Volume I Part 19 (1/2)
”Can I do anything for you, in Philadelphia, Elinor?” he asked; ”I shall have to go to town, to-morrow, and may be detained a week or ten days.”
”Are you really going to town?--I did not know you were thinking of it. I wish I had known it this morning, for I am very much in want of worsteds for the chair-pattern Jane brought me; but, unfortunately, I left it at Aunt Wyllys's. Did you say you were going to-morrow?”
”Yes, I must be off in the morning.”
”Then I must give up my pattern, for the present.”
”Is there nothing else I can do for you?”
”Nothing, thank you--unless you bring some new books; which, we will leave to your taste, to choose.”
”Is not this rather a sudden move, Harry?” said Mr. Wyllys, who had just finished a game of chess with Miss Agnes. ”I haven't heard you mention it before?”
”I intended to put it off; sir; but, on thinking the matter over, I find I had better go at once.”
”I wish you would look about you a little, for lodgings for us; it is time we secured them. I suppose, you will want us to go to town early, this winter, Nelly, won't you? It will not do for Master Harry to be wasting half his time here, after he has once taken seriously to law; you know he will have two mistresses to wait upon, this winter.”
”It is to be hoped they will not interfere with each other,” said Miss Agnes, smiling.
”That is what they generally do, my dear. By-the-bye, Nelly, I suppose Louisa will have Jane in Philadelphia, with her, part of the winter.”
”Yes, sir, after Christmas; it is already settled, much to my joy.”
”So much the better!” said her grandfather.
”So much the worse!” thought Hazlehurst.
”Your Paris party will be all together again, Harry?” continued Mr. Wyllys.
”Yes, sir;” was Hazlehurst's laconic reply. 'I wish I could forget it,' thought he. So much had he been annoyed, throughout the day, that he soon after took up a candle, and, wis.h.i.+ng the family good-night, went to his own room.
”I am afraid Harry is not well,” said Miss Wyllys, after he had left them. ”He seems out of spirits.”
Elinor looked up from her work.
”Now you speak of it,” replied Mr. Wyllys, ”I think he does seem rather out of sorts.”
Nothing more was said on the subject; but some unpleasant thoughts suggested themselves to Miss Wyllys; for, during the last day or two, Hazlehurst's manner had repeatedly struck her as unnatural, and she feared that something weighed upon his mind.
As for Elinor, her nature was as far as possible from being suspicious; and, least of all, would she have mistrusted Harry; she merely reproached herself for having laughed once or twice, during the day, at his expense, when he had been very absent. She remembered he seemed a little annoyed, at the time, though he never used to mind such things--'I am afraid he thought it unkind, if he was not well,' she said to herself, and determined to make amends, the next morning, by presiding at his early breakfast, before he set out.
CHAPTER XIV.
”What loud uproar, bursts from that door?”
COLERIDGE.
{Samuel Taylor Coleridge (English poet, 1772-1834), ”Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (VII) line 592}
WE shall follow the example of the good people of Longbridge, its party-going inhabitants, at least, and discard, for the moment, all other topics, in order to give due justice to the expected ball at the Hubbards. It was understood that this house-warming was to be the most brilliant affair, of its kind, that had taken place, in the neighbourhood, within the memory of man. Mrs.
Hilson and Miss Emmeline Hubbard had staked their reputations, for elegance and fas.h.i.+on, upon the occasion. The list of invitations was larger than any yet issued at Longbridge, and all the preparations were on a proportionate scale of grandeur.