"Where is your master?" said she, forgetting all about the Emanc.i.p.ation Act.
"Mahs" Robert is in the libery," said the woman.
"And where are Miss Roberta March and Master Junius Keswick?"
"Miss Rob went Norf day "fore yestiddy," was the answer, "an" Mahs"
Junius done gone "long to "scort her. Who shall I tell Mahs" Robert is come?"
"There is no need to tell him who I am," said Mrs Keswick. "Just take me in to him. That"s all you have to do."
A good deal doubtful of the propriety of this proceeding, but more doubtful of the propriety of opposing the wishes of such a determined-looking visitor, the woman stepped to the back part of the hall, and opened the door. The moment she did so, Mrs Keswick entered, and closed the door behind her.
Mr Brandon was seated in an arm chair by a table, and not very far from a wood fire of a size suited to the season. His slippered feet were on a cushioned stool; his eye-gla.s.ses were carefully adjusted on the capacious bridge of his nose; and, intent upon a newspaper which had arrived by that morning"s mail, he presented the appearance of a very well satisfied old gentleman, in very comfortable circ.u.mstances.
But when he turned his head and saw the Widow Keswick close the door behind her, every idea of satisfaction or comfort seemed to vanish from his mind. He dropped the paper; he rose to his feet; he took off his eye-gla.s.ses; he turned somewhat red in the face; and he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed: "What! madam! So it is you, Mrs Keswick?"
The old lady did not immediately answer. Her head dropped a little on one side, a broad smile bewrinkled the lower part of her well-worn visage, and with her eyes half-closed, behind her heavy spectacles, she held out both her hands, the purple umbrella in one of them, and exclaimed in a voice of happy fervor: "Robert! I am yours!"
Mr Brandon, recovered from his first surprise, had made a step forward to go round the table and greet his visitor; but at these words he stopped as if he had been shot. Perception, understanding, and even animation, seemed to have left him as he vacantly stared at the elderly female with purple sun-bonnet and umbrella, blue calico gown, red shawl and coa.r.s.e boots, who held out her arms towards him, and who gazed upon him with an air of tender, though decrepit, fondness.
"Don"t you understand me, Robert?" she continued. "Don"t you remember the day, many a good long year ago, it is true, when we walked together down there by the branch, and you asked me to be yours? I refused you, Robert, and, although you went down on your knees in the damp gra.s.s and besought me to give you my heart, I would not do it.
But I did not know you then as I know you now, Robert, and the words of true love which you spoke to me that morning come to me now with a sweetness which I was too young and trifling to notice then. That heart is yours now, Robert. I am yours." And, with these words, she made a step forward.
At this demonstration Mr Brandon appeared suddenly to recover his consciousness and he precipitately made two steps backwards, just missing tumbling over his footstool into the fireplace.
"Madam!" he exclaimed, "what are you talking about?"
"Of the days of our courtship, and your love, Robert," she said. "My love did not come then, but it is here now. Here now," she repeated, putting the hand with the umbrella in it on her breast.
"Madam," exclaimed the old gentleman, "you must be raving crazy! Those things to which you allude, happened nearly half a century ago; and since that you have been married and settled, and----"
"Robert," interrupted the Widow Keswick, "you are mistaken. It is not quite forty-five years since that morning, and why should hearts like ours allow the pa.s.sage of time or the mere circ.u.mstance of what might be called an outside marriage, but now extinct, to come between them?
There is many a spring, Robert, which does not show when a man first begins to dig, but it will bubble up in time. And, Robert, it bubbles now." And with her head bent a little downwards, although her eyes were still fixed upon him, she made another step in his direction.
Mr Brandon now backed himself flat against some book-shelves in his rear. The perspiration began to roll from his face, and his whole form trembled. "Mrs Keswick! Madam!" he exclaimed, "You will drive me mad!"
The old lady dropped the end of her umbrella on the floor, rested her two hands on the head of it, settled herself into an easy position to speak, and, with her head thrown back, fixed a steady gaze upon the trembling old gentleman. "Robert," she said, "do not try to crush emotions which always were a credit to you, although in those days gone by I didn"t tell you so. Your hair was black then, Robert, and you looked taller, for you hadn"t a stoop, and your face was very smooth, and so was mine, and I remember I had on a white dress with a broad ribbon around the waist, and neither of us wore specs. What you said to me was very fresh and sweet, Robert, and it all comes to me now as it never came before. You have never loved another, Robert, and you don"t know how happy it makes me to think that, and to know that I can come to you and find you the same true and constant lover that you were when, forty-five years ago, you went down on your knees to me by the branch. We can"t stifle those feelings of by-gone days which well up in our bosoms, Robert. After all these years I have learned what a prize your true love is, and I return it. I am yours."
At this Mr Brandon opened his mouth with a spasmodic gasp, but no word came from him. He looked to the right and left, and then made a lunge to one side, as if he would run around the old lady and gain the door.
But Mrs Keswick was too quick for him. With two sudden springs she reached the door and put her back against it.
