"Mm!" said Lady Belinda thoughtfully, viewing the Major"s courtly figure again, "Indeed you are looking vastly well to-day, sir--grey is such an angelic tint--so spiritual! And young--I protest you look as young as Pancras himself!" The Major flushed and shifted uneasily on his seat. "And pray why doth Pancras tarry so long in London?"
"He writes that he is stayed by affairs of moment, mam."
"Then I vow "tis most provoking in him! Here are you and I both a-burning to marry him to Bet--aren"t we, dear Major?"
"Why as to that, mam--er--ah----" The Major grew m.u.f.fled and incoherent.
"And here"s Betty so carelessly rampageous--so, so lost to all sense of feminine weakness, alack!"
"Weakness?" murmured the Major.
"And so masculinely audacious! O dear sir, the vain hours I have spent trying to instil into her a little ladylike languor, a soft and feminine meekness! But alas! Betty is anything but meek--now is she?"
"Why--ah--perhaps not, mam--not exactly meek, as "twere--and yet----"
"And she fears nought i" the world, living or dead, but a mouse!"
"But pray, mam, what should she fear?"
"La sir, what but your naughty, wicked s.e.x. I vow, ere to-day, I"ve swooned at the merest sight of a man!"
"You--you"ve conquered the habit, I trust, mam?" enquired the Major a little anxiously.
"Indeed no, dear Major, I fear I never shall!"
"You don"t feel any--inclination--now, mam?"
"Nay sir, unless you give me cause----"
"Egad, mam, I won"t! Trust me----"
"Trust a man? Never, sir, "tis a naughty s.e.x. But talking of Bet, her head is quite turned, she suffers constantly from a surfeit of worshipping wooers, her will is their law, her merest glance or gesture a command--see her yonder, surrounded by her court yet must she have you also--see how she summons you!"
"Summons me--me, mam?" enquired the Major, a little breathlessly.
"Nay, I see no summons!"
"With her eyes, sir!"
"Indeed she doth but glance this way."
"I know that trick o" the eyelash, sir! But as I say, Bet hath been spoiled by a too implicit masculine obedience, she groweth more imperious daily. If she but had someone to thwart her a little, cross her occasionally, "twould do her a world of good."
"Certainly, mam!" he answered, all his attention centred upon that lovely, animated form on the lawn below.
"See--now she beckons you!"
"Egad, so she does!" he exclaimed, his eyes suddenly joyous. "Your pardon, mam, I must--" he gasped, for, attempting to rise, he found himself held and to his horror, perceived Lady Belinda"s fingers twisted firmly in the silver-laced lapel of his coat-pocket. "Madam,"
he exclaimed in great agitation, "I beg--for the love of----"
"Sit still, sir--"twill do her a world of good!"
"But she needs me----"
"Sir, she hath six stalwart gentlemen to do her commands, let them suffice."
"But madam, I must----"
"Remain quiescent, sir--"twould be a sad pity to tear so fine a coat.
Bide quiet, dear Major, and work a miracle."
So perforce the Major sat there miserably enough, while, unseen by the gay throng around her my Lady Betty continued to flash him knowledge of her indignant surprise, anger and contempt, even while her laughter rippled gaily to some ponderous witticism of Sir Benjamin.
"It works!" nodded Lady Belinda. "But, O Gemini, never follow her with such sheep"s-eyes, Major, nor look so unutterly forlorn or you"ll spoil all! Learn this, sir--what we humans strive for is always the thing withheld and--Betty is very human. And that reminds me she hath lately taken to whistling and walking in her sleep----"
"G.o.d bless my soul, mam, walking----"
"And whistling--both truly disquieting habits, sir! Morning, noon and night I cannot set foot above stairs but she falls a-whistling--extreme shrill and unpleasant! Lud, only last night, the place being hushed in sleep and everything so weird and churchyardy, sir, I heard a stealthy foot--that crept! I froze with horror! None the less I seized my candle, opened my door and--there was Betty--_en deshabille_, her hair streaming all about her and a loaf----"
"G.o.d bless my soul, mam!"
"Clasped to her bosom with one hand, sir, a platter in the other and her eyes--O sir, so wide and sightless! And her motion--so horridly ghostlike and glidy! My blood congealed instantly! But I followed, and she led me upstairs and she led me downstairs and she led me round about until I shivered "twixt fright and weariness. At last I ventured to touch her--never so lightly, sir, and--O peaceful Heaven!"
"What, mam?"
"Scarce had I done so than she--O----"
"She did what, mam, what--a Gad"s name, what?"
"Awoke sir, shrieked and dropped the loaf! Then I shrieked and the maids woke up and they shrieked and we all shrieked--O "twas gruesome!"
"I can well believe it, mam!"
"And when she"d recovered me with burnt feathers--very noxious! it seemed "twas all occasioned by a foolish dream--vowed she dreamed she was poor Jane Sh.o.r.e doing penance in Cheapside--though why with a loaf heaven only knows--and here she comes at last with Mr. Marchdale--"tis a case of Mahomet and the mount! Poor, dear young gentleman, see how he languishes! And his eyes! So dog-like!"
Sure enough Lady Betty was approaching in animated converse with her attendant swain but as she pa.s.sed, the fan she had been using fell and lay unnoticed within a yard of the Major"s trim shoe. Stooping, he picked it up, turned it over in reverent fingers then, seeing Betty had pa.s.sed on, laid it tenderly upon the table whence Lady Belinda immediately took it and unfolding it, fanned herself complacently.
"I protest the sun is very warm here, Major," she sighed, "shall we walk?"
Obediently he rose and presently found himself treading smooth turf and vaguely aware of Lady Belinda"s ceaseless prattle; chancing to lift his eyes he was surprised to see Betty strolling before him, this time with Lord Alvaston. As he watched, her dainty lace handkerchief fluttered to the gra.s.s.
"Aha!" murmured Lady Belinda. Instantly the Major stepped forward but Sir Jasper, who chanced to be near, reached it first, and lifting it tenderly, pressed it to lips, to bosom, and sighing, gave it to Betty"s outstretched hand. The Major frowned and heartily wished himself back in his quiet study; Lady Belinda, watching him behind her fan, laughed softly:
"Major d"Arcy," said she, "I am thinking--deeply!"
"Indeed, mam!"
"I"m thinking that, after all, "twill mayhap be as well if we agree to wed Betty to yourself----" The Major gasped. "Since you worship her so devotedly!"