"You will leave me for the present, Miss Andrews," she said, turning to her amanuensis. "I shall require you here again in a quarter of an hour."
Miss Andrews, with a low bow, instantly left the room.
"You see, Evelyn," said her aunt, "you are taking up the time of a very busy woman. I manage the financial part of several charities-in short, we are very busy people in this house-and in the morning I, as a rule, allow no one to interrupt me. When the afternoon comes I am ready and willing to be agreeable to my guests."
"But I am not your guest. The house belongs to me-or at least it will be mine," said Evelyn.
"You are quite right in saying you are not my guest. You are my husband"s niece, and in the future you will inherit his property; but if I hear you speaking in that rude way again I shall be forced to punish you. I can see for myself that you are an ill-bred girl and will require a vast lot of breaking-in."
"And you think you can do it?" said Evelyn, her eyes flashing.
"I intend to do it. I am going to talk to you for a few minutes this morning, and after I have spoken I wish you to clearly understand that you are to do as I tell you. You will not be unhappy here; on the contrary, you will be happy. At first you may find the necessary rules of a house like this somewhat irksome, but you will get into the way of them before long. You need discipline, and you will have it here. I will not say much more on that subject this morning. You can find Audrey, and she and Miss Sinclair will take you round the grounds and amuse you, and you must be very much obliged to them for their attentions. Audrey is my daughter, and I think I may say without undue flattery that you will find her a most estimable companion. She is well brought up, and is a charming girl in every sense of the word. Miss Sinclair is her governess; she will also instruct you, but time enough for that in the future. Now, when you leave here go straight to your room and desire your servant-Jasper, I think, you call her-to dress you in a plain and suitable frock."
"A frock!" said Evelyn. "I wear dresses-long dresses. I am not a child; mothery said I had the sense of several grown-up people."
"The garment you are now in you are not to wear again; it is unsuitable, and I forbid you to be even seen in it. Do you understand?"
"I hear you," said Evelyn.
"Go up-stairs and do what I tell you, and then you can go into the grounds. Audrey is having holidays at present; you will find her with her governess in the shrubbery. Now go; the time I can devote to you for the present is up."
"I had better give you this first," said Evelyn.
She thrust her hand into her pocket and took out the ill-spelt and now exceedingly dirty note which poor Mrs. Wynford in Tasmania had written to Lady Frances before her death.
"This is from mothery, who is dead," continued the child. "It is for you. She wrote it to you. I expect she is watching you now; she told me that she would come back if she could and see how people treated me. I am going. Don"t lose the note; it was written by mothery, and she is dead."
Evelyn laid the dirty letter on the blotting-pad on Lady Frances"s table. It looked strangely out of keeping with the rest of her correspondence. The little girl left the room, banging the door behind her.
"A dreadful child!" thought Lady Frances. "How are we to endure her? My poor, sweet Audrey! I must get Edward to allow me to send Evelyn to school; she really is not a fit companion for my young daughter."
Miss Andrews came back.
"Please direct these envelopes, and answer some of these letters according to the notes which I have put down for you," said Lady Frances; and her secretary began to work. But Lady Frances did not ask Miss Andrews to read or reply to the dirty little note. She took it up very much as though she would like to drop it into the fire, but finally she opened it and read the contents. The letter was rude and curt, and Lady Frances"s fine black eyes flashed as she read the words. Finally, she locked the letter up in a private bureau, and sitting down, calmly proceeded with her morning"s work.
Meanwhile Evelyn, choking with rage and utterly determined to disobey Lady Frances, left the room. She stood still for a moment in the long corridor and looked disconsolately to right and to left of her.
"How ugly it all is!" she said to herself. "How I hate it! Mothery, why did you die? Why did I ever leave my darling, darling ranch in Tasmania?"
She turned and very slowly walked up the white marble staircase.
Presently she reached her own luxurious room. It was in the hands of a maid, however, who was removing the dust and putting the chamber in order.
"Where is Jasper?" asked the little girl.
"Miss Jasper has gone out of doors, miss."
"Do you know how long she has been out?" asked Evelyn in a tone of keen interest.
"About half an hour, miss."
"Then I"ll follow her."
Evelyn went to her wardrobe. Jasper had already unpacked her young lady"s things and laid them higgledy-piggledy in the s.p.a.cious wardrobe.
It took the little girl a long time to find a tall velvet hat trimmed with plumes of crimson feathers. This she put on before the gla.s.s, arranging her hair to look as thick as possible, and smirking at her face while she arrayed herself.
"I would not wear this hat, for I got it quite for Sunday best, but I want her to see that she cannot master me," thought the child. She then wrapped a crimson silk scarf round her neck and shoulders, and so attired looked very much like a little lady of the time of Vandyck. Once more she went down-stairs.
Audrey she did not wish to meet; Miss Sinclair she intended to be hideously rude to; but Jasper-where was Jasper?
Evelyn looked all round. Suddenly she saw a figure on the other side of a small lake which adorned part of the grounds. The figure was too far off for her to see it distinctly. It must be Jasper, for it surely was not in the least like the tall, fair, and stately Aubrey, not like Miss Sinclair.
Picking up her skirts, which were too long for her to run comfortably, the small figure now skidded across the gra.s.s. She soon reached the side of the lake, and shouted:
"Jasper! Oh Jasper! Jasper, I have news for you! You never knew anything like the--"
The next instant she had rushed into the arms of Sylvia Leeson. Sylvia cried out eagerly:
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?"
Evelyn stared for a moment at the strange girl, then burst into a hearty laugh.
"Do tell me-quick, quick!-are you one of the Wynfords?" she asked.
"I a Wynford!" cried Sylvia. "I only wish I were. Are you a Wynford? Do you live at the Castle?"
"Do I live at the Castle!" cried Evelyn. "Why, the Castle is mine-I mean it will be when Uncle Ned dies. I came here yesterday; and, oh! I am miserable, and I want Jasper?"
"Who is Jasper?"
"My maid. Such a darling!-the only person here who cares in the least for me. Oh, please, please tell me your name! If you do not live at the Castle, and if you can a.s.sure me from the bottom of your heart that you do not love any one-any one who lives in the Castle-why, I will love you. You are sweetly pretty! What is your name?"
"Sylvia Leeson. I live three miles from here, but I adore the Castle. I should like to come here often."
"You adore it! Then that is because you know nothing about it. Do you adore Audrey?"
"Is Audrey the young lady of the Castle?"
"She is not the young lady of the Castle. _I_ am the young lady of the Castle. But have you ever seen her?"
"Once; and then she was rude to me."
"Ah! I thought so. I don"t think she could be very polite to anybody.
Now, suppose you and I become friends? The Castle belongs to me-or will when Uncle Ned dies. I can order people to come or people to go; and I order you to come. You shall come up to the house with me. You shall have lunch with me; you shall really. I have got a lovely suite of rooms-a bedroom of blue-and-silver and a little sitting-room for my own use; and you shall come there, and Jasper shall serve us both. Do you know that you are sweetly pretty?-just like a gipsy. You are lovely!
Will you come with me now? Do! come at once."
Sylvia laughed. She looked full at Evelyn; then she said abruptly:
"May I ask you a very straight question?"