"Here, miss! Here it is! I"ll give it to you, though I wouldn"t give it to him there!" answered Taters, with a contemptuous glance toward Jerome.
Emma took the letter, which was inclosed in a wonderfully dingy yellow envelope, and she read the superscription, and then called to Laura, saying:
"Come here, my dear. Here is a letter from Lytton Lodge for you."
Laura Lytton, who, with Electra, had been standing just within the drawing-room door, near enough to observe the group, but not to hear the whole of their conversation, now came when she was called and received her letter.
"It is from dear Uncle Jacky," she said, with an affectionate smile, as she recognized the handwriting.
And then she asked the messenger a mult.i.tude of questions, which he was too much agitated to answer coherently, until at length Miss Cavendish said:
"Jerome, take the poor fellow into the kitchen and give him something to eat and drink. There is nothing like beef and beer to exorcise evil spirits. And when he is rested and refreshed we will see him again."
And Jerome took Taters rather roughly by the shoulder and pulled him upon his feet and carried him along the hall through the back door toward the kitchen.
"Will you excuse me now, dear Emma, while I read my uncle"s letter?"
inquired Laura, as she retreated to the drawing-room.
"Certainly," smiled Miss Cavendish, following her guests.
Laura went into the recess of a bay-window and opened the dingy yellow envelope and read as follows:
"LYTTON LODGE, April --, 18--.
"MY DEAR NIECE:--I think my nephew, Alden, has a more correcter ideer of what is jue to kin and kith than what you have shown.
"Alden is spending his Easter holidays along of me and his relations.
"But you haven"t been nigh the house since you left it to go to school. You do seem to be so wrapped up in the Cavendishers as not to think anything of your own folks.
"Now I can tell you what it is. The Lyttonses are a great deal older and better family than all the Cavendishers that ever lived. I don"t care if they was governors of the state.
"I have heard my grandfather, who was a scholar, say that the Lyttonses was landed gentry in the old country long before the Cavendishers followed of their lord and marster William the Conkerer across the channil. And so I don"t approve of your sliting of the Lyttonses for them there Cavendishers. Spesherly as you"re a Lytton yourself. And if we don"t respect ourselves and each other no one a"n"t a going to respect us.
"And talking of that, what do you think Hezekiah Greenfield, the landlord of the Reindeer, went and done to me last week?
"Why, he came over and asked me could I supply his tavern with fruits and vegetables during the summer season at the market price, saying--quite as if he was a making of me a kind proposal instead of offering of me a black insult--that he"d rather deal with me, and I should have his money, than any one else, if so be I was willing to do business.
"Now what do you think I answered him?
"Why, I set the bull-dog on him! I did that! And it was good for him as he scrambled up on his horse and made off double-quick, or he"d been torn to pieces before you could say Jack Robinson.
"That"ll learn the tavern-keeper to insult a gentleman next time by offering to buy his garden stuff!
"But what I"m writing to you for, my dear, now, is this. I think you ought to come to see us, anyhow. You must come, if it"s only for two or three days, to see your old grandmother, and all your relations, and to meet Alden, who is here, as I said. I have sent Taters on horseback with a led horse and a side-saddle for you.
Come back along of him to-morrow morning. And give my honorable compliments to the old madam and Miss Cavendish. Because, mind you, I"m not a saying as the Cavendishers a"n"t a good, respectabil family; only I do say as they are not so good as the Lyttonses, and they never was and never will be; and they know it themselves, too. Well, your dear grandma, and your dear aunties and cousins, all sends their love to you, with many good wishes.
So no more at present from your aff.e.c.kshunit uncle,
"JOHN LYTTON."
CHAPTER IV.
THE GHOST SEEN BY "TATERS."
He shuddered, as no doubt the bravest cowers, When he can"t tell what "tis that doth appall.
How odd a single hobgoblin"s nonent.i.ty Should cause more fear than a whole host"s ident.i.ty.
--BYRON.
"Emma, dear, I have a letter from Uncle John Lytton," said Laura, gravely, going to the side of her friend.
"I hope they are all well at Lytton Lodge," responded Emma.
"Oh, yes, thank you, they are all quite well; but," added Laura, with a sigh, "Uncle John has written to me to come at once and pay them a visit. And to leave me no excuse, he has sent his servant Mithridates on horseback, with another led horse and side-saddle, to take me to Lytton Lodge."
"Oh, dear! But you need not go, I hope?" said Emma, looking up, with a sigh.
"I must go," answered Laura, with another sigh. "And really I ought to be glad to go to see such kind friends as all my relatives there have been to me. But, you see, Emma, I don"t like to leave you for a single day even before I have to return to school."
"Then why do you go at all? Why can you not send an excuse?"
"Dear Emma, would _you_ refuse to go if you were in my place?" inquired Laura.
Emma Cavendish could not reply.
"No, you would not," added Laura, "because it would not be right to refuse."
"But, my dear, to perform so long a journey on horseback! It must be over twenty miles. Let me see--it is about nine miles from here to Wendover, and it must be ten or eleven from Wendover to Lytton Lodge,"
said Emma.
"No; only about eight or nine. The whole distance is not more than seventeen or eighteen miles by the roundabout route. And if I could go as the crow flies it is not more than six miles. Why, you know the eastern extremity of your land touches the western extremity of uncle"s."
"So it does. And if, as you say, you could go as the crow flies--that is, straight over mountains and rivers--you could get there in two hours. As it is, it will take you five or six hours, and that is too long for a girl to be in the saddle, especially a city-bred girl, unaccustomed to such exercise."
"I think I can stand it," smiled Laura.
"But you shall not try. If you will go you must take the little carriage. When do you propose to start?"
"To-morrow morning."
"Well, we will send the redoubtable Mithridates back with his steeds, and send you on your journey in the little carriage, under the guardianship of old Jerome, with orders to remain with you during your visit; but to bring you back again, at farthest, on the third day," said Emma, peremptorily.
Laura thanked her friend, but protested against any trouble being taken on her account.