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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Red Rose and Tiger Lily, by L. T. Meade
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Red Rose and Tiger Lily
+       or, In a Wider World
+
+Author: L. T. Meade
+
+Release Date: October 13, 2007 [EBook #23022]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RED ROSE AND TIGER LILY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ RED ROSE AND
+ TIGER LILY
+
+ Or, In a Wider World
+
+
+ By
+ MRS. L. T. MEADE
+
+
+ AUTHOR OF
+
+ A BUNCH OF CHERRIES, A RING OF RUBIES,
+ BAD LITTLE HANNAH, ETC.
+
+
+    "Nothing is required but to set the right way to work,
+    but of course the really important thing is to succeed."
+                       --_Story of the Poor Tailor._
+
+
+ NEW YORK
+ GROSSET & DUNLAP
+ PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+ COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY
+
+ THE CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY
+
+ _All rights reserved_
+
+[Illustration: NAN AND ANNIE ARRIVE. _Red Rose and Tiger Lily._
+_Frontispiece_--(_Page_ 4.)]
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER                                            PAGE
+
+     I. NAN'S GOLDEN MANE                            1
+
+    II. CRUSHED                                      8
+
+   III. TWO PROVERBS                                16
+
+    IV. THE COLTS--ROBIN AND JOE                    23
+
+     V. NOT MISSED                                  32
+
+    VI. FRIAR'S WOOD                                42
+
+   VII. THE STORY BOOK LADY                         53
+
+  VIII. ALONE IN THE WOOD                           63
+
+    IX. "I BROKE MY WORD," SAID ANNIE                70
+
+     X. AN AWFULLY FRIVOLOUS GIRL                   79
+
+    XI. THE DIAMOND RING                            88
+
+   XII. THE LAND OF PERHAPS                         97
+
+  XIII. THE FANCY BALL                             113
+
+   XIV. POOR MRS. MYRTLE                           124
+
+    XV. "THE WAY OF TRANSGRESSORS"                 132
+
+   XVI. PERHAPS                                    143
+
+  XVII. FAIRY AND BROWNIE                          152
+
+ XVIII. THE LORRIMERS OF THE TOWERS                161
+
+   XIX. TOPSY-TURVEY                               171
+
+    XX. THE NEW OWNERS                             179
+
+   XXI. HESTER SPEAKS HER MIND                     194
+
+  XXII. ANTONIA'S GIFT                             207
+
+ XXIII. TRUTH AND FIDELITY                         215
+
+  XXIV. A WET SPONGE                               222
+
+   XXV. MOLLY'S SORROW                             234
+
+  XXVI. PLOT THICKENS                              245
+
+ XXVII. NELL IS IN TROUBLE                         252
+
+XXVIII. THE LION AND MOUSE                         262
+
+  XXIX. GOD BLESS ANTONIA                          274
+
+
+
+
+RED ROSE AND TIGER LILY
+
+OR
+
+IN A WIDER WORLD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+NAN'S GOLDEN MANE.
+
+
+It was a perfect summer's evening. The sun had just set, and purple,
+gold, violet, rose colour still filled the sky in the west. There was a
+tender new moon, looking like a silver bow, also to be seen; before long
+the evening star would be visible.
+
+Hester Thornton stepped out of the drawing-room at the Grange, and,
+walking a little way down the broad gravel sweep, began to listen
+intently. Hester was about seventeen--a slender girl for her age. Her
+eyes were dark, her eyebrows somewhat strongly marked, her abundant
+hair, of a much lighter shade of brown, was coiled in close folds round
+her well-shaped head. Her lips were slightly compressed, her chin showed
+determination. Hester had not been beautiful as a child, and she was not
+beautiful as a girl, but her face was pleasant to look at, very bright
+when animated, very steadfast and sweet when in repose. The air was like
+nectar to her cheeks. She was naturally a pale girl, but a faint rose
+colour was now discernible in her complexion, and the look of
+expectation in her dark eyes made them charming.
+
+A step was heard on the gravel behind, and she turned quickly.
+
+"Is that you, father?" she exclaimed.
+
+"Yes. Are not you very imprudent to come out at this hour in your thin
+house shoes, and with nothing on your head? There is a very heavy dew
+falling."
+
+"Oh, I never take cold," replied Hester with a smile, which showed her
+even and pretty white teeth; "and I certainly shan't to-night," she
+continued, "for I am feeling far too excited."
+
+Sir John Thornton was considered by most of his acquaintances (he could
+boast of scarcely any friends) as a reserved and almost repellent
+person, but now, as his eyes rested on his young daughter, something
+seemed to soften their expression; he took her slight hand and drew it
+affectionately through his arm.
+
+"It takes a small thing to excite you, my love," he said; "but you
+always were of a turbulent disposition--just your poor mother over
+again."
+
+Hester sighed faintly when Sir John spoke of his wife, then she quickly
+cheered up and said in an eager voice--
+
+"You don't call it a little thing, father, to know that in a minute or
+two I shall welcome Nan back from school? Nan comes to-night--Annie
+Forest to-morrow. It would be difficult for any girl to want more to
+make her perfectly happy."
+
+Sir John raised his brows.
+
+"I only know Miss Forest by hearsay," he said, "so I will reserve my
+judgment upon her; but I do know Nan. She will upset the entire _régime_
+of the house. I like order, and she likes disorder. I like quiet meals,
+she likes uproarious ones. I hate shocks and she adores them. I am glad,
+of course, to welcome the child home, but at the same time I dread her
+arrival. I cannot possibly understand how it is that Mrs. Willis, who is
+supposed to be such a splendid instructor of youth, should not have
+brought Nan a little better into control. Now, you, my dear Hetty, are
+very different. You have passions and feelings--no one has them more
+strongly--but you keep them in check. Your reticence and your reserve
+please me much. In short, Hester, no father could have a more admirable
+daughter to live with him. I am pleased with you, my dear; the
+experiment of having you home from school to look after my house has
+turned out well. There is nothing I would not do to please you, and
+while your friend Miss Forest is here, I will do my best to render her
+visit a success. The only discordant element will be Nan. I cannot
+understand why Mrs. Willis has not got Nan into the same control she had
+you in."
+
+"You forget," said Hester, "that I am seventeen and Nan only eight. No
+one ever yet could say 'No' to Nan. Father, don't you hear the carriage
+wheels? She is coming--I know she is coming. Please forgive me, I must
+run to meet her."
+
+Sir John released his daughter's hand, and Hester flew with the speed of
+an arrow from a bow up the long avenue. She was not mistaken. Her keen
+ears had detected the smooth roll of wheels. A landau drawn by a pair of
+horses had even now entered the lodge gates. Hester, looking up, heard
+some gay voices, some childish laughter. Then an imperious voice
+shouted to the coachman to pull up the horses and Nan Thornton and
+another girl sprang out of the carriage and ran to Hester's side.
+
+Confused utterances, sundry embraces, the quick intermingling of
+ejaculations, kisses, commands, explanatory remarks--all rose on the
+sweet night air.
+
+"Hetty, you look quite grown up. Please, Jenkins, you can drive on to
+the house. I'm not getting in again. Aren't you glad to see me, Het? I
+have come back a greater tease and torment than ever."
+
+"Yes, Nan, delighted--more than delighted. Oh! you sweet, how nice it is
+to feel you kissing me! Why, Annie, how did you happen to come to-night?
+I didn't expect you until to-morrow. I was wondering how I could endure
+the next twenty-four hours of expectation, even with Nan to keep me
+company, and now you are here. Oh, how very, very glad I am."
+
+"Kiss me, Hester," said Annie. "Nan and I concocted this little plan. We
+thought we'd take you by surprise. Oh dear, oh dear, I feel so wild and
+excited that I'm sure I shall be just as troublesome as I used to be
+before you tamed me down at school. Now then, Nan, you are not to have
+all the kisses. Hester, dear, how sweet and gracious and prim and
+lady-of-the-manorish you do look!"
+
+"I don't care what I look like, I only know what I feel," replied
+Hester: "about the happiest girl in England. But don't let us stand here
+talking any longer, or father will take it into his head that I am
+catching cold in the night air. Here, Nan, take my arm. Annie, my other
+side is at your disposal. Now, do let us come to the house."
+
+The girls began to move slowly down the long winding avenue. Nan had the
+pretty, soft dark eyes which used to characterise her as a little
+child. Her abundant fluffy golden hair hung below her waist. Her baby
+lips and sweet little face looked as charming as of old. She was a very
+pretty child, and promised to be a beautiful woman by-and-by. Her
+beauty, however, was nothing at all beside the radiant sort of
+loveliness which Annie Forest possessed. She was a creature all moods,
+all expression, all life, all movement. She had early given promise of
+remarkable beauty, and this had been more than fulfilled. Hester glanced
+at her now and again in the most loving admiration.
+
+"It is good to have you back, Nan," she said, "and it is delightful to
+know that you have come at last to pay your long, long promised visit,"
+she continued, looking at Annie. "Well, here we are at home. Nan, you
+must go up and show yourself to nurse this minute. Annie, let me take
+you to your room."
+
+"Dear old nursey," said Nan; she rushed up the stairs, shouting her old
+nurse's name as she went; her quick footsteps flew down the long
+corridor, she pushed open the baize door which separated the nurseries
+from the rest of the house, and in a moment found herself in the old
+room.
+
+Nan's nurse was a cherry-cheeked old woman of between sixty and seventy
+years of age.
+
+"Eh, my darling, and how did you get back without me hearing the sound
+of the carriage wheels!" she exclaimed. "Eh dear, eh dear, I meant to be
+down on the front steps to greet you, Miss Nan. Eh, but you look bonny,
+and let me examine your hair, dear--I hope they cut the points regular.
+If they don't, it will break away and not keep even."
+
+"Oh, don't bother about my hair now," said Nan. "What does hair signify
+when a child has just got home, and when she wants a kiss more than
+anything else in the world? Now, nursey, sit down in that low armchair
+and let us have a real hug. _That's_ better; and how are you? You look
+as jolly as ever."
+
+"So I am, my pet; I'm as happy as the day is long since Miss Hetty has
+come home and took the housekeeping over. I was in a mortal fret before,
+with her at school and you at school, but now I think the danger is
+past."
+
+"What danger?" asked Nan; "you always were a dear old croak, you know,
+nurse."
+
+"Yes, pet, perhaps so; but I didn't fret without reason, you may be
+quite sure of that."
+
+"Well, what were you afraid of? You know I'm an awfully curious girl, so
+you must tell me."
+
+"It's a sin to be too curious, Miss Nan--it leads people into untold
+mischief. Curiosity was the sin of Eve, and it's best to nip it in the
+bud while you're young. Now let me brush out your hair, my darling, and
+get you ready for supper."
+
+"Yes, in a minute," said Nan. She pushed back the shady hat in which she
+had traveled, and seated herself afresh on her nurse's knee.
+
+"How do my kisses feel?" she asked, breathing a very soft one on each of
+the old woman's cheeks.
+
+"Eh, dear," said the nurse, "they're like fresh cream and strawberries."
+
+"Well, you shall have six more if you tell me what your fears were."
+
+Nurse looked admiringly back at Nan.
+
+"You're just the audacious, contrary, troublesome bit of a thing you
+always were," she said; "but somehow I can't resist you. There's no
+fear now of anything happening, so you needn't be in a taking; but what
+did put me out was this: I thought your father, Sir John, might be
+bringing a new mistress here."
+
+"What! a new mistress?--A housekeeper, do you mean?" Nan's brown eyes
+were open at their widest.
+
+"No, dearie, no, a wife--someone to take the head of the house. Men like
+Sir John must have their comforts, and a house without a mistress isn't
+as it ought to be. But there, Miss Hetty is here now, and that makes
+everything right."
+
+"But a new mistress," repeated Nan--"a new wife for father. Why,
+she--she'd be a _stepmother_. Oh, how I'd hate her."
+
+"Well, darling, there's not going to be any such person; it was only an
+idle fear of your poor old nurse's that will never come to anything.
+Forget that I said it to you, Miss Nan. Oh, my word! and there's the
+gong, so supper is ready, and Sir John won't like to be kept waiting.
+Let me brush out your hair, I won't be a minute. Now, there's my pretty.
+It's good to have you back again, Miss Nancy. Only I misdoubt me that
+you'll turn the house topsy-turvey, as you always and ever did."
+
+While nurse was speaking, she was deftly and quickly changing Nan's
+travel-stained frock for a white one, and was tying a coral pink sash
+round her waist.
+
+"Now you're ready," she said, giving the little figure a final pat.
+
+Nan shook out her golden mane and went demurely downstairs--more
+demurely than was her wont. The dawning of possible trouble filled her
+sweet eyes. A new wife--a possible stepmother! Oh, no, by no
+possibility could such a horror be coming; nevertheless, her full cup of
+happiness was vaguely troubled by the thought.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+CRUSHED.
+
+
+Sir John Thornton could be a very pleasant host. He was a reserved man
+with a really cold nature. He disliked fuss and what he called
+"ebullitions of affection;" he hated kissing and fondling. He liked to
+treat even his nearest and dearest with ceremony, but he was a perfect
+host--the little attentions, the small politenesses which the _rôle_ of
+host requires, suited his character exactly. Hester and Nan, his only
+children, were his opposites in every respect. It is true that Hester
+inherited some of his pride, and a good deal of his reserve, but the
+fire underneath her calm, the passionate love which she could give so
+warmly to her chosen friends, she inherited from her mother, not from
+her father. Nan had never yet shown reserve to anyone. As far as any
+creature could be said to be without false pride, Nan was that
+individual--she was also absolutely devoid of fear. She believed that
+all the world loved her. Why not? She was perfectly willing to love all
+the world back again. If it chose to hate her, she could and would hate
+it in return with interest; but, then, why should it? The world was a
+good place to Nan Thornton up to the present.
+
+Now, Sir John dreaded his impulsive younger daughter more than words
+can say. Perhaps somewhere in his heart he had a certain fatherly
+admiration for her, but if so it did not show itself in the usual
+fatherly way. Annie Forest was at the present moment absorbing his
+attention.
+
+Annie was between sixteen and seventeen years of age; she was still, of
+course, quite a child in Sir John's eyes, but she was undoubtedly very
+pretty--she had winning ways and bright glances. Her little speeches
+were full of wit and repartee, and she was naturally so full of tact
+that she knew when a word would hurt, and therefore seldom said it.
+
+When Nan entered the room in which a hasty supper had been prepared for
+the hungry travellers, she found her father and Annie talking pleasantly
+to one another at one end of the table, while Hester presided over the
+tea equipage at the other.
+
+"Here you are, little whirlwind," said Sir John, slipping his arm round
+his younger daughter's waist and drawing her for a moment to his side.
+
+Nan looked at him soberly. She gazed into his eyes and examined the
+curves of his lips, and noted with satisfaction the wrinkles on his
+brow, the crows' feet at the corner of each eye, and some strong lines
+which betokened the advance of years in the lower part of his face.
+
+"You're too old," she said, in a contemplative voice. "I'm so
+glad--you're much too old."
+
+She stroked his deepest wrinkle affectionately as she spoke.
+
+Now Sir John hated being considered old, and an angry wave of colour
+mounted to his forehead.
+
+"As usual, you are a most impolite little girl," he said. "I do not
+trouble myself to inquire what your sage remark means, nor why you
+rejoice in the fact of my possessing the infirmities of years; but I
+wish to repeat to you a proverb which I hope you will bear in mind, at
+least, when in _my_ presence during the holidays, 'Little girls should
+be seen and not heard.' Now go to your seat."
+
+Sir John released his hold of Nan's broad waist and turned to Annie.
+
+"Yes, a good deal of the country is flat," he said, "but we have some
+pretty drives. Are you fond of riding?"
+
+"I should be if I had a chance," replied Annie; "but the fact is, I
+never was on horseback since I was five years old, so I cannot be said
+to know much about it."
+
+"I am sure you could quickly learn," said Sir John. "Hester has a very
+quiet pony which she can lend you while you are here. By the way,
+Hester, Squire Lorrimer called to-day. I said you would go to the Towers
+to-morrow morning--you can take Miss Forest with you. The Lorrimers are
+a very lively household, and it will amuse her to know them."
+
+"I should think they are lively," burst from Nan at the far end of the
+table. "How is Kitty Lorrimer, and how is Boris? And have they got as
+many pets as ever? Oh, _can_ you tell me, please, father, if the
+dormouse has awakened yet? It was fast asleep when I was home at
+Christmas, and Boris said it mightn't wake again until May. Boris was so
+sorry it wasn't quite dead, because he wanted to stuff it; but he
+couldn't if it was alive, could he? That would be cruel, wouldn't it?
+Father, can you tell me if the dormouse is awake?"
+
+Sir John fixed a cold eye upon Nan.
+
+"I am unacquainted with the state of the dormouse's health," he
+said--"disgusting little beasts," he added, turning for sympathy to
+Annie, whose bright dark eyes danced with fun as she watched him.
+
+"They're not disgusting; they're perfectly heavenly little darlings,"
+came from Nan in an indignant voice. "Oh, and what about the white rats?
+Boris had four in a box when I went last to the Towers, and Kitty had
+one all to herself, and Boris and Kitty were always fighting as to which
+were the most beautiful--the one rat or the four. Did you ever see a
+white rat, Annie? They _are_ pets, with long tails like worms."
+
+"Hester," exclaimed Sir John, "will you induce Nan to hold her tongue
+and eat her supper in peace?"
+
+Hester bent forward and whispered something to Nan, who shrugged her
+shoulders indignantly. Her face grew crimson.
+
+"I can't learn that proverb," she said, after a pause. "I can't obey it,
+its no use trying. Father, do you hear? I can't be one of those
+seen-and-not-heard girls. Do you hear me, father?"
+
+"I do, Nan. If we have finished supper, shall we go into the
+drawing-room?" he added, turning to Annie.
+
+Nan lingered behind. She slipped her hand through her sister's arm and
+dragged her on to the terrace.
+
+"I feel so wicked that I think I'll burst," she exclaimed. "Why is
+father always throwing a damp cloth over me?"
+
+"Nan, dear, you irritate him a good deal. Why do you talk in that silly
+way when you know he cannot bear it?"
+
+"Because I'm Nan," answered the child, pouting her lips.
+
+"But Nan can learn wisdom," said Hester, in her sweet elder-sisterly
+tone. "Even though you are the liveliest, merriest, dearest little girl
+in the world, and though it is delicious to have you back"--here there
+came an ecstatic hug--"you need not say things that you know will hurt.
+For instance, you are perfectly well aware that father does not like his
+age commented on."
+
+"Oh, _that_," said Nan, some of the trouble which nurse's words had
+caused coming back to her eyes. "Oh, but I really said what I _meant_,
+then--it was not mischief. I was so glad to see that he is old. I love
+those wrinkles of his--I adore them."
+
+"What can you mean, you queer little thing?"
+
+"Why, you see, Hetty, he won't be attractive, and there'll be no fear."
+
+"No fear of what?"
+
+"Nurse said that perhaps he'd be having a wife, and giving us a
+stepmother."
+
+"Oh, what nonsense!" said Hester, in a vexed tone. "What a silly thing
+for nurse to say. I am quite surprised at her. As far as I can tell our
+father has no intention of marrying again; but if he did?"
+
+"If he did," repeated Nancy, "nurse says that you wouldn't be mistress
+of the Grange any longer."
+
+A wistful sort of look, half of pain, half of suppressed longing, filled
+Hester's dark eyes for a moment.
+
+"I might go out into the world," she said, "and have my heart's desire."
+
+"But aren't you happy here?"
+
+"Yes, oh yes! I am talking nonsense. My duty lies here, at least at
+present. Mrs. Willis has taught me always to put duty first. Now, Nan,
+let us forget what is not likely to happen. It is nearly time for you to
+go to bed; you look quite tired; there are black rings under your eyes;
+but first, just tell me about Mrs. Willis and the dear old school."
+
+"Mrs. Willis is well," said Nan, with a yawn, "and the school is in
+_statu quo_. I am in the middle school now, and perhaps I shall get a
+drawing-room to myself before long. I'm not sure though, for I never can
+be tidy."
+
+"I wish you could be; it's a pity not to curb one's faults."
+
+"Oh, bother faults. I don't want you to lecture me, Hetty."
+
+"No, darling, I don't wish to; but I thought you were so fond of Mrs.
+Willis. I thought you would do anything to please her."
+
+"Yes, of course. I think I do please her. She gave me two prizes at the
+break up--one for French and one for music. She kissed me, too, quite
+half-a-dozen times. Look here, Hetty, I don't want you to ask Annie
+Forest a lot of questions about me. I can't help having a romping time
+now and then at school; and there are two new girls--Polly and Milly
+Jenkins; they are so killingly funny; nearly as good as Boris and Kitty
+Lorrimer. I always had a little bit of the wild element in me, and I
+suppose it must come out somehow. Annie was wild enough when she was my
+age, wasn't she, Hester?"
+
+"Annie will be gay and light-hearted to the end of the chapter!"
+exclaimed Hester.
+
+"But she was naughty when she was my age, wasn't she?"
+
+"She is not naughty now."
+
+"Well, no more will I be when I am sixteen. Now, good-night, Het. Am I
+to sleep in your room?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How scrumptious. Look out for a fine waking early in the morning."
+
+Nan hugged Hester in her usual rough-and-ready manner, and danced
+upstairs, singing as she went--
+
+    "_Old Daddy-long-legs wouldn't say his prayers,
+    Catch him by his left leg and throw him downstairs._"
+
+This was one of Nan's rhymes which Sir John detested. Her voice was loud
+and somewhat piercing. He heard it in the drawing-room, and went
+deliberately and shut the door.
+
+"Miss Forest," he said to his young guest, "there are moments when I
+feel extremely uneasy with regard to the fate of my youngest daughter."
+
+"About Nan's fate?" exclaimed Annie, raising her arched eyebrows; "why,
+she is quite the dearest little thing in the world. I wish you could see
+her at school; she is the pet of all the girls at Lavender House."
+
+"That may be," said Sir John, with a slightly sarcastic movement of his
+thin lips; "but it does not follow that school pets are home pets. If my
+good friend, Mrs. Willis, finds Nan's society so agreeable, I wish she
+would arrange to keep her for the holidays."
+
+Annie's young face, so round, so fresh, so charming, was fixed in grave
+surprise on her elderly host.
+
+"Don't you love Nan at all?" she asked, wonder in her tone.
+
+Sir John had been giving Miss Forest credit for great tact. Up to this
+moment, he had considered her a very pretty, agreeable little girl, who
+would be an acquisition in the house. Now he winced; she had trodden
+very severely on one of his corns.
+
+"I naturally have a regard for my child," he said, after a pause, "and I
+presume that I show it best by having her properly educated and
+disciplined in her youth."
+
+"Oh, no, I don't think you do," said Annie. "You must forgive me for
+saying frankly what I really think. I used to be like Nan when I was a
+little girl, and I'd never have changed--never--never, I'd never have
+become thoughtful for others, I'd always have been an unmitigated horror
+to all my friends if my father had treated me like that. He's not a bit
+like you, Sir John. I don't mean to compare him to you for a moment. He
+is quite a rough sort of man, and he has led a rough life; but, oh dear
+me, from the time he came back from Australia, and I knew that I had a
+living father, I cannot tell you what a difference there has been in my
+life. I have generally spent my holidays with him, and he has loved me
+so much that I have loved him back again, and have learnt to know
+exactly what will please him and make him happy. Nothing tamed me so
+much as the knowledge that I was necessary to my father's happiness. I
+am sure," added Annie in a low voice, and with a suspicion of tears in
+her eyes, "that it would be just the same with dear little Nan."
+
+She broke down suddenly, half afraid of her own temerity. There was
+silence for nearly half a minute then Sir John rose from his chair,
+and, going over to a lamp which was slightly smoking, turned it down.
+
+"If your father has been in Australia," he said, turning again and
+looking fixedly at his young visitor, "you will be interested in books
+on that country. I have got all Henry Kingsley's novels. You will find
+them in the library. Ask Hester to show you the book-case."
+
+He strode deliberately out of the room, and Annie had to own to herself
+that she felt crushed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+TWO PROVERBS.
+
+
+Hester Thornton and Annie Forest had been educated at the same
+school--the well-known Lavender House. The fame of this school, the
+noble character of its mistress, the excellent training which each girl
+who went there received, formed a recommendation for each young student
+in after life. Hester and Annie had gone through severe storms in these
+early days. Their friendship had been cemented under the influence of
+great trouble. It was exactly a year now since Hester had been suddenly
+sent for from her busy and happy school life to take care of her father
+through a dangerous illness. He found her company so sweet, her skill
+and tact in managing his house so great, that he resolved not to allow
+her to go back to school again. Annie Forest was now, therefore, the
+head girl at Lavender House. She was Mrs. Willis's right hand; her help
+and support in every way. Annie was as great a favourite as of old, and
+as love and kindness had developed all the best side of her character,
+she was no longer the tomboy of the school, nor the one who was
+invariably the ringleader when mischief was afloat. She was still
+impulsive, however--eager, impatient--for such a nature as hers must
+fight on to the end of the chapter. She did not possess Hester
+Thornton's steady principles, and would always be influenced, whether
+for good or evil, by her companions. She was only to spend one more term
+at school; the future, after that, was practically unknown to her.
+
+"I wish you'd tell me about Nan," said Hester, on the first evening of
+Annie's visit to the Grange. "I don't know why, but I feel a little
+anxious about her."
+
+"You need not be," replied Annie. "She is a dear, jolly little pet, and
+as open as the day."
+
+"She seems to get wilder and wilder," replied Hester. "You must have
+noticed, Annie, how she irritates my father."
+
+"Of course I did," replied Annie. "Do you know, Het, that I had the
+unbounded cheek to give him a piece of my mind this evening?"
+
+Annie was seated on the side of Hester's bed. She was in a blue
+dressing-gown, and her dark hair, in a mass of rebellious curls, was
+falling about her shoulders.
+
+"I forgot that Nan was in the room," she said, putting her finger to her
+lips and glancing in the direction of Nan's small bed. "The little
+monkey may be awake, and I don't want her to hear my nonsense."
+
+"She is sound asleep," replied Hester. "If she were awake, she would
+soon acquaint us with the fact."
+
+"Shall I tell you what I really said to your father?" continued Annie.
+
+"I don't know that I want to hear. I hope you did not shock him, for he
+is prepared to like you very much."
+
+"I am prepared to like him. I think he is a delightful host; but, oh,
+_how_ I should hate him for a father."
+
+"Annie!"
+
+Hester's delicate face flushed crimson, her eyes flashed an angry light.
+
+Annie jumped off the bed and ran to her friend's side.
+
+"Now you are angry with me," she said; "but if I told him the truth, I
+may surely tell you. I know you are as good as an angel, but I am quite
+certain that he ruffles you up the wrong way."
+
+"Don't, Annie," said Hester, in a voice of pain.
+
+She walked to the window as she spoke, drew up the blind, and looked
+out. The night was dark, but innumerable stars could be seen in the
+deep, unfathomable vault of the sky. Hester clenched one of her hands
+tightly together. Annie stood and watched her.
+
+"I would not hurt you for the world," she said. "I am sorry, very sorry;
+the fact is, I love you with all my heart, but I don't understand you."
+
+"Yes you do, too well," replied Hester; "but there are some things I
+cannot and will not talk about even to you. Now let me take you to your
+room, the hour is very late."
+
+Annie's pretty room was just on the other side of the passage. Hester
+took her to it, saw that she had every comfort, and wished her
+good-night. She then stood for a moment, with a look of irresolution on
+her face, in the corridor.
+
+"I don't believe nurse is in bed; I will go and speak to her," she said
+to herself. "I thought the day when I welcomed Nan back from school, and
+when Annie came to visit me, would be quite the happiest day of my life,
+but it would never do to make my father's home uncomfortable for him."
+She reached the baize door, opened it, and soon found herself in the old
+nursery. She was right, nurse was not yet in bed.
+
+"Well, now, my deary!" exclaimed the old woman, "and why are you losing
+your beauty sleep in this fashion? When I was young things used to be
+very different. Girls had to be in bed by ten o'clock sharp to keep away
+the wrinkles, but now they're all agog to burn the candle at both ends.
+It don't pay, Miss Hetty, my pet, it don't pay."
+
+"I'm all right, nursey," replied Hester. "I'm the quietest and most
+jog-trot girl in the world as a rule. Of course I'm excited to-night,
+because Nan has come back."
+
+"Bless her dear heart!" ejaculated nurse; "but I'm not to say satisfied
+about her hair, Miss Hetty. I don't believe it's pointed often enough. I
+found a lot of split ends when I was combing it out to-night."
+
+"Oh, I think Nan is all right in every way," replied Hester. "No one
+could be kinder to her than Mrs. Willis, and she is very happy at
+school. Nurse, I've just come here for a moment to ask you to be very
+careful what you say to Nan about my father. You see, the object of my
+life is to make him happy, and to be a good daughter to him, and, in
+short, to try to take my mother's place."
+
+"Eh, dear, we all know that," replied nurse, "and a sweeter young
+mistress there couldn't be. Why, there isn't a servant in the house who
+wouldn't do anything in the world for you, Miss Hetty; and everything in
+apple-pie order, and the meals served regular and beautiful, and inside
+and out perfect order, and all because there's an old head on young
+shoulders. There, perhaps it isn't a compliment I'm paying you, my
+dearie, but in one sense it is."
+
+"Do you really think I manage well?" asked the girl, an anxious tone in
+her voice.
+
+"Manage well? You manage beautiful. Your own mother, if she were alive,
+couldn't do better."
+
+"I can never forget my mother," replied Hester, tears rising to her
+eyes. "Well, nurse, you will be very careful what you say to Nan. The
+object of my life is to make my father happy. If I can do that, I am
+content."
+
+"You do, you do," replied the old woman. "No mortal can do more than
+their best, and you do that. Now, good-night, Miss Hester."
+
+Hester took up her candle and went away. Nurse stood and watched the
+pretty young figure as it disappeared down the corridor.
+
+"There," she said to herself as she began to prepare for her own bed.
+"There's another victim. Don't I know what my mistress was, and don't I
+know that Sir John's coldness and sharpness and no-heartedness just
+hurried her into her grave? Never a bit of real hearty love could he
+give to anyone. Just as just could be--righteous as righteous could be,
+but hard as a flint. My mistress drooped and faded and died, and Miss
+Hester will follow in her footsteps if I don't look after her.
+Sometimes I wish the master _would_ marry again, and that he'd get a
+tartar of a wife. He might think of another wife if things were a bit
+uncomfortable here, but that they never will be while Miss Hetty is at
+the helm. She's a born manager, bless her, with her gentle ways and her
+firm words and her pretty little dignity. Miss Nan's business in life,
+it seems to me, is to set places all in a muddle, and Miss Hetty's to
+smooth them out again. Of course it's due to Miss Hetty to be mistress
+of the Grange, but sometimes I fear the life is too much for her, and
+she'll fret and fade like her mother before her; if I really thought
+that, I'd set my wits to work, old as I am, to get a real _selfish wife_
+for the master, who'd teach him a thing or two, for that's what he
+wants."
+
+At this stage in her meditations, nurse laid her head on her pillow and
+was soon fast asleep.
+
+The next morning promised a perfect day, and Hester, Annie, and Nan met
+in high spirits in the breakfast-room. The post had not yet arrived, but
+a letter was lying on Hester's plate.
+
+"That's in dad's writing," said Nan, going up and examining it
+critically; "now what's up?"
+
+Hester took the letter and opened it. It contained a few brief words.
+She read them with a sinking of heart which she could not account for--
+
+     "MY DEAR HETTY,--Your young companions will make the house quite
+     gay for you. I shall, therefore, take the opportunity of going from
+     home for a few days. I will send you a line to let you know when
+     you may expect me back.--Your affectionate father, JOHN THORNTON.
+
+     "P.S.--I shall have left before you are down in the morning. Give
+     my love to Nan, and wish Miss Forest good-bye for me. By the way,
+     she is interested in Australia, so will you show her where Henry
+     Kingsley's novels are to be found in the library?"
+
+Nan, who had been peeping over Hester's shoulder while she was reading,
+now suddenly clapped her hands, shouted "hurrah" at the top of her
+voice, and, running up to Annie, began to waltz round and round the
+breakfast-table with her.
+
+"Oh, oh!" she exclaimed, "then little girls _may_ be heard as well as
+seen. Annie, there are two proverbs which are the bane of my life. I
+wonder dad has not had them both illuminated and framed and hung up in
+my nursery. One of them is: 'Little girls should be seen and not heard.'
+What a detestable old prig the person must have been who invented that
+proverb! I ask you, Annie, what would life be without little girls and
+their chatter? The other proverb is nearly as objectionable. This is it:
+'Make a page of your own age.' According to dad, that only applies to
+little girls, and it means that they must always be fagging round,
+hunting for slippers and spectacles and newspapers and books for the
+older people who are past the age for paging, and that no one is ever to
+wait on _them_, however tired or however disinclined to stir they may
+happen to be. Now there'll be no one to make me page, and no one to keep
+me silent. Oh, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! what a dear old dad to absent
+himself in this obliging manner."
+
+"For my part, I am very sorry," said Annie, for Hester had passed her on
+the letter to read.
+
+Hester said nothing, and breakfast began, Nan wasting as usual a
+prodigal amount of energy and spirits even over the operation of eating,
+Hester looking a little pale and a little thoughtful, Annie in a state
+of suppressed high spirits, which a slight awe which she still felt at
+times for Hester Thornton kept rather in check.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE COLTS--ROBIN AND JOE.
+
+
+The Towers was situated exactly two miles away from the Grange. It was a
+large, old house, with a castellated roof and a high tower at one end.
+It was a very old family place, and the Lorrimers had lived there from
+father to son for several hundreds of years. Like many ancient families,
+their wealth had diminished rather than increased with the times. The
+luxurious living, which has been in vogue more or less during the whole
+of the present century, had obliged them to part with some of their fair
+acres. The present owner had married for love, not for money. More lands
+had to be sold to meet the wants of a large and vigorous family, and, at
+the time when this story opens, the Lorrimers were, for their position,
+decidedly poor, not rich.
+
+Squire Lorrimer had one dread ever before his eyes. This was the fear of
+having to part with the dear old Towers itself. If this blow fell, he
+was certain that it would kill him. He trusted to be able to avert this
+calamity by putting down expenses in all possible ways. There were too
+few servants, therefore, for the size of the house, too few gardeners
+for the size of the gardens, too few horses for the size of the stables.
+
+Nevertheless, there was not in the whole length and breadth of the
+county of Warwickshire, a jollier, happier, more rollicking household
+than the Lorrimers. There were ten children, varying in age, from Molly,
+who would be sixteen on her next birthday, to little Phil, who had not
+yet attained the dignity of two years. There were six girls in the
+family and four boys. The two elder boys went to a good grammar school
+in the neighbourhood; the girls and Boris had a governess who taught
+them at home. Neither boys nor girls were educated quite up to the
+requirements of the times, but the father and mother were not going to
+worry themselves over this fact. Mr. Lorrimer had very strong views with
+regard to modern education. He had a hearty preference for big bodies
+instead of big brains. He was intensely old-fashioned as regards all
+modern views for the advancement of women, and said frankly that he
+would rather his sons emigrated than spent their lives as city clerks.
+He had a good deal of faith in things righting themselves naturally, and
+as his wife believed him to be the cleverest and wisest man in the
+universe, he was not tormented by any contrary opinions from her lips.
+
+"The children will do very well," he used to say. "If I can only keep
+the land together, and the old house for Guy to inherit after me, I
+shall die a happy man. The girls are all pretty, unless we except poor
+little Elinor, and she, in some ways, has the sweetest face of the
+bunch; they are sure to find husbands by-and-by, and the younger lads
+can fend for themselves in the colonies if necessary. You needn't fret
+about the children, mother," he would add.
+
+"I never fret about them," replied the soft-voiced, placid-looking
+mother, raising her dove-like blue eyes to her husband's face. "I think
+we are the happiest family in the world, and the children are the
+dearest creatures. With all their high spirits they are never really
+naughty. I have only one care," she added, looking at her husband
+affectionately and slipping her hand through his arm, "and that is when
+you talk of the possibility of selling the Towers."
+
+"Well, Lucy, that hasn't come yet," he answered.
+
+"What about that mortgage and the suretyship?"
+
+"Oh, pooh! They are right enough yet. I make it a rule never to think of
+evil days before they really come. We'll pull through--we'll pull
+through, no fear. By the way, my dear, I had a splendid offer yesterday
+for the colts Joe and Robin. I closed with it in double quick time, and
+the dealer who has bought them will send over to fetch them this
+morning."
+
+"Very well," said Mrs. Lorrimer. She went to the window of the room
+where the two were talking and stood there looking out.
+
+She gazed on a lovely scene, composed of woodland, river, and gently
+sloping meadows and lawns. Exactly opposite her eyes was a paddock, and
+in the paddock the two colts which had just been sold were contentedly
+grazing. As Mrs. Lorrimer stood and looked out, a girl was seen to enter
+the paddock and go swiftly up to the colts, calling their names as she
+did so. They both came to her immediately. She threw an arm round the
+neck of one, while she fed them in turn with carrots and apples which
+she had in her apron. She was a slightly-made girl, with dark hair and a
+sallow face. Her hair hung heavily about her shoulders. She might have
+been ten years old, but looked younger.
+
+"There's Nell," said the mother. "I am sorry the colts are going, she
+has always made such pets of them. I never saw her take to any
+creatures before as she has done to those two, and they'll follow her
+anywhere like lambs. I'm sorry you've got to sell them, Guy."
+
+"Sorry!" retorted the Squire, with a sort of snort. "Didn't I tell you,
+Lucy, that Simmons has given me a cheque for three hundred and fifty
+pounds for the two. Of course, the creatures are thoroughbred, and may
+turn out worth a great deal more; still, in these days no one gives a
+fair price for anything, and three-fifty is not to be sneezed at when
+your rents are always behindhand and your balance at the bank is
+overdrawn."
+
+The Squire left the room as he spoke, and Mrs. Lorrimer, with the
+faintest of little sighs, presently followed his example. Meanwhile, the
+girl in the paddock was having a thoroughly happy time. As soon as she
+had finished feeding her favourites, and they had done rubbing their
+noses against her face and shoulder, she looked eagerly round her, and
+saw with satisfaction that there was no one watching her from any of the
+many windows which blinked like eyes all over the old house. She now
+approached one of the colts cautiously, laid her hand on his neck, and
+with an adroit, quick movement sprang on his back. He was an untamed,
+unbroken-in creature. He would have submitted to no burden at all
+heavier or at all less dear than that of the slim child who had now
+mounted him.
+
+"Hey, Robin, dear," she said, bending forward, catching hold of a wisp
+of his mane and almost whispering into his ear, "you'll take me round
+the paddock three times, won't you, as swift as the wind, and then it
+will be Joe's turn? As swift as you can fly you shall go, my bonny,
+bonny Robin. And afterwards you shall have your russet apple; it's in my
+pocket."
+
+From the colt's attitude, he seemed perfectly to understand every word
+that was addressed to him. He pricked his ear; his eye glanced backward
+with loving intelligence. He pawed the ground impatiently--he would not
+be off until Nell gave the signal, but when it came there was no doubt
+that he would fly swiftly over the ground. Joe, the other colt, stood
+near expectantly. His turn was to come, he knew. For him, too, there
+would be the light weight of a loved little presence, followed by that
+delicious russet apple when the ride was over. Meanwhile, he would
+canter after Nelly and Robin, taking care not to go too near nor in any
+way to intrude himself mischievously.
+
+"Now," said Nell, sitting bolt upright, "now, Robin--one, two, three,
+away!"
+
+Away they went truly, mane and hair alike flying in the breeze--Nell's
+short skirts puffed out by the wind, Nell's cheeks with red flames on
+them, and Nell's dark grey eyes blazing like subdued fires.
+
+Once round the paddock they flew--twice they went--three times. The
+third round was the fastest and the most delirious of all. Nell was so
+sure of her seat, so confident in Robin's powers, that she no longer
+even clasped his arched neck. Up flew her hands in the air. The
+delirious excitement rendered her giddy.
+
+"Hurrah! hurrah!" she shouted.
+
+The gay words were interrupted by eager words from approaching
+spectators. The gate of the paddock was pushed open, and Kitty, aged
+nine, followed by Boris, who was only seven, rushed on the scene. The
+children were followed by a couple of grooms and a strange,
+horsey-looking man.
+
+"Oh, Nell, Nell!" exclaimed Kitty.
+
+"They're sold, Nell," said Boris, in a gloomy voice. "You'd better get
+down. That fellow there has come"--waving his hand with immense dignity
+in the direction of the horsey man--"that fellow has come to take them
+away; they're sold."
+
+"I don't believe it," said Nell.
+
+Robin, who obeyed her slightest word, stood stock still when she told
+him. She dropped off his back with the lightness of a bird.
+
+"Who says they're sold?" she asked. "I don't believe it."
+
+She pressed her hand to her heart as she spoke, a pang of keen pain had
+shot through it; she turned pale, and her eyes still blazed.
+
+"I don't believe it a bit," she said. "I'll go and find father and ask
+him if its true; I know it isn't true."
+
+"There's father coming into the field," said Boris. "Yes, it's true
+enough, but you can ask him."
+
+"Well, my man," said the Squire, who came upon the scene at this moment,
+"your master has sent you for the colts, I suppose? Here they are,
+as----Why, what's the matter, Nell? How white you are, child, and--not
+so tight, Nell, not so tight, you're half strangling me! What is it, my
+love--what is it?"
+
+"You haven't sold Robin and Joe, father?"
+
+"Oh, now, my little girl"--the Squire began to pat Nell's trembling
+hands soothingly. He looked hard into her quivering face, then, bending
+down, whispered something in her ear.
+
+No one else heard the words.
+
+Nell's frantic grasp relaxed; she let her hands fall to her sides and
+looked piteously round.
+
+Robin and Joe had both followed her across the paddock. Robin expected
+his russet apple--Joe looked for his canter with Nell on his back.
+
+"There's a brave little girl," said her father. "'Pon my word, I
+wouldn't do it if I could help it."
+
+"No, father dear; of course not."
+
+"You're a plucky young 'un," said her father admiringly. Boris and Kitty
+came close; the grooms and the horse-dealer also approached. There was a
+sort of ring round Nell and the colts.
+
+"Please, father, may I give Robin his apple?" she asked. "He has earned
+it. May he have it?"
+
+The Squire nodded.
+
+"Of course he may," he said; then he turned to the horse dealer.
+
+"My little girl is fond of these creatures," he said. "I hope you will
+have patience for a moment or two."
+
+The man touched his hat respectfully.
+
+"Certainly, sir," he answered, "as long as the young lady likes; there's
+no manner of hurry, and perhaps little miss would like to have another
+canter. I never see'd no one sit so bird-like on a horse--never, in the
+whole of my born days."
+
+"Do you hear that, Nell?" said her father. "Would you like another
+canter? I didn't know you could ride bare-backed."
+
+She smiled up at him, a perfectly brave smile; there were no tears in
+her eyes, although there were black shadows under them, and her face was
+as white as a little snowflake.
+
+Robin munched his apple, and Joe came close to Nell and rubbed his head
+against her shoulder.
+
+She fed him also, to his own great surprise, for he did not think that
+he had earned a morsel, and then, without a word, turned and walked out
+of the paddock.
+
+Boris ran after her.
+
+"I say, Nell!" he exclaimed, panting. "Would you like a white rat? I
+have four, and I--I'll give you one if you'll promise not to forget to
+feed it."
+
+Nell stood still when Boris made this offer, and looked down into his
+ruddy, brown, sunburnt face. Boris had bright eyes, as round as two
+moons. The giving up of one of his white rats meant a great deal to him.
+Nell carefully weighed the value of the offer.
+
+"No," she said at last in a deliberate tone. "I might forget to feed the
+rat, and I don't think I ever could love it; but thank you all the same,
+Boris."
+
+"Don't mention it," said Boris, in his most polite tone; he was
+immensely relieved by Nell's declining his offer.
+
+She walked slowly towards the house, and Boris turned to Kitty, who had
+followed him.
+
+"I offered her a rat," he said; "but she wouldn't have it. Do you think
+she will be very bad for a bit?"
+
+"Yes, I do," said Kitty. "She'll creep up into one of the lofts and
+burrow in the hay all by herself, and if she can have a right good cry
+perhaps she'll be better, but if she hasn't a cry, she'll fret awfully,
+and perhaps she'll turn sulky; but never mind about her now. I'm ever so
+glad she didn't take the rat. Let's run and feed them before we go to
+lessons."
+
+"I wish there were no lessons," said Boris. "I hate them. I can't think
+what use they are. What can it matter in a big world like this, crowded
+up with boys and girls and men and women, whether I can spell right or
+not? _I_ don't mind, and I don't see why anyone else should bother."
+
+"I like spelling," said Kitty, who had a very intelligent face. "If I
+were a man or an embryo man, which you are, Boris, I'd have ambition,
+and I'd try to get on. I'd like to walk over the heads of the other
+boys, if I were you, and to take their prizes from them, and to have
+father and mother looking on, and a lot of grand ladies and gentlemen
+all dressed in their best praising and cheering and bowing and smiling.
+But boys are no good in these days. It's girls who do everything. Now,
+do be quick and let's feed the rats."
+
+"You talk such nonsense," said Boris. "You don't suppose that ladies and
+gentlemen care whether boys and girls spell words right or not, and what
+rubbish you do say about best clothes and smiling and bowing."
+
+"I don't," said Kitty, crossly; "it's you who talk rubbish. You have
+never been to school, so you can't possibly tell. You ask Nan Thornton,
+and she'll soon tell you what's done at school. Oh dear, oh dear, I wish
+I were at Lavender House instead of doing my lessons with stupid Jane
+Macalister!"
+
+"You talk very dis'pectful," said Boris.
+
+"Do I? I don't care. Oh, I _am_ glad you didn't part with the white
+rat!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+NOT MISSED.
+
+
+Jane Macalister was the governess. She was old--at least the Lorrimers
+considered her old--she wore spectacles, and her hair was slightly
+tinged with grey. She had a queer mixture of qualities. She was
+affectionate and narrow; she was devoted to her pupils, and thought she
+could best show her devotion by an unceasing round of discipline.
+Fortunately, both for her and the little Lorrimers, this discipline
+never extended beyond the hours devoted to lessons. It never showed its
+stern visage in play hours, nor at meals, nor at night, nor on half
+holidays, nor on Sundays. During all these times, Jane was the
+intelligent and much belaboured companion. She was at everyone's beck
+and call. She was to be found here, there, and everywhere--darning the
+rent in Molly's frock, or helping Nora with her drawing, or trying to
+find a story-book for Nell which she had not already read at least six
+times, or healing the small squabbles with which Boris and Kitty helped
+to beguile the weary hours. Mrs. Lorrimer consulted her with regard to
+the cook and the servants generally. The Squire would shout to her to
+spare him a quarter of an hour in the study to see if he had totted up
+his accounts right. In short, Jane Macalister was as much part and
+parcel of the Lorrimer household as if she were really one of
+themselves. She was by no means educated up to the standard of the
+latter half of the nineteenth century, but what she did know, she knew
+thoroughly. She was methodical and helpful. The kind of person whom Mrs.
+Lorrimer was fond of quoting as invaluable. The children, one and all,
+loved her as a matter of course, but, in school hours, their love was
+certainly mingled with awe. In school hours, Jane allowed no relaxing of
+the iron rod.
+
+Kitty and Boris, having just heard the dismal sound of the schoolroom
+bell, started from their fascinating occupation of feeding the white
+rats and ran as fast as their small feet could carry them in the
+direction of the house. They went in by a side entrance, and with
+panting breath and hot little steps began to mount the spiral staircase
+which led to the schoolroom in the tower. They were late already, and
+they knew that they could not possibly escape bad marks for
+unpunctuality. They pushed open the green baize door which admitted them
+to the sanctum of learning and came in. All the other children whom Miss
+Macalister taught were already in the room. Kitty and Boris were the
+sole delinquents--the only ones in disgrace; even Elinor was present.
+Their faces fell when they saw her. They had built great hopes on having
+at least Elinor's company in their disgrace. The swift thought had
+darted through both their minds that she would be safe to be extra
+naughty that morning, and in consequence would divert some of the storm
+of Jane Macalister's wrath from their devoted heads; but no, there she
+sat in her accustomed place, her hymn book open on her knee, marks of
+tears on her cheeks, it is true, but in all other respects she looked a
+provokingly model Elinor.
+
+It was too bad; Kitty made a face at her across the schoolroom, and
+even Boris gave her a reproachful glance.
+
+Jane Macalister fixed two awful spectacled eyes upon the culprits, and,
+scarlet blushes tingling in their cheeks, they took possession of their
+vacant chairs.
+
+The children all sang their usual hymn, although Elinor's voice was a
+little husky and Boris held his book upside down.
+
+    "_All things bright and beautiful,
+      All creatures great and small,
+    All things wise and wonderful,
+      The Lord God made them all._"
+
+"I wonder if He really made that dreadful horsey man," thought Nell, as
+she looked out of the window.
+
+Boris smothered a sigh as he reflected again over the problem which had
+often before puzzled his small head--Why God, when he made everything so
+beautiful, had forgotten to give Jane Macalister a beautiful temper in
+school hours?
