"He is very handsome," said Theo, in some slight embarra.s.sment. "And I think I like him very much. Who is Priscilla, aunt?"
She knew that she had said something amusing by Lady Throckmorton"s laughing quietly.
"You are very like Pamela, Theodora," she said. "It sounds very like Pamela--what Pamela used to be--to be interested in Priscilla."
"I hope it wasn"t rude?" fluttered the poor little rose-colored sultana.
"Not at all," answered Lady Throckmorton. "Only innocent. But I can tell you all about Priscilla in a dozen words. Priscilla is a modern Sappho.
Priscilla is an elderly young lady, who never was a girl--Priscilla is my poor Denis Oglethorpe"s _fiancee_."
"Oh!" said Theodora.
Her august relative drew her rich silk skirts a little farther away from the heat of the fire, and frowned slightly; but not at Theodora--at Priscilla, in her character of _fiancee_.
"Yes," she went on. "And I think you would agree with me in saying poor Denis Oglethorpe, if you could see Priscilla."
"Is she ugly?" asked Theo, concisely.
"No," sharply. "I wish she was; but at twenty-two she is elderly, as I said just now--and she never was anything else. She was elderly when they were engaged, five years ago."
"But why--why didn"t they get married five years ago, if they were engaged?"
"Because they were too poor," Lady Throckmorton explained; "because Denis was only a poor young journalist, scribbling night and day, and scarcely earning his bread and b.u.t.ter."
"Is he poor now?" ventured Theo again.
"No," was the answer. "I wish he was, if it would save him from the Gowers. As it is, I suppose, if nothing happens to prevent it, he will marry Priscilla before the year is out. Not that it is any business of mine, but that I am rather fond of him--very fond of him, I might say, and I was once engaged to his father."
Theo barely restrained an e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n. Here was another romance--and she was so fond of romances. Pamela"s love-story had been a great source of delight to her; but if Mr. Oglethorpe"s father had been anything like that gentleman himself, what a delightful affair Lady Throckmorton"s love-story must have been! The comfortable figure in the arm-chair at her side caught a glow of the faint halo that surrounded poor Pam; but in this case the glow had a more roseate tinge, and was altogether free from the funereal gray that in Pamela always gave Theo a sense of sympathizing discomfort.
The next day she wrote to Pamela:
"I have not had time yet to decide how I like Lady Throckmorton,"
she said. "She is very kind to me, and asks a good many questions.
I think I am a little afraid of her; but perhaps that is because I do not know her very well. One thing I am sure of, she doesn"t like either Sir Dugald or his dog very much. We had a caller last night--a gentleman. A Mr. Denis Oglethorpe, who is a very great favorite of Lady Throckmorton. He is very handsome, indeed. I never saw any one at all like him before--any one half so handsome and self-possessed. I liked him very much because he talked so well, and was so witty. I had on the gray satin when he came, and the train hung beautifully. I am glad we made it with a train, Pamela.
I think I shall wear the purple cloth to-night, as Lady Throckmorton said that perhaps he might drop in again, and he knows so many grand people, that I should like to look nice. There seems to be a queer sort of friendship between aunt and himself, though somehow I fancied he did not care much about what she said to him.
He is engaged to be married to a very accomplished young lady, and has been for several years; but they were both too poor to be married until now. The young lady"s name is Priscilla Gower; and Lady Throckmorton does not like her, which seems very strange to me. She is as poor as we are, I should imagine, for she gives French and Latin lessons, and lives in a shabby house. But I don"t think that is the reason Lady Throckmorton does not like her. I believe it is because she thinks she is not suited to Mr.
Oglethorpe. I hope she is mistaken, for Mr. Oglethorpe is very nice indeed, and very clever. He is a journalist, and has written a book of beautiful poetry. I found the volume this morning, and have been reading it all day. I think it is lovely; but Lady Throckmorton says he wrote it when he was very young, and makes fun of it now. I don"t think he ought to, I am sure. I shall buy a copy before I return, and bring it home to show you. I will write to mamma in a day or so. With kisses and love, and a hundred thanks again for the dresses, I remain, my dearest Pamela, your loving and grateful,
"THEO."
CHAPTER III.
THE MEETING.
But Denis Oglethorpe did not appear again for several days. Perhaps business detained him; perhaps he went oftener to see Priscilla. At any rate, he did not call again until the end of the week.
Lady Throckmorton was in her private room when he came, and as he made his entrance with as little ceremony as usual, he ran in upon Theodora.
Now, to tell the truth, he had, until this moment, forgotten all about that young person"s very existence. He saw so many pretty girls in a day"s round, and he was so often too busy to notice half of them--though he was an admirer of pretty girls--that it was nothing new to see one and forget her, until chance threw them together again. Of course, he had noticed Theodora North that first night. How could a man help noticing her? And the something beautifully over-awed and bashfully curious in her lovely, uncommon eyes, had half amused him. And yet, until this moment, he had forgotten her, with the a.s.sistance of proofs, and printers, and Priscilla.
