Part 34 (1/2)
”Not with Miss Leslie, I trust, Doctor,” said the Curate; ”we could not get on without Miss Leslie, to lead the singing.”
”Miss Leslie does as she likes, and if she prefers sham singing to honest reading, that's her concern, not mine. But I tell you plainly, sir, I am an old-fas.h.i.+oned man, and have no patience with all these changes. I have a great mind to see if I can't get made churchwarden, and try the effect of a little counter-irritation. Madge, my child, bring me a cup of tea.”
”I hope _you_ do not hold these opinions, Miss Leslie,” said the Curate, in an under tone to Maria Leslie; ”we could not afford to lose you from amongst us; you must not desert us.”
”Oh, no, I could not give up my Ashurst Sundays,” answers Maria, fidgeting amongst her cups and saucers; ”I have too many interests here, the schools, and the church--and the preaching--not that the Rector's sermons are always very lively; and then I like chanting and intoning.”
”And can you not convert the Doctor?”
”I think that would be impossible; Dr. Vavasour always held to his own opinions. Will you have some more tea?”
”No more, thank you. I should have thought, Miss Leslie, you might have converted any one; I cannot fancy any arguments you might use being other than irresistible.”
”Mr. Morris,” said Mrs. Vavasour, breaking in upon this little tete-a-tete, ”have you seen those curious spiders that my brother brought home from South America? You might fetch Uncle Horace's case, Madge, and show them to Mr. Morris; they are worth looking at, I a.s.sure you.”
An hour later this little party had dispersed. Mr. Morris had taken leave, Maria had gone to dress for dinner, Madge to her school-room; Dr. Vavasour and his wife were left alone.
”I had a letter from Horace this afternoon,” she said, taking it out of her pocket, and giving it to the Doctor to read.
”What do you say to our having Miss Linders here for a time? I have often thought of asking her, and this will be a good opportunity. Do you object?”
”Not in the least, my dear; she is some sort of a cousin of yours; is she not?”
”A remote one,” said Mrs. Vavasour, smiling. ”However, I am very willing to make her acquaintance, especially if the poor girl wants a change. I agree with Horace, that a too prolonged course of Aunt Barbara must be trying.”
”Why, I thought Mrs. Treherne was everything that was perfect and admirable; she has never troubled us much with her society, but I am sure I understood from you----”
”So she is,” said his wife, interrupting him; ”that is just it--Aunt Barbara is quite perfect, a kind of ideal gentlewoman in cultivation, and refinement, and piety, and everything else; but she is, without exception, the most alarming person I know.”
”Well, let Miss Linders come by all means,” repeated the Doctor. ”Isn't it nearly dinner-time? I am starving. I have been twenty miles round the country to-day, and when I come in I find that long-legged fellow Morris philandering away, and have to listen to his vacuous nonsense for an hour. Whatever brings him here so often? He ought to have something better to do with his time than to be idling it away over afternoon tea.
Is he looking after Madge?”
”Poor little Madge!” answered Mrs. Vavasour, laughing. ”No, I wish I could think Mr. Morris had nothing more serious on hand: but it is much more likely to be Maria.”
”Maria!” cried the doctor; ”is that what the man is up to? But surely he knows she is engaged to Horace.”
”Indeed I much doubt it,” Mrs. Vavasour answered; ”the engagement was to be a secret, and I am not aware that any one knows of it but ourselves, and Aunt Barbara--and Miss Linders probably--and if Maria will not enlighten Mr. Morris as to how matters stand, I do not see what any one else can do.”
”Then Molly is very much to blame; and I have a great mind to tell her so.”
”I think you had better let things take their own course,”
said Mrs. Vavasour. ”Maria is quite old enough to know what she is about, and Horace will be down here in a few days to look after his own interests.”
”Well, but--bless my soul!” cried the doctor, ”I can't make it out at all. Do you mean that Maria is allowing this fellow Morris's attention? I thought she and Graham were devoted to each other, and had been for the last five years?”
”I think they thought they were, five years ago, when Horace, fresh home from the Crimea, was all the heroes in the world in Molly's eyes; and he was just in the mood to fall in love with the first pretty bright girl he saw. But all that was over long ago, and in these five years they have grown utterly apart.”
”Then the sooner they grow together again the better,” said the Doctor.
”I don't believe it is possible,” answered his wife. ”I don't see how they can ever pull together; they have different tastes, different aims, different ideas on every conceivable subject. I am very fond of Molly; she is an excellent, good girl in her way, but it is not the way that will fit her to become Horace's wife. She will weary him, and he will--not neglect her, he would never be unkind to a woman--but he will not be the husband she deserves to have. For my part, I think it will be a thousand pities if a mistaken sense of honour makes them hold to their engagement.”
”That may be all very well for Horace,” said the Doctor; ”but what about Molly? When a girl has been looking forward to marrying and having a house of her own, it is not so pleasant for her to have all her prospects destroyed.”