+
+The singing was followed by the Bible reading, and then lessons began.
+Molly and Nora acquitted themselves admirably, as was their wont--Nell's
+dark grey eyes grew full of interest as she read the fascinating story
+of the "Field of the Cloth of Gold" in her history book--Kitty worked at
+her sums with fierce persistence and tried to fancy herself at
+boarding-school, going up rapidly to the top of her class, while Boris
+made more mistakes than ever over his dictation, and inked his fingers
+unmercifully.
+
+"What was the use of fussing over such a stupid, useless thing as
+spelling?" This was his thought of thoughts.
+
+The day was a warm one. Jane Macalister was icily cold, however, as
+unapproachable as an iceberg. Boris watched her with anxiety. He knew
+well that there was no chance for him and Kitty; they would both be
+punished for being late for prayers.
+
+Oh, dear, oh, dear; _why_ was Jane so unbeautiful, so unapproachable in
+school hours?
+
+"I know she'll keep Kitty and me in during the whole of the play hour,"
+he muttered to himself. "I'm certain of it, because the tip of her nose
+is getting red; that's a sign that she's worried, and when she's worried
+she's twice as bad as she is at any other time."
+
+"What noise is that? Oh!--I say--Miss Macalister----"
+
+Jane Macalister was always spoken to in this correct fashion during
+school hours.
+
+"I say, there's a visitor!" burst from the eager lips of the little boy.
+
+He started to his feet as he spoke, upsetting the ink-pot over his own
+copybook and also over Kitty's white-frilled pinafore.
+
+"Boris, you are incorrigible!" exclaimed Jane. "You lose all your
+conduct marks for the week, and must stay indoors for an hour and learn
+a piece of poetry after lessons."
+
+Boris got very red and tried to smile. The blow had fallen, so he wasn't
+going to whimper over it. He would stand up to his punishment like a
+man. He meant to be a soldier some day, and felt exactly now as if he
+were facing the guns. He met Elinor's full, troubled grey eyes, and
+seated himself slowly once more in his chair.
+
+The steps had come nearer, the schoolroom door was burst open, and Nan
+Thornton rushed in.
+
+"Here I am," she said. "I have come to torment you, Miss Macalister, and
+to beg off lessons at once. How do you do, children? How are you, Kitty?
+How are you, Boris? How do you do, Nell? Molly and Nora, I'll kiss you
+when I can get breath. Oh, what a climb those stairs are! Why do you
+have lessons in the tower? All the same, it's lovely when you _are_
+here. What a view! What a darling, darling, heavenly, scrumptious,
+_ripping_ view. Oh, dear! oh, dear! I am out of breath. Jane, aren't you
+glad to see me? Aren't you glad to know that all the children are to
+have a holiday immediately? Shut up your books, young 'uns, and let's be
+off. You don't mind, do you, Jane?"
+
+Certainly Jane Macalister did mind. The icy expression grew more marked
+on her face. Boris gave her a glance, felt that he was very close to the
+guns, and lowered his eyes. Nan began dancing about the room. Nan was in
+white--white hat, white frock. Her fluffy golden hair surrounded her
+like a cloud. Boris felt that she was something like a very naughty and
+very beautiful angel. Why was she tempting them all when Jane Macalister
+was like ice?
+
+"I think, Nan," said Miss Macalister--"(how do you do, my dear? Of
+course I'm glad to see you)--I think I must ask you to leave the
+schoolroom for the present. Recess will be at half-past eleven, and then
+you can talk to all the children except Boris, who I grieve to say will
+have to undergo punishment. As to holidays, the summer holidays will
+begin in a fortnight, until then I cannot permit any such indulgence. Go
+away, Nan, for the present. Molly, I can attend to your German now.
+Bring your exercise book with the grammar and history."
+
+Nan was not accustomed to being vanquished, but she was very near defeat
+then. The next moment she would have found herself ignominiously outside
+the baize door if other steps had not approached, and Hester, looking
+cool and sweet, Annie, all radiant and laughing, and Mrs. Lorrimer, with
+her usual gentle motherly expression, had not appeared on the scene.
+
+"Jane," said the mother, smiling round with her blue eyes at each of the
+children, "Hester wants us to get up a hasty picnic to Friar's Wood. The
+day is perfect, and this is the first of Nan's holidays, so I hope you
+will not object, particularly if the children promise to work extra well
+to-morrow."
+
+Jane began to close up all the books hastily. Nan's petition was not to
+be listened to for a moment. Mrs. Lorrimer's was law, and must be
+cheerfully obeyed.
+
+"Certainly," she said, in a pleasant tone, dropping her frozen manner as
+if by magic. "It is a _perfect_ day for a picnic. Leave the schoolroom
+tidy, my loves, and then go and get ready. You'd like me to see the
+cook, wouldn't you, Mrs. Lorrimer? I can help her to cut sandwiches and
+to pack plates and dishes."
+
+"Jane, you're an angel," said Mrs. Lorrimer.
+
+Jane Macalister kissed Hester, was introduced to Annie, and then rushed
+down the spiral stairs, intent on housekeeping cares.
+
+The Lorrimer boys and girls surrounded Hester and Annie. Nan flitted in
+and out of the group, and was here, there, and everywhere. All was
+excitement and laughter. Presently the children left the schoolroom in a
+body.
+
+No, there was one exception. Boris stayed behind. He looked wistfully
+after the others as they streamed away. Miss Macalister had not said a
+word about remitting his punishment, and he must be true to his colours.
+He found it very difficult to keep back his tears, but he would indeed
+think badly of himself if even one bright drop fell from his round blue
+eyes.
+
+It would have comforted him if Kitty had noticed him. Kitty might have
+stayed if only to bestow a kiss of sympathy on him, but she was whirled
+on with the others. No one gave him a thought. He was only Boris, one of
+the younger children. He was alone in the schoolroom.
+
+He looked at the clock; it pointed to half past eleven; he would not be
+free until half past twelve. Picnics at the Towers were hastily
+improvised affairs. Long before his hour of punishment was over the
+others would all be off and away. It was scarcely likely that any of
+them would even miss him. Kitty would be in such a frantic state of
+excitement at having Nan Thornton to talk to, that she would not have
+room in her heart to bestow a thought on him. He could not walk all the
+way to Friar's Wood, the day was too hot. How delicious it would be
+there in the shade. How interesting to watch the squirrels in the trees,
+and the rabbits as they darted in and out of their holes. Well, well,
+there was no use fretting. His heart felt sore, of course, but he
+wouldn't be half a boy in his own opinion if he didn't take his
+punishment without a murmur.
+
+He drew his chair up to the table, pushed his ink-stained fingers
+through his curly brown locks, and looked around him.
+
+Miss Macalister had forgotten to set him any task, but he supposed he
+could set himself something.
+
+He was just wondering what would be the least irksome form of punishment
+he could devise, when a small head was pushed in at the door, and a
+voice, in accents of extreme surprise, shouted his name.
+
+"Why, Boris, what are you doing? They'll be off if you don't look
+sharp."
+
+"I'm not going, Nell," said Boris; "but please don't fuss over it, it's
+nothing."
+
+"_Nothing!_" said Nell, coming into the room and seating herself by the
+side of her little brother. "Don't you love picnics?"
+
+"I _adore_ them," said Boris.
+
+He shut up his lips as he spoke and winked his eyes.
+
+"Don't make a fuss," he said again after a pause. "Do you think I might
+learn a bit of the 'Ancient Mariner' for my punishment task? I like that
+old chap, he's so grisly."
+
+"It's a splendid poem," said Nell with enthusiasm, "particularly that
+part about--
+
+    _'Water, water everywhere,
+    And not a drop to drink.'_
+
+Can't you picture it all, Boris? The sea like a great pond, and the
+thirsty old mariner looking at it, and longing, and longing, and longing
+to drink it, and the dead people lying round. Sometimes at night I think
+of it, and then afterwards I have a good, big, startling dream. A dream
+that's not _too_ frightful is almost as good as a story-book. Don't you
+think so?"
+
+"No, I don't," said Boris. "I hate dreams. Perhaps I'd better learn the
+first six verses of the 'Ancient Mariner,' and perhaps I'd better begin
+at once. Jane Macalister is very stern, isn't she, Nell?"
+
+"Awful in lesson times," said Nell.
+
+"Well, the only way I can bear it," said Boris, "is this--I think of her
+as the general of an army. I don't mind obeying her when I think of her
+in that way. Soldiers have to promise obedience before anything else,
+and I'm going to be a soldier some day. I'd better not talk now, Nell,
+for I must get the first six verses of the 'Ancient' into me in an hour,
+and I can't if you keep chattering. The general was rather sharp with me
+this morning, I must say, for all my conduct marks are gone, too, and I
+won't get sixpence on Saturday, and I'll have nothing to subscribe to
+mother's birthday present; still, of course, 'tis 'diculous to fuss.
+You'd best go, Nell. Why aren't you ready for the picnic?"
+
+"I'm not going," said Nell. "I have a headache, and a drive in the sun
+would make it worse. Besides, Nan Thornton does chatter so awfully."
+
+"Chatter," repeated Boris; "you don't mean to say you mind her
+chattering?"
+
+"Yes, I do, when I have a headache."
+
+"Well, I think she's sweet," said Boris.
+
+"You had better learn your 'Mariner,' Boris, and I'll sit in the window
+and look out."
+
+The schoolroom was so high up in the tower that people who sat in one of
+its windows had really only a bird's-eye view of what went on below.
+
+Boris, in his rather tumbled sailor suit, sat with his back to Nell. He
+kicked the rungs of the chair very often with his sturdy legs. His inky
+fingers took fond clutches of his curls, his lips murmured the rhyme of
+the "Ancient Mariner" in a monotonous sing-song. Nell pushed open the
+lattice window and looked out. There was a waggonette drawn by a rather
+bony old horse standing by the side entrance; behind the waggonette was
+a pony-cart, a good deal the worse for wear. The pony, whose name was
+Shag, stood very still and flicked his long tail backwards and forwards
+to keep the flies away. Nell saw Miss Macalister and two of the servants
+come out with those flat delicious picnic baskets which she knew so
+well, and which had so often made her lips water in fond anticipation;
+they were placed with solemnity in the waggonette. Then Molly and Nora,
+in their white sun-bonnets, took their places, and Hester and Annie sat
+opposite to them, and Mrs. Lorrimer took the seat of honour, and two or
+three of the smaller children were packed in heterogeneously, while Nan
+and Kitty and Miss Macalister bundled themselves into the pony-cart.
+
+Nell's heart beat high as she watched. Was no one going to think of her
+and Boris? Was no one going to miss them?
+
+Apparently no one was.
+
+The gay cavalcade got under weigh and disappeared from view down the
+long and lovely beech avenue.
+
+Nell did not wish to go to the picnic, not to-day with her heart so
+sore, but it made that heart feel all the sorer not to be missed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+FRIAR'S WOOD.
+
+
+As a matter of fact, the picnic party imagined that Boris and Nell
+intended to follow on later in the donkey-cart. The Lorrimer picnics
+were well known in the neighbourhood. They always passed through the
+village in the following order--first the waggonette, drawn by the bony
+horse and packed to overflowing with baskets and young people, who waved
+their arms and shouted in high glee as they went by; then the pony-trap,
+driven sometimes by Jane Macalister, sometimes, when Jane was in a very
+good humour, by Kitty or even Boris; and last, at an interval of about
+half an hour, the donkey-cart. The donkey-cart as a rule contained
+kettles and pots, for the Lorrimers would consider a picnic only half a
+picnic if they did not boil their own potatoes out of doors and make
+their own tea in the woods. Consequently, the coarser utensils which
+were required for the feast were usually reserved for the donkey-cart.
+The donkey, as a rule, was driven, or rather led, by Guy, the tall
+schoolboy, aged thirteen, who would be owner of the Towers, if it were
+not sold over his head, some day. Harry, the brother next in age, would
+also accompany the donkey-cart, and sometimes one or two of the younger
+children would prefer this rough mode of travelling to the more refined
+waggonette or the fleeter pony-carriage. The donkey-cart had of course
+to be late, as Guy and Harry would not be home from school until quite
+an hour after the rest of the party had started.
+
+"Where is Boris?" asked Hester, addressing herself to Molly when they
+had driven about half of the distance.
+
+Molly had tranquil blue eyes, like her mother.
+
+"Isn't he in the pony-carriage?" she asked.
+
+"Who is Boris?" interrupted Annie Forest. "Is he the pretty little
+round-faced boy in the sailor suit?"
+
+"Yes," said Nora, joining in the conversation.
+
+"Then he's not in the pony-trap," replied Annie. "I don't think he left
+the schoolroom."
+
+"Cute little beggar," laughed Nora. "He wants to come in the
+donkey-cart."
+
+Annie raised her brows in inquiry; the mystery of the donkey-cart was
+explained to her, and no further questions were asked with regard to
+Boris.
+
+Elinor had not yet been missed.
+
+Friar's Wood was a perfect place for a picnic, and in due course of time
+the happy cavalcade arrived there. The younger children and Miss
+Macalister began to make preparations for the first meal. The Lorrimers
+always had two hearty ones whenever they went on a picnic. Kitty, Nora,
+and Annie Forest went off to explore the Fairies' Glen, a lovely spot
+about a quarter of a mile away. Mrs. Lorrimer took out her knitting and
+sat with her back against a great beech tree, and Molly and Hester found
+themselves thrown together.
+
+"That's right," exclaimed Molly. "I wanted to have a talk with you,
+Hetty. Will you come to the top of the knoll with me? We can sit there
+and cool ourselves. There is not the faintest chance of dinner being
+ready for quite an hour."
+
+The girls set off at once. Molly was not yet sixteen, Hester was past
+seventeen, nevertheless they had been intimate friends for a long time.
+
+"Why have you got that little frown between your brows, Molly?" asked
+Hester.
+
+It smoothed out the moment Hester spoke.
+
+"I surely ought not to have a frown to-day," retorted Molly. "The
+weather is glorious, we are all in perfect health, we are out for a
+picnic, you are here, you have brought your friend, Annie, about whom we
+have always heard so much, and Nan is home from school. Yes, I certainly
+ought not to frown; but let me retort on you, Hester. Why have you those
+grave lines round your lips?"
+
+"Because I'm a goose," answered Hester. "Sit down here, Molly. You have
+not got me up to the top of this knoll just to make me recount my
+grievances. Out with yours; you know you have one at least."
+
+"Well, yes, I have one," said Molly. "A horrid little cankering jade--a
+sort of black imp. I thought I had tucked him up snug in bed until the
+evening, and there, you have loosened the sheets, and he has sprung up
+again to confront me."
+
+Molly's honest face was undoubtedly troubled now, and there was a
+suspicion of tears in the blue eyes, which were nearly as frank and
+round as Boris's.
+
+"I suppose I must confess," she said: "it's only that the colts, Joe and
+Robin, have been sold."
+
+"I don't think I know them," said Hester.
+
+"Well, you must imagine them. They are not broken-in yet. They were born
+at the Towers, and we used to feed them when they were foals. Then one
+day Robin got rather wild, and kicked Boris severely, and father said
+we were to leave them alone; but Nell somehow managed to evade the
+order; she never could be got to fear any four-footed creature. She
+spent almost all her leisure time with the colts, and I believe she used
+to ride them bare-backed. Well, they were sold this morning, and Nell
+will fret awfully. Fretting is very bad for her, for she is not at all
+strong, you know. That is one thing that troubles me," continued Molly,
+after a brief pause. "I am sorry the colts are sold, on account of Nell,
+for I know, although she won't pretend to fret a bit, how she will
+secretly grieve and grieve; and the other reason is, that I know father
+would not have sold them if he had not been hard up for money again. Oh,
+I wish, I wish," continued Molly, her face turning crimson, "that there
+was no such thing as money in the world."
+
+Hester looked at her with a mingling of sympathy and surprise.
+
+"I think you must be wrong," she said slowly. "I mean, of course, that I
+know you're not rich as my father is rich, for you are such a large
+family, and father has only Nan and me; but still, it cannot be true
+that your father wants money to the extent of having to sell the colts
+to get it, Molly."
+
+"I'm afraid it is true," said Molly, in a sad voice. "I wish it were
+only my imagination. You would never take me for a fanciful girl, would
+you, Hester? I am always called matter-of-fact, and I think I am. I
+really don't care a bit for poetry, and not much for music, and even
+story-books don't amuse me unless they're the downright sort, like
+'Little Women,' or unless they tell all about housekeeping and that sort
+of thing. I love cooking, and I rather like accounts, and I delight in
+overhauling the linen cupboard, and I am not a bad hand at darning the
+linen. I'm just a commonplace, matter-of-fact sort of girl; it isn't in
+me to imagine things."
+
+"Well?" said Hester, for she saw that Molly was intensely in earnest.
+
+"I know I'm right about the money," said Molly. "You cannot think how
+troubled father looks sometimes; and mother told me only yesterday that
+we were not to go to the seaside this year, and she thinks our shabby
+old hats will do quite well for church. You don't suppose I care about
+shabby hats, or even about the seaside, but I do care when I see father
+looking troubled. Once a stranger came to see him, and they were shut up
+together in the library for a long time, and when he went away I noticed
+that father looked quite old. Oh, I know there are money troubles, and I
+am sure things will get worse. I know what father dreads, and dreads and
+dreads. Oh, Hester, if it happens it will kill him!"
+
+"Molly, dear, how white you are. If what happens?"
+
+"Don't whisper it, Hester; but I dread it. If he has to sell the Towers
+it will kill him."
+
+"To sell the Towers!" echoed Hester. "I should think so, indeed;
+but----"
+
+"What are you two doing up there?" shouted the voice of Nora from below.
+"Come down at once and make yourselves useful. The donkey-cart has come,
+and so have Guy and Harry, and we are washing the potatoes and want you
+to rub them, Molly. Come along down and help, you lazy good-for-nothings."
+
+The girls hastened to obey. As if by magic all trace of a cloud left
+Molly's face. It became radiant, smiling, and dimpled. She was once more
+matter-of-fact, charming, capable Molly, who could work with a will and
+never once think of herself. Molly was so generally self-forgetful, that
+her happiness was not put on. Good-nature shone from her eyes. She was
+not a particularly brilliant or witty girl, but she was a strong rock to
+rely upon, as all the other Lorrimers knew well.
+
+Nora, who was very pretty and very gay, gave herself up to heedless
+enjoyment as soon as Molly appeared upon the scene. The potatoes would
+certainly be done to a turn now. The table-cloth would be laid in that
+part of the wood where the midges were least troublesome. Jane
+Macalister would not have to complain of no one helping her. Guy, who
+was very like Molly, and nearly as good-natured, would also do his best
+to make the picnic lively, and Nora, one year Molly's junior, could give
+herself up to the fascinations of Annie Forest's society.
+
+Nora had never before found herself in the company of such a completely
+grown-up and such a very pretty girl. Nora could give herself little
+airs when occasion required. She could put on rather a killing grown-up
+sort of would-be society manner. She never dared adopt it when Guy and
+Harry were near, but she contrived to get Annie away by herself, and
+then indulged in what the other children called her "high-falutin" talk.
+
+It was nipped in the bud, however, by Annie herself. Annie Forest was
+nothing if she was not frank and fearlessly matter-of-fact. She quickly
+discovered how hollow and insufficient poor Nora's attempts to maintain
+a worldly conversation really were. She crushed her by telling her that
+she had never been in society herself in the whole course of her life,
+that she knew nothing whatever of it or its ways, that she had just left
+school, and that in all probability she would have to earn her bread in
+the future.
+
+"But, look here, Nora!" she exclaimed, suddenly, "why should we two
+stand here chattering? I'm sure we ought to help the others."
+
+"Oh, no; there's nothing really to be done," replied Nora, in a languid
+voice. "I like picnics, but I hate the fuss of preparing the meals, and
+as all the others adore it, I generally leave it for them to do. Won't
+you sit here? There is a charming little peep between those two oak
+trees. You can just see the Towers from there, and I think the Grange
+also. Don't you think the Grange a very beautiful place?"
+
+"Yes; but not half as beautiful as the Towers."
+
+"Don't you, really? Well, I am surprised! Of course, the Towers is very
+old. We are quite one of the very oldest of the county families round
+here, but my father likes us to live quietly just at present. Molly and
+I will have to be presented by-and-by. It is a pity father and mother
+don't think more about society, but they'll have to when we are grown
+up, and Molly is sixteen now. Hester will be very rich, and so will Nan.
+I'm surprised that you prefer the Towers to the Grange."
+
+"I beg your pardon," said Annie, "but did not the donkey-cart arrive
+about half an hour ago?"
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"And two of your brothers with it?"
+
+"Yes," replied Nora, suppressing a yawn, "Guy and Harry. How hot it is
+to-day--the heat makes one dreadfully languid, does it not?"
+
+"I must go and tell Hester that Boris has not come," exclaimed Annie.
+
+She put wings to her feet as she spoke, and left the astonished and
+indignant Nora to her own reflections.
+
+Annie ran quickly through the wood. The sound of many voices floated on
+the summer breeze to greet her. She had almost reached the party when
+she suddenly came upon Kitty, who was standing alone. Kitty had just had
+a furious quarrel with Nan, and was in consequence feeling considerably
+out in the cold. Kitty knew that Boris was not of the party. She had
+known this from the beginning, but in the excitement and fun of having
+Nan Thornton to herself had been too selfish to mention the fact. Kitty
+guessed why Boris had remained behind. She remembered the severe
+punishment which Jane Macalister had inflicted upon him--a punishment
+which Jane had doubtless forgotten, but which Boris himself remembered.
+
+Kitty thought of Boris now as she stood by a blackberry-bush, and
+pricked her finger on purpose against one of the thorns. Nan had been
+very snubbing and very disagreeable, and Kitty cordially hated her for
+the time being, and wished with all her heart that Boris was there. She
+could snub Boris, who would never retort, but now there was no one for
+her to play with.
+
+"What is your name?" asked Annie, stopping and looking at her kindly;
+"you are one of the Lorrimers, of course, but I have not caught your
+name yet. Do you mind telling it to me?"
+
+"I'm Kitty," answered the little girl; she raised her brown eyes and
+looked full at Annie. She had never seen anyone so lovely as Annie
+before. She had never even imagined that the world could contain anyone
+so sparkling and so gay.
+
+"You're Kitty; that is capital," replied Annie. "Then, Kitty, I am sure
+you will do just as well as Hester. Can you tell me why your dear little
+brother Boris has not come to the picnic?"
+
+"I was thinking of him," said Kitty. Tears slowly welled up into her
+eyes; her heart began to ache; she tried to prick her finger again to
+relieve the pain inside.
+
+"Boris has not come," she replied. "I'll tell you why. He spilt some
+ink, and Jane Macalister said he must be punished by staying indoors for
+a whole hour after lessons were over. I expect she forgot all about
+Boris when we got a holiday so suddenly, but Boris didn't forget, and he
+stayed behind."
+
+"Dear little Boris!" exclaimed Annie; "dear, good, plucky little Boris!
+The moment I looked at him I knew I should adore him. But see here,
+Kitty, the hour is up now, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh, yes, of course; some time ago."
+
+"Then he'll follow us, won't he?"
+
+"How can he? He can't come alone; it's nearly an hour's drive to Friar's
+Wood."
+
+"Of course he cannot walk," said Annie, impatiently; "but haven't you
+got a trap or carriage, or horse, or something?"
+
+"No, I'm afraid we haven't," said Kitty, looking very sorrowful.
+"There's only old Rover, who draws the waggonette, and Dobbin the pony,
+and Jacko the donkey. Of course, there's father's mare, she's quite a
+beauty; but we are none of us allowed to have anything to do with her."
+
+"Then we are not to have dear little Boris at the picnic?" said Annie;
+"I declare I shan't enjoy it a bit. I want him to be my own special
+knight."
+
+"What do you want a knight for?" asked Kitty, looking up with interest.
+
+"What do I want a knight for? You silly child, all fair ladies want
+their own true knights."
+
+"You are a very fair lady," said Kitty. "At least, I mean you're a very
+lovely lady--very, very lovely; but can't you do with Guy or Harry for a
+knight?"
+
+"No; I have fallen in love with Boris, and I won't have anyone else.
+Kitty, can't we manage to get him to the picnic?"
+
+"I don't know, I'm sure. He could ride Harry's bicycle, but I don't
+think it would once enter into his head."
+
+"It would if I went back and told him to."
+
+"How can you go back? You can't walk."
+
+"Yes, I am a splendid walker. Besides, I am sure the road is longer than
+by the fields, and you could take me part of the way and show me the
+short cuts."
+
+"It would take a long, long time," said Kitty, "and when you came back
+dinner would be over, and you'd have lost quite half the fun."
+
+"No, you dear little thing, I wouldn't. I mean to go and fetch Boris;
+virtue shall be rewarded, and the knight shall be rescued by the lady.
+Now, come with me part of the way and show me the short cuts. Why, I'm
+as strong as a lion. You don't suppose a walk of a few miles tires me?
+Come along, Kit, we are wasting time."
+
+In reality, Kitty was charmed beyond words with any move which was to
+bring Boris on the scene. The moment Boris seemed at all unattainable,
+he became wonderfully precious in Kitty's eyes. She would, of course,
+snub him in five minutes after he did arrive, but that really did not
+matter. The fascination of Annie's secret mission also delighted her
+much, and she skipped along now by the side of this beautiful lady in a
+state of high good-humour.
+
+"I'll show you a lovely short cut," she said. "It will take two miles
+off the distance. There's a bog, and a sunken ditch, and a wire fence;
+but you won't mind them, will you?"
+
+"Not a bit," said Annie, laughter in her eyes.
+
+"And there's farmer Granger's bull-dog, and perhaps the bull himself may
+be in the four acre field; but you won't mind," continued Kitty.
+
+"Not a bit, not a bit."
+
+"Well, let's run down into this little dell. I'll start you from the
+wicket gate at the end of the dell."
+
+"It sounds quite Pilgrim's Progressy," said Annie.
+
+"Annie," said Kitty, in an ecstatic whisper, "is it to be a secret?"
+
+"Of course; if you dare to reveal it my knight shall execute vengeance
+on you."
+
+"Oh, Annie!" said Kitty, "I do love you; its so perfectly delicious to
+have a secret."
+
+"Well, see you keep this one faithfully. Now we have come to the wicket
+gate. How shall I go? Can I see the bull from here?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Can I hear the bull-dog bark?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Kitty, you little wretch, you've been trying to frighten me with
+imaginary dangers. Yes, I see my road. I follow the winding path
+wherever it leads. Keep a bit of dinner for me, Kitty. I'll be back in a
+couple of hours."
+
+Kitty promised, and Annie started with great vigour on her long walk.
+
+Kitty stood at the stile and watched her. Suddenly she raised a cry.
+
+"Annie."
+
+Annie turned.
+
+"You'll find Nell at home, too, Annie."
+
+"Is Nell another Lorrimer?"
+
+"Yes; the ugly one of the family; the duckling, we call her most times."
+
+"Well, the duckling shall come, too," shouted heedless Annie; and Kitty,
+with the full weight and delirious importance of her secret radiating
+all over her stout little person, slowly returned to the other members
+of the picnic party.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE STORY BOOK LADY.
+
+
+Annie found the road hot and the way long. As she said, she was a very
+good walker, and was never daunted by difficulties or dangers either
+real or imaginary. She was impressed by Boris's bright little face, and
+Kitty's story of his fidelity to the path of duty touched her quick and
+affectionate nature. Annie Forest, the grown-up girl, was very like
+Annie Forest, the child. She was still intensely impulsive, wayward, and
+eager. Her faults were in a great manner subdued, but they were not
+eradicated. She was intensely affectionate, brave, and true as steel;
+but she was apt to be both heedless and thoughtless. When rushing away
+to rescue Boris, it never once entered into her head that the secret of
+her absence might prove very troublesome to poor Kitty, and that the
+rest of the party might suffer uneasiness on her account. Without any
+adventure from bull or bull-dog, without endangering her life in the
+bog, which turned out to be almost non-existent at this time of year,
+she reached the Towers at the most sultry time of the day, and appeared
+upon the scene between one and two o'clock, a tired, flushed, and very
+thirsty Annie. All during her walk she pictured Boris's state of
+despair. She saw in her mind's eye a vision of his little, flushed,
+tear-stained face. She thought of Nell, too, and imagined the rapture
+with which the ugly duckling would greet her, the deliverer of the
+oppressed.
+
+Annie entered the Towers by a side entrance, and, skirting a pretty,
+shady lawn, approached the house by the nearest way. As she did so, she
+was attracted by voices which seemed to proceed from out of a clump of
+trees. She stepped close to the spot from where the sound proceeded,
+and, craning her neck, looked over the thick laurustinus bushes, which
+enclosed a very tiny lawn or plot of grass.
+
+Seated here, in the utmost peace and apparent contentment, were the poor
+victims for whom she had exerted herself so terribly. Nell was lying
+full length on her back on the grass. Boris was seated tailorwise on the
+ground a little way off. Nell had a white rat curled up in her hair and
+another nestling in her neck. Boris was feeding some white hares and
+some pet rabbits. The children were eagerly talking to their animals,
+and Annie had to own to herself that there was nothing in the least
+unhappy or even morbid in the sound of either of the voices.
+
+For a moment the children's perfect happiness almost vexed her. It
+seemed provoking to have taken that long, exhausting walk for nothing,
+and oh! how hungry and thirsty, how very hungry and thirsty she felt.
+
+The next instant, however, her good-nature asserted itself. She said
+"Hullo!" pushed her way through the laurustinus hedge, and stood in the
+midst of the group.
+
+Nell started into a sitting position, tumbling the white rats on to her
+lap. She looked up at Annie. What a tumbled, dishevelled, hot, but oh,
+what a pretty strange lady was this! Nell worshipped beauty with the
+passion of a very hot and fervent little soul. She had scarcely noticed
+Annie in the schoolroom, but now her heart went out to her with a great
+throb.
+
+"Who are you?" she said. "Where do you come from? What is your name?"
+
+"Oh, I'm not a fairy, my good child!" said Annie. "I'm a poor, exhausted
+girl, who thought she was performing a very heroic feat and finds
+herself mistaken."
+
+"Pray come in and take a seat," said Boris, who was always the soul of
+gentlemanly politeness. He stood up as he spoke, tumbling his rabbits
+and hares helter skelter in all directions, and tried to push back the
+laurustinus hedge for Annie. She squeezed through, tearing her cotton
+dress as she did so.
+
+"Oh, dear, dear, your sweet dress is spoiled!" said Nell, in a tender
+voice.
+
+"Never mind," answered Annie; "one must lose something to attain to this
+perfection."
+
+"Won't you seat yourself?" said Boris.
+
+He pointed to the grass, and Annie sat upon it with a sense of delight.
+
+"How hot you are," said Nell. "What can we do for you? Would it soothe
+you to stroke one of the rats? This darling, for instance. His name is
+Crinklety."
+
+Annie took the rat on her lap and looked at it reflectively.
+
+"It's a darling," she said, "and so are the rabbits, and so are the
+hares; but oh, I'm so hot and so thirsty! and oh, children, don't you
+know what I've come about, and don't you know who I am?"
+
+"No, I'm sure we don't," answered Boris. Nell stared solemnly; she did
+not speak.
+
+"Well," said Annie, "I see I must introduce myself. I am Annie Forest.
+I'm Hester Thornton's friend, and I came here this morning with Hetty
+and Nan, and we all started on a picnic, and when we came to Friar's
+Wood, I found that you, Boris--you see I know your name--and you, Nell,
+were left behind, and I could not stand it somehow; it seemed too cruel
+and unfair, so I--I came back for you."
+
+"How did you come?" asked Boris. "Did you drive back with Dobbin or
+Jacko?"
+
+"No; they will have plenty to do this evening, and why should I give
+them double work, poor dears? No; I came back with these," she pushed
+out her dainty, but very dusty, feet as she spoke.
+
+"You mean that you _walked_?" said Nell. "You walked all that long way
+just because of us two children that you knew nothing about. I didn't
+believe it was true. I never believed anything so perfectly splendid
+could be true out of a story book. Boris, do you hear? She walked from
+Friar's Wood all by herself."
+
+"Are you awfully dead beat?" asked Boris, standing in his sturdy
+attitude in front of Annie and looking at her with immense attention.
+
+"Yes; I never was hotter in my life, and I don't think I ever felt more
+tired. It is such a blazing day."
+
+"Then you don't want to walk back again?"
+
+"Well, I suppose I must, only I think I'll rest a little bit first, and
+perhaps one of you can bring me a glass of water. I consulted Kitty
+about it, and Kitty said you could ride your brother's bicycle, Boris.
+She only told me about Nell just when I was starting, but perhaps Nell
+can get on the bicycle sometimes, too. I'm not quite sure how it can be
+managed."
+
+"You need not trouble about me," said Nell, "for I'm not going to the
+picnic. I don't wish to."
+
+"And I don't wish to either," said Boris; "there's nothing to go for
+now, for dinner will be over. I always think the fun of a picnic is
+washing the potatoes and lighting the bonfire, and they'll be all over
+long ago."
+
+"Well, then," said Annie, "I see that I have made myself a martyr in an
+unnecessary cause. You bad children, you are not a bit unhappy at
+staying at home, and I pictured you both such miserable little victims."
+
+"Would you rather have seen us miserable?" asked Boris.
+
+"Of course I'd much rather have seen you miserable, you little wretch.
+How dare you look at me with those smiling, bright blue eyes? If I had
+seen you and Nell pale and wretched, and a little bit withered up, I'd
+have felt that my walk had been taken for a good purpose; but now----"
+
+"Perhaps you think," said Nell, looking at Annie with great earnestness,
+"that you did nothing when you took that walk and when you made the
+story books come true. You did a great deal for me. We are Lorrimers,
+Boris and I, and it isn't the fashion for a Lorrimer ever to fret when
+things can't be helped. Boris would have liked to go to the picnic, and
+I'd have liked it, too, if it had happened on another day, but as we
+couldn't go, we meant to have a picnic at home. Will you stay with us
+and help us to make up a jolly picnic at home?"
+
+"Of course I will, only too gladly."
+
+"Then, Boris," said Nell, "we had best fetch the food while the story
+book lady is resting."
+
+The children disappeared, and Annie lay back on the grass and laughed to
+herself. She was absorbed as usual with the fascination of the moment,
+and forgot all about Kitty, who would be carefully guarding her secret
+far away in Friar's Wood.
+
+The picnic, which was partaken of by Annie, Nell, and Boris on the tiny
+lawn, surrounded by the laurustinus hedge, was a truly gay affair. The
+white hares, the rabbits, the rats, joined the company of diners, and
+Annie became her gayest and wildest self. When dinner was over, Boris
+reluctantly took his pets back to the out-house where they were kept,
+and then returned once more to the fascination of strawberries, cream,
+and Annie Forest's society.
+
+Meanwhile, in Friar's Wood, Kitty was keeping an eager look-out. It was
+almost time for Annie to come back, and all the other members of the
+party who did not know where she had gone were becoming anxious about
+her. They would have been much more so but for Hester and Nan. But
+Hester and Nan were both well accustomed to Annie's many vagaries.
+
+"If it were anyone else, I should fret about her," said Hester,
+answering Nora's eager inquiry for about the twentieth time. "She has
+wandered away in the wood by herself and will come back when she
+pleases, or perhaps she may have gone straight back to the Towers or to
+the Grange. Annie is grown up now, and she can take care of herself.
+There is no manner of use in fretting about her."
+
+"If you only knew Annie at school!" exclaimed Nan. "Why there is quite a
+proverb about Annie at school. Let me see, this is it: 'The only thing
+to be expected of Annie Forest is the unexpected.' Now don't let's talk
+of her any more. She is a dear old Annie; but why should she spoil this
+lovely, perfect day, the first of my holidays? Guy, I wish you'd come
+and sit next me. Let us get up a jolly game of hide and seek."
+
+"No," said Guy, "It's too hot at present. We will presently, when the
+sun gets a bit lower."
+
+"Then tell me a story, there's a darling Guy."
+
+Guy complied rather lazily. Nan moved a little apart with him, and the
+two began an eager, whispered conversation. Molly and Hester once more
+joined forces and resumed the interrupted talk of the morning. The
+others wandered away in different directions, and Nora and Kitty found
+themselves together. Nora felt rather discontented. She missed Annie
+Forest, not because she particularly liked her just now, but because
+Annie's conduct during their morning walk had rather piqued her. Nora
+was quite sharp enough to read Kitty's secret in her troubled, demure,
+watchful and impatient eyes. She thought it would be rather good fun to
+bully Kitty a little.
+
+"What are you staring through that long line of trees for?" she said.
+"Come here, and out with it at once. You know you're bursting with a
+secret. If you don't tell soon you'll explode, and there'll be nothing
+left of you. Come here, I say, and out with it."
+
+Nora thought it quite unnecessary to put on her society manners for
+Kitty's benefit.
+
+"Come here, Kit, at once, when I call you," she said, in a cross voice.
+
+"I needn't come if I don't like," answered Kitty. "I'm not obliged to
+obey you, so don't you think it."
+
+"Highty tighty. Do you suppose I'm going to take impertinence from a
+little chit like you? You know perfectly well where Annie Forest has
+gone, and it is your duty to tell."
+
+"I won't tell. There!"
+
+"Ah!" laughed Nora, now thoroughly exasperated. "I guessed you had a
+secret. I knew it when I saw you shutting up your lips so straightly,
+and putting on that little demure expression whenever Annie's name was
+mentioned. Now you have confessed it."
+
+"I have confessed nothing," said Kitty in alarm.
+
+"Yes, you have; you said you wouldn't tell. How could you say you
+wouldn't tell if you had nothing to tell? I know mother is uneasy about
+Annie, and I know Jane Macalister is uneasy, and you know where she is
+and you dare to keep them in suspense. Come along to mother at once.
+She'll soon get this secret out of you."
+
+"I won't go, Nora--I won't. I'll climb up into this tree, where you
+can't catch me. Here," continued Kitty, suiting the action to the word,
+"you can't catch me up here; you can't. I won't go to mother--no, I
+won't."
+
+"You will if I make you," said Nora. "You think I can't climb."
+
+"You wouldn't dare to climb!" exclaimed Kitty, shouting down from the
+foliage of the tree into which she had hastily swung herself. "You'll
+get your frock all torn, and Molly and Jane will be just mad. You
+daren't climb, Nora--you daren't. You can't catch me Nora--you can't."
+
+Nora had a quick temper, and Kitty's manner was most exasperating. Under
+ordinary circumstances the ladylike Nora would have hated climbing
+trees, but now all was forgotten in her fierce desire to lay hold of the
+daring, exasperating little Kitty and to force her secret out of her.
+How dared Annie Forest snub Nora and then confide in a baby like Kitty?
+
+"Unless you come down this minute, I'll follow you into the tree and
+drag you down," said Nora. "Now you know what I mean to do, so come down
+this instant."
+
+"Not I, not I," laughed Kitty. She had been rather frightened while Nora
+was taunting her on the ground, but now she felt so secure that she
+could afford to laugh, and even in her turn to use taunting words.
+
+"I knew you were too much of a coward, fine, ladylike Miss Nora, to
+climb up here," she said; "and I'm going to stay here just as long as I
+please."
+
+"Oh, are you?" said Nora. "There'll be two people to decide that point."
+She was in a blind fury now, and, before Kitty could say another word,
+began to swarm up the tree. She managed to catch the branch where Kitty
+had planted herself, and in another instant would have caught hold of
+the little girl's dress; but Kitty and Boris could both climb like
+monkeys, and it did not take the little girl an instant to swing herself
+on to a higher branch. Nora's mettle was now up. She was resolved that
+Kitty should not conquer her. The spirit of defiance in Kitty made her
+resolve to die rather than be taken.
+
+"You shan't catch me--you shan't," screamed the child. "I'm lighter than
+you. I'm going to creep on to the end of this bough; it will bear my
+weight, but it won't bear yours, Nora. Don't attempt to get on it, Nora;
+if you do the bough will break."
+
+Kitty, as good as her word, crept on to a dead branch of the forest
+beech tree; it was high above the ground and nearly bare of leaves. It
+looked what it was, thoroughly rotten; but it bore Kitty's light weight
+without strain. She reached almost the end, and turned her flushed,
+laughing, defiant face towards Nora. Nora had reached the bough, but
+hesitated a moment before trusting herself on it.
+
+"Who said I was going to be caught?" exclaimed Kitty. "Hurrah! hurrah!
+I'm safe enough."
+
+"I will catch you!" exclaimed Nora. "You horrid, sneaking little cheat.
+This bough looks firm enough. It will hold me as well as you; anyhow,
+I'm going to try."
+
+"Don't, don't!" screamed Kitty. She was really frightened now, for she
+saw the danger from the position where she was sitting far more plainly
+than Nora did. "Don't do it, Nora," she shrieked. "I'd rather come back
+to you. I would really, really. You'll be killed--we'll both be killed
+if you get upon this rotten bough. Oh, dear! oh, dear! Nora, are you
+mad? Are you mad?"
+
+Blind passion had made Nora almost mad. She did not believe Kitty's
+words. The bare bough looked safe enough from her position. She
+stretched out one cautious hand, then another, and propelled herself
+slowly along. Her whole weight was now upon the bough. It was thoroughly
+rotten and very brittle. Kitty gave a shriek of terror, and, with a wild
+leap, managed to throw her arms over the bough just above. She was not a
+minute too soon. The rotten branch cracked and broke with a loud report,
+and poor Nora was hurled with great violence to the ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ALONE IN THE WOOD.
+
+
+There was a dizzy moment for Kitty when she seemed to hang between
+heaven and earth, and everything swam in circles before her dazed eyes.
+Then, with a supreme effort, she managed to clutch the bough, to which
+she clung with a firmer grasp, and slowly but surely to drag herself up
+into safety on its broad, firm stem.
+
+"I'm coming, Nora. I'll be down in a minute," she shouted.
+
+She crept along the bough, and soon, much scratched and covered with
+moss and leaves, her dress torn, her face hotly flushed, she reached the
+ground and rushed to Nora's side.
+
+Poor Nora had fallen from a height of nearly twenty feet. Her fall had
+been slightly broken by the rotten bough which had come to the ground
+with her; but, notwithstanding this fact, she lay now on her back, faint
+and sick and moaning, as if she were in great pain.
+
+Poor Kitty's repentance was intense.
+
+"Oh, Nora, Nora!" she sobbed, bending over her, "are you hurt badly?
+Can't you get up? Oh, dear! oh, dear! you do look ill, and it's my fault
+of course. Why did I have a secret? and why did I tease you? Oh, Nora!"
+she added, terror in her tone as she noticed the increasing whiteness of
+Nora's pretty face, "are you in dreadful, shocking pain?"
+
+"I feel sick," said Nora, "and--and faint. Can't you fetch some water.
+Oh, everything seems miles away. What shall I do?"
+
+"I'll go for mother," said Kitty. "Lie very still, Nonie, darling; you
+have got an awful shake from that fall, but you'll be all right
+soon--I'm sure you will; and, oh, here's some water in one of the picnic
+bottles."
+
+Kitty sprang towards this welcome sight, wetted a handkerchief with part
+of the contents and put it on Nora's forehead, and then gave her a
+little to drink.
+
+The cold refreshing water revived the poor girl; but when she attempted
+to sit up, she fell back groaning and very faint once more.
+
+"You _must_ let me fetch mother," said Kitty. "I won't be a minute. I'll
+go as if I were a bird. I'll be back in no time, really."
+
+"No; I can't be left alone," said Nora. "It--it's awful. The pain in my
+back gets worse and worse. Kitty, don't leave me. Kitty, I'm frightened.
+I'm sorry I was so cross to you."
+
+"And I'm sorry I aggravated you," said Kitty; "but, oh, dear! what's the
+use of being sorry? That won't mend your poor back. I wish you'd let me
+get mother."
+
+"No, no; you mustn't leave me."
+
+Nora tried to stretch out one of her hands, but the pain of the least
+movement was extreme, and she was forced to lie absolutely still, while
+Kitty wetted her lips at intervals with a few drops of the precious
+water left in the bottle.
+
+Nora was in too great pain to care anything about the loneliness of
+their position. She was in too great suffering even to be keenly sorry
+for her own wrongdoing. The one only desire she had was to keep Kitty by
+her side. But poor Kitty's little heart was full of absolute terror. She
+had never seen anyone look so ill as Nora. Her face was white; her lips
+were blue; she was evidently in severe pain; but, with the pain, there
+was a strange faintness, which Kitty had never encountered before in the
+whole course of her ten sturdy years.
+
+Many and many a fall had both Kitty and Boris had in the wild
+expeditions and daring feats which they performed in each other's
+company. Kitty knew of the fall which stings; of the fall which shakes
+you all over, which raises a great bump and causes great soreness of the
+injured part; she knew of the fall which scratches and even renders you
+giddy; but she had never before seen the effects of such a serious fall
+as poor Nora's.
+
+Friar's Wood was a very lonely place, and when, in utter exhaustion and
+pain, Nora closed her eyes, poor Kitty felt almost as if she were
+sitting alone in this great solitude with a person who was dead.
+
+Oh, suppose pretty Nora was dead. Pretty Nora, who had been so mocking
+and full of life only ten minutes ago. If this were the case, to her
+dying day Kitty would feel that she had killed her by tempting her on to
+a rotten bough. It was terrible, terrible to be here alone with Nora,
+who might be going to die. Why could not she slip away and fetch someone
+to her aid?
+
+Nora had clutched a very tight hold of Kitty's hand when first the
+little girl had proposed to fetch her mother, but now, in the kind of
+torpor of pain into which she had sunk, she relaxed the firm grip, and
+Kitty found that by a very gentle movement she could release her hand
+altogether.
+
+She did so, and rose slowly to her feet.
+
+Nora felt the movement and spoke.
+
+"Kitty."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You're not going away?"
+
+"I'm only looking to see if there's anyone coming."
+
+"Well, don't go away."
+
+Nora's voice had sunk to a hoarse whisper, and Kitty's terrors and her
+certain fears that Nora was about to die became greater than ever.
+
+She looked all around her, to right and left, before and behind.
+
+No one was in sight. Not even the voice of a living creature broke the
+stillness. The birds were silent, the creatures of the wood seemed to be
+all asleep, the other members of the picnic had evidently wandered far
+afield; but, hark, what sound was that? Oh, joy! Who was this coming
+swiftly through the trees? Kitty's heart gave a bound of rapture, and
+then, forgetting all Nora's injunctions to keep by her side, she flew
+with lightning speed towards the figure of a horseman who was riding
+through the wood.
+
+The man on horseback was Squire Lorrimer himself.
+
+He had promised to join the children in time for dinner, but had not
+turned up. It was not his custom, however, on any occasion to disappoint
+his young people, and although late in the day he was now hastening to
+the scene of revelry.
+
+Kitty's frantic speed in his direction by no means surprised him.
+
+"Well, little woman," he said, pulling up the mare as he spoke. "Shall I
+give you a mount on Black Bessy's back? and where are all the others? I
+expected quite a swarm of you to rush forth. Where is Molly, and where
+is Nora, and where is the beautiful Annie Forest, whom everybody seems
+to rave about, and mother and Jane Macalister? Are they all hiding and
+ready to rush out upon me with wild whoops?"
+
+Kitty panted visibly before she replied.
+
+"No, father, it isn't that," she said. "I and Nora are alone, I--get
+down please, father, won't you?"
+
+"Why, what's the matter with you child?" The Squire hastily dismounted.
+"Are you hurt, Kit? What a red, excited face."
+
+"No, 'tisn't me, it's Nora. She fell; I think she'll die. It was my
+fault. The beech tree had a rotten bough, and I crept out on it, as I
+didn't wish to be caught; and Nora followed me, and the bough broke, and
+she's lying on her back now and she can't move, and I think she'll die,
+and they're all away--I don't know where--somewhere else in the wood,
+and I think she's going to die, and it's my fault."
+
+"There, Kitty, keep your pecker up," said the Squire. "I'm glad I came
+round this way; it was a lucky chance. Wait a minute until I tie Black
+Bess to this tree. Where is Nora?"
+
+"Over there, lying on that knoll of grass. I think she'll die."
+
+"Tut, tut, monkey, what do you know about people dying? Give me your
+hand, and bring me to her."
+
+Oh, the comfort to Kitty of that firm, cool, strong hand of
+father's--oh, the support of looking into his face. A burden as of black
+night was lifted from her. She ran in eager accompaniment to his great
+strides. He was bending over Nora in a minute.
+
+"Now, my poor little maid, what is this?" he asked, dropping on one knee
+and trying to put his hand under her head as he spoke.
+
+Nora opened her pretty, dark eyes.
+
+"Oh, father, is it you? I'm glad," she said in a faint voice. "I've been
+naughty, father; I--I'm sorry."
+
+"Well, you can't be more than sorry, can you, Nonie? Don't bother about
+anything now, but just tell me where you are hurt."
+
+"Oh, it's my back. Oh, don't touch me; it's dreadful!"
+
+Squire Lorrimer's face looked very grave.
+
+"Where did she fall from, Kitty?" he asked.
+
+Kitty pointed to the gash made in the beech-tree by the broken bough.
+
+"Over twenty feet," murmured the Squire to himself. "God help my poor
+little girl!"
