"I doubt," said Mrs. Linchmore, as the laugh faded away to an almost imperceptible curl of the lip; while her head was thrown haughtily back, and she proudly met Amy"s astonished gaze; "I doubt if Mrs. Elrington would recognise me; nine years, as you wisely remark, may effect--though not always--a great change. It has on me; many may possibly think for the better; _she_ will say for the worse. But time, however hateful it may be for many reasons, changing, as it does sadly, our outward appearance; yet what wonderful changes it effects inwardly. It has one very great advantage in my eyes, it brings forgetfulness; so that the longer we live the less annoying to us are the faults and follies of youth; they gradually fade from our vision. I could laugh now at Mrs.
Elrington"s bitter remarks and sarcastic words; they would not cause me one moment"s uneasiness."
Amy was spared any reply by little Alice suddenly rising, and claiming her mother"s attention.
"This is the youngest of your pupils, Miss Neville. Alice dear, put down my scissors, and go and speak to that lady."
The little girl, who had been staring at Amy ever since she entered, now looked sullenly on the floor, but paid no attention to her mother"s request.
"Go, dear, go! Will you not make friends with your new governess?"
"No I won"t!" she exclaimed, with flashing eyes. "Nurse says she is a naughty, cross woman, and I don"t love her."
"Oh, fie! Nurse is very wrong to say such things. You see how much your services are required, Miss Neville. I fear you will find this little one sadly spoilt; she is a great pet of her papa"s and mine."
"I trust," replied Amy, "we shall soon be good friends. Alice, dear, will you not try and love me? I am not cross or naughty," and she attempted to take the little hand Alice held obstinately beneath her dress.
"No, no! go away, go away. I won"t love you!"
At this moment the door opened, and Mr. Linchmore entered. He was a fine, tall looking man, with a pleasing expression of countenance, and his manner was so kind as he welcomed Amy that he won her heart at once.
"Hey-day!" he exclaimed, "was it Alice"s voice I heard as I came downstairs? I am afraid, Isabella, you keep her up too late. It is high time she was in bed and asleep. We shall have little pale cheeks, instead of these round rosy ones," added he, as the little girl climbed his knee, and looked up fondly in his face.
"She was not in the least sleepy," replied his wife, "and begged so hard to be allowed to remain, that I indulged her for once."
"Ah! well," said he, smiling, and glancing at Amy. "We shall have a grand reformation soon. But where are Edith and f.a.n.n.y?"
"They were so naughty I was obliged to send them away up stairs. f.a.n.n.y broke the vase Charles gave me last winter."
"By-the-by, I have just heard from Charles; he has leave from his regiment for a month, and is going to Paris; but is coming down here for a few days before he starts, just to say good-bye."
"One of his "flying visits," as he calls them. How sorry I am!"
"Sorry! why so?"
"Because he promised to spend his leave with us. What shall we do without him? and how dull it will be here."
A cloud pa.s.sed over her husband"s face, but he made no reply; and a silence somewhat embarra.s.sing ensued, only broken some minutes after by the nurse, who came to fetch Alice to bed, and Amy gladly availed herself of Mrs. Linchmore"s permission to retire at the same time.
They went up a short flight of stairs, and down a long corridor, or gallery, then through another longer still, when nurse, half opening a door to the left, exclaimed,--
"This is to be the school-room, miss. I thought you might like to see it before you went to bed. Madam has ordered your tea to be got ready for you there, though I"m thinking it"s little you"ll eat and drink to-night, coming all alone to a strange place. However you"ll may be like to see Miss Edith and Miss f.a.n.n.y, and they"re both in here, Miss f.a.n.n.y at mischief I warrant."
Then catching up Alice in her arms, after a vain attempt on Amy"s part to obtain a kiss, she marched off with her in triumph, and Amy entered the room.
On a low stool, drawn close to the open window, sat a fair-haired girl, her head bent low over the page she was reading, or trying to decipher, as the candles threw little light on the spot where she sat. Her long, fair curls, gently waved by the soft evening breeze, swept the pages, and quite concealed her face from Amy"s gaze on the one side; while on the other they were held back by her hand, so as not to impede the light.
