"He"ll understand," thought Sibyl; "he"s wonderful for seeing right through a thing, and he"ll quite know what I mean by the "heart of the rose,"" and she kissed the rose pa.s.sionately and put it inside the letter, and nurse directed the letter for her, and it was dropped into the pillar-box that same night.
The letter was not read by the one it was intended for until--but that refers to another part of the story.
CHAPTER XII.
The next day was a glorious one, and Lady Helen, Mr. Rochester, Mrs.
Ogilvie, and Sibyl all met at Victoria Station in time to catch the 11.20 train to Richmond, the nearest station to Silverbel. There a carriage was to meet them, to take them to the house. They were to lunch at a small inn close by, and afterwards have a row on the river; altogether a very delightful day was planned.
It was now the heart of a glorious summer--such a summer as does not often visit England. The sky was cloudless; the sun shone, but the great heat was tempered by a soft, delicious breeze.
Sibyl, all in white, with a white shady hat making her little face even more lovely than usual, stood by her mother"s side, close to a first-cla.s.s carriage, to await the arrival of the other two.
Lady Helen and Rochester were seen walking slowly down the platform.
Sibyl gave one of her gleeful shouts, and ran to meet them.
"Here you both is!" she said, and she looked full up at Lady Helen, with such a charming glance of mingled affection and understanding, that Lady Helen blushed, in spite of herself.
Lady Helen Douglas was a very nice-looking girl, not exactly pretty, but her gray eyes were capable of many shades of emotion. They were large, and full of intelligence. Her complexion was almost colorless.
She had a slim, graceful figure. Her jet-black hair, which she wore softly coiled round her head, was also thick and beautiful. Sibyl used to like to touch that hair, and loved very much to nestle up close to the graceful figure, and take shy peeps into the depths of the eyes which seemed to hold secrets.
"You do look nice," said Sibyl, speaking in a semi-whisper, but in a tone of great ecstasy, "and so does Mr. Rochester. Do you know, I always call him nice Mr. Rochester. Watson is so interested in him."
"Who is Watson?" asked Lady Helen.
"Don"t you know, he is our footman. He is very nice, too; he is full of impulses, and they are all good. I expect the reason he is so awfully interested in _dear_ Mr. Rochester is because they are both having love affairs. You know, Watson has a girl, too, he is awfully fond of; I "spect they"ll marry when father comes back with all the gold. You don"t know how fond I am of Watson; he"s a very great, special friend of mine. Now here"s the carriage. Let"s all get in.
Aren"t you both glad you"re coming, and coming together, both of you _together_, to visit Silverbel. It"s a "licious place; there are all kinds of little private walks and shrubberies, and seats for two under trees. Two that want to be alone can be alone at Silverbel. Now let"s all get into the carriage."
Poor Rochester and Lady Helen at that moment thought Sibyl almost an _enfant terrible_. However, there was no help for it. She would have her say, and her words were bright and her interest of the keenest. It mattered nothing at all to her that pa.s.sers-by turned to look and smiled in an amused way.
Mrs. Ogilvie was in an excellent humor. All the way down she talked to Lady Helen of the bazaar which she had already arranged was to take place at Silverbel during the last week in August.
"I had meant to put it off until my husband returned," she remarked finally, "but on reflection that seemed a pity, for he is scarcely likely to be back before the end of October, and by then it would be too late; and, besides, the poor dear Home for Incurables needs its funds, and why should it languish when we are all anxious, more than anxious, to be charitable? Mr. Acland, my lawyer, is going to pay a deposit on the price of the estate, so I can enter into possession almost immediately. I am going to get Morris & Liberty to furnish the place, and I shall send down servants next week. But about the bazaar. I mean it to be perfect in every way. The stalls are to be held by unmarried t.i.tled ladies. Your services, Lady Helen, must be secured immediately."
"Oh, yes," cried Sibyl, "you are to have a most beautiful stall, a flower stall: what do you say?"
"If I have a stall I will certainly choose a flower stall," replied Lady Helen, and she smiled at Sibyl, and patted her hand.
They soon arrived at Richmond, and got into the carriage which was waiting for them, and drove to Silverbel. They had lunch at the inn as arranged, and then they wandered about the grounds, and presently Sibyl had her wish, for Rochester and Lady Helen strolled away from her mother and herself, and walked down a shady path to the right of the house.
"There they go!" cried the child.
"There who go, Sibyl?" asked Mrs. Ogilvie.
"The one who wants to marry the other," replied Sibyl. "Hush, mother, we are not to know, we are to be quite blind. Aren"t you awfully incited?"
"You are a very silly, rude little girl," replied the mother. "You must not make the sort of remarks you are always making to Mr.
Rochester and Lady Helen. Such remarks are in very bad form. Now, don"t take even the slightest notice when they return."
"Aren"t I to speak to them?" asked Sibyl, raising her eyes in wonder.
"Of course, but you are not to say anything special."
"Oh, nothing special. Am I to talk about the weather?"
"No; don"t be such a little goose."
"I always notice," replied Sibyl, softly, "that when _quite_ strangers meet, they talk about the weather. I thought that was why. Can"t I say anything more--more as if they were my very dear old friends? I thought they"d like it. I thought they"d like to know that there was one here who understanded all about it."
"About it?"
"Their love, mother, their love for--for each other."
"Who may the one be who is supposed to understand?"
"Me, mother," said Sibyl.
Mrs. Ogilvie burst into a ringing laugh.
"You are a most ridiculous little girl," she said. "Now, listen; you are not to take any notice when they come back. They are not engaged; perhaps they never will be. Anyhow, you will make yourself an intensely disagreeable child if you make such remarks as you have already made. Do you understand?"
"You has put it plain, mother," replied Sibyl. "I think I do. Now, let"s look at the flowers."
"I have ordered the landlord of the inn to serve tea on the lawn,"
continued Mrs. Ogilvie. "Is it not nice to feel that we are going to have tea on our own lawn, Sibyl?"
"It"s lovely!" replied Sibyl.
"I am devoted to the country," continued the mother; "there is no place like the country for me."
"So I think, too," replied Sibyl. "I love the country. We"ll have all the very poorest people down here, won"t we, mother?"
"What do you mean?"
"All the people who want to be made happy; Mr. and Mrs. Holman, and the other faded old people in the almshouses that I went to see one time with Miss Winstead."
"Now you are talking in your silly way again," replied Mrs. Ogilvie.
"You make me quite cross when you talk of that old couple, Mr. and Mrs. Holman."
"But, mother, why aren"t they to be rich if we are to be rich? Do you know that Mrs. Holman is saving up her money to buy some of the gold out of father"s mine. She expects to get two hundred pounds instead of one. It"s very puzzling, and yet I seem to understand. Oh, here comes Mr. Landlord with the tea-things. How inciting!"
The table was spread, and cake, bread and b.u.t.ter, and fruit provided.
Lady Helen and Rochester came back. They both looked a little conscious and a little afraid of Sibyl, but as she turned her back on them the moment they appeared, and pretended to be intensely busy picking a bouquet of flowers, they took their courage in their hands and came forward and joined in the general conversation.
Lady Helen elected to pour out tea, and was extremely cheerful, although she could not help reddening when Sibyl brought her a very large marguerite daisy, and asked her to pull off the petals and see whether the rhyme came right.