+
+"Look here, Kitty," he said aloud, "Nora is in a good deal of pain; but
+I hope we'll soon have her easier. We must try and get her home somehow,
+and it would be a good thing if your mother were here; you had better
+fetch her. Don't frighten her, Kit, for Nora may not be badly hurt after
+all; but bring her here as quickly as you can, and Guy, too, and Molly;
+they are both strong, and have their wits about them. We must contrive a
+litter of some sort. Now, be quick and find the folks."
+
+"Yes," replied Kitty, who was almost happy again under the influence of
+her father's encouraging words.
+
+She was soon out of sight, and in less than half an hour Mrs. Lorrimer,
+Jane Macalister, and every other member of the picnic party, were
+gathered round the prostrate figure of little Nora.
+
+She was more conscious now, and looked eagerly for one face, the solace
+of all sick children.
+
+"Let Mummie hold my hand," she said.
+
+Mrs. Lorrimer took it, bent down, and kissed her; Nora smiled as if a
+load had been lifted from her heart.
+
+A rough litter was presently constructed, and with great difficulty the
+poor child was lifted into it. The pain of even this slight move,
+however, caused her to faint completely away.
+
+It was at this juncture that Hester Thornton came forward with a
+suggestion.
+
+"The Grange is nearly three miles nearer than the Towers," she said;
+"had not we better bring her there? And had not Guy better ride off at
+once to Nortonbury for the doctor?"
+
+"That is a good idea," said Mr. Lorrimer. "Guy, mount on Black Bess's
+back and off with you. Bring Dr. Jervis back with you to the Grange if
+you can."
+
+The merry little picnic party looked dismal enough as they slowly, and
+almost in funereal fashion, left the scene of festivity. The strongest
+of the party had to take turns to carry poor Nora's litter, for she
+could not endure any less easy movement.
+
+Nan came up to Hester and took her hand.
+
+"I don't know what the meaning of all this is," she said; "but, somehow
+or other, I think Annie must be at the bottom of it."
+
+"Where is Annie?" queried Hester. "How completely she seems to have lost
+herself. Oh, how miserable poor little Kitty looks. Come here, Kitty,
+dear, and tell me all about the accident."
+
+"I cannot," said Kitty. "Don't ask me; it's part of the secret."
+
+"I knew Annie Forest was at the bottom of it," murmured Nan. "Oh, what a
+horrid, horrid, dreadful ending to the first of my holidays!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+"I BROKE MY WORD," SAID ANNIE.
+
+
+In utter ignorance of the tragic events which were happening in Friar's
+Wood, Annie Forest and her two little companions were having a gay time
+at the Towers. Annie's old passion for children had not deserted her.
+She was often heard to say that she was happier with a frank, original
+child than she was with most grown people. Boris was certainly frank;
+Nell was certainly original. Annie's beauty and brightness had won
+Boris's heart from the moment of her arrival; Nell's affections went out
+to her also, but for a different reason. Nell lived in a world of
+romance, and Annie's conduct in giving up her own pleasure had seemed to
+Nell to fit in with her fairy tales and other story-books. The three
+were, therefore, supremely happy during that long afternoon. The picnic
+behind the laurustinus hedge being quite a thing of the past, they
+proceeded to explore the tower, the old ruined chapel, where services
+used to be held morning and night more than three hundred years ago, the
+dungeon under the chapel, and all the other places of historic interest.
+Then the children's gardens were visited; and, finally, Annie was
+persuaded to seat herself in the swing and be sent up into space as high
+as Boris's and Nell's united efforts could accomplish. In their turn
+they were swung by Annie; and then followed tea in the play-room, where
+Nell presided, sitting solemnly in front of the dolls' tea-service and
+helping Annie and Boris and herself to unlimited weak tea, with heaps of
+cream.
+
+The heat of the day was over at last, a perfect summer's evening had set
+in.
+
+"When are they all likely to be back?" asked Annie.
+
+"Not until night, dark night," said Boris with a little sigh.
+
+"What are you sighing for?" asked Annie. "You look quite sad, and I
+don't like you sad; I like you with your eyes smiling and your face
+puckered up with laughter. Nell looks pale and sad, too. What is it
+Nell? what is it Boris?"
+
+"I'd like to be at the picnic now," said Boris, "I didn't mind it in the
+daytime when it was so hot; but now they're lighting another bonfire
+and they're going to have tea, and after tea Guy will tell stories."
+
+"All about bogies," struck up Nell; "yes, I wish I were there."
+
+Annie looked at them both reflectively. She never cared to be with
+children unless she could succeed in making them almost boisterously
+happy.
+
+"But it doesn't matter a bit," said Nell, seeing the shadow cross her
+face; "I shouldn't be very happy in any case to-night."
+
+"Why?" said Annie.
+
+"I'd rather not say, please. You have been good to us; you have helped
+us to have a beautiful day; we are grateful to you, aren't we, Boris?"
+
+"We love her," said Boris.
+
+"You are two darlings," said Annie. "Well, now, suppose we have a bit of
+fun on our own account. How far is it from here to the Grange?"
+
+"By the road, three miles," said Boris; "but across the fields, only a
+mile and a half."
+
+"We'll go to the Grange across the fields," said Annie. "I heard Hester
+say this morning that she was going to try and induce you all to come
+back to the Grange to supper, so we three will join the rest of the
+party at supper, and if we start at once well be ready to welcome them
+when they arrive."
+
+"What a spiffin' plan," said Boris; "do let's start at once."
+
+Nell clapped her hands.
+
+"Now I've made you happy again, that's all right," said Annie. She took
+a hand of each child, and they started on their pleasant walk. Boris was
+very messy and untidy, his face was stained with fruit and his hands
+were dirty. Nell's blue cotton frock was also considerably out at the
+gathers round the waist, but the children did not give a thought to
+their clothes or personal appearance in the sudden rapture with which
+they hailed Annie's suggestion.
+
+The walk across the fields in the sweet freshness of the summer's
+evening was all that was delightful, and in an incredibly short space of
+time, the three found themselves at the other side of the turnstile
+which led into the grounds of the Grange.
+
+"We'll be there long before the others," said Boris. "Suppose we light a
+great bonfire on the lawn to welcome them." But even wild Annie did not
+see the propriety of this suggestion.
+
+"No, we won't do that," she said. "If the Grange were our own place we
+would. We'll just go and sit on the terrace and watch for them."
+
+"Won't Kitty jump when she sees us?" said Boris, a look of satisfaction
+radiating all over his face. "She'll see that we have had our lark as
+well as the rest of them; oh, I call it real spiffin' fine."
+
+They were walking rapidly through the shrubbery now, and as Boris
+finished his speech they came out on the broad sweep in front of the
+house.
+
+Just before the entrance a brougham was standing, and instead of
+solitude they found themselves surrounded by familiar figures.
+
+Kitty was the first to observe them. She gave a stifled sort of scream,
+and pushing aside Boris, who was prepared to rush into her arms, came up
+to Annie, took one of her hands, and looked into her face.
+
+"I kept the secret true as true," she said; "but it almost killed me,
+and it has nearly quite killed Nora." Her poor little voice broke with
+these last words, and she burst into the frantic sobs which she had
+bravely kept back until now.
+
+"What in the world is the matter?" said Annie, kneeling down and putting
+her arm round the excited child.
+
+"Why, that's Dr. Jervis's carriage," shouted Boris. "What can be up?"
+
+"Why are you back so early from the picnic?" asked Nell.
+
+But Kitty sobbed on unable to reply.
+
+She felt the comfort of Annie's arms round her, and presently she laid
+her hot, flushed, little face on Annie's neck and wetted her frill with
+her plentiful tears, but no information could be got at present from
+poor Kitty's lips.
+
+"There's Molly, and there's Hester," exclaimed Boris, "they'll tell us;
+oh, and there's Nan, too. Hullo Nan, come here and tell us what the
+rumpus is about."
+
+Nan rushed up excitedly.
+
+"Nora is nearly killed," she said; "she fell from a tree over twenty
+feet from the ground, and her back is hurt awfully, and Hester said
+she'd better come here, and she's lying in the library and Dr. Jervis is
+there. I haven't the faintest idea how it happened," continued Nan;
+"only it seems to be your fault, Annie; it seems to have something to do
+with you and a secret, only Kitty won't tell."
+
+Kitty ceased to cry; she raised her face and looked at Annie. Annie
+struggled to her feet.
+
+She was about to reply to Nan when Hester came up and spoke to her.
+
+"Oh, Annie," she said, "where have you been all day? We have been
+dreadfully anxious about you; and poor Nora has been hurt, and Kitty
+seems in trouble of some sort, and says that she won't tell her secret.
+What can it all mean?"
+
+"Well, really!" said Annie. She paused a minute; the rich colour mantled
+her cheeks; her bright eyes seemed to flash fire.
+
+"I'm awfully sorry about Nora," she said; "but I fail to see how I am to
+blame. From your manner, Nan, and yours, Hester, I seem to be accused of
+something. What is it, pray?"
+
+"Oh, it's nothing, indeed," said Molly, who had come up now and joined
+Hester. "What does it matter, Hetty, when we are all so awfully
+wretched? Poor Annie did not mean anything. Do let her alone!"
+
+"I did not mean anything?" echoed Annie. "I'm afraid I can't allow
+myself to be let alone. I must find out what I'm accused of. Kitty, you
+say you kept my secret safely. Speak now and tell everybody."
+
+"I can't stay to listen," said Molly, turning away; "it's too--too
+trivial!"
+
+Hester and Nan, however, still stood facing Annie, and the boys, Guy and
+Harry, also came and joined the group.
+
+"Speak, Kitty," said Annie.
+
+"You were kind," said Kitty; "it's wicked to say you weren't kind. You
+found out that Boris hadn't come to the picnic, and you said you'd go
+back for him; you'd walk back all in the heat, and you didn't mind the
+bull, nor the bull-dog, nor--nor--anything; and you said I wasn't to
+tell, and 'twould be a surprise when you came back with Boris and,
+perhaps, Nell, too--and I promised. Then we had dinner, and you weren't
+there, and everybody asked for you and everybody wondered where you
+could be; but Hester said you were a sort of 'centric girl, and that you
+was grown up and we needn't fret; and Nan said you was nothing if you
+wasn't unexpected; so nobody fretted, and I kept my secret locked up
+tight. But Nora wanted you more than the others, and she saw my lips
+shut tight and my eyes watching for you through the trees, and she
+guessed I had a secret; and I said I had, but I wouldn't tell; and she
+said she'd take me to mother, and that mother would make me tell, and so
+I climbed up into the beech-tree to get away from her; and I was naughty
+and cross, and she was naughty and cross, too, and she followed me up
+into the beech-tree, and I got out upon a rotten bough, where I thought
+she'd be sure not to come; but she did come, cause I was real naughty
+and I taunted her; and the bough broke and she fell, but I didn't fall
+'cause I caught on to a bough higher up. It's been dreadful ever since,"
+continued Kitty, pressing her hands tightly together. "Worse than when I
+forgot to give water to Harry's canary and it died, and worse than when
+I pulled up all Guy's canariensis in mistake for weeds; its been awful,
+but I did keep the secret."
+
+"Is that all?" said Annie.
+
+"Yes, that's all," replied Kitty. "I did keep the secret."
+
+"I understand," said Annie. "I should have come back, of course. I did
+not remember that I might get you into trouble, Kitty; it did not occur
+to me that you were the plucky sort of child you are."
+
+"Plucky?" echoed Guy with some scorn. "I don't call it plucky to be
+just decently _honourable_. We don't tell lies. Kitty would have told a
+lie if she had broken her word."
+
+"And I promised to come back, and I broke my word," said Annie. "Yes, I
+fully understand; it's just like me."
+
+She turned away as she spoke, and, plunging into the shrubbery, was lost
+to view.
+
+"Leave her alone, children," said Hester to the astonished children, who
+were preparing to follow her. "I knew it would cut her to the heart, but
+it can't be helped. She'll be all right by-and-by, but she can't stand
+any of you now; you must leave her alone."
+
+Boris came up to Kitty, put his arms round her neck, and kissed her. His
+kiss was of the deepest consolation to her; she walked away with him
+slowly, and Nell took Hester's hand. Nell's face was like a little white
+sheet; she was trembling in her agitation.
+
+"Oh, what is the matter?" she gasped. "Is Nonie awfully hurt? Is it
+dangerous? Oh, Hetty, it's worse than the colts! Oh, I felt bad this
+morning, but it was nothing to this--nothing! May I stay with you for
+the present, Hetty?"
+
+"Yes, darling," said Hester in her kindest voice. "Come into the house
+with me. We are all very anxious until we get the doctor's opinion. Your
+father and mother are both with Nora; and Dr. Jervis is there and Jane.
+Everything is being done that can be done, and we know nothing at
+present. Come, Nell, we must be brave--and here is Molly; she is just as
+anxious as you."
+
+Nell looked at Molly, who was standing in the porch; she flew to her
+eldest sister's side, clasped her arms round her neck, and shed a few
+of those silent, rare tears which only came to her now and then, for
+Nell was no ordinary child, and rarely showed her deepest feelings.
+
+"I don't know how I'm to live through this suspense," said poor Molly.
+
+But even as she spoke it came to an end.
+
+Mr. Lorrimer came out of the study, closing the door softly behind him.
+He strode quickly through the hall, and entered the porch where the
+three girls were standing. Molly stepped forward quickly and seized his
+arm.
+
+"Well?" she asked.
+
+He gave her a quick look; his face was very pale, and a sudden
+contraction of pain flitted across his brow.
+
+"Well, my loves," he said, "we must all try to be as cheerful as we can
+and not break down; there isn't a bit of use in breaking down."
+
+"But how is she, father?" asked Molly. "What does Dr. Jervis say?"
+
+"He says, Molly, that poor Nora is very seriously hurt; but it is
+impossible to form a reliable opinion on her case so soon. He wishes us
+to get Dr. Bentinck from London to see her, and I am going to drive to
+Nortonbury to telegraph to him to come at once. Now, don't keep me, my
+dears. By the way, Molly, mother says you had better take the children
+home as soon as ever you can."
+
+"Oh, may I not stay?" asked Molly.
+
+"No, my dear, I think not; there must be some head at home. Jane
+Macalister will stay and help your mother to-night until we can get the
+services of a proper nurse. Take the children back as soon as you can,
+Molly. God bless you, my love."
+
+The Squire stepped into the doctor's brougham and was driven rapidly
+away. Molly raised her hand to her forehead.
+
+"I feel stunned," she said. "Nora was the gayest and the brightest and
+the prettiest of us all. Nothing ever seemed to happen to Nora, and now
+she is so ill that I may not even see her."
+
+"She will be better to-morrow, I am sure," said Hester.
+
+"Oh, Hetty, if I could only stay here," cried poor Molly.
+
+"I wish you could, Molly, with all my heart."
+
+"We'll know nothing of how she's getting on at the Towers," continued
+Molly. "I think it will drive me mad not to know."
+
+"I'll come over very early in the morning and tell you, and perhaps
+something may be arranged to-morrow so that you can stay here."
+
+"I might stay instead of Jane. I know I could help mother far better
+than Jane can. But there, I suppose I must have patience. Come, Nell."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+AN AWFULLY FRIVOLOUS GIRL.
+
+
+Dr. Bentinck, the great London surgeon, arrived early on the following
+morning. Poor Nora was quite conscious now, and in great pain. This
+pain, however, was considered rather a good sign than otherwise, for had
+the spine been much injured the little girl would have been numbed and
+stupid. Dr. Bentinck examined his little patient with great tenderness
+and care. His opinion, when it was given, was a great deal more
+favourable than anyone dared to hope. He thought that Nora would
+eventually be as well as ever again; but although he was sure that there
+was no permanent injury to the spine, there was a great deal of present
+distress and discomfort to be got through. The little girl must lie
+perfectly still on her back for many weeks, and it would be many a long
+day before the dancing, romping Nora of old would return to the Towers.
+
+After the night of suspense and terror, however, which poor Mrs.
+Lorrimer, by Nora's bedside, and Molly in her lonely little bedroom at
+the Towers, had undergone, the great London doctor's news seemed all
+that was delightful. Hester hurried to the Towers to put Molly's anxious
+heart at rest, and Mrs. Lorrimer returned to the room where Nora was
+lying very white and still.
+
+Nora had received a shock the day before which must influence her during
+all the remainder of her days. It seemed to shake all her little
+artificial affected nature off and to reveal the real Nora, who was
+frightened and weak and silly, and yet who had somewhere beneath her
+frivolous exterior a real little heart of gold. If there was one person
+whom Nora really adored, and in whose presence she was ever her truest
+and best, it was her mother. She looked at her mother now as she
+re-entered the room.
+
+"Stoop down and tell me," she said in a whisper.
+
+Mrs. Lorrimer bent over her.
+
+"Yes, my love," she said. "What do you want to know?"
+
+"Am I going to die, mother?"
+
+"Die? not a bit of it, my darling. Dr. Bentinck has given us quite a
+cheerful opinion of you. He says there is no very serious injury, and
+that you will be your usual self by-and-by."
+
+Nora's eyes brightened.
+
+"I am very glad," she said. "I didn't want to die. I don't think I'm
+quite fit."
+
+"My little daughter will have learnt a severe lesson by this accident,"
+said Mrs. Lorrimer; "but now you must lie still, love, and think of
+nothing but how quickly you can get well again."
+
+Nora closed her eyes, and Mrs. Lorrimer sat down in an easy chair by the
+bedside.
+
+The next day the little girl was considerably better, and Mrs. Lorrimer
+proposed that she and Jane should return to the Towers and send Molly to
+look after Nora. A good surgical nurse had arrived from town the evening
+before; Molly's services, therefore, would only be of the lightest.
+
+Mrs. Lorrimer went into the morning room, where Hester and Annie were
+sitting together.
+
+The moment she did so Annie jumped up and came to her.
+
+"How is Nora?" she asked.
+
+"She is much better, my dear; in fact, almost quite like her old self
+to-day. She cannot, of course, move without the greatest pain, but when
+she lies perfectly still she is tolerably easy."
+
+"Then I may go to see her, may I not?" asked Annie.
+
+"If you will promise to be very quiet. It would not do to excite her in
+any way."
+
+"There never was such a good nurse as Annie," exclaimed Hester. "She has
+a soothing influence over sick people which is quite marvellous. Did I
+ever tell you how she saved Nan's life years ago at Lavender House?"
+
+"Oh, that's an old story," said Annie, laughing and reddening. "Well,
+granted that I possess a sort of mesmerism, may I use it for Nora's
+benefit?"
+
+"Certainly, my love," said Mrs. Lorrimer, smiling affectionately at
+Annie's bright face.
+
+She ran off, singing as she went.
+
+Nora was lying perfectly flat on the little bed which had been hastily
+improvised for her in the study. The room was now turned into a
+comfortable bedroom, but was also in part a sitting-room. A large screen
+effectually shut away the bedroom part of the furniture and partly
+screened Nora also.
+
+Annie had not gone straight to the sick room. She had rushed first into
+the conservatory and made frantic mad havoc amongst the roses there. The
+choicest blooms, any quantity of unopened buds, were cut by her reckless
+fingers. She gathered a whole quantity of maidenhair to mix with the
+roses, and then, a tender colour on her own cheeks, her dark eyes bright
+as well as soft, she appeared like a radiant vision before the tired,
+sad eyes of the sick child.
+
+Nora was just well enough to feel the monotony of her present position,
+to think longingly of the life of active movement which was hers at the
+Towers. Even lessons in the old schoolroom, even that hateful darning
+and mending to which she had to devote a portion of her time each day,
+seemed delightful in contrast to her present inertia. She was thinking
+of Friar's Wood and of Annie's bright face just when Annie herself,
+looking like a bit of the summer morning, appeared in view.
+
+"Now, don't get excited," said Annie smiling at her. "You'll see such a
+lot of me during the next few weeks that you need not get into a state
+just because I've come into the room. I feel that in a certain fashion I
+am to blame for your accident, so I am going to take your amusements
+upon my shoulders; and if you just allow me to manage matters, I'll
+promise that you shan't have a dull time while you are getting well.
+Have you a headache?"
+
+"No, not a bit."
+
+"That's all right; then you won't mind my talking. Are you fond of
+pretty things?"
+
+"Yes, very fond."
+
+"Well, I'll sit here, just where you can comfortably see the flowers and
+me. I expect we'll make a very pretty picture, but you need not say so.
+I wonder where there's a looking-glass. Oh, yes, in that corner,
+decently covered with an antimacassar. Well, then, glass, you have got
+to uncover for my benefit. I wish to see whether I look pretty or not."
+
+Annie danced up to the glass; Nora could watch her each movement.
+
+Her steps were as light as a sylph's, nothing rattled in the sick-room
+as she moved about it. She took up a comb and re-arranged her dark,
+curling hair. She placed a rose in her belt, nodded to her own bright
+image, and then, seating herself before a small table, began to arrange
+the flowers. "Nora, you can't think what a mass of roses there are in
+the green-house this morning. Of course the garden is full, too, but I
+did not wait to go to the garden to get these for you. You can watch me
+just as long as you fancy and then shut your eyes. These half-open buds
+are to be placed on a table close to you, where you can smell them. The
+other flowers we'll put here and there about the room. It's a good
+thing you were brought into this pretty study, for from where you lie
+you can fancy you are in a sitting-room, and that you are just having a
+stretch on the sofa to rest yourself. Fancy goes a long way, doesn't
+it?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Nora. "I'm afraid I can't fancy that."
+
+Tears filled her eyes as she spoke.
+
+"How cool you look," she said presently, "and--and active and happy."
+
+"It wouldn't do for me to look unhappy when I am with you, would it?"
+asked Annie. "Now tell me, do you like this dress?"
+
+"Yes, it's very pretty. What stuff is it?"
+
+"Only pink cambric, trimmed with pink embroidery. Would you like me to
+make you one?"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+Nora's eyes brightened perceptibly.
+
+"What I say," replied Annie. "I made this dress for myself. I make all
+my dresses, for I am not at all well off; in short, I am poor, and Mrs.
+Willis is so sweet and dear that she gives me a couple of hours every
+day to devote to needlework. In consequence I have got some pretty
+things, although they cost next to nothing. Now, I think you and I are
+something alike. We are both dark, and we have both got bright colour.
+Oh, I don't mean that you have a bright colour just now, you poor little
+darling; but when you are well, you are sweet, like a wild rose. Suppose
+I make you a pink cambric frock, and a white one and a blue one? I have
+got a white and a blue. When you're well again you'll look quite lovely
+in them, Nora. What do you say?"
+
+"I'd like it awfully," said Nora. "You are very good, very good; but I
+haven't got any money. I--I am even poorer than you."
+
+"Are you? How delightful. I adore _poor lady_ girls, because they are
+always contriving, and that's so interesting. We'll make the dresses out
+of odds and ends, and they shan't cost you a penny."
+
+"It's very good of you," said Nora. She was too weak to argue and
+protest, and the vision of her pretty little self in alternate dresses
+of pink and white and blue cambric was decidedly refreshing.
+
+She lay and looked at Annie and acknowledged to herself that she made a
+pretty, a beautiful, picture, and the discontented lines round her mouth
+vanished, and the time did not seem long.
+
+That evening Molly, excited and in high spirits, arrived on the scene.
+
+Molly was absolutely trembling as she came into the room where Nora was
+lying; but although her love was ten times deeper, she had not Annie's
+marvellous tact, and soon contrived to tire poor Nora dreadfully. The
+nurse seeing this sent her away, and Molly came back to Hester with a
+very crestfallen expression of face.
+
+"I can't make out how it is," she said; "but Nora does not seem a bit
+glad to see me."
+
+"Oh, nonsense," said Hester; "what do you mean?"
+
+Annie was sitting in a corner of the room busily engaged over Henry
+Kingsley's novel, "Geoffrey Hamlyn." She did not raise her eyes, but
+bent her curly head still lower over the fascinating pages. Nan had gone
+to spend a few days at the Towers, and the great house at the Grange
+seemed very quiet and still.
+
+Molly sank down into a chair near Hester.
+
+"I have been so excited about this meeting," she said. "Nora is almost
+my twin-sister, and I have suffered so terribly about her. I cannot tell
+you the relief and joy of being allowed to come here to look after her,
+but now I fear I shall be next to no good."
+
+"Well, you'll be no end of good to me," said Hester; "and, of course,
+Nora will like to have you by-and-by, but she is still very weak and
+cannot bear the least excitement."
+
+"But nurse tells me that you, Annie, spent some hours in her room
+to-day."
+
+At these words Annie sprang to her feet, and "Geoffrey Hamlyn" fell with
+a bang to the floor.
+
+"I did spend hours in her room," she said, "and I don't think I tired
+her; but, then, perhaps you kissed her a lot, Molly?"
+
+"Kissed her?" exclaimed Molly; "I should think so, at least a hundred
+times."
+
+"Oh, good gracious, how dreadfully fatiguing for a sick person. Well,
+you see, I didn't kiss her once, nor even touch her."
+
+"But you aren't her sister," said Molly.
+
+"No, no; and that is the reason that I am a very good person to be with
+her, because I amuse her without exciting her. All I did to-day was to
+sit in the room where she could see me, and arrange some flowers and
+have a little talk about dressmaking."
+
+Molly opened her eyes in astonishment. Nora had been at the brink of
+death. Had not Molly spent a whole night in fervent and passionate
+prayers for her recovery? Did not Nora love Molly, and did not Molly
+love Nora as only loving sisters can love? and yet Molly exhausted poor
+Nora, while Annie Forest, who was a stranger, soothed her.
+
+Molly looked at Annie now without in the least comprehending her, and
+for the first time in all her gentle life a distinct sensation of
+jealousy was aroused within her.
+
+Annie left the room a moment later, and Hester turned to Molly.
+
+"I see you don't understand Annie," she said.
+
+"Yes, I'm sure I do; what an awfully frivolous girl she must be. Fancy
+her talking of dress to Nora, and she so ill."
+
+"But it did Nora heaps of good; nurse said she was quite jolly this
+afternoon, and that Annie was the companion of all others for her."
+
+"Don't say that again, Hester," said Molly; "it makes me feel quite
+wicked."
+
+"I know well," replied Hester, "that Annie is thoughtless."
+
+"Thoughtless? I should think so; but for her Nora would never have been
+hurt."
+
+"But she has the warmest heart in the world," continued Hester. "I did
+not understand her for a long time. Indeed, Molly, I don't mind telling
+you that once I hated her; but, oh, if you could only see Annie at her
+best. She can be--yes, she can be noble."
+
+Molly stared in non-comprehension.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE DIAMOND RING.
+
+
+Those of my readers who have read "A World of Girls" will know all about
+the early story of Annie Forest; but, to those who have not, I may as
+well explain that she was a motherless girl, that she had been in her
+day a sad tomboy, that she had a father living, but that it was
+absolutely necessary for her before long to earn her own living. She was
+still at school, however, although she now occupied the post there of
+pupil-teacher. Mrs. Willis, the head-mistress of Lavender House, the
+school where Annie was educated, was her warm and devoted friend. Mrs.
+Willis loved all her pupils and had an extraordinary influence over
+them, but Annie was almost like her adopted child.
+
+She stood now in the wide, cool hall at the Grange, and reflected for a
+moment as to what she should do. She then ran lightly up to her pretty
+bedroom, and, opening her trunk, began to rummage eagerly among its
+contents. Annie would not be Annie if she were not the most impulsive
+creature in the world. She meant to devote herself to Nora; she had a
+great gift for reading character, and a quick glance showed her how best
+she might amuse this little girl. Nora was pretty, but Nora was not
+richly endowed with pretty frocks. Annie felt sure that she would arouse
+the keenest sympathy in the sick girl if she used her skilful fingers to
+cover the defects in Nora's wardrobe. She had made her own cambric
+frocks, and imagined that she had plenty of stuff in her trunk to make
+similar ones for Nora; she saw, to her dismay, however, that she had
+left the cambric behind her at school; and, as Mrs. Willis was away, and
+Lavender House was shut up during the summer vacation, it would be
+impossible for her to send for it. She had only a few shillings in her
+purse; she was well aware that Nora was possessed of no money. How,
+then, could she redeem her promise? Annie could not bring herself to ask
+Hester to help her, and yet, at the same time, it would never, never do
+to disappoint Nora! Annie had brought herself to consider Nora her own
+special patient. She had spent an hour with her in the morning and
+nearly two hours in the afternoon, and during the afternoon visit the
+girls had talked a good deal about the frocks. It was arranged between
+them that they were to be surprise frocks, and that Mr. and Mrs.
+Lorrimer were to know nothing about them until they saw Nora well once
+more and arrayed in the prettiest of the three. Annie had hunted up some
+fashion-books, and had consulted Nora about the shape and the cut of the
+sleeves, and the way the skirt was to be hung and the embroidery sewn
+on. Both girls had been animated over the discussion, and Nora had been
+too interested to feel fatigue.
+
+Well, that happened a few hours ago; now Annie, on her knees, bent over
+her empty trunk with an expression of keen dismay.
+
+What was she to do? How could she possibly raise the money necessary to
+the purchase of the cambric? She calculated that the cambric and
+embroidery necessary for the making of three simple dresses would cost
+from twenty-five to thirty shillings This was not a large sum, but
+everything is by proportion, and for poor Annie, with five shillings in
+her purse and very little chance of any more money coming to her until
+the end of her visit to the Grange, thirty shillings seemed absolutely
+unattainable.
+
+"But I must get it somehow!" she murmured, flinging herself on the floor
+by her open trunk as she spoke. "I'm not going to be beaten by a little
+paltry sum like that! I promised Nora the frocks, and she shall have
+them! I didn't care a bit for Nora yesterday--she didn't suit me, and I
+thought her affected; but if I hadn't been so desperately thoughtless,
+she'd have been well now; and, as I have been in part the cause of her
+accident, I'm simply bound to look after her. Have those frocks she
+must! Poor little bit of frivolity, nothing in the world will soothe her
+nerves so much as seeing me making them for her. But that money--that
+thirty shillings! Oh, _dash_ that thirty shillings! Why should a mean
+little sum like that worry a girl almost into fits? Get it, I _will_;
+and ask Hester to help me, I _won't_! The frocks are to be a secret
+between Nora and me; the secret will be half the fun. Now, how am I to
+get the money? Have I anything to sell?"
+
+Annie rose from the floor, where she had seated herself, and, going to a
+drawer, opened it. She took out a little leather box, and looked
+anxiously at its contents. There were a few treasures there, dear from
+association, but not of a valuable sort. There was a silver brooch,
+shaped like a horn, with a little bell attached; a schoolfellow had
+brought it to her from Switzerland; it probably cost a franc, and,
+although Annie admired it immensely on her neck, she did not believe any
+jeweller would give her sixpence for it. Then there was a basket
+beautifully carved out of an apricot-stone, and a narrow silver chain
+broken in many parts; and there was a bog-oak brooch and an old jet
+bracelet. Annie also possessed a gold locket and chain which she had won
+as a prize on a certain memorable occasion, but this treasure she had
+also stupidly left behind her. How provoking! She had really nothing she
+could sell for thirty shillings. But stay, she had forgotten. She
+coloured high as a memory came to her. She had one article of solid
+value--a ring. In one sense it was not hers; in another it was. It was a
+gold ring, with a single diamond; this ring had belonged to Annie
+Forest's mother. On her dying bed she had given the ring to Mrs. Willis.
+One day Mrs. Willis had shown it to Annie, had yielded to Annie's
+entreaties that she might borrow it for this visit to the Grange, and
+had told her that, although she could not part with her mother's last
+gift during her lifetime, she would leave the ring to Annie in her will.
+
+With her dark eyes full of excitement, Annie now took the ring out of
+its little morocco case and looked at it.
+
+She had meant to wear it proudly on her finger during her stay at the
+Grange; but, in the excitement of passing events, had forgotten to do so
+up to the present time. The ring was of value; no one had seen it on her
+finger, therefore no one would miss it. It occurred to Annie that she
+might ask a jeweller to lend her thirty shillings on the ring. With this
+thirty shillings she could buy the stuff for Nora's frocks; and as her
+father always sent her a pound on her birthday, and that birthday was
+only a little over a month away, she thought that she might manage to
+scrape together thirty shillings to redeem the ring before she returned
+to school.
+
+Annie's mind was quickly made up. She would pawn the ring to someone,
+and trust to her lucky star to get it back before she returned to
+Lavender House. She knew well that Mrs. Willis would ask her for it as
+soon as ever she went back to school. Mrs. Willis was a person who never
+forgot: big things and small things alike found a place in her memory;
+but long before then Annie would, of course, have the ring in her
+possession.
+
+Having made up her mind to sell it, she wondered how she could
+accomplish this feat. She would have not only to sell the ring, but also
+to buy the cambric and embroidery without anyone knowing anything about
+it. The secret would lose half its fascination if anybody guessed. Annie
+thought anxiously for a moment, then an idea came to her. Nan had talked
+a good deal about her old nurse. Annie was a prime favourite with nurse,
+who always considered that she owed Annie a good deal for having rescued
+her darling from the gipsies some years ago. Perhaps nurse would help
+Annie now; she resolved to go and sound the old woman.
+
+Putting the ring in its morocco case, she opened the baize door which
+led to the nursery part of the house, and soon found herself in Mrs.
+Martin's apartments. Mrs. Martin was known by three different
+appellations: to Hester she was nurse, or nursey, to Sir John Thornton
+she was Patty, but to the servants and to strangers she was always
+spoken of as Mrs. Martin. She was extremely punctilious as to the manner
+in which she was addressed; and now, as Annie entered her room she
+wondered which of her three titles would best propitiate her.
+
+"Well, my dear, what do you want?" said the old lady, looking up with a
+pleased smile from her knitting as Annie's pretty head was pushed
+roguishly round the door. "Oh, come now, Miss Forest; I know your
+collogueing ways. But you ought to be in bed, my dear, for it's past ten
+o'clock."
+
+"And so ought you to be in bed, you dear, naughty, old thing," said
+Annie; "but you know people don't always do what they ought. If going to
+bed is what I ought to do at the present moment, you ought to do the
+same, nursey. May I call you nursey?"
+
+"Well, Miss Annie, you're almost like one of the family; but still I'm
+properly only nurse to my own two bairns--Miss Hetty and Miss Nan."
+
+"And this is a motherless bairn who would like you to be nursey to her,"
+said Annie, seating herself on a low hassock at the old woman's feet and
+looking into her face.
+
+"Well, and nursey it shall be," said Mrs. Martin. "Eh, but God has given
+you a very bonny face, my love."
+
+Annie took up one of the horny hands, and rubbed it affectionately
+against her soft cheek.
+
+"Nurse," she said, "I am quite in trouble. I wonder if I might tell you
+a secret?"
+
+"Well, dear, if you like to trust me, safe it shall be. Inviolate it
+shall be kept, Miss Annie, and you know that violet's the colour of
+truth."
+
+"Of course I do, you dear old thing. What a wonderful comfort it is to
+talk to you. I knew you'd let me confide in you, and it will be such a
+load off my mind."
+
+"My dear, I hope you haven't been at any mad pranks. The young ladies of
+the present day are wonderful for audaciousness."
+
+Annie sighed.
+
+"I wish I wasn't audacious," she said; "and I wish I wasn't thoughtless
+and reckless. I'm always meaning to be kind to people, and somehow or
+other I'm always kind in the wrong way; it's very, very trying."
+
+Annie's pretty eyes filled with real tears of contrition.
+
+"You're but young, my bairn," said Mrs. Martin, "and the heart's in the
+right place; anyone can see that who looks at you, Miss Annie."
+
+"Nurse, you are a comfort to me. Now I will tell you my trouble. At the
+picnic the other day I got into a state of mind because little Boris
+Lorrimer had not come, and I confided in Kitty Lorrimer and went off to
+fetch him, and Kitty promised she would not tell where I had gone until
+I had brought him back; but when I got to the Towers I was very
+hot--very, very hot with my long walk, and I found that Boris did not
+wish to come back with me, and I forgot all about my promise to Kitty,
+and stayed at the Towers for the rest of the day; but poor Kitty kept
+her word and did not tell, and Nora got cross with her, and climbed up
+the beech tree after her, and crept out on to the rotten bough, and so
+got the dreadful fall which has made her so ill. Nora would not have met
+with this terrible accident but for me; so I have taken upon myself to
+amuse her, and I promised to make her three dresses."
+
+"Sakes alive! Three?" interrupted Mrs. Martin; "and why three, Miss
+Annie? Wouldn't one be enough to content her?"
+
+"No, nursey, no; three cambric dresses or nothing. I promised to make
+them, and I thought I had the cambric and embroidery in my trunk, but
+when I looked I found I had left it all behind me at school. You can't
+think how upset I am about it, for I must keep my promise to Nora, and
+Nora has got no money, and I have only five shillings, which I must keep
+for stamps and odds and ends; and I would not ask Hester or Nan to lend
+me sixpence for the world."
+
+"But why not, my dear? I am sure Miss Hetty would be proud to oblige."
+
+"No, nurse, it must not be," said Annie; "Hester is to know nothing
+about the frocks, and Nan is to know nothing and Molly is to know
+nothing. The fun of the thing is its being a great, great secret. Why,
+the making of those frocks in the room with Nora and only Nora knowing;
+why, the mystery of the thing will almost cure her, it will, really. Oh,
+nursey, nursey," patting Mrs. Martin excitedly as she spoke, "you must,
+you shall help me."
+
+"And you want me to lend you the money, my pet?"
+
+"No; how can you imagine such a thing. But I'll tell you what I want you
+to do. I want you to get up early to-morrow morning, quite early, and to
+make one of the grooms drive you into Nortonbury."
+
+"Sakes alive! What for? I'm not used to the air without my breakfast."
+
+"I'll get up and get you your breakfast. I'll boil the kettle here, and
+make your tea and toast your bread. You must go to Nortonbury, and you
+must be back between ten and eleven o'clock."
+
+"And when I go what am I to do there, my dear? Oh, dear, dear, the ways
+of the young of the present day are masterful beyond belief. You make me
+all of a quiver, Miss Annie."
+
+"I knew you'd rise to it," said Annie. "I felt if there were a soul in
+this world who would pull me out of the horrid scrape I have got myself
+into, it would be you, nursey."
+
+"Well, my love, you have got a blarneying tongue, and no mistake; but
+now, when I do get to Nortonbury, what am I to do?"
+
+Annie pulled the morocco case out of her pocket. She opened it, and
+slipped the ring on Mrs. Martin's little finger.
+
+"You are to sell that," she said; "or, rather--no, you are not to sell
+it for the world--but you are to borrow thirty shillings on it."
+
+"My word! Is it to the pawn-shop you expect me to go, Miss Forest?"
+
+"How nasty of you to say Miss Forest. I'm Annie Forest, in great
+trouble, and looking to you as my last comfort. You are to borrow thirty
+shillings on that beautiful diamond ring. I don't mind where you get it;
+and then you are to buy me seven yards of pink cambric, and seven yards
+of white cambric, and seven yards of blue cambric. These shades, do you
+see? And I want embroidery to match. I have put the number of yards on
+this slip of paper, and a list of buttons and hooks and waistbands and
+linings. Oh, and, of course, cottons to match. Now, will you or won't
+you? Will you be an angel or won't you? That's the plain question I have
+got to ask."
+
+[Illustration: "'YOU ARE TO BORROW THIRTY SHILLINGS ON THAT BEAUTIFUL
+DIAMOND RING'" (_p._ 96).]
+
+"It's the pawn-shop that gets over me, Miss Annie."
+
+"Oh, _please_ don't let it get over you. What can the pawnbroker do to
+you? Most people call him uncle, so I expect he's awfully good-natured."
+
+"Uncle, indeed," exclaimed Mrs. Martin, tossing her head; "it's a word
+you shouldn't know, Miss Annie Forest."
+
+"But why shouldn't I? I never heard that uncles were wicked, except the
+one who killed the babes in the wood. Now you will go; you will be an
+angel! I know this special uncle who is to lend money on my ring will be
+delightful!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE LAND OF PERHAPS.
+
+
+There are some people who always get their way in life. They are by no
+means the best people, nor the most amiable, nor the most thoughtful.
+Sometimes, and not a very rare sometimes either, the poor, thoughtful
+people go to the wall, when the thoughtless and impulsive and careless
+come triumphantly out of their difficulties.
+
+There never was a girl who got into a greater number of scrapes than
+Annie Forest; but neither was there ever a girl who managed to right
+herself more quickly. She knew the art of twisting other people round
+her little finger. Having performed this feat to perfection on Mrs.
+Martin, alias Patty, alias nursey, she went happily to bed, knowing that
+all would be right for the present, and never giving a thought to the
+evil but still distant hour when she must return her mother's ring to
+Mrs. Willis.
+
+Annie rose in good time in the morning, and took upon herself the
+preparing of Mrs. Martin's breakfast. She lit a fire in the old lady's
+sitting-room, and toasted her bread with her own fair hands, and made
+the tea for her to drink.
+
+Mrs. Martin started on her journey to Nortonbury with many fervent
+blessings from Annie, who then returned in a high state of content to
+her own room.
+
+The parcel of cambric arrived in due time, and Annie cut out the first
+of the three frocks that morning.
+
+In order to keep their secret quite to themselves, Nora and Annie
+decided to keep the door of the library locked while they were at work.
+This arrangement was delightful to Nora, but it irritated Molly not a
+little. When she came to see her sister, to be greeted by a locked
+door--and to hear Annie's clear voice singing out from within, "Oh,
+we're so busy, you darling of a Molly asthore. Don't disturb us for the
+present, there's a love," and when this remark was followed by silvery
+laughter from Nora--poor Molly felt herself decidedly out in the cold.
+
+Jealousy was for the first time fiercely stirred in her gentle breast
+and she shed some tears in secret over the change in Nora, who had
+hitherto clung to her and loved her better than anyone else in the
+world.
+
+But what will not a rather frivolous little heart do for the sake of a
+pretty dress?
+
+Nora in her own way was as thoughtless as Annie, and it never occurred
+to either of them as even possible that Molly should be pained by the
+fact of the locked door.
+
+A fortnight passed away. The pink dress and the white were both finished
+and the blue was rapidly approaching completion, when one day the whole
+party at the Grange were considerably electrified and their attention
+turned into a completely new quarter by a letter which arrived for
+Hester from Sir John Thornton.
+
+After writing on various subjects, he concluded his lengthy epistle as
+follows:--
+
+     "I shall not be home for another week. For some reasons I am sorry
+     for this delay; but when I explain matters to you, my dear Hester,
+     on the occasion of my return, you will, I am sure, agree with me
+     that my absence from home is, under the circumstances, allowable.
+     In the meantime, I have not forgotten that Nan's birthday is on the
+     15th of August, and that that date is only a week distant. If in
+     any way possible, I shall return either on the fifteenth or the
+     evening of the day before; but, meanwhile, I give you _carte
+     blanche_ to celebrate the auspicious event in any manner you like.
+     You need spare no expense to make the day as truly festive to
+     yourself and your young friends as you possibly can. I enclose in
+     this letter a blank cheque to which I have affixed my signature.
+     You may fill it in for any sum within reason, and then if you take
+     it to the bank at Nortonbury it will be cashed for you. Buy Nan a
+     handsome present from me, and please choose presents for Annie
+     Forest and all the Lorrimer children. I am sorry to hear bad
+     rumours with regard to the Squire, and that there is a possibility
+     of the Towers being soon in the market; but I trust these rumours
+     are either grossly exaggerated or without any foundation. I am
+     sorry, also, to hear that Nora Lorrimer has met with an accident,
+     but am glad that you are taking care of her, as I know by
+     experience that no one could have a kinder nurse than my good
+     little Hetty. Get every possible thing you can want, my love, for
+     Nan's birthday. Make it a festival to be long remembered by you
+     all. Set your wits to work to make the day a really brilliant one,
+     and expect your loving father, if not to share in the whole of the
+     festivity, at least to be present at a portion of it.
+
+     "Now good-bye, my dear Hester; give my love to Nan, and remember me
+     kindly to your young friend, Miss Forest.--Believe me, your
+     affectionate father,
+
+                              "JOHN THORNTON."
+
+Hester received this letter at breakfast time. She read it through
+gravely--not once, but twice. Annie's gay voice, her peals of merry
+laughter, and her gay and irresistibly funny speeches were diverting the
+attention of Molly, and to a certain extent of Nan; but Nan knew the
+handwriting on the envelope. She was also well aware of the fact that
+the birthday, when she would have the glorious privilege of counting
+nine years as her own, was close at hand. When Hester, therefore, folded
+up the letter, she called to her from the other end of the table.
+
+"Toss it over, Hetty," she said. "I know it's from the Dad; let us hear
+what he says."
+
+"Yes, it is from father," replied Hester in a grave voice.
+
+"May not I read what he says?"
+
+"The beginning part is business."
+
+"Well, I'll skip the business; you can point out where the fun begins.
+What are you looking so mysterious and solemn about? Why may not I read
+the letter?"
+
+Nan looked almost cross; Hester was disturbed. She showed this by
+slipping the letter into her pocket. This fact aroused Annie's
+curiosity, who looked at her with sparkling eyes full of mischief.
+
+"You are a cross-patch," exclaimed Nan in her most spoilt tone. "I never
+knew such a thing. Is not a father's letter meant for one child as well
+as for another?"
+
+"No, Nan, dear, not on this occasion," said Hester in a firm tone. "Now,
+try not to be silly; finish your breakfast, and I will speak to you
+afterwards."
+
+Nan pouted.
+
+"When is Sir John coming back, Hester?" inquired Molly.
+
+"In about a week," replied Hester.
+
+"A week," shouted Nan suddenly recovering her good humour. "Hurrah! my
+birthday will be in a week. My dear, good girls all of you, I am getting
+elderly as fast as possible. I'll be nine in a week; isn't that
+scrumptious? Did Dad say anything about my birthday in that mysterious
+letter, Hetty?"
+
+"He is coming home for your birthday," replied Hester.
+
+"Good, kind, considerate old gentleman," responded Nan in her most
+flippant voice. "Did he say anything more about that great and
+auspicious event, Hetty?"
+
+"He said a great deal more about it; in fact, the largest part of his
+letter was about it; but I'm not going to talk it over now. I propose
+that we all go to Nora's room after breakfast and discuss the letter.
+There is a good deal to discuss, and it is very exciting," continued
+Hester, a flush of brilliant colour coming into her cheeks.
+
+The news that there was a good deal to discuss of an exciting character
+restored even Nan's good humour. Breakfast was hurried over, and Annie
+Forest and Nan rushed off to Nora's room to prepare her for the fact
+that she was soon expected to hold a _levée_, and that the subject under
+discussion was likely to be of a very rousing character.
+
+Molly lingered behind in the breakfast-room; she looked anxiously at
+Hester, who avoided her eyes. Hester did not wish to say anything to
+make Molly unhappy, and she knew that her father's allusion to the
+possible sale of the Towers would fill the poor little girl's heart with
+the most acute misery.
+
+Making a great effort, therefore, to fight down a nameless apprehension
+on her own account, for what important business could be keeping Sir
+John so long away from home, she said in a cheerful voice--
+
+"Now, Molly, we're not going to croak, nor spend the day imagining all
+kinds of unpleasant things. Father has written me a long letter, and
+there are some things in it which I don't quite like; but I am not going
+to talk them over at present. All the end of the letter is taken up with
+Nan's birthday, and that is the matter we have to discuss just now. Come
+along now to the library, and let's get it over."
+
+Nora was still lying flat on her back; but all pain had long left her,
+and she was practically quite well.
+
+The subject of the letter was therefore discussed with intense animation
+by the five eager girls.
+
+Unlimited money, any amount of presents, and _carte blanche_ how to
+spend the birthday in the most agreeable way was surely enough to turn
+the brains of most people.
+
+Many and wild were the plans which Nan proposed.
+
+They would start for a picnic at six in the morning. They would order
+ices from Nortonbury to arrive by special messenger at some impossible
+place at an unearthly hour. They would have bonfires on the top of every
+hill within a reasonable distance. Although it was not Christmas time,
+they would end up with the largest Christmas tree ever seen, and it
+should stand in the centre of the lawn, and every poor child for miles
+round should be invited to see it and to share the wonderful presents
+which should hang from every branch and twig.
+
+Nan's cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright while she made these
+suggestions; but, after all, it was Annie's proposal in the end which
+carried the day.
+
+"Let's have the picnic by all means," she said; "and let all who will go
+to it. If Nan wishes to be charitable, and to think of others rather
+than herself, let her do so; and let all the school children be taken in
+waggons and waggonettes to Friar's Wood or any other beautiful place in
+the neighbourhood, and let Nan herself give them presents before they go
+home. All that, of course, will be very delightful; although, of course,
+neither Nora nor I can be present."
+
+"What do you mean by _your_ not being present?" asked Molly, her brown
+eyes growing dark with anger. "I suppose if anyone is to stay with Nora,
+it ought to be me."
+
+"No, it oughtn't," said Nora. "I wish for Annie; she's more fun."
+
+"And I can't do without you, Molly, darling," interrupted Hester. "You
+always are my right hand when anything important is going on; and then
+you know all the school children by name, which, frankly, I do not."
