like, an" none says again" it."
"I"ve nothing to explain--there _is_ nothing to explain. I"ve been quite friendly," I said, hurriedly.
"_Friendly!_ Well, if there baint a cram! How can ye think it friendly, Maud, when ye won"t a"most shake hands wi" me? It"s enough to make a fellah sware, or cry a"most. Why d"ye like aggravatin" a poor devil? Now baint ye an ill-natured little puss, Maud, an" I likin" ye so well? You"re the prettiest la.s.s in Derbyshire; there"s nothin" I wouldn"t do for ye."
And he backed his declaration with an oath.
"Be so good, then, as to re-enter your dog-cart and drive away," I replied, very much incensed.
"Now, there it is again! Ye can"t speak me civil. Another fellah"d fly out, an" maybe kiss ye for spite; but I baint that sort, I"m all for coaxin" and kindness, an" ye won"t let me. What _be_ you drivin" at, Maud?"
"I think I"ve said very plainly, sir, that I wish to be alone. You"ve _nothing_ to say, except utter nonsense, and I"ve heard quite enough. Once for all, I beg, sir, that you will be so good as to leave me."
"Well, now, look here, Maud; I"ll do anything you like--burn me if I don"t--if you"ll only jest be kind to me, like cousins should. What did I ever do to vex you? If you think I like any la.s.s better than you--some fellah at Elverston"s bin talkin", maybe--it"s nout but lies an" nonsense.
Not but there"s lots o" wenches likes me well enough, though I be a plain lad, and speaks my mind straight out."
"I can"t see that you are so frank, sir, as you describe; you have just played a shabby trick to bring about this absurd and most disagreeable interview."
"And supposin" I did send that fool, Milly, out o" the way, to talk a bit wi" you here, where"s the harm? Dang it, la.s.s, ye mustn"t be too hard.
Didn"t I say I"d do whatever ye wished?"
"And you _won"t_," said I.
"Ye mean to get along out o" this? Well, now, I _will_. There! No use, of course, askin" you to kiss and be friends, before I go, as cousins should.
Well, don"t be riled, la.s.s, I"m not askin" it; only mind, I do like you awful, and "appen I"ll find ye in better humour another time. Good-bye, Maud; I"ll make ye like me at last."
And with these words, to my comfort, he addressed himself to his horse and pipe, and was soon honestly on his way to the moor.
CHAPTER XLVI
_THE RIVALS_
All the time that Dudley chose to persecute me with his odious society, I continued to walk at a brisk pace toward home, so that I had nearly reached the house when Milly met me, with a note which had arrived for me by the post, in her hand.
"Here, Milly, are more verses. He is a very persevering poet, whoever he is." So I broke the seal; but this time it was prose. And the first words were "Captain Oakley!"
I confess to an odd sensation as these remarkable words met my eye. It might possibly be a proposal. I did not wait to speculate, however, but read these sentences traced in the identical handwriting which had copied the lines with which I had been twice favoured.
"Captain Oakley presents his compliments to Miss Ruthyn, and trusts she will excuse his venturing to ask whether, during his short stay in Feltram, he might be permitted to pay his respects at Bartram-Haugh. He has been making a short visit to his aunt, and could not find himself so near without at least attempting to renew an acquaintance which he has never ceased to cherish in memory. If Miss Ruthyn would be so very good as to favour him with ever so short a reply to the question he ventures most respectfully to ask, her decision would reach him at the Hall Hotel, Feltram."
"Well, he"s a roundabout fellah, anyhow. Couldn"t he come up and see you if he wanted to? They poeters, they do love writing long yarns--don"t they?"
And with this reflection, Milly took the note and read it through again.
"It"s jolly polite anyhow, isn"t it Maud?" said Milly, who had conned it over, and accepted it as a model composition.
I must have been, I think, naturally a rather shrewd girl; and considering how very little I had seen of the world--nothing in fact--I often wonder now at the sage conclusions at which I arrived.
Were I to answer this handsome and cunning fool according to his folly, in what position should I find myself? No doubt my reply would induce a rejoinder, and that compel another note from me, and that invite yet another from him; and however his might improve in warmth, they were sure not to abate. Was it his impertinent plan, with this show of respect and ceremony, to drag me into a clandestine correspondence? Inexperienced girl as I was, I fired at the idea of becoming his dupe, and fancying, perhaps, that there was more in merely answering his note than it would have amounted to, I said--
"That kind of thing may answer very well with b.u.t.ton-makers, but ladies don"t like it. What would your papa think of it if he found that I had been writing to him, and seeing him without his permission? If he wanted to see me he could have"--(I really did not know exactly what he could have done)--"he could have timed his visit to Lady Knollys differently; at all events, he has no right to place me in an embarra.s.sing situation, and I am certain Cousin Knollys would say so; and I think his note both shabby and impertinent."
Decision was not with me an intellectual process. When quite cool I was the most undecided of mortals, but once my feelings were excited I was prompt and bold.
"I"ll give the note to Uncle Silas," I said, quickening my pace toward home; "he"ll know what to do."
But Milly, who, I fancy, had no objection to the little romance which the young officer proposed, told me that she could not see her father, that he was ill, and not speaking to anyone.
"And arn"t ye making a plaguy row about nothin"? I lay a guinea if ye had never set eyes on Lord Ilbury you"d a told him to come, and see ye, an"
welcome."
"Don"t talk like a fool, Milly. You never knew me do anything deceitful.
Lord Ilbury has no more to do with it, you know very well, than the man in the moon."
I was altogether very indignant. I did not speak another word to Milly. The proportions of the house are so great, that it is a much longer walk than you would suppose from the hall-door to Uncle Silas"s room. But I did not cool all that way; and it was not till I had just reached the lobby, and saw the sour, jealous face, and high caul of old Wyat, and felt the influence of that neighbourhood, that I paused to reconsider. I fancied there was a cool consciousness of success behind all the deferential phraseology of Captain Oakley, which nettled me extremely. No; there could be no doubt. I tapped softly at the door.
"What is it _now_, Miss?" snarled the querulous old woman, with her shrivelled fingers on the door-handle.
"Can I see my uncle for a moment?"
"He"s tired, and not a word from him all day long."
"Not ill, though?"
"Awful bad in the night," said the old crone, with a sudden savage glare in my face, as if _I_ had brought it about.
"Oh! I"m very sorry. I had not heard a word of it."
"No one does but old Wyat. There"s Milly there never asks neither--his own child!"
"Weakness, or what?"
"One o" them fits. He"ll slide awa" in one o" them some day, and no one but old Wyat to know nor ask word about it; that"s how "twill be."
"Will you please hand him this note, if he is well enough to look at it, and say I am at the door?"
She took it with a peevish nod and a grunt, closing the door in my face, and in a few minutes returned--
"Come in wi" ye," said Dame Wyat, and I appeared.
Uncle Silas, who, after his nightly horror or vision, lay extended on a sofa, with his faded yellow silk dressing-gown about him, his long white hair hanging toward the ground, and that wild and feeble smile lighting his face--a glimmer I feared to look upon--his long thin arms lay by his sides, with hands and fingers that stirred not, except when now and then, with a feeble motion, he wet his temples and forehead with eau de Cologne from a gla.s.s saucer placed beside him.
"Excellent girl! dutiful ward and niece!" murmured the oracle; "heaven reward you--your frank dealing is your own safety and my peace. Sit you down, and say who is this Captain Oakley, when you made his acquaintance, what his age, fortune, and expectations, and who the aunt he mentions."
Upon all these points I satisfied him as fully as I was able.