After some hesitation she said, in a decisive tone--
"We will dine early to-day; order the carriage for seven o"clock."
"You shame me with such meagre hospitality," interposed the General. "Why not invite your cousin Van Zonshoven to stay the night; he can leave early to-morrow morning?"
"Sleep here, grandfather! But you don"t understand; really we are unprepared to lodge visitors."
"What!" exclaimed Rolf, with a loud laugh, "we could lodge half a company."
"Half your company!" Francis cried bitterly; "but you forget that Jonker van Zonshoven is accustomed to the luxuries of the Hague."
"To a modest chamber on the second floor, Francis; and he can sleep comfortably on a mattress of straw, if well wrapped up."
The old man was again visibly affected, and murmured gently--
"This is another caprice of yours, Francis."
"If you are determined to stay," responded Francis, with a cold and sorrowful look at me, "I will try to find you a room where there are no broken panes. Come, Captain, never mind about the whip to-day; you must now act as my quartermaster. Forward, march;" and taking him by the arm, she led off her willing slave.
When we were once more alone, the General began--
"Believe me, she means well and kindly towards you; but as we don"t reckon on visitors, you have taken us by surprise, and that"s what vexes Francis. It is so difficult to procure anything in this out-of-the-way place."
"Every lady has her faults and her little caprices," I interposed.
"Yes, but others can hide them better under a little polish. Francis cannot understand our social laws; unfortunately she has not had an education suitable to her rank and station. Her own mother she never knew; and my son-in-law, Sir John Mordaunt, did not understand the kind of training necessary for a Dutch lady of position."
"Don"t despair, General; who knows what effect a good husband will have on her!"
"That"s just my difficulty, Jonker; Francis would refuse to marry any man she suspected of such intentions."
"You are right, grandfather," exclaimed Francis, who had again entered the room. "Major Frank will never give up her command to an inferior; she can only endure slaves and va.s.sals around her, and the sooner Jonker Leopold understands this, the better for him, if he has intentions of conspiring against her freedom."
This was said half jestingly; but I replied, quite seriously, that I thought Major Frank would do wrong to refuse a good husband.
Francis reddened to the roots of her hair, and then grew pale, as she answered with a forced smile--
"Well, you are not a dangerous suitor. As the General will have told you, Miss Mordaunt can only accept a very rich husband; and I think you have already acknowledged that the Van Zonshovens are not among the people who pay the highest amount of income-tax."
"But Francis!" exclaimed the General, deprecatingly.
"Well now, dear papa, that"s the standard by which people are judged nowadays, and you would wish Major Frank to be sold to the highest bidder, if sold she must be. But come, Leopold, let me show you the grounds before dinner. Grandfather can go with us, for the wind has gone down and the sun come out, so that it is quite a mild spring afternoon."
CHAPTER XIV.
We directed our steps towards the back of the Castle, pa.s.sing by the aviary, which had fallen into decay like its surroundings. The Captain had, however, turned it into a poultry-walk, and held undisputed sway over the turkeys with which he had stocked it. The General, who had come out against his will, leaned on the arm of Francis, and I walked by her side. Ascending a small rise in the grounds we came to a summer-house, whence we could obtain a splendid view of the surrounding country--a sweep of undulating heath as far as the eye could reach. Francis said this was her favourite place in the grounds, and that she never grew tired of the charming prospect; but I could see that her grandfather"s thoughts were occupied about something quite different from the picturesque view. All the farms in the neighbourhood, and all the woods around, formerly appertained to the lordship of the Werve; and all these ought to have descended intact to his granddaughter, to whom he would not leave a foot of earth.
"By the way, nephew, what has become of the six other Miss d"Hermaeles, your mother"s sisters?" asked the General, breaking the silence briskly.
Francis burst out laughing.
"Grandfather beginning to take an interest in the fate of six young ladies all at once! That"s too much! But he wishes to know, Leo, whether you have a chance of inheriting anything from a rich aunt,"
she said, displaying a quickness of perception peculiar to her. "Isn"t it so, grandfather?"
I hastened to answer--
"Three of them died long ago; two others made good marriages, but they have children of their own; and one, Aunt Sophia, is maintained by the rest of the family, I contributing in proportion to my means."
"Aunt Sophia," repeated the General; "had the d"Hermaeles the foresight to make Sophia Roselaer G.o.dmother to one of their children?"
"It is possible," I answered, "but I don"t know for certain; my mother seldom talked to me about her relations."
