"I know it, mamma. And I will hope and trust. You never did any evil in your life. You have only suffered from evildoers. Why, on that account, should you continue to suffer? Yes, I will hope and trust. And, mamma, I have roused myself, and am going down to dinner to surprise papa. And then, oh, do let us try to recover the good, old days of peace and gladness that we had before the tempter and destroyer came. Who is downstairs besides our own family?"
"Dr. Peters is here. He brought confirmation of that monster"s Californian marriage."
"Oh, I am very glad of that! I would have it confirmed and reconfirmed forever and ever. Who else is downstairs, mamma?"
"Mrs. Anglesea. Your father asked her to the house, that we might hear her statement in more detail. And she seems to like her quarters so well that I am inclined to think that she will stay just as long as she is permitted to do so."
"Well, mamma, let her stay. Poor woman! To be deserted by her husband! Is she very unhappy?"
"Not she! I should say that she is the most happily const.i.tuted human being I ever saw. She has the soundest health, the finest appet.i.te, the keenest senses and the dullest sensibilities that I ever heard of. She has no more sentiment than if she ran upon four feet, instead of two! Give her full bodily comforts and pleasures, which she can feel and enjoy, and she will be perfectly happy."
"Oh, mamma, what a character!"
"But that she is very--what shall I say of her that will not seem harsh or uncharitable?"
"Very unsophisticated and very unconventional, mamma?" suggested Odalite.
"Yes, dear, that will do. But for those drawbacks, you may find her amusing."
"But perhaps she is more amusing on account of those drawbacks, mamma,"
suggested Odalite.
But her mother shuddered.
There was a little bustle at the chamber door, which opened suddenly.
Mrs. Force turned around, and exclaimed:
"Here comes Wynnette, delighted to see you up! And now, dear, I will leave you with your sister, and return to our visitors. You will be down to dinner, you say?"
"Oh, yes, mamma--certainly," said Odalite.
Mrs. Force kissed her daughter, and left the room.
"Mrs. Colonel is a whole regiment, I tell you, Odalite!" she heard Wynnette say, as she closed the door.
Odalite kept her word, and joined her family and friends in the drawing room just before dinner.
Her father met her halfway across the room, kissed her, and led her to a chair by the fire.
The rector came and gravely congratulated her.
Joshua, the bulldog, who had followed her from the hall, came and laid his honest head on her lap.
Lastly, Mrs. Col. Anglesea drew a chair to her side, sat down in it, took her hand, looked tenderly in her eyes, and said:
"You"re not mad "long o" me, are you, honey, for coming and raising a big rumpus in the church and stopping of the marriage, are you, now?"
"Angry with you? No, indeed! I am more grateful to you than words can express!" impulsively exclaimed Odalite.
"That"s right! That"s the proper sperrit, that is! Why, Lord, he ain"t much, if he is a colonel into the army! It"s only the Injun Army, anyways!
And we know what the Injuns is! Leastways, we know what the Injuns is here, and I don"t reckon they"re any better out yonder, t"other side of the world! No, honey, he ain"t much! Why, Lord, there are heaps of fine young fellows would be glad enough to get you! Why, there is that fine young fellow, that midshipman staying here! Why couldn"t you fancy him, now? And lots of others! Let alone taking up with a man older and uglier than your own fath--I mean, than the parson! You"ve no call to hang your harp on a willow tree, on account of the likes of him!"
"Indeed, ma"am, I do not in the least regret Col. Anglesea," said Odalite, earnestly.
"Lord, don"t you, sure enough? Then you wa"n"t so very fond of him, after all? Oh, bother! there"s that clang-clang of a dinner bell again!" said the speaker, stopping short in her speech.
"Shall I have the honor, madam?" inquired the master of the house, coming up and offering his arm to take her into the dining room.
The rector spent the evening at Mondreer, and then, as a snowstorm was threatened, he accepted his host"s and hostess" invitation and stayed all night with them.
Leonidas Force did not return to Mondreer that evening, but the circ.u.mstance caused no surprise nor uneasiness, as the young master of Greenbushes was often detained by business to so late an hour that he spent the night at the place.
CHAPTER XXVIII
A STORM BREWING AT MISS SIBBY"S
"Now, tell the truth, and shame the devil, Roland Bayard! Where have you been for the last twenty-four hours?" inquired Miss Sibby, on the afternoon of the same day that witnessed the rector"s visit to Mondreer.
"To tell you the truth, then, Aunt Sibby, I have been to Port Tobacco, waiting for a telegram."
"A telegram!"
"Yes, a telegram. After the wedding circus yesterday, the n.o.bs decided to cuss the cost and send several miles of telegram to California, to find out the truth about that alleged marriage."
"Yes, I heard that."
"Well, the squire couldn"t take the message, and so he asked the rector to do it. And the rector promised everything the squire wanted, and then, when it was too late to go back from his word, he remembered that he had to make a sick call on a man that was given over by the doctors, and might have to stay with him all night. And I was there, and heard him bewailing his dilemma, and--what could a gentleman do? I offered to take the message to Port Tobacco, and wait there for the answer."
"Well, and to make a long story short, you went there and took the opportunity to stay all night and go on a lark among them low-life tavern people--you, the only adopted nephew and namesake of a lady descended from the Duke of England! I"m ashamed of you!" said Miss Bayard, wrathfully.
"I went there, and gave the message at the telegraph office, and waited for an answer until the office closed for the night. Then I went to the quietest hotel I could find----"
"Oh, yes, I know you did!" ironically interpolated the old lady.
"And I just took a chop and a cup of coffee, and went to bed," continued the youth, without noticing the interruption. "And the first thing the next morning I went to the office, and waited until it was opened. And the first telegram that came clicking over the wires was the one I waited for.
And, as soon as ever I got it, I only waited to swallow a cup of coffee and a roll, mounted my horse, and hurried back to the rectory. And as soon as I gave his reverence the telegram I set off here!"
"And I have been that anxious about you!" whimpered the old lady. "And now, tell me, did you know anything about that woman a being of that furriner"s wife when you fetched her here to my house?"
"Yes, aunty, I knew it."
"And why didn"t you tell me?"
"Because I was sworn to secrecy! And, if I had not been sworn, still, I could never have betrayed a woman"s confidence. The adopted nephew of the Duke of England"s descendant could never do that, you know!" said the boy, with a sly twinkle in his blue eyes.