make.
"I beg your pardon; I trust that I did not startle you."
"Not at all," said Nora, with dignity. But she did not turn round.
"If you are looking for the gate into the grounds," he resumed, with great considerateness of manner, "you will find it about twenty yards further to your left. Can I have the pleasure of showing you the way?"
"No, thank you," said Miss Nora, very ungraciously. "I am waiting for my sister." She felt that some explanation was necessary to account for the fact that she did not immediately walk away.
"Oh, I beg your pardon," said the young man once more, but this time in a rather disappointed tone. Then, brightening--"But if your sister has gone up to our house why won"t you come in too?"
"_Your_ house?" said Nora, unceremoniously, and facing him with an air of fearless incredulity, which amused him immensely. "But _you_ are not Mr. Brand?"
"My name is Brand," said the young fellow, smiling the sunniest smile in the world, and again raising his hat, with what Nora now noticed to be a rather foreign kind of grace: "and if you know it, I feel that it is honored already."
Nora knitted her brows. "I don"t know what you mean," she said, impatiently, "but you are not Mr. Brand of the Hall, are you?"
"I live at the Hall, certainly, and my name is Brand--Cuthbert Brand, at your service."
"Oh, I see. Not Wyvis Brand?" said Nora impulsively. "Not the father of the dear little boy that we found here just now?"
Cuthbert Brand"s fair face colored. He looked excessively surprised.
"The father--a little boy? I am afraid," he said, with some embarra.s.sment of manner, "that I do not exactly know what you mean----"
"It is just this," said Nora, losing her contemptuous manner and coming closer to the speaker; "when my sister and I were walking this way we saw a little boy lying here fast asleep. He woke up and told us that his name was Julian Wyvis Brand, and that his mother had left him here, and told him to find his father, who lived at that red house."
"Good heavens! And the woman--what became of her?"
"The boy said she had gone away and would not come back."
"I trust she may not," muttered Cuthbert angrily to himself. A red flush colored his brow as he went on. "My brother"s wife," he said formally, "is not--at present--on very friendly terms with him; we did not know that she intended to bring the child home in this manner: we thought that she desired to keep it--where is the boy, by the way?"
"My sister has taken him up to the Hall. She said that she would see Mr.
Brand."
Cuthbert raised his eyebrows. "See my brother?" he repeated as if involuntarily. "My brother!"
"She is his second cousin, you know: I suppose that gives her courage,"
said Nora smiling at the tone of horror which she fancied must be simulated for the occasion. But Cuthbert was in earnest--he knew Wyvis Brand"s temper too well to antic.i.p.ate anything but a rough reception for any one who seemed inclined to meddle with his private affairs. And if Nora"s sister were like herself! For Nora did not look like a person who would bear roughness or rudeness from any one.
"Then are you my cousin, too?" he asked, suddenly struck by an idea that sent a gleam of pleasure to his eye.
"Oh, no," said Nora, demurely. "I"m no relation. It is only Janetta--her mother was Mr. Brand"s father"s cousin. But that was not my mother--Janetta and I are stepsisters."
"Surely that makes a relationship, however," said Cuthbert, courageously. "If your stepsister is my second cousin, you must be a sort of step-second-cousin to me. Will you not condescend to acknowledge the connection?"
"Isn"t the condescension all on your side?" said Nora coolly. "It may be a connection, but it certainly isn"t a relationship."
"I am only too glad to hear you call it a connection," said Cuthbert, with gravity. And then the two laughed--Nora rather against her will--Cuthbert out of amus.e.m.e.nt at the situation, and both out of sheer light-heartedness. And when they had laughed the ice seemed to be broken, and they felt as if they were old friends.
"I did not know that any of our relations were living in Beaminster," he resumed, after a moment"s pause.
"I suppose you never even heard our name," said Nora, saucily.
"I don"t--know----" he began, in some confusion.
"Of course you don"t. Your father had a cousin and she married a doctor--a poor country surgeon, and so of course you forgot all about her existence. She was not _my_ mother, so I can speak out, you know.
Your father never spoke to her again after she married _my_ father."
"More shame to him! I remember now. Your father is James Colwyn."
Nora nodded. "I think it was a very great shame," she said.
"And so do I," said Cuthbert, heartily.
"It was all the worse," Nora went on, quite forgetting in her eagerness whom she was talking to, "because Mr. Brand was not himself so very much thought of, you know--people did not think--oh, I forgot! I beg your pardon!" she suddenly e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, turning crimson as she remembered that the man to whom she was speaking was the son of the much-abused Mr.
Brand, who had been considered the black sheep of the county.
"Don"t apologize, pray," said Cuthbert, lightly. "I"m quite accustomed to hearing my relations spoken ill of. What was it that people did not think?"
"Oh," said Nora, now covered with confusion, "of course I could not tell you."
"It was so very bad, was it?" said the young man, laughing. "You need not be afraid. Really and seriously, I have been told that my poor father was not very popular about here, and I don"t much wonder at it, for although he was a good father to us he was rather short in manner, and, perhaps, I may add, in temper. Wyvis is like him exactly, I believe."
"And are you?" asked Nora.
Cuthbert raised his hat and gave it a tremendous flourish.
"Mademoiselle, I have not that honor," he replied.
"I suppose I ought not to have asked," said Nora to herself, but this time she restrained herself and did not say it aloud. "I wonder where Janetta is?" she murmured after a moment"s silence. "I did not think that she would be so long."
If Cuthbert thought the remark ungracious, as he might well have done, he made no sign of discomfiture. "Can I do anything?" he asked. "Shall I go to the house and find out whether she has seen my brother? But then I shall have to leave you."
"Oh, that doesn"t matter," said Nora, innocently.
"Doesn"t it? But I hardly like the idea of leaving you all alone. There might be tramps about. If you are like all the other young ladies I have known, you will have an objection to tramps."
"I am sure," said Nora, with confidence, "that I am not at all like the other young ladies you know; but at the same time I must confess that I don"t like tramps."
"I knew it. And I saw a tramp--I am sure I did--a little while ago in this very wood. He was ragged and dirty, but picturesque. I sketched him, but I think he would not be a pleasant companion for you."