Hildegarde hardly knew how they all got up-stairs, she was so flurried, so joyfully shaken and melted and confused. But it was only a moment before the tall man was bending over her mother"s chair, taking her hands in turn, and gazing at her wistfully, tenderly.
"Mildred Bond!" said Raymond Ferrers. "Am I fifty years old, or fifteen, Mildred? Where are the years gone, my child? You are utterly unchanged."
But this was more than the Colonel could bear.
"Raymond, you are as great an a.s.s as ever!" he cried, bringing down his hand with formidable violence on the slender, stooping shoulder. "Jack, what did I tell you? I said he was a mixture of angel and idiot. Look at him! Hear him! and contradict me if you dare." And then, as his brother turned and laid an arm round his shoulder, the Colonel fairly broke down, and was heard to mutter behind his handkerchief that the world consisted princ.i.p.ally of a parcel of fools, and that he was the biggest of them.
CHAPTER XI.
THE BOYS.
"MAMMINA!"
"Yes, Hilda!"
"Are you quite sure you will not mind my asking?"
"I am not at all sure! Suppose you try it, and find out."
"Well,--I don"t believe you will really mind. But--was not Mr. Raymond Ferrers--very fond of you, dear?"
Mrs. Grahame coloured like a girl.
"Yes, dear, he was. He was--I am afraid--very fond of me, Hilda. It was years and years ago, of course; he was only a lad. But,--well, it happened that we had never met since, you see; I think we were both a little overcome, for I, too, was very fond of him, Hilda, though not in the way he wished. Poor Raymond!"
"You--you couldn"t care for him, dear?"
"My child! I had seen your father; how could I think of any one else?
But Raymond did not know that; and--and it was hard for him. I trust I did not appear foolish, Hilda?"
She spoke anxiously, and Hilda laughed outright.
"Darling, you appeared like an angel, and were perfectly calm. I never should have guessed it from you; but--he, it was all over him, at the first glance."
"Poor Raymond!" said Mrs. Grahame again, meditatively. "And yet he was very happy in his marriage, I have always heard. His wife was a lovely person, and sincerely attached to him. But--I suppose the seeing me brought back his boyhood, and some of the old feeling,--we are singular creatures, Hilda. Perhaps you think I might have told you of this before, Hilda. You see, I never thought of it as anything belonging to me, dear."
"Of course," said Hilda. "I know! And I should not have asked if--if he had not made it so _very_ obvious. But, oh, how charming,--how lovely he is! And how beautiful to see him with Jack, and the dear Colonel with both of them! My mother, do you know that we have the very most delightful friends in the habitable universe?"
"It really does seem so," said her mother. "And what a Christmas we shall have, with so many of them around us! Let me see! Mr. Merryweather came to-day. Now the whole Smiling Signal Service, as absurd Gerald calls it, is here,--except the good Roger."
Except, indeed! Hildegarde"s heart gave a great bound, and she felt the colour rushing to cheek and forehead.
"We shall be very glad to see Roger?" said Mrs. Grahame. "Very glad, daughter dear?"
"Very glad indeed, dearest mother!" said Hilda. She met her mother"s loving glance bravely, with her own bright smile; here, the blushing did not matter, for the two hearts, mother"s and daughter"s, beat in such true time together that words were hardly needed to carry the swift thought from mind to mind.
There was a moment"s pause; then Mrs. Grahame went on.
"And are they not planning all kinds of merrymaking for Christmas week?
Dear me! Why, it is this very coming week, Hilda! Where has the month gone?"
"Oh, it is to be a great time!" said Hildegarde. "The flower party, and lots of people coming down from town for it; and a toboggan-party,--if the snow will only come! and the tree at Roseholme, and I don"t know what else. Do you know, I almost thought the Colonel and Mr.
Merryweather would quarrel about the tree; both wanted it so much. And then they both gave up at the same minute, and each insisted that the other should have it, till I thought they would quarrel over that. But it all ended most happily. Hugh, of course! He came up quietly, and held out two straws; and they drew, and neither said another word. Oh, Mother, Hugh is so happy with Jack! I met them just now; his little face was shining like a star. Jack was chattering German to him, and he did not understand a word, but that made no difference at all. And dear old Jack! I believe he would have liked to kiss every stone in the garden wall--there! he is calling me now! I promised to go for a walk when my work was done. Are you sure you don"t want anything, darling? absolutely sure? Then good-bye for an hour!"
Hildegarde ran down, and found Jack pacing the veranda with yard-long strides.
"Do you remember," he said, abruptly, "the first time I came here, Hilda?"
"Of course I do!" said Hilda.
"How I fell over a chair, and then knocked down a hanging-basket? Hilda, I do believe I should have made away with myself that night, if there had been any weapons about. I was simply _full_ of rage and misery; I hated everybody, myself included; and it did seem to me as if you might let me alone, and not insist upon making me talk. I _couldn"t_ talk, you know."
"No, dear, you certainly could not; but you had to learn. And you are not sorry now, Jack?"
"Sorry! well, rather not! Fancy, if I had stayed the hateful noodle that I was that night! Fact is, I was brimful of my own self; that was the trouble with me. Ah--who are all these people Uncle Tom has been telling me about, next door, in the yellow house? I didn"t bargain for strangers, Hilda!" And my lord looked slightly injured.
"No, dear!" said Hildegarde. "Of course we ought to have thought of that, and have prevented their coming here. We don"t own the house, it is true, but we might have turned the hose on them, or put rat-poison about, or kept them off in some way."
"Oh, there you go!" cried Jack. "I say! I haven"t been teased for two years. I forget what it"s like. But seriously, are they really nice? Do you care for them? I--I really _am_ jealous, Hilda; you needn"t laugh. I thought I was going to have you all to myself, and now here are a lot of people,--with unreasonable names, it seems to me,--and Uncle Tom says they are your most intimate friends, and that he loves them all like brothers."
"That was one of them you met last night," said Hildegarde, demurely.
"Oh, I say! I was going to ask you,--was it, though? of course; I didn"t notice her name much, but I remember now. Well, Hilda, she is a musician, and of course I"m glad you have had such a friend as that. I liked her face, too,--"
"You couldn"t see her face!"
"Oh, I saw enough. I saw her eyes just for a minute, and I know what she"s like, anyhow; didn"t I play the Mendelssohn Concerto with her? So that"s all right, and I mean to get her to play with me a lot, if she will. I like to play with the piano, only you so seldom find any one--any pianist--who understands the violin; they are generally thinking about their own playing. But--well, what was I saying? It is so jolly to be talking one"s own language again, and talking to you. I just want to go on and on, whether I say anything or not."
"So I infer!" said Hildegarde.
"Oh, I say!" cried Jack again. "But--well, to go back to these people,--there are a lot of them, aren"t there? A lot of fellows, or something?"
"There are!" said Hildegarde, gravely "Here are two of them coming now, Jack. These are the twins, Phil and Gerald; they are particularly nice fellows, and I want you to meet them."
"Look here, Hilda! I can"t, you know. I"m going to cut across the field here. I didn"t expect to see anybody this first morning. You won"t mind if I--"
"I shall mind very much indeed!" said Hildegarde, with decision. "Jack, you must not be absurd! You are behaving like a child.
"Oh, good-morning, Phil! Good-morning, Gerald! I am so glad to see you!
This is my cousin, John Ferrers, who came last night, and is staying at Roseholme. Jack, these are my neighbours, Philip and Gerald Merryweather."
The three bowed with mutual distrust.
"Glad to see you!" said Phil, in a tone which contradicted his words.