+
+"Well, now, _do_ hear me out," said Annie; "I have not half done. What I
+say is this, that as Sir John Thornton is so generous, and as he wishes
+everyone in the house to be happy on the day of Nan's birthday, I think
+something should be done to make it up to Nora and me. Now, why
+shouldn't we have a real glorious time in the evening? You have a
+billiard-room in this house, haven't you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Can't we have a ball there?"
+
+"What are we to do with the table?" said Hester.
+
+"Oh," exclaimed Nora, her eyes sparkling, "we have such a heavenly
+ball-room at the Towers; a great enormous room, never used and full of
+rubbish, which can easily be turned out."
+
+"Is there a gallery to that room?" interrupted Annie.
+
+"Yes, at one end."
+
+"Then the whole thing is complete," continued Annie. "We'll have a
+children's fancy ball in the evening, and Nora shall look on from the
+gallery. Nora shall be, in a sort of way, princess of the ceremonies.
+We'll make her up the sweetest dress, and everyone shall come up and
+talk to her; and if presents are to be given away at the end, she shall
+give them. What do you say, girls? Could anything be more perfectly
+lovely than a children's fancy ball in the old ball-room at the Towers?
+Oh, I hope it will be a moonlight night, and the whole place will look
+like fairyland!"
+
+This suggestion was so daring and brilliant that it carried Nora away on
+a storm of enthusiasm immediately. Nan clapped her hands and screamed
+with glee; and even the more sober Hester and Molly could find no
+objections to raise. The ball-room was certainly at the Towers; it
+contained a gallery where the musicians could be, and where, if
+necessary, Nora might rest; it contained what seemed to the children
+like unlimited space, and if to unlimited space unlimited money could
+be added, what brilliant results must be produced!
+
+"If I consent to this," said Hester--"and I think my consent is
+essential--it must be on condition that not a single Lorrimer is put to
+even a shilling's worth of expense. The ball must be Nan's ball; the
+Lorrimers will most kindly give her a room to hold it in, all the rest
+will be our affair. Do you clearly understand, Molly? Do you, Nora?"
+
+"Oh, I understand fast enough," said Nora quickly.
+
+"Yes, I understand," replied Molly in a graver tone.
+
+"Do you agree?"
+
+"Yes," answered Molly.
+
+"Well, your consent being obtained," continued Hester, "I will go with
+you to the Towers this morning, Molly, and look at the ball-room, and
+see Mrs. Lorrimer on the subject."
+
+"The worst of it is," continued Annie, "that we have such a very short
+time to prepare--only one week to make all our fancy dresses and to see
+to all the other arrangements!"
+
+"Fancy dresses!" exclaimed Nora from her sofa. "What am I to wear?"
+
+"You are to be dressed as Queen of the Fairies. You shall lie on a bed
+of rose-leaves, and have gossamer, cloudy sort of drapery all around
+you. Never fear, Nora, you will look lovely--leave it to me."
+
+Nora's eyes sparkled.
+
+"Annie, you're a darling!" she exclaimed, with enthusiasm.
+
+"And what character am I to be, Annie?" cried Nan, pouting her full
+lips. "I'm not jealous, and I don't mind Nora being Queen of the
+Fairies; but please remember that it's my party, and I am really the
+queen of the day."
+
+"So you are, you sweet!" exclaimed Annie. "Don't think for a moment that
+I'll forget you; but you must really give me a little time to think the
+characters over. Suppose I consider everything carefully and jot down a
+few ideas, and suppose we discuss them to-night; and then to-morrow we
+can go to Nortonbury to buy the materials for the dresses."
+
+"But we can't possibly make our own dresses," exclaimed Hester.
+
+"Oh, yes, we can; they'll be twice as original. If you can get in a
+couple of good workwomen to help us, the dresses can easily be made at
+home," exclaimed Annie, her eyes sparkling.
+
+"Hester!" cried Molly, suddenly springing to her feet, "if we are to go
+to the Towers this morning, don't you think we had better start?"
+
+Hester stood up.
+
+"The day is such a delightful one," she said, "that I think we will just
+walk across the fields. I'll run up to my room and fetch my hat and
+gloves, and bring yours down at the same time, Molly."
+
+Five minutes later the two girls had set off. It was now holiday time at
+the Towers, and almost immediately on their arrival they were greeted by
+a whole bevy of children, who rushed up the avenue in a state of
+breathless excitement.
+
+"What do you think, Molly?" exclaimed Kitty, stammering almost in her
+eagerness. "Oh, you'll never guess, for it is so uncommon and
+unexpected--father and mother both went to London this morning?"
+
+"Both--to London?" exclaimed Molly, stepping back a pace or two, while a
+look of surprise, and even consternation, spread itself over her round,
+fair face.
+
+"Dear me, yes!" exclaimed Nell.
+
+"And they were awfully jolly about it," exclaimed Boris; "and mother has
+promised to bring me a rabbit."
+
+"And me a dove," screamed Kitty.
+
+"And perhaps I'm to have a shaggy pony all to myself," exclaimed Nell;
+"but it's only perhaps. It's perhaps, too, with you, Boris, and you,
+Kitty; you oughtn't to forget that."
+
+"Oh, bother perhapses!" exclaimed Kitty. "I know I'm to have my rabbit;
+he's to have lop-ears and long fur, and he's to be snow-white, if
+possible. I described him fully to mother last night when she came to
+tuck me up. I kept pulling my eyes open to stay awake for the purpose."
+
+"And I told mother that I wished for a ring-dove," said Boris. "I want a
+ring-dove awfully, for there's an empty cage in the attic that will just
+fit it. Oh, I do hope, I do hope, that it will come!"
+
+He looked almost sad as he spoke and glanced at Nell, who was not
+looking at him.
+
+"Nell, come here," exclaimed Molly suddenly. "Hester, you can explain to
+Boris and Kitty what you have come about, and they can take you round
+and show you the ball-room. Come along, Nell, I want to talk to you."
+
+Molly put her arm round Nell and drew her down a side walk.
+
+"Now, Nell," she said, "you must explain all this to me. Why has mother
+gone to London? I am not so much surprised about father; father does go
+sometimes, but mother. Why has she gone? Answer me, Nell; tell me what
+you know."
+
+"I don't know anything," said Nell. "Father was out all day yesterday,
+and mother looked very sad. She didn't cry or anything of that sort, of
+course; but she looked sad, and then father came home about tea-time
+quite jolly and in high spirits, and he said something to mother and
+they went into the study together; and then father shouted to Jane
+Macalister to come to them, and Jane went; and presently we were told
+that father and mother were to go to London this morning, and that
+they'd be away perhaps a week, perhaps ten days. Jane told us that, and
+then mother came into the room and she said the same thing, and she
+looked kind of _pretence_-merry you know, and said that _perhaps_ she'd
+bring us back things. It was then Kitty asked for the rabbit, and Boris
+for the dove, and Guy wanted Star-Land and Harry some new carpenter's
+tools, and mother promised everything with a perhaps tacked on; but I
+don't think anyone noticed the perhaps except me, and all the time she
+kept smiling with her lips, but her eyes were so sad."
+
+"And you asked for a pony, Nell?"
+
+Nell coloured crimson.
+
+"No, I didn't," she replied; "but mother turned to me and put her arm
+round me and said, 'If the others get their things you shall have the
+wish of your heart, a shaggy pony.'"
+
+"And what did you say to that, Nell?"
+
+"I whispered back to her that I didn't want her to spend her money; and
+then she kissed me very hard."
+
+"And did father promise things?"
+
+"He said that the house should be refurnished, and that we should go to
+the sea, and he would buy new horses and a lovely carriage for mother.
+Father was lively; I never saw him so gay."
+
+"And they went off this morning?"
+
+"Yes, very early; I wasn't even dressed, but I jumped out of bed and ran
+to the window and saw them driving away."
+
+"And that's all you know, Nell?" exclaimed Molly.
+
+"Yes, that's all I know."
+
+"Now, tell me what you think."
+
+"What I think?" replied Nell. "I--" she hesitated. "No, I'd rather not."
+
+"You must, Nell, you must. Remember I'm your own cosy old Moll; remember
+I understand you, and I'm the eldest girl and mother's right hand.
+There's something that you think very, very hard, Nell, and you have
+wise thoughts, though you are so young. Tell me what they are; tell me
+at once."
+
+Molly knelt on the grass as she spoke and put her arms round Nell, who
+leant up against her and laid her head on her shoulder.
+
+"Now, Nell, speak."
+
+Nell rubbed her cheek against Molly's, as if she found great comfort in
+the contact.
+
+"I think that mother is unhappy," she said, "and that, that we won't get
+the presents."
+
+"Come along and let's find Jane Macalister," exclaimed Molly suddenly.
+She caught Nell's hand and rushed with her towards the house.
+
+When Jane was not teaching, she was, generally, cooking, or mending
+clothes, or putting the store-room in order. Jane never wasted a moment
+of her time, and she was extremely fond of taking up all the loose
+threads of work which other people had dropped. When the girls,
+therefore, now found themselves in the great central hall, and Nell's
+clear, high voice shouted for Jane, the single word, "store-room,"
+seemed to echo back to them from somewhere in the clouds.
+
+The store-room, where the largest supply of preserves and dried goods
+was kept, was high up in the old tower--higher up even than the
+schoolroom.
+
+"You stay downstairs, Nell," exclaimed Molly; "I wish to see Jane
+alone." She reached the spiral stairs, which she began to mount quickly.
+By-and-by with panting breath she arrived at the store-room. The door
+was open, but there was no Jane.
+
+"Where are you, Jane Macalister?" called Molly.
+
+"Linen press," called Jane from still higher up.
+
+Molly mounted once more. Jane, with an old pillow-case pinned round her
+head and a huge apron on, was on her knees sorting feathers.
+
+"What are you doing?" exclaimed Molly.
+
+"Don't speak to me for a moment, Molly; I'm in a perfect rage,"
+exclaimed Jane. "There stand out of the draught, child, or you'll get
+all this fluff into your hair. I have just discovered that the feathers
+put into these last pillows were not properly cured, so I've been
+obliged to take them all out, and I'm sprinkling them with lime. Faugh,
+what a mess the place is in. This is what comes of taking in an
+incompetent kitchen-maid like Susan Hicks. She did not half do the work
+of sorting and curing these feathers. Now, what is it you want, Molly?
+You can see for yourself that I'm up to my eyes in work."
+
+"I can," said Molly. "Well, I'll wait for a moment."
+
+"You'll wait for a moment!" screamed Jane. "I tell you I shan't have
+done for hours. There are at least a dozen pillows to be unpicked and
+their contents well sorted, and sprinkled with lime. I brought up a
+sandwich in my pocket, and don't mean to come downstairs until the job
+is done, and well done, too. Nothing frets me like half-finished work,
+and these pillows would get on my brain at night if I didn't see to
+them."
+
+Molly slowly crossed the linen-press room, and stood by the window.
+
+"There, child," exclaimed Jane, "you're exactly in my light. If you have
+anything to say, say it and have done with it. By the way, how is Nora?
+I hope they're not spoiling her at the Grange."
+
+"Nora is getting on nicely, thank you."
+
+"It was a lucky chance for her," continued Jane, "that she happened to
+be near the Grange when she got hurt. Hester Thornton is sure to give
+her every comfort. Molly, you're exactly in my light."
+
+Molly moved to one side of the window.
+
+Jane Macalister went on vigorously with her work, the fluff from the
+feathers rose in the air, the smell of the lime was pungent.
+
+"Faugh," continued Jane; "here's a lump for you. Susan Hicks, you'd
+better keep out of my way for the present. 'Pon my word! look at this
+quill, why I could make a pen with it; disgraceful, perfectly
+disgraceful. Molly, I wish you wouldn't fidget. What in the world do you
+want to say to me?"
+
+"I want to ask you this," said Molly. "Why has mother gone to London?"
+
+Jane bent low over her work, some fluff got into her nose and made her
+sneeze.
+
+"Look here, Molly," she exclaimed; "your mother went to London with your
+father because she wished to, I suppose."
+
+"Yes, but why did she wish it?"
+
+"That I am not prepared to tell you, my dear."
+
+Molly stamped her foot.
+
+"I wish you'd look at me, Jane," she said, "and leave off fiddling with
+those horrid, detestable feathers. When--when one is quite wretched,
+what do feathers matter? I have come home to find father and mother
+gone."
+
+"And me over the feathers," interrupted Jane. "Well, I suppose people
+want pillows, whether they're happy or miserable. I never knew before,
+at least, that they didn't."
+
+"Jane," said Molly, "you're hiding something from me."
+
+Jane Macalister suddenly rose to her feet. She came up to Molly and took
+her hand. "I didn't know you'd come over this morning, my love," she
+said. "I have been told certain things, and what I'm told in confidence
+cart-ropes won't drag from me. Your father and mother have gone to
+London because there is a hope, just a hope, that terrible trouble may
+be averted. It's all uncertainty, and it's all suspense at present,
+Molly; and those who are cowards will bear it badly, and those who are
+brave will bear it well. That's all I can tell you, my love; and now let
+me get back to the feathers, or I won't have them done by night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE FANCY BALL.
+
+
+The best cure for anxiety, short of removing it altogether, is plenty of
+work. Molly came down from her interview with Jane Macalister with a
+sickening sense of coming disaster filling her heart. Hers was not a
+particularly hopeful nature. By nature she was inclined to look at the
+dark side rather than at the bright. She had plenty of courage and was
+unselfish to a fault; but when she arrived in the hall now and found all
+the rest of the children gathered round Hester and was greeted by peals
+of excited laughter and shouts of excited joy, she would have given a
+great deal to have been able to run away and hide herself.
+
+This was impossible, however; she was dragged into the eager group of
+children, and was obliged not only to listen to their remarks, but to
+make suggestions of her own. In the absence of Mr. and Mrs. Lorrimer,
+Molly had to decide whether the ball-room could be used or not. She
+would have given the world to say no, but scarcely dared to do this with
+all those eager delighted faces gazing at her.
+
+"I am sure mother will consent," she said after a pause. "I will write
+to her to-day and ask her; but I think we may act as if her consent were
+already given. Now, shall we come to the ball-room and see what is
+necessary to be done?"
+
+"Oh, what a darling Molly you are," exclaimed all the other Lorrimers in
+a breath. She found herself whirled in their midst to the old
+ball-room, and the rest of the morning was spent in eager and animated
+discussion.
+
+This magnificent old room was apart from the rest of the house. It was
+entered by a covered way from one of the drawing-rooms; but this
+entrance had long been closed, and the room itself--since the family
+purse had become so low--was only made use of as a play-room for the
+children in wet weather, and as a place for all kinds of lumber and
+rubbish. Hester and Molly were neither of them artistic in their tastes
+or ideas, but they were intensely practical in all they said and did.
+Molly proposed that the room should be first cleared out and thoroughly
+cleaned, and that early on the following morning Annie Forest should
+come and see it. The room was lit by seven tall Gothic windows, and had
+a high arched roof of oak. Round the windows the thick ivy which only
+years can produce hung in heavy masses. Some of this must be cleared
+away, and some light draperies must relieve the dark tone of the walls.
+The gallery was pronounced sufficiently sound for the band to stand
+there, and Annie's original idea of placing Nora in the gallery as a
+sort of queen of the ceremonies was superseded by a better one. She was
+to have a special throne made for her at the other end of the ball-room.
+There she would not only see perfectly, but would also be seen. It
+seemed simple enough to have a ball in such a lovely room, and Hester
+arranged to send some men over that very afternoon to begin the work of
+clearing out the rubbish.
+
+"We don't wish to take possession of the Towers," she said. "We only
+want the loan of the ball-room, and of this delightful lawn just
+beyond, where we can put up a marquee or tent."
+
+"No, no," exclaimed Molly, "it must be all or nothing. You know how big
+our entrance hall is, Hester, and those great half-empty drawing rooms.
+The whole ground floor is to be at your disposal. If we do it at all,
+let it be a real merry-making. It will be nice to have a merry-making
+once again at the Towers."
+
+Molly sighed as she spoke. Hester glanced at her, and the remark in her
+father's letter flashed through her brain.
+
+While the others were planning and talking at least twenty words to the
+dozen, Nell was looking solemnly up at the tall windows with an
+expression of ecstacy on her small face. Boris came up presently and
+pulled her hand.
+
+"What are you in a brown study for?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, Boris," she exclaimed, flashing round on him; "it is more a white
+dream than a brown study. Fancy this room all lit with Chinese lanterns
+and the moon outside, and us sitting up until twelve o'clock, and music,
+Boris, and everybody dancing. The story books will have come true--oh,
+it will be too lovely."
+
+"I'm thinking of the supper," said Boris. "I expect I'll get awful
+peckish sitting up so late. I hope there'll be jellies--I love jellies;
+don't you, Nell?"
+
+"Yes; I heard Hester say there was to be a real band. I wonder if
+they'll play any of the airs out of _Faust_. I do so love the Soldier's
+Chorus, don't you?"
+
+"Yes; I'll march to it when I'm big. Nell, do you think I'll be allowed
+to have as many cakes as I wish, and _paté de foie gras_? I tasted it
+once and 'twas ripping."
+
+"I like it, too, rather," said Nell in a contemplative voice. "I mean to
+be a fairy in the dance, though, and I'll have wings. Wings! how I wish
+they'd bear me upward."
+
+"Oh, do come out," exclaimed Boris. "I want to show you my dove's cage;
+it was ever so musty, but I've cleaned it out, and it's as sweet as a
+nut now."
+
+The children left the room, and a few moments later Hester and Molly
+returned to the Grange.
+
+That evening Annie Forest had a very comprehensive scheme drawn out with
+regard to the proposed characters which the different members of the
+party were to adopt. Molly would make an ideal shepherdess. Hester was
+to be in white, and was to represent St Agnes. Nora was to be Queen of
+the Fairies, and Nan little Bo-Peep. Annie had not yet decided on her
+own character, but was strongly inclined to act the part of a gipsy.
+Annie further suggested that it would save a great deal of trouble and
+have a decidedly pretty effect if all the girls under twelve years of
+age were dressed as white fairies, with wings, and all the boys of the
+same age as brownies. She considered that so many fairies and brownies
+would have a very picturesque effect, and would help to throw up the gay
+_bizarre_ colours of the older girls and boys.
+
+Her suggestion was immediately adopted, and Hester and Molly sat down
+then and there to write invitations.
+
+Besides the Lorrimers, about a hundred and forty other children were
+invited, and the girls expected that quite sixty or seventy of these
+would take the parts of fairies and brownies.
+
+"You don't know how relieved the mothers will be," exclaimed Annie.
+"When people have no imagination it is the most difficult thing in the
+world to think of a dress for a fancy ball which has not been adopted
+dozens and dozens of times before. Please keep the notes open for a
+moment, Hester, for I mean to slip into each of them some very simple
+directions with regard to the dress, which will insure our having a
+certain amount of uniformity."
+
+Annie was in her element now, and even Molly was constrained to admire
+the absolute genius which she showed in all matters which required tact
+and brisk, quick work. Annie could write fluently, and her little slips
+of paper, with their simple and plain directions, were soon ready, and
+Molly and Hester set to work making copies of them as fast as they
+could. The letters of invitation were all posted before they went to bed
+that night. Nora shut her eyes to dream of herself as queen of the
+fairies, and Molly and Hester sat down to write letters which required a
+little more thought than the invitations which had just been got
+through. Hester wrote--
+
+     "DEAR FATHER,
+
+     "I am sorry you are still away; I like to feel that I am of use to
+     you. Whenever you come back you will have a hearty welcome from me.
+     We are all well here and the weather is splendid; even Nora is
+     quite well, although the doctor says she must lie on her back for
+     some weeks longer. Annie is still with us, and Molly has been
+     staying here to help look after Nora; not that she is wanted much
+     for that post, for Annie is the most indefatigable nurse, and Nora
+     simply adores her. But Molly is great company for me and I am
+     delighted to have her, she is such a dear girl. I hope what you say
+     about Squire Lorrimer is not true. I can see that Molly is very
+     anxious, and the Squire and Mrs. Lorrimer have just gone to London,
+     which is quite unusual. There is evidently something the matter,
+     but none of the children have been told what it is. How I wish you
+     could help the Squire, father. I know you are very very rich, and
+     oh, it will break Molly's heart if they have to leave the dear old
+     Towers. Now, I must talk to you about Nan's birthday. We are going
+     to have a children's ball in the old ball-room at the Towers. It is
+     going to be quite lovely. Annie is designing our dresses. She makes
+     us all quite enthusiastic, she has such exquisite taste. I hope you
+     will come home in time to see us in our pretty dresses. I am to be
+     St. Agnes, and Annie says that I shall look like a dream! Did you
+     ever think that your sensible Hetty would talk such folly?--Your
+     affectionate daughter,
+
+                              "HESTER THORNTON."
+
+Hester finished her letter, folded it up, and addressed it. She then
+glanced towards Molly, whose fair head was bent low over the sheet of
+paper which she was filling. She wrote--
+
+     "DARLING MOTHER,
+
+     "I went to the Towers this morning with Hester and found that you
+     had gone. Is anything the matter? Oh, if I had been at home you
+     might have told me. I can't bear either you or father to have a
+     burden that I don't share. I feel anxious and unhappy, but I will
+     try very hard to be brave. Nonie is getting on so nicely, and Annie
+     Forest is very kind to her. Mother, darling, there is going to be a
+     great big party on the fifteenth, Nan's birthday, and Hester and
+     Nora and Annie and I are very anxious that it should be a
+     children's ball--a fancy ball, you know, mother, and that it should
+     be held in our beautiful old ball-room. It is the Thorntons' party,
+     and they will go to all the expense, but they haven't a big room
+     like ours, so I thought we might lend them the big hall and the
+     drawing-rooms and the ball-room, and they are beginning
+     preparations already. If by any chance you or father object, will
+     you send me a telegram to-morrow? I wish I could kiss you
+     good-night.--Your most loving
+
+                              "MOLLY."
+
+Molly's letter was also directed and stamped, and when these important
+epistles had been taken to the post, the whole household went to bed.
+
+That is, with one exception.
+
+Annie Forest, notwithstanding her gaiety and the high spirits she had
+been in all day, had a care upon her mind.
+
+It was three weeks now since the day when Mrs. Martin had pawned Mrs.
+Willis's beautiful ring for the small sum of thirty shillings. That
+thirty shillings had purchased cambric and embroidery and lace, and even
+a few knots of coloured ribbon, to make three charming frocks for Nora
+Lorrimer, but alack and alas, though the frocks lay neatly folded up in
+their drawer waiting to be worn on the first festive occasion, poor
+Annie had not the faintest idea how to get back the ring. That morning's
+post had certainly been an important one. It had not only brought a
+letter for Hester which had nearly turned the heads of two households,
+but had brought Annie two epistles of a profoundly and painfully
+interesting character. One was from her father, telling her that he must
+postpone sending her her usual birthday present for a time, and the
+other was from Mrs. Willis herself. Mrs. Willis wrote from Paris. She
+was staying there for a short time on her way home, and asked Annie to
+send her the diamond ring without delay by registered post. The ring was
+of a very antique pattern and she wished to have it copied for a wedding
+present for one of her pupils.
+
+     "Try and post it to me at once, dear," she said, "for I shall not
+     be in Paris after Saturday. I return to London that day and shall
+     very likely accept Hester Thornton's invitation to come to the
+     Grange for a few days. You shall then have the ring back to make
+     your finger look smart for the remainder of your visit. I am
+     writing in great haste in order to catch this post, so do not fail
+     me, my love. The ring will be perfectly safe if you register it.
+     My dear love to Hester and Nan, and much to yourself.--Your
+     affectionate
+
+                              "M. WILLIS."
+
+Annie had glanced her eyes quickly over the contents of this disquieting
+letter at breakfast time, but it was only now, in the solitude of her
+own room, that she ventured to take it out and study it. What was she to
+do? How could she possibly get the ring out of pawn without any money to
+redeem it? She dared not confide this trouble to Mrs. Martin. She
+thought and thought until her head ached and her bright eyes looked
+dull.
+
+What kind of man was the pawnbroker? Why were pawnbrokers called uncles?
+Was it because they were really good-natured and helpful? She wondered
+if it might be possible for her to induce the pawnbroker to let her have
+the ring out on condition that she paid for it by instalments? If he
+really was quite a good-natured order of uncle, he might consent to such
+an arrangement. Annie felt, however, that it would be useless to get
+Mrs. Martin to make such terms with him.
+
+"She was very proud about him," thought Annie. "She did not wish to go
+to him at all. I'm afraid he's disagreeable. I'm afraid he's not the
+sort of man who would help a girl out of a difficulty. What _shall_ I
+do? The ring _must_ go to-morrow if Mrs. Willis is to do anything with
+it before she leaves Paris. It ought to have gone to-day, but to-morrow
+is the very last, the very last chance. We are all going to Nortonbury
+to-morrow to buy the materials for the dresses. Oh, suppose I go and see
+the pawnbroker and tell him of my difficulty, and assure him that I will
+honestly pay him back that money if he will only let me have the ring
+again. I have four shillings still in my purse, and father's sovereign
+will be certain to come sooner or later. I could show uncle father's
+letter, he would then see that I was not humbugging. I expect he would
+like me to call him uncle, as it seems to be _the_ name. Yes, I really
+think I will go, but I must on no account whatever let Mrs. Martin or
+Molly or Hester know anything about this. I should rather like to
+confide in Nora, for she would think it no end of a lark; but if I did,
+the poor darling would know that I had got into all this trouble on
+account of her dresses, and that would simply never do. Yes, there seems
+nothing for it but to visit my uncle, the pawnbroker."
+
+Annie presently laid her head on her pillow and went to sleep.
+
+When she awoke in the morning she still thought an appeal to the
+pawnbroker the only available solution of her difficulty. The girls were
+much excited about their gay shopping, and the landau was ordered to be
+round at an early hour to convey Hester, Nan, Molly, and Annie to
+Nortonbury. Nora had to resign herself to the company of her nurse, but
+her thoughts were so full of pleasurable anticipations that under the
+circumstances she did not mind the loss of her favourite Annie.
+
+Before starting, Annie ran quickly round to Mrs. Martin's rooms.
+
+"Here I am," she exclaimed in her bright way. "I have just rushed up to
+say good morning to you before we start. You have heard of all the fun
+that we are going to have, haven't you, nursey?"
+
+"Folly, I call it," said nurse. "Throwing away good money on fallals and
+wings and clouds. Miss Nan was up here last night so late that I
+thought I'd never get her to bed, bamboozling me with stories of all the
+children round the country being turned into fairies, which you know,
+Miss Annie, is sheer nonsense and impossible to do, and Miss Nora, who
+has narrowly escaped her death, is to lie on rose leaves with clouds
+under her. The folly of it is beyond belief, even if it can be done,
+which I sincerely hope it can't. In old days people took their pleasures
+properly. Children were kept in the nursery and were sent early to bed,
+and young ladies were presented to her Gracious Majesty the Queen, and
+then went to balls in good stiff silks and no wings nor clouds about
+'em. They met the gentlemen they were to marry at the balls, and then
+there was a proper wedding breakfast and all the rest, as it should be.
+I don't hold with the scarum days of the present."
+
+"Look here, nursey," exclaimed Annie, "the fairies will look lovely, and
+I'll show you myself how innocent and simple the clouds are, and as to
+the wings, I'll make a pair for you if you like."
+
+"No, thank you, Miss Annie, I hope I know what's due to myself."
+
+"Well, I must run away," continued Annie. "You know we're just off to
+Nortonbury."
+
+"So I hear, miss."
+
+"It was to Nortonbury you went when you sold my ring; you were a dear to
+do it."
+
+"I wouldn't do it for no one else, miss, and I don't know even now how I
+came to demean myself by such a job."
+
+"Was," said Annie in an almost trembling voice, "was the uncle very
+disagreeable, then?"
+
+"Miss Forest, such a word oughtn't to pass your lips."
+
+"Why so, nurse? I cannot imagine why you dislike such helpful people."
+
+"We won't argue the point," said nurse; "the subject is not suited to
+the young."
+
+Annie fidgeted. Nan's voice was heard down stairs shouting for her.
+
+"Nurse," she said in sudden desperation, "I want to get the ring back;
+tell me the name of the uncle."
+
+A look of relief came over Mrs. Martin's face.
+
+"I'd be glad if you had that valuable ring again," she said. "Have you
+got the money for it? It would be thirty-two shillings; thirty shillings
+for the loan and two shillings interest."
+
+"Annie, we're all waiting," shouted Nan.
+
+"Oh, do tell me the address," said Annie.
+
+"You had better let me get the ring out of pawn for you, miss."
+
+"No, no, I must get it to-day."
+
+"Have you got the money, Miss Forest?"
+
+"What would be the use of going if I hadn't?" prevaricated Annie.
+
+"Well, but you're not going to take my young ladies to a pawnbroker's?"
+
+"No, I promise not to take any of them; I'll go alone, quite alone. You
+may trust me, really. Oh, nursey, nursey, I'm in such trouble."
+
+Again the bright lovely eyes and sweet voice did their work.
+
+Mrs. Martin fumbled for her keys, and taking a small piece of blue paper
+out of her work-box, put it into Annie's hand.
+
+"There," she said. "I'm sorry I ever made or meddled with this thing.
+Mind you don't take one of my young ladies with you."
+
+"I promise," said Annie. She thrust the paper into her pocket and rushed
+from the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+POOR MRS. MYRTLE.
+
+
+The girls spent a busy morning in Nortonbury, and if Annie had any care
+on her mind she certainly did not show it. She was a splendid girl to go
+shopping with. She could make up her mind quickly with regard to the
+exact material she required. Her choice was practically made before she
+entered a shop, her taste in colour and texture was excellent, and with
+her to guide them, Hester and Molly got through their business with
+great celerity. Many parcels were piled up on the front seat of the
+landau, but work as they would, the girls could not get through their
+necessary shopping in the morning. Hester therefore determined to lunch
+at a restaurant which she knew well, and to finish buying the rest of
+the materials for the fancy dresses before they returned to the Grange.
+It was while they were at lunch that Annie seized the opportunity to
+secure a few moments to herself. She had not yet had time even to glance
+at the address which nurse had given her on the little slip of blue
+paper. But it was now or never, if she were to seek the pawnbroker
+without the others discovering where she was going.
+
+Hester had ordered a very tempting lunch, and Nan was attacking her
+nicely roasted chicken and bread sauce with appetite, when Annie,
+snatching up a sandwich, sprang suddenly to her feet.
+
+"I'm not hungry," she exclaimed, "and as there is so much to be done, I
+won't waste time eating. Mrs. Willis wrote to me yesterday and asked me
+to send her a small parcel. It contains a ring which she lent me, and as
+it ought to be registered, I will go to the post-office now and get it
+done while you are at lunch."
+
+"But you really must eat something first," exclaimed Hester. "You will
+be ill if you don't; the carriage is to call for us in a few minutes,
+and you may just as well drive to the post-office in it; you would do it
+in half the time."
+
+"But I would rather walk," replied Annie. "I am perfectly sick of
+driving. I see by Nan's face that lunch will be quite an affair of half
+an hour, and I'll be back long before then."
+
+She left the shop before Hester had time to remonstrate, and the next
+moment found herself in the street.
+
+"Now for it," she exclaimed, a little catch of excitement in her breath.
+She took out her purse, opened it, and removing the slip of blue paper,
+looked at the words written on it. The address rather surprised her. It
+was a fancy goods shop, and was kept by a woman of the name of Myrtle.
+
+     "MRS. MYRTLE,
+       "Haberdashery and Fancy Goods Warehouse,
+        "30, Eden Street,"
+
+was the address on the sheet of paper.
+
+Annie had never in the course of her life come in contact with a live
+pawnbroker, but she had a vague idea that pawnbrokers were of the male
+species, and that they invariably had three gilt balls over their
+establishments.
+
+She was relieved rather than otherwise to find that this pawnbroker was
+of the female sex, and fancied that it would be easier to deal with her
+on this account. A policeman directed her to Eden Street, which was a
+thoroughly respectable broad thoroughfare off the High Street.
+
+Annie walked quickly until she came to number thirty. Then, raising her
+eyes and seeing Mrs. Myrtle's name over the door, she boldly entered.
+The shop was the sort that ladies delight in. One side of it was
+entirely devoted to the best class of haberdashery, the other was
+extremely attractive with coloured wools and silks, and all sorts of
+materials for crewel and other fancy works. A thin, pale girl, of about
+sixteen, was attending to the haberdashery department, and a little old
+lady, with pink cheeks, bright dark eyes and white hair, was busily
+serving several customers at the fancy goods side.
+
+Annie had to wait until these customers had completed their business.
+The girl who had charge of the haberdashery asked if she could serve
+her.
+
+"I wish to speak to Mrs. Myrtle," replied Annie in a decided tone. The
+little woman raised her head at hearing her own name pronounced, and
+said in a respectful voice--
+
+"I'll be at leisure to serve you in a moment, miss."
+
+"She seems very nice," said Annie to herself; "she has a decidedly kind
+face. What can there be objectionable in pawnbrokers, if she is one?
+Perhaps I'd better call her aunt; she'll be sure to like it."
+
+In a couple of moments Mrs. Myrtle was at leisure, and Annie went up to
+the counter. Now that the critical instant had come, she felt her heart
+beating quickly, and knew that her cheeks were pale. Annie could look
+wonderfully pathetic when any emotion stirred her. She had a voice full
+of vibrations, and her eyes could assume the dumb pleading expression of
+a dog's.
+
+"I want to speak to you about a very private matter," she said, looking
+full at Mrs. Myrtle.
+
+The little woman could not help giving her a glance of great surprise.
+What could such a pretty, nicely-dressed young lady want with her; then
+suddenly it flashed through her mind that Annie must want to buy a
+present; perhaps the present was for her sweetheart; if so, the state of
+affairs was perfectly natural.
+
+"Yes, miss," she said, in a cordial voice of sympathy, "but Netty, my
+niece, is a bit deaf and won't hear a word you're saying. I have got
+some really nice things, miss, and quite suitable; tobacco pouches made
+of different coloured plushes, and flowers traced very beautifully on
+them; you could work the pouch yourself, miss, and it would look most
+suitable; then I've got braces, too; they're quite the newest thing, and
+can be embroidered with any colour, and cases for gentlemen's evening
+ties, they really are very new; shall I show you some, miss?"
+
+"Oh, no, thank you," said Annie in a choking voice. "I'm in an awful
+hurry and I don't want to buy any present for a gentleman; I don't know
+any gentleman except my father well enough to think of giving presents
+to. No, no, I don't want to buy anything, but I want--I want you to give
+me something, aunt."
+
+Mrs. Myrtle looked at Annie as if she were now quite sure that the poor
+pretty young lady was not quite right in her head. She did not speak at
+all, but waited for Annie to continue.
+
+"You're a female pawnbroker, are you not?" said Annie.
+
+"A female what, my dear?" said Mrs. Myrtle, her face growing crimson.
+This was really the last straw. "I don't understand you, miss," she said
+in a stiff tone. "I have nothing whatever to do with the trade you
+indicate."
+
+Just then some ladies, very good customers, entered the shop.
+
+"You'll excuse me for a moment, miss," said Mrs. Myrtle; "but if you
+don't want to buy, I shall be obliged to leave you to attend to my
+customers. Good morning, Lady Dalgetty; what can I show your ladyship?"
+
+Poor Annie found herself pushed into a corner. Lady Dalgetty and her
+suite occupied all Mrs. Myrtle's attention. Even the humble-looking
+Netty was busy serving out spools of cotton, needles, and pins to a
+prim-looking lady. Neither of the women in the shop had a moment to
+attend to Annie's sore need.
+
+She began to think that Mrs. Myrtle was not so kind as she looked, and
+to understand a little of nurse's repugnance to the pawnbroker class.
+
+"They must be low people," she murmured to herself; "for this woman
+won't even own to the fact that she is a pawnbroker."
+
+The shop became empty once more; and Mrs. Myrtle, who was really quite
+as kind hearted as she looked, raised her eyes, and encountered a very
+forlorn glance from Annie.
+
+"Poor, pretty young lady," she said to herself. "She's gone in the head
+without any manner of doubt, calling me aunt, and asking me if I'm a
+female pawnbroker; but I'd best humour her a bit, and try to find out
+who she belongs to."
+
+Accordingly Mrs. Myrtle called Annie back to the counter in a kind
+voice.
+
+"I can attend to you now, miss," she said; "but if you have anything to
+say, perhaps you'll say it quickly, for this is market day, and heaps of
+farmer's wives come in for no end of small matters."
+
+"Do they pawn rings, and then take them out by degrees in instalments?"
+asked poor Annie in an eager voice.
+
+"Poor, poor young lady, she's very, very bad," murmured Mrs. Myrtle to
+herself.
+
+"I couldn't say for positive, miss," she replied, "that a farmer's wife
+has never pawned a ring; but if they are reduced to such straits, I know
+nothing about it."
+
+"Then you are not a pawnbroker yourself?"
+
+"I am _not_, miss. Wouldn't you like to come into my parlour and rest a
+bit if you're tired, and maybe you'll tell me your name?"
+
+"She's getting quite kind again," thought Annie. "Of course she is a
+pawnbroker, but she doesn't like to own it; it evidently is a very
+disgraceful calling."
+
+"My name is Annie Forest," she said; "and I'm not at all tired, thank
+you, aunt. You don't mind me calling you aunt, do you? for we always
+call the men in your trade uncles."
+
+"I hope heaven will preserve my patience," muttered poor Mrs. Myrtle.
+"I must get this young lady to her friends whatever happens. Netty!"
+
+"Oh, don't call Netty here," exclaimed Annie. "Now, look here, do you
+see this piece of blue paper?"
+
+"Yes, miss. It's my address, sure and certain."
+
+"Do you know the handwriting?"
+
+"Well, I can't say that I do; it seems a sort of an ordinary hand, don't
+it, miss?"
+
+"Is Mrs. Martin, who lives at the Grange, a friend of yours?" asked
+Annie suddenly.
+
+Mrs. Myrtle's face glowed all over with pleased relief.
+
+"Mrs. Martin of the Grange," she exclaimed, "old nurse to Miss Hester
+and Miss Nan Thornton? I should rather think she is a friend of mine. I
+have known her ever since we went to school together, and that's many a
+year ago."
+
+"Oh, how glad I am," exclaimed Annie; "then I am sure, quite sure, you
+will be kind to me. You will do what I ask for the sake of your friend
+Mrs. Martin. You won't mind just confiding to me that you are a
+pawnbroker? I promise most faithfully not to call you aunt if you really
+dislike it."
+
+"I'm afraid I don't understand you, Miss Forest. I am _not_ a
+pawnbroker; not one of my belongings would own to such a trade; and if
+Patty Martin gave you to understand that I am, I'll quarrel with her,
+late as it is in the day."
+
+"But she pawned a ring to you," said Annie; "an old-fashioned gold ring
+with one big diamond in the middle. You lent her thirty shillings on it,
+and the interest is two shillings. That ring is mine. She did pawn a
+ring to you, did she not?"
+
+A light at last broke over Mrs. Myrtle's face.
+
+"Well, well," she exclaimed; "I begin to see what you're driving at.
+Won't I have a crow to pick with Patty Martin for this. No, no, miss,
+she pawned no ring to me; but she gave me a diamond ring to keep for her
+early one morning about three weeks ago. 'And keep it safe until I ask
+for it, Martha Myrtle,' said she; and safe I will keep it until then,
+Miss Annie Forest."
+
+"But it's my ring," said Annie in great distress. "You'll give it back
+to me now when I ask for it?"
+
+"I'll give it back to Patty Martin, miss, and to no one else."
+
+"Oh, but really, really, don't you understand? It's _my_ ring."
+
+"I've only your word for that, miss. It was given to me by Mrs. Martin."
+
+"But I know Patty Martin would let you give it back to me. Why, she gave
+me your address and told me to go to you; and I thought, of course, you
+were a pawnbroker."
+
+"Won't I have a crow to pluck with her for this?" exclaimed Mrs. Myrtle.
+"Pawnbroker, indeed! Why my poor mother who's dead would rise up from
+her grave if she thought I was called by such a name. No, miss, I'm
+sorry not to oblige, but Mrs. Martin gave me the ring to keep for her,
+and she must come herself to fetch it away, for to no one else will I
+give it."
+
+Some farmers' wives, looking flourishing and handsome and full of
+purpose, now entered the shop. Mrs. Myrtle devoted all her energies to
+serving them, and poor Annie with sinking heart had to go away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+"THE WAY OF TRANSGRESSORS."
+
+
+The week that followed passed all too quickly. There was no hitch
+whatever in the girls' plans. Mrs. Lorrimer wrote to Molly to express
+her complete satisfaction with the arrangement proposed by Hester. The
+workwomen who had now taken up their abode at the Grange were both
+efficient and clever. With Annie's help the different dresses began to
+assume form and completion with marvellous rapidity. Annie was the life
+and soul of the dressmaking. She sketched pictures of the proposed
+toilettes; she coloured these sketches; then she tried on and cut out,
+and basted, and tacked. She helped to hang draperies and to arrange the
+wings of the fairies. The women became interested themselves in such an
+artistic assistant, and did everything in their power to help her. At
+the Towers the ball-room began to show its noble proportions to the best
+advantage. Hester and Annie and Nan and Molly went backwards and
+forwards at all hours of the day. By Monday evening, the ball-room was
+in complete order. Every possible direction was given with regard to the
+different refreshments, and the last stitch in the pretty fancy dresses
+had been done. The news of Nan's fancy ball had spread far and wide.
+Almost every invitation met with an acceptance, and the Thornton and
+Lorrimer households were borne forward just at present on a full tide of
+victorious excitement. Even Molly felt herself obliged to enter into
+the full spirit of the fun. Not a murmur of anxiety from her father and
+mother in London reached her. Mrs. Lorrimer, in writing to Molly, had
+assumed as cheerful a tone as possible; she had alluded to no possible
+care, had hinted at no canker root of possible trouble. She had said, it
+is true, that it was rather unlikely that she and the Squire would
+return in time for the ball; but if this could not be managed, she hoped
+the children would enjoy themselves to the full in their absence; and
+finally, she said how heartily she rejoiced in the thought of their
+having such a delightful time. Hester also forgot the small worrying
+thought which came to her now and again about her father, in this week
+of rush and pleasure. Hester was by nature a very quiet-mannered girl,
+but she became nearly as lively now as Annie; she laughed, and joked,
+and danced, and skipped until Mrs. Martin, who watched her from the
+nursery window, began to shake her head gravely, and to say that such
+mirth was not "fey" as she expressed it, and that it surely forbode a
+season of gloom by-and-by.
+
+Annie's high spirits being natural to her, no one specially noticed
+them, and according to her custom, she put dull care aside and was as
+lively as she looked.
+
+It is true that she had been obliged to ignore Mrs. Willis's letter; it
+is true that the ring was still being jealously guarded by that dreadful
+Mrs. Myrtle, for Annie had not the courage to ask Mrs. Martin for it.
+The whole situation was now quite plain; Mrs. Martin had never gone near
+the pawnbroker's, but had lent Annie the money herself. Why she had
+parted with the ring under these circumstances was a problem which poor
+Annie could not attempt to fathom. All she could do now was to abide the
+issue of events as patiently as possible. All her life long she had
+found that, somehow or other, matters did right themselves for her, and
+she trusted to her usual good luck on this occasion.
+
+The preparations were almost all completed for the fancy ball by Monday
+night. Nan's birthday would be on Wednesday. No second letter had
+arrived from Sir John Thornton, and Hester wondered whether he would be
+present on the birthday or not. The day was to be one long scene of
+triumph for the young birthday queen. Annie and Hester both stole out of
+bed at an early hour that morning, and going out into the garden, they
+picked baskets full of flowers with the dew on them, with which they
+made wreaths to decorate the breakfast table, and to cover the piles of
+presents which lay not only on Nan's plate, but all round it.
+
+As soon as Nan appeared in the breakfast-room, Annie tripped up to her,
+bent on one knee as if to a liege lady, told her that she was her lawful
+sovereign for that entire day, and then begged leave to crown the
+birthday queen with flowers. Nan's cheeks were flushed already, and her
+eyes bright with excitement. Molly came in by-and-by, and Nora, who was
+now much better, was wheeled into the room on her sofa. She wore the
+white cambric dress which Annie had made for her. Her dark hair was
+swept back from her pretty, low forehead, her cheeks had roses in them,
+and her eyes sparkled.
+
+"Molly, Molly," she exclaimed, "look at me, look at me. Now you know the
+secret of the locked door. Annie made me this frock; she had some bits
+of cambric over from dresses of her own, and she made this and a blue
+one, and a pink one also; I have the other two in my drawer; I know they
+are all sweetly becoming, aren't they? It's nearly as good as having a
+_trousseau_. Oh, do kiss me and congratulate me, Molly; you know how I
+have always longed for pretty dresses. Was not it perfectly _darling_ of
+Annie to make them for me?"
+
+Before Molly could reply a loud exclamation from Hester turned all eyes
+in her direction.
+
+"What do you think?" she exclaimed. "The crowning bliss of our day is
+come. Nan, you will never guess. Annie, dear, how charmed you will be.
+Here is a letter from Mrs. Willis; she expects to reach Nortonbury by
+the mid-day train, and asks me to send to meet her. Oh, dear, this is
+lovely. I have not seen my dear Mrs. Willis for over a year. What a rest
+and comfort it will be to talk to her again. Molly, you will delight in
+her; she is just the woman to captivate you completely. Nora, you will
+lose your heart to her, too. I don't know what wonderful thing there is
+about her; she is so strong, so noble, so gentle, that she wins all
+hearts; it is impossible for anybody to be naughty when Mrs. Willis is
+in the house. Nan, the arrival of Mrs. Willis on your birthday is the
+happiest possible omen for the whole year. Oh, how truly rejoiced I am!"
+
+"Yes, it's awfully jolly of her to come," said Nan. "Of course I'm very
+fond of her, but I hope she won't remind me of my holiday task, for,
+frankly, I have not looked at it yet, and I don't mean to do so until
+the last week of the holidays. Now, do let's all begin breakfast; even
+though I am queen, I happen to have an appetite. Annie, what are you in
+a brown study about? Why, you look quite pale!"
+
+"I expect Annie is so glad about Mrs. Willis that she can scarcely
+speak," said Hester, glancing at her friend in an affectionate manner.
+"Yes, we had better get breakfast through. I shall give Mrs. Willis the
+maple room, with that lovely west view. There is a little sitting-room
+which goes with it, where she can be quiet whenever she wants to be
+quiet. How glad nursey will be when she hears that dear Mrs. Willis is
+coming."
+
+Hester began to perform the duties of tea-maker in a rather abstracted
+manner. As she kept on filling up cups of tea, she also glanced from
+time to time at the letter which gave her such delight.
+
+"It is such a surprise," she said; "perhaps that is half the pleasure."
+
+"Please don't put any more sugar into my tea," exclaimed Annie in an
+almost cross voice; "you know I never touch sugar, and that is the
+fourth lump."
+
+"Oh, I am sorry," exclaimed Hester; "I'll take that cup and you shall
+have mine."
+
+"You put five lumps into your own cup, I watched you; oh, dear, it
+doesn't matter, of course."
+
+"No, it doesn't matter," said Hester, still reading her letter. "Molly,
+will you pass the tea on, please. Oh, yes, I'll have some honey; you can
+put a piece on my plate if you like."
+
+"The only plate you have before you at present contains eggs and bacon,"
+exclaimed Molly. "I think I won't help the honey for a few minutes."
+
+"This is a delightful surprise," murmured Hester; "but, dear me, it is
+rather strange, Mrs. Willis says she wrote to you last week, Annie, and
+said that she would try to give us a couple of days at the Grange on her
+way back to Lavender House. How was it you never mentioned it?"
+
+There was just a pause long enough to be noticed before Annie replied.
+
+"I did not get the letter," she said then, in a steady voice.
+
+She hated herself the moment she had uttered the words. She felt as if
+she had fallen from a height, and was lying maimed and bruised, bleeding
+and ugly in some dismal abyss; but all the time her eyes looked bright
+and her face was cheerful.
+
+Hester exclaimed, "How strange! what a pity! How could the letter have
+gone astray?" but other thoughts soon chased this one from her mind.
+
+Breakfast being over the young housekeeper had much to attend to.
+
+Nora held out her hand to Annie, who stooped down and kissed her
+affectionately.
+
+"Are you really glad that she is coming?" asked Nora.
+
+"Of course I am, Nonie; she is--" a stab went through Annie's
+heart--"she is my best friend."
+
+"Is she really as good as Hester says she is?" continued Nora.
+
+"Yes, yes, better; no one quite knows how good she is."
+
+"I shall be afraid of her," said Nora shuddering. "I hate such perfectly
+good people; they make me feel small and mean."
+
+Annie took up a basket of flowers, and began deftly to form them into
+wreaths for the further decoration of the ball-room.
+
+"It's dreadful to feel mean," she said almost in a whisper.
+
+"You can't surely know what it means," replied Nora.
+
+"Oh, can't I though; don't let's talk of it any more. I like you in
+white, Nora. White, toned with lace and coloured ribbons, makes a
+charming dress for you. You have such a pretty face. It is so full of
+_esprit_--so _piquant_. Some day you will be a beautiful woman."
+
+"As beautiful as you are?" asked Nora. "I don't desire to be more
+beautiful than you."
