She was a small, pointed person, with a depressing effect of having (perhaps) been a beauty once, and she regarded Sylvia and Felicity with that mingled affection, pride, and annoyance compounded of a wish to serve them, a desire to boast of them, and a longing to bully them that is often characteristic of elderly relatives. The only special fault she found was that they were too young, especially Sylvia. Mrs. Crofton did not explain for what the girls were too young, but did her best to make Sylvia at least older by boring her to death about etiquette, religion, politics, cooking recipes, and kindred subjects. Aunt William was one of those rare women of theory rather than practice who prefer a menu to a dinner, and a recipe to either. Indeed, recipes were a hobby of hers, and one of her pleasures was to send to a young housekeeper some such ma.n.u.script as the following:--
"TO MAKE ELDERBERRY WINE REQUIRED--
Half a peck of ripe elderberries.
One and a half gallons of boiling water.
TO EACH GALLON OF JUICE
Three pounds of loaf sugar, Four cloves, Six allspice.
Stalk the berries, put them into a large vessel with the boiling water, cover it closely, and leave for twenty-four hours," and so on.
To one person she was quite devoted--her nephew Savile.
One morning Aunt William woke up at half-past seven, and complained to her maid that she had had insomnia for twenty minutes. Having glanced at the enlarged and coloured photograph of the late William that decorated every room, she ordered a luncheon of roast mutton and rice pudding, rhubarb tart and cream, almonds and raisins, and oranges, thinking that this menu would be at once suitable and attractive to a boy of sixteen.
In a more indulgent moment she then sent out for a large packet of milk-chocolate, and prepared to receive Savile at lunch.
When Savile arrived in his father"s motor, Mrs. Crofton, who had been looking out for him at the window, ran up to her room (she could run when alone) and allowed him to be shown into the drawing-room by himself. Aunt William resented automobiles as much as she disliked picture postcards, week-ends, musical comedies, and bridge.
Savile walked up and down the enormous room, lost in thought, and scarcely observing his surroundings. He smiled slightly as he contemplated the portrait of Uncle Mary, who was represented as leaning rather weakly for support against a pedestal that looked by no means secure, with a heavy curtain and a lowering sky in the background.
"Jove! what short frock-coats those chaps wore!" thought Savile. "What rotters they must have been!"
"And so Lord Chetwode is out of town again?" Aunt William said, as they sat over dessert.
"Gone to Newmarket."
"I see in the _Morning Post_ that your sister Sylvia was at Lady Gaskaine"s last night. I suppose she was the belle of the ball." She offered him some preserved ginger.
"No, she wasn"t. There"s no such thing as a belle of the ball now, Aunt William. She danced with Heath and Broughton, of course, and Caldrey, and those chaps. Broughton took her to supper."
Aunt William seemed gratified.
"Curious! I recollect Lord Broughton in kilts when he was a little toddling pet of seven! His father was considered one of the most fascinating men of his day, my dear. What a beautiful place Broughton Hall is!" She pressed another orange on him.
"Oh, Sylvia"s all right," said Savile, impartially declining the fruit and producing an aluminium cigarette-case. Aunt William, pretending not to see it, pa.s.sed him the matches as if in a fit of absence of mind. As a matter of fact, Savile was really more at home with Aunt William than with any one, even his sisters.
"And now, my dear boy, tell me about yourself."
Savile took out of his pocket the envelope containing her photograph.
"I say, I took this out of the alb.u.m last time I came," he said apologetically.
Aunt William almost blushed. She was genuinely flattered.
"But what"s that--that green book I see in your pocket? I suppose it"s Euclid, or Greek, or something you"re learning."
"No, it"s not; it"s poetry. A ripping poem I"ve just found out. I know you like that sort of rot, so I brought it for you."
Her face softened. Savile was the only person who knew her romantic side.
"A poem!" she said in a lowered voice. "Oh, what is it about?"
"Oh, about irises, and how "In the Spring a Young Man"s Fancy," that sort of thing--Tennyson, you know."
"Tennyson!" exclaimed Aunt William. "Do you know Eliza Cook? I think "The Old Armchair" one of the loveliest poems in the language."
"Never heard of it."
"Savile," said Aunt William, when they were sitting by the fire in the drawing-room, "I"m glad you"re fond of poetry. Have you ever written any at all? You needn"t be ashamed of it, my dear boy, if you have. I admire sentiment, but only up to a certain point, of course."
"Well, it"s odd you should say that. I wrote something yesterday. I say, you won"t go and give it away, Aunt William?"
"Most certainly not!"
She grew animated.
"Show it to me, if you have it with you. A taste for literature is in the family. Once a second cousin of ours--you never knew him--wrote me a sonnet!"
"Did he, though? Well, I dare say it was all right. Here"s my stuff. I rather thought I"d consult you. I want to send it to some one."
Concealing his nervousness under a stern, even harsh demeanour, Savile took out a folded sheet of paper from a brown pigskin letter-case.
Aunt William clasped her hands and leaned forward.
Savile read aloud in an aggressive, matter-of-fact manner the following words:----
"My singing bird, my singing bird, Oh sing, oh sing, oh sing, oh sing to me, Nothing like it has ever been heard,"
(Here he dropped the letter-case, and picked it up, blushing at the contents that had fallen out.)
"And I do love to hear thee sing."
His aunt looked a little faint. She leant back and fanned herself, taking out her smelling-salts.
"That"s not all," said Savile. Warming to his work, he went on more gruffly:--
"What should I do if you should stop?
Oh wilt thou sing for me alone?
For I will fly to hear your notes: Your tune would melt a heart of stone."
"My gracious, my dear, it"s a poem!" said Aunt William.
"Who said it wasn"t? But you can"t judge till you"ve heard the whole thing."
She turned away her head and struggled with a smile, while he read the last verse defiantly and quickly, growing rather red:--