Part 34 (1/2)
Mrs. Westgate prolonged the att.i.tude of sisterly truth. ”I don't really care two straws for Mr. Beaumont.”
”You were certainly very nice to him.”
”I'm very nice to every one,” said Mrs. Westgate simply.
Nothing indeed could have been simpler save perhaps the way Bessie smiled back: ”To every one but me.”
Her sister continued to look at her. ”Are you in love with Lord Lambeth?”
Our young woman stared a moment, and the question was too unattended with any train even to make her shy. ”Not that I know of.”
”Because if you are,” Mrs. Westgate went on, ”I shall certainly not send for him.”
”That proves what I said,” Bessie gaily insisted-”that you're not really nice to me.”
”It would be a poor service, my dear child,” said her sister.
”In what sense? There's nothing _against_ Lord Lambeth that I know of.”
Mrs. Westgate seemed to cover much country in a few moments. ”You _are_ in love with him then?”
Bessie stared again, but this time blus.h.i.+ng a little. ”Ah, if you'll not be serious we won't mention him again.”
For some minutes accordingly Lord Lambeth was shrouded in silence, and it was Mrs. Westgate who, at the end of this period, removed the ban. ”Of course I shall let him know we're here. I think he'd be hurt-justly enough-if we should go away without seeing him. It's fair to give him a chance to come and thank me for the kindness we showed him. But I don't want to seem eager.”
”Neither do I,” said Bessie very simply.
”Though I confess,” her companion added, ”that I'm curious to see how he'll behave.”
”He behaved very well at Newport.”
”Newport isn't London. At Newport he could do as he liked; but here it's another affair. He has to have an eye to consequences.”
”If he had more freedom then at Newport,” argued Bessie, ”it's the more to his credit that he behaved well; and if he has to be so careful here it's possible he'll behave even better.”
”Better, better?” echoed her sister a little impatiently. ”My dear child, what do you mean by better and what's your point of view?”
Bessie wondered. ”What do _you_ mean by my point of view?”
”Don't you care for Lord Lambeth-a tiny speck?” Mrs. Westgate demanded.
This time Bessie Alden took it with still deeper reserve. She slowly got up from table, turning her face away. ”You'll oblige me by not talking so.”
Mrs. Westgate sat watching her for some moments as she moved slowly about the room and went and stood at the window. ”I'll write to him this afternoon,” she said at last.
”Do as you please!” Bessie answered; after which she turned round. ”I'm not afraid to say I like Lord Lambeth. I like him very much.”
Mrs. Westgate bethought herself. ”He's not clever.”
”Well, there have been clever people whom I've disliked,” the girl said; ”so I suppose I may like a stupid one. Besides, Lord Lambeth's no stupider than any one else.”