Part 28 (1/2)
”He will have a dark and a disagreeable ride,” she said, coming back to the fire.
Her uneasiness was so palpable as to excite Mabel's compa.s.sion.
”Every step of the road is familiar to him, and he is accustomed to night rides,” she said, encouragingly. ”Yes,” absently. ”But he will be very wet. Hear the rain!”
It plashed against the north window, and tinkled upon the tin roof of the conservatory, and Mabel, though aware of her brother's habitual disregard of wind and weather, could not but sympathize with the wifely concern evinced by the sober physiognomy and unsettled demeanor of one generally so calm. She observed, now, that her sister-in-law was arrayed more richly than usual, and her attire was always handsome and tasteful.
A deep purple silk, trimmed upon skirt and waist with velvet bands of darker purple, showed off her clear skin to fine advantage, and was saved from monotony of effect by a headdress of lace and buff ribbons.
A stately and a comely matron, she was bedight for her lord's return; weighed as heavy each minute that detained him from her arms.
She was still standing by the low mantel, her arm resting lightly upon it, the fire-blaze bringing out l.u.s.trous reflections in her drapery and hair, and tinging her pensive check with youthful carmine, when her husband entered.
CHAPTER XIX. -- NEMESIS.
IT was a peculiarity of Winston Aylett that he was never discomposed in seeming, however embarra.s.sing or distressing might be his position. In his childhood he was one to whom, to use the common phrase, dirt would not stick. His face was clean and fair, his hands smooth, and his hair in order after rough and tumble experiences that sent his companions home begrimed, ragged, and unkempt frights. To-night, he had ridden a dozen miles in the teeth of the storm, and made no pause before appearing before his wife and sister, except to lay off his hat and overcoat in the hall. But had he expected to encounter a roomful of ladies, his costume could not have been more unexceptionable.
His linen was pure and fresh, even to the narrow line of wristband edging his coat sleeve; his clearly cut patrician features were tranquil in every line and tint; his step was the light, yet deliberate stride of an athlete without pa.s.sion or bravado. Conscious power, inexorable will, and thorough self-command were stamped upon him from crown to foot, and his salutation to the small family party accompanied a smile as mirthless and cold as were his eyes.
Mrs. Aylett advanced a step, not more, and returned the bow that comprehended all present, with a pleased, not rapturous welcome.
”We were beginning to fear lest you might be wet,” she said, emulating his polite equanimity. Genuine tact is always chameleon-like in quality.
”It rains quite fast, does it not?”
”The storm is increasing, but I experienced no inconvenience from it, thank you.”
He sat down in his favorite arm-chair, and spread his fingers before the fire.
”I am happy to see you so very much better”--to Herbert. ”There were many kind inquiries for you at the court-house to-day. Dr. Ritchie wanted to know if you had ever taken nux vomica for these neuralgic turns. I invited him to come in with me and prescribe for you, but he said he must push on home, so we parted at the outer gate.”
So affable as almost to put others at their ease in his company, he chatted until supper was announced; regretted civilly Herbert's inability to go to the table, and gave his sister his arm into the dining-room, Mrs. Aylett following in their wake. If he did not eat heartily, he praised, in gentlemanly moderation, the viands selected by his consort for his delectation after his wet ride, and pleaded a late dinner as the reason of his present abstinence. Then they adjourned to the apartment where they had left Mr. Dorrance, and the host produced his cigar-case.
”Mabel says that smoke never offends your olfactories, or affects your head unpleasantly, when you are suffering from this nervous affection,”
he said to Herbert.
”On the contrary, it often acts as a sedative,” was the reply.
Winston lighted a cigar with an allumette from a bronze taper-stand--a Christmas gift from his wife, which she kept supplied with fanciful spiles twisted and fringed into a variety of shapes; drew several long breaths to be certain that the fire had taken hold of the heart of the Havana, tossed the pretty paper into the embers, and resumed his seat in the chimney corner.
”A sedative is a good thing for people who allow their nerves to get out of gear,” he remarked, dryly and leisurely, puffing contentedly in the middle and at the end of the sentence. ”But he who does this subverts the order of the ruler and the ruled. I supposed I had nerves once, but it is an age since they have dared molest me. I know that I had my impulses when I was younger.”
He stopped to fillip the ash forming upon the ignited end of his cigar, performing the operation with nicety, using the extreme tip of his middle-finger nail over the salver attached for the purpose to the bronze smoking-set.
”I obeyed one, above a dozen years ago. I learned only to-day that it was rash and unwise, and to how much evil it may lead.”
”Not a very active evil, if you have just discovered it to be such.”
The speaker was his sister. Herbert was motionless upon his couch. Mrs.
Aylett, in the lounging-chair at the opposite side of the hearth from her husband, was cutting the leaves of a new magazine he had brought from the post-office, and did not seem to hear his remark.
”You reason upon the a.s.sumption that ignorance is bliss,” said Mr.