"I was about to introduce you to my cousin," said Keswick, "but I see that you already know each other."
"I have had the pleasure of meeting Mrs Null in New York," said Lawrence, to whom the word cousin gave what might be called a more important surprise than anything with which this three-sided interview had yet furnished its partic.i.p.ants. He gave a quick glance at the lady, and discovered her very steadfastly gazing at him. "I hope," he said, "that you and your husband have had a very pleasant trip."
"Mr Null did not come with me," she quietly replied.
Lawrence Croft was a man to whom it gave pleasure to deal with problematic situations, unexpected developments, and the like; but this was too much of a conundrum for him. That the man, whose address he had employed this girl to find out, should prove to be her cousin, and that she should start on her bridal trip without her husband, were points on which his reason had no power to work. One thing, however, he quickly determined upon. He would have an interview with Madam Cashier, and have her explain these mysteries. She was, virtually, his agent, and had no right to conceal from him what she had been doing, and why she had done it.
It was necessary, however, that he should waste no time in thoughts of this kind, but should immediately state to Mr Keswick the reason of his visit; for it could not be supposed he had called in a merely social way. "I wish to speak to you," he said, "on a little matter of business."
At these words Mrs Null excused herself, and went into the house. Her mind was troubled as she wondered what the business was which had made this New York gentleman so extraordinarily desirous to find her cousin.
Was it anything that would injure Junius? She looked back as she entered the door, but the object of her solicitude was sitting with a face so calm and composed that it showed very plainly he did not expect any communication which would be harmful to him.
"It is a satisfaction," thought Mr Croft, "a very great satisfaction that I can enter upon the object of my visit knowing that my affairs and my actions have not been discussed by this gentleman and Mrs Null."
CHAPTER XII.
Old Mrs Keswick would willingly have followed the strange gentleman to the house in order to know the object of his visit, but as he had come to see Junius she refrained, for she knew her nephew would not like any appearance of curiosity on her part. Her reception of Junius had been very different indeed from that she had previously accorded him when she declined to be found under the same roof with him. Now he was here under very different auspices, and for him the very plumpest poultry was slain, and everything was done to make him comfortable and willing to stay and become acquainted with his cousin, Mrs Null. A match between these two young people was the present object of the old lady"s existence, and she set about making it with as much determination and confidence as if there had been no such person as Mr Null. Of this individual she had the most contemptible opinion. She had never asked many questions about him, because, in her intercourse with her niece, she wished, as far as possible, to ignore him. Having mentally pictured him in various mean conditions of life, she had finally settled it in her mind that he was an agent for some patent fertilizer; a man of this kind being a very obnoxious person to her. This avocation, however, const.i.tuted in the old lady"s mind no excusable reason for his protracted absence; and if ever a wife was deserted, she believed that her niece Annie was such a wife.
"If he should stay away much longer," she said to herself, "we shall have no more trouble in getting a divorce than to have his funeral sermon preached. And if there is any talk of his coming here, or of her going to him, I"ll put my foot down on that sort of thing, if I"ve a foot left to do it with."
When she had first perceived the approach of Mr Croft, a fear had seized her that this might be the recreant husband, but the gentlemanly appearance of the stranger soon dispelled this idea from her prejudiced mind. Apart from the fact that she had no business at the house with her nephew"s visitor, she had positive business in the garden with old Uncle Isham, and there she repaired. There was some work to be done in regard to a flower pit, in which some of her choicest plants were to be domiciled during the winter, and this she wished personally to oversee.
Although the autumn was well advanced, the day was somewhat warm; and as the pair, whom Mr Croft had seen on the porch, had been glad to shelter themselves in the shade of the honeysuckle vines, so Mrs Keswick seated herself on a little bench behind a large arbor, still covered by heavy vines, which stood on the boundary line between the garden and the front yard, and opened on the latter. This bench, which was always shady in the morning, she had had placed there that she might comfortably direct the labors of old Isham, the boy Plez, or whoever, for the time being, happened to be her gardener.
Mr Croft did not immediately begin the statement of the business which had brought him to see Junius Keswick. Several windows of the house opened on the porch, and he did not wish what he had to say to be heard by any one except the person he was addressing. "I desire to talk to you on some private matters," he said. "Could we not walk a little away from the house?"
"Certainly," said Junius, rising. "We will step over to that arbor by the garden. We shall be quite comfortable and secluded there. This is the place," said Junius, as they seated themselves in the arbor, "where, when a boy, I used to come to smoke. My aunt did not allow this diversion, but I managed to do a good deal of puffing before I was found out."
"Then you used to live here?" asked Croft.
"Oh, yes," said Keswick, "my parents died when I was quite a little fellow, and my aunt had charge of me until I had grown up."
"Was that your aunt whom I met at the gate? There was something about her bearing and general appearance which greatly interested me."
"She is a most estimable lady," returned Junius. And not wishing further to discuss his relative, he added: "And now, what is it, sir, that I can have the pleasure of doing for you?"
"The matter regards Miss March," said Croft.
"I presumed so," remarked the other. "I will state it as briefly as possible," continued Croft. "In consequence of your visit to me at the the Springs, I set out, the day before yesterday, to make another attempt to call on Miss March, the first one having been frustrated, as you may remember, by the information we received at the gate in regard to Miss March"s indisposition, which, as I have heard nothing more of it, I hope was of no importance."
"Of none whatever," said Junius.
"When I was within a mile or so of Midbranch," continued Croft, "I met Mr Brandon, who requested me not to come to his house, and, in fact, to cease my visits altogether."
