"How kind of him, to be sure!"
"And it will crawl about under the lid, you must not mind its hurting a bit; and it won"t come out till to-morrow when the clock strikes twelve, and then it will have eaten up every bit, and your eyes will be brighter than diamonds. Charley has seen them do it ever so many times, and he says it"s bootiful, and they don"t mind giving five shillings a piece for them, when they are scarce."
"Did Mr. Shelfer ever try them? His eyes are so sharp: perhaps that is the reason."
"No. I never heard that he did, Miss. But bless you he never tells me half he does; no, nor a quarter of half." At this recollection, she fetches a little short sigh, her nearest approach to melancholy, for she is not sentimental. "Care killed the cat," is her favourite aphorism.
"Then when he comes home, Mrs. Shelfer, pop one of these sh.e.l.ls, a good big one, into each of his eyes; and let us know the effect to-morrow morning, and I"ll give you a kiss, if you do it well."
This is the bribe Isola finds most potent with everybody.
"Lor, Miss Idols, bless your innocent heart, do you suppose he would let me? Why he thinks it a great thing to let me tie his shoe, and he won"t only when he has had a good dinner."
"Well," cries Isola, "I am astonished! Catch me tying my husband"s shoes! I shall expect him to tie mine, I know; and he shall only do that when he is very good."
With a regal air, she puts out the prettiest foot ever seen. Mrs.
Shelfer laughs.
"Lor, Miss, it"s all very well for girls to talk; and they all does it, till they knows better. Though for the likes of you, any one would do anything a most. Pray, Miss Idols, if I may make so bold, how many offers of marriage have you received?"
"Let me think! Oh I know! it"s one more than I am years old. Eighteen altogether, Mrs. Shelfer; if you count the apothecary"s boy, and the nephew of the library; but then they were all of them boys, papa"s pupils and that, a deal too young for me. They were all going to die, when I refused them; but they are all alive so far, at any rate. Isn"t it too bad of them?"
"Well, Miss Idols, if you get as good a husband as you deserve, and that is saying a deal, he"ll tie your shoe may be for a month, and then he"ll look for you to tie his."
"And long he may look, even if he has sh.e.l.lfish in his eyes. Why look, Mrs. Shelfer, they"re all crawling about!"
"Bootiful, isn"t it? Bootiful! I wish Miss Valence could see them.
And look at the horns they goes routing about with! How they must tickle your eyelids. And what coorious eyes they has! Ah, I often think, Miss Idols, I likes this sort of thing so much, what a pity it is as I wasn"t born in the country. I should never be tired of watching the snails, and the earywigs, and the tadpoles. Why, I likes nothing better than to see them stump-legged things come to table in the cabbage. I have not seen one now for ever so long. Oh that Charley, what dreadful lies he do tell!"
"What about, Mrs. Shelfer?"
"Why, my good friend, he says them green things with stripes on, and ever so many legs, turns to live b.u.t.terflies, after they be dead. But I was too many for him there. Yes, yes. The last one as I boiled, I did not say a word about it to him, but I put it by in a chiney-teacup, with the saucer over, in case it should fly away. Bless your heart, young ladies, there it is now, as quiet as anything, and no signs of a b.u.t.terfly. And when he tells me any lies, about where he was last night, I just goes to the cupboard, and shows him that; and never another word can he say. And so, Miss Valence, you won"t try these little snails, after my journey and all!"
"Of course I won"t, Mrs. Shelfer. But I am sincerely obliged to you for your trouble, as well as for all your kind nursing, which I can never forget. Now let me buy those sh.e.l.lfish from you, and Miss Isola will take them as a present to her papa."
"No, no, unless he will put them in his eyes, Miss. I won"t have them wasted. Charley will sell them again in no time. He knows lots of sailors. Most likely he"ll get up a raffle for them, and win them himself."
Away she hurries to take off the bonnet she has been so proud of, for the last two and twenty years. Though I declined the services of the ophthalmist snails, my sight returned very rapidly. How delicious it was to see more and more every day! Plenty of cold water was the present regimen. Vision is less a vision, every time I use it. In a week more, I can see quite well, though obliged to wear a shade.
One morning, dear Isola runs upstairs, out of breath as usual; but, what is most unusual, actually frowning. Has Cora tyrannised, or what?
Through the very shade of her frown, comes her sunny smile, as she kisses me.
"Oh, I am so vexed. I have brought him to the door; and now he won"t come in!"
"Who, my darling?"
"Why, Conny, to be sure. My brother Conrad. I had set my heart on showing him to you, directly you could see."
"Why won"t he come in?"
"Because he thinks that you ought not to see strangers, until you are quite well. He has not got to the corner yet. I can run like a deer.
Send word by me, that you are dying to see him."
"Not quite that. But say how glad I shall be."
"I"ll say that you won"t get well till you do."
"Say what you like. He will know it"s only your nonsense."
Off she darts; she is quick as light in her movements, and soon returns with her brother.