A scream of merry laughter arrested Amy"s footsteps as she was advancing towards her, and turning round she saw a little girl, evidently younger than the one by the window, dancing about with wild delight, holding the two fore paws of a little black and white spaniel, which was dressed up in a doll"s cap and frock, and evidently anything but pleased at the ludicrous figure he cut, although obliged to gambol about on his hind legs for the little girl"s amus.e.m.e.nt. Presently a snap and a growl showed he was also inclined to resent his young mistress"s liberties, when another peal of laughter rewarded him, while, bringing her face close to his, she exclaimed,--
"Oh, you dear naughty little doggie! you know you would not dare to bite me." Then, catching sight of Amy, she instantly released doggie, and springing up, rushed to the window, saying in a loud whisper--
"Oh, Edith, Edith! here"s the horrid governess."
Edith instantly arose, and then stood somewhat abashed at seeing Amy so close to her; but Amy held out her hand, and said--
"I am sorry your sister thinks me so disagreeable; but I hope Edith will befriend me, and teach her in time to believe me kind and loving."
"She is not my sister, but my cousin," replied Edith, drooping her long eyelashes, and suffering her hand to remain in Amy"s.
"Is Alice your sister?"
"No; she is my cousin, too. I have no sister."
The tone was sorrowful, and Amy fancied the little hand tightened its hold, while the eyes were timidly raised to hers.
Sitting down, she drew the child towards her, while f.a.n.n.y stood silently by, gazing at her new friend. They chatted together some time, and when nurse came to fetch them to bed, Edith still kept her place by Amy"s side, while f.a.n.n.y, with Carlo in her lap, was seated at her feet, nor did either of the little girls refuse her proffered kiss as she bade them "good night."
How lonely Amy felt in that large long room.
Notwithstanding the evening was a warm one, the young girl drew her shawl closer round her shoulders, as she sat down to her solitary tea; and tears, the first she had shed that day, rolled slowly over her cheeks as she thought of her mother"s calm, loving face, and her sister"s merry prattle. How she missed them both! Although but a few short hours since they parted, since she felt the warm, silent pressure of her mother"s hand, and Sarah"s clinging embrace, yet the hours seemed long; and oh, how long the months would be! But youth is hopeful, and ere Amy went to bed, she had already begun to look forward to the holidays as nearer than they were, to image to herself the warm welcome home and the happy meeting hereafter with those she loved.
CHAPTER III.
MORE ABOUT BRAMPTON.
Alas!----how changed that mien!
How changed these timid looks have been, Since years of guilt and of disguise, Have steel"d her brow, and arm"d her eyes!
No more of virgin terror speaks The blood that mantles in her cheeks; Fierce and unfeminine are there Frenzy for joy, for grief despair.
SCOTT.
Mrs. Linchmore had married for money, yet money had not brought the happiness she expected. At its shrine she had sacrificed all she held dearest on earth, and with it her own self-esteem and self-respect. In the first few months she had tried to reconcile the false step to herself, had tried to hush the still, small voice within that was constantly rising to upbraid her. Was not wealth hers? and with it could she not purchase everything else? Alas! the "still, small voice" would be heard. She could not stifle it; it pursued her everywhere: in her pursuits abroad, in her occupations at home--Home! the name was a mockery. It was a gilded prison, in which her heart was becoming cold and hard, and all the best feelings of her woman"s nature were being turned to stone.
Ten years had pa.s.sed away since Mrs Linchmore stood at the altar as a bride; ten, to her, slow, miserable years. How changed she was! Her husband, he who ought to have been her first thought, she treated with cold indifference; yet he still loved her so pa.s.sionately that not all her coldness had been able to root out his love. Her voice was music to him, her very step made his heart beat more quickly, and sometimes brought a quick flush to his face; all that she did was his delight, even her faults he looked on with patient forbearance. But although he loved her so devotedly, he rarely betrayed it; his face might brighten and flush when he heard her step, yet by the time she had drawn near, and stood, perhaps, close by his side as he wrote, it had paled again, and he would even look up and answer her coldly and calmly, while only the unsteadiness of his hand as he bent over the paper again, would show the tumult within; while she, his wife, all unconscious, would stand coldly by, and pa.s.s as coldly away out of his sight, never heeding, never seeing, the mournful longing and love in his eyes.