+
+"In some ways you will be more beautiful," replied Annie. "I don't
+pretend that I am not pretty, I know I am; but in some ways you will be
+superior to me. You will have a greater air of distinction. _Noblesse
+oblige_ will be abundantly manifested in you. Oh, yes," continued Annie,
+"it is all very fine for us _parvenus_ to despise race. We don't really
+despise it; we adore it, we envy it; we can never, never, never get what
+race confers."
+
+"How excitedly you talk," said Nora; "you seem angry about something."
+
+"I am angry with myself," said Annie; "my low ways and my meanness.
+_Noblesse oblige_ has nothing to do with me. Now, look here, Nora,
+forget all this rubbishy talk; be thankful that you are a beautiful girl
+of good family, who could not do a shabby action. I must leave you now,
+for Mrs. Willis is coming, and I should like to go into Nortonbury to
+meet her."
+
+Annie ran off to find Hester.
+
+"Hester," she exclaimed, "may I go in the carriage to Nortonbury to meet
+Mrs. Willis?"
+
+"That is an excellent idea," said Hester; "take Molly with you, the
+drive will do her good. I am so busy this morning that I can scarcely be
+spared from home. Yes, that is an excellent idea. I was wondering who
+would go to meet her."
+
+Molly was very pleased to accompany Annie to Nortonbury, and Annie was
+glad of her company. Molly would be a sort of shield to her; not that it
+really mattered, for she had already quite made up her mind how to act.
+
+The girls enjoyed their pleasant drive together. Mrs. Willis's train was
+punctual, and she was soon driving back to the Grange, Molly seated by
+her side and Annie on the seat facing her.
+
+Mrs. Willis had the knack of making all girls perfectly at home with
+her. Molly felt sure that a certain feeling of restraint would come over
+her when she sat by the side of this excellent and adorable woman; but
+the moment she looked into Mrs. Willis's kind eyes, and Mrs. Willis
+returned her glance, and said in that full, rich, motherly voice of
+hers, "Oh, I have heard of you; you are Molly Lorrimer, you live at the
+Towers, and you have a great many brothers and sisters, and your
+schoolroom is reached by a spiral stair, and is somewhere up in the
+clouds. I have heard all about you many times from Nan." Then Molly
+laughed, and felt at home. She felt more than at home, for her heart
+gave a strange flutter, and then a curious sense of peace pervaded it.
+It was something like being near her mother, and yet it was something
+different. The magnetic influence of a good and great spirit was already
+making itself felt.
+
+Annie sat opposite to the two with dancing eyes.
+
+"How well you look my love," said Mrs. Willis. "I am delighted to see
+that the change has done you so much good."
+
+Annie drooped her long lashes for a moment.
+
+"I am as well as well can be," she said, "and as jolly as jolly can be,
+and you have just come in the nick of time to make everything perfect.
+Molly, do tell Mrs. Willis about our fancy ball to-night."
+
+"I will listen to you in a moment, Molly," said Mrs. Willis; "but first
+of all I want to ask Annie a question. I hope you did not send the ring
+to Paris, Annie, for, if you did, I never received it."
+
+"What ring?" asked Annie, looking up in pretended amazement. "Do you
+mean my mother's ring, Mrs. Willis, the--the one you lent me?"
+
+"Yes, dear. I wrote to you last week about it. I was surprised at never
+hearing from you, for my letter was quite urgent. I wanted the ring for
+a special object, and was disappointed at its never coming."
+
+"That must have been the letter you never got, Annie," exclaimed Molly.
+
+"You never got my letter?" exclaimed Mrs. Willis. "How very, very
+strange! But I posted it myself, and I know I put the right address on
+it. I am relieved, of course, that you did not send the ring when it was
+too late; but it is odd about the letter."
+
+"No, I didn't send the ring," said Annie in a light voice. "How could
+I?"
+
+"Certainly not, dear, if you did not know that I wanted it."
+
+"Hester was surprised this morning," continued Molly, taking up the
+thread of the narrative, and unconsciously giving Annie immense
+assistance. "You said, in your letter to her, that you had told Annie a
+week ago that you were coming. Then Annie said that she had never got
+your letter."
+
+"It is very queer," said Mrs. Willis. "I must write to the post office
+in Paris and make inquiries. Well, I am glad the ring is safe."
+
+"Of course, it is as safe as possible," said Annie. "It is too bad about
+the letter," she continued. "Did you want the ring very badly?"
+
+"Yes, very badly; but it is not too late yet to manage matters. I want
+to have the ring copied as a wedding present for Margaret Cecil, but I
+have already spoken to a jeweller about it, and if I send him the ring
+to-day or to-morrow he will have it in time. Don't forget to give it to
+me, Annie, dear, when we get home."
+
+"Oh, no," said Annie, "I won't forget."
+
+A few moments later they arrived at the Grange, where Mrs. Willis was
+received with a kind of trembling joy by Hester, who took her into the
+house and showered every imaginable attention which her love could
+suggest upon her.
+
+"Time, time," muttered Annie to herself as she rushed away. "Something
+must happen between now and to-morrow. I'll keep out of her way to-day,
+and in the fuss and excitement she'll forget about the ring. I have told
+one big lie about it, and I have insinuated a dozen more, and I vow and
+declare one thing--that I will not be discovered now. I'll go on to the
+bitter end now, come what will. Heigh-ho, is that you, Nan? What are you
+doing? Don't you know that Mrs. Willis has come? What is that you have
+in your hand?"
+
+"It's a letter of yours," said Nan; "I found it in the garden under a
+rose bush; it's in Mrs. Willis's handwriting; didn't you say that you did
+not hear from her last week?"
+
+"No more I did; give me that letter; it's quite an old one." Annie
+stretched out her hand, snatched the letter from Nan, and pushed it into
+her pocket.
+
+"You didn't read it?" she asked.
+
+"No, I'm not so mean; what is the matter with you?"
+
+"I hate to have my letters read."
+
+"They're not read by girls like me; you needn't be afraid."
+
+Nan rushed off in a huff, and Annie walked slowly down the corridor. Her
+heart felt like lead. She fully believed that Nan had not read the
+letter, but Nan's eyes might have happened to glance at the postmark on
+it. That postmark contained a date only one week old. Nan was the last
+child to whom Annie felt she could confide her guilty secret.
+
+"Oh, dear, dear," she murmured under her breath, "what a true saying it
+is, that 'the way of transgressors is hard.' I am a mean, low sort, not
+a doubt of that. Why, if the Lorrimers and Thorntons really knew me as I
+am, they wouldn't speak to me. Well, there's nothing for it now but to
+carry matters with a high hand, and to let nothing out. If Nan does
+happen to have noticed the date on the letter, I'll tell her she was
+mistaken. How could I have been so mad as to carry this letter about in
+my pocket? Well, to make all things sure, I'll destroy it now."
+
+"Annie, Annie, we're just going to lunch," called out Hester; "what are
+you running into the garden for?"
+
+"I'll be back in a minute," shouted Annie.
+
+She ran quickly out of the house and down the broad grass walk which led
+to the arbour at the farther end. By the side of the arbour lay a basket
+of tools. Annie snatched up a small trowel, and going to the back of the
+arbour, dug a hole for her letter. She tore it then into fragments and
+buried it, looked round her eagerly, saw that there was not a soul in
+sight, and then, with a certain sense of relief, hurried back to the
+house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+PERHAPS.
+
+
+The ball was to begin at nine o'clock. The festive hour grew on apace.
+Mrs. Willis said nothing more about the ring, and Annie Forest heaved a
+deep sigh of relief.
+
+"Reprieved until to-morrow," she murmured to herself; "and now for high
+frivolity."
+
+The horses from the Thorntons' stables were in great request during that
+eventful day. Hester, who was most anxious to spare her friends all
+possible trouble, had decided that she and Nan, and all the rest of
+their party, should dress for the ball at the Grange, and come over in
+their separate characters prepared to act their different parts at once.
+Molly and Hester were to be the two hostesses for the occasion. Guy, who
+was a very gentlemanly boy, was to assist them to the best part of his
+ability. Annie promised to look after the refreshments, and also to
+establish Nora in a becoming attitude on her bed of rose leaves and
+clouds.
+
+Nora made a most beautiful queen of the fairies. She was dressed in a
+sort of transparent white; her large, clear wings were very slightly
+toned with rose colour, and the whole dress was bespangled with light
+sprays of silver. Nora's hair was crimped, and hung in masses over her
+shoulders. The silvery dust also shone in her hair. Her eyes were dark
+and deep, and natural roses of happiness and excitement bloomed on her
+pretty round cheeks. To Annie's ingenuity and genius the whole of the
+charming dream-like effect of this fairy queen was due. Mrs. Willis, who
+insisted on coming to the ball in the part of the schoolmistress, "The
+only part which I shall ever play in life," she had said with a smile to
+Hester, was much delighted with the arrangement of everything. Mrs.
+Willis was in grey silk, with her favourite Honiton lace. She was a very
+striking and beautiful woman, and in her grand simplicity, made a
+perfect foil to the fantastic appearance of the younger members of the
+party.
+
+Amongst the honoured guests on this occasion, Mrs. Martin shone
+conspicuous. Hester had insisted on her coming over early, and when the
+good woman entered the ball-room and saw Nora on her cloudy throne, she
+could not help muttering, in an almost angry tone of great excitement--
+
+"Eh, eh, why this is almost witchcraft. I didn't believe in them wings
+and clouds till now, but sure enough there they are. Seein' is
+believin'. I don't hold with it, but I don't deny as it ain't clever."
+
+"I'm glad you think it clever, Patty Martin," said a very gay voice in
+her ear.
+
+She turned almost in alarm, to be confronted by the most
+impudent-looking, and yet the most charming gipsy lass she had ever
+looked at.
+
+Mrs. Martin loathed gipsies.
+
+"None of your sauce," she said in an angry voice. "This is no place for
+the like of you; get out at once or I'll let Miss Hester Thornton know."
+
+"Oh, nursey, nursey, you'll kill me," exclaimed Annie in a voice choked
+with laughter. "Do you mean to say you don't know me?"
+
+"My sakes alive, Miss Annie Forest!" exclaimed the old woman. "Who'd
+have thought you'd have been up to this folly? What are you doing,
+masquerading like them hateful gipsies? It's bad enough to have wings
+and clouds about; but gipsies--'tain't respectable; my word, no."
+
+"This gipsy is eminently respectable," said Annie, with a sort of bitter
+emphasis. "Here, nursey, take my hand, and let me lead you up the
+ball-room. I have many strange characters to introduce you to. I see
+plainly that you won't recognise them without my kind assistance. Here,
+come along, be quick."
+
+"My head is getting _moithered_, and that's the only word," said nurse
+Martin. "Dear, dear, what _are_ the young coming to? And sakes alive,
+what in the world are those?"
+
+The creatures thus apostrophised by the almost frightened nurse Martin,
+were a troop of fairies and brownies, who now rushed into the ball-room
+from every direction. The band struck up a merry waltz, and the fairies
+and brownies began to dance with vigour.
+
+"Its past belief," said Mrs. Martin "and did you make all them wings,
+Miss Annie?"
+
+"Oh, dear, no," replied Annie; "they were made by the mothers of the
+fairies--at least, I presume so. Now come into the supper-room and let
+me get you a comfortable seat."
+
+Mrs. Martin was glad enough to comply. She said the slippery floor of
+the ball-room, and the uncanny creatures that were all round her, made
+her feel as if the top of her head would come off. She uttered a little
+shriek of terror as Jane Macalister, dressed as Minerva, glided fiercely
+by, and was glad to seat herself in a safe corner behind one of the long
+supper tables. Annie desired a servant to give her all the refreshment
+she required, and then ran off to attend to the other guests.
+
+Fast and furious rose the fun. During the whole of the present century
+the old ball-room at the Towers had not reflected so gay and animated a
+scene. Grim ancestors of the house of Lorrimer looked down from their
+tarnished frames at the last Lorrimers as they danced away their
+precious time in this frivolous and yet enchanting manner. The grown
+people, who sat in the gallery and on benches near the walls, talked in
+whispers to one another about the lovely scene. The Lorrimers were
+popular in the county, and although rumours of coming trouble were rife
+about them, yet their friends and well-wishers augured happy results
+from this present gaiety.
+
+But why was not the Squire present, and why was Mrs. Lorrimer absent?
+
+Molly, who made the gentlest of shepherdesses, came up as these remarks
+passed the good people's lips. She stopped to speak to an old friend of
+her mother's.
+
+"I'm so glad you were able to come," she said; "and how sweet your
+children look."
+
+"It was very kind of you to ask us, my dear," responded this lady, "and
+the sight is a charming one--quite charming; but I am sorry to miss your
+mother."
+
+"Mother is in London at present; she is away on special business. She is
+ever so sorry to be absent to-night."
+
+"And the Squire, is he quite well?"
+
+"Yes, thank you. He is in London with mother."
+
+At this moment a brownie with a hot face and looking rather
+uncomfortable in his brown-velvet tights, accompanied by the most
+spiritual-looking fairy it was possible to see, revolved slowly round in
+the mazes of the waltz.
+
+The brownie's honest face was raised to Molly's; his brown eyes were
+full of a question; the fairy by his side had a far-away look. They both
+floated away.
+
+"Oh, what a charming little pair," said Mrs. Fortescue, Molly's friend.
+"Do you know who they are, Miss Lorrimer?"
+
+"That poor, hot brownie is my brother, Boris," exclaimed Molly; "and
+that little girl is Nell, my sister."
+
+The lady sat down again; and, Molly's partner coming up to claim her,
+she joined in the dance, and forgot the question in Boris's eyes.
+
+There was a commotion near the entrance door. Hester was seen to move
+hastily forward. There was a call for Nan, who, accompanied by her
+partner, Little Boy Blue, rushed quickly across the room, and the next
+moment a tall, aristocratic-looking man was seen moving up the ball-room
+with Hester's hand on his arm. Sir John Thornton had kept his word. He
+had returned in time if not for the whole of Nan's birthday, at least
+to see it out.
+
+The matrons who sat about the room remarked on his appearance, and said
+that they had never seen him look better, younger, or more cheerful.
+They said what an admirable thing it was for Sir John to have Hester at
+home; and, as Sir John himself was the best possible company in society,
+he soon made his presence agreeably felt all over the room. In the
+Squire's absence he naturally took the part of host; and no one could be
+a more polished or charming host than he.
+
+One of the many delightful features of this great fancy ball was the
+presents which the fairy queen was to bestow upon her many subjects at
+the end of the festivities. These presents lay piled up in comical
+shapes all round her, and helped to form some of the billowy clouds on
+which she was supposed to be resting. The poor little fairy queen
+certainly looked most charming, and when the moment came for giving away
+the presents, she would enjoy herself to the full; but just now she
+could not help envying those fairies and brownies, who could jump about
+and skip and dance and have a very good time, without being in quite
+such a grand position as she was. On the queen fairy's head rested a
+spangled crown of light texture. She felt it almost heavy just now, and
+murmured to herself in a sentimental voice, "Uneasy lies the head that
+wears a crown."
+
+Boris, with his eyes still full of that unanswered question, came near
+and looked at her.
+
+"Are you having an awfully dull time, Nonie?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, it's all right," said Nora, who would have scorned to complain.
+
+"You're going to give us our presents by-and-by."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You'll feel jolly and hop o' my thumb, won't you?"
+
+"Oh, I'll feel nothing special," replied Nora, who did not wish to
+encourage this brownie in his efforts after familiarity.
+
+"How hot you look, Boris," she said, with a slight laugh.
+
+"Hot?" echoed Boris. "I'm boiling. It's these abominations of tights.
+Nonie, I'd like to tell you something; it's very important, very."
+
+"You can't possibly tell it to me now, Boris," replied Nora; "don't
+attempt to come too near, disarranging my clouds. Oh, what a naughty,
+troublesome boy you are; you have trodden upon that piece of white
+tarlatan, and it has all got out of shape. Do run away; do leave me
+alone."
+
+Boris scampered off; he had suddenly caught a glimpse of the round,
+smooth face of the shepherdess, Molly, in the distance. If he could only
+catch her up, she would allow him to whisper in her ear. Nora was always
+rather a cross patch, but Molly was kind. Molly would be interested,
+even though she was a shepherdess. He trod on some long trains as he
+skimmed by. People called him a tiresome child and an awkward little
+worry, but he did not heed them; he was gaining on Molly, and Molly
+would be sure to listen to him. Everything would be all right when Molly
+knew. Now, he had all but reached her, but no, how tiresome--how more
+than tiresome--a shepherd came up and held out his crook to Molly, who
+held out hers to him, and then they joined hands, and then they danced
+away, away, away, far, very far from Boris and his question.
+
+He turned round and stamped his pointed shoe in his vexation.
+
+Nell suddenly came up and touched him.
+
+"Did you find Molly? Have you told her?" she asked.
+
+"No, I can't get to her," replied Boris; "she's dancing over there with
+that horrid shepherd; he's only Hugh Pierson, and he doesn't look a bit
+well. Let's dance by ourselves, Nell; let's forget; 'twasn't nothing but
+nonsense, I'm sure."
+
+"I can't forget," replied Nell.
+
+"Well, aren't you a little bit hungry? There's lobster and pink
+champagne in the supper-room. I'm going in for some; I heard Hugh
+Pierson say it was ripping; come and let's have some."
+
+"I couldn't touch any," said Nell with a little shudder of disgust.
+
+Boris looked at her and gave vent to the faintest of sighs.
+
+"While I'm having my lobster, you could eat a jelly, couldn't you?" he
+said in the most insinuating of whispers.
+
+"No, I couldn't; I couldn't touch anything. Go and eat if you want to,
+and then come back to me here. I'm going to stand by that window;
+perhaps he'll come back and take another peep."
+
+"It couldn't have been him, Nell; you know it couldn't; he's away in
+London, you know."
+
+"I tell you it was him."
+
+"Has he brought back my dove, do you think?"
+
+"No, no; who cares about a dove just now?"
+
+"Nell, I really do care, and my cage is most beautiful and clean. I put
+in fresh seed and water only this morning; wasn't it lucky?"
+
+"Well, the dove hasn't come," said Nell; "you know it was 'perhaps'
+about the dove, and about the pony, and about all the jolly
+things--you're always forgetting that it was 'perhaps.' There, go and
+eat your lobster, and come back to me when you have done; don't drink
+too much champagne, or maybe you'll turn giddy. I'll wait here by this
+window."
+
+Boris, looking decidedly depressed, hesitated for a moment; then seeing
+that Nell was resolute, he decided that, even if disappointment were in
+store, he could all the rest of his life reflect that he had sat up late
+and eaten lobster salad for supper. He accordingly sidled away in the
+direction of the supper-room, and Nell, with a light movement, sprang on
+one of the benches and then into the deep recess of a window. Here, with
+her cloudy hair all about her, her little face as white as her dress,
+her eyes big and spiritual in the trouble which vaguely stirred her
+sensitive soul, she looked out into the night. Her large wings shielded
+her little form, and nobody noticed that one fairy was not joining in
+the revels.
+
+"I did see him," murmured Nell; "I saw his face just for a minute; he
+pressed it up against the pane and looked in; his hair was all ruffled,
+and his eyes, his eyes--oh, the thought of his eyes makes me ache so
+badly. Why doesn't he come in? What is he doing out in the garden? I
+know he has come back. I know he's not in London; he has come back and
+he is in the garden, and we are all so jolly, and he so sad. What is the
+matter? Oh, I know quite well; it's _perhaps_; and the pony, and the
+dove, and the rabbits have not come home. Wings--I thought I'd be so
+happy when I had wings, but I'm just mis'ribble I'm just mis'ribble."
+
+There was a little noise behind Nell; she turned her head to see Boris
+scrambling up into the seat by her side.
+
+"I had two plates of salad," he began; "'twasn't so very nice, not so
+nice as--why, what's the matter, Nell?"
+
+"Come," said Nell, taking his hand, "quick, jump down, he's under the
+oak tree, just where the shadow is thickest; I saw him move; that's him;
+let's go to him, Boris; take my hand; let's run to him."
+
+Boris's hot hand clutched Nell's. They ran quickly along by the
+comparatively empty space near the wall, reached the entrance, and flew
+swiftly across the moonlit grass.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+FAIRY AND BROWNIE.
+
+
+Perhaps it was not the first time that the moon had looked down on a
+fairy and a brownie running across that old, old lawn. No one could say
+anything for certain on this point. We all of us have a sort of undying
+belief in fairies, so perhaps they did exist once, before our hearts had
+grown too cold and our natures too worldly to understand them. Children
+know most about them, but even children don't quite believe in them now,
+in the good old-fashioned way of long ago.
+
+A very pretty fairy and brownie were out now. The moon silvered Nell's
+wings and put a sort of unearthly radiance into her hair, and Boris,
+with his bright locks standing almost upright on his head, in his
+quaint little costume, with his upturned toes and ruffled hands, looked
+quite like a true denizen of fairy land. Certain it is that the man who
+stood under the shadow of the oak gave a perceptible start when he saw
+the fairy and brownie. For a moment the old belief of his early
+childhood flashed through his brain, then he recognised Nell and Boris,
+and coming to meet them, he took a hand of each.
+
+"What is it, father?" exclaimed Boris; "what are you standing out of
+doors for? I know it's a very warm night, but we want you dreadfully,
+dreadfully, in the house."
+
+Boris rubbed himself against his father's knee as he spoke. Nell
+clutched Squire Lorrimer's other hand, and raising it to her lips,
+kissed it passionately. Nell did not speak at all.
+
+"Come in, father, come in," repeated Boris; "and where's mother, and
+what are you doing out here under the oak tree?"
+
+"Looking at you little people; you make a gay sight," said the Squire.
+
+In spite of himself, his voice was quite hollow.
+
+"But why don't you come in?"
+
+"I'm not coming in; I'm going back to London again to-night."
+
+"Why, father?" asked Nell, opening her lips for the first time, and
+looking at him with great intentness.
+
+The Squire stooped and lifted Nell into his arms.
+
+"I did not want you to see me," he said. "I knew you were having your
+big party to-night, and I had to come to the Towers on--on business.
+What are you trembling for, Nell? You ought not to be out; you must run
+back to the house at once; why, you are cold, child."
+
+"I'm _not_ cold, and I _will_ stay and kiss you."
+
+Nell's arms were pressed tightly round the Squire's neck. Her little
+soft lips pressed kiss after kiss on his somewhat grisly cheek.
+
+Boris, standing on the ground, and looking up at Nell in her fathers
+arms, thoroughly realised for the first time that he had gone to useless
+trouble in cleaning the dove's cage.
+
+"Now, Nell, you must be sensible," said her father. "I was obliged to
+come to the Towers to-night to--to fetch something. I knew from Molly's
+letters that you were going to have a big ball. I thought I'd like to
+see how the ball-room looked. We have not had a ball, a very big ball,
+in that room since the days of my great-grandmother. My grandmother has
+told me about that ball, and about the very window where my
+great-grandfather stood when he asked my great-grandmother to be his
+wife. He asked her to marry him at that ball, so of course she never
+could forget it; and the story of the green dress she wore--apple
+green--with her golden locks falling over her shoulders, and the story
+of the window where he proposed to her, have been handed down in the
+family ever since. To-night, in that same window, the little
+great-great-grandchild sat, and looked out, and I saw her; now, you must
+run back, Nell. Boris, you run back, too; run and enjoy yourselves; be
+happy--God, God bless you."
+
+"Why don't you come in, father?" asked Boris.
+
+Nell felt as if she could not say a word. There was so much meaning in
+fathers words; there was so much that he said with his eyes, and with
+the tight pressure of his arms, which the rather commonplace words he
+uttered seemed to have nothing to do with. Nell understood, and her
+heart ached so, she seemed to be turned dumb.
+
+The Squire put Nell firmly on the grass.
+
+"Run in, both of you," he said. "I must go back to the railway station
+at once, or I shall miss my train. I am returning to town to-night. Say
+nothing of this to anyone until the ball is over, then you may tell
+Molly, if you like, that she will probably see her mother to-morrow.
+Good night, chicks."
+
+"Won't we see you to-morrow, father?"
+
+But the Squire's only reply was to stride softly away under the trees.
+
+"Why, he's gone," exclaimed Boris with a little cry.
+
+"Yes. Didn't you know he was going, Boris? What is the use of making a
+fuss?" said Nell. She found she could speak quite well again now. "Take
+my hand and come back to the house; let's do what he said."
+
+"Do you think he's put out about anything?" asked Boris. "He seemed
+dumpy, like; I couldn't say anything about the dove; I knew it hadn't
+come. Do you think father was sad about anything, Nell?"
+
+"He didn't say he was, did he?" asked Nell.
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, let's come back and dance, or people will miss us. Father said we
+weren't to say anything until the ball was over, and then only to
+Molly."
+
+"But if Molly goes back to the Grange?"
+
+"She mustn't; she must stay here. I'll dance with you now, Boris, if you
+like."
+
+The time had sped faster than the children had any idea of while they
+were out. But the dancing still continued and went on until a late hour.
+Then the moment when expectation must yield to a delightful reality
+arrived. Towards the end of one of the prettiest figures of the
+cotillion, the fairies and brownies assumed new characters. Either a
+fairy or a brownie conducted one of the many personages who figured in
+the fancy ball up to the fairy queen, who, assisted by a number of
+satellites, bestowed upon each a gift carefully selected in advance to
+meet the requirements of the special child in question. Each child was
+expected to drop on one knee to receive the fairy queen's benediction
+with her gift; they then filed one by one into the supper-room, where
+refreshments of a particularly ethereal, grateful character awaited
+them. This scene really ended the never-to-be-forgotten fancy ball.
+Hasty departures followed. Carriages rolled away with many sleepy and
+happy little folk, and at last the two carriages which were to convey
+Sir John Thornton and his party back to the Grange, appeared.
+
+Nora was to return with them, and Annie Forest had arranged to specially
+attend to her comforts. Molly, who intended to come back to the Towers
+in a day or two, was also wrapping a white shawl round her shoulders
+preparatory to departure, when a brownie rushed quickly from one of the
+ante-rooms, flung his arms round her neck, and whispered in her ear.
+
+"Oh, Molly, what are you waiting for?" exclaimed Nan. "We're all
+perfectly dead with sleep, Boris, you naughty boy; you know you have
+nothing whatever to say; what are you keeping Molly for now?"
+
+"I have something to say," replied Boris. "Something most 'portant, I
+can tell you." His face flushed with anger; he dragged Molly into the
+ante-room.
+
+"There she is, Nell," he exclaimed; "now you can tell her."
+
+"What is the matter, Nell, darling?" exclaimed Molly, struck by the
+expression on her little sisters face.
+
+"Molly, Molly," exclaimed Nell, with a sort of gasp in her voice.
+
+"What is it, Nell, dear? Do speak; they're all waiting for me and I must
+go."
+
+"Oh, must you go? Do stay, do stay; I have something very important to
+say; its a message."
+
+"A message!" exclaimed Molly; anxiety stealing quickly into her voice;
+"is it anything about--about father and mother?"
+
+"Yes, yes; and nobody else is to know; you will stay?"
+
+"Yes, I'll stay. Wait there a minute, and I'll be back with you."
+
+Molly ran up to Hester, who was waiting for her in the entrance hall.
+
+"Good-bye, Hetty," she said, kissing her; "I'm not going back with you."
+
+"What in the world do you mean, Molly?" exclaimed Hester. "You know you
+have promised to stay with us for another day or two, and I want you to
+know more of Mrs. Willis, and--why, what's the matter, dear?"
+
+"Nell is not quite well, I think," replied Molly; "anyhow, I must stay
+here to-night; don't say anything to make Nora anxious; good-night."
+
+"I am afraid, Hester, that we must not keep the horses waiting any
+longer," said Sir John in his most measured tones. "Good-night, Molly,
+we shall be pleased to see you at the Grange to-morrow if you can tear
+yourself away from domestic cares."
+
+Hester went away, the carriage door was shut, and a moment later the
+last of the visitors had departed.
+
+Molly rushed back for one moment to Nell.
+
+"I am here," she said, "but if you have a secret to tell me, I can't
+talk to you for the present without exciting the curiosity of the whole
+house. Go upstairs and get into bed, and I'll be with you as soon as I
+can. I daresay my bed is not ready for me, so I'll sleep with you
+to-night."
+
+A ghost of a smile of pleasure flitted across Nell's face as she glided
+away.
+
+Molly went back to the rest of her brothers and sisters. Jane
+Macalister, still true to her Minerva costume, was seated at the supper
+table, eating a large slice of cold game pie.
+
+"I am famished," she said; "it was the most fatiguing thing I ever did,
+and the dressmaker has made the sleeves of this horrid dress a great
+deal too tight, and the neck chokes me. Now, I hope this is the last
+folly of the kind that we shall have here for many a long day. I, for
+one, refuse to be laced up in this heathen mythology style again. Now
+then, my dears, all of you to bed. Molly, what in the world are you
+staying here for? We didn't expect you, and your room isn't ready."
+
+"Oh, I'll sleep with Nell," replied Molly.
+
+"Very inconsiderate indeed," replied poor Minerva. "Nell's bed is only
+large enough for herself, and she's like a feathers weight--with those
+dark circles under her eyes too. I saw her flying about and absolutely
+going out on to the lawn this evening. Nell is a great deal too
+excitable, and certainly her sleep ought not to be disturbed."
+
+"I promise not to disturb it," replied Molly; "you know, Jane, I'm not
+an exciting sort of person."
+
+"No more you are, my dear; but it frets me to have my arrangements put
+out by fads. However, off with you to bed now. Dear me, I am famished.
+If Minerva felt as I do, I pity her, poor soul. I'll have a glass of
+stout; there's nothing like it when you're worn out. Good night, Molly."
+
+Molly ran eagerly away. She was waylaid by more than one brother and
+sister on her way upstairs, but at last she found herself in Nell's
+room.
+
+Nell was sitting on the side of the bed; she had not attempted to
+undress.
+
+"Oh, come, this will never do," said the practical Molly; "why, you're
+ready to drop with fatigue, you poor mite. Here, let me undress you, and
+you can talk while I'm doing it. Now, what's the trouble?"
+
+"It's about father."
+
+"What about him?"
+
+"He came back to-night; he stood under the oak tree at the end of the
+lawn. I saw him first, because he pressed his face up against one of the
+windows and looked in, and afterwards he stood under the oak tree; Boris
+and I ran out to him."
+
+"Yes, yes; go on, Nell."
+
+Molly's fingers were trembling now, but they did not cease their busy
+task of unfastening Nell's clothes.
+
+"Go on," she said; "what did he say, and why, _why_ didn't you call me?"
+
+
+"Boris tried to catch you up, but you would dance with Hugh Pierson. We
+ran out to father and he talked to us. The 'perhaps' has come true,
+Molly; oh, Molly, the 'perhaps' has come quite true."
+
+"How do you know, Nell? Don't tremble so, Nell, dear."
+
+"Father wouldn't come in," continued Nell, making a brave effort to
+recover herself. "He told us about our great-great-grandmother and her
+apple-green dress, and he said that he had come back to fetch something,
+and that he must return to London to-night; and then he said,'God--God
+bless you,' and his voice shook just a tiny bit, and he said that mother
+would be home to-morrow, and----"
+
+"Yes, Nell, and----"
+
+"Boris said 'Will you come home?' and--but----"
+
+"What did he say to that?"
+
+"He said nothing to that; he walked away very soft and quick. Molly,
+what does it mean?"
+
+"I don't know," said Molly. "Now, Nell, you must get into bed. You are
+quite cold and shivery. I am going downstairs to fetch you a little hot
+wine and water, and then I'll put my arms round you until you sleep."
+
+Nell was glad to submit to Molly's most comforting ministrations.
+
+"But I think I do know what it means," murmured the elder girl as she
+listened to the gentle breathing of her little sister by-and-by.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE LORRIMERS OF THE TOWERS.
+
+
+The morning post brought a letter from Mrs. Lorrimer, which set all
+curiosity at rest. This letter was addressed to Jane Macalister, who
+read it through first, with feverish haste and brows drawn darkly
+together, then again straight from the beginning more slowly, and then a
+third time, during which she surreptitiously wiped her eyes, and hoped
+the children had not seen her do so.
+
+Jane was seated before the tea equipage at the head of the long
+breakfast table. Molly was helping her brothers and sisters to porridge,
+cups of milk, and bread and jam, in her usual deft fashion. Jane raised
+her eyes and encountered the brown ones of Molly.
+
+"Well, Jane," said the young girl in a steady voice; "what is the news?"
+
+"It's for you all to know, my dears," said Jane Macalister in a steady
+voice. "Your mother has asked me to break it to you all. It's just a
+question whether you shall all hear it together, or whether Molly shall
+hear it by herself first. I think Molly must decide that point."
+
+"I'll hear it with the others," said Molly.
+
+As she spoke she went and sat down in a vacant chair near Nell.
+
+"Perhaps it is not such news to Nell and me as you think," she said.
+"Anyhow, we are prepared to hear it."
+
+"It's 'perhaps' come true," said Nell in a faint voice, looking at Molly
+with the ghost of a smile.
+
+"Dear, dear," exclaimed Kitty, "whatever it is, let's out with it. I
+don't suppose we are a set of cowards, any of us. I'm going to guess
+what it is beforehand; it's that father's mare has broken her knees;
+that's about the worst thing that _could_ happen. Father sent for the
+mare to London a week ago; don't you remember, Guy, and when he was
+riding her in the park she fell and broke her knees; that's it, you
+bet."
+
+"Do shut up," exclaimed Guy.
+
+"You bet I'm right," replied Kitty, flushed and defiant.
+
+Under no other possible circumstances would Kitty have dared to say "you
+bet" in the presence of Jane Macalister.
+
+"Well, my dears," said poor Jane, looking round at all the eager faces,
+"I'd better read your mother's letter aloud. I've read it three times to
+myself, and have got over the choky business; so now I can read it aloud
+without breaking down. This is what your mother says, children. If I
+stand up, my loves, you'll all hear it better."
+
+Jane Macalister stood up at the end of the long table. All the children
+dropped their spoons, and knives, and forks, as they listened to her.
+
+"MY DEAR JANE," she began.
+
+Here she paused.
+
+"Your mother and I," she said, "have been Jane and Lucy to each other
+ever since we were children."
+
+"Who cares about that rot now?" murmured angry Kitty. Harry gave her a
+pinch which make her scream.
+
+"You shut up," she said back to him. "I must say something or I'll
+'splode."
+
+"MY DEAR JANE," continued the governess,
+
+     "I must ask you to break the news as you best can to the poor
+     children. The Squire and I have done all that lay in the power of
+     mortals to avert the blow. But it has been God's will that we
+     should not succeed. You can tell Molly by-and-by how it is that her
+     dear father has got into such terrible money difficulties, but now
+     the all-important thing for the children to know is this.... The
+     Towers is sold, and we must all go away from the dear home we have
+     loved so long. The Squire is terribly upset, and cannot bring
+     himself to come back just at once, but I am returning to-morrow.
+     There is nothing for us now but to bear up and make the best of
+     things. It is not so hard on any of us as it is on the
+     Squire.--Believe me, dear Jane, your affectionate friend,
+
+                              "LUCY LORRIMER."
+
+There was dead silence after the letter had been read. Then quite
+suddenly the terrible and unexpected sound of Nell's weeping filled the
+room.
+
+"Oh, father," sobbed Nell. "Oh, father's face; oh, father's face."
+
+She hid her head on Molly's shoulder and moaned in the most
+broken-hearted way. Boris, too, looked very pale. He remembered the
+pressure of the hand which had held his the night before. He heard the
+words which were commonplace enough, once again, and he saw the haggard
+lines round the lips and round the kindly eyes.
+
+Boris slipped away from his own side of the table. He went up to Nell
+and began to kiss her.
+
+"I know," he said. "I understand. I saw him, too; but he'll be all right
+by-and-by. It's like a big battle, but he'll not flinch; father's made
+of the stuff that soldiers have in them. He'll be all right by-and-by."
+
+"I wish you'd let me look at that letter, Jane Macalister," said Guy.
+
+Guy was the heir of the Towers. It was his property and all his future,
+which that letter seemed suddenly to deprive him of. He was the last boy
+in the world to think first of himself; but now his head did feel a
+little dizzy. If, it seemed to him up to this moment, there was a solid
+fact in all the world, it was that in due time he should step into his
+father's shoes and become Squire Lorrimer of the Towers.
+
+Molly instantly understood the tone of Guy's voice. She started up, and
+going to Jane took the letter; then she went to Guy, and put her arm
+round his neck.
+
+"Let's come into the garden and read it together," she said.
+
+He stumbled up and went with her as if he were blind. They went out
+through the open window and down the lawn, and Molly read the letter
+aloud once again.
+
+"Well, it's all up," she said when she had finished. "I have been
+expecting it for a long time--a long time; haven't you, Guy?"
+
+"No," answered Guy. "That's the awful part to me; it's such a sudden
+blow. I knew, of course, there were money difficulties; but, then,
+somehow or other, most fellows' fathers seem to have got them; and I was
+so busy with my books and keeping ahead of the other fellows in form
+that I didn't fret specially. I never wanted to think of myself
+specially; but sometimes the thought used to cross my mind that there
+might be a difficulty about my going to Cambridge by-and-by, and, of
+course, I knew that Eton was quite out of the question; but that was
+the worst, the very worst, that I thought could happen to me, and
+now--now."
+
+"Poor Guy," said Molly. "You'll never be Squire Lorrimer of the Towers."
+
+"Oh, of course, that doesn't matter," said Guy, in a would-be careless
+tone. "They can never take my real birthright from me. I'm the son of a
+gentleman, and I come of the real old stock. It's thinking of father
+that floors me, though, Molly. Why, this will just kill him."
+
+"I'm awfully anxious about him," said Molly.
+
+"How did he contrive to get into a scrape of this sort? I'm sure we
+never were extravagant; we didn't care a bit what we wore nor what we
+ate; and I know the grammar school at Nortonbury is cheap enough, and I
+really don't think Jane Macalister gets ten pounds a year. I'm sure she
+never has a new rag to her back; and as to you girls, of course I'm not
+blind; but if you were dressed like other fellows' sisters, you and Nora
+would look far and away the prettiest girls in the place."
+
+"No, no, that's humbug," said downright Molly. "I'm not a bit pretty,
+and what's more I don't want to be. Of course, Nora is different. I
+acknowledge that she has a beautiful face."
+
+"And you acknowledge another thing," said Guy; "that very little money
+has been spent. How in the world has father got into this scrape?"
+
+"Well, of course, we can't understand that," said Molly; "only I think I
+can guess a little bit. Of course, these are bad times for all
+landlords, and half the farmers don't pay their rents properly; and you
+remember, Guy, last autumn, the lease of the Sunny Side farm fell in,
+and father hasn't been able to let it since, because the whole place is
+so fearfully out of repair that no one will take it until it is put in
+order; but the real thing which has made it necessary to sell the Towers
+is, that father went security a long time ago for a very large sum of
+money, and all the other sureties have died or lost their money, and so
+father has to pay. I know there was a great fear of that, because mother
+told me of it more than a year ago. She said that father always
+intended, if the worst came, to try and borrow the money. I suppose he
+has failed to do so, and that must be the reason why the Towers has to
+be sold."
+
+"It's a bad business," said Guy, "and I can't realise it a bit yet; of
+course we young ones must be as plucky as we can about it, that goes
+without saying, but I can't take it in yet. I'm glad it's holiday time,
+and I needn't go to school. I couldn't face the other fellows just for a
+bit."
+
+"I know you'll be splendid about it, Guy darling," said Molly looking
+affectionately at her brother; "and now do you mind coming with me to
+the Grange, for, of course, poor Nonie must be told? We won't stay there
+long, for we must do what we can to help mother when she comes home."
+
+"Yes, I'll come with you," said Guy; "we'd best start at once, it's not
+too early."
+
+"Stay where you are, then, for a moment," said Molly. "I'll run into the
+house and tell them we are going."
+
+She went back to the breakfast-room, where an animated conversation was
+going on.
+
+Nell was lying on a sofa with a shawl over her, and Jane Macalister was
+sitting by her side and holding her hand. Harry, Boris, and Kitty were
+standing in a little knot by the open window eagerly discussing a
+subject which was causing them intense pain, and obliging them to use
+many bickering words. They were feverishly anxious about the removal of
+their several pets.
+
+"I know the big rabbit will die," exclaimed Boris. "Unless we can take
+the hutch which is built into the wall he'll die. He never will sleep
+anywhere except in that one corner of his hutch. It makes him ill, I
+know it does, to sleep anywhere else. He'll die if he's moved."
+
+"No he won't die," said Kitty roundly; "rabbits have got no souls, and
+you can't be affectionate and fond of a thing if you haven't got a
+soul."
+
+"Oh, what a lie," interrupted Harry; "and you mean to tell me that my
+dormice aren't fond of me, and that they don't prefer me to you--you
+clumsy monkey."
+
+Kitty looked nonplussed for a moment.
+
+"That's only because you feed them," she said then. "If you didn't feed
+them, they'd love me just as well. Ah, yah; who's right? You can't
+answer me now, can you? It's only cupboard-love animals have got, and
+that proves that they have no souls."
+
+"It seems to me," said Harry, in a would-be sarcastic voice, "that very
+much the same thing may be said of some girls. Who caught you stealing a
+peach a week ago? Ha, ha, Miss Kitty."
+
+"Oh, for pity's sake, children, don't quarrel," exclaimed Molly.
+
+"That's what I'm telling 'em," said Boris in a tearful voice; "and I
+think my big rabbit _has_ a soul, and I'm awful 'feared it will kill him
+if he leaves his corner of the hutch."
+
+"Jane," interrupted Molly, "Guy and I are going over to the Grange to
+tell poor Nora about mother's letter, but we'll both be home before
+mother returns."
+
+"Very well, my dear," replied Jane Macalister. "You'd better not have
+Nora back, though, Molly, for she's quite certain not to be sensible
+about matters, and that's the only thing left to us now. For heaven's
+sake, I say, let us keep our senses and not give way to sentiment at a
+crisis like this. Go, my dear; tell her that she must take it in a
+quiet, matter-of-fact way, and not consider herself in the very least.
+The Squire and your mother, and Guy are the three victims; the rest of
+us are of no consequence; go, Molly."
+
+Jane blew her nose very hard after uttering this oration, and there were
+suspicious red rims round her eyes.
+
+Molly joined Guy, and they started on their walk to the Grange.
+
+Guy had now quite got over the stunned feeling which oppressed him.
+There was a great deal of grit in all the Lorrimers, and Guy and Molly
+had both even a larger amount of this most valuable quality than the
+younger children. The ground, therefore, no longer swam under the brave
+boy's feet, and Molly, now that she was obliged to act, and now that she
+knew exactly what was going to happen, felt really less unhappy than
+before the blow had fallen.
+
+It was little after ten o clock when the children reached the Grange.
+They found Hester and Annie out in the garden picking flowers, and Nora,
+looking very happy and very pretty in her new pink cambric, was lying
+under a shady tree on the lawn.
+
+"Hullo, what have you come over so early for?" she asked of the two,
+as, dusty and hot, they came up to her side. Mrs. Willis was sitting
+near Nora, and reading aloud to her. Nora felt immensely flattered by
+her attentions, and yet at the same time not absolutely at home with
+her. Mrs. Willis could read character at a glance. She had taken an
+immense fancy to Molly, and pitied Nora without admiring her.
+
+"She is a shallow little thing," she murmured to herself. "Pretty, of
+course, but nothing will ever make her either great or wise. Sweet Molly
+is one of the angels of the world."
+
+She rose now to greet the brother and sister as they approached. The
+trouble round Guy's handsome eyes was not lost upon her. Poor Molly
+looked untidy, and quite worn and old.
+
+"Oh, how the ball has fagged you!" exclaimed Nora; "see how fresh I am,
+and kind Mrs. Willis is reading me a charming story."
+
+"I won't read any more at present, my dear," said Mrs. Willis, "as no
+doubt your brother and sister want to talk to you."
+
+"Oh, I'm sure they don't," said Nora; "they can't have anything at all
+particular to say, and I am so immensely interested. I want to know how
+Lucile conquered her difficulties with the French grammar. I have such a
+fellow feeling for her, for I always detest grammar. Please, Mrs.
+Willis, don't go away."
+
+"I'll come back presently," said Mrs. Willis; she crossed the lawn as
+she spoke, leaving the fascinating book open on Nora's sofa.
+
+"How tiresome of you both to come and interrupt," said Nora in her
+crossest tone. "Molly, you look positively dishevelled; and Guy, you
+needn't wear those worn-out tennis shoes when you come to the Grange.
+You really, neither of you, have the least idea of what is due to our
+position."
+
+"Our position be hanged," growled Guy. "Look here, we have come to say
+something, and as it's particularly unpleasant, you had better listen as
+quietly as you can."
+
+"Then I'm sure I don't want to hear it; I hate and detest unpleasant
+things. You know I do, don't you, Molly?"
+
+"Yes, darling," said Molly, kneeling down by her; "but sometimes bad
+things must come and we must be brave and bear them."
+
+She knelt down by Nora as she spoke, and laid her hot, and not too clean
+hand, on Nora's pretty fresh sleeve.
+
+"I do think its unkind of you to rumple up my frock like that," said
+Nora; "if you don't care to look nice, I do, and if you've got
+unpleasant news, you shouldn't tell it to me; for the doctor says that
+I'm not to be worried at present. I'm getting well nicely, but I'll be
+thrown back awfully if I'm worried."
+
+"That can't be helped," said Guy in a firm voice. "Sometimes unpleasant
+things have to be borne. It's no worse for you than for the others."
+
+"Oh, Nonie, Nonie," sobbed Molly, burying her head on her sister's
+shoulder; "it's this, it's this: Guy, you mustn't be cruel; remember she
+is weak. Nora, darling, we wouldn't tell you if we could help it, but
+you must know, because everyone else will know. The Towers is sold. The
+dear old home is ours no longer. We are not the Lorrimers of the Towers
+any more."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+TOPSY-TURVEY.
+
+
+While Guy and Molly were in vain endeavouring to comfort Nora, who,
+after uttering shriek after shriek, closed her eyes and lay perfectly
+still, so much so, that Molly thought for a moment that she had fainted,
+Sir John Thornton left his own private study, where he had been busily
+writing letters, and stepping out on the lawn, approached the spot where
+Hester and Annie, in their cool white dresses, were picking flowers to
+replenish the vases in the different sitting-rooms. The girls made a
+pretty picture, and Sir John always admired beauty in any form and under
+any guise.
+
+"Really, Hester is becoming quite distinguished looking," he said to
+himself; "she inherits a good deal of her mother's grace, and although
+she will never be exactly pretty, she is very aristocratic in
+appearance. She has a good figure, too--graceful and lithe. Even beside
+Miss Forest, who is a regular beauty of the piquant gipsy order, she
+quite shows to advantage. Presently we may be able to get her presented,
+and, if necessary, we must have a house in town for three months in the
+season. (I shall detest it, but Laura says it is inevitable.) Yes, I'm
+sure I have done right. Hester is such a sensible girl that she will
+probably be glad of my news; yes, it is evidently my duty to take Hester
+into society, and Laura is just the woman to take all the care and worry
+off my hands. I should never have thought of marrying again if it were
+not for Hester and Nan, but no one can say that I shirk a father's
+duties. Now I must break it to Hetty, for Laura says she will be here on
+Saturday. I would rather she did not bring her daughter with her, but
+she evidently has not the least intention of coming anywhere without
+Antonia. Dear, dear, I hope Hester will be sensible. I don't want a bad
+quarter of an hour."
+
+Sir John had now reached the two girls. He had quite forgotten his
+dislike to Annie, and smiling at her, asked her in his gracious way why
+she did not offer him a rosebud.
+
+She picked one at once, and he got her to place it in his button-hole.
+
+"Thank you," he said with a smile; "your taste is admirable, and now I
+have a favour to ask of you."
+
+"Granted, of course," said Annie with a smile.
+
+"I want to deprive you of Hetty's company for a quarter of an hour. I
+have some domestic matters to discuss with my fair housekeeper."
+
+"You can arrange the flowers, Annie," called Hester, dropping her basket
+as she spoke, and going up to her fathers side.
+
+He drew her hand through his arm and they walked across the lawn
+together.
+
+"I have just been admiring you and your friend," he said. "Do you know,
+Hester, that you really grow very nice looking."
+
+Hester flushed with a strange mingling of irritation and elation.
+
+To be praised by her fastidious father was something to be remembered,
+but she always shrank from having her personal appearance commented
+upon.
+
+Sir John turned round now and smiled into her blushing face.
+
+"Come down this shady walk with me," he said. "I have a good deal to
+talk over with you. Hester, you and Nan have always found me a kind,
+indulgent father, have you not?"
+
+"You have been very good to us," replied Hester.
+
+"Oh, perhaps not so good as some fathers, but good according to my
+lights, eh?"
+
+"You have been very good to us," repeated Hester.
+
+"And you are a good, dear daughter," replied Sir John, with almost
+enthusiasm; "you never complain of the dull life I give you at the
+Grange."
+
+"The life is not dull, father."
+
+"My dear, my dear," Sir John patted Hester's long slim fingers as they
+rested on his arm, "I was young once myself and I know what youth wants,
+and I have seen other girls, and I know what my girl requires. Hester, I
+am not unmindful of you; and the step--the step I am about to take is
+taken not wholly, but mainly, on your account and Nan's."
