Oh, my ears are always open in your service ever since I did agree to be as great a fool as you are. Now don"t you see that if you can"t get Mrs. Bazalgette to invite you to her house, you must take leave of the other here forever?"
"I see what you mean, Eve; how wise you are! It is wonderful. But what is to be done? I am bad at feigning. I can"t make love to her."
"But you can let her make love to you: is that an effort you feel equal to? and I must do the rest. Oh, we have a nice undertaking before us. But, if boys will cry for fruit that is out of their reach, and their silly sisters will indulge them--don"t s...o...b..r _me."_
"You are such a dear girl to fight for me so a little against your judgment."
"A little, eh? Dead against it, you mean. Don"t look so blank, David; you are all right as far as me. When my heart is on your side you can snap your fingers at my judgment."
David was cheered by this gracious revelation.
Eve was a tormenting little imp. She could not help reminding him every now and then that all her maneuvers and all his love were to end in disappointment. These discouraging comments had dashed poor David"s spirits more than once; but he was beginning to discover that they were invariably accompanied or followed by an access of cheerful zeal in the desperate cause--a pleasing phenomenon, though somewhat unintelligible to this honest fellow, who had never microscoped the enigmatical s.e.x.
Mrs. Bazalgette reproached Lucy: "You never told me how handsome Mr.
Dodd was."
"Didn"t I?
"No. He is the handsomest man I ever saw."
"I have not observed that, but I think he is one of the worthiest."
"I should not wonder," said the other lady, carelessly. "It is clear you don"t appreciate him here. You half apologized to me for inviting him."
"That was because you are such a fashionable lady, and the Dodds have no such pretensions."
"All the better; my taste is not for sophisticated people. I only put up with them because I am obliged. Why, Lucy, you ought to know how my heart yearns for nature and truth; I am sure I have told you so often enough. An hour spent with a simple, natural creature like Captain Dodd refreshes me as a cooling breeze after the heat and odors of a crowded room."
"Miss Dodd is very natural too--is she not?"
"Very. Pertness and vulgarity are natural enough--to some people."
"My uncle likes her the best of the two."
"Then your uncle is mad. But the fact is, men are no judges in such cases; they are always unjust to their own s.e.x, and as blind to the faults of ours as beetles."
"But surely, aunt, she is very arch and lively."
"Pert and fussy, you mean."
"Pretty, at all events? Rather?"
"What, with that snub nose!!?"
Lucy offered to invite other neighbors; Mrs. Bazalgette replied she didn"t want to be bothered with rurality. "You can ask Captain Dodd, if you like; there is no need to invite the sister."
"Oh yes, I must; my uncle likes her the best."
"But _I_ don"t; and I am only here for a day or two."
"Miss Dodd would be hurt. It would be unkind--discourteous."
"No, no. She watches him all the time like a little dragon."
_"Apres?_ We have no sinister designs on Mr. Dodd, have we?" and something unusually keen flashed upon Aunt Bazalgette out of the tail of the quiet Lucy"s eye.
Mrs. Bazalgette looked cross. "Nonsense, Lucy; so tiresome! Can"t we have an agreeable person without tacking on a disagreeable one?"
"Aunt," said Lucy, pathetically, "ask me anything else in the world, but don"t ask me to be rude, for _I can"t."_
"Well, then, you are bound to entertain her, since she is your choice, and leave me mine."
Lucy acquiesced softly.
David, tutored by his sister, now tried to seem interested in her who came between him and Lucy, and a miserable hand he made of this his first piece of acting. Luckily for him, Mrs. Bazalgette liked the sound of her own voice; and his good looks, too, went a long way with the mature woman. Lucy and Eve sat together at the tea-table; Mr.
Fountain slumbered below; Arthur was in the study, nailed to a novel; Eve, under a careless exterior, watched intently to find out if Lucy, under a calm surface, cared for David at all or not, and also watched for a chance to serve him. She observed a certain languor about the young lady, but no attempt to take David from the coquette. At last, however, Lucy did say demurely, "Mr. Dodd seems to appreciate my aunt."
"Don"t you think it is rather the other way?"
"That is an insidious question, Miss Dodd. I shall make no admissions; but I warn you she is a very fascinating woman."
"My brother is greatly admired by the ladies, too."
"Oh, since I praised my champion, you have a right to praise yours.
But he will get the worst in that little encounter."
"Why so?
"Because my sprightly aunt forgets the very names of her conquests when once she has thoroughly made them."
"She will never make this one; my brother carries an armor against coquettes."
"Ay, indeed; and pray what may that be?" inquired Lucy, a little quizzingly.
"A true and deep attachment."
"Ah!"
"And if you will look at him a little closer you will see that he would be glad to get away from that old flirt; but David is very polite to ladies."
Lucy stole a look from under her silken lashes, and it so happened that at that very moment she encountered a sorrowful glance from David that said plainly enough, I am obliged to be here, but I long to be there. She received his glance full in her eyes, absorbed it blandly, then lowered her lashes a moment, then turned her head with a sweet smile toward Eve. "I think you said your brother was engaged."
"No."
"I misunderstood you, then."
"Yes." Eve uttered this monosyllable so dryly that Lucy drew back, and immediately turned the conversation into chit-chat.
It had not trickled above ten minutes when an exclamation from David interrupted it. The young ladies turned instinctively, and there was David flushing all over, and speaking to Mrs. Bazalgette with a tremulous warmth, that, addressed as it was to a pretty woman, sounded marvelously like love-making.