"No," said Elizabeth, "it was a free offer on his part. Dora the discreet tried to make her refuse it, but the dahlia had been gathered long before Winifred could make up her mind to say no; and when the little things came in this morning they looked like walking garlands.
Did you see the n.o.ble flower-pot in the hall?"
"You must go and look at the fruit which Lady Merton has been so kind as to bring us, Lizzie," said Mrs. Woodbourne; "you never saw such fine grapes and pines."
"I hear you have undertaken that part of the arrangement, young ladies," said Lady Merton.
"Yes," said Elizabeth; "but I am afraid we do not know much about the matter."
"I am sure I cannot tell what I should do if you did not undertake it, my dears," said Mrs. Woodbourne.
"Do not begin thanking us till we have done the deed, Mamma," said Elizabeth; "it may turn out a great deal worse than if we had left it to the una.s.sisted taste of the maids."
The four girls continued to arrange the flowers: Elizabeth, inquiring after many of the plants at Merton Hall; Anne, telling how the myrtle was prospering, how well the geraniums had flowered, describing a new fuchsia, and triumphing in the prize which the salpiglossis had gained from the Horticultural Society; Helen, comparing the flora of Merton Hall with that of d.y.k.elands; Mrs. Woodbourne, rejoicing in cuttings to be saved from the branches gathered by Anne"s unsparing hand; and Lady Merton, promising to send her seeds and young plants by Rupert, when he should return to Oxford.
When the forest of flowers had been dispersed in the epergne, and in various bowls and gla.s.ses, to ornament the drawing-room, the three sisters began to collect the green leaves and pieces of stalks remaining on the table, and as they bent down to sweep them off into a basket, their heads chanced to be almost close together.
"Why, Lizzie," said Lady Merton, "where are your curls? Have you made yourself look so very different from Kate, to prevent all future mistakes between you? and, Helen, have you really become a Pasha of two tails?"
"Is it not very silly of Helen to wear them, Aunt Anne?" said Elizabeth.
"Indeed, dear Aunt Anne," said Helen, "my hair never will curl well, and Mrs. Staunton always said it made me look like an old woman in the way I wore it before, so what could I do but try it in the way in which f.a.n.n.y and Jane wore theirs?"
"Oh! we must all bow before d.y.k.elands," said Elizabeth.
"And I have been wondering what made you look so altered, Lizzie," said Lady Merton, "and now I see it is your hair being straight. I like your curls better."
"Ah, so do I," said Mrs. Woodbourne; "but Lizzie docs not like the trouble of curling it."
"No," said Elizabeth, "I think it a very useless plague. It used really to take me two hours a day, and now I am ready directly without trouble or fuss. People I care about will not think the worse of me for not looking quite so well."
"Perhaps not," said Lady Merton, "but they would think the better of you for a little attention to their taste."
"They might for attention to their wishes, Aunt Anne," said Elizabeth, "but hardly to their taste. Taste is such a petty nonsensical thing."
"I shall leave you and Anne to argue about the fine distinction between taste and wishes," said Lady Merton; "it is more in your line than mine."
"You mean to say that I have been talking nonsense, Aunt Anne," said Elizabeth.
"I say nothing of the kind, Lizzie," said her aunt; "I only say that you are in the habit of splitting hairs."
Elizabeth saw that her aunt was not pleased. She went to the chimney-piece, and employed herself in making a delicate piece of ixia get a better view of itself in the looking-gla.s.s. Presently she turned round, saying, "Yes, Aunt Anne, I was very wrong; I was making a foolish pretence at refinement, to defend myself."
"I did not mean to begin scolding you the very moment I came near you, Lizzie," said Lady Merton.
"Indeed I wish you would, Aunt Anne," said Elizabeth; "pray scold me from morning till night, there is no one who wants it more."
"My dear child, how can you say so?" cried Mrs. Woodbourne.