"Don"t leave me, Robert," she said, "I have not told you all. Don"t you remember this breastpin?" unfastening the large silver brooch from her shawl and holding it out to him. "You gave it to me, Robert; there were almost tears of joy in your eyes on the first day I wore it, although I was careful to let you know it meant nothing. Where are those tears to-day, Robert? It means something now. I have kept it all these years, although in the lifetime of Mr Keswick it was never cleaned, and I wore it to-day, Robert, that your eyes might rest upon it once again, and that you might speak to me the words you spoke to me the day after I let you pin it on my white neckerchief. You waited then, Robert, a whole day before you spoke, but you needn"t wait now.
Let your heart speak out, dear Robert."
But dear Robert appeared to have no power to speak, on this or any other subject. He was half sitting, half leaning on the corner of a table which stood by a window, out of which he gave sudden agonized and longing glances, as if, had he strength enough, he would raise the sash and leap out.
The old lady, however, had speech enough for two. "Robert," she exclaimed, "how happy may we be, yet! If you wish to give up, to a younger couple, this s.p.a.cious mansion, these fine grounds and n.o.ble elms, and come to my humble home, I shall only say to you, "Robert, come!" I shall be alone there, Robert, and shall welcome you with joy.
I have n.o.body now to give anything to. The late Mrs Null, by which I mean my niece, will marry a man who, if reports don"t lie, is rich enough to make her want nothing that I have; and as for Junius, he is to have your property, as we all know. So all I have is yours, if you choose to come to me, Robert. But, if you would rather live here, I will come to you, and the young people can board with us until your decease; after that, I"ll board with them. And I"m not sure, Robert, but I like the plan of coming here best. There are lots of improvements we could make on this place, with you to furnish the money, and me to advise and direct. The first thing I"d do would be to have down those abominable steps over the front fence, and put a decent gate in its place; and then we would have a gravelled walk across the yard to the porch, wide enough for you and me, Robert, to walk together arm-in-arm when we would go out to look over the plantation, or stroll down to that spot on the branch, Robert, where the first plightings of our troth began."
The words of tender reminiscence, and of fond though rather late devotion, with which Mrs Keswick had stabbed and gashed the soul of the poor old gentleman, had at first deranged his senses, and then driven him into a state of abject despair, but the practical remarks which succeeded seemed to have a more direful effect upon him. The idea of the being with the sun-bonnet and the umbrella entering into his life at Midbranch, tearing down the broad steps which his honored father had built, cutting a gravelled path across the green turf which had been the pride of generations, and doing, no man could say what else, of advice and direction, seemed to strike a chill of terror into his very bones.
The quick perception of Mrs Keswick told her that it was time to terminate the interview. "I will not say anything more to you now, Robert," she said. "Of course you have been surprised at my coming to you to-day, and accepting your offer of marriage, and you must have time to quiet your mind, and think it over. I don"t doubt your affection, Robert, and I don"t want to hurry you. I am going to stay here to-night, so that we can have plenty of time to settle everything comfortably. I"ll go now and get one of the servants to show me to a room where I can take off my things. I"ll see you again at dinner."
And, with a smile of antiquated coyness, she left the room.
CHAPTER x.x.x.
Mr Brandon was not a weak man, nor one very susceptible to outside influences, but, in the whole course of his life, nothing so extraordinarily nerve-stirring had occurred to him as this visit of old Mrs Keswick, endeavoring to appear in the character of the young creature he had wooed some forty-five years before. For a long time, Mrs Keswick had been the enemy of himself and his family; and many a bitter onslaught she had made upon him, both by letter, and by word of mouth. These he had borne with the utmost bravery and coolness, and there were times when they even afforded him entertainment. But this most astounding attack was something against which no man could have been prepared; and Mr Brandon, suddenly pounced upon in the midst of his comfortable bachelordom by a malevolent sorceress and hurled back to the days of his youth, was shown himself kneeling, not at the feet of a fair young girl, but before a horrible old woman.
This amazing and startling state of affairs was too much for him immediately to comprehend. It stunned and bewildered him. Such, indeed, was the effect upon him that the first act of his mind, when he was left alone, and it began to act, was to ask of itself if there were really any grounds upon which Mrs Keswick could, with any reason, take up her position? The absolute absurdity of her position, however, became more and more evident, as Mr Brandon"s mind began to straighten itself and stand up. And now he grew angry. Anger was a pa.s.sion with which he was not at all unfamiliar, and the exercise of it seemed to do him good. When he had walked up and down his library for a quarter of an hour, he felt almost like his natural self; and with many nods of his head and shakes of his fist, he declared that the old woman was crazy, and that he would bundle her home just as soon as he could.
By dinner-time he had cooled down a good deal, and he resolved to treat her with the respect due to her age and former condition of sanity; but to take care that she should not again be alone with him, and to arrange that she should return to her home that day.