But when, after running lightly up the stair-case, he opened the drawing-room door, and saw a tall, lovely figure in a closely-fitting dress of purple cloth, bending over Sabre, and stroking his huge, tawny head with her supple little tender hand, he remembered.
"Ah, yes!" he exclaimed, in an admiring aside. "To be sure; I had forgotten Theodora."
But Theodora had not forgotten him. The moment she saw him she stood up blushing, and with a light in her eyes. It was odd how un-English she looked, and yet how thoroughly English she was in that delicious, uncomfortable trick of blushing vividly upon all occasions. She was quite unconscious of the fact that the purple cloth was so becoming, and that its sweep of straight, heavy folds made her as stately as some Rajah"s dark-eyed daughter. She did not feel stately at all; she only felt somewhat confused, and rather glad that Mr. Denis Oglethorpe had surprised her by coming again. How Mr. Denis Oglethorpe would have smiled if he had known what an innocent commotion his simple presence created!
"Lady Throckmorton is up-stairs reading," she explained. "I will go and tell her you are here." There were no bells in the house at Downport, and no servants to answer if any one had rang one, and, very naturally, Theo forgot she was not at Downport.
"Excuse me. No," said Mr. Denis Oglethorpe. "I would not disturb her on any account; and, besides, I know she will be down directly. She never reads late in the evening. This is a very handsome dog, Miss North."
"Very handsome, indeed," was Theo"s reply. "Come here, Sabre."
Sabre stalked majestically to her side, and laid his head upon her knee.
Theo stroked him softly, raising her eyes quite seriously to Mr.
Oglethorpe"s face.
"He reminds me of Sir Dugald himself," she said.
Mr. Denis Oglethorpe smiled faintly. He was not very fond of Sir Dugald, and the perfect gravity and _naivete_ with which this pretty, unsophisticated young sultana had made her comment had amounted to a very excellent joke.
"Does he?" he returned, as quietly as possible, and then his glance meeting Theo"s, she broke into a little burst of horror-stricken self-reproach.
"Oh, dear!" she exclaimed. "I oughtn"t to have said that, ought I? I forgot how rude it would sound; but, indeed, I only meant that Sabre was so slow and heavy, and--and so indifferent to people, somehow. I don"t think he cares about being liked at all."
She was so abashed at her blunder, that she looked absolutely imploring, and Mr. Denis Oglethorpe smiled again. He felt inclined to make friends with Theodora.
"There is a little girl staying at Lady Throckmorton"s," he had said to Priscilla. "A relative of hers. A pretty creature, too, Priscilla, for a bread-and-b.u.t.ter Miss."
But just at this moment, he thought better of the matter. What tender, speechful eyes she had! He was aroused to a recognition of their beauty all at once. What contour there was in the turn of arm and shoulder under the close-fitting purple cloth! He was artistically thankful that there was no other tr.i.m.m.i.n.g of the straight bodice than the line of b.u.t.tons that descended from the full white ruff of swansdown at her throat, to her delicate, trim waist. Her unconscious stateliness of girlish form, and the conscious shyness of her manner, were the loveliest inconsistency in the world.
"Oh, I shall not tell Sir Dugald," he said to her, good-humoredly.
"Besides, I think the comparison an excellent one. I don"t know anything in London so like Sir Dugald as Sir Dugald"s dog."
Theodora stroked Sabre, apologetically, but could scarcely find courage to speak. She had stood somewhat in awe of Mr. Denis Oglethorpe, even at first, and her discomfort was rapidly increasing. He must think her dreadfully stupid, though he was good-humored enough to make light of her silly speech. Certainly Priscilla never made such a silly speech in her life; but then, how could one teach French and Latin, and be anything but ponderously discreet?
Mr. Denis Oglethorpe was not thinking of Priscilla"s wisdom, however; he was thinking of Theodora North; he was thinking that he must have been very blind not to have seen before that his friend"s niece was a beauty of the first water, young as she was. But he had been tired and f.a.gged out, he remembered, on the first occasion of their meeting--too tired to think of anything but his appointment at Broome street, and Priscilla"s Greek grammar. And now in recognizing what he had before pa.s.sed by, he was quite glad to find the girl so young and inexperienced--so modest, in a sweet way. It was easy, as well as proper enough, to talk to her unceremoniously without the trouble of being diffuse and complimentary.
So he made himself agreeable, and Theodora listened until she quite forgot Sir Dugald, and only remembered Sabre, because his big heavy head was on her knee, and she was stroking it.
"And you were never in London before?" he said at length.
"No, sir," Theo answered. "This is the first time. I was never even out of Downport before."
"Then we must take you to see the lions," he said, "if Lady Throckmorton will let us, Miss Theodora. I wonder if she would let us? If she would, I have a lady friend who knows them all, from the grisliest, downward, and I know she would like to help me to exhibit them to you. How should you like that?"