Had it not been for her name, which touched my memory, I could not have remembered her,--certainly, at least, not then.
Perhaps, when we were seated opposite at table, with nothing between us but a vase of garden flowers, I might have made out her lineaments; but I was called upon by my reminding chivalry to a.s.sist the hostess in the dissection of spring chickens and roasted lamb, and there was something besides about that very Laura I did not like to face until she should at least speak and reveal herself, as by the voice one cannot fail to do.
However she spoke not, nor did Clara speak to her, though we two talked a good deal,--that is to say, _I_ talked, as so it behooved me to behave, and as I wished to see Miss Benette eat. When, at last, all traces of the snowy damask were swept out by a pair of careful hands, and we were left alone with the cut decanters, the early strawberries, and sweet summer oranges, I did determine to look, for fear Miss Lemark should think I did not dare to do so. I was not mistaken, as it happened, in believing her to be quite capable of this construction, as I discovered on regarding her immediately.
Her childish nonchalance had ripened into a hauteur quite alarming; for though she was scarcely my own age, she might have been ten years older. Not that her form was not lithe,--lithe as it could be to be endowed with the proper complement of muscles,--but for a certain sharpness of outline her countenance would have been languid in repose; her brow retained its singular breadth, but had not gained in elevation; her eyes were large and lambent, fringed with lashes that swept her cheek, though not darker than her hair, which waved as the willow in slightly-turned tresses to her waist. That waist was so extremely slight that it scarcely looked natural, and yet was entirely so, as was evident from the way she moved in her clothes.
She afforded a curious contrast to Clara in her black silk robe, for she was dressed in muslin of the deepest rose-color, with an immense skirt, its tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs lace entirely, the sleeves dropped upon her arms, which were loaded with bracelets of all kinds, while she wore a splendid chain upon her neck. She bore this over effect very well, and would not have become any other, it appeared to me, though there was something faded in her appearance even then,--a want of color in her aspect that demanded of costume the intensest contrasts.
"You have very much grown, Miss Lemark," I ventured to say, after I had contemplated her to my satisfaction. She had, indeed, grown; she was taller than I.
"So have you, Mr. Auchester."
"She has grown in many respects, Mr. Auchester, which you cannot imagine," said Clara, with a winning mischief in her glance.
"I should imagine anything you pleased, I am afraid, Miss Benette, if you inspired me. But I have been thinking it is a very curious thing that we should meet in this way, we three alone, after meeting as we did the first time in our lives."
"It was rather different then," exclaimed Laura, all abruptly, "and the difference is, not that we are grown up, but that when we met on the first occasion, we told each other our minds, and now we don"t dare."
"I am sure I dare," I retorted.
"No, you would not, no more would Clara; perhaps I might, but it would be of no use."
"What did I say then that I dare not say now? I am sure I don"t remember."
"You may remember," said Clara, smiling; "I think it is hardly fair to make _her_ remind you."
"It is my desert, if I remembered it first. You thought me very vulgar, and you told me as much, though in more polite language."
"If I thought so then, I may be allowed to have forgotten it now, Miss Lemark, as I think your friend will grant, when I look at you."
"You do not admire my style, Mr. Auchester; I know you,--it is precisely against your taste. Even Clara does not approve of it, and you have not half her forbearance,--if, indeed, you have any."
"n.o.body, Laura dear, would dispute that you can bear more dressing than I can; it does not suit me to wear colors, and you look like a flower in them. Does not that color suit her well, Mr. Auchester?"
"Indeed I think so, and especially this glorious weather, when the most vivid hues are starting out of every old stone. But Miss Lemark could afford to wear green,--a very unusual suitability; it is the hue of her eyes, I think."
Laura had looked down, with that hauteur more fixed than ever now the light of her eyes was lost; she drew in the corners of her mouth, and turned a shade colder, if not paler, in complexion. I could not imagine what she was thinking, till she said, without raising her eyes,--
"You know, Clara, that is not the reason you wear black and I do not.
You know that you look well in anything, because n.o.body looks at anything you happen to wear. Besides, there is a reason I could give if I chose."
"There is no other reason that you know of, Laura," she answered, and then she asked me a question on quite another subject.
I was rather anxious to discover whether Laura had fulfilled her destiny as far as we had compa.s.sed ours; but I did not find it easy, for she scarcely spoke, and had not lost a certain abstraction in her air that alienated the observer insensibly from her. After dinner Clara rose, and I made some demonstration of going, which she met so that I could not refuse her invitation to remain at least an hour or two. We all three retired into the little drawing-room; Miss Benette placed me a chair in the open window which I had admired, and herself sat down opposite, easily as a child, and saying, "I will not be rude to-day, as I used to be, in taking out my work whenever you came."