To her children Mrs. Linchmore appeared a cold, stern mother, but in reality she was not so. She loved them devotedly. All her love was centred in them. She was blind to their faults, and completely spoiled them, especially Alice the youngest, a wilful affectionate little creature, who insisted on having, if possible, her own way in everything. She managed it somehow completely, and was in consequence a kind of petty tyrant in the nursery. Nothing must go contrary to her will and wishes, or a violent burst of pa.s.sion was the consequence.
These paroxysms of temper were now of such common and frequent occurrence, that Nurse Hopkins was not sorry the young governess had arrived, and Alice been partially transferred to the school-room, where Amy found it a hard task to manage her, and at the same time win her love. Whenever she reproved, or even tried to reason, Alice thought it was because she disliked her. "Mamma," she would say, "loves me, and she never says I am naughty."
Her sister f.a.n.n.y was the veriest little romp imaginable, almost always in mischief. Chasing the b.u.t.terflies on the lawn, or sitting under the shade of the trees, with her doll in her lap, and Carlo by her side, was all she cared for, and Amy could scarcely gain her attention at all. She was a bright, merry little creature, full of laughter and fun, ready to help her young playmates out of any sc.r.a.pe, and yet, from utter thoughtlessness, perpetually falling into disgrace herself. Tearing her frock in climbing trees, and cutting her hair to make dolls" wigs of, were among her many misdemeanours, and a scolding was a common occurrence. But she was always so sorry for her faults, so ready to acknowledge them, and anxious to atone further. Amy"s kind yet grave face could sober her in a moment, and, with her arms thrown round her neck, she would exclaim, "Oh, dear Miss Neville, I am so sorry--so sorry." She was a loveable little creature, and Amy found it one of her hardest trials to punish her. She hated books. Nothing pleased her so much, when the morning"s task was done, as to put (so she said) the tiresome books to sleep on their shelves. She showed no disinclination to learn, and would sit down with the full determination of being industrious; but the slightest accident would distract her attention, and set her thoughts wandering, and Edith had generally nearly finished her lessons before f.a.n.n.y had learnt her daily tasks.
Edith, a child of ten years old, was totally dissimilar, and of a reserved, shrinking nature, rendered still more so from her peculiar position. She was the orphan daughter of Mr. Linchmore"s only sister, bequeathed to him as a sacred trust; and he had taken her to his house to be looked upon henceforth as his own child; but no kind voice greeted her there, no hands clasped the little trembling one in theirs, and bade her welcome; not a single word of encouragement or promise of future love was hers, only the cold, calm look of her new aunt; and then total indifference. Sad and silent, she would sit night after night in the twilight by the nursery window, her little thoughts wandering away in a world of her own, or more often still to her lost mother. None roused her from them; even f.a.n.n.y, giddy as she was, never disturbed her then.
Once nurse Hopkins said--
"Miss Edith, it isn"t natural for you to be sitting here for all the world like a grown woman; do get up, miss, and go and play with your cousins."
But as nurse never insisted upon it, so Edith sat on, and would have remained for ever if she could in the bright world her fancy had created. It was well for her Amy had come, or the girl"s very nature would have been changed by the cold atmosphere around her, so different from the home she had lost, where all seemed one long sunshine. It was long ere Amy understood her; so diligent, so attentive to her lessons, so cautious of offending, so mindful of every word during school hours, and yet never anxious to join f.a.n.n.y in her play; but on a chair drawn close to the window, and with a book in her lap, or her hands clasped listlessly over the pages, and her eyes drooping under their long lashes--so she sat. But a new era was opening in the child"s history.