CHAPTER XXIV. A MOMENT OF CONFIDENCE
Mrs. Sewell"s maid made two ineffectual efforts to awaken her mistress on the following morning, for agitation had drugged her like a narcotic, and she slept the dull, heavy sleep of one overpowered by opium. "Why, Jane, it is nigh twelve o"clock," said she, looking at her watch. "Why did you let me sleep so late?"
"Indeed, ma"am, I did my best to rouse you. I opened the shutters, and I splashed the water into your bath, and made noise enough, I "m sure, but you did n"t mind it all; and I brought up the doctor to see if there was anything the matter with you, and he felt your pulse, and put his hand on your heart, and said, No, it was just overfatigue; that you had been sitting up too much of late, and hadn"t strength for it."
"Where "s Colonel Sewell?" asked she, hurriedly.
"He"s gone off to the country, ma"am; leastways, he went away early this morning, and George thinks it was to Killaloe."
"Is Dr. Beattie here?"
"Yes, ma"am; they all breakfasted with the children at nine o"clock."
"Whom do you mean by all?"
"Mr. Lendrick, ma"am, and Miss Lucy. I hear as how they are coming back to live here. They were up all the morning in his Lordship"s room, and there was much laughing, as if it was a wedding."
"Whose wedding? What were you saying about a wedding?"
"Nothing, ma"am; only that they were as merry,--that"s all."
"Sir William must be better, then?"
"Yes, ma"am,--quite out of danger; and he "s to have a partridge for dinner, and the doctor says he "ll be downstairs and all right before this day week; and I "m sure it will be a real pleasure to see him lookin" like himself again, for he told Mr. Cheetor to take them wigs away, and all the pomatum-pots, and that he "d have the shower-bath that he always took long ago. It"s a fine day for Mr. Cheetor, for he has given him I don"t know how many colored scarfs, and at least a dozen new waistcoats, all good as the day they were made; and he says he won"t wear anything but black, like long ago; and, indeed, some say that old Rives, the butler as was, will be taken back, and the house be the way it used to be formerly. I wonder, ma"am, if the Colonel will let it be,--they say below stairs that he won"t."
"I"m sure Colonel Sewell cares very little on the subject. Do you know if they are going to dine here to-day?"
"Yes, ma"am, they are. Miss Lucy said the butler was to take your orders as to what hour you "d like dinner."
"Considerate, certainly," said she, with a faint smile.
"And I heard Mr. Lendrick say, "I think you "d better go up yourself, Lucy, and see Mrs. Sewell, and ask if we inconvenience her in any way;"
but the doctor said, "You need not; she will be charmed to meet you.""
"He knows me perfectly, Jane," said she, calmly. "Is Miss Lucy so very handsome? Colonel Sewell called her beautiful."
"Indeed, I don"t think so, ma"am. Mr. Cheetor and me thought she was too robusteous for a young lady; and she"s freckled, too, quite dreadful.
The picture of her below in the study"s a deal more pretty; but perhaps she was delicate in health when it was done."
"That would make a great difference, Jane."
"Yes, ma"am, it always do; every one is much genteeler-looking when they "re poorly. Not but old Mr. Haire said she was far more beautiful than ever."
"And is he here too?"
"Yes, ma"am. It was he that pushed Miss Lucy down into the arm-chair, and said, "Take your old place there, darling, and pour out the tea, and we"ll forget that you were ever away at all.""
"How pretty and how playful! The poor children must have felt themselves quite old in such juvenile company."
"They was very happy, ma"am. Miss Cary sat in Miss Lucy"s lap all the time, and seemed to like her greatly."
"There"s nothing worse for children than taking them out of their daily habits. I "m astonished Mrs. Groves should let them go and breakfast below-stairs without orders from me."
"It"s what Miss Lucy said, ma"am. "Are we quite sure Mrs. Sewell would like it?""
"She need never have asked the question; or if she did, she might have waited for the answer. Mrs. Sewell could have told her that she totally disapproved of any one interfering with the habits of her children."
"And then old Mr. Haire said, "Even if she should not like it, when she knows all the pleasure it has given us, she will forgive it.""
"What a charming disposition I must have, Jane, without my knowing it!"
"Yes, ma"am," said the girl, with a pursed-up mouth, as though she would not trust herself to expatiate on the theme.
"Did Colonel Sewell take Capper with him?"
"No, ma"am; Mr. Capper is below. The Colonel gave him a week"s leave, and he"s going a-fishing with some other gentlemen down into Wicklow."
"I suspect, Jane, that you people below-stairs have the pleasantest life of all. You have little to trouble you. When you take a holiday, you can enjoy it with all your hearts."
"The gentlemen does, I believe, ma"am; but we don"t. We can"t go a-pleasuring like them; and if it a"n"t a picnic, or a thing of the kind that"s arranged for us, we have nothing for it but a walk to church and back, or a visit to one of our friends."
"So that you know what it is to be bored!" said she, sighing drearily,--"I mean to be very tired of life, and sick of everything and everybody."
"Not quite so bad as that, ma"am; put out, ma"am, and provoked at times,--not in despair, like."
"I wish I was a housemaid."
"A housemaid, ma"am!" cried the girl, in almost horror.
"Well, a lady"s-maid. I mean, I"d like a life where my heaviest sorrow would be a refused leave to go out, or a sharp word or two for an ill-ironed collar. See who is that at the door; there"s some one tapping there the last two minutes."
"It"s Miss Lucy, ma"am; she wants to know if she may come in?"
Mrs. Sewell looked in the gla.s.s before which she was sitting, and as speedily pa.s.sed her hands across her brow, and by the action seeming to chase away the stern expression of her eyes; then, rising up with a face all smiles, she rushed to the door and clasped Lucy in her arms, kissing her again and again, as she said, "I never dreamed of such happiness as this; but why didn"t you come and awaken me? Why did you rob me of one precious moment of your presence?"
"I knew how tired and worn-out you were. Grandpapa has told me of all your unwearying kindness."
"Come over to the light, child, and let me see you well. I "m wildly jealous of you, I must own, but I "ll try to be fair and judge you honestly. My husband says you are the loveliest creature he ever saw; and I declare I "m afraid he spoke truly. What have you done with your eyes? they are far darker than they used to be; and this hair,--you need not tell me it"s all your own, child. Gold could not buy it. Yes, Jane, you are right, she _is_ perfectly beautiful."
"Oh, do not turn my head with vanity," said Lucy, blushing.
"I wish I could,--I wish I could do anything to lessen any of your fascinations. Do you know it"s very hard--very hard indeed--to forgive any one being so beautiful, and hardest of all for _me_ to do so?"
"Why for you?" said Lucy, anxiously.
"I"ll tell you another time," said she, in a half-whisper, and with a significant glance at her maid, who, with the officiousness of her order, was taking far more than ordinary trouble to put things to rights. "There, Jane," said her mistress, at last, "all that opening and shutting of drawers is driving me distracted; leave everything as it is, and let us have quiet. Go and fetch me a cup of chocolate."