"It suited you very well, however, and I perceive, by your kind present to my little niece, that you have not forgotten that delicate art of yours."
"I had laid it aside, except to work for babies, some time, but it was long since I had a baby to work for; and when Mr. Davy sent me word in such joy that his little girl was born, I was so rejoiced to be able to make caps and frocks."
"My sister was very much obliged to you on a former occasion too, Miss Benette."
"Yes, I suppose she was very much obliged that I did not accept Mr.
Davy"s hand, or would have been, only she did not know it!"
"I did not mean so. I was remembering whose handiwork graced her on her marriage-day."
"Oh! I forgot the veil. I have made several since that one, but not one like that exactly, because I desired that should be unique. You have not told me, Mr. Auchester, anything about Seraphael and his works."
I was so used to call him, and to hear him called, the Chevalier, that at first I started, but was soon in a deep monologue of all that had happened to me in connection with him and his music, only suppressing that which I was in the habit of reserving, even in my own mind, from my conscious self. In the midst of my relation, Laura, apparently uninterested, as she had been seated in a chair with a book in her hands, left the room, and we stayed in our talk and looked at each other at the same instant.
"Why do you look so, Mr. Auchester?" said Clara, half amused, but with a touch of perturbation too.
"I was expecting to be asked what I thought of that young lady, and you see I was agreeably disappointed, for you are too well-bred to ask."
"No such thing. I thought you would tell me yourself if you liked, but that you might prefer not to do so, because you are not one, sir, to a.s.sume critical airs over a person you have only seen a very few hours."
"You do me more than justice, Miss Benette. But though I despair of ever curing myself of the disposition to criticise, I am not inconvertible. I admire Miss Lemark; she is improved, she is distinguished,--a little more, and she would be lady-like."
"I thought "lady-like" meant less than "distinguished." You make it mean more."
"Perhaps I do mean that Miss Lemark is not exactly like yourself, and that when she has lived with you a little longer, she will be indeed all that she can be made."
"That would be foolish to say so,--pardon!--for she has lived with me two years now, and has most likely taken as much from me by imitation as she ever will, or by what you perhaps would call sympathy."
"I find, or should fancy I might find, to exist a great dissympathy between you."
"I suppose "dissympathy" is one of those nice little German words that are used to express what n.o.body ought to say. I thought you would not go there for nothing. If your dissympathy means not to agree in sentiment, I do not know that any two bodies could agree quite in feeling, nor would it be so pleasant as to be alone in some moods. I should be very sorry never to be able to retreat into the cool shade, and know that, as I troubled n.o.body, so n.o.body could get at me. Would not you?"
"Oh! I suppose so, in the sense you mean. But how is it I have not heard of this grace, or muse, taking leave to furl her wings at your nest? I should have thought that Davy would have known."
"Should I tell Mr. Davy what I pay to Thone for keeping my house in order,--or whether I went to church on a Sunday? Laura and I always agreed to live together, but we could not accomplish it until lately,--I mean, since I was in Italy. We met then, as we said we would. I carried her from Paris, where she was alone with every one but those who should have befriended her; her father had died, and she was living with Mademoiselle Margondret,--that person I did not like when I was young. If I had known where Laura was, I should have fetched her away before."
I felt for a moment as if I wished that Laura had never been born, but only for one moment. I then resumed,--
"Does she not dance in London? She looks just ready for it."
"She has accepted no engagement for this season at present. I cannot tell what she may do, however. Would you like to see my garden, Mr.
Auchester?"
"Indeed, I should very particularly like to see it, above all, if you will condescend to accompany me. There is a great deal more that I cannot help wishing for, Miss Benette; but I scarcely like to dream of asking about it to-night."
"For me to sing? Oh! I will sing for you any time, but I would certainly rather talk to you,--at least until the beautiful day begins to go; and it is all bright yet."
She walked before me without her bonnet down the winding garden-steps; the trellised bal.u.s.trade was lost in rose-wreaths. We were soon in the rustling air, among the flowers that had not a withered petal, bursting hour by hour.
"It would tease you to carry flowers, Mr. Auchester, or I should be tempted to gather a nosegay for you to take back to London. I cannot leave them alone while they are so fresh, and they quite ask to be gathered. Look at all the buds upon this bush,--you could not count them."
"They are Provence roses. What a quant.i.ty you have!"