+
+Hester suddenly withdrew her hand from Sir John's arm. A kind of
+intuition told her what was coming. Like a flash a sword seemed to
+pierce right through her heart. She had a memory of her mother, of the
+loving eyes now closed--the voice so full of sympathy now silent. Was
+her mother to be supplanted and because of her? For once passion got the
+upper hand of prudence.
+
+"Do it," she said, suddenly flashing round upon Sir John; "do it,
+certainly, if you wish, but do not do it for Nan's sake and mine.
+Nothing in all the wide world could pain us more."
+
+Sir John looked as astonished as if Hester had suddenly slapped him in
+the face.
+
+"Your words are extremely vigorous, my dear," he said in a voice of ice;
+"and I am not aware that I have yet told you what I mean to do."
+
+"Oh, I know, I know," answered Hester; "you are going to marry again.
+Oh, don't do it for our sakes; that is all I have to say."
+
+Sir John was quite silent for nearly a minute. Then he said quietly: "As
+you have been so clever as to guess my intention, you have of course
+saved me the trouble of breaking my news to you. Young girls sometimes
+resent the presence of a stepmother, but as a rule they appreciate the
+advantage of one when once they have become accustomed to the change.
+The lady who has honoured me by promising to accept my hand is Mrs.
+Bernard Temple. She is about my own age and has one daughter of
+seventeen--your age, Hester--whose name is Antonia. I have not yet seen
+Antonia, but I am told that she is a most charming, ladylike girl. Mrs.
+Bernard Temple has written to me to say she will come here on a visit on
+Saturday with Antonia. This is Thursday, and I expect you, Hester, in
+the meantime, to break the news to Nan, and to get everything ready for
+the honoured guests who will then arrive. I expect this is a surprise to
+you, my dear, so I forgive the excited words you have just made use of.
+You will doubtless have reason to rejoice yet at my decision. You are
+too young to be at the head of a great establishment like this, Hetty. I
+am doing wisely in removing such a burden from such young shoulders."
+
+"I have never felt it a burden," said Hester in a choked voice.
+
+"No; you have been good, very good, and now you will reap your reward.
+My marriage will probably take place in October, and my wife and I will
+return to the Grange for Christmas. Next season we shall probably have a
+house in town, when my dear Laura will present you and Antonia at one of
+the drawing-rooms."
+
+Hester made no remark.
+
+"I think that is all, my love," said Sir John; "you can now return to
+your friends. I have several letters to attend to."
+
+"May I tell Mrs. Willis, and--and the others?" asked Hester.
+
+"You may tell everyone; it is no secret."
+
+Sir John took out his cigar case as he spoke, and Hester, with a sinking
+heart, turned away.
+
+Annie, full of trouble on her account, dreading inexpressibly the moment
+when Mrs. Willis should ask her for the ring, was sauntering up and
+down, lost in anxious thought in front of the house.
+
+She caught sight of Hester coming slowly towards her.
+
+"Good gracious, Hetty, whatever is the matter?" she exclaimed. "I never
+saw your pale face with peonies on it before, and your eyes look as if
+you had been crying. I cannot imagine what has come to everyone,"
+continued Annie; "the whole place seems to be in a ferment. Nora, I
+know, has been crying about something, and Molly's face looks positively
+blotchy."
+
+"Oh, I should like to see Molly; is she here?" exclaimed Hester.
+
+"Yes, she's on the lawn talking to Nora, and Guy is with them, and Mrs.
+Willis joined them half an hour ago. I was running up to them, but Nora
+shrieked out to me to keep away. What can be the matter? There seems to
+be an earthquake everywhere."
+
+"So there is as far as I am concerned," replied Hester. "There is an
+awful earthquake, and I don't know at the present moment whether I am
+standing on my head or my heels."
+
+"Dear me, you are on your heels," replied Annie; "but you look rather
+top-heavy, so do be careful."
+
+"My father is going to marry again in October," continued Hester, "and
+my future stepmother is coming here on Saturday, and there is a girl
+called Antonia coming with her--her daughter, and--and Antonia will live
+at the Grange in the future, and Annie, I cannot realise it; oh, Annie,
+I cannot bear it."
+
+"You poor darling," said Annie. She put her arm round Hester's neck and
+kissed her hot cheeks.
+
+"What a horrid old man Sir John is," murmured Annie to herself; "what in
+the world is he making a goose of himself for?"
+
+Aloud she said in a faint voice, "Oh, I am bitterly sorry for you. I
+don't know what I'd do to my dear old rough-and-ready father if he dared
+to give me another mother. And Hetty, Hetty, if these new people are
+coming on Saturday, must I go away?"
+
+"No, of course not, Annie; it would make me much more wretched even than
+I am now not to have you in the house; oh, I really don't know how I
+dare tell Nan; she is so excitable, and Mrs. Martin has put her against
+stepmothers already."
+
+"It doesn't matter half as much for her," said Annie, "for she will be
+at school most of the time. Would you like me to tackle her? I think I
+can get her to behave with outward propriety at least."
+
+"I wish you would tell her," said Hester.
+
+"Very well, I'll search for her right away; and shall I send Molly to
+you?"
+
+"Dear Molly; yes, I'd rather see her than anyone."
+
+"I'll fly round and tell her you're here," replied Annie.
+
+She had now a reason for joining the group on the lawn, which not even
+Nora's frantic wavings of the hand to her to keep away could prevent her
+attending to.
+
+"Molly," she said, not coming too near, but shouting from a little
+distance; "Hester is on the lawn at the back of the house and wants
+particularly to see you for a minute or two."
+
+Molly stood up and shook out her crumpled holland frock.
+
+"Very well," she said, "I'll go to her."
+
+"Stay here, Guy," she continued, laying her hand on her brother's
+shoulder. "I won't stay long with Hetty, but she would think it unkind
+if I did not tell her. I wonder if she has heard anything. I won't be
+long away, for we must go back to the Towers before lunch, in order to
+be sure to be in time to meet mother."
+
+Molly went slowly away, her poor dejected little figure showing only too
+plainly the weight of sad care which filled her heart.
+
+Hester Thornton was, however, for once so self-centred that she could
+think of no sorrow but her own. She noticed nothing particular in
+Molly's lagging step, and guessed of no special sorrow in her
+tear-dimmed brown eyes.
+
+Hester ran up to Molly and clutched her arm with feverish force.
+
+"Oh, Molly," she gasped, "how can I bear it? my worst, worst fears are
+realised. My father is going to marry again."
+
+These words gave Molly a shock; she turned quite white for a moment.
+
+"Hester," she said, "oh, Hester, and I remember your mother, your sweet
+mother. I was only a very little girl when I saw her last. She was ill
+at the time and she died soon afterwards, but I cannot forget her face
+nor her words; she seemed something like an angel."
+
+"So she was," said Hester. "A beautiful, dear angel--too good for this
+world."
+
+Hester's courage gave way; she began to sob brokenly.
+
+"Come into the field at the back of the house," said Molly; "we'll be
+quite alone there, and then you can tell me everything and I can tell
+you everything."
+
+"Oh, have you bad news too?" said Hester. "Annie seemed to think you
+had; she said your face was blotchy, and that Nora had been crying. Oh,
+Molly dear, Molly dear, how selfish I am; I have been absolutely
+swallowed up in this dark cloud, and can think of no one but myself. I
+notice now how red your eyes are, and how sad your mouth. Poor, dear
+Molly, what is it? Is Nell really ill? Was that why you did not come
+back with us last night?"
+
+"It isn't Nell," said Molly in a trembling voice; "it's--Hester--it's
+what we feared. We had a letter from mother this morning, and it's all
+over--it's all over, Hetty--the Towers is sold."
+
+"And my father is going to marry again," said Hester; "it seems to me as
+if the world were turning topsy-turvey. Oh, Molly, what are we both to
+do?"
+
+"Jane Macalister would say that we are not to think of ourselves," said
+Molly with a wan attempt at a smile, "but somehow I don't feel like
+following her advice just at present."
+
+"Nor I either," replied Hester; "I never, never in the whole course of
+my life felt more horrid and wicked, and rebellious, and selfish."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE NEW OWNERS.
+
+
+It is surprising how soon, at least when we are young, the greater
+number of us get accustomed to things. The news of the sale of the
+Towers, and of Sir John Thornton's approaching marriage, had electrified
+the Lorrimers and the Thorntons on Thursday. Had electrified them to
+such a degree that even the common observances of life seemed queer and
+out of place. It seemed wrong to eat when one was hungry; inhuman to
+smile; and even when one was sleepy, it seemed necessary to go to bed
+with a sort of apology. Nevertheless, the hungry people had to be fed,
+smiles had now and then to chase away tears, and in youthful slumber
+sorrow was for a time forgotten.
+
+By Saturday life was going on much as usual in the two households. The
+Lorrimers were not to leave the Towers for six weeks. There was no
+immediate necessity, therefore, for the younger members of the
+household to think about moving the pets. Six weeks seemed something
+like for ever to them. The anxious consultations of the elders were not
+shared by them. Mother had come home, and mother kissed them just as
+tenderly as ever at night, and petted them just as much in the morning,
+and coddled them just as persistently when there was the least scrap of
+anything the matter. Whenever they went away, mother would go with them,
+and that, after all, was the main thing. In their secret hearts, they
+became rather excited about the move, the packing, and the new home.
+Boris, it is true, sometimes woke at night with a start and a hot
+remembrance of the clutch the Squire had given his hand when he stood
+under the oak tree, and Nell sobbed out piteously once or twice, "Oh,
+father's face, oh, father's face;" but father was not with them and
+mother was, and the sun rose and set as usual, and the fruit ripened in
+great plenty, and the pets were all well, and it was holiday time, and
+mother earth was specially tranquilising and kind. By Saturday, Boris,
+Kitty, and Nell were to all appearance just as they were before, and
+even the elder members of the family behaved, as Jane Macalister
+expressed it, "like sensible Christians."
+
+In the Thornton household, too, the first overwhelming shock of Sir
+John's approaching marriage had passed by. Nan had stormed and raged,
+and flung her arms round nurse's neck, and sobbed herself at last to
+sleep on her breast, but Nan's passion was over now, and she was even a
+little curious to see what sort of woman Mrs. Bernard Temple was, and
+what sort of girl Antonia would be. Hester, whether her heart was heavy
+or light, was forced to attend to many household cares, and Annie was
+happy once more, for Mrs. Willis had not yet asked her for the ring.
+Mrs. Willis had yielded to Hester's strong entreaties to remain at the
+Grange until Monday. She was deeply interested in the Lorrimers, and was
+most anxious to help Molly in any way in her power; she was also
+desirous of seeing Hetty through the difficult ordeal of her first
+introduction to her future stepmother; she resolved, therefore, at some
+personal sacrifice, to prolong her visit at the Grange for a few days.
+No events less absorbing would have made her forget the ring. The
+exciting events of Thursday had, however, put it completely out of her
+head. On Friday, it is true, she did think of it, but Annie was not
+present at the time, and she now resolved not to trouble herself to have
+the ring copied, but to buy another present for her ex-pupil.
+
+Annie knew nothing of this intention, but delay had made her bold, and,
+as usual, she had great faith in her own good luck.
+
+On Saturday morning Sir John contributed vastly to the excitement and
+interest of the party by a certain piece of news which he read aloud to
+them from a letter he had just received from Mrs. Bernard Temple.
+
+"My dear Hester," he said, looking down the length of the table at his
+daughter, "did not you once tell me that you had a schoolfellow at
+Lavender House of the name of Susan Drummond?"
+
+"Sleepy Susy," exclaimed Hester with a smile. "I had almost forgotten
+her, although she managed to worry me a good deal at school. She was my
+room-mate for the first couple of terms. Oh, dear, oh, dear, shall I
+ever forget the trouble we used to have to wake her?"
+
+"She left Lavender House a good many years ago; what of her?" exclaimed
+Mrs. Willis; "the fact is, I have quite lost sight of her."
+
+"And so have I," said Hester; "frankly, I did not care about remembering
+her."
+
+"Well, whether you like it or not, you are likely to hear a good deal
+more of her now," said Sir John, "for Susan's father is the new owner of
+the Towers, and Mrs. Bernard Temple wants to know if she may bring Susan
+as well as Antonia to-day, as Susan is naturally most anxious to see her
+new home. Have we a vacant bedroom, Hester?"
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Hester, "but it seems----"
+
+"What, my dear?"
+
+"Nothing, father--only--but----"
+
+"But me no buts," replied Sir John in a tone of irritation. "Nothing can
+be more natural than a young girl's wish to see her future home. I shall
+telegraph to Mrs. Bernard Temple to let her know that we shall be
+pleased to give Miss Drummond a hearty welcome."
+
+Sir John rose from his chair as he spoke, and a moment later left the
+room.
+
+"Poor Nora," exclaimed Hester, when the door had closed behind him.
+"Susy is certain to say something to hurt her dreadfully, for unless she
+has tremendously altered, I never saw a creature with less tact."
+
+"We must hope for the best," said Mrs. Willis. "I am rather glad, my
+dear," she added, "that I am here, for I think Miss Susy will be on her
+best behaviour in my presence."
+
+"Well, I think it's the most awful thing that ever happened," exclaimed
+Nan. "Fancy having a sleepy thing like that at the Towers, instead of
+Nell and Kitty and Boris."
+
+The girls discussed the matter a little further, and then Hester went
+away to attend to Nora.
+
+The shock of Molly's intelligence had really affected Nora to an almost
+painful degree. Her nerves had been terribly shaken by her serious fall,
+and she was so restless and miserable for the first twenty-four hours
+after the stunning blow had been given to her that the beloved Towers
+was no longer her home, that a doctor had to be sent for, who ordered
+her a soothing draught, and said that she ought to be kept extremely
+quiet.
+
+By this time, however, Nora was not only better, but much interested in
+the strange new outlook. She had found her life often dull enough in the
+dear old home--for it was by this term she now invariably spoke of the
+Towers--she had longed to flutter her little wings in a larger and gayer
+world--she had fancied the small triumphs which might be hers, and had
+believed much in the charms of her own pretty face. She had dreamed
+dreams of herself in society, and felt sure that the fact of her being a
+Lorrimer of the Towers would insure her a passport into any circle. Now,
+of course, matters would be different, but still the new life must be,
+at least, more interesting than the old. It would be impossible any
+longer to have nothing to do in the day except to learn rather
+old-fashioned lessons under the tutorship of Jane Macalister, to
+contrive to dress out of almost nothing at all, and to listen for ever
+to Molly's slow talk about ways and means, and the children's chatter
+over their pets. Nora looked ahead with interest. She was sorry for
+Hester, of course, but she thought it would be very delightful to meet
+Mrs. Bernard Temple and Antonia, and even the news that Susan Drummond
+was coming, and that Susy's father was now the owner of the Towers,
+scarcely disturbed her equanimity.
+
+"It's very kind of you to break it to me, Hetty," she said; "but of
+course I knew that someone had bought the Towers, and why not Mr.
+Drummond as well as another?"
+
+"Why not, truly," replied Hester; "I am glad you are so sensible, Nora.
+I'll send Annie to you as soon as ever I can. Now I must run away, as
+there is a great deal to be done."
+
+"How pale you look," said Nora, touched with a feeling of compunction at
+an indescribable something in Hester's face and voice. "Are you really,
+really fretting?"
+
+"No, I hope not," replied Hester; "but I am really, really fighting, and
+that is hard work; now I must be off."
+
+She left the room in a hurry, and as she went away to interview the
+housekeeper, some tears gathered in her eyes.
+
+"Dear, dear Molly," she murmured to herself; "how very different she is
+from Nora; oh, how I wish Susy was not going to be settled at the
+Towers, it seems to be quite the last straw. 'As well Mr. Drummond as
+another,' says Nora; ah, but she would not say that if she really knew
+Susy."
+
+The remaining hours which were to intervene before the arrival of the
+guests passed swiftly by. Sir John went alone in the landau to
+Nortonbury to meet them. An omnibus was sent for the luggage and for
+Mrs. Bernard Temple's and Miss Drummond's maids. Nan, flushed, excited,
+and defiant, stood in her white dress on the steps; Hester, also in
+white, stood by her little sister and held her hand with a firm
+pressure.
+
+"Keep quiet, Nan--do keep quiet, for my sake," she whispered once in an
+emphatic voice.
+
+"I'll vent it on Susy Drummond," exclaimed Nan: "she's the safety valve;
+I'm glad she's coming."
+
+"Here they are," said Hester. She felt herself turning very pale, and
+laid her other hand on Nan's shoulder. The sound of wheels was
+distinctly audible, and the next moment the landau with its four
+occupants bowled rapidly up to the door. Mrs. Bernard Temple was all
+smiles and bows. She was a graceful, well-preserved woman, handsomely
+and fashionably dressed. Although the same age as Sir John, she looked
+years younger. Antonia was a dark-eyed, sallow-faced girl, difficult to
+say anything about at the first glance, and Susy Drummond was the
+well-known Susy Drummond of Lavender House. A little taller, a little
+fatter, a little more sleepy-looking, if that were possible, than she
+used to be in the old days, but still the Susy whom Hester had detested,
+and whose departure from the school was hailed with relief by everyone.
+
+Before anyone else could speak she now raised her full, light blue eyes,
+fixed them on Hester, and drawled out, "Who would have thought of seeing
+you again, Prunes and Prism?"
+
+Hester ran down the steps accompanied by Nan. There was a confused
+murmur of greeting and introduction. Mrs. Bernard Temple kissed Hester
+on her forehead, called her "dear child," and looked into her eyes in a
+way which made Hester long to shut them, patted Nan on her shoulder and
+hoped she was a good, obliging little girl, and then, followed by
+Antonia and Susy, who dropped a succession of wraps the whole way,
+entered one of the drawing rooms.
+
+"My dear John, what a perfectly _charming_ room," exclaimed Mrs. Bernard
+Temple, turning to her future husband and glancing down the long room
+with a critical eye. "Furniture just a _little_ out of date--not enough
+Chippendale--old-fashioned, but not antique--we'll soon put that right,
+however. Antonia has a wonderful eye for colour. You see, she has been
+trained in an atelier in Paris."
+
+The faintest perceptible frown might have been seen between Sir John's
+eyebrows. He took no special notice of Mrs. Bernard Temple's remark, but
+walking up the long and exquisitely proportioned room flung open some
+French windows which led into a flower garden, gay with every imaginable
+flower. There was a distant and very lovely view from this window.
+
+"I think you will admire the landscape from this window," he said,
+turning and speaking with an air of great deference to his distinguished
+guest.
+
+"In one moment, my love," she replied. "Antonia, what do you think of
+old gold curtains, and one of those dark olive-green papers for the
+walls? This light decoration is absolutely inadmissible."
+
+"Old gold is quite out of date," replied Antonia, opening her lips for
+the first time. "I'm sick of old gold, it's not _chic_ now. I'll look
+through some of my antique designs and sketch my idea of a drawing-room
+for you presently, mother; now pray attend to Sir John."
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple favoured her daughter with a glance which was
+returned in a very frank and determined manner by that young lady. She
+then sailed slowly up the room and condescended to admire the view
+pointed out by Sir John.
+
+Hester was standing near one of the windows talking to Susy, who had
+already sunk into an easy chair, and was fanning herself with an
+enormous black fan which hung at her girdle. Antonia, after a moment's
+hesitation, came up to Hester.
+
+"I'm very sorry we have come," she said, "but it really is not my fault.
+Mother is in a state of flutter at having caught Sir John. I'm disgusted
+about it all. I don't want a stepfather any more than you want a
+stepmother. I'm to be turned into a fine lady now, and I hate being a
+fine lady. I have a soul for art. I adore art. I'm all art. Art is
+sacred; it shouldn't be talked about the way mother speaks of it. When I
+was in Paris I was in my element. I wore a linen blouse all over paint;
+ah, that blouse--those happy days."
+
+"Oh, Tony," suddenly burst from Susy's lips, "for pity's sake don't go
+off into a trance; you'll put Hester into a fit. Her face at the present
+moment is enough to kill anyone. For goodness sake, Hester, don't look
+like that; you'll make me laugh, and if I laugh immoderately it always
+wakes me up. I was looking out for a little nap before tea--forty winks,
+you know--I can't live without my forty winks, and now if you put on
+that killingly tragic face, I'll scream with laughter, I know I shall.
+Oh, dear, oh, dear, you must learn once for all never to mind a single
+thing Tony says; she's the oddest, most irrational creature--a genius of
+course--her pictures are simply monstrosities, which is a sure sign of
+genius."
+
+"Would you like me to take you to your room?" said Hester, turning to
+Antonia when Susy had given her a moment of time to open her lips. "I'm
+sure you must be tired after your long journey."
+
+"What should tire me?" asked Antonia, opening her big brown eyes in
+astonishment. "I travelled first-class from London, and drove out here
+in a landau; the whole journey was nothing short of effeminate. When I
+was in Paris I rose at four in the morning, and worked at my easel
+standing for five hours at a stretch; that was something like work. No,
+I'm not the least tired, thank you, and I don't want to be bothered
+tidying myself, for I may as well say frankly that I don't care twopence
+how I look."
+
+"Tea will be ready in half an hour," said Hester. "Will you come out
+into the garden, then, for a stroll?"
+
+"If you don't hate me too much to walk with me; but pray consider your
+own feelings if you do, for I don't in the least object to strolling
+about alone."
+
+Hester and Antonia had now stepped out on the velvet lawn. They each
+gazed fully at the other.
+
+"No," said Hester, speaking with a sudden swift intuition; "I don't hate
+you; I rather like you. I am glad you are frank."
+
+"Oh, I hate pretence," said Antonia, with a shudder. "Fancy a priestess
+of art stooping to pretence. Well, if you don't detest me, let us walk
+about for a little. Have you no wild, uncultured spot to show me, which
+the hand of man has not defaced? My whole soul recoils from a velvet
+lawn."
+
+"Oh, Tony, Tony, you're too killing to live," shrieked Susy from the
+other side of the window.
+
+Antonia and Hester moved slowly away together; Hester was trying to
+think of some portion of the grounds which might be sufficiently full of
+weeds and thorns to satisfy the priestess of high art, and Susy lay back
+in her chair and wiped her eyes.
+
+"This is rich," she murmured to herself. "To think of poor Prunes and
+Prism being thrown with Tony--to think of Tony as a sort of sister to
+Prunes and Prism. Well, this is a delicious lark. Hullo! is that you,
+Nan? Come along and speak to me at once, you pert puss. Why, do you know
+you've grown?"
+
+"Well, I don't suppose I've stood still for the last five years,"
+replied Nan, who could be intensely pert when she pleased. "I'm too busy
+to stay with you now, Susy; Nora wants me."
+
+"Nora; who is Nora?"
+
+"Nora Lorrimer."
+
+"Nora Lorrimer, is she one of the Tower Lorrimers?"
+
+"Yes; she wants me in a hurry; I must fly to her."
+
+"Stay a moment, my dear child," Susy absolutely rose from her chair in
+her strong interest. "If this girl is one of the Tower Lorrimers, I had
+better know her at once; you had better bring her to me and I'll
+question her."
+
+"I can't bring her to you; she has had a fall and is lying on her back;
+she can't walk."
+
+"Dear me, what a nuisance; well, I'll go to her, then. Come along,
+Nancy, show me the way this minute."
+
+"But really, really, Susy," began Nan, raising blue, imploring eyes.
+"Really, it is very sad about the Towers, you know."
+
+"Sad; good heavens, are the drains wrong?"
+
+"It's sad about the Lorrimers," continued Nan, stamping her foot and
+growing red with anger; "we love the Lorrimers; they are our dearest,
+our very, very dearest friends, and we hate their leaving the Towers.
+Perhaps Nora doesn't want to see you, Susy."
+
+"Come along," said Susy in a firm voice; "I want to see her. What
+sentimental folly you talk, Nan. Squire Lorrimer was very glad indeed to
+find such a purchaser as my father for his tumbledown old place."
+
+"The Towers tumbledown!" exclaimed Nan, "the beautiful, lovely, darling
+Towers! Susy, I hate you--I hate and detest you; I won't show you the
+way to Nora's room, so there!"
+
+Nan pulled her frock out of Susy's detaining hand and rushed away.
+
+Miss Drummond stood quite still for a moment where she had been left.
+Then she put up her hand to smooth her brow.
+
+"This sort of thing would be ruffling to most people," she murmured,
+"but I really don't mind. Now, shall I have my forty winks before tea,
+or shall I poke round by myself until I find this blessed aggrieved
+Nora? That horrid little piece of impertinence has quite woke me up, so
+it's scarcely worth while to get soothed down again; I think I'll find
+Nora and ask for some information which I am anxious to write to father
+about, then after tea I can have a snooze until it is time to dress for
+dinner. Dear, dear, they might have the politeness to have tea ready on
+one's arrival. I expect my stay here will be precious slow, with their
+old-fashioned, prim ideas; if it weren't for Tony I'd die, but she'd
+really make a cat laugh; it will be better than a play to watch her at
+dinner to-night with Sir John. Now, then, for a search for the tearful
+Nora."
+
+Susy, accordingly, in her usual ponderous, somewhat heavy mode of
+progress, wandered from one room to another until at last the sound of
+voices guided her to the pretty little boudoir, where Annie Forest and
+Nora had taken shelter, and where Nan was now standing, pouring out her
+tale of woe. A slight creak which the door made caused the girls to turn
+their heads, and there stood Susy, shedding articles of her wardrobe, as
+usual, as she walked. Her flaxen hair was partly unpinned and lay in a
+rough coil on her fat neck. She came with elephantine weight into the
+room, and ignoring Annie Forest altogether, held out a hand to Nora.
+
+"Here I am," she said. "I'm Susy Drummond. 'Miss Susan Drummond, the
+Towers,' will soon be on my visiting cards. Isn't the place very
+ramshackle? Doesn't it want to be put into repair a good bit? I'm just
+dying to hear all about it. Oh, and here's an American swinging-chair--I
+just adore them. You don't mind if I see-saw gently while you talk to
+me. Nan, I bear no malice; fetch me a footstool, love, and let me know
+when tea is brought into the drawing-room. Annie, how do? I hope the
+female dragon is very well." Annie flushed crimson. Only a startled look
+on Nora's pretty face enabled her to control herself. She walked to the
+window and looked out.
+
+Susy blinked her sleepy eyes after her.
+
+"Never mind," she said, winking at Nora, "it's an old feud which I
+buried--I'm the most forgiving creature in Christendom--but if she
+chooses to dig up the hatchet, I can't help her. I always called that
+detestable Mrs. Willis the she-dragon. You don't know her, I suppose?
+You're in luck, I can tell you. Thank you, Nan, for the footstool. Now,
+this is most comfortable. You'll begin to tell me all you can about the
+Towers, won't you?" she continued, bending slightly forward and laying
+her fat hand on Nora's slim white arm; "and so you really are a
+Lorrimer? How profoundly interesting."
+
+Nora fidgeted restlessly on her sofa.
+
+"I'm a Lorrimer," she said at last in a steady voice. "I--I don't think
+I can tell you about the Towers; you'll probably go and see the place
+for yourself, either to-morrow or Monday."
+
+"I shall certainly go to-morrow, and at an early hour, too; my father is
+most anxious to get my opinion on it."
+
+"Well, then, you'll see it for yourself."
+
+"So I shall--quite true, little Miss Rosebud; but, nevertheless, there
+is such a thing as curiosity, which, doubtless, you can gratify. Now,
+let's begin. I'm nothing if I'm not practical. How many bedrooms are
+there?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"You don't know? Are you simple? Have not you lived there all your
+life?"
+
+"I have, but I don't really know. Perhaps if I count I can tell you.
+First, in the Tower, there's Jane Macalister's room, and Boris sleeps
+near her, and then there's Kitty--she has a room to herself--it's rather
+small, but she's immensely proud of it, and there's Nell and--"
+
+Susy suddenly clapped her hands to her ears.
+
+"For goodness sake stop," she exclaimed. "What do I care for your
+Macalisters, and Boris's, and Kittys? I want to know how many bedrooms
+there are--ten, twelve, twenty, thirty? Can't you count?"
+
+"Yes, perfectly," replied Nora with spirit; "but I never troubled myself
+to count the number of bedrooms at the Towers; you can do so for
+yourself when you go to see it to-morrow."
+
+"Thanks for nothing. If I'm anything I'm practical, and I shall not only
+count the bedrooms to-morrow, but measure them also. I shall take a
+measuring tape with me, and my maid Linette and a foot measure."
+
+"How pleasant for Linette to be sandwiched between a measuring tape and
+a foot measure," exclaimed Annie, turning round from her position at the
+window and speaking for the first time.
+
+Susy favoured her with a slow glance of intense dislike. Slightly
+turning her back she proceeded with her catechism of Nora.
+
+"At least you can say something about the drawing-rooms. How many feet
+long is the principal drawing-room?"
+
+Before poor Nora could reply, the door of the room was slowly opened and
+Mrs. Willis, with her usual calm, strong face, entered.
+
+Susy Drummond gave such a start of dismayed surprise that Annie forgave
+her a good many of her sins on the spot.
+
+Mrs. Willis came up to her and held out her hand.
+
+"How do you do?" she said. "Sir John Thornton told us this morning at
+breakfast that we might have the pleasure of meeting you here. Are you
+well?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I'm--I'm quite well, ma'am," replied Susy, stammering out her
+words in hopeless confusion.
+
+"Nora, dear, you are looking very tired," continued Mrs. Willis. "I
+propose to have tea with you here alone, and to read to you for a little
+afterwards. Annie, will you take Miss Drummond to the drawing-room? I
+saw the tea equipage being taken in as I passed."
+
+Susy shambled out of the room in Annie's wake.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+HESTER SPEAKS HER MIND.
+
+
+The next day was Sunday, and Susy, notwithstanding her strong
+inclinations, was forced to submit to Sir John Thornton's decree that
+she should not visit the Towers that day. Hester had sent a hurried note
+to Molly apprizing her of Susy's arrival, and begging of her, if she
+valued her peace of mind, not to come near the Grange on this dreadful
+Sunday.
+
+It passed somehow. Poor Hester always, during the remainder of her life,
+looked back upon it as a day of hopeless worry and confusion of brain.
+Everyone seemed to be playing the game of cross-purposes with everyone
+else. Sir John kept on assuring himself that he was the happiest man in
+existence, while Mrs. Bernard Temple and Antonia evidently trod on his
+corns at each step he took. Susy, in her moments of wakefulness, was sly
+and watchful. Antonia was absolutely indifferent to everything but high
+art. Mrs. Bernard Temple was busy as busy could be making hay while the
+sun shone. She guessed shrewdly--perhaps her experiences with the late
+Mr. Bernard Temple helped her--that it was during the time of courtship
+when most of her wishes would be carried out. She insisted, therefore,
+on going carefully into the many alterations which she proposed to make
+in the Grange, and Sir John, notwithstanding his innate aversion to fuss
+of any kind, was forced to listen to her demands, and, as he was really
+attached to her, she soon got him to say yes to her different proposals.
+
+Nan and Hester, Annie and Nora, kept as much together as possible. This
+was made easy for them by kind Mrs. Willis, who not only kept Susy in
+considerable awe, but contrived to interest Antonia by allowing her to
+talk art to her by the hour. Antonia used a jargon which Mrs. Willis did
+not in the least understand, but even Antonia was not proof against the
+gracious sympathy of this high-minded woman.
+
+The girls had, therefore, plenty of time for self-pity. Annie was the
+very soul of sympathy, and it was a comfort to poor Nora and Hester to
+pour out their sorrows in her affectionate ears. As for Nan, she took
+refuge a good part of the time with Mrs. Martin, who shook her fists,
+when Nan was not looking, at the backs of Sir John and Mrs. Bernard
+Temple as they walked down one of the lawns side by side.
+
+"She's his match!" murmured the old woman. "She'll give it to him; now
+he'll know what a selfish wife means! He have 'ad his turn of the other
+kind, and now he'll know what the selfish sort is. Serve him right, I
+say; serve him well right!"
+
+At last the weary Sunday came to an end and on Monday, after breakfast,
+Susy announced her intention of going over to the Towers.
+
+"I suppose I can have a carriage?" she said, turning to Sir John, who
+paused in his exit from the dining-room to give her his polite
+attention.
+
+"I suppose I can have a carriage?" she repeated.
+
+Annie interrupted--
+
+"The Towers is scarcely a mile away across the fields," she said.
+
+"I don't think I can walk a mile," replied Susy; "my muscles are awfully
+weak--I dare not strain them."
+
+"You can have a carriage with pleasure," said Sir John. "I will order
+one to be round at whatever hour you wish to name."
+
+"At once, please," said Susy; "there's a good deal to be done. I've to
+measure all the rooms for carpets and druggets."
+
+"You surely won't cover the rooms with carpets?" exclaimed Antonia. "I
+never heard of anything so Philistine. Oak parquetry, with rugs that
+slip about, is the only thing admissible. Better bare boards than
+carpets--carpets are simply atrocious!"
+
+When Antonia began to speak, Sir John was heard to slam the door behind
+him; he had had quite enough of this young lady.
+
+An eager discussion followed his departure, and it was finally decided
+that Susy, Hester, and Antonia, accompanied by Annie Forest, should
+drive over to the Towers.
+
+"My part in the expedition will be this," exclaimed Annie, taking Hester
+aside for a moment. "I'll collect every single Lorrimer child I can lay
+hold of and carry them away to the most remote part of the grounds I
+can find, to be out of the reach of that detestable Susy and the torture
+she means to inflict. I should recommend you, Hester, to come with us."
+
+"I'd like to very much," replied Hester, with a faint smile; "but I
+think I must stay with Mrs. Lorrimer and Molly. I don't know that I
+shall be the least comfort to them, but somehow I can't desert them."
+
+A few moments later the little party drove off, and in the course of
+half-an-hour they arrived at the Towers. There was a winding and rather
+steep beech avenue, leading up to the older part of the mansion. Owing
+to the sad state of Squire Lorrimer's finances, this avenue was by no
+means in a state of complete repair. Hester turned her fleet little
+ponies--for she was driving--into it. They were spirited, but always
+well-behaved; on this occasion, however, they started violently, for
+Antonia was heard to utter a piercing shriek of rapture.
+
+"Oh, those briars," she exclaimed--"those heavenly, heavenly, artistic
+briars! Stop the carriage, I beg of you, Miss Thornton! I must cut some
+without a moment's delay!"
+
+"We can't stop on the side of a hill, Antonia," said Susy. "The ponies
+are fretting already, and nothing would induce them to stand still. You
+don't want us to be killed, I suppose, for the sake of an odious briar?"
+
+The only answer Antonia made was to press her bony right hand with
+unnecessary force on Susy's right arm and vault from the carriage.
+
+"Go on," she said, waving her hand to Hester; "I'll follow you
+presently. You don't suppose I'm going to lose a chance of this kind! I
+have brought my colour-box with me, and I mean to make a study of those
+briars before I go another step."
+
+Suiting her action to her words, Antonia had already seated herself on a
+steep bank and was unfastening her portfolio.
+
+"What a show she'll be when she does arrive," exclaimed Susy. "She'll
+probably bring three or four enormous briars into the house with her;
+but we may be thankful to be rid of her for a little, for she is so
+painfully positive. I place the greatest faith, of course, in her
+opinions, for she really is a magnificently ugly artist, and ugly art
+is, of course, the only correct thing now; but I do think we might have
+the bedrooms comfortable, don't you, Hester? With my tendency to forty
+winks at odd moments, I think it is scarcely safe to have every room
+covered with oak parquetry and rugs that slip about. The doctor says I
+am very deficient in muscle, and if I fell I might break a bone rather
+badly--don't you think so, Hester?"
+
+"Yes, I do!" said Hester. "I think you had better furnish the Towers
+exactly as you please, and not take any opinions from Antonia!"
+
+They had reached the brow of the hill now, and Hester was resting her
+ponies for a moment.
+
+"How fiercely you speak," said Susy in an aggrieved tone. "Aren't you
+really interested in me and my future? Coming to the Towers is a very
+important step for me. I shall be the mistress, and in a position of
+great distinction. Father says I must entertain, and I hate
+entertaining, for it rouses one up so dreadfully; but I do think that
+you, as an old schoolfellow, might take a little interest in me."
+
+"Listen to me for a moment," said Hester; "I want to say something."
+
+"Oh, how appallingly solemn you are! I wish I had a lollipop to stop
+your mouth with."
+
+"You must listen," said Hester in a firm voice; "I'm not joking. Times
+come in all lives when one cannot joke. I did not love you as my
+schoolfellow, Susy, and, frankly, I do not love you now; but, when you
+come to the Towers, I'll do everything in my power to help you, not
+because I like to do this, but because it's right. I can help you in
+many ways, for you don't know anything of county society; and, coming
+after such an old and popular family as the Lorrimers, people will be
+very apt to cut you if you are not careful. My father and I know
+everyone in the place, and we can get them to be kind to you if--if you
+deserve it; but that depends altogether on how you treat the Lorrimers
+now."
+
+"Bravo," burst from Annie, who was sitting in the back seat, but who
+overheard Hester's words.
+
+"Don't interrupt me, Annie, please," said Hester.
+
+"The Lorrimers are my dearest friends," continued Hester. "Molly
+Lorrimer, whom you have not yet seen, and Annie, here, are the two
+greatest girl friends I have in the world. It is a great, great sorrow
+to the Lorrimers to leave the home where they and their people have
+lived before them for hundreds of years, and until they leave the place
+you ought not to talk before them of the way you mean to furnish the
+Towers when you are in possession. You ought to regard their feelings;
+and if you wish to please me, and if you wish me to help you by-and-by,
+you will. Remember, you are not in possession yet. The Towers is not
+your place yet."
+
+"Well, I never!" exclaimed Susy. "Why, you've turned into an orator;"
+but Hester's words had subdued her a good deal, for if she had one
+source of envy, it was the envy which _parvenus_ like her give to the
+old county people, and if there was an ambition in her stagnant soul, it
+was to be considered a county person herself.
+
+Accordingly, when the party entered one of the drawing-rooms of the
+Towers, and Molly, looking pale and anxious, came forward, and Mrs.
+Lorrimer received Susy with that gentle kindness which always
+characterised her, the young lady had not a word to say. She sank down
+on an ottoman in the centre of the room and gazed vacantly around her.
+
+A whoop from Boris was heard outside. Annie rushed to the door to be
+greeted by him and the other children, and carried away in their midst.
+
+Mrs. Lorrimer asked Susy if she would like to see over the house.
+
+"Yes, please," replied Susy; "I have brought the tapes and measures."
+
+She stopped, for Hester had given her a heavy frown.
+
+"If its really inconvenient, I needn't do anything to-day," she said,
+sinking back into her seat.
+
+Mrs. Lorrimer looked puzzled, and Molly opened her brown eyes very wide.
+
+Just then there came an interruption, in the shape of two individuals
+who entered the drawing-room by separate doors. One of them was Jane
+Macalister, who carried a duster in her hand, and had a large smut on
+her forehead. The other was Antonia, whose hat had fallen off, and who
+trailed two enormous briars behind her.
+
+The priestess of high art and the priestess of domestic economy, met
+almost in the centre of the room.
+
+"Good gracious me," exclaimed Jane Macalister, "who in the world are
+you, my dear, and what, in the name of all that's orderly, are you
+bringing those abominable briars into the house for?"
+
+"Abominable?" exclaimed Antonia; "these briars abominable? Oh, what
+crass ignorance one comes across in this benighted land. My name is
+Antonia Bernard Temple, and I am an art student. I claim nothing higher.
+I shall be an art student as long as I breathe."
+
+"And my name is Jane Macalister," replied poor Jane, her whole face
+growing scarlet with vexation, "and I claim nothing higher than the love
+of order and decent neatness. Give me those briars, child, and don't
+lumber the room with such messes."
+
+Before Antonia could utter a word of remonstrance, Jane had whipped her
+duster round the briars and had rushed out of the room with them.
+
+For a moment Antonia felt inclined to pursue her; but as she was
+preparing to move, her large gaze was attracted by a couple of huge
+Chinese dragons which were reposing under one of the tables.
+
+"Oh, you loves! you darlings! you adorables!" she shrieked. "Here,
+indeed, is a prize."
+
+She made a rush to the objects of her worship, and kneeling down on the
+floor opposite to them, whipped out her sketching materials preparatory
+to work.
+
+"Tony, you must at least allow me to introduce you to Mrs. Lorrimer
+before you begin to sketch," said Susy, who had perfectly recovered her
+own equanimity in the amusement which Antonia's conduct afforded her.
+
+"Yes, yes, anything," muttered Antonia "Oh, these dragons are a prize;
+they are a prize. Yes, Susy, what is it you want?"
+
+"Get up," said Susy, "and come and be introduced."
+
+She pulled Antonia by her sleeve, who rose in a sort of dream and
+approached Mrs. Lorrimer, looking like a person in a trance.
+
+"This is my friend, Antonia Bernard Temple," exclaimed Susy, addressing
+Mrs. Lorrimer.
+
+"I am glad to see you, my dear," said Mrs. Lorrimer in her sweet voice;
+"and I am pleased to find that you appreciate the old china."
+
+"The dragons? Superb; Ruskinesque," exclaimed Antonia. "You don't mind
+if I go back to them? I must seize the opportunity of transferring them
+to my note book. Oh, what a heavenly room this is! Old, disorderly,
+worn, dim with the hue of ages. An artist might grovel in this
+room--grovel with delight!"
+
+"Well, go back and grovel over the dragons," exclaimed Susy, giving her
+friend a playful poke.
+
+Antonia hurried to obey. Her work instantly absorbed her; she saw
+nothing else.
+
+"Isn't she killing?" exclaimed Susy, addressing poor surprised Mrs.
+Lorrimer. "She's to be a sort of sister to Hester in the future; she's
+to live at the Grange. She's the daughter of Sir John Thornton's
+_fiancée_. Don't you love the word _fiancée?_ I do. Did you know that at
+school we called Hetty Prunes and Prism? Fancy Prunes and Prism and the
+Priestess together. Its almost too killing."
+
+Mrs. Lorrimer, gentle as she was, was also the soul of quiet dignity.
+She made no reply whatever to Susy's outburst with regard to Antonia, but
+gently led the conversation to matters of every-day interest.
+
+"This is our largest drawing-room," she said, "but we have two others
+leading into it. The farthest drawing-room takes you into the
+dining-room, and that again into the library and morning-room. All our
+reception-rooms open one into the other. You will notice that they are
+built round the central hall, which is almost octagon in shape. I am
+sure you would like to see the house, and I do not at all object to
+showing it to you. Ah! here comes Jane Macalister. I'm sure she will
+have great pleasure in taking you round. Jane, dear, come here."
+
+Jane came up at once. She still wore her smut, but the duster was gone.
+
+"Jane, let me introduce you to Miss Drummond. Her father is the new
+owner of the Towers; Miss Drummond would like to see over the house, if
+it would not trouble you too much to show her round."
+
+"Trouble me," exclaimed Jane; "_that_ doesn't trouble me. Come, child,
+this way. I'll go in front and you can follow. This is the smaller
+drawing-room. It was here that Charles the Second passed a night in the
+year of grace--"
+
+"Oh, for heaven's sake," exclaimed Susy, stopping her ears, "don't go
+into dates; the whole thing is confusing enough without dates."
+
+Jane favoured her with a quick, contemptuous glance.
+
+"I shan't dream of instructing you if you don't wish it, my dear," she
+said. "Those who like ignorance, in ignorance they shall remain, as far
+as Jane Macalister is concerned. Well, then, here's a room with three
+windows and four walls and a ceiling and a floor. The furniture won't
+belong to you, so you needn't look at it. Now come on. This room we also
+use as a drawing-room, but _you_ needn't unless you like."
+
+"Do stop, pray!" exclaimed Susy. "I can't rush through the place like
+this. You are not a Lorrimer, are you?"
+
+"No, I'm a Macalister, of the clan of----"
+
+"Oh, please, I don't want to hear about the clan. What I wanted to say
+was this, that I have got the tapes and measures in my pocket; Hester
+tells me I mustn't use them on account of paining the Lorrimers, but as
+you are not one, of course you won't mind. I see you have got carpets on
+all the floors."
+
+"Yes, why not? Carpets are put on most floors--at least they used to be
+when I was young."
+
+"But Antonia says that we ought to have parquetry and slippery rugs."
+
+"And do you mean to tell me," exclaimed Jane, "that you are going to
+heed the words of that poor daft lassie? It's nothing to me what you do,
+of course, but that poor girl has not got her proper wits, and if I were
+you I would try to follow someone with a grain of sense."
+
+Susy laughed heartily.
+
+"Antonia is as right as anyone else," she said "only she has a passion
+for art."
+
+"Preserve me from such a craze," exclaimed Jane. "How much longer are we
+to stand in the middle of this floor while we talk about tapes and
+measurements and that silly girl?"
+
+"But may I measure?"
+
+"You may do anything you please, provided you don't injure the
+furniture."
+
+"And it won't hurt your feelings?"
+
+"No, you couldn't touch 'em. I'll sit here and wait till you have done."
+
+Jane flung herself on a hard chair as she spoke, and drawing a long
+stocking out of her pocket, began to knit furiously.
+
+Susy, who had about as much idea of measuring a room as she had of
+turning the heel of a stocking took her tapes out of her pocket and
+began an impossible task.
+
+Jane watched her in silence for a moment or two, but Susy's futile
+attempts were too much for this deft, managing creature.
+
+"Why don't you foot it?" she exclaimed. "My word, I never saw such a way
+to set to work. Here, you want the length of the room. I'll do it for
+you. Take your pencil and paper and jot down what I say. You haven't got
+any? That's a nice way of doing business. Well, then, I hope you have a
+good memory. I always measure a yard as I walk. Now, then, you count.
+Here I begin--one, two, three--are you counting?"
+
+"No," said Susy; "I'm greatly obliged, but you confuse me awfully. I
+won't do any more measuring to-day; I shouldn't sleep for a week if I
+had to keep all that in my head. Some men must come down from Liberty's
+or Morris's. Antonia prefers Morris, she says he's the most _chic_."
+
+"I don't know what you mean by chick," said Jane Macalister, "unless you
+allude in some mysterious way to the fowls; but I am glad you've got
+sense enough not to undertake what Providence has given you no aptitude
+for. Now, do you or do you not want to see the rest of the house? To a
+person like you, it's just like any other house, only nothing like so
+modern and nothing like so comfortable. There's a ghost in the
+tower----"
+
+"A ghost," shrieked Susy; "I tremble at ghosts, I'm in terror at them; I
+won't go near the tower."
+
+"I don't want to drag you there against your will. It's my private
+opinion that the ghost is made up of rats, but be that as it may,
+there's an awful scrimmage in the old tower at night. Now, then, will
+you see it, or will you not?"
+
+"I think I won't," said Susy. "The Towers seems to be, from what you
+say, much like any other place. I hope my father has not been induced to
+pay too much for it."
+
+"Hoots! he has got a place that mere money couldn't purchase unless the
+Lorrimers had come to grief. Don't you talk of what you know nothing
+about, child. The Towers is the Towers, sacred with memory and
+beautiful----; do you know why the Towers is beautiful, Miss Susy
+Drummond?"
+
+"No, I'm sure I don't," said Susy, staring in astonishment at Jane, who
+had stalked up to her now and was staring her full in the face.
+
+"Well, then, perhaps I'd better tell you, if it is for the last time.
+The Towers is beautiful because for hundreds of years brave men have
+been born here and gentle noble women have lived here, and their
+influence has got somehow into the walls and into the furniture, and it
+pervades the rooms inside and out. It's bad to go against that kind of
+spirit and you and your father had better be careful when you come here,
+or you may rake up ghosts that you won't much care about. Now, if
+you'll have the goodness to go back to the others--you'll find them in
+the front drawing room. I'll return to my duties, which at the present
+moment consist of shelling peas and chucking raspberries. That's your
+way, Miss Susan Drummond, through that door, and if you're wise you'll
+remember my words."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+ANTONIA'S GIFT.
+
+
+When Susan returned to the drawing room she saw no one there but
+Antonia, who, squatting on the floor, was absorbed heart and soul in
+copying her Chinese dragons. Susy was not in a humour to talk to
+Antonia, she therefore proceeded to go further afield. She was anxious
+to find Hester and Annie. The Towers, with its old-fashioned rooms and
+old-world furniture, had much disappointed her. It needs the sort of
+education which nothing could ever give to Susy Drummond, to appreciate
+a place like the Towers. Hester and Jane Macalister had also between
+them contrived to depress her, and it was a subdued and rather
+crestfallen Susy who now crossed the magnificent octagon hall in pursuit
+of the rest of her party.
+
+Antonia meanwhile worked at her dragons with a will. If Susy were out of
+her element, Antonia was absolutely steeped in hers. The faded
+furniture, the subdued light, the rich colour of the magnificent china
+filled her really artistic nature with a sense of rejoicing. Behind all
+her affectations, Antonia had a soul. It had never been awakened yet.
+All her life hitherto poor Antonia had spent her time with the most
+empty-headed and frivolous people. Only art seemed great and glorious
+and satisfying. She loved it sincerely, and for itself alone; she had no
+ambitions with regard to it, ambition was not a part of her queer
+nature; she would all her life be a humble votary at a lofty shrine. She
+did not imagine that there could be anything greater than art in the
+whole world. As yet her soul had not been really aroused, but the time
+of awakening was near.
