Part 47 (2/2)
A playful shake of the head was her only reply, and she quitted the room.
CHAPTER XLI -- HOW LAWLESS BECAME A LADY'S MAN
”Doublet and hose should show itself courageous to petticoats.
Therefore, courage!”
--_As You Like It_.
”From the crown of his head, to the sole of his foot, he is all mirth.
He hath a heart as sound as a bell, and his tongue is the clapper; For what his heart thinks, his tongue speaks.
”I hope he is in love.”
--_Much Ado about Nothing_.
”FRANK, I am not at all satisfied about your sister,” began Oaklands, as the door closed after her. ”She does not look well, and she seems entirely to have lost her spirits.”
”I thought as you do before I went up for my degree,” replied I; ”but since my return I hoped she was all right again. What makes you imagine her out of spirits?”
”Oh! several things; she never talks and laughs as she used to do. Why, all this afternoon I could scarcely get half a dozen words out of her; and she seems to have no energy to do anything. How unwilling she appeared to enter into my scheme about the riding! She evidently dislikes the idea of exertion of any kind: I know the feeling well; but it is not natural for her; she used to be surprisingly active, and was the life and soul of the party. But what, perhaps, has caused me to notice all this so particularly, and makes me exceedingly uncomfortable, is, that I am afraid it is all owing to me.”
”Owing to you, my dear Harry! what can you mean?” inquired I.
”Why, I fear that business of the duel, and the great care she and your mother took of me (for which--believing as I do that, under Providence, it saved my life--I can never be sufficiently grateful), have been too much for her. Remember, she was quite a girl; and no doubt seeing an old friend brought to the house apparently dying, must have been a very severe shock to her, and depend upon it, her nerves have never recovered their proper tone. However, I shall make it my business to endeavour to interest and amuse her, and you must do -323-- everything you can to a.s.sist me, Frank; we'll get all the new books down from London, and have some people to stay at the Hall. She has shut herself up too much; Ellis says she has; I shall make her ride on horseback every day.”
”Horseback, eh!” exclaimed Lawless, who had entered the cottage without our perceiving him. ”Ay, that's a prescription better than all your doctor's stuff; clap her on a side-saddle, and a brisk canter for a couple of hours every day across country will set the old lady up again in no time, if it's your mother that's out of condition, Frank. Why, Oaklands, man, you are looking as fresh as paint; getting sound again, wind and limb, eh?”
”I hope so, at last,” replied Harry, shaking Lawless warmly by the hand; ”but I've had a narrow escape of losing my life, I can a.s.sure you.”
”No; really I didn't know it had been as bad as that I By Jove, if he had killed you, I'd have shot that blackhearted villain, Wilford, myself, and chanced about his putting a bullet into me while I was doing it.”
”My dear Lawless, I thank you for your kind feeling towards me; but I cannot bear to hear you speak in that light way of duelling,” returned Oaklands gravely; ”if men did but know the misery they were entailing on all those who cared for them by their rash acts, independently of all higher considerations, duelling, and its twin brother, suicide, would be less frequent than they are. When I have seen the tears stealing down my father's grief-worn cheeks, and witnessed the anxious, painful expression in the faces of the kind friends who were nursing me, and have reflected that it was by yielding to my own ungoverned pa.s.sions that I had brought all this sorrow upon them, my remorse has often been far harder to bear than any pain my wound has caused me.”
At this moment, my mother and f.a.n.n.y making their appearance, I hastened to introduce Lawless, who, being greatly alarmed at the ceremony, grew very red in the face, shuffled my mother into a corner of the room, and upset a chair against her, stumbling over Harry's legs, and knocking down the chessboard in the excess of his penitence. Having, with my a.s.sistance, remedied these disasters, after stigmatising himself as an awkward dog, and comparing himself to a bull in a china-shop, he turned to f.a.n.n.y, exclaiming:--
”Delighted to have the pleasure of seeing you at last, Miss Fairlegh; it is several years since I first heard of -324-- you. Do you remember the writing-desk at old Mildman's, eh, Frank? no end of a shame of me to spoil it; I have often thought so since; but boys will be boys, eh, Mrs.
Fairlegh?”
My mother acquiesced in this obstinate adherence to their primary formation on the part of the junior members of the n.o.bler s.e.x with so much cordiality that Lawless was encouraged to proceed. ”Glad to find there's a chance of seeing you out with us some of these days, ma'am; shall we be able to persuade you to accompany us to-morrow?”
”Yes, I think it very likely that I may go,” returned my mother, who imagined he was referring to some proposed drive; ”in what direction will it be, pray?”
”Direction, eh? Why that of course depends very much on what line he may happen to take when he breaks cover,” returned Lawless. My mother, who had been previously advised of Lawless's sporting metaphors, concluding that the ”he” referred to Sir John Oaklands, calmly replied:--
”Yes, certainly, I was mentioning the ruins of Saworth Abbey to Sir John yesterday; do you know them?”
”I should think I did--rather,” exclaimed Lawless, forgetting his company manners in the interest of the subject. ”Why, I have seen more foxes run into in the fields round Saworth than in any other parish in the country. Whenever the meet is either at Grinder's End or Chorley Bottom, the fox is safe to head for Saworth. Oh! I see you're up to the whole thing, Mrs. Fairlegh; we shall have you showing all of us the way across country in fine style to-morrow. 1 expect there'll be some pretty stiff fencing though, if he should take the line you imagine, but I suppose you don't mind anything of that sort; with a steady, well-trained hunter (and a lady should never ride one that is not), there's very little danger--take care to keep out of the crowd when you're getting away; don't check your horse at his fences; have a little mercy on his bellows over the heavy ground; and with a light weight like yours you might lead the field. Why, Frank, you ought to be proud of Mrs. Fairlegh. I tell you what--the first time the hounds meet near Leatherly, I'll have my mother out, whether she likes it or not. I'll stand no nonsense about it, you may depend; she shall see a run for once in her life, at all events. Mrs. Fairlegh, ma'am,” he continued, rising and shaking her warmly by the hand, ”excuse my saying so, but you're a regular brick--you are indeed!”
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