Part 13 (1/2)

Mrs. Soher welcomed her in a piping voice. She wore her everyday apparel, and that was not of the brightest.

”Come in, my dear; you see, my dear, I have not had time yet to change clothes, but I'll be ready in a few minutes.

”Sit down, my dear; why are you so late? I thought you would come sooner.”

Adele thought: ”What a state the house would have been in, if I had arrived an hour earlier.”

Mrs. Soher began to dust a secretaire, talking all the while to her niece. ”Amelia will soon be down; she ran upstairs when she heard you knock at the door; she does not like for anyone to see her when she is not properly dressed, but _I_ don't care, not when it is you, at any rate.”

”A pretty compliment,” thought the visitor.

When they were all a.s.sembled round the table partaking of their tea, Adele tried over and over again to lead the conversation into a pleasant channel, but all to no purpose. The inmates of the ”Prenoms” had to be taught to converse properly before they could do so. Mrs. Soher began to babble in her ordinary way. Her daughter supported her foolish statements. Adele made no remark. Her aunt noticed this, and after a most scornful remark about Mrs. B.'s character, she said to her niece: ”Don't you think so?”

Although considerably annoyed, Adele had not so far made any remark, but she was now directly appealed to. She spoke: ”I do not know,”

she said. She noticed the two women smiling and exchanging glances.

Said Mrs. Soher sarcastically: ”I thought you knew Mrs. B.”

”Yes,” answered her niece, ”I know her, but I am continually detecting faults in my temper which have to be overcome; and I find that I have quite enough to do to look after myself without bothering about others.”

If ever you saw two people looking six ways for Sunday, it was Mrs.

Soher and her daughter.

After a few moments of embarra.s.sing silence, Mr. Soher, who had not yet spoken a word, said something about young people being respectful to their superiors; while Tom laughed at the two women and smiled approvingly at his cousin.

Adele took her departure early and was not asked to remain longer.

When she was once more in the open, she felt a great weight lifted from her breast. She was now free, free to entertain herself with nature, away from the stagnant atmosphere of the ”Prenoms.” She walked along, her whole being revolting against the useless, ay, more than useless talk she had heard. But when she looked at the flowers that grew on the hedges which bordered the lane in which she was walking, her soul was filled with a sweet balm. Here was the ivy climbing upwards taking its support and some of its nourishment from the hedge which it was scaling, always gaining fresh ground. Such is the man who has risen in the world; he avails himself of his success for a n.o.bler, higher, and mightier effort. There some meek ferns were hiding in a shady nook, away from the sun's piercing rays.

The young girl felt a twofold joy: that of being alone with nature, and that of being away from her aunt's house.

At last, she reached ”Les Marches.” How happy she felt. Not the sort of home she hoped to have some day; but still, it was home. Her father was there, as dumb and as severe as usual, but, to her, he looked quite a nice old man now.

While she was thus engaged in rapturous joy, Mrs. Soher and her daughter were having a fine time of it. ”Ah! she _is_ a well-bred girl; to interrupt me like that, to answer and lecture me in that way,” said Adele's aunt, then she added: ”Fancy that little brat, to try and give me a lesson about my duty towards my neighbour. If she has enough to do to look after herself, let her do it; for my part I'll do as I like. It won't be a young girl who is not yet out of her teens who is going to teach me how to live.”

The daughter scornfully remarked: ”She has been to a boarding-school, you know.”

At which the two women laughed and Mr. Soher smiled, while Tom, profiting by the general interest displayed in the conversation, slipped out of the room and slouched to the nearest public-house.

After having most unduly run down their departed guest, the two women resolved never again to invite her.

And they never did.

Had Adele heard their decision, she would have felt even more cheerful than she now did.

CHAPTER IX.

DECEPTIONS.

On the anniversary of his mother's death, Frank Mathers resolved to visit her tomb. He had not been before; why, he could not explain.