Mrs Keswick came to the table with a smiling face, and wearing a close-fitting white cap, which looked like a portion of her night gear, tied under her chin with broad, stiff strings. In this she appeared to her host as far more hideous than when wearing her sun-bonnet. Mr Brandon had arranged that two servants should wait upon the table, so that one of them should always be in the room, but in his supposition that the presence of a third person would have any effect upon the expression of Mrs Keswick"s fond regard, he was mistaken. The meal had scarcely begun, when she looked around the room with wide-open eyes, and exclaimed: "Robert, if we should conclude to remain here, I think we will have this room re-papered with some light-colored paper. I like a light dining-room. This is entirely too dark."
The two servants, one of whom was our old friend, Peggy, actually stopped short in their duties at this remark; and as for Mr Brandon, his appet.i.te immediately left him, to return no more during that meal.
He was obliged to make some answer to this speech, and so he briefly remarked that he had no desire to alter the appearance of his dining-room, and then hastened to change the conversation by making some inquiries about that interesting young woman, her niece, who, he had been informed, was not a married lady, as he had supposed her to be.
At this intelligence, Peggy dropped two spoons and a fork; she had never heard it before.
"The late Mrs Null," said Mrs Keswick, "is a young woman who likes to cut her clothes after her own patterns. They may be becoming to her when they are made up, or they may not be. But I am inclined to think she has got a pretty good head on her shoulders, and perhaps she knows what suits her as well as any of us. I can"t say it was easy to forgive the trick she played on me, her own aunt, and just the same, in fact, as her mother. But Robert," and as she said this the old lady laid down her knife and fork, and looked tenderly at Mr Brandon, "I have determined to forgive everybody, and to overlook everything, and I do this as much for your sake, dear Robert, as for my own. It wouldn"t do for a couple of our age to be keeping up grudges against the young people for their ways of getting out of marriages or getting into them. We will have my niece and her husband here sometimes, won"t we, Robert?"
Mr Brandon straightened himself and remarked: "Mr Croft, whom I have heard your niece is to marry, will be quite welcome here, with his wife." Then, putting his napkin on the table, and pushing back his chair, he said: "Now, madam, you must excuse me, for I have orders to give to some of my people which I had forgotten until this moment. But do not let me interfere with your dinner. Pray continue your meal."
Never before had Mr Brandon been known to leave his dinner until he had finished it, and he was not at all accustomed to give such a poor reason for his actions as the one he gave now, but it was simply impossible for him to sit any longer at table, and have that old woman talk in that shocking manner before the servants.
"Robert," cried Mrs Keswick, as he left the room, "I"ll save some dessert for you, and we"ll eat it together."
Mr Brandon"s first impulse, when he found himself out of the dining-room, was to mount his horse and ride away; but there was no place to which he wished to ride; and he was a man who was very loath to leave the comforts of his home. "No," he said. "She must go, and not I." And then he went into his parlor, and strode up and down. As soon as Mrs Keswick had finished her dinner, he would see her there, and speak his mind to her. He had determined that he would not again be alone with her, but, since the presence of others was no restraint whatever upon her, it had become absolutely necessary that he should speak with her alone.
It was not long before the Widow Keswick, with a brisk, blithe step, entered the parlor. "I couldn"t eat without you, Robert," she cried, "and so I really haven"t half finished my dinner. Did you have to come in here to speak to your people?"
Mr Brandon stepped to the door, and closed it. "Madam," he said, "it will be impossible for me, in the absence of my niece, to entertain you here to-night, and so it would be prudent for you to start for home as soon as possible, as the days are short. It would be too much of a journey for your horse to go back again to-day, and your vehicle is an open one; therefore I have ordered my carriage to be prepared, and you may trust my driver to take you safely home, even if it should be dark before you get there. If you desire it, there is a young maid-servant here who will go with you."
"Robert," said Mrs Keswick, approaching the old gentleman and gazing fondly upward at him, "you are so good, and thoughtful, and sweet. But you need not put yourself to all that trouble for me. I shall stay here to-night, and in your house, dear Robert, I can take care of myself a great deal better than any lady could take care of me."
"Madam," exclaimed Mr Brandon, "I want you to stop calling me by my first name. You have no right to do so, and I won"t stand it."
"Robert," said the old lady, looking at him with an air of tender upbraiding, "you forget that I am yours, now, and forever."
Never, since he had arrived at man"s estate, and probably not before, had Mr Brandon spoken in improper language to a lady, but now it was all he could do to restrain himself from the e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of an oath, but he did restrain himself, and only exclaimed: "Confound it, madam, I cannot stand this! Why do you come here, to drive me crazy with your senseless ravings?"
"Robert," said Mrs Keswick, very composedly "I do not wonder that my coming to you and accepting the proposals which you once so heartily made to me, and from which you have never gone back, should work a good deal upon your feelings. It is quite natural, and I expected it.
Therefore don"t hesitate about speaking out your mind; I shall not be offended. So that we belong to each other for the rest of our days, I don"t mind what you say now, when it is all new and unexpected to you.
You and I have had many a difference of opinion, Robert, and your plans were not my plans. But things have turned out as you wished, and you have what you have always wanted; and with the other good things, Robert, you can take me." And, as she finished speaking, she held out both hands to her companion.