Part 30 (2/2)
”Yes, and her aunt, Lady Maltravers; and they had other people with them. I liked the look of Miss Selby; she has a nice frank face. I think she looks charming, and she walks so well too. I do like a girl to hold herself well.”
”And Mr. Erle was walking with her?”
”Yes, they are evidently very intimate;” but Crystal forbore to add that Erle had looked decidedly uncomfortable at the sight of her, though he had come up to her, and had entered into conversation. She had not thought him looking either well or happy, though Miss Selby had seemed in high spirits. But she kept these thoughts to herself.
Fern did not ask any more questions. A miserable consciousness that was new to her experience kept her tongue tied.
Erle had not mentioned that he was going to the Botanical Gardens with Miss Selby; he had only muttered something about an engagement as he took his leave.
Crystal saw that Fern looked discomposed, but she took no notice. She thought the sooner that her eyes were open the better, for in her own mind she was convinced from what she had seen that afternoon that Erle Huntingdon was on the eve of an engagement to Miss Selby, if he were not actually engaged. They were quite alone when she had met them first. Lady Maltravers was sitting down at a little distance, and Miss Selby was blus.h.i.+ng and smiling and looking excessively happy, and Crystal had been rather indignant at the sight.
”Pray do not let me keep you from your friends,” she had said rather coldly when Erle came up to her. ”That was Miss Selby, was it not, the tall young lady in gray with whom you were walking? what a nice face she has;” and Erle had reluctantly owned that it was Miss Selby.
”Go back to her by all means,” Crystal had replied, with a touch of sarcasm in her voice; ”she is looking round and wondering whom you have picked up. Oh, yes, I like the look of her very much. I think you are to be congratulated, Mr. Huntingdon;” and then Erle had marched off rather sulkily.
”She looks absurdly happy, and I suppose she is in love with him; just see how she smiles at him. What fools we girls are,” and Crystal had turned away, feeling very sorry for Fern in her heart, but all the same she knew better than to say a word of sympathy to Fern.
”He has made himself very pleasant to her, but it can not have gone very deep. I do not believe Fern knows what love is,” she said, very bitterly to herself, and then she changed the subject.
”Oh, do you know, I had such a surprise,” she continued, cheerfully, as Fern averted her face and seemed much engrossed with a Savoyard and his monkey on the opposite side of the way. ”When I got to Upton House this morning I found Miss Campion had arrived unexpectedly, and of course she went with us.”
”Do you mean Mrs. Norton's sister?” asked Fern, with languid curiosity.
”Yes, Aunt Addie, as the children call her; she is staying at some private hotel, and she drove over to see them. I was so pleased to see her, for you know how kind she was to me at Hastings. I do believe that she has taken a decided fancy to me, and it does seem so strange.”
”It is not strange at all,” exclaimed Fern, rather roused by this; ”many people take a fancy to you, Crystal. I did directly mother brought you in that evening.”
”Oh you,”--smoothing the fair hair caressingly--”you are a darling, and you love every one, but Miss Campion--well, she is quite different. One would never expect a clever woman of the world who has friends and acquaintances in all quarters of the globe to be guilty of this sort of sentimentality; but all the same,” with a little laugh, ”she seemed to be delighted to see me, and of course the American scheme was revived.”
”Oh, Crystal,” with a very long face, ”I thought you had given up that idea.”
”Not at all; but I wanted to hear more about it, and I could not quite make up my mind.”
”You talk as though you were thinking seriously of it. Mrs. Norton would never consent to part with you.”
”Mrs. Norton would do exactly what her sister wished her to do, my dear. Aunt Addie's will rules Upton House. I begin to understand things better now. We used to wonder how Mrs. Norton could afford all those pretty gowns and bonnets, and why the curate's wife was so much better dressed than the vicar's wife, and how they could afford to go out of town and have all those nice things for the children, but of course it is all Aunt Addie's doing.”
”Miss Campion is rich then.”
”Yes; Mrs. Norton told me all about it when we were in the gardens.
She says some old uncle left her all his money. She does so much good with it; and she is especially kind to Mrs. Norton, who is her favorite sister. She has promised to send the boys to school when they are old enough, and she pays my salary, and, in fact, the whole household are much benefited by Aunt Addie. So Mrs. Norton told me rather sorrowfully that if I made up my mind to go to America with her sister they would not say a word to prevent it.”
”But you will not go, dear,” coaxingly.
”Miss Campion has friends in New York,” returned Crystal, evasively; ”but she does not mean to stay there long. She wants to see Niagara and Colorado, and I forget the route she has planned; but a companion she must have, and she offers such handsome terms, and after all she will not, be away more than five or six months, and as she says the change will do me good; the only thing is she will start early next week and, as I tell her, I have nothing ready, but she only laughed and said we should have plenty of time to market in New York; and that she loved shopping.”
”Crystal, I do believe that you have made up your mind to leave us.”
<script>