Part 16 (1/2)
”That Ashleigh Sumner is caught by Lilian's beauty.”
”And Lilian herself--”
”Women like Lady Delafield do not readily believe that any girl could refuse Ashleigh Sumner; considered in himself, he is steady and good-looking; considered as owner of Kirby Hall and Haughton Park, he has, in the eyes of any sensible mother, the virtues of Cato and the beauty of Antinous.”
I pressed my hand to my heart; close to my heart lay a letter from Lilian, and there was no word in that letter which showed that her heart was gone from mine. I shook my head gently, and smiled in confiding triumph.
Mrs. Poyntz surveyed me with a bent brow and a compressed lip.
”I understand your smile,” she said ironically. ”Very likely Lilian may be quite untouched by this young man's admiration, but Anne Ashleigh may be dazzled by so brilliant a prospect for her daughter; and, in short, I thought it desirable to let your engagement be publicly known throughout the town to-day. That information will travel; it will reach Ashleigh Sumner through Mr. Vigors, or others in this neighbourhood, with whom I know that he corresponds. It will bring affairs to a crisis, and before it may be too late. I think it well that Ashleigh Sumner should leave that house; if he leave it for good, so much the better. And, perhaps, the sooner Lilian returns to L---- the lighter your own heart will be.”
”And for these reasons you have published the secret of--”
”Your engagement? Yes. Prepare to be congratulated wherever you go. And now if you hear either from mother or daughter that Ashleigh Sumner has proposed, and been, let us say, refused, I do not doubt that, in the pride of your heart, you will come and tell me.”
”Rely upon it, I will; but before I take leave, allow me to ask why you described to a young man like Mr. Margrave--, whose wild and strange humours you have witnessed and not approved--any of those traits of character in Miss Ashleigh which distinguish her from other girls of her age?”
”I? You mistake. I said nothing to him of her character. I mentioned her name, and said she was beautiful, that was all.”
”Nay, you said that she was fond of musing, of solitude; that in her fancies she believed in the reality of visions which might flit before her eyes as they flit before the eyes of all imaginative dreamers.”
”Not a word did I say to Mr. Margrave of such peculiarities in Lilian; not a word more than what I have told you, on my honour!”
Still incredulous, but disguising my incredulity with that convenient smile by which we accomplish so much of the polite dissimulation indispensable to the decencies of civilized life, I took my departure, returned home, and wrote to Lilian.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The conversation with Mrs. Poyntz left my mind restless and disquieted.
I had no doubt, indeed, of Lilian's truth; but could I be sure that the attentions of a young man, with advantages of fortune so brilliant, would not force on her thoughts the contrast of the humbler lot and the duller walk of life in which she had accepted as companion a man removed from her romantic youth less by disparity of years than by gravity of pursuits? And would my suit now be as welcomed as it had been by a mother even so unworldly as Mrs. Ashleigh? Why, too, should both mother and daughter have left me so unprepared to hear that I had a rival; why not have implied some consoling a.s.surance that such rivalry need not cause me alarm? Lilian's letters, it is true, touched but little on any of the persons round her; they were filled with the outpourings of an ingenuous heart, coloured by the glow of a golden fancy. They were written as if in the wide world we two stood apart alone, consecrated from the crowd by the love that, in linking us together, had hallowed each to the other. Mrs. Ashleigh's letters were more general and diffusive,--detailed the habits of the household, sketched the guests, intimated her continued fear of Lady Haughton, but had said nothing more of Mr. Ashleigh Sumner than I had repeated to Mrs. Poyntz. However, in my letter to Lilian I related the intelligence that had reached me, and impatiently I awaited her reply.
Three days after the interview with Mrs. Poyntz, and two days before the long-antic.i.p.ated event of the mayor's ball, I was summoned to attend a n.o.bleman who had lately been added to my list of patients, and whose residence was about twelve miles from L----. The nearest way was through Sir Philip Derval's park. I went on horseback, and proposed to stop on the way to inquire after the steward, whom I had seen but once since his fit, and that was two days after it, when he called himself at my house to thank me for my attendance, and to declare that he was quite recovered.
As I rode somewhat fast through the park, I came, however, upon the steward, just in front of the house. I reined in my horse and accosted him. He looked very cheerful.
”Sir,” said he, in a whisper, ”I have heard from Sir Philip; his letter is dated since--since-my good woman told you what I saw,--well, since then. So that it must have been all a delusion of mine, as you told her.
And yet, well--well--we will not talk of it, doctor; but I hope you have kept the secret. Sir Philip would not like to hear of it, if he comes back.”
”Your secret is quite safe with me. But is Sir Philip likely to come back?”
”I hope so, doctor. His letter is dated Paris, and that's nearer home than he has been for many years; and--but bless me! some one is coming out of the house,--a young gentleman! Who can it be?”
I looked, and to my surprise I saw Margrave descending the stately stairs that led from the front door. The steward turned towards him, and I mechanically followed, for I was curious to know what had brought Margrave to the house of the long-absent traveller.
It was easily explained. Mr. Margrave had heard at L---- much of the pictures and internal decorations of the mansion. He had, by dint of coaxing (he said, with his enchanting laugh), persuaded the old housekeeper to show him the rooms.
”It is against Sir Philip's positive orders to show the house to any stranger, sir; and the housekeeper has done very wrong,” said the steward.