"At any rate it appears to me she has been made heir to the property of that mischief-loving woman, Miss Roselaer," continued the General; "and probably you, Leopold, were not informed of the death, nor invited to the funeral any more than ourselves? As far as I am concerned I expected such treatment; yet I cannot understand that she should allow her hatred to deprive the only granddaughter of her eldest sister of the property."
I now felt myself on dangerous ground; but Francis came to my rescue by saying, in a tone of pleasantry--
"Neither did I ever expect anything from her; and yet, who knows, if I had liked--I have only seen her once in my life; and though as a rule people are not prepossessed in my favour at a first interview"
(hereupon she gave me a malicious look), "she seems to have had no reason to complain of me;--in fact, if I had only cultivated the acquaintance, probably at this moment my name would be in her will for a good round sum."
"What! you have seen the old gossip?" interrupted General von Zwenken, "and you have never told me of it. When and where have you met her?"
"At the beginning of this year, when I went to Utrecht on certain business about which it is not necessary to trouble cousin Leopold."
"She never likes to hear her good deeds spoken of," the General murmured to me.
"Oh, it was only a simple duty I had to fulfil; I had to consult the celebrated Dr. D. about an unfortunate woman who had lost her reason. At his door I had an altercation with his man-servant, who wished to put me off till next day under the pretext that the hour for consultation was pa.s.sed, and that his master was taking his luncheon with visitors. However, I insisted upon his taking in my card, and finally I obtained admission to the dining-room. Dr. D. politely invited me to take luncheon with them, and introduced me to two elderly ladies, one his sister, and the other his sister"s friend. As I was very hungry, I accepted without ceremony. I was soon sensible that his sister"s friend was observing my every motion with sharp, penetrating eyes. Her conversation was amusing. She was lively, and criticised persons and events cleverly, though with unsparing severity. This was just to my taste, and excited me to the contest, till, from repartee to repartee, we got almost to a dispute. It was my great-aunt Sophia in person, as I afterwards learnt; and just fancy her mixing up her own name in a malicious manner in the conversation, and then asking me if I knew her, and what my opinion of her was! I simply answered: "I had heard her spoken of; that there had been quarrels between her and my relations, but that I did not think it fair, on my part, to attack her behind her back in the presence of strangers." She answered that she approved of my conduct. The doctor, who had for some time been appearing ill at ease, now invited me to go to his surgery. After the consultation I met the old lady in the pa.s.sage; she invited me to accompany her as far as the house of a friend, where her carriage would await her. I consented, but now I was on my guard, as I knew who she was; and when she invited me to spend a day with her I declined----"
"It was imprudent and impolite," interrupted the General.
"It was acting in conformity with the spirit of all your dealings with her, grandfather. I said I could not spend a single hour longer in Utrecht than business demanded. Before she could say more, a band of students, of that cla.s.s better known outside the lecture-room than inside, began to form a circle round us, and treat us to a piece of by no means flattering criticism as to the style of our dress. It is true I was negligently dressed, far behind the fashions; and aunt"s bonnet and shawl gave her much of the appearance of a caricature. I felt my blood boil, and yet I retained sufficient calmness to tell these seedling lawyers, authors, and clergymen they ought to be ashamed of themselves, as their conduct was worse even than that of street Arabs. My words took effect; one or two dropped off in silence, others stepped aside, and one of them even attempted to stammer out an apology. We were near the house of lawyer Van Beek, where Miss Roselaer was going; and as we took leave of each other she warmly pressed my hand, thanking me for my protection and presence of mind, but added that "such conduct was scarcely ladylike in the public streets."
"It might have been more becoming to swoon, but such farces are not in keeping with the character of Major Frank.
"If I had known the story would amuse you so much, grandfather, I would have told it you three months ago; but I was afraid it would be disagreeable to you to hear I had seen Aunt Sophia."
"And you have never since heard a word of Miss Roselaer?" demanded Von Zwenken, fretfully.
"No; but I have reason to suppose she wished to oblige me. I had to make arrangements at Utrecht for the proper nursing of my poor patient. The most important point was the money, and at the time I had very little; but the same evening I received a letter from Dr. D., informing me a rich friend, who desired to remain unknown, had promised to pay all the expenses. So here you have my reasons for surprise that Aunt Sophia should have included me in hatred of the family; for the rich unknown friend could be no other than herself."
The General muttered between his teeth--