+
+Having made a rough, and, in truth, a very distorted sketch of the
+dragons, she gathered up her colours and portfolio, and prepared to
+search farther afield for objects on which to expend her genius. She
+followed Susy into the octagon hall, but, seeing the wide front doors
+open, went out, and, crossing a by no means well-kept field, entered the
+paddock, where the colts, Joe and Robin, had disported themselves before
+their sale. The paddock was skirted by a copse of small fir-trees, and
+Antonia sniffed the air as she walked towards it. Antonia was in a rusty
+black dress, with very little material in the skirt, and an extremely
+long train, which she never held up. She had just got to the edge of the
+copse of young trees, and was preparing to make a sketch of their
+straight trunks with the delicate sunlight shining across them, when a
+strange noise attracted her attention. She dropped her colour box,
+uttered one of her affected little shrieks, and then dropped on her
+knees beside a child who was lying face downwards on the grass. The
+child's dark hair completely covered her face, but the sobs which shook
+her slender little frame were too violent to be inaudible. Whatever
+ailed the child, she was prostrated by such a tempest of grief that
+Antonia forgot high art in an honest wish to comfort human misery.
+
+[Illustration: ANTONIA AND NELL IN THE PADDOCK (_p._ 209).]
+
+"Who are you?" she asked. "Can I do anything for you? What can be the
+matter with you? Have you lost your colour box?"
+
+Antonia could understand grief at such a loss, hence her inquiry.
+
+Nell turned a little when she was spoken to; dabbed her
+pocket-handkerchief into each eye, and then looked up at Antonia.
+
+"I wish you'd go away," she said. "I don't want you. I have come away
+here to hide. I wish, I wish you'd go away!"
+
+"I don't wish to trouble you in any way," replied Antonia, "but I can't
+go away, for I've come here to sketch. Your sobs don't disturb me now
+that I know there's nothing very serious the matter, so perhaps my
+presence won't disturb you. I'll sit here and not take the least notice
+of you. I must imprison that sunshine before it goes. You can sob away,
+I won't listen."
+
+But to be told that you can sob as long as you like has generally the
+effect of stopping tears, and Nell, astonished at Antonia's appearance
+and words, presently sat up on the grass, and, flinging back her heavy
+mane of hair, watched the priestess of art with great interest. How
+could Antonia imprison a sunbeam? It sounded interesting! Nell blinked
+her eyes and looked at her solemnly.
+
+"Well, child," said Antonia, pausing in her work, and giving her one of
+her slow glances, "I'm glad you're better; I never heard such
+distressing sobs. It's a great pity for you to cry so much, for you
+disfigure yourself; but I wish now that you are here you'd sit still,
+for I'd like to sketch you with that woebegone look. I never saw such a
+perfect ideal of true artistic beauty before."
+
+"Beauty?" said Nell, with a little laugh. "But I'm called 'the ugly
+duckling'!"
+
+"Charming!" exclaimed Antonia. "I'll immortalise this 'ugly duckling.'
+She shall be the foreground for these pine trees, and the imprisoned
+sunbeams can light her up from behind."
+
+Notwithstanding her sorrow, Nell found it intensely interesting to be
+made the foreground of a picture. She wondered how the imprisoned
+sunbeams would like their office of always shining round her head. Nell
+was by no means vain. She honestly believed herself to be a hideous
+little girl, but it was refreshing once, as a change, to be spoken of as
+a true artistic beauty. She thought that she would learn the phrase, and
+repeat it over when she looked at herself in the glass, or when Kitty
+and Harry became more than usually aggravating about her personal
+appearance.
+
+Meanwhile, the artist dashed in her colours with fiery speed. Nell sat
+perfectly still, and gazed straight at Antonia. Suddenly a flood of
+colour spread itself all over her face. Was Antonia the new owner of the
+Towers? If so, _she_ was the cause of poor Nell's heart-broken sobs.
+
+The younger members of the Lorrimer household had solemnly vowed an
+undying feud against the new owner of the Towers. They had established
+this feud with the solemnity of a sacred rite. They had made a bonfire
+and stood round it in a circle and joined hands, and declared the
+following awful formula:--
+
+"Neither I, nor my children, nor my grandchildren, nor any of my
+descendants, will ever speak a friendly word to the new owner of my
+ancestral home. I wish the ghost of my ancestor, Hugh Lorrimer, who died
+in the Wars of the Roses, to haunt the new owner and his family; and I
+solemnly declare that I never will have part or lot with him or his."
+
+This jargon had been made up by Harry, but each member of the feud, as
+they termed themselves, had solemnly repeated it, even down to little
+two-year-old Philip.
+
+Suppose this wonderful, queer lady, who was making a sketch of Nell, was
+the new owner. In that case, it was Nell's duty to leave her at once.
+
+"I want to ask you a question," said Nell.
+
+"Yes--don't stir, please--ask me anything you like."
+
+"Are you the new owner of my home?"
+
+"I the new owner?" exclaimed Antonia. "Heavens! no! I own nothing except
+this"--she clasped her colour-box and looked up with a face of ecstacy.
+"I only want this," she said, "_and this_," she continued, waving her
+hand with an impressive sweep which was meant to include both earth and
+sky.
+
+She claimed a good deal, Nell thought; but, after all, that did not
+matter, as she had nothing to do with the feud.
+
+"I'm glad you are not the owner," said Nell, "for, if you were, I should
+have been obliged to leave you."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"I and the others have sworn it solemnly round a bonfire."
+
+The words were so unusual that Antonia was greatly amused.
+
+"You don't like to leave the Towers, then?" she said.
+
+"Like it?" replied Nell. "Would you, if you had lived here ever since
+the tenth century?"
+
+"Mercy, child! how venerable I'd be!" exclaimed Antonia. She smiled in
+quite a tragic way--it was quite a new thing to see a smile on Antonia's
+face.
+
+Nell looked at her very gravely. Her own sweet grey eyes grew full of
+tears.
+
+"It will kill father," she said suddenly, in a smothered voice.
+
+She swayed herself backwards and forwards as she spoke, in an ecstasy of
+pain. Strange to say, she seemed to understand Antonia, and, still
+stranger, Antonia understood her.
+
+The priestess of art dropped her palette.
+
+"Tell me about your father," she said, quickly; "tell me about yourself.
+You and your people have lived here for years--centuries--and it breaks
+your hearts to go? It's wonderfully artistic--it savours of mediæval
+romance. And you go for a creature like Susan Drummond--shallow as a
+plate--no soul anywhere about her? She gets your rooms replete with
+memories, and your dear briary avenues and your fir trees, and this
+uncultured waste?"
+
+"It's a paddock," interrupted Nell, who could not quite follow Antonia's
+imagery.
+
+"It's a waste," said Miss Bernard Temple, with fire. "The Towers is
+untrammelled by man's vulgar restraint. Child, I do not even know your
+name, but I think I understand your grief."
+
+"You cannot," said Nell, with gentle dignity--"you are not a Lorrimer.
+But I'm glad I didn't vow to hate you round the bonfire. Now I'm afraid
+I must go."
+
+"One minute first," said Antonia. "Did you say that leaving this place
+would kill your father?"
+
+"I'm afraid it will," said Nell. "He won't come home--mother can't get
+him to come back. He came the night he had sold the Towers, and Boris
+and I saw him; but I don't think he'll ever come back again. I think his
+heart is broken. But I cannot speak of it any longer, please--it hurts
+me so dreadfully here."
+
+Nell had risen from the grass--she stood tall and thin and pale by
+Antonia's side. When she uttered the last words, she pressed her hand
+against her heart.
+
+"Good-bye," she said solemnly. "Jane Macalister said I was to be in at
+twelve o'clock to help her with some darning. Good-bye."
+
+Antonia held out one of her very long, very bony hands. She slipped it
+round Nell's waist, and drawing her close, kissed her gently between her
+eyebrows, then she let her go.
+
+Nell left the paddock; but Antonia did not attempt to finish her
+interrupted sketch. She sat on, lost in a world of musing. At last she
+uttered some emphatic words aloud.
+
+"I'm not much use," she said to herself; "nobody cares about me, and I
+care for no one. I love art with a divine passion; but art does not need
+such a poor, feeble disciple. Art can still exist and be glorious
+without Antonia. I am ugly I know, and I have no genius; but I have got
+one power--I can get my own way. All my life long, through a queer kind
+of persistence which is in me, I have got my way. I do not get it
+because people love me, for I don't honestly think a soul in the wide
+world loves me, but I get it because--because of something which I don't
+myself understand. It's a power I've got; it's my one gift. Did mother
+want me to study art in Paris? No; still I went. Did mother wish me to
+become grotesque, and to wear a dress like this? No; still I wear it.
+Did mother intend me to come with her on Saturday to the Grange? No, a
+thousand times no; still I came. I can twist mother round this finger.
+She appeals to me; I counsel her; she asks my advice; she is obliged to
+take it whether she likes or not. Mother is completely under my thumb.
+So it was with the professor who taught me; so it was with the students
+who worked with me; so it will be in the future with Hester, if I still
+wish it; and with Sir John Thornton, if I ordain it. They think very
+little of Antonia now; but wait until they feel my power; wait until I
+choose to direct them, and--hey, presto--they walk in my paths, not
+their own. Now I have made up my mind on one point. I have not the
+faintest idea how it is to be managed; but managed it shall be. Susan
+Drummond and her father are not to desecrate the Towers with their
+commonplaceness, their shallowness, and vulgarity. The Lorrimers are
+still to live here; and Nell's heart is not to be broken. For the sake
+of the ugly duckling I do this. How, I know not; but I turn all the
+power that is in me in that one direction from this hour forward.
+
+"Poor, ugly duckling with the pathetic eyes. I do believe Antonia loves
+you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+TRUTH AND FIDELITY.
+
+
+Hester and her party returned to the Grange in time for lunch. All the
+way back Antonia was silent. They drove home by another road; they
+passed a bog of extreme desolation, and some larger and wilder briars
+than ever; they skirted a melancholy common, but Antonia never made an
+observation; her whole gaze was turned inward; she was looking so
+intently at the picture of a sorrowful child, that she was blind to
+everything else. Susy was decidedly in a bad temper; Hester's brave
+heart was full of aches, doubts, and fears; and Annie was again going
+back to that unsolved problem of how she was to get back the ring for
+Mrs. Willis.
+
+The return party was, therefore, a dull one; although no one noticed the
+other's dulness, each being so occupied with her own thoughts.
+
+Mrs. Willis was to leave the Grange immediately after lunch, and Hester
+and Annie were to accompany her to Nortonbury in the landau.
+
+Just as the carriage drove up to the house, Mrs. Willis remembered the
+ring and spoke to Annie.
+
+"My dear," she said with a smile, "I am leaving the house without my
+ring. It is too late now to send it to Paris to be copied; but as I see
+you never wear it, I may as well take it back with me to Lavender House.
+You know, my love, how much I value that ring. I feel quite lonely
+without it."
+
+Annie's pretty face turned pink.
+
+"But I should like to wear it before I go back to school," she said,
+"and you promised that I might have it during the holidays."
+
+"So I did; well, I will say nothing more. Be sure you take good care of
+it and give it back to me on the day of your return to Lavender House."
+
+Annie promised with a light heart. The holidays were to last for another
+week, and what might not happen in a week? She laughed quite gaily, and
+springing lightly into the carriage, seated herself by Hester's side. As
+she did so, her eyes encountered the grave dark ones of Antonia fixed
+fully upon her. There was a curious expression round Antonia's mouth
+which puzzled Annie and gave her a momentary sense of discomfort.
+
+The drive, however, through the pleasant summer air revived her spirits,
+and on the way home she had so much to talk over with Hester that she
+naturally forgot the ring and her anxieties with regard to it.
+
+When the girls returned to the Grange they found the whole party out of
+doors enjoying afternoon tea on one of the lawns. Susy was swinging
+backwards and forwards in a large American chair. Nora was lying on a
+low couch slowly fanning herself. Mrs. Bernard Temple, looking very
+handsome and stately, was pouring out tea for the rest of the party and
+looking down at Sir John, who was lounging on the grass. Antonia was
+sitting with her back straight up against an oak tree, her eyes were
+half shut, and a very full cup of tea was on her lap--the tea was in
+extreme danger of being spilt, but Antonia cared nothing for any of
+these things.
+
+As soon as ever Annie and Hester appeared in view Miss Bernard Temple
+sprang suddenly to her feet. Of course the cup of tea came to instant
+grief. Sir John uttered an exclamation of decided annoyance; Nora
+exclaimed, "Oh, Miss Bernard Temple, what a mess you have made of your
+dress!" and Susy roused herself sufficiently to shake a playful finger
+at Antonia.
+
+"Oh, Tony, Tony, how killing you are," she said; Mrs. Bernard Temple
+looked aggrieved but said nothing, she knew Antonia too well.
+
+"How am I killing?" exclaimed Antonia; "this will shake off: that is the
+good of a shabby black dress--it stands anything. Miss Forest, I
+particularly want to speak to you; I am glad you have come home."
+
+She went straight up to Annie and tucked one bony hand through her arm.
+"Come," she said, "let us retire somewhere--I am anxious to talk to
+you."
+
+"But I want my tea first," said Annie. "I am really very thirsty."
+
+"How material," exclaimed Antonia; "well, I'll wait--be quick."
+
+She marched a step or two away, and leant against the wide trunk of the
+oak tree.
+
+Annie felt provoked. Antonia's queer glance returned uncomfortably to
+her memory.
+
+She took her tea, therefore, in greater haste than usual and then, going
+up to Miss Bernard Temple, told her she was ready to listen to anything
+she had to say.
+
+"Come, then," said Antonia; "we must have solitude. Where is the most
+solitary spot?"
+
+"We can walk up this rise," said Annie--"here, where the path is. There
+is a summer-house at the top of this hill, where we can sit. But I
+cannot imagine what you have to say to me."
+
+"It's simple enough," said Antonia; "I wish just to inform you that I
+know something."
+
+"I expect you do," said Annie, with a light laugh; "several things, most
+probably."
+
+"Something about you," pursued Antonia, in a firm, hard voice.
+
+"Indeed? How interesting!" Annie's tone was not quite so comfortable
+now.
+
+"I'll tell you what it is," continued Antonia, standing still, facing
+round and turning her melancholy gaze full on Annie: "you have not got
+the ring."
+
+"What ring? What do you mean?"
+
+"The ring Mrs. Willis asked you to return to her. You did not return it,
+because you had not got it You would have returned it if you had it--you
+are not the girl to care enough about rings just to keep it for the sake
+of wearing it. I know what has happened--you have sold or pawned the
+ring."
+
+"How can you know?" exclaimed Annie, in a voice almost of fear; "how is
+it possible for you to tell? You don't know anything whatever about
+me--how can you tell?"
+
+"Intuition," replied Antonia, in a light voice. "I can see farther than
+most people when I choose to see. Intuition and experience. Do you
+imagine that I, in my chequered career, have never had to part with a
+jewel. Once, when in Paris, I sold my hair. I had no money to buy canvas
+and colours, so I went to a barber, and he cut it quite short and gave
+me a napoleon for it. Ah! that nap, that darling nap, how I loved it!"
+
+"You are a very queer girl," said Annie.
+
+"That's neither here nor there," replied Antonia. "I didn't take you
+away from the others to speak of myself. I have watched you since I came
+here, and I can see that you are a very bright, clever girl; also, that
+you are pretty, according to modern ideas. You are not true art, by any
+means; but what of that? I know that you are in trouble about that ring,
+so you may as well confide in me."
+
+"But will you tell?" asked Annie.
+
+"Tell!" said Antonia, with scorn. "I don't ask for confidences to repeat
+them again--that is not Antonia Bernard Temple. Art is my mistress--art
+exacts both truth and fidelity from her disciples. You need not fear
+that I will tell."
+
+"You are a queer girl," replied Annie. "I'm sure you will not tell. Yes,
+I am in trouble about the ring, and I don't mind confiding the trouble
+to you."
+
+"Sit down here, then, on the bank," said Antonia, flinging herself on
+the grass as she spoke, "and state the case as briefly as possible.
+Where and when did you pawn the ring?"
+
+"Oh, I didn't pawn it--it wasn't done by me; and, as things have turned
+out, it wasn't really pawned at all. This is the story."
+
+Annie told it in a few forcible words; Antonia listened attentively,
+taking in all the facts.
+
+"And thirty-two shillings would get you out of this scrape?" she said,
+in conclusion, looking fixedly at Annie.
+
+"Oh, yes, indeed. If I had thirty-two shillings, I would pay Mrs. Martin
+and get the ring back, and when I return to Lavender House I would tell
+everything to Mrs. Willis. I would tell her what I have done, and how
+badly I have acted. At present there is a cloud between us; and she is
+my best, my kindest, my most valued friend. What I cannot bear to
+do--what I cannot stand--is to have to tell her that I pawned what was
+not my own, and at the same time not to be able to give her back the
+ring."
+
+"I partly understand," said Antonia in a slow voice; "I partly grasp
+your meaning. The pawning of the jewel is to me a mere nothing. I have
+had chequered times when the tea-pot and even the coffee-pot have been
+sold for the sake of a quarter of a cake of cobalt or of rose-madder,
+but then the tea-pot and the coffee-pot and the hair which grew on my
+head were undoubtedly my own. I cannot understand your taking another's
+property, nor your being deceitful about it. The paths of deceit are
+shut doors to me, naturally, who am a disciple of the great and divine
+Art. I mention this as an incident, but whether I understand you or not
+scarcely affects the case. I am willing to help you if you will help me.
+I can manage to get you thirty-two shillings, perhaps not to-day and
+perhaps not to-morrow, but certainly before you return to your school."
+
+"Oh, you are good!" exclaimed Annie, whose pretty cheeks were like
+peonies, for Antonia had managed to make her feel terribly small and
+contemptible.
+
+"No, I am not good," replied Miss Bernard Temple, "and I am not doing
+this in any sense for you. I do it because I wish to be in your
+confidence, as I think you can be a useful ally. I have a delicate
+mission before me, and I see that you may be very useful."
+
+"A mission?" said Annie, looking up in surprise.
+
+"Yes; there is a great deal at stake, but I believe that, difficult as
+the undertaking is, I may be permitted to succeed. I want to wrest the
+Towers from the hand of the Philistines."
+
+"What _do_ you mean?" exclaimed Annie.
+
+"In other words," continued Miss Bernard Temple, "I want to keep the
+Lorrimers in the home of their ancestors and to make those shallow
+Drummonds stay in their own place."
+
+"I suppose we all want that," said Annie; "but how can you possibly do
+it? You have no power."
+
+"So you think, but you are mistaken; I have a great deal of power. Now,
+will you help me?"
+
+"To do this? Yes. With all my heart and soul."
+
+"That is good. I don't wish to say anything to Hester Thornton nor to
+Nora Lorrimer, nor to any of the Lorrimers, nor least of all to Susan
+Drummond. I think I can manage Susy, for I am up to some of her pretty
+little vagaries. I can also manage mother, and mother has a good deal of
+influence in a certain quarter just now. You are a sort of outsider, and
+yet you are very friendly with everybody, so you can render me very
+important help; but, of course, you clearly understand that fidelity is
+my motto, and you know also that your mission will be one of extreme
+delicacy."
+
+"I have plenty of tact," said Annie. "I most faithfully promise to
+reveal nothing, and I will do everything in my power for you. I begin to
+believe in you. I think you are a wonderful girl."
+
+"Don't say that," said Antonia, with solemn impressiveness; "if there is
+one thing more than another that gives me intense pain, it is praise. I
+am but the meanest disciple of great Art. I am doing this in the cause
+of Art. Now, I am not going to tell you what my plan of campaign is, at
+least, not to-day, but I want you to make certain inquiries for me. I
+want you to try and discover all you can from Hester with regard to her
+father's wealth, and all you can from Molly with regard to the
+Lorrimers' difficulties; and you are somehow or other to get the address
+in London where Squire Lorrimer is now staying. Have all this
+information ready for me by to-morrow morning. Now you can return to the
+others; I am going back to the house."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+A WET SPONGE.
+
+
+Antonia walked slowly in the direction of the house, trailing her long
+skirt behind her. She entered by a side door, and went straight up to
+her own room. The bedroom set apart for Miss Bernard Temple opened into
+the large and stately bedroom occupied by the future mistress of the
+Grange. Both rooms were dainty and fresh in the extreme. Mrs. Bernard
+Temple's maid was now sitting in Antonia's room mending a long rent in
+that young lady's brown Liberty velveteen evening dress.
+
+"You have made an awfully jagged rent, Miss Antonia," said the girl.
+
+"Have I?" said Antonia; "why mend it, then? I never expect to have my
+clothes mended. Of course, if you are good enough to occupy your time
+over me, Pinkerton, I am much obliged to you, but I don't expect your
+services, so clearly understand the position."
+
+"Lor'!" answered Pinkerton, who had a round, country face and a somewhat
+brusque manner, "what a show you'd be, Miss Antonia, if someone didn't
+make you and mend you."
+
+Antonia went over to the open window, and, flopping herself down on her
+knees, leant her two elbows on the window-sill and looked out.
+
+"I wish you'd let me know if Miss Drummond is having forty winks in her
+room," she said suddenly. "She generally does go to her own room about
+this hour, does she not?"
+
+"I believe so, miss. I'll inquire if she's there now."
+
+Pinkerton soon returned with the information that Miss Drummond's door
+was locked, that she could not see her maid anywhere, but that she heard
+sounds proceeding from within the room which led her to infer that the
+forty winks were being enjoyed.
+
+"But there's no use in your going to her, Miss Antonia," said Pinkerton,
+"for she won't hear you however hard you knock."
+
+"I'll see about that," said Antonia. "Do you happen to know, Pinkerton,
+if Miss Drummond's window is open?"
+
+"Sure to be, miss; every window in the house is kept open during this
+sultry weather."
+
+"There's no time to be lost," murmured Antonia; "I must scale the wall."
+
+She left her own bedroom in a hurry, and ran downstairs.
+
+"Nan," she shouted, catching sight of Nan's white frock in the distance,
+"come here."
+
+Nan ran up to her rather unwillingly. Antonia was detestable in her eyes
+as belonging to the dreadful new stepmother.
+
+"Why do you frown at me like that, child?" said Antonia; "it isn't
+pretty."
+
+"Tell-tale tit," answered Nan rudely; "you'll be making up stories of me
+in the future, won't you?"
+
+"I?" said Antonia, with a careless rise of her brows. "No; I shan't have
+time. Now, can you tell me if there's a ladder about?"
+
+"No, I can't," answered Nan.
+
+"Are there no ladders to be found in this benighted and over-cultivated
+region?"
+
+"Plenty; but I can't tell you where they are."
+
+Antonia knitted her brows. Nan gazed at her curiously. It was really
+interesting to have something to do with a person who wanted a ladder.
+What was she going to do with it?
+
+"I must climb without," said Antonia. "I wonder are there creepers."
+
+"What do you want with it?" said Nan in quite a friendly tone.
+
+"I want to get into Susan Drummond's room by her window."
+
+"Oh, dear, what fun!" Nan's eyes danced.
+
+"She is sound asleep," pursued Antonia, "and I propose to use the wet
+sponge with effect."
+
+"They did that at school," replied Nan. "How lovely! Oh, how perfectly
+lovely! I'm sure I can help you to find a ladder. Come round with me to
+the farmyard."
+
+Nan held out her hand, which Antonia grasped. They rushed across the
+lawn helter-skelter, and in an incredibly short space of time a ladder
+was leaning up against Susy's window. Nan held it from below while
+Antonia climbed. The next moment she had entered the room.
+
+"Thank you heartily, Nan," she called to the little girl.
+
+She made a good deal of noise, but Susy, lying on her back in the centre
+of the big bed, was impervious to sound. Antonia filled the sponge with
+cold water, and, standing at the foot of the bed, dashed it at Susy. The
+first application only made the sleeper groan and snore heavily, but at
+the second she opened her eyes, and at the third she sat up.
+
+"Now, what is the matter?" she exclaimed. "Am I back at that detestable
+school with the she-dragon once more? Oh, Antonia, what in the world are
+you doing here?"
+
+"Sponging you," said Antonia. "I have something to say, so wake up."
+
+"Wake up?" replied Susy. "I should think I am awake. Who could stand
+such barbarous treatment? I was so comfortable, and I had locked the
+door to make all things perfectly safe. How in the world did you get
+into the room?"
+
+"By a ladder, through the open window. Now pray don't waste any more
+time over trivial details. I have come here to have a serious talk with
+you."
+
+"Why serious, Tony? You know how I hate grave subjects."
+
+"I have come to have a quiet talk with you about the Towers; you can sit
+there, just where you are. Don't dry your hair, or you'll get sleepy
+again. I'll keep a basin of cold water near me and sponge you whenever
+you wink an eyelid. Now then, what do you think of the Towers?"
+
+"I have scarcely seen it yet."
+
+"You must have a first impression; what is it?"
+
+"Really, Tony, you needn't have awakened me and gone to the trouble of a
+ladder, and an open window, and a sponge, for the sake of hearing my
+first impressions."
+
+"That's neither here nor there," answered Antonia. "What do you think of
+the Towers?"
+
+"Oh, it's well enough; it seems to be a very old place."
+
+"Didn't it strike you that the rooms were musty?"
+
+"Well, yes; now that you mention it, I thought they were decidedly
+musty."
+
+"It will be impossible," said Antonia, "for you to turn the Towers into
+a proper Moresque or Libertyesque house."
+
+"I thought you liked the place; you seemed so delighted with the
+briars."
+
+"The briars are well enough, and so is the china; it's the rooms I
+complain of; they never can be reduced to high art--your sort of high
+art, I mean, Susy. But now, tell me, did you do much measuring?"
+
+"No, I didn't; a dreadful woman came with me; she quite frightened me,
+and spoke a lot about the Lorrimers, and a ghost in the tower."
+
+"Well, of course there'd be a ghost in the tower," continued Antonia;
+"an old place like that couldn't exist without its ghost."
+
+"I don't believe a bit in ghosts," said Susy. "No sensible people
+believe in them; there are no such things. You know that, of course,
+Antonia."
+
+Susy looked uncomfortable while she spoke, and Antonia knew well that
+she was an arrant coward.
+
+"You don't believe in ghosts either," continued Susy; "do you now,
+Tony?"
+
+"Oh, but I do," answered Antonia; "I believe in them profoundly. I have
+Shakespeare for my authority on the subject."
+
+"And you really think that--that the Towers is haunted?"
+
+"No doubt whatever on the subject. If you don't want to be convinced
+against your will, you must choose a bedroom in the most modern part of
+the house, and avoid the old tower, with its funny, quaint little rooms.
+Frankly, I am disappointed in the Towers as a place for _you_--the rooms
+are not your sort--you want great, lofty, bright, modern rooms. I don't
+like that musty smell either; it points to damp somewhere. Then, it is
+scarcely likely that the water supply is perfect; those old wells are
+full of danger, and you once had typhoid, don't you remember? Your
+father will have to spend a lot on the place before he makes it anything
+like what your sort of high art requires; and when all is said and done,
+you'd be lonely there. You know I'm perfectly frank; you know that well,
+don't you?"
+
+"Yes, Tony," answered poor Susy in a most melancholy voice. "Oh, please
+don't throw any more sponges at me; I am quite shivering, and your words
+make me feel so melancholy. But why should I be lonely at the Towers;
+there are plenty of neighbours all around?"
+
+"That is true, but I don't believe you'll care for them, nor they for
+you: they are the Lorrimer sort, and the Miss Macalister sort, and the
+Hester Thornton sort. You know you don't care for those sorts of
+people, do you?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't. I hate them. I wish father hadn't bought the Towers
+without consulting me."
+
+"Can't he back out of it?"
+
+"Back out of his bargain? What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean what I say; can't he get out of it? The Towers isn't a bit the
+sort of place for you; it isn't even healthy for a girl like you.
+There's a ghost there, and ground damp, and bad water, and the
+neighbours aren't sociable, and you'll be moped to death."
+
+"How perfectly miserable you make me, Tony, but I won't be quite
+friendless, for you'll be here most of the time now, won't you?"
+
+"Not I; I am going back to my atelier in Paris. Do you think I'd live in
+a poky corner of the world like this?"
+
+"What shall I do?" echoed Susy. "I think you're very unkind to make me
+so wretched and to depress me in the way you are doing. The Towers is
+bought now, and we must make the best of it."
+
+"I only hope you won't suffer the consequences of this piece of folly,"
+retorted Antonia with spirit. "The Towers is not the place for you, and
+you ought to persuade your father to get out of that bargain. Let him
+take a nice cheerful villa at Richmond; that's where you ought to live."
+
+"I wish he would," said Susy; "but it's a great deal too late, a great
+deal too late to draw back now. Besides, we did so want to be county
+people."
+
+"You'll never be county people, whatever that jargon means--that is,
+you'll never be like the Lorrimers and the Thorntons. You don't want to
+be, do you?"
+
+"Good gracious, no; they are a depressing set."
+
+"Then that's what county people are, so why should you kill yourself to
+be one of them? Aren't you going to write to your father to tell him
+what you think of the Towers?"
+
+"Shall I?"
+
+"I would if I were you. You might suggest----"
+
+"Yes; do you think it would be any use?"
+
+"There is no saying--it's your own affair. If you choose to die of
+_ennui_, don't tell me that I haven't warned you. Now I see you are wide
+awake, so you may dry your hair and get up."
+
+"Oh, dear, oh, dear," sighed Susy after Antonia had swung herself out of
+the room, "I'm chilled to the bone and every scrap of spirit taken out
+of me. I hate that awful Towers--_why_ did father buy it?"
+
+One of Antonia's great ideas was on all occasions to strike while the
+iron is hot. It was her plan to leap over obstacles or to push them
+vigorously aside. She had no respect for people's corns. Their
+preconceived prejudices were nothing to her. Having succeeded in
+disturbing Susy, she now went straight to her mother's room. Mrs.
+Bernard Temple was seated in an easy chair by the open window, enjoying
+a quiet ten minutes for thought and rest before It was time for her to
+dress for dinner. Pinkerton was moving about putting the different
+accessories for her mistress's toilet in order. Antonia pushed her
+almost rudely aside as she swept across the room.
+
+"Go away, Pinkerton," she said, "I want to speak to mother by herself."
+
+"Oh, really, not at present, Antonia," said Mrs. Bernard Temple, with a
+look of alarm spreading over her high-class features. "I have gone
+through a great deal to-day and am quite tired, and I shall have to
+begin to dress for dinner in a few minutes. Sir John is very particular
+about my appearance, and I wish Pinkerton to try the effect of arranging
+my hair in a new manner. I thought, Pinkerton, that you might pile it up
+high on a sort of cushion--it has a very old-picture effect."
+
+"You ought to wear a cap," said Antonia, standing in front of her
+parent; "it would be much more suitable and appropriate, and would save
+you a lot of trouble."
+
+"A cap!" almost screamed Mrs. Bernard Temple. "To hear you speak,
+Antonia, one would think that I was advanced in years."
+
+"As it's only I who think that, it doesn't matter, mother," said
+Antonia. "You shall wear your hair any way you please, only I really
+must have a little talk with you first. The sooner I begin my talk the
+sooner it will be over, so please go away at once, Pinkerton."
+
+Pinkerton knew Antonia too well to dream of disobeying her. She left the
+room, slamming the door behind her, and Mrs. Bernard Temple looked up at
+her resolute daughter with a frown between her brows.
+
+"Now, out with it, whatever it is," she said. "You have got something at
+the back of your head, and you can say it in ten words as well as
+twenty. What do you want me to do?"
+
+"You have great influence with Sir John Thornton, haven't you, mother?"
+asked Antonia, kneeling down as she spoke by the open window, and
+leaning one pointed elbow on the sill. Mrs. Bernard Temple permitted
+herself to smile agreeably.
+
+"A man's _fiancée_ has generally influence over him," she said in a
+sentimental voice.
+
+"That's what I thought," said Antonia. "I'll never be anybody's
+_fiancée_--the mere thought would make me ill--but that's neither here
+nor there. Granted that you have influence over Sir John, I want you to
+use it in my way--now, do you understand?"
+
+"Really, Antonia, really,"--Mrs. Bernard Temple looked quite
+alarmed--"Sir John cannot bear erratic people, he tells me so from
+morning to night. I am afraid you have managed to displease him very
+seriously, my dear. When you spilt your tea in the garden this evening,
+he acknowledged, when I pressed him on the subject, that it gave him
+quite a sense of nausea. You see, Antonia, how careful you ought to be.
+The comforts of the home I have provided for you may be jeopardised if
+you are too erratic. You know I did not wish you to come to the Grange
+until after my wedding. The fact is, Sir John is very much annoyed about
+you. He has spoken to me most seriously on the subject of your
+extraordinary manners, and has asked me why I permit you to do the
+things you do. When I tell him that I have not the smallest scrap of
+influence over you, he simply does not believe me; and then he has such
+an aggravating way of drawing comparisons between you and that
+icy-mannered girl, Hester."
+
+"Oh, I'm not a patch upon Hester," said Antonia; "she is a very nice,
+well-bred, English young lady. I'm Bohemian of the Bohemians. I'm
+nobody--nobody at all. I extinguish myself at the shrine of great Art.
+I love to extinguish myself. I adore being a shadow."
+
+"I think, Antonia, you are quite mad."
+
+"Think it away, my dearest mother, only grant my request; influence Sir
+John in my way."
+
+"Oh, you terrible, terrible child! Well, what do you want me to do?"
+
+"Now you're becoming reasonable," said Antonia, "and I really won't keep
+you from your hair a moment longer than I can help. I went to the Towers
+this morning, mother; it's really a heavenly old place; quite steeped in
+the best sort of mediæval art. In the house, old china and low ceilings;
+out of doors, nature untrammelled. Think of a place like the Towers in
+the possession of Susy Drummond and her father, the ex-coal-merchant.
+Mother, it is not to be."
+
+"My dear Antonia, I can't listen to you another moment." Mrs. Bernard
+Temple rose as she spoke. "Pinkerton, come at once," she called.
+
+Pinkerton turned the handle of the door.
+
+"Go away, Pinkerton!" shouted Antonia. "Now, mother, sit down; there's
+oceans of time."
+
+"Really, really, my dear! Oh, what a trial one's children sometimes are.
+The Drummonds have bought the Towers. The whole thing is an accomplished
+fact."
+
+"It is not too late," pursued Antonia. "I have been giving a spice of my
+mind to Susy, and she hates and detests the place, and will do what she
+can to get her father to back out of his bargain. Well, the Lorrimers
+are almost dying at the thought of going. The ugly duckling told me the
+whole story to-day, and I never listened to anything more piteous; and
+Squire Lorrimer is hiding in London because of his poor feelings. In
+short, the moment for strong measures has arrived; and if you won't
+speak to Sir John, I will."
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple turned white.
+
+"If _you_ speak to him, Antonia," she said, "he will break off the
+match, and we shall be ruined--ruined."
+
+"Very well, mother; you must have a conversation with him. One or other
+of us must have it, that is certain."
+
+"Oh, you most terrible child! What am I to say to him?"
+
+"Say this, and say it firmly. Say that you won't marry him unless he
+goes to see Squire Lorrimer, and makes an arrangement to lend him
+sufficient money to stay on at the Towers. The Drummonds will be
+delighted to get out of their bargain, and the Lorrimers will be saved.
+That's the plan of campaign. Either I undertake to see it through,
+mother, or you do. Now, which is it to be?"
+
+"You must give me until to-morrow morning to think over your wild words.
+Really, my poor head is splitting."
+
+Antonia went up and kissed her mother.
+
+"You can come now, Pinkerton," she called out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+MOLLY'S SORROW.
+
+
+Hester was a good deal astonished that same day, when, just before
+dinner, Annie Forest came up to her with a request.
+
+"I don't want to dine here to-night," she said. "I want to go to the
+Towers to have a good long talk with Molly."
+
+"But, really, Annie," replied Hester, "is it necessary for you to go
+to-night? I did not know--I mean I did not think that--that you and
+Molly----"
+
+"That we were special friends?" interrupted Annie. "Oh, yes, we are
+quite friendly enough for the little talk I mean to have. You'll spare
+me, won't you, Hetty, and if Molly offers me a bed, I'll sleep there and
+be back quite early in the morning."
+
+"I can't refuse you, of course," said Hester, "but that won't prevent my
+missing you. It will be rather a dreadful dinner party, with only Mrs.
+Bernard Temple and Antonia and that dreadful, sleepy Susy. You are so
+full of tact and so bright, Annie, that you generally make matters go
+off fairly well. But to-night there won't be anyone to stem the current.
+Oh, dear, I do trust that Antonia won't talk _too_ much high art."
+
+As Hester spoke, she looked at her friend with an expression of great
+anxiety on her face. Under ordinary circumstances this look would have
+completely overmastered Annie, who would immediately have yielded up
+her own wishes to please Hester, but now she remained quite obdurate.
+
+"I am sure you will manage very well," she said, in an almost hard voice
+for her. "You know, Hetty, you won't always have me, and you will have
+Mrs. Bernard Temple and Antonia."
+
+"It is too dreadful," sighed Hester. "When my father thought of marrying
+again, why did he not think of someone more congenial?"
+
+"I suppose Mrs. Bernard Temple is congenial to him," replied Annie, "and
+that he doubtless considers of the first importance. After all, Hetty,
+I'm sure she will let you have your own way in everything, and I don't
+really think that Antonia is half bad. If I were you I would try and
+make friends with her."
+
+"It is not in my nature to make friends easily," replied Hester.
+
+She was standing in her pretty bedroom as she spoke, and Annie was
+leaning by the open window, swinging her garden hat in her hand.
+
+"Hester," she said, suddenly, "forgive me if I ask you rather a rude
+question. Is your father a very rich man?"
+
+Hester looked surprised.
+
+"I suppose so," she answered; "to tell the truth, I have never thought
+about it. Oh, yes, I conclude that he is quite well off."
+
+"But I want him to be more than well off. Is he rich--very rich? so rich
+that he would not miss a lot of money if he had suddenly to--to lose
+it?"
+
+"What a very queer question to ask me, Annie," replied Hester. "I am
+really afraid I cannot reply to it. I think my father must be rich, but
+I don't know if he is rich enough to be able to afford to lose a lot of
+money--I don't think anyone is rich enough for that."
+
+"Oh, yes, some people are," answered Annie. "Well, good-bye, Hetty, keep
+up your heart. I'll be back early to-morrow morning."
+
+"I must get that question of Sir John Thornton's wealth clearly answered
+somehow or other," thought Annie, "for there is no manner of use in
+Antonia stirring up a lot of mischief if there is no money to be found.
+I wonder if nursey could help me. I think I'll just have a word with her
+before I go to the Towers."
+
+Mrs. Martin was alone when Annie entered the room.
+
+"Well, my dear, and why ain't you at dinner?" asked the old woman. She
+was still fond of Annie, whom she invariably spoke of as "a winsome
+young body," but recent events had soured her considerably, and as she
+herself expressed it, the keenest pleasure now left to her in life was
+to "mope and mutter."
+
+"Moping and muttering eases the mind," she said; "it's a wonderful
+relief not to have to sit up straight and smiling when you feel crooked
+and all of a frown."
+
+Accordingly Mrs. Martin received Annie Forest with brief displeasure.
+
+"I have no heart for dinner," said Annie, who took her cue at once from
+the old woman's face. "I know you are miserable, Nurse Martin, but you
+need not look at me so scornfully, for I am trying to mend matters."
+
+"You," exclaimed nurse, "a child like you! Now, Miss Annie, I would try
+and talk sensibly, I would, really."
+
+"Well, I'm going off to the Towers for the night," said Annie, "and if
+you weren't so cross I'd like to say good-bye and give you a kiss before
+I started."
+
+"Eh, dear," replied nurse, her countenance visibly softening however;
+"kisses, however sweet they be, don't heal sore places."
+
+"But you'll take one, won't you, nursey?"
+
+"Eh, my bairn, you have a winsome way, but don't you come canoodling me
+now, when my heart is like to break about my own dear children; and the
+young ladies at the Towers, too, in such a muck of trouble."
+
+"Dear nursey," exclaimed Annie; "dear, loving, faithful, true-hearted
+nursey."
+
+She stroked the old woman's brow and rubbed her soft cheek against hers.
+
+"Out with it now, my pet," said Nurse Martin. "What is it you want me to
+do? If it's the pawn-shop again--once for all, no, I won't."
+
+"It isn't the pawn-shop," said Annie; "it's just to ask you a simple
+question. I asked Hester, but she couldn't tell me. Is Sir John Thornton
+a rich man?"
+
+"Is he rich?" echoed nurse; "do you think _she'd_ be after him if he
+wasn't?"
+
+"I don't know. Is he rich, nursey?"
+
+"Yes, he's rich," replied nurse.
+
+"Very, very rich? Dear Nurse Martin, please say yes."
+
+"He's rich," replied nurse in an emphatic voice. "He has got his gold
+and his lands, and not a debt anywhere, and small expenses compared to
+his means. Yes, he's rich. More shame to him for taking the money from
+Miss Hester and Miss Nan to provide a new wife and an outlandish
+stepdaughter."
+
+"If he lost a lot of money, a great lot, would he be a beggar?" pursued
+Annie.
+
+"Well, really, Miss Annie, it isn't for me to say; but I think it would
+be a very big sum that would beggar Sir John. What are you after, Miss?
+I don't understand you at all."
+
+"I'm thinking of the outlandish stepdaughter," replied Annie.
+
+"Oh, Miss Annie Forest, don't name her to me. She turns my heart sick.
+Its in an asylum she should be. The messes she carries about with her,
+and the dress she wears, and the whole look of her! It isn't fit for
+Miss Hester and Miss Nan to have anything to do with her."
+
+"You don't know her yet," replied Annie. "She has beautiful thoughts and
+grand resolves."
+
+"Preserve me from 'em," said nurse. "There, now, miss, if you re going,
+you'd better go. I don't want to hear anything more about that girl, for
+lady she ain't."
+
+"Good-bye, nurse," said Annie. "I am glad you are certain that Sir John
+Thornton is rich."
+
+"I'd be glad if I was as certain that Miss Hester and Miss Nan were
+going to be happy," replied the old woman.
+
+Annie blew a kiss to her and ran away.
+
+The task Antonia had set her was quite to her heart. If, in addition to
+helping the Lorrimers, she could by this means get out of her own
+scrape, why, so much the better. It was one of Annie's gifts to be able
+to discriminate character with great nicety; and while Antonia spoke to
+her, she acknowledged a sudden respect and even admiration for the
+power which this queer girl possessed.
+
+It was almost night when Annie set off on her walk across the fields to
+the Towers. She could not help singing to herself as she skipped lightly
+over the ground. She felt somehow, she could scarcely tell why, as if a
+great load had been lifted off her mind. One part of Antonia's mission
+she had already accomplished. She had found out from a very trustworthy
+source that Sir John Thornton was really a rich man. The second half of
+her task, the discovery of the present address of Squire Lorrimer, would
+surely not be impossible of fulfilment.
+
+The Lorrimer children were out as usual. Whenever was a Lorrimer within
+doors, when he or she could be out? When Annie approached they were
+dismally employed, for Harry had inaugurated weekly meetings of the feud
+during the remainder of their stay at the Towers; and the children were
+now dancing solemnly round the bonfire, and repeating the solemn dirge
+which was to work evil consequences to the new-comers. Harry was
+spokesman on the occasion. He repeated the words to a sort of chanting
+air, and all the others repeated them after him with immense unction and
+smacking of lips. Kitty said afterwards that the dirge made her feel
+nearly as bloodthirsty as a Red Indian, and Boris openly wished that he
+could live in a wigwam and wear scalps.
+
+Annie's appearance on the scene diverted the whole party, and Boris
+eagerly asked her if she would like to become a member of the feud.
+
+"I would immensely," replied Annie; "but it wouldn't be of any use, as
+I'm not a Lorrimer."
+
+"I could marry you, and then you'd be one," said Boris, looking up at
+her with a great shining light in his eyes.
+
+"So you could, you sweet," said Annie, bending down and kissing him,
+"and the day I marry you I faithfully promise to join the feud; but I
+must run off now to find Molly."
+
+"She's somewhere in the tower packing books," screamed Kitty after her.
+
+Accordingly Annie pursued her way round to that part of the house.
+
+The tower was at least two hundred years older than the rest of the
+mansion, and, as Annie ran up the spiral stairs, she had to feel her way
+through thick darkness, for the Lorrimers never thought of spending
+money on illuminating the stairs and passages of this ancient building.
+
+A dim light in the distance presently guided her steps, and she soon
+found herself standing, out of breath and a good deal blown, in the
+presence of Molly and Jane Macalister. They were both clothed from head
+to foot in long brown-holland aprons. Jane was vigorously dusting and
+brushing a heap of dilapidated books, which Molly was arranging in
+orderly piles on the floor. Jane looked up when she saw Annie and
+uttered a little scream.
+
+"Now, what have you come about?" she said; "you see we are quite up to
+our eyes in work."
+
+"Delightful," said Annie; "I'll help. Toss me an apron, Molly, do."
+
+Off went Annie's hat, on went the brown-holland apron, and Jane found
+that she had secured a valuable assistant in the matter of dusting and
+brushing.
+
+[Illustration: PACKING THE BOOKS (_p._ 240).]
+
+The work went on for two or three minutes in silence, then Molly said,
+"I hope there's nothing the matter with Nora, Annie? It seems so very
+late for you to come to pay us a visit."
+
+"I have come here to stay for the night, if I may," replied Annie.
+
+"Hoots! I don't know if that will be possible," interrupted Jane.
+
+"Oh, I'll sleep anywhere; I'm not a bit particular. I want to talk to
+you, Molly; I've a great deal to say."
+
+"There's no use in girls wasting their time with silly havering when
+work has to be done," snapped Jane. "I'm willing to grant that a heavy
+misfortune has come to this house, but come rain or sunshine the daily
+round _must_ go on. Pass me that clean duster, Molly. These books have
+to be sorted and put in boxes before we either of us lie down to-night."
+
+"But three pairs of hands make lighter work than two," rejoined Annie.
+"I'm willing to help; I mean to help; I am helping. Molly, pass me a
+duster, too. I'll talk to you, Molly, when the work is over."
+
+"That's the time for sleep," said Jane.
+
+"Oh, come, Jane, if Annie wants to talk to me, she must," said Molly in
+an almost fretful tone. "There's plenty of room for you in my bed,
+Annie, so that matter is settled; now let us fly along with the books."
+
+Jane did not utter another word of remonstrance. In her inmost heart she
+had a great admiration for Annie, whom she always spoke of as a "bonny,
+capable lassie." The books were all sorted and packed in a little over
+an hour, and then the girls went downstairs to supper in the great hall.
+Supper consisted of porridge and milk, followed by great dishes of
+stewed fruit. The children all sat round a table, and Mrs. Lorrimer,
+with the air of a royal matron, dispensed the simple food.
+
+Immediately afterwards, Annie slipped her hand through Molly's arm, and
+drew her out of doors on to the moonlit lawn.
+
+"I can't wait another moment," she said. "I've oceans of things to ask
+you."
+
+"I suppose you have come over on some special business," replied Molly.
+"Has Hester sent me a message?"
+
+"No; Hester has had nothing to do with it. I came over because I really
+want a talk with you all by myself. I cannot tell you what I thought
+to-day when that dreadful Susy Drummond came with her sort of 'take
+possession' style into the house."
+
+"And do you really imagine," answered Molly, "that Miss Drummond annoyed
+us in any way? for if you do you are greatly mistaken. We are in great
+trouble just now about father, and about dear Guy being cut out of his
+rightful inheritance, and naturally we shall all feel leaving the
+Towers, but if you think that girl makes any difference one way or
+other, you are quite wrong."
+
+Annie was silent for a moment. Then she said in a low voice, "I'm glad
+you don't mind her; she would try me a good bit. How soon have you got
+to leave, Molly?"
+
+"Mother would like us to be out in a month," replied Molly. "Mr.
+Drummond does not take possession for over five weeks, but mother thinks
+that when a very painful thing has to be done, the sooner it is over the
+better. And she has almost taken a roomy old cottage on the edge of
+Sharsted Common. She says the children must not be cooped up in a town
+house, and they will have plenty of room to run about on the common, and
+as Nortonbury is only a mile away, Guy and Harry can still go to school
+there."
+
+"And will you still stay at home, Molly?"
+
+"I don't know, all the future is a complete blank. I am not educated
+according to modern ideas, and I love my own people so deeply that it
+would be agony to leave them. At the same time, I know some of us must
+go away, for we shall be very poor; we'll have no money at all except
+the income from mother's little fortune, and that will go a small way. I
+have asked mother to let us do without a servant, for I quite love
+housework. But really, Annie, everything at present is simply in chaos."
+
+"It is good of you to tell me," said Annie, in her caressing voice. "You
+know I am poor myself, and I dearly love poor people; they are fifty
+times more interesting than rich ones. Fancy what zest is added to life
+when you have to contrive and scrape, and patch and fit every one of
+your dresses."
+
+"As to that," replied Molly, "I don't in the least care what I wear; but
+I must frankly say that patched and contrived dresses are, as a rule,
+very ugly. Now shall we come into the house?"
