"Yes, that is the plea," Mr. de Burgh coldly replied.
"But," Mary continued, after a pause, and without having been struck by any peculiar emphasis her cousin might have placed upon these latter words, "Olivia, I think, told me at the same time, that this misfortune was purely accidental, that at least there was no hereditary evil of the kind existing in the family."
"Oh, none whatever; most perfectly accidental, I believe," was Mr. de Burgh"s apparently careless rejoinder, as he stood looking out of the window, as he had done on Mary"s entrance. And here the conversation ended, except that Mary, before leaving the room, approached her cousin, saying in an affectionate tone:
"And now, before I go, Louis, you will wish me joy, I am sure."
"Most certainly, dear Mary," he replied, as he fervently wrung her proffered hand, "all possible joy and happiness that heaven and earth can bestow upon you."
"Thank you very much, dear Louis," Mary replied, "and I may write," she added, more timidly, "and tell him that he may come; I would not let him do so again, till I had informed you of our engagement."
"Oh yes, write of course if you like, most certainly."
And Mary, again thanking him, left the library, and returned to the drawing-room.
CHAPTER XVI.
She watch"d for him at dawn, and she watched for him at noon, Tho" well she knew she could not hope to see him come so soon; She could not rest, but peeping thro" her cas.e.m.e.nt"s leafy screen, She watched the spot where she was told his form would first be seen.
HAYNES BAYLEY.
Mrs. de Burgh looked with some anxiety, and Mrs. Trevyllian, who was also present, with some curiosity, into the face of Mary as she entered the apartment; but whatever signs of recent excitement or agitation might be discerned thereupon, there was a happy smile trembling on her lips, which told that all was peace and contentment now, and when Mrs.
de Burgh, on contriving to draw her apart, eagerly enquired as to the issue of her interview, Mary answered:
"Oh, all is right! Louis is very kind, and he has given me leave to write immediately to Eugene, and bid him come here." She was sufficiently satisfied to ask no more questions for the present, and Mary went upstairs to write her letter.
When she returned to the drawing-room, Mr. de Burgh had joined the party, and was standing with his back to the fire, looking rather cross, while Mrs. de Burgh was smiling with some evidently suppressed triumph.
"I suppose," she said, with careless ease, "that we may send a servant on horseback with Mary"s letter."
"Oh, certainly! if Mary wishes it; but I think there is no such particular hurry, and that it might very well wait till to-morrow. The horses and servants have had, and are likely to have, plenty to do, with all this scampering to and fro, between this and Montrevor."
Mrs. de Burgh remarked that she never knew anything so ill-natured as he was. Mrs. Trevyllian even looked astonished at such a show of ungraciousness on the part of the handsome Mr. de Burgh; but Mary said good humouredly that the post would do quite as well for her letter, and dropped it quietly into the letter-box on her way to luncheon.
It was--as it turned out--"quite as well," for Trevor was engaged at some county meeting that evening--and had been from home, which prevented his going to Silverton the following day till a short time before dinner.
It was no use now for Mary to take her summer place by the window, and watch for her lover"s arrival, for the shades of the October evening had almost closed over the scene before the happy time arrived; but the noise of wheels, along with the quick, sharp sound of the horse"s hoofs gladly saluted her ears, and she was down stairs to meet him ere he had many minutes reached the drawing-room.
They were standing together on the hearth-rug when Mr. de Burgh made his appearance.
He shook hands with Eugene Trevor with the most perfect cordiality, and having first rang the bell for dinner, stood beside him conversing in his usual manner on indifferent subjects, Mary, on his entrance, having retreated a little into the back-ground, to talk to the children; and they were thus all spirits and good humour, when Mrs. de Burgh joined them, accompanied by Mrs. Trevyllian, who had been induced to make one of the dinner-party, in order that she might be introduced to, and have an opportunity of beholding Mr. Trevor; she having been--of course in the strictest confidence--enlightened by Mrs. de Burgh as to the position of affairs between that gentleman and Miss Seaham.
