Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

observed Sophronia, with a smile, suddenly

addressing her sister.

"No, no! you do not think a syllable you are saying to-day! You are only good-natured enough to startle our rusticity with a little rhodomontade."

Mrs. Greysdale attempted to check her sister -but Sophronia was in the vein to be candid.

"Do you remember, Annie," said she, "how, the day of our first strange meeting with Mr. Danby, we were surmising after he left us who or what he might be,- and I told you at once he was of the court, courtly?"—

A glance at my precious person conveyed a hint that this was no great stretch of perspicacity.

"You are mistaken!" said she, replying to my look, "it was not your dress,—it was not your manners. The young gentleman who comes from Bond Street to tune our piano, is quite as affable, and much more dressy."

"The people at the Royal Lodge, probably, afforded you some little insight into my condi

tion, as a pretext for your doing me the honour of admitting me to your acquaintance,” said I, with considerable bitterness, for I was stung home.

"No--it was your voice,-it was the hypocritical modulation of your voice that satisfied me you had moved in the best society," replied Miss Vavasour, with provoking coolness. "I saw that you were a most delicate monster;' that you had a voice for me, and another for Annie, a third for the pony,-a fourth for the lodge-keepers: - there was nothing natural about you!"

Except my undisguised admiration for my newly-made acquaintances," said I, in a tone of such genuine fervour, that Sophronia was forced to add-" Why, to own the truth, you did appear to like us; and that was encouragement enough for us to like you in return,—and upon trust."

"I trust I have redeemed my credit ?" continued I, in the same tone:-and these sort of

allusions, often renewed, brought us to the very verge of something more than the mere acquaintanceship to which it was desirable we should restrict ourselves.

Not that I was any longer in doubt as to the object of my preference. Mrs. Greysdale's gentle languor was, in the long run, far less attractive than the ready flow of Miss Vavasour's conversation. But I was not so blinded by her merits, as to be unaware that we should make an ill-assorted couple, with all the disparity between us of eighteen years' difference of age, to say nothing of those of birth and fortune.

In order, therefore, to keep the sisters blind to the impropriety of my frequent visits, under such circumstances, it behoved me to abstain from even those common overtures of courtesy, which sometimes startle a woman into remembering that there exists a hubbub which calls itself the world, wherein are tongues both forked and venemous. I assumed, therefore, with them a tone of seniority for which, though

entitled by my years, I did not feel myself by any means qualified by sentiment or appearance; for, like Anacreon, I fancied that my gray hairs added new brilliancy to the rosy garland of love; a sentiment which I forbear to give in the original, out of respect for the country gentlemen.

Sophronia was a charming musician. The best music of all countries was familiar to her. But sometimes, in her very holiday moods, her sister would persuade her into favouring us with certain exquisite ballads, of which she always said the airs were Creole melodies, and the words from Withers, or Herrick, or Fletcher, but for which I have since so vainly sought, that I am convinced both poetry and music were her own.

It was a rare indication of the Cecil Danby divining rod, to have discovered such a wellspring of delight as freshened that agreeable autumn!-I did not venture to ask myself whether I deserved it. In the presence of the

sisters, I thought only of them: devouring every look and every word of Sophronia, as if female words and looks were new to me as to Robinson Crusoe; and when absent, reconsidering them over again, in the hope of developing the nature of their peculiar charm.

But, alas! in so happy a position as I then occupied, one may keep one's secret, but one's secret will not keep itself. While I flattered myself, ostrich that I was! of being invisible because hiding my head, my visits to two mysterious ladies at Sunning Hill had become a standing jest at Windsor Castle; and as standing jests at the Castle very soon take wing, Mrs. Brettingham began to understand the motive of my strict attention to my official duties and the rarity of my visits to town. For when I did make my appearance, she received me with demonstrations of delight which ought to have sufficiently betrayed the hollow nature of her regard. Had she loved me, she must have exploded into tears or indignation, whereas she was fuller of blandishments than ever.

« ForrigeFortsett »