"What!" cried Keswick, very much surprised. "That is not at all like Mr Brandon. What reason could he have for treating you in such a manner?"
"The very best in the world," said Croft. "Having, as the guardian of his niece, asked me the object of my visit to Miss March, and, having been informed by me that it was my intention to propose matrimony to the lady, he requested that I would not visit at his house." "On what ground did he base his objection to your visit?" asked Keswick.
"He made no objection to me; he simply stated that he did not desire me to come, because he wished his niece to marry you."
"Quite plainly spoken," remarked Keswick.
"Nothing could be more so," replied Croft. "I could not expect any one to be franker with me than he was. He went on to inform me that a match between the lady and yourself was greatly desired by the whole family connection, with a single exception, which, however, he did not name, and, while he gave me to understand that he had no reason to fear that, so far as the lady was concerned, my proposal would interfere with your prospects, still, were it known that there was another aspirant in the field, a very undesirable state of things might ensue. What this state of affairs was he did not state, but I presume it had something to do with the exceptional opposition to which he referred."
"And what did you say to all that?" asked Junius.
"I said very little. When a man asks me not to come to his house, I don"t go. But, nevertheless, I have fully made up my mind to propose to Miss March as soon as I can get an opportunity. I have nothing to do with family arrangements or family opposition. You have told me that you are not engaged to her, and I am going to try to be engaged to her.
She is the one to decide this matter. And now I have called upon you, Mr Keswick, to see if there is any way in which you can a.s.sist me in obtaining an interview with Miss March."
"Don"t you think," said Junius, "that it is rather cool in you to ask me to a.s.sist you in this matter?"
"Not at all," replied the other. "If it had not been for you I should now be in New York, with no thought of present proposals of marriage.
But you came to me, and insisted that I should see the lady." "That was simply because she had expressed a strong desire to see you."
"Very good," said Lawrence. "I tried to go to her, as you know, and was prevented. Now all I ask of you is to help me to do what you so strongly urged me to do. There is nothing particularly cool in that, I think."
Keswick did not immediately reply. "I am not sure," he said, "that Miss March still wishes to see you."
"That may be," replied Croft, speaking a little warmly. "None of us exactly know what she thinks or wishes. But I want to find out what she thinks about me by distinctly asking her. And I should suppose you would consider it to your advantage, as well as mine, that I should do so."
"I have my own opinion on that point," said Keswick, "which it is not necessary to discuss at present. If I were to a.s.sist you to an interview with Miss March it would be on the lady"s account, not on yours or mine.
But apart from the fact that I do not know if she now desires an interview, I would not do anything that would offend or annoy Mr Brandon."
"I don"t ask that of you," said Croft, "but couldn"t you use your influence with him to give me a fair chance with the lady? That is all I ask, and, whether she accepts me or rejects me, I am sure everybody ought to be satisfied."
Keswick smiled. "You don"t leave any margin for sentiment," he said, "but I suppose it is just as well to deal with this matter in a practical way. I do not think, however, that any influence I can exert on Mr Brandon would induce him to allow you to address his niece if he is opposed to it, and I am sure he would have a very strange opinion of me if I attempted such a thing. At present I do not see that I can help you at all, but I will think over the matter, and we will talk of it again."
"Thank you," said Croft, rising. "And when shall I call upon you to hear your decision?"
It was rather difficult for Junius Keswick to answer a question like this on the spur of the moment. He arose and walked with Croft out of the arbor. His first impulse, as a Virginia gentleman, was to invite his visitor to stay at the house until the matter should be settled, but he did not know what extraordinary freak on the part of his aunt might be caused by such an invitation. But before he had decided what to say, they were met by Mrs Keswick coming from the garden. Junius thereupon presented Mr Croft, who was welcomed by the old lady with extended hand and exceeding cordiality.
"I am very glad," she said, "to meet a friend of my nephew. But where are you going, Sir? Certainly not toward your horse. You must stay and dine with us."
Lawrence hesitated. He had no claims on the hospitality of these people, but he wished very much to have an opportunity to speak to Mrs Null.
"Thank you," he said, "but I am staying down here at the village, and it is but a short ride." "Staying at Hewlett"s?" exclaimed Mrs Keswick. "At which hotel, may I ask?"
Lawrence laughed. "I am stopping with the storekeeper," he said.
"That settles it!" said the old lady, giving her umbrella a jab into the ground. "Tom Peckett"s accommodations may be good enough for pedlers and travelling agents, but they are not fit for gentlemen, especially one of my nephew"s friends. You must stay with us, sir, as long as you are in this neighborhood. I insist upon it." Junius was very much astonished at his aunt"s speech and manner. The old lady was not at all inhospitable; so far was it otherwise the case, that, rather than deprive an objectionable visitor of the shelter of her roof, she would go from under it herself; but he had never known her to "gush" in this manner upon a stranger. He now felt at liberty, however, to obey his own impulses, and urged Mr Croft to stay with them.
"You are very kind, indeed," said Lawrence, "and I shall be glad to defer for the present my return to my "hotel." This will give me the additional pleasure of renewing my acquaintance with Mrs Null."
"What!" exclaimed Mrs Keswick, "do you know her, too? And to think of you stopping at Peckett"s! Your home, sir, while you stay in these parts, is here."
Before the three reached the house, Mrs Keswick had inquired how long Mr Croft had known her niece; and had discovered, much to her disappointment, that he had never met Mr Null. Shortly after the arrival at the house of the gentleman on horseback little Plez ran into the kitchen, where Letty was engaged in preparing vegetables for dinner.
"Who d"ye think is done come?" he exclaimed. "Miss Annie"s husband! Jes"