"Yes, Rex. Don"t be afraid! If your father speaks to me I shall advise him to let you go. You have kept your share of the bargain: it is for him to keep his," said Norah steadily. "And it appears that you _want_ to go away and leave us."
"You will live in London now for the greater part of the year. If I were at home I should only see you at long intervals. I should not settle in this neighbourhood. Our life would be quite different..."
"Oh yes, quite different! Everything will be different now. You will have gone, and--Lettice too! Rex! don"t be angry if I ask you something. I will try to persuade your father to give you your way, but--tell me this before you go!-- Has the news about Lettice had anything to do with your decision?"
Rex stopped short, and stared at her in amazement.
"This news about Lettice! Norah, what do you mean?"
"About her engagement! I always thought that you liked her yourself.
You remember what you used to call her--"Lovely Lettice"?"
"Well, and so she was lovely! Anybody might have seen that. Of course I liked her, but if you mean that I am jealous of Arthur Newcome--no, thank you! I should not care for a wife who would listen to the first man who came along, as Lettice has done. She was a jolly little girl, and I took a fancy to her at first sight, but--do you remember our adventure in the old pa.s.sage, Norah? Do you think Lettice would have stuck to me, and been as brave, and plucky, and loyal as you were in the midst of your fright? I never forgot that day. It was last night that I spoke to my father, before I heard a word about Lettice, or her matrimonial intentions."
"So it was; I forgot that!" Norah smiled with recovered cheerfulness, for Rex"s words had lifted a load from her mind, and the future seemed several shades less gloomy than it had done a few minutes before.
"And if you went, how soon would you start?"
"As soon as possible. I have wasted too much time already. The sooner I go, the sooner I can make my way and come home again to see you all.
Three or five years, I suppose. You will be quite an old woman, Norah."
"Yes; twenty-three! Lettice will be married; Hilary too, very likely.
The Mouse will be as big as I was when you first knew us, and Raymond a doctor in practice. It will all be different!" Norah"s voice was very low as she spoke the last words, and her face twitched as if she were about to break down once more.
Rex looked at her with the same odd mingling of tenderness and vexation which he had shown a few minutes earlier.
"Of course it will be different! We are not children any longer, and can"t expect to go on as we have been doing. What was the Vicar"s text the other Sunday?--"As an eagle stirreth up her nest"--I liked that sermon! It has been very happy and jolly, but it is time we stirred out of the old nest, and began to work for ourselves, and prepare for nests of our own. I am past twenty-one, my father need not be afraid to trust me, for I can look after myself, and though the life will be very different out there, I"ll try to do nothing that I should be ashamed to tell you, Norah, when I come home!"
Norah turned round with a flush, and an eager, outstretched hand, but only to behold Mr Rex marching along on the edge of the very flowerbeds, with a head in the air, and a "touch me if you dare"
expression, at the sight of which his companion gave a dismal little smile.
That was Rex all over! In spite of his masterful ways, he was intensely shy where his deeper feelings were concerned. To say an affectionate word seemed to require as painful an effort as to drag out a tooth, and if by chance he was betrayed into such an indiscretion, he protected himself against its consequences by putting on his most "p.r.i.c.kly" airs, and freezing the astonished hearer by his frigid tones. Norah understood that having shown her a glimpse of his heart in the last remark, he was now overcome with remorse, and that she must be wise and take no notice of the indiscretion.
CHAPTER TWENTY.
MORE CHANGES.
For the next ten minutes conversation was of the most desultory character; then the sound of wheels was heard in the distance, and Rex became eager and excited once more.
"There"s my father! Go and meet him, Norah. Get hold of him before Hilary comes with her everlasting chatter. He wants to speak to you.
Bring him along here, and I"ll go into the house!"
Norah sped off obediently, and met the Squire as the cart turned in at the gate. He pulled up at once, handed the reins to the man, and jumped down to join her. His ruddy face looked drawn and anxious, and the first glance at the girl showed that she was, like himself, in a woe- begone state of mind.
"Oh, you know all about it! That boy of mine has been talking to you, I can see!" he said, as they shook hands, and turned along the winding path. "Well, well, this is a fine ending to all my hopes. The lad"s as obstinate as a mule--I am sure I don"t know where he got his disposition; if he once takes a thing in his head there"s no moving him.
Now he wants to go and bury himself in the wilds of India! I"ve talked until I am tired, and I can"t make him see what mad folly it is. After an expensive college education--"
"Yes, but, Squire, I don"t think that"s a fair argument! Rex didn"t want to go to college; he went against his own wishes because you were set on it. He said it would be waste of money."
"Tut, tut! nonsense! Waste of money, indeed! I don"t grudge a few hundreds spent on my only son"s education, I hope. Things would have come to a pretty pa.s.s if that were the case," cried the Squire, turning off at a tangent, as usual, the moment he found his position attacked by the enemy. "I thought the boy would have come to his senses long before the three years were over. I have told him--" And he launched off into a lengthy account of the interview of the night before, repeating his own arguments and his son"s replies, while Norah listened with downcast eyes. "There!" he cried in conclusion, "that is the matter in a nutsh.e.l.l, and everyone must see that I am perfectly reasonable and within my rights. Now, my dear, you talk to him; he thinks a great deal of your opinion. Just tell him plainly that if he persists in his folly, he is ruining his life, and behaving in a very wrong, undutiful manner to his mother and to me. Talk to him plainly; don"t spare your words!"
"I can"t do that, Squire. I"m sorry, but I don"t agree with you. Rex has given in to your wishes for three whole years, though, from his point of view, it was waste of time. He has worked hard and not grumbled, so that he has kept every word of his promise. Now he asks you to fulfil yours. I am sure you must feel sad and disappointed, but I don"t think you ought to be angry with Rex, or call him undutiful."