At dinner everything went on _a merveille_, sociably and agreeably in the extreme, and as the two gentlemen left the dining-room, the cheerful laugh which was heard proceeding from Eugene Trevor"s lips told that if the _great_ subject had been discussed during the _tete-a-tete_ to which he and Mr. de Burgh had been subjected, nothing but good humour and friendliness, had been the issue.
Before their arrival, Mrs. de Burgh and Mrs. Trevyllian had been in deep admiration of a very beautiful ring, of which the quick eyes of the former had caught sight during dinner, glittering on Mary"s finger, where it had been placed by her lover on their private meeting that evening. How Mary prized this first love-gift we may well imagine!
The rest of the evening proved one of undisturbed serenity and enjoyment. Mrs. de Burgh seated herself at the piano, and sang over her most beautiful and touching songs, whilst her husband made himself very agreeable to Mrs. Trevyllian.
How Eugene and Mary occupied themselves it is not very difficult to explain. Mary at least could have entered into the fancy of Madame de Stael, who depicts her idea of one of the highest felicities that could be imagined as belonging to that seventh heaven of which an angel was sent to explore the delights--to be the listening to sweet music by the side of one"s beloved.
How, too, this evening must have brought to her remembrance that first night of her arrival at Silverton, when she had listened to those sweet strains with so much more unmingled, una.s.sociated delight; though even then, could she have remembered right, something beyond the mere spirit of the music had faintly stirred her heart in that same hour.
"That hour when first this glance met thine, Yet trembled lest it told too much, The hour when first thy hand pressed mine, Yet pressed as though it feared to touch, When some strange voice appeared to say, That each must rule the other"s lot-- Forget it not!--forget it not!"
And so, from this day forward everything with reference to that engagement, seemed to run on as smoothly towards its projected end as ever did the course of such "true love." Mr. de Burgh, however he might continue inwardly to disapprove, appeared to think he had done all that duty and conscience ent.i.tled him to attempt; and that he had no chance against love and trust, such as had been exhibited by the object on whom he had made his attack. Even with his wife, he forebore any direct discussion on the subject after this period, with the exception perhaps of the following short and pithy colloquy, which some time or other had occurred.
"My dear Louis, I really hope you are beginning to think a little better of this affair."
"Indeed! you are quite mistaken on that point."
"At any rate, you have come to the determination that it is a most foolish, if not most dangerous and presumptuous act, ever to attempt to mar a match."
"I have come to the determination that there is _one_ thing more foolish, dangerous, and presumptuous, namely, to _make_ one."
"Oh, if you mean to apply that to me, you are quite at fault. You seem to give me all the credit of this business; I a.s.sure you it is more than I can lay claim to. I never saw a match which seemed more truly one of those said to be made in heaven. Why, years ago, at that fete at Morland before we married, I now perfectly remember Eugene telling me after it was over, that he had never met with a sweeter little girl than that Miss Seaham, whom he had good-naturedly taken under his charge, and the first night he met her here, after Mary"s arrival, he hardly took his eyes off her all the evening; whilst Mary tells me she had never forgotten him since he was so kind to her at that _fete_. But even if it were not so, I cannot imagine why you should set your face so much against the marriage."
"Really!" responded the husband, shrugging his shoulders.
"No; any one else would think it a splendid match for Mary."
"I have no doubt of that."
"And, under her circ.u.mstances, so peculiarly desirable."
"Oh! certainly--peculiarly so."
"I really think (petulantly) you must be in love with Mary yourself." (A look of ineffable scorn was the sole response.) "That is to say, if you _could_ be in love with any one but yourself."
CHAPTER XVII.
The rose that all are praising Is not the rose for me; Too many eyes are gazing Upon the costly tree.
But there"s a rose in yonder glen That shuns the gaze of other men, For me its blossom raising-- Oh, that"s the rose for me!
HAYNES BAYLEY.
And Mary--her love and trust had indeed stood full proof against the breath of warning and insinuation, which had pa.s.sed over their strength and beauty as unavailingly as the breeze across the hardy floweret.