Mrs. Prior knew very well that her pupil had not always been in possession of the wealth which was evidently then under her control; yet, as weeks wore on, and Mrs. Mason grew more stylish and elegant, the little woman almost began to think that her first impressions had been false and impertinent; that, on the whole, the lady had no need of instruction, and only gave herself to study from the whim of the moment.
Every little graceful, lady-like way, every pretty habit of voice or manner which the minister"s wife possessed, did Mrs. Mason a.s.sume, only she carried it off in such a showy manner that it appeared an original grace of her own, and which Mrs. Prior was imitating in a modest fashion and with indifferent success. In fact, it really seemed more as if the minister"s wife were a sort of humble pattern of her dashing companion than as if Mrs. Mason had ever gained a hint from her.
One day the household was thrown into a gentle sort of confusion by the arrival of a visitor for Mrs. Mason. He was an elegant and handsome man as Mrs. Prior could have desired to see; but she shrunk instinctively from him as she had always done from her guest.
The minister"s wife left this strange man in the little parlor, and went up to tell Mrs. Mason that some one desired to see her.
"Who, if you please?" the lady asked, negligently turning from her book, as if troops of visitors had been an every-day occurrence in her life, and were rather a bore than otherwise.
"Mr. Thrasher," replied the little person, still in a flutter.
"I will be down presently," was the answer; but still Mrs. Mason did not rise from her seat, or lift her eyes from the book upon which they had again fallen.
The door closed behind the bewildered lady; then Mrs. Mason sprang from her seat and began a hasty, but careful toilet.
At the beginning of her residence in that house, Mrs. Mason would have obscured and vulgarized her beauty by dress and ornaments unsuitable to the hour or place. Mrs. Prior"s remarks and her own observations had already made her much wiser.
When she turned from the gla.s.s, there was an expression of triumph upon her face which plainly betrayed a consciousness of her own surpa.s.sing beauty.
She went down-stairs, opened the door of the room where Thrasher sat, and glided in as self-possessed and elegant as any city belle of three seasons, and a more dashingly beautiful woman you would not find in a day"s journey.
He started forward to meet her, his face flushed and lighted up with excitement.
He caught Mrs. Mason"s hand between both his own and faltered out an almost timid greeting, very unlike the usual boldness of his manner.
"Are you well?" he asked. "Have you been well and contented?"
"A fine question, truly!" she replied, putting aside his eagerness with a sort of unconcern very well a.s.sumed, and which evidently displeased and pained him.
"As if any one could be contented shut up in a bird-cage."
"Have you been anxious to go away?" he questioned, as if hoping to derive some comfort from her answer.
"I have not thought much about it; I find one thing which pleases me greatly."
"And that?"
"n.o.body interferes with me; I can do just what I like."
He frowned, although he appeared more troubled than annoyed.
"Good gracious!" she exclaimed, with an affected laugh. "What a face of greeting for a man to wear--one might think you were a jailor, come to announce that the day of my execution was at hand."
He dropped her wrist and turned away; she sank negligently into a chair, in the very att.i.tude she had admired in a picture of some forgotten French marchioness, which embellished one of her favorite novels.
"I did not expect a welcome like this," he said, bitterly.
Mrs. Mason looked at him with an expression of surprise which an actress might have envied, and laughed again, not the hearty, ringing merriment of old time, but a low, subdued sound, which did her infinite credit.
"In what have I been amiss?" she asked, coolly.
"I thought, at least, you would be glad to see me."
"Oh, did you? Upon my word, the vanity of mankind is beyond all belief!
Certainly, I am glad to see you"--he brightened at that--"quite so," she added, with such carelessness that he looked more annoyed than before.
"This is abominable!" he exclaimed. "Ellen, I would not have believed that you could treat me so."
"Have you come here to lecture and find fault?" she asked, gayly. "Are you sure that you have not made a mistake--wasn"t it Rose you wished to scold?"
"I did not come to find fault, Ellen. For weeks I have been crazy to see you; nothing but your express commands kept me away; at last you wrote that I might come; I hurried here, and now you are as cold and distant as if I were a stranger."
"Poor boy, poor boy!"
She patted the hand which he had laid upon the arm of her chair, very much as if it had been a pet lapdog.
Thrasher looked at her, overpowered by astonishment. Where had she learned those arts--that playful manner? He had desired her to educate and improve herself in every way; but here was a change beyond any thing he could have expected.
"How handsome you have grown," he said, suddenly.
"You might as well tell me at once that I was a plain person before."
"You know I always thought you handsomer than any woman I had ever seen; but you are really beautiful now."
Mrs. Mason smiled; her insatiable vanity was gratified by his words and the glance of admiration that enforced them.
"Would you like to see Rose?" she asked.
"Certainly; very much."
CHAPTER x.x.xVII.
SETTLING THE WEDDING DAY.
Mrs. Mason stepped into the hall, and called the little girl, who came bounding gayly in; but when she saw Thrasher, an expression of dislike, beyond her years, crossed her face, and she clung to her mother"s side, as if for protection.
"Won"t you come and speak to me, Rose?" he asked.
Rose only clung closer to her mother, and hid her head in her dress.
"Go and speak to Mr. Thrasher, child," said Mrs. Mason. "How foolish you are."
"Come, Rose, and see what I have got for you," he added; "such a pretty present."
"I don"t want any present," replied the child, her voice sounding smothered and choked.