"Matter! oh, nothing worse than usual. Only that Uncle Barton has engaged a governess for d.i.c.ky, and I have had no choice in the matter.
Oh, it"s nothing." Mrs. Darrow stirred her tea violently. "Of course, I"m a mere cipher in my own house."
"Mr. Barton pays for the governess," suggested Hilda.
"And why shouldn"t he? It"s his duty to educate d.i.c.ky, and give the poor boy a chance in the world. My life is over, Hilda, and I live only for my boy."
This was one of Mrs. Darrow"s stock pieces of sentiment, and she produced it with surprisingly dramatic effect on every occasion. It sounded well, and cost nothing, for she never troubled about d.i.c.ky, save when he was necessary to a tableau on public days, and her reputation of being a devoted mother was to be enhanced thereby. Although her husband had been dead five years, she still mourned him in black silk, amply trimmed with c.r.a.pe, and was careful to use nothing but the most aggressively black-edged paper. Even her handkerchiefs mourned in a deep border, and her cap of delicate white cambric called loudly on the world to witness what a model widow she was. In addition to these mute evidences of eternal sorrow, Mrs. Darrow gave tongue to her woes vigorously. She really did not know, she said, how she bore it. Indeed, if it were not for her dear child she would wish to die. No woman had ever suffered what she had suffered--and much more to the same effect, all of which was very genteel and laudable, and meant to be correctly indicative of her n.o.ble state of mind.
"Uncle Barton is coming to tell me about the new governess, Hilda; I expect him every minute."
Hilda rose quickly.
"In that case, dear, I had better go. Mr. Barton has no love for me."
"He has no love for anyone. I never knew so selfish and stingy a creature. Don"t go. I want you to stay and talk to me. Perhaps Gerald may come too."
"Mr. Arkel"s coming is nothing to me," replied Hilda, tossing her pretty head.
"Really! I thought you liked him!"
"So I do; but then you see I like many people--Major Dundas for instance."
"John!" Mrs. Darrow became reflective. "Oh, yes; John is very nice, but not nearly so good looking as Gerald. Besides, Gerald is Uncle Barton"s heir!"
"That may or may not be; we don"t know. But this I do know," said Hilda pettishly, "that should either of Uncle Barton"s nephews become engaged to me, that one will not be the heir."
"I don"t see why not?"
"Mr. Barton doesn"t like me, that"s why. Perhaps he"ll even go the length of marrying the new governess to Major Dundas or Mr. Arkel to spite me." Then, after a pause, "What kind of woman is she?"
Mrs. Darrow threw out her hands with a wail.
"My dear, how should I know? I am quite in the dark. I have been told absolutely nothing about the woman. But if she is not a thoroughly satisfactory person, I"ll have her out of this very soon, I can tell you. I"m not going to be imposed upon in my own house by any spy."
"What is her name?"
"Miriam Crane. It sounds Jewish. I hate Jews."
"Is she pretty?"
"He doesn"t say. But knowing how Uncle Barton hates our s.e.x, I quite expect he has chosen some raw-boned, prim, board-school monster, just to spite me. I am sure she"s horrid. Her name sounds horrid."
"Then she shan"t teach me!"
The interruption came from behind the window curtain, and Hilda laughed gaily.
"Hiding in there, d.i.c.ky? Come and have a piece of cake."
"You horrid child," cried his mother, as the pale-faced d.i.c.ky emerged from his retreat. "What a turn you gave me! Why can"t you sit on a chair like a Christian instead of poking in window corners? What have you been doing?"
"Reading "Robinson Crusoe.""
"You should be at your lessons; really, I never knew so idle a child.
You"re breaking my heart with your horrid ways, you know you are! I"m sure I"m the most afflicted woman in the world. If I didn"t bear up I don"t know what would become of you!"
d.i.c.ky, well used to his mother"s wailing, took no notice whatever, but under the wing of Hilda devoted himself to the demolition of cake to a most alarming extent. He was a delicate, nervous child, wan and peevish; far too tall and old-fashioned for his age. Under judicious management as to diet, work, play, and exercise, he would have developed into a charming little fellow; but Mrs. Darrow, with her ill-disciplined mind, was the worst possible parent to be charged with the up-bringing of such a child. She overwhelmed him with caresses one moment, declaring that he was her all, boxed his ears the next, and lamented that she was burdened with him; so that d.i.c.ky came as near hating his mother as a child of ten well could, and Mrs. Darrow, instinctively feeling this, bewailed his lack of affection and sought to scold him into loving her. If ever Uncle Barton did a wise thing in his life, it was when he engaged a governess for the neglected boy, though of course everything depended upon the personality of the governess. So far Mrs. Darrow was in the dark, and out of sheer contradiction to Uncle Barton was prepared to make herself highly unpleasant to the new-comer, and n.o.body could be more disagreeable than Mrs. Dacre Darrow, as the parish of Lesser Thorpe knew to its cost. She was a past-mistress in the arts of scandal-mongering, nagging, and back-biting. The strength for a right-down hatred was not in her.
"If my new governess isn"t pretty, like Hilda, I don"t want her," said d.i.c.ky, when his mother had wailed herself into a state of momentary pa.s.siveness. "I don"t like ugly people."
"Would you like me to teach you, d.i.c.ky?" laughed Hilda.
"Oh, yes; we could read "Robinson Crusoe" together!"
"I"m afraid that"s not a lesson book, d.i.c.ky."
But d.i.c.ky insisted that Defoe was better than any lesson book.
"Lesson books make my head ache," he said; "and I learn a lot of hard words in "Robinson Crusoe" without thinking. Why can"t lesson books be nice like that?"
"You little imp," burst out his mother furiously; "the idea of talking about what you like. You"ll be taught by a black woman if I choose; and I"ll burn all those rubbishy story-books."
Thus did Mrs. Darrow, who had read nothing but society journals and fashion magazines, blend discipline with criticism.
"I never saw such a child," she wailed; "he"s not a bit like me. Oh, d.i.c.ky, d.i.c.ky, why haven"t you your mother"s sweet disposition and sweet temper?"
Before d.i.c.ky could reply to this truly overwhelming question, to which but one answer was expected, a dried-up little man appeared at the French window opening on to the lawn, and stepped into the room. Hilda half rose to fly from her arch enemy, but being caught, decided it would be undignified to retreat. So she resumed her seat and talked in low tones to d.i.c.ky. Mrs. Darrow still lay on her sofa, and welcomed the stranger in the faintest of low tones, meant to be expressive of great weakness.
"How are you, Uncle Barton," she said. "I can hardly speak, I am so ill."
"I know, I know," rasped out the cynic grimly. "I heard you talking to d.i.c.ky, no wonder you can"t chatter now."
"I must do my duty to my child," cried Mrs. Darrow with more energy, "even though my health suffers."
Mr. Barton surveyed the plump rec.u.mbent figure with grim humour.
"You feel your parental duties too much, Julia, they will wear you out.
How do you do, Miss Marsh? I see you and Julia have been spoiling your digestions with strong tea. m.u.f.fins too! Oh, Lord, think of your complexions!"
Hilda laughed, and glanced into a near mirror. Her complexion was her strong point, and she had no fear of its being criticised even by disagreeable Mr. Barton.
"I"m afraid my appet.i.te is stronger than my vanity," she said.
"Then you must have the appet.i.te of an ostrich," growled Barton, sitting down near his niece; "but Julia, poor dear, eats nothing."
"That I don"t," murmured Mrs. Darrow. "I peck like a bird."
"What kind of a bird--a canary, or an albatross?"
"Uncle Barton!" cried the outraged Julia in capital letters.