I lift my weak eyes to his bright ones, and recognise at once the preserver of my mother and myself. But I see, in a moment, that he has not the faintest remembrance of me. My whole face is altered by my accident, and even my voice affected by the long confinement. When he met me in the wood, he seemed very anxious not to look at me; when he saved my life from the rushing mountain, he had little opportunity.
Very likely he would not have known me, under another name; even without this illness. So let it be. I will not reveal myself. I thanked him once, and he repulsed me; no doubt he had a reason, for I see that he is a gentleman. Let that reason hold good: I will not trespa.s.s on it.
He took my hand with a smile, the counterpart of Isola"s. He had heard of me so constantly, that I must excuse the liberty. A dear friend of his sister"s could be no stranger to him. A thrill shot through me at the touch of his hand, and my eyes were weak. He saw it, and placed a chair for me further from the light. On his own face, not the sun, for the "drawing-room" windows look north, but the strong reflection of the noon-day light was falling.
How like he is to Isola, and yet how different! So much stronger, and bolder, and more decided, so tall and firm of step. His countenance open as the noon, incapable of concealment; yet if he be the same (and, how can I doubt it?), then at least there seemed to be some mystery about him.
Isola, with the quickness of a girl, saw how intently I observed him, and could not hide her delight.
"There now, Clara dear, I knew you would like him. But you must not look at him so much, or your poor eyes will be sore."
Little stupid! As I felt my pale cheeks colouring, I could almost have been angry, even with my Isola. But she meant no harm. In spite of lectures and "college," she was gentle nature personified; and no Professors could make anything else of her. All these things run in the grain. If there is anything I hate, I am sure I hate affectation. But there is a difference between us.
Probably it is this: I am of pure English blood, and she is not. That I know by instinct. What blood she is of, I am sure I cannot tell.
Gentle blood at any rate, or I could not have loved her so. How horribly narrow-minded, after all my objectivity! Well, what I mean is, that I can like and love many people who are not of gentle, but (I suppose) of ferocious blood; still, as a general rule, culture and elegance are better matches for nature, after some generations of training. My father used to say so about his pointers and setters. The marvel is that I, who belong to this old streak, seem to have got some twist in it. My grandmother would have swooned at the names of some people I love more than I could have loved her. My mother would not.
But then she was a Christian. Probably that is the secret of my twist.
All this has pa.s.sed through my mind, before I can frown at Isola. And now I cannot frown at all. Dear little thing, she is not eighteen, and she knows no better. I have attained that Englishwoman"s majority three weeks ago; and I am sorry for Isola.
To break the awkwardness, her brother starts off into subjects of art.
He has heard of my drawings, may he see them some day? I ask him about the magnificent stag. Yes, that is his, and I have no idea how long it took him to do. He speaks of it with no conceit whatever; neither with any depreciation, for the purpose of tempting praise. As he speaks, I observe some peculiarity in his accent. Isola"s accent is as pure as mine, or purer. Her brother speaks very good English, and never hesitates for a word; but the form of his sentences often is not English; especially when he warms to his subject; and (what struck me first, for I am no purist as to collocation of words) his accent, his emphasis is not native. The difference is very slight, and quite indescribable; but a difference there is. Perhaps it is rather a difference of the order of thought than of language, as regards the cast of the sentence; but that will not account for the accent; and if it would, it still shows another nationality.
There is a loud knock at the door. I am just preparing (with Isola"s help) my little hospitalities. If London visits mean much talk and no food, I hold by Gloucestershire and Devon. I have a famous North Devon ham, and am proud of its fame. Surely no more visitors for me.
No; but one for Mrs. Shelfer. The Professor has heard of the eyesh.e.l.ls; and what politeness, humanity, love of his daughter failed to do, science has effected. He is come to see and secure them. His children hear his voice. Of course, we must ask him to come up. Mr. Conrad rises. Isola runs to fetch her father. Isola loves everybody. I do believe she loves old Cora. Conrad is of sterner stuff: but surely he loves his father. As for me--we were just getting on so well--I wanted no Professor. Isola"s brother will not tell a lie. He does not remember, all at once, any pressing engagement. He holds out his hand, saying simply,
"Miss Valence, I heartily beg your pardon for leaving so suddenly; and just when we were giving you so much trouble. It would be impertinence for me to tell you the reason. It is a domestic matter. I trust you will believe me, that no light reason would make me rude. May I come again with Isola, to see your drawings soon?"
He meets the Professor on the stairs. The latter enters the room, under evil auspices for my good opinion.
CHAPTER VI.
If Professor Ross entered my room under evil auspices, it was not long before he sent the birds the other way. For the first time, since my childhood, I met a man of large and various knowledge; a man who had spent his life in ama.s.sing information, and learning how to make the most of it. A little too much perhaps there was of the second, and more fruitful branch, of the sour-sweet tree. Once I had been fool enough to fancy that some of my own little bopeeps at nature were original and peculiar. To Thomas Kenwood, Farmer Huxtable, and even Mr. Shelfer, a gardener, I had been quite an oracle as to the weather, the sky, and the insects about. Moreover, in most of the books I had read, there were such blunders, even in matters that lie on nature"s doorsteps, that, looking back at them, I thought I had crossed her threshold.