"Mamma, did you hear," said Eleanor as Julia ran off, "that Mr. Rhys was going to leave Wiglands and bury himself in some dreadful place, somewhere?"
"I heard so."
"What place is it?"
"I can"t tell, I am sure. It is somewhere in the South Seas, I believe--that region of horrors."
"Is it true he is going there, mamma?"
"I am sure I can"t tell. Miss Broadus says so; and she says, I believe, he told her so himself. If he did, I suppose it is true."
"Mamma, I think Mr. Rhys is a great deal too fine a man to go and lose his life in such a place. Miss Broadus says it is horrible. Do you know anything about it?"
"I have no taste for horrors," said Mrs. Powle.
"I think it is a great pity," Eleanor repeated. "I am sorry. There is enough in England for such a man to do, without going to the South Seas. I wonder how anybody can leave England!"
Mrs. Powle looked up at her daughter and laughed. Eleanor had suspended her drawing and was sending a loving gaze out of the open window, where nature and summer were revelling in their conjoined riches. Art shewed her hand too, stealthily, having drawn out of the way of the others whatever might enc.u.mber the revel. Across a wide stretch of wooded and cultivated country, the eye caught the umbrageous heights on the further side of the valley of the Ryth. Eleanor"s gaze was fixed. Mrs.
Powle"s glance was sly.
"I should like to ask your opinion of another place," she said,--"which, being in England, is not horrible. You see that bit of brown mason-work, high away there, peeping out above the trees in the distance?--You know what house that is?"
"Certainly."
"What is it?"
"It is the Priory. The new Priory, it ought to be called; I am sure the old one is down there in the valley yet--beneath it." But Eleanor"s colour rose.
"What do you think of that place?"
"Considering that the old priory and its grounds belong to it, I think it must be one of the loveliest places in England."
"I should like to see it in your possession--" Mrs. Powle remarked, going on with her tissue paper.
Eleanor also went on a.s.siduously with her drawing, and her colour remained a rich tint. But she went on frankly with her words too.
"I am not sure, mamma, that I like the owner of it well enough to receive such a valuable gift from him."
"He likes you, quite well enough to bestow it on you, without asking any questions," said Mrs. Powle. "He hardly thinks it is worth having, unless you have it too."
"That is inconvenient," said Eleanor.
"It strikes me the other way," said her mother.
"How do you know this, which you affirm so securely, mamma?"
"How should I know it? The person in question told me himself."
"Told you in so many words?"
"No, in a great many more," said Mrs. Powle laughing. "I have merely presented a statement. He had a great deal more to do than that."
The tissue paper rustled quietly for some time after this, and Eleanor"s pencil could be heard making quick marks. Neither lady interrupted the other.
"Well, Eleanor,--how does it seem to you?" began the elder lady, in a tone of quiet satisfaction.
"Inconvenient, mamma,--as I said."
"How?"
But Eleanor did not say how.
"Mr. Carlisle will be here for his answer this evening."
"I like him very well, mamma," said Eleanor, after another pause,--"but I do not like him enough."
"Nonsense! You would like to be Lady Rythdale, wouldn"t you?"
The silence which followed this was longer than that which had been before. Knife and pencil pursued their work, but Mrs. Powle glancing up furtively from her tissue paper saw that Eleanor"s brow was knitted and that her pencil was moving under the influence of something besides Art. So she let her alone for a long time. And Eleanor"s fancy saw a vision of fairy beauty and baronial dignity before her. They lay in the wide domains and stately appendages of Rythdale Priory. How could she help seeing it? The vision floated before her with point after point of entrancing loveliness, old history, present luxury, hereditary rank and splendour, and modern power. It was like nothing in Eleanor"s own home.
Her father, though a comfortable country gentleman, boasted nothing and had nothing to boast in the way of ancestry, beyond a respectable descent of several generations. His means, though ample enough for comfort and reasonable indulgence, could make no pretensions to more.
And Ivy Lodge was indeed a pleasant home, and every field and hedgerow belonging to it was lovely to Eleanor; but the broad manors of Rythdale Priory for extent would swallow up many such, and for beauty and dignity were as a damask rose to a bit of eglantine. Would Eleanor be Lady Rythdale?
"He will be here this evening for his answer, Eleanor--" Mrs. Powle remarked in a quiet voice the second time.
"Then you must give it to him, mamma."
"I shall do nothing of the kind. You must see him yourself. I will have no such shifting of your work upon my shoulders."
"I do not wish to see him to-night, mamma."
"I choose that you should. Don"t talk any nonsense to me, Eleanor."
"But, mamma, if I am to give the answer, I am not ready with any answer to give."
"Tell Mr. Carlisle so; and he will draw his own conclusions, and make you sign them."
"I do not want to be made to sign anything."
"Do it of free-will then," said Mrs. Powle laughing. "It is coming, Eleanor--one way or the other. If I were you, I would do it gracefully.
Is it a hard thing to be Lady Rythdale?"
Eleanor did not say, and nothing further pa.s.sed on the subject; till as both parties were leaving the room together, Mrs. Powle said significantly,
"You must give your own answer, Eleanor, and to-night. I will have no skulking."
It was beyond Mrs. Powle"s power, however, to prevent skulking of a certain sort. Eleanor did not hide herself in her room, but she left it late in the afternoon, when she knew the company consisted of more than one, and entered a tolerably well filled drawing-room. Mrs. Powle had not wished to have it so, but these things do not arrange themselves for our wishes. Miss Broadus was there, and Dr. Cairnes, and friends who had come to make him and his sister a visit; and one or two other neighbours. Eleanor came in without making much use of her eyes, and sheltered herself immediately under the wing of Miss Broadus, who was the first person she fell in with. Two pairs of eyes saw her entrance; with oddly enough the same thought and comment. "She will make a lovely Lady Rythdale." All the baronesses of that house had been famous for their beauty, and the heir of the house remarked to himself that _this_ would prove not the least lovely of the race. However, Eleanor did not even feel sure that he was there, he kept at such a distance; and she engaged Miss Broadus in a conversation that seemed of interminable resources. The sole thing that Eleanor was conscious of concerning it, was its lasting quality; and to maintain that was her only care.
Would Eleanor be Lady Rythdale? she had made up her mind to nothing, except, that it would be very difficult for her to say either yes or no. Naturally enough, she dreaded the being obliged to say anything; and was ready to seize every expedient to stave off the moment of emergency. As long as she was talking to Miss Broadus, she was safe; but conversations cannot last always, even when they flow in a stream so full and copious as that in which the words always poured from that lady"s lips. Eleanor saw signs at last that the fountain was getting exhausted; and as the next resort proposed a game of chess. Now a game of chess was the special delight of Miss Broadus; and as it was the detestation of her sister, Miss Juliana, the delight was seldom realized. The two sisters were harmonious in everything except a few tastes, and perhaps their want of harmony in those points gave their life the variety it needed. At any rate, such an offer as Eleanor"s was rarely refused by the elder sister; and the two ladies were soon deep in their business. One really, the other seemingly. Though indeed it is true that Eleanor was heartily engaged to prevent the game coming to a termination, and therefore played in good earnest, not for conquest but for time. This had gone on a good while, before she was aware that a footstep was drawing near the chess table, and then that Mr. Carlisle, stood beside her chair.