"Many thanks for the agreeable employment you propose to me, Lizzie,"
said Lady Merton.
"If Rupert docs not come to-night, I mean to undertake a little of that agreeable employment myself, when he arrives," said Elizabeth, "and to make Anne help me."
"I believe Rupert is so fond of being scolded, that it only makes him worse," said Lady Merton.
"Here are Papa and Uncle Edward coming back at last," said Katherine, who was, as usual, sitting in the window.
Mrs. Woodbourne looked greatly relieved; she had been for some time in trouble for the dinner, not being able to console herself in the way in which Elizabeth sometimes attempted to re-a.s.sure her in such cases--"Never mind, Mamma, the dinner is used to waiting."
CHAPTER III.
As soon as dinner was over, the girls proposed to walk to the new church, that Anne might see it at her leisure before the Consecration.
The younger children were very urgent to be allowed to accompany them, but Mrs. Woodbourne would only consent to Dora"s doing so, on her eldest sister"s promise to return before her bed-time.
"And, Mamma," said Elizabeth, as soon as this question was decided, and the other two children had taken out their basket of bricks at the other end of the room, "have you settled whether Edward is to go to the Consecration to-morrow?"
"I really think he is almost too young, my dear," said Mrs. Woodbourne; "you know it is a very long service."
"Oh! Mamma," said Dora, "he is five years old now, and he says he will be very good, and he will be very much disappointed if he has to stay at home, now he has had his new frock and trousers; and Winifred and I are going."
"Really, Dora," said Elizabeth, "I think he had better not go, unless he has some reason for wishing to do so, better than what you have mentioned."
"I believe he understands it all as well as we do," said Dora; "we have all been talking about it in the nursery, this evening, at supper:--and you know, Mamma, he has quite left off being naughty in church."
"Still, my dear," said Mrs. Woodbourne, "I scarcely think that we can take him; I cannot have him sitting with me, among the people whom we have invited, and he will certainly grow tired and restless."
"I do not think his being tired just at last will signify," said Elizabeth; "he will attend at first, I am sure, and it is a thing he must never forget all his life. I will take care of him and Winifred, and Dora can behave well without being watched."
"Very well, my dear," said Mrs. Woodbourne in her plaintive voice, "I shall be glad for him to go, if you can undertake to keep him in order, but you must take care you do not tire yourself. You will have almost too much to do afterwards, and you must not let yourself be hara.s.sed by his restlessness."
"Oh no, Mamma, thank you," said Elizabeth, "he will not fidget, and I am not afraid of anything in the summer, and on such a great day as to-morrow. I could walk to Johnny Groat"s house, and take care of fifty children, if need were."
Edward was called, examined as to his reasons for wishing to go to the Consecration, made to promise to behave well, and sent back in high glee to play with Winifred. Elizabeth and Dorothea then followed the others up-stairs to prepare for the walk.
"It is very strange," remarked Mrs. Woodbourne, as they left the room, "that Elizabeth can manage the children so much better than anyone else can; they always like best to be with her, though she always makes them mind her, and Kate is much more what people would call good-natured."
"Do you not think Lizzie good-natured?" said Lady Merton, rather surprised.
"Oh yes, indeed I do," said Mrs. Woodbourne, "she is a most kind-hearted creature. I really believe there is nothing she would not do for the children or me, I do not know what would become of me without her: but you know her way of speaking, she does not mean any harm; but still when people are not used to her, it vexes them; indeed I did not mean to say anything against her, she is a most excellent creature, quite her Papa"s right hand."
"Horace grew almost too much for her to manage before he went to school, did not he?" said Lady Merton.
"Poor little boy!" said Mrs. Woodbourne, "we miss him sadly, with his merry face and droll ways. You know, he was always a very high-spirited child, but Lizzie could always make him mind her in the end, and he was very obedient to his papa and me. Edward is a quiet meek boy, he has not his brother"s high spirits, and I hope we shall keep him at home longer."