"Afraid? Not I, Joe. Come along. I couldn"t look quieter, not if I was to make up as I do in the evening as a Quakeress. Come along. Oh, Joe, it will be awful dull! Don"t forget to send word to the hall that I am ill. Afraid? Not I!" She laughed, but rather hysterically.
There would be, however, she secretly considered, some excitement when it came to the finding out, which would happen, she was convinced, in a very few hours. In fact, she had no faith at all in the story being accepted and believed by anybody; to be sure, she herself had been trained, as ladies in shops generally are, to mistrust all mankind, and she could not understand at all the kind of confidence which comes of having the very thing presented to you which you ardently desire.
When they arrived in Chester Square, she found waiting for her a lady, who was certainly not beautiful, but she had kind eyes, which looked eagerly at the strange face, and with an expression of disappointment.
"It can"t be the fringe," thought Lotty.
"Cousin Clara," she said softly and sweetly, as her husband had taught her, "I am Iris Deseret, the daughter of your old playfellow, Claude."
"Oh, my dear, my dear," cried Clara with enthusiasm, "come to my arms!
Welcome home again!"
She kissed and embraced her. Then she held her by both hands, and looked at her face again.
"My dear," she said, "you have been a long time coming. I had almost given up hoping that Claude had any children. But you are welcome, after all--very welcome. You are in your own house, remember, my dear.
This house is yours, and the plate, and furniture, and everything, and I am only your tenant."
"Oh!" said Lotty, overwhelmed. Why, she had actually been taken on her word, or rather the word of Joe.
"Let me kiss you again. Your face does not remind me as yet, in any single feature, of your father"s. But I dare say I shall find resemblance presently. And indeed, your voice does remind me of him already. He had a singularly sweet and delicate voice."
"Iris has a remarkably sweet and delicate voice," said Joe, softly.
"No doubt she got it from her father. You will hear her sing presently."
Lotty hardly knew her husband. His face was preternaturally solemn, and he looked as if he was engaged in the most serious business of his life.
"All her father"s ways were gentle and delicate," said Clara.
"Just like hers," said Joe. "When all of us--American boys and girls, pretty rough at times--were playing and larking about, Iris would be just sittin" out like a cat on a carpet, quiet and demure. I suppose she got that way, too, from her father."
"No doubt; and as for your face, my dear, I dare say I shall find a likeness presently. But just now I see none. Will you take off your bonnet?"
When the girl"s bonnet was off, Clara looked at her again, curiously, but kindly.
"I suppose I can"t help looking for a likeness, my dear. But you must take after your mother, whom I never saw. Your father"s eyes were full and limpid; yours are large, and clear, and bright; very good eyes, my dear, but they are not limpid. His mouth was flexible and mobile, but yours is firm. Your hair, however, reminds me somewhat of his, which was much your light shade of brown when he was young. And now, sir"--she addressed Joe--"now that you have brought this dear girl all the way across the Atlantic, what are you going to do?"
"Well, I don"t exactly know that there"s anything to keep me," said Joe. "You see, I"ve got my practice to look after at home--I am a physician, as I told you--and my wife and children; and the sooner I get back the better, now that I can leave Iris with her friends, safe and comfortable. Stay," he added, "there are all those papers which I promised you--the certificates, and the rest of them. You had better take them all, miss, and keep them for Iris."
"Thank you," said Clara, touched by this confidence; "Iris will be safe with me. It is very natural that you should want to go home again. And you will be content to stay with me, my dear, won"t you?
You need not be afraid, sir; I a.s.sure you that her interests will not in any way suffer. Tell her to write and let you know exactly what is done. Let her, however, since she is an English girl, remain with English friends, and get to know her cousins and relations. You can safely trust her with me, Dr. Washington."
"Thank you," said Joe. "You know that when one has known a girl all her life, one is naturally anxious about her happiness. We are almost brother and sister."
"I know; and I am sure, Mr. Washington, we ought to be most grateful to you. As for the money you have expended upon her, let me once more beg of you--"
Joe waved his hand majestically.
"As for that," he said, "the money is spent. Iris is welcome to it, if it were ten times as much. Now, madam, you trusted me, the very first day that you saw me, with two hundred pounds sterling. Only an English lady would have done that. You trusted me without asking me who or what I was, or doubting my word. I a.s.sure you, madam, I felt that kindness, and that trust, very much indeed, and in return, I have brought you Iris herself. After all expenses paid of coming over and getting back, buying a few things for Iris, if I find that there"s anything over, I shall ask you to take back the balance. Madam, I thank you for the money, but I am sure I have repaid you--with Iris."