"Eh--eh, what"s this? Are you going to side against me? This is a pretty state of affairs. I thought I could count upon your help, and the boy would have listened to what you said. Well, well, I don"t know what is coming over the young folk nowadays! Do you mean to say that you _approve_ of Rex going abroad?"
"Yes, I do! It is better to be a good planter than a bad lawyer," said Norah steadily; and the Squire pursed up his lips in silence.
The girl"s words had appealed to his pet theory, and done more to silence objections than any amount of arguing. The Squire was always lecturing other people on the necessity of doing the humblest work as well as it was possible for it to be done, and had been known on occasions to stand still in the middle of a country lane, brandishing his stick while he treated a gang of stone-breakers to a dissertation on the dignity of labour. The thought that his son might perform his duties in an unsatisfactory manner was even more distasteful than the prospect of separation.
"Well, well," he sighed irritably, "no one need envy a man for having children! They are nothing but trouble and anxiety from beginning to end. It"s better to be without them at all."
"You don"t mean what you say. You know quite well you would not give up your son and daughter for all the money in the world. You love Edna all the more because she needs so much care, and you are just as proud of Rex as you can be. Of course he is self-willed and determined, but if you could change him into a weak, undecided creature like the vicar"s son, you would be very sorry to do it!"
"You seem to know a great deal about my sentiments, young lady," said the Squire, trying hard to look ferocious. Then his shoulders heaved, and he drew a long, weary sigh. "Well, my last hope has gone if you range yourself against me. The boy must go and bury himself at the ends of the earth. Goodness knows when he will come back, and I am getting old. Ten to one I may never see him again!"
"It will be your own fault if you don"t. Westmoreland is sweet and beautiful, but if I had no ties and plenty of money like you, I would never be content to settle here for the rest of my life, while the great, wide world lay beyond. If Rex goes to India, why should you not all pack up some year and pay him a visit? You could sail down the Mediterranean and see all the lovely places on the way--Gibraltar, and Malta, and Naples, and Venice; stay a month or two in India, and come home overland through Switzerland and France. Oh, how delightful it would be! You would have so much to see and to talk about afterwards.
Edna would get fat and rosy, and you and Mrs Freer would be quite young and skittish by the time you got home! If you went to see him between each of his visits home, the time would seem quite short."
"I daresay! I daresay! A very likely prospect. I am too old to begin gadding about the world at my time of life," said the Squire; but he straightened his back even as he spoke, and stepped out as if wishing to disprove the truth of his own words. Norah saw his eyes brighten, and the deep lines down his cheeks relax into a smile, and knew that her suggestion had met a kindly welcome, "Well, there"s no saying! If all the young people go away and leave us, we shall be bound to make a move in self-defence. You are off to London for the winter. It seems a year of changes--"
"Oh, it is, it is, and I am so miserable! Lettice--my own, dear Lettice--is going to be married, and she will never come back to live with us any more. I have been looking forward to London, just to be with her, and now it is further off than ever. It will never come!"
Norah had fought hard for the self-possession which she had shown during the whole of the interview; but now her lips trembled, and the tears rushed into her eyes. The future seemed dreary indeed, with Rex abroad, Lettice appropriated by Arthur Newcome, and Edna at the other end of England. She had hard work not to cry outright, to the great distress of the Squire, who was the kindliest of men, despite his red face and stentorian voice.
"Ha, humph--humph! Sorry, I"m sure. Very sorry! Come, come, my dear, cheer up! Things may turn out better than we expect. I didn"t know you had a trouble of your own, or I would not have intruded mine. Shall we go up to the house? There, take my arm. What a great, big girl you are, to be sure!"
Norah found time for a whispered conference with Rex before he took his seat behind his father and Edna in the dog-cart.
"It"s all right! I have spoken to him and he means to give in. Be as kind and patient as possible, for he _does_ feel it, poor old man, and he is very fond and proud of you!"
"Humph!" said Rex shortly. He knitted his brows and looked anxiously at the girl"s face. "You are awfully white! Don"t cry any more, Norah, for pity"s sake. We are not worth it, either Lettice or I." Then he was off, and Raymond turned to his sister with a long, lazy yawn.
"Well, and so Rex is bound for India! He has just been telling me about it. Lucky beggar! When I take my degree I mean to ask father to let me travel for a year or two before settling down to work."
"Oh, dear, dear!" sighed Norah to herself, "what a stirring up of the poor old nest! There will be no eagles left if this sort of thing goes on much longer. And we were so happy! Why, oh, why did I ever wish for a change?"
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
LETTICE AT HOME.
Lettice"s annual summer visit was postponed this year until the middle of August, for Arthur Newcome had gained his point, as Mr Bertrand had prophesied, and the wedding was arranged to take place at the end of September. Mr Bertrand had done his best to gain more time, but it was difficult to fight against a man who was so quiet, so composed, and so immovably determined as Arthur Newcome. He listened to what was said with the utmost politeness, and replied to all argument with the statement that he was twenty-eight, that he was in a good position, and saw no reason for waiting indefinitely. After this performance had been enacted four or five times, Mr Bertrand"s patience gave way, and he declared that he was powerless to stand out any longer, and that perhaps it was a good thing to get the wedding over, since if he had much to do with Arthur Newcome, he should certainly collapse, and fall into a nervous decline.
"His very presence oppresses me. It is all I can do not to yawn in his face when he is telling those long-winded yarns. Poor little Lettice!
I wonder what sort of conversation he treats her to when they are alone.