Part 32 (1/2)
The carriage stopped at the grand entrance. Wis.h.i.+ng to spare his young wife all fatigue and embarra.s.sment, Lord Arleigh had not dispatched the news of his marriage home, so that no one at Beechgrove expected to see Lady Arleigh. He sent at once for the housekeeper, a tall, stately dame, who came into the dining-room looking in unutterable amazement at the beautiful, blus.h.i.+ng young face.
”Mrs. Chatterton,” he said, ”I wish to introduce you to my wife, Lady Arleigh.”
The stately dame curtesied almost to the ground.
”Welcome home, my Lady,” she said, deferentially. ”If I had known that your ladys.h.i.+p was expected I would have made more befitting preparations.”
”Nothing could be better--you have everything in admirable order,”
responded Lord Arleigh, kindly.
Then the housekeeper turned with a bow to her master.
”I did not know that you were married, my lord,” she said.
”No, Mrs. Chatterton; for reasons of my own, I hurried on my marriage.
No one shall lose by the hurry, though”--which she knew meant a promise of handsome bounty.
Presently the housekeeper went with Lady Arleigh to her room.
The grandeur and magnificence of the house almost startled her. She felt more like Lady Burleigh than ever, as she went up the broad marble staircase and saw the long corridors with the mult.i.tude of rooms.
”His lords.h.i.+p wrote to tell me to have all the rooms in the western wing ready,” said Mrs. Chatterton; ”but he did not tell why. They are splendid rooms, my lady--large, bright and cheerful. They look over the beautiful beeches in the park, from which the place takes its name. Of course you will have what is called Lady Arleigh's suite.”
As she spoke Mrs. Chatterton threw open the door, and Lady Arleigh saw the most magnificent rooms she had ever beheld in her life--a _boudoir_ all blue silk and white lace, a s.p.a.cious sleeping-chamber daintily hung with pink satin, a dressing-room that was a marvel of elegance, and a small library, all fitted with the greatest luxury.
”This is the finest suite of rooms in the house,” said the housekeeper; ”they are always kept for the use of the mistress of Beechgrove. Has your ladys.h.i.+p brought your maid?”
”No,” replied Lady Arleigh; ”the fact is I have not chosen one. The d.u.c.h.ess of Hazlewood promised to find one for me.”
The ill.u.s.trious name pleased the housekeeper. She had felt puzzled at the quiet marriage, and the sudden home-coming. If the new mistress of Beechgrove was an intimate friend of her Grace of Hazlewood's, as her words seemed to imply, then all must be well.
When Lady Arleigh had changed her traveling-dress, she went down-stairs.
Her young husband looked up in a rapture of delight.
”Oh, Madaline,” he said, ”how long have you been away from me? It seems like a hundred hours, yet I do not suppose it has been one. And how fair you look, my love! That cloudy white robe suits your golden hair and your sweet face, which has the same soft, sweet expression as when I saw you first; and those pretty shoulders of yours gleam like polished marble through the lace. No dress could be more coquettish or prettier.”
The wide hanging sleeves were fastened back from the shoulders with b.u.t.tons of pearl, leaving the white, rounded arms bare; a bracelet of pearls--Lady Peters' gift--was clasped round the graceful neck; the waves of golden hair, half loose, half carelessly fastened, were like a crown on the beautiful head.
”I am proud of my wife,” he said. ”I know that no fairer Lady Arleigh has ever been at Beechgrove. When we have dined, Madaline, I will take you to the picture-gallery, and introduce you to my ancestors and ancestresses.”
A _recherche_ little dinner had been hastily prepared, and was served in the grand dining-room. Madaline's eyes ached with the dazzle of silver plate, the ornaments and magnificence of the room.
”Shall I ever grow accustomed to all this?” she asked herself. ”Shall I ever learn to look upon it as my own? I am indeed bewildered.”
Yet her husband admired her perfect grace and self-possession. She might have been mistress of Beechgrove all her life for any evidence she gave to the contrary. His pride in her increased every moment; there was no one like her.
”I have never really known what 'home' meant before, Madaline,” he said.