This was a very clever speech. If there had been a shadow of doubt before it in Clara"s heart (which there was not), it would vanish now.
She cordially and joyfully accepted her newly-found cousin.
"And now, Iris," he said with a manly tremor in his voice, "I do not know if I shall see you again before I go away. If not, I shall take your fond love to all of them at home--Tom, and d.i.c.k, and Harry, and Harriet, and Prissy, and all of them"--Joe really was carrying the thing through splendidly--"and perhaps, my dear, when you are a grand lady in England, you will give a thought--a thought now and again--to your old friends across the water."
"Oh, Joe!" cried Lotty, really carried away with admiration, and ashamed of her skeptical spirit. "Oh," she whispered, "ain"t you splendid!"
"But you must not go, Dr. Washington," said Clara, "without coming again to say farewell. Will you not dine with us to-night? Will you stay and have lunch?"
"No, madam, I thank you. It will be best for me to leave Iris alone with you. The sooner she learns your English ways and forgets American ways, the better."
"But you are not going to start away for Liverpool at once? You will stay a day or two in London--"
The American physician said that perhaps he might stay a week longer for scientific purposes.
"Have you got enough money, Joe?" asked the new Iris thoughtfully.
Joe gave her a glance of infinite admiration.
"Well," he said, "the fact is that I should like to buy a few books and things. Perhaps--"
"Cousin," said Lotty eagerly, "please give him a check for a hundred pounds. Make it a hundred. You said everything was mine. No, Joe, I won"t hear a word about repayment, as if a little thing like fifty pounds, or a hundred pounds, should want to be repaid! As if you and I could ever talk about repayment!"
Clara did as she was asked readily and eagerly. Then Joe departed, promising to call and say farewell before he left England, and resolving that in his next visit--his last visit--there should be another check. But he had made one mistake; he had parted with the papers. No one in any situation of life should ever give up the power, until he has secured the substance. But it is human to err.
"And now, my dear," said Clara warmly, "sit down and let us talk.
Arnold is coming to lunch with us, and to make your acquaintance."
When Arnold came a few minutes later, he was astonished to find his cousin already on the most affectionate terms with the newly-arrived Iris Deseret. She was walking about the room showing her the pictures of her grandfather and other ancestors, and they were hand-in-hand.
"Arnold," said Clara, "this is Iris, and I hope you will both be great friends; Iris, this is my cousin, but he is not yours."
"I don"t pretend to know how that may be," said the young lady. "But then I am glad to know all your cousins, whether they are mine or not; only don"t bother me with questions, because I don"t remember anything, and I don"t know anything. Why, until the other day I did not even know that I was an English lady, not until they found those papers."
A strange accent for an American! and she certainly said "laidy" for "lady," and "paipper" for "paper," like a c.o.c.kney. Alas! This comes of London Music Halls even to country-bred damsels!
Arnold made a mental observation that the new-comer might be called anything in the world, but could not be called a lady. She was handsome, certainly, but how could Claude Deseret"s daughter have grown into so common a type of beauty? Where was the delicacy of feature and manner which Clara had never ceased to commend in speaking of her lost cousin?
"Iris," said Clara, "is our little savage from the American Forest.
She is Queen Pocahontas, who has come over to conquer England and to win all our hearts. My dear, my Cousin Arnold will help me to make you an English girl."
She spoke as in the State of Maine was still the hunting-ground of Sioux and Iroquois.
Arnold thought that a less American-looking girl he had never seen; that she did not speak or look like a lady was to be expected, perhaps, if she had, as was probable, been brought up by rough and unpolished people. But he had no doubt, any more than Clara herself, as to the ident.i.ty of the girl. n.o.body ever doubts a claimant. Every impostor, from Demetrius downward, has gained his supporters and partisans by simply living among them and keeping up the imposition.
It is so easy, in fact, to be a claimant, that it is wonderful there are not more of them.
Then luncheon was served, and the young lady not only showed a n.o.ble appet.i.te, but to Arnold"s astonishment, confessed to an ardent love for bottled stout.
"Most American ladies," he said impertinently, "only drink water, do they not?"