+
+"Not yet," replied Annie; "it is lovely out. Let us take another turn
+just here in the moonlight. Have you heard anything about the Squire
+lately, Molly? Is he likely to come back to the Towers soon?"
+
+"No; I'm afraid he won't come at all. The sudden necessity which obliged
+him to sell the old home has had the strangest effect upon him. We are
+very anxious about him--very, very unhappy. The state of his health is
+our keenest grief."
+
+"And do you know where he is?"
+
+"Oh, yes, in London. Mother writes to him to his club."
+
+"It seems a great pity that he should be alone there," said Annie. "I
+wonder your mother likes to leave him."
+
+"Mother is only carrying out his wishes. He has absolutely refused to
+come back to the Towers. He says he may come after we have all gone, but
+not before. I cannot tell you, Annie, how miserable we are about him. He
+is completely altered. He used to be the tenderest, the most unselfish
+of fathers, and now the whole burden of everything is put on poor
+mother's shoulders."
+
+"What is the name of his club?" asked Annie.
+
+"The Carlton."
+
+"Have none of you any influence over him?"
+
+"Nell has the most. She is a strange child, and has a way of seeing down
+into the very heart of things. Where her interests are aroused, she has
+such intense sympathy that it gives her wonderful tact. If father were
+at home, I believe Nell could manage him; but where is the use of
+talking? He is away, and we none of us can move him by letter or
+otherwise. Mother hopes that when we are really settled at the cottage,
+he will return; but oh, dear--oh, dear--I believe the changed life will
+shorten his days. There, Annie, I never thought to confide in you, but
+you see I have done so. Now let us come indoors."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+PLOT THICKENS.
+
+
+"Mother," said Antonia, two days after the events mentioned in the last
+chapter, "I think we have been quite long enough at the Grange."
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple was taking a walk by herself round one of the lawns
+when Antonia swept up to her and made this remark.
+
+"I thought you would be saying something erratic of this sort," replied
+her parent, a good deal of annoyance in her tone. "We have not been at
+the Grange a week yet and, as it is to be the future home of both of us,
+it does not seem at all inconsistent to spend a fortnight here now,
+particularly when we are enjoying ourselves so much."
+
+"Pray speak for yourself with regard to the enjoyment, mother,"
+responded Miss Bernard Temple. "I must say that dreariness is no word
+for this place as far as I am concerned. These trim _parterres_, those
+undulating velvet lawns are abhorrence to me; but I am not thinking of
+myself at all when I say that I think it would be well for us to return
+to our rooms in town. I wish to do so for quite another motive. In the
+first place, I have got to take care of you, mother; you must not make
+yourself too cheap."
+
+"Oh, my dear Antonia, what a horrid expression! I hope I understand what
+is due to my own dignity."
+
+"Frankly, mother, you don't--not on all occasions; but now to revert to
+the more important business. I am anxious to be back in town because I
+want this matter with regard to the Towers to be carried into effect as
+soon as possible. By the way, have you spoken to Sir John Thornton on
+the subject?"
+
+"Yes, oh, yes! for goodness sake don't you interfere, my dear."
+
+"Of course I won't if you have done your duty. What did you say?"
+
+"Oh, just what I thought necessary! I think I made up quite a moving
+story. Sir John listened attentively. Said he had the greatest possible
+respect for Squire Lorrimer; that it gave him considerable pain to feel
+that _parvenus_, like the Drummonds should reside at the Towers; but he
+said, further, that he could not quite tell how he was to interfere."
+
+"Oh, I dare say!" answered Antonia. "I know enough of him to be certain
+that every step of the path to the rescue must be made clear by others.
+Did he give you to understand, mother, that he would be willing to help
+Squire Lorrimer if the occasion arose?"
+
+"Well, my dear, I gathered that he would not be averse to doing so; but,
+really, the matter is one of extreme delicacy, and one which it is quite
+impossible for me to say much about."
+
+"But I have not the least objection to talking about it," said Antonia.
+"It is one of my failings not to feel delicacy except with regard to
+art. I can talk to him if you like. I should recommend extreme
+bluntness. These obtuse people never see things unless they are put
+right up in front of their eyes."
+
+"Really, Antonia, in addition to being eccentric, you are now becoming
+positively vulgar. What have I done to be afflicted with a daughter like
+you? I beg and beseech of you not to say a word to Sir John on the
+subject."
+
+"All right, mother, I won't, if you will promise without fail to return
+to London to-morrow."
+
+"Oh, dear, dear, it will be most inconvenient."
+
+"But you'll come?"
+
+"I--really----"
+
+"I see Sir John in the distance; he is smoking a cigarette, which will
+soothe him while I talk. If I talk to him, you needn't go to London so
+soon. Which shall it be?"
+
+"Oh, London, London--anything better than that you should worry poor Sir
+John. Was there ever a woman so worried? You had better send Pinkerton
+to me."
+
+"That's a good mother," said Antonia, bestowing one of her rare and
+wonderfully sweet smiles upon her parent. She rushed away to the house
+in her headlong style; met Hester in one of the corridors; stopped her
+to exclaim, "Cheer up, Hetty, the incubus is leaving by the first train
+in the morning," and then finding Pinkerton, despatched her for orders
+to Mrs. Bernard Temple.
+
+A few moments later, Antonia had forced her way into Susy's presence.
+
+"Mother and I leave to-morrow," she said. "I don't know if you feel
+inclined to stay here much longer?"
+
+"I? No, I'm sure I don't," answered Susy. "I am sick of the place; they
+are all such a lot of slow coaches."
+
+"County people, you know," said Antonia with a slight sneer, "are always
+a little slow to us _parvenus_; we're so wonderfully fresh, you know;
+not worn out like the poor county folk."
+
+"You can call yourself a _parvenu_ if you like," said Susy in a rage,
+"but I decline to allow the name to be applied to me; however, I think
+I'll go back to father to-morrow, and I may as well take advantage of
+your escort."
+
+"That's what I thought. Get your maid to pack your things, for we shall
+be off by the first train, remember. By the way, did you hear from your
+father with regard to your letter?"
+
+"Yes, I heard this morning."
+
+"Well, what did he say?"
+
+"He says he is sorry I don't like the Towers, but he doesn't see how he
+is to get out of the purchase now. He is to take possession in a little
+over a month."
+
+"What a horrible future for you," said Antonia. "That musty old
+place--the ghost in the tower--the family feud----"
+
+"What do you mean by the family feud?"
+
+"Oh, a little arrangement lately entered into by the younger Lorrimers
+for your benefit. I'm not bound to repeat it, but I can truly say I
+shouldn't like the little formula they have made up to be chanted
+nightly about me. Frankly, Susy, I pity you. You must hate the idea of
+going to the Towers."
+
+"Yes, I loathe it," said Susy.
+
+"The best thing you can do is to see your father, and have a very
+serious talk. Its settled that you come back with us to-morrow. That's
+right. Ta-ta for the present."
+
+Antonia left the room.
+
+She stood for a moment by herself in one of the passages.
+
+"Who would have thought," she murmured to herself, "that I, Antonia
+Bernard Temple, would devote myself to anything except the services of
+high Art. Here am I absolutely wearing myself out and devising the most
+horrible plots and stratagems, all for the sake of an ugly duckling.
+Shall I succeed? Yes, I think so. Matters move in the right direction.
+Susy hates going to the Towers; the Lorrimers hate leaving the Towers.
+Sir John Thornton has more money than he knows what to do with. Surely
+some scheme can be suggested to keep the old family in the old place.
+When we are in town, we can soon get to know Squire Lorrimer. Hurrah! I
+have an idea. Annie Forest and Nora shall both come up to town with us
+to-morrow. Annie is a capital kind of girl, although she did behave with
+want of fidelity as regards that ring. I must get it back for her
+somehow before we leave. Annie we must have, for she's a perfect jewel
+of tact, and so sweetly pretty, just like a red rose, while I'm a
+fierce--very fierce--tiger lily. Nora must come, too, because, of
+course, Squire Lorrimer will visit us for the sake of seeing his child.
+Mother shall propose to Sir John Thornton, and he will further suggest
+to Mrs. Lorrimer, that Nora would be the better for the best surgical
+advice. Hey presto! the thing is delightfully managed. Antonia, my dear,
+you begin to see daylight, don't you?"
+
+Antonia skipped away in high good humour, and, wonderful to relate, her
+different little schemes for collecting a party to accompany her mother
+and herself to town were all carried out without hitch or difficulty.
+Annie, of course, was only too delighted to spend her last few days of
+holiday in London, and Nora, who had never been there, quite forgave
+Mrs. Bernard Temple for becoming Hester's stepmother when she heard
+that she was going to take her to the "Heart of the World," as she
+termed the great metropolis.
+
+On the evening of that same day Antonia, having concluded, as she
+considered, an arduous campaign, stood for a moment in earnest
+contemplation. "There's only the ring," she said to herself. "I must get
+the ring for poor Annie before I go. Now, who will lend me thirty
+shillings? I'll try Pinkerton first."
+
+She swept into the room where the tired maid was completing her somewhat
+laborious packing, for Mrs. Bernard Temple invariably carried nearly a
+houseful of dresses about with her.
+
+"Well, Miss Antonia, what now?" said the maid. "I wish you'd take off
+that evening dress, miss, and let me lay it just over the others here in
+in this box."
+
+"I can stuff it into my Gladstone bag," said Antonia; "don't trouble
+about it. Pinkerton, when were you paid your wages last?"
+
+"Oh, wages, indeed!" said Pinkerton, with a sniff. "Don't talk of em,
+Miss Antonia. It's months and months I'm owed, but I suppose it will be
+all right when your ma is married to this rich gentleman."
+
+"You haven't got about thirty-two shillings you could spare me?" said
+Antonia.
+
+"I couldn't oblige you with thirty-two pence, miss."
+
+Antonia drummed with her fingers on a chest of drawers near which she
+was leaning. "And it's such a paltry sum," she muttered--"not worth a
+fuss. You ought to have your wages, Pinkerton--it's a shame! I must
+speak to mother about them when my mind is a little less burdened. I
+have a good deal to think of just now, so good-night!"
+
+"What about that dress, miss?"
+
+"I can't give it to you at present. I'll stow it away somewhere.
+Good-night!"
+
+Antonia closed the door behind her and ran downstairs. She must get the
+thirty-two shillings from somewhere. To whom could she apply? She
+suddenly found herself face to face with Sir John Thornton. An
+inspiration seized her. She rushed up to him and took one of his hands.
+He shuddered, but had the strength of mind to remain perfectly still.
+
+"Can you lend me thirty-two shillings?" said Antonia. "You're as rich as
+Croesus, so you won't mind. I'll pay it back to you a shilling a week
+out of my dress allowance. Will you lend it? Say yes or no in a hurry,
+please."
+
+"Yes," said Sir John, "... with pleasure." He moved back a step or two.
+"Here are two sovereigns," he said. "Pray don't mind the change. The
+change doesn't matter, I assure you. Oh, any time, of course, as regards
+repayment. I am happy to oblige you." He dropped the sovereigns into
+Antonia's large palm and prepared to fly.
+
+"You are happy to oblige me?" she said with a sort of gasp. "Oh, do stay
+just a single moment. You have made me very happy. Thirty-two shillings
+must go for a special purpose, but eight blessed shillings remain. Don't
+you really want the change? May I really borrow the change?"
+
+"Most certainly. I am rather in a hurry."
+
+"I'd kiss you, but you wouldn't like it," said Antonia. "These eight
+shillings mean--do you know what they mean?"
+
+"If they make you happy, my dear young lady, that is enough for me."
+
+"They do, they do! Cobalt ... Indian red ... rose madder ... burnt
+sienna ... canvasses ... a new flat brush for the skies ... some drawing
+pins--Oh, he's gone! Dear old man. What an affliction I was to him; but
+how triumphant I feel!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+NELL IS IN TROUBLE.
+
+
+All Antonia's plans were carried into effect. She paid Mrs. Martin
+thirty-two shillings and gave the old woman her address in town, begging
+of her to forward the ring there without an hour's delay. In due course
+it arrived, and Annie had it once more in her possession. Poor Annie
+turned pale when Antonia put the little box which contained it into her
+hand.
+
+"I could cry as well as laugh," she said, looking at Antonia with tears
+springing to her eyes. "I have not behaved well about this ring, and I
+ought not to have it back like this. I ought to be properly punished. It
+does not seem fair that I should have the ring returned to me again in
+this easy manner."
+
+"Undoubtedly you have been deceitful," replied Antonia, "and your
+conscience must feel ruffled. I can stand most things, but a ruffled
+conscience, I confess, is too much for me. I suppose you will soothe it
+in the only possible way?"
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Annie.
+
+"Confession is good for the soul," replied Antonia, in a sing-song
+voice. She went to the window as she spoke and looked out into the
+sunlit street.
+
+The two girls were standing in the room which Antonia was pleased to
+call her studio. It was an attic at the top of the house, and had a
+dormer window with a north light. The dormer window had sides which were
+curtained with green. In Annie's opinion this room was simply hideous.
+Huge canvasses covered with great daubs of colour occupied the walls. A
+skeleton stood in one corner, and one or two draped figures were in
+others. Antonia had lured Annie up here for the purpose of taking her
+likeness in a white kerchief. Antonia was fired with an idea that Annie
+would look well as Marie Antoinette on her way to execution. She was not
+quite sure whether to make her Charlotte Corday or Marie Antoinette;
+but, on reflection, decided that the latter character would suit her
+best, as she did not think that Annie could ever get sufficient tragedy
+into her eyes for the former.
+
+"I am going to paint myself some day for Charlotte," exclaimed Antonia.
+"I'll study before the glass whenever I've an odd moment, and I believe
+I shall do the fixity of purpose stare after another week of hard
+practice. Now, do stand still Annie--the bother of the ring is at an
+end, so you can forget it. Just turn your head a little to the left, I
+want to get a peep at your ear--you have got a good ear, quite
+shell-like. Now, for mercy's sake look tragical! Think of the
+guillotine, and the crowd looking on, and La Belle France and the
+Tuileries, and the horrid feeling when your head is separated from your
+trunk. Now, then, realise it--get it into your eyes. Are you realising
+it?"
+
+"Frankly, I'm not," replied Annie. "I can't sit for Marie Antoinette any
+longer to-day. I really can't, Antonia. This room is so stiflingly hot,
+and I want to go out. I want to get into one of the parks. Are there any
+near this?"
+
+"Oh, yes! Hyde Park is quite close; but you'll find it as dry as chips.
+Remember, it is September now. Hyde Park is not pretty in September."
+
+"I wonder anyone can live in London," replied Annie.
+
+"Do you? I don't. I hate this poky little house in the centre of
+detestable fashion; but if I could have an atelier, or a studio, I ought
+to say, in Gower Street, it would be nearly as good as Paris. Well, if
+you won't sit any longer, I suppose you won't. Now let us come
+downstairs."
+
+The girls left the studio and entered the drawing-room. Here they found
+Mrs. Bernard Temple and Nora. Nora was lying on a sofa looking tired and
+pale, and Mrs. Bernard Temple was moving about the room in a bustling
+sort of fashion arranging flowers. The drawing-room was small and
+crowded with knick-knacks. Antonia seldom swept across this room without
+knocking a table over or flicking a paper on to the floor.
+
+"Now, my dear, be careful!" exclaimed her parent. "That papier-mâche
+table on which I have just arranged these lovely late roses, sent to me
+by dear Sir John, will not stand one of your lunges. I cannot imagine
+how you have got that peculiar walk, Antonia; its exactly as if you were
+on board ship."
+
+Antonia lounged towards a chair, into which she flung herself.
+
+"Dear me, it is hot!" she exclaimed, pushing back her thick black hair
+from her forehead. "Never mind about my walk, mother; let me hear the
+news. What did Sir Henry Fraser say of Nora?"
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple sank into another chair.
+
+"The dear child!" she exclaimed. "She had a trying morning."
+
+"Pray don't talk of it!" exclaimed Nora from her sofa. "It was too
+desperate."
+
+"Why, did he hurt you?" exclaimed Antonia.
+
+"Oh, no! he was kindness itself; but we had to wait so long before we
+saw him."
+
+"Pooh!" answered Antonia. "Was that the dreadful part? Tell me what he
+said when you did see him? Are you likely soon to be quite well again?"
+
+"With care," interrupted Mrs. Bernard Temple, "dear Nora will recover
+perfectly. Her back is still very weak, but there is no injury. She may
+walk a little daily, but must lie down a good deal."
+
+"You're quite sure he wasn't anxious about you?" asked Antonia, fixing
+her eyes on Nora.
+
+Nora started.
+
+"No; what do you mean?" she said. "You quite startle me. Why should he
+be anxious?"
+
+"Well, I almost wish he were. It would suit my purpose to have him
+anxious for a day or two. However, if he isn't, he isn't, and there's an
+end of it. Nora, don't you want to see your father very badly?"
+
+"Oh, yes!" replied Nora. Her face grew pink and red. "Of course I'd like
+to see him, but I have not an idea where he is."
+
+"He's in London, close to you, you goose."
+
+"Antonia!" interrupted Mrs. Bernard Temple.
+
+"Mother, she is a goose not to remember that Squire Lorrimer is in town.
+You ought to write to him, Nora, and ask him to come to see you."
+
+"If he's in London I don't know his address," answered Nora.
+
+"You can write to his club--the Carlton. Here, I'll find you paper and
+pen, or, if you are too tired to write after the doctor's examination,
+you can dictate a letter to me. Here, what do you want to say? I'm not a
+good hand at letter-writing, but you must know the sort of thing. You
+had better ask him to dinner to-night; there's not an hour to be lost."
+
+"You forget that we are going to the theatre to-night," said Mrs.
+Bernard Temple.
+
+"Oh, what does that matter. Nora can't go, with her weak back."
+
+"Yes she can. I have taken a box, and she shall have my air-cushion to
+lean against."
+
+"And I want to go to a theatre awfully," said Nora.
+
+"Well, well, so much for filial affection. Ask him to come to lunch
+to-morrow. Write any way--show that you're a daughter, a loving
+daughter."
+
+"Of course I'm a loving daughter, but I----"
+
+"For goodness sake don't have any more buts. Write or dictate, whichever
+you please."
+
+"I'll write if I must, but really--I don't suppose father will care to
+come."
+
+"Doesn't he care for you, then?"
+
+"Care for me? What a thing to say. Of course he cares for me."
+
+"Then he'll come. Now, I give you five minutes. Write the letter, and
+I'll take it out and post it."
+
+Nora muttered and grumbled, but Antonia's perfectly motionless figure,
+as she sat in an easy chair facing her, was too much to be resisted. She
+took up a pen, dipped it in ink, and began to write.
+
+"Do it lovingly," said Antonia; "put heart into it; show that you're a
+daughter."
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple motioned Annie to come and sit near her.
+
+"Really," she said in a whisper, "poor Antonia becomes more peculiar and
+trying each day. She simply bullies us all. Look at that poor dear
+little Nora, submitting to her caprice as gently as a lamb. I don't know
+why she wants Squire Lorrimer to come here. I am not acquainted with
+him, and it will be really painful for me to see him in his present
+afflicted condition. I am a very cheerful person by nature, and hate
+depressing circumstances."
+
+"I am sorry you are not sympathetic," answered Annie.
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple raised her brows.
+
+"Sympathetic," she exclaimed; "my dear, I'm the soul--the very soul of
+sympathy; but where's the use of wasting emotion? I can do nothing for
+Squire Lorrimer, and it will only pain poor Nora to see him. Really,
+really, Antonia is beyond anything afflicting. Now, my love, where are
+you going?"
+
+The latter part of this speech was addressed to Miss Bernard Temple, who
+was leaving the room. "Where are you going, Antonia, my love?" repeated
+her mother.
+
+"Out, mother; to post this letter."
+
+"I beg of you to do nothing of the kind. I can send it by William, when
+next he goes for a message."
+
+William was a very diminutive, and much overworked, page-boy.
+
+"Thanks," said Antonia; "but I prefer to go myself."
+
+She left the room, shutting the door rather noisily; and Mrs. Bernard
+Temple looked for sympathy to the two girls.
+
+"Is not she trying?" she repeated. "With my mind so preoccupied with
+thoughts of my approaching marriage, and of dear Sir John, and those
+sweet girls, Hester and Nan; it is really too much to be worried by
+Antonia's whims."
+
+"Oh, but she means everything splendidly," said Annie. "I admire her
+beyond anything. If you will let me, Mrs. Bernard Temple, I will go out
+with her."
+
+"Oh, certainly, my dear. I see you are under her spell, so I have
+nothing to say. Dear Nora and I will try to make ourselves happy
+together."
+
+Annie left the room, and met Antonia in the hall.
+
+"Wait one moment, Antonia," she said; "I'll go with you."
+
+She ran upstairs, fetched her hat and gloves, and joined Antonia. The two
+girls went into the street.
+
+"I'm determined that no pranks shall be played with this letter," said
+Antonia; "so I intend not to post it, but to take it to the Carlton
+myself."
+
+"Antonia, is that right?"
+
+"Right--what can there be wrong in it? There is no one who will eat me
+at the Carlton. I shall simply give the letter to the hall-porter, and
+desire him to put it into Mr. Lorrimer's hands the moment he appears.
+Now, come on, if you are coming. You can stay in the street while I
+interview the porter."
+
+"But the post seems safer and easier," said Annie.
+
+"Well, I don't think so. Come, come; what are you loitering for?"
+
+As was universally the case, Antonia's strong will prevailed.
+
+She knew London thoroughly, and followed by the somewhat breathless
+Annie, in due course reached the Carlton Club.
+
+She had run up the steps, entered the hall, interviewed the porter,
+delivered her letter, and once more joined Annie, when the latter said
+to her in a voice of suppressed excitement--
+
+"There is Squire Lorrimer; that man with the bent head and hat pushed
+over his eyes. He passed the club while you were within. There he is,
+just turning the corner."
+
+"Run after him and stop him," exclaimed Antonia. "Quick, quick--I'll
+fetch the letter out while you're catching him up."
+
+"Oh, I don't like to," said Annie.
+
+"What a goose you are--then I'll do it--he'll be lost to view if we wait
+another instant arguing. Is it that rather old man who walks slowly?
+Yes, yes, I see him. Stay where you are and I'll bring him back to you."
+
+Before Annie could interfere, Antonia had hastened forward with long
+strides, which she soon quickened into a run. She reached Mr. Lorrimer,
+and gave one of his coat sleeves a fierce tug.
+
+He started, took off his hat instinctively, and then stared in amazement
+at the wild-looking girl, whose face was completely unknown to him.
+
+"Oh, yes, you think I'm mad," said Antonia, "but I'm not. I'm about as
+sane as anyone in England. You are Mr. Lorrimer, and you're afraid to go
+home, and your family are in dreadful trouble. I'm Antonia Bernard
+Temple; yes, it's a long unwieldy sort of name, but I have the
+misfortune to own it. If I'm a diamond at all, I'm a rough sort; very
+rough and uncouth, but I mean well. My mother is engaged to Sir John
+Thornton, and we have been staying at the Grange, and I have seen your
+magnificent untrammelled old place, with its briars, and dragon china,
+and I, in short--I have seen Nell. Nell is in trouble, and my heart has
+gone out to her; and Nora is in town staying with us, with my mother and
+me, and she wants to see you, naturally; so please come home with me
+now. Please turn round and come to the Carlton first. There's a letter
+there for you from Nora. Come and see her, and hear about Nell and
+Molly."
+
+There was the queerest mixture of every sort of emotion in Antonia's
+wild, disjointed speech; but above it all was an overpowering
+earnestness, which somehow attracted the poor, forlorn-looking Squire.
+
+"You are a very queer young lady," he said.
+
+"Oh, they all say that," exclaimed Antonia clasping her hands. "I beg of
+you not to be commonplace; do come home with me."
+
+"But somehow you seem to know all about my people," he continued. "Is it
+possible that Nora is in town? Yes, I'll go and see her. Where is she?"
+
+"Come with me and I'll take you to the house. It's in a most poky,
+fashionable part--an odious locality, where poor Art hides her head.
+Just walk back with me to meet Annie Forest, and to get your letter.
+You know Annie Forest, don't you?"
+
+"I have met her."
+
+"Well, she's waiting close to the Carlton Club for us both; and we can't
+leave her there, you know; come quickly."
+
+The Squire turned.
+
+His step was slow. The look of depression on his face was painful; his
+grizzled hair was nearly white, and his once keen, hawk-like blue eyes
+were now dim and dull. Antonia had never seen him before, but Annie
+started when he held out his hand to her.
+
+He walked in almost silence back with the two girls, and in a little
+more than half an hour, Antonia had the pleasure of introducing him to
+her mother and Nora, who were enjoying afternoon tea together in great
+contentment and peace of mind. Nora uttered a little shriek when she saw
+her father. He took her in his arms and kissed her tenderly. Annie did
+not follow the Squire into the drawing-room.
+
+"Come, mother," said Antonia, going up to her parent.
+
+"Where?" asked Mrs. Bernard Temple in astonishment.
+
+"Out of the room--come."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+THE LION AND MOUSE.
+
+
+No one could be in a more terrible state of complete collapse than poor
+Mr. Lorrimer. The blow he had most dreaded had overtaken him. He had
+been as plucky an English gentleman as ever walked. As true-hearted and
+affectionate a husband and father, as kind and considerate a
+landlord--as honourable as man could be in all his dealings--a keen
+sportsman, a lover of horses--in short, an ideal squire of the old
+school; but the Towers had been his backbone; now that circumstances for
+which he was scarcely to blame deprived him of the home of his fathers,
+he found himself unable to stand up against the blow. He had made a
+gallant fight up to the last moment, but when he saw plainly that the
+tide had set in dead against him, he ceased to fight and allowed himself
+to drift. He made up his mind that his last memory of the Towers should
+be that evening when the old ball-room was full of light and movement,
+and when two little fairy-like figures had flitted across the lawn to
+greet him. That fairy and that brownie had comforted him on that night
+of keen desolation, and their memory lingered with him still. He lived
+in cheap lodgings near his club, ate what was put before him, read
+nothing, moped away the long hours, and was fast reaching a stage when
+serious breakdown of some sort or other was imminent. He desired all
+letters to be sent to him to the Carlton, and not only refused to allow
+his wife to come to him, but would not let her know where he was
+lodging. He promised, however, to join his family when the move from the
+Towers had been made.
+
+On the day when Antonia met him, he was feeling more wretched even than
+usual. He had never hitherto been a weak or undecided man, but now he
+was completely limp--there was no other word to describe his condition.
+Antonia's firmness compelled him to obey her, and he found himself
+against his will in Nora's company. Nora was not his favourite child;
+she was not like Molly to him, nor like Nell and Boris, still she was
+one of his children, and his heart throbbed with a great wave of pain
+when he saw her.
+
+"My poor little girl," he said, kissing her tenderly, "my poor dear
+little girl. I have been a bad father to you, my little Nora."
+
+"Oh, no, no, father," said Nora, sobbing now, and much overcome. "No,
+no, dear, darling father; I'm so delighted, so delighted to see you
+again."
+
+The Squire sat down on the sofa near Nora, and putting his arm round
+her, drew her pretty head to rest on his breast.
+
+"So you are staying in town," he said, "quite close to me; and how--how
+are the others, my dear?"
+
+"Quite well," replied Nora "only fretting about you."
+
+"About me? They needn't do that--I'm not worth it. You're sure your
+mother is quite well, Nora?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And Molly?"
+
+"Yes, quite well."
+
+"And the young 'uns, Nell and Boris?"
+
+"Oh, they're well, only Nell frets a good bit."
+
+"Poor child, poor child; bless her, she's a loving little soul. I
+suppose Guy is awfully cut up, eh, Nonie?"
+
+"Oh, father, indeed he's not. Guy is too much of a man--he's splendid,
+he is, really. I wish you'd go back again, father, that's all they want.
+It's you they want, not the Towers--you are more to them than the
+Towers."
+
+"You're a good child to say so," said the Squire; "but I can't go back
+at present. When I think of that place going out of the family, I feel
+like an unfaithful steward. It was committed to me to keep and to hand
+on intact to my boy, and I've lost him his inheritance. You none of you
+know what it means; but I can't go back--not at present."
+
+"May I write and tell mother where you are?"
+
+"No; she writes to me to the Carlton--I'm all right; don't you worry
+about me, pet."
+
+"You don't look all right--you look very ill."
+
+"See here, Nora, don't you write home and tell them that--promise."
+
+The Squire's manner grew quite fierce. He looked at Nora out of his
+bloodshot eyes. "Promise," he said. "I won't have it done--do you hear?"
+
+"No, father, of course I won't if it vexes you."
+
+"It does, my child, it does," the Squire's manner became tenderer than
+ever. "I'm worried and in trouble at present, and I am best alone; I am
+best all by myself for a bit. God knows, I suppose I shall pull round
+after a bit, and face you all--that poor boy whom I've ruined, and the
+rest of you--but I must get time--that's only reasonable--I must get
+time. Now I'm off; I'm glad to see you looking well, Nora."
+
+"But you'll come and see me again, father; you promise, do promise that
+you'll come and see me again."
+
+"Yes, my child, if you wish it."
+
+"To-morrow; promise you'll come to-morrow. Antonia made me write to ask
+you to come to lunch, and I sent the letter to the Carlton. Will you
+come to lunch to-morrow?"
+
+"No; I can't do that, but I'll look in some day. Good-bye, Nora,
+good-bye, my pet."
+
+The Squire put his arms again round Nora, kissed her on her lips and
+brow, and left the house.
+
+Antonia, who was trying to keep her mother quiet in the dismal
+dining-room, heard him slam the hall door after him, and rushed to the
+window to watch him down the street.
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple went and peeped over her daughter's shoulder.
+
+"I am glad he has gone," she said. "It's so trying to be turned out of
+one's drawing-room. He's very seedy about his clothes, but he has an
+aristocratic walk. I suppose I may go back now, Antonia, to finish my
+cup of tea."
+
+"Oh, yes, mother, all in good time. What does tea signify when you see a
+man broken with an awful grief of that sort? Why, he looks like a
+captive lion. Mother, cant you get enthusiastic on the subject? Can't
+you try?"
+
+"I'm sure, my dear, I have tried, but I cannot really see that it will
+injure the Lorrimers for me to finish my tea. With all I am undergoing
+on my own account at present--but of course, Antonia, you have no
+sympathy for your mother."
+
+"Oh, yes, I have when you need it, but you don't just now; you are
+perfectly happy. However, you must of course have your tea, and I won't
+worry you any more after you have sent off the telegram."
+
+"The telegram! Oh, you erratic, perverse child; what next?"
+
+"You have to telegraph to Sir John, mother, to beg of him to come here
+immediately. Things have gone much farther with Squire Lorrimer than I
+had the least idea of. He must be put out of his pain as quickly as
+possible or something bad will happen. We must get my new father that is
+to be on the spot to-night, and if you don't telegraph for him I shall
+myself take the next train to Nortonbury, and tackle him on the subject.
+I don't in the least mind which it is, but one or other must be done
+directly."
+
+"Antonia, you quite terrify me. Sir John will be seriously angry."
+
+"What of that. Let him be angry."
+
+"But I assure you, my dear, he is not a man to be trifled with."
+
+"Oh, I'll manage him, mother, if you're nervous."
+
+"I really think you must. I have not the courage to make or meddle in
+this matter; in short, I wash my hands of it."
+
+Antonia clapped hers.
+
+"Hurrah!" she said. "I can manage much better all by myself. All I ask
+you now, dear, good mother, is to trust me. Be sure that nothing
+whatever will happen to injure you, and simply give me leave to say,
+when I am telegraphing, that you would like to see Sir John."
+
+"Well, naturally, I always like to see him, dear, devoted fellow."
+
+"That's all right. Now you shall go back to your tea, and I'll be as
+mum as a mouse for the rest of the day."
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple left the room, relieved at any sort of truce with
+her troublesome daughter. Antonia addressed the telegraph form to ...
+_Sir John Thornton, The Grange, Nortonbury_, and filled in the following
+words:--
+
+     "Mother wants to see you without fail this evening. Take next
+     train. Important. Antonia. Reply paid."
+
+The words went hard with the enthusiastic girl, for her precious eight
+shillings were nearly exhausted, and she knew that she must deny herself
+some sadly-needed cobalt if she sent that telegram.
+
+"Never mind," she said, as she let herself out of the house, and rushed
+off to the nearest post-office. "You must do without that background of
+blue sky which I so wanted for your picture, Marie Antoinette. It is
+odd, but I never did think that I would allow Art to suffer in the cause
+of an ugly duckling."
+
+Antonia sent off her telegram and watched anxiously for the reply. It
+came in the course of an hour and a half, and was addressed to her
+mother.
+
+     "Expect me by the train which reaches Waterloo at nine o'clock,"
+
+wired the gallant Sir John.
+
+"There, now, Antonia," said Mrs. Bernard Temple, "you have only yourself
+to blame. What is to be done? We shall be at the theatre at nine
+o'clock."
+
+"Nothing could possibly be better, mother; I shan't go. I shall wait
+here for Sir John; we'll have a nice quiet time."
+
+"My dear, I'm afraid he'll be terribly offended."
+
+"No, mother, he won't; at least, not with you. Now, do go the theatre
+and be happy. Take Annie and Nora, and let them enjoy themselves. I
+promise you that you shall have serene skies on your return. Can't you
+trust me? Did you ever find me fail you yet when I promised you
+anything?"
+
+"No, I never did, you queer, queer creature."
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple was restored to good humour. Dinner passed off
+pleasantly, and immediately afterwards a cab conveyed three of the party
+to the Lyceum.
+
+Antonia had donned her rusty brown velveteen dress, and sat with her
+hands folded in front of her in a deep armchair.
+
+Her black hair was combed high over her forehead; her eyes were bright.
+Anxiety had brought a slight colour into her cheeks; she looked almost
+handsome.
+
+At about twenty minutes past nine a cab was heard to stop at the door,
+and a moment later Sir John Thornton was ushered into the drawing-room.
+
+"How do you do?" he said, in a stiff voice, to Antonia. "Where is your
+mother? Her telegram has startled me a good deal."
+
+"It was my telegram," said Antonia, in a calm voice.
+
+"Well, that does not matter. Will you have the goodness to inform your
+mother that I am here?"
+
+"I can't very well at the present moment, for she is enjoying herself at
+the Lyceum."
+
+Sir John's face grew scarlet. He drew himself up to his stiffest
+attitude, and compressed his lips firmly together.
+
+"Perhaps you feel annoyed," said Antonia, "and I don't think I am
+surprised. Will you sit down and let me explain matters?"
+
+"Pray do nothing of the kind. I can wait until Mrs. Bernard Temple comes
+home. When is the play likely to be over?"
+
+"I expect mother and Annie and Nora back about half-past eleven. It is
+now half-past nine. Have you had dinner?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Will you come downstairs, and let me give you something to eat?"
+
+"No, thank you. As your mother is not at home, I shall dine at my club,
+and come back later on."
+
+"No, you won't," said Antonia.
+
+She started up, and placed herself between Sir John and the door. He
+felt himself groaning inwardly. Was that awful girl mad? What did her
+strange telegram mean? And why, if Mrs. Bernard Temple sent for him in a
+hurry, had she not the civility to wait at home to see him? This was
+really taking matters with a free-and-easy hand with a vengeance. The
+proud Sir John had never felt more thoroughly angry in his life. He
+stalked up to Antonia now, and endeavoured to pass her, but she dodged
+him successfully.
+
+"I know you are a gentleman," she said; "and a gentleman always listens
+to what a lady has got to say, even when he is angry with her. I'm an
+awful personage in your eyes, but if you will listen to me to-night, I
+will promise to be as good and unobtrusive as girl can be in the future.
+I'll even wear ordinary dresses when I come to visit you, and I won't
+talk of my sacred Art when you are in the room. There, can girl promise
+more?--can she?"
+
+"Will you have the goodness to let me pass?" said Sir John.
+
+"I will in a moment or two. You shall go and dine at your club after you
+have heard why I sent for you."
+
+"Why _you_ sent for me?" exclaimed Sir John.
+
+"Oh, yes; it was all my doing."
+
+"But the message certainly came in your mother's name."
+
+"Yes, because you would not have come otherwise. It was I, Antonia, who
+really sent for you. You have come up to town in this violent hurry on
+my account. Now, will you come down to eat a very nice little dinner
+which has been prepared, and which the cook is waiting to send upstairs,
+and let me talk to you while you are enjoying it? Or will you listen to
+me here, and then go afterwards to your club? You must do one or other,
+unless you are rude enough to take me by main force and move me away
+from the door."
+
+Sir John Thornton might be very angry, but he was the pink of propriety,
+and the idea of lifting the bony Antonia from the neighbourhood of the
+door was too repellent even to be thought of for a moment.
+
+"You have got me into a trap," he said, "and I am deeply offended. Your
+mother must explain the position of affairs to me when she chooses to
+return home. I suppose I must listen to you, whether I wish it or not. I
+only beg of you to be brief."
+
+"Now you are delightful," said Antonia. "Won't you sit down?"
+
+"I prefer to stand."
+
+"Well, I'll sit, if you don't mind, for I've a good deal to say."
+
+"I must again beg of you to be brief."
+
+"Very well; I'll put it into a few words, but they'll be strong, I
+promise you."
+
+Sir John made no response. He folded his arms and looked down at
+Antonia. His face looked very cold and satirical; his lips were so
+tightly shut as to appear like a straight line. Antonia's face, all
+enthusiasm and fire, gazed up at him.
+
+"Can I melt that iceberg?" she said inwardly. "Now for the tug of war."
+
+"This is the heart and kernel of my reason for wishing to see you," she
+said. "I have taken up the cause of the Lorrimers. The Lorrimers are
+leaving the Towers because Squire Lorrimer has got into money
+difficulties. I don't know how, and I don't know why. He is obliged to
+sell the beautiful and noble home of his ancestors to clear himself of
+these difficulties. The children are all sorry to go--Molly loses the
+freshness of her youth when she leaves the Towers; Guy loses his
+rightful inheritance; the younger children are embittered by an
+unnatural feud which I need not trouble you about, but which will sour
+their characters; Nell is not strong, and simple grief may shorten her
+days; and the Squire, the Squire himself is so cut up, so heart-broken,
+that he cannot bring himself to say good-bye to the old place. He is in
+town, here, close to us; he is hiding somewhere near us because his
+proud old heart is broken. His hair is white ... his head is bowed and
+his eyes are dim."
+
+"What does all this mean?" interrupted Sir John.
+
+"What does it mean?" exclaimed Antonia, springing like a young lioness
+from her chair. "It means that you are to come to the rescue. Why should
+all that family be made wretched? and why should the Towers go to
+strangers when you can put things right? Take your money out of the
+bank, or wherever you have placed it--it will be the finest deed you
+ever did in your life--and buy back the Towers and give it to Squire
+Lorrimer and to Guy for their own place again. Yours is the talent
+buried in the ground. Take it out and save the Squire, and you'll be so
+happy you won't know yourself. Why, you'll be all on fire and alive with
+gladness. There, that's what I telegraphed to you for; you know now.
+You'll do it ... of course you'll do it. I have spoken now. You know
+what I want."
+
+Antonia sank down into her chair again. She was trembling visibly
+through all her slender figure. Sir John gazed at her in amazement. Her
+eyes met his fully, and then her heart gave a leap in her breast. He was
+not angry. She guessed then that she had won her cause.
+
+"You certainly are a queer girl," he said, sitting down near her. "You
+amaze me. I never heard of a girl who would take up a thing in this way
+... and the Lorrimers are not even your friends. Oh, no! I am not angry
+... not now. Hester frets morning, noon, and night, at the thought of
+parting with Molly; but Hester never thought of this. It is fine of
+you--quite impossible, of course; but I always admire real bravery when
+I see it."
+
+"Never mind praising me," said Antonia; "tell me why you call it
+impossible."
+
+"My dear young lady, do you think for a single moment Squire Lorrimer
+would accept a gift of this sort from me? Do you think the Towers would
+be of the least value to him won back in such a way? _Noblesse oblige_
+would prevent his accepting such an offer."
+
+"I have thought of all that," said Antonia. "I guessed that there would
+be a good deal of pride to overcome. Fortunately I am not bothered with
+_noblesse oblige_; but I guessed that you county people would worry over
+it. We art lovers never think of it; we rise above it; we go back to the
+old, old, _old_, times, when those who loved each other had all things
+in common."
+
+"As long as we live in the world," said Sir John, "the men of the world
+must adhere to its usages. It is not the custom for one man to present
+another with the sort of gift you propose that I should favour Squire
+Lorrimer with."
+
+"Then you must not give it in the form of a gift. You must go to your
+solicitor and consult him about the matter. I happen to know that Susy
+Drummond hates the Towers, so I am quite sure that Mr. Drummond would be
+very glad to be out of his bargain. The Squire wants a certain sum of
+money; you must lend it to him on very easy terms. Oh! of course you
+know how to manage! You must make it possible for him to stay at the
+Towers whatever happens. Oh! I know you'll do it! I know you'll be
+clever enough and kind enough to do it. You'll think of a way, and in
+all the world no man will ever have a more faithful daughter than I'll
+be to you. Dear me! how dead tired I am! Are you going out to your club
+to dinner? If so, I'll go to bed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+GOD BLESS ANTONIA.
+
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple waited up for Sir John that night; but he did not
+appear. When he left Antonia he went straight to his club, ordered
+dinner, and ate it with his usual refined and somewhat languid appetite.
+He then went up to his room, and being tired thought he would go early
+to bed. He did go to bed--he even went to the length of shutting his
+eyes, preparatory for a peaceful night's slumber. Up to that point he
+was the Sir John of old. The calculating, reserved, cold-natured
+Englishman; but beyond that point he was different, altogether different
+from what he had been before. Between him and his accustomed night's
+rest came the eager face and passionate words of a girl--a lanky,
+untidy, and, in his opinion, most disagreeable girl. Still, she had
+roused him as he had never yet been roused. She had absolutely awakened
+a sort of conscience in him. For the first time in his whole existence,
+he carefully considered the question, who is my neighbour?
+
+Certainly Squire Lorrimer was his neighbour. Their estates joined; they
+had been good friends from boyhood upward; they had been lads at the
+same school, and afterwards men of the same college. His children and
+Squire Lorrimer's children loved each other dearly. He had noticed of
+late how often Hester's eyes had been red as if with tears. She had been
+very good about his own proposed marriage, but she had cried when the
+Lorrimers were mentioned Nan had been sulky and disagreeable and
+defiant, and this was also on account of the Lorrimers. He was very
+sorry for his children, and very sorry also for the Lorrimers, but never
+until to-night had it entered into his head to help the Lorrimers out of
+their trouble.
+
+He could do so, of course--he was a very rich man--he was also a careful
+man, never living up to his large yearly income. By no means extravagant
+in his tastes, not specially fond of hoarding money, but being really
+possessed of more than his wants required. He lay awake, and thought and
+thought, and after an early breakfast the next morning he did adopt
+Antonia's suggestion, and went to see his solicitor. From there he wrote
+a brief note to Mrs. Bernard Temple.
+
+"As she had not, after all, required his presence in town," he wrote,
+"he would not come to see her. He happened to be particularly engaged,
+and wanted to return to the Grange that evening."
+
+This letter was delivered at Mrs. Bernard Temple's house by a
+Commissionaire. It made that good lady very uneasy, but when Antonia
+read it she proceeded to skip up and down the drawing-room with such
+energy that two papier-mâche tables were knocked over and a valuable
+china cup and saucer smashed.
+
+"Don't speak to me, mother," she exclaimed. "I have nothing whatever to
+say, only if I don't give vent to my feelings in some sort of exercise I
+shall go mad."
+
+The next day or two passed without anything special occurring, but on
+the third day Mrs. Bernard Temple received a letter which astonished her
+very much.
+
+It was from Sir John, begging of her to come back to the Grange, and
+especially asking that Antonia should accompany her.
+
+"Dear old man," murmured Antonia when she received this message. "I knew
+he'd rise to it; I knew he would. Mother, which is the most fashionable
+shop in London?"
+
+"For what, my dear?"
+
+"For an up-to-date costume. I must go at once and be rigged up. You had
+better order a hansom--never mind the extravagance--it will be untold
+torture, but it is a promise, and it must be done. Annie, love, you are
+exquisite on the subject of dress; come and see Antonia made
+fashionable."
+
+"Yes, go with her, Annie," said Mrs. Bernard Temple. "I cannot imagine
+what this queer thing portends, but anything to make Antonia look like
+an ordinary girl I willingly agree to. Don't be extravagant, my love,
+for my purse is not too heavy; but anything under ten pounds I will
+willingly spend to make you presentable."
+
+"It's appalling to think of the waste of money," said Antonia. "Oh, what
+would not ten pounds do in the cause of Art? But a promise is a promise.
+Come along, Annie, we'll go to Regent Street and choose."
+
+Five minutes later, the two girls set off. Antonia's face was wreathed
+with wonderful smiles, but she was mute as to the subject of her
+thoughts, even to Annie.
+
+"I suppose I must have a respectable hat," she said, suddenly; "and I
+suppose it must sit in the correct way on my head; therefore, the first
+thing is to go to a hairdresser's. I must be fringed, and curled, and
+frizzed."
+
+"Oh, Antonia, no, no;" said Annie. "Your beautiful hair--it would be a
+sin to put a pair of scissors near it."
+
+"A promise is a promise," said Antonia. "Which is the best hairdresser?"
+
+They stopped at one in Bond Street, and half an hour later Antonia left
+the shop, very stiff about the head and red about the face.
+
+"The hairpins are sticking into me all over," she gasped, "and the
+weight of the fringe is like a furnace on my forehead; but never mind."
+
+"It isn't at all becoming either," said Annie.
+
+Antonia looked at her with large eyes of reproach.
+
+"Do you think I _want_ it to be becoming?" she said. "That would be the
+final straw."
+
+The fashionable dress was not only bought, but put on, and Mrs. Bernard
+Temple scarcely knew her daughter when she saw her back again.
+
+"I'm in misery," said Antonia; "but a promise is a promise. My dear
+mother, when you are married to Sir John, that dear, dear old man, you
+need not expect to see me often at the Grange."
+
+"I really do not see, Antonia, why you should speak of your future
+father as so very old."
+
+"He's old to me," said Antonia. "I always speak of people as I find
+them."
+
+"You are a most extraordinary girl," remarked her mother.
+
+But she made this remark so often that Antonia did not think it
+necessary to reply.
+
+By a late train in the afternoon the whole party were conveyed back to
+the Grange, where Hester received them with rather a puzzled expression
+on her face. As soon as possible she drew Annie aside, and began to
+speak to her.
+
+"I cannot imagine what is the matter," she said; "father is going on in
+a most extraordinary way. You won't mind my speaking frankly, Annie, but
+he seemed really quite relieved when you all went away. Then he got that
+telegram from Mrs. Bernard Temple, and rushed off to town in a hurry. He
+came back the following evening completely altered--very silent and
+absorbed, but with a kind of change over him which Nan and I could not
+help noticing. I asked him if he had seen anything of Squire Lorrimer,
+and he looked hard at me and said--'I wonder if you are in it, too.'"
+
+"Oh, I know, I know," said Annie softly, rubbing her hands; "dear
+Antonia, dear Antonia."
+
+"Oh, for pity's sake, Annie, don't you get mysterious," exclaimed
+Hester, almost fretfully. "What can Antonia have to say to Squire
+Lorrimer? Let me finish my story. I asked father if he had seen him, and
+he replied, 'I have heard and seen enough of Lorrimer to fill all my
+thoughts.' He would not tell me another word; but he went to town again
+the next morning, and came back absolutely excited in the evening. Fancy
+my father in a state of excitement! He was ever so nice to me; and when
+Nan said that she must go to school almost immediately, he said that
+Mrs. Willis should be invited to come back to the Grange, for he wanted
+us all to have a happy meeting before his wedding. And he has been
+telegraphing to all kinds of people all day, and I believe all the
+Lorrimers are coming here to-morrow. Father said he wanted to have a
+real, jolly time, and that everyone of the Lorrimers, even to little
+Phil, and, of course, Jane Macalister, were to be asked. I ventured to
+remind him that dear Molly and all of them were not just in the mood for
+festivities at present, but he would not listen to me for a moment. He
+said, that on such an auspicious occasion he must have his own way, and
+that he would engage that they would be jolly enough when the time
+came."
+
+"So they will, I am sure," said Annie. "Did you say Mrs. Willis was
+here, Hester?"
+
+"Yes, she came an hour ago. She is in her room. She says she will take
+you and Nan back with her to Lavender House the day after to-morrow."
+
+Annie's face, which had been very bright a moment before, grew suddenly
+grave. She murmured something half aloud.
+
+"I won't be outdone by Antonia," she said.
+
+"Really, really, Annie," exclaimed Hester, "I shall get to hate Antonia,
+if you allude to her in that sphinx-like way any longer."
+
+Annie looked hard at Hester with dilating eyes and paling cheeks.
+
+"Do you remember," she said, suddenly coming up to her friend, "the old
+Annie of Lavender House?"
+
+"How can I forget her," said Hester; "when she is my dearest friend?"
+
+"Do you remember," continued Annie, "the heaps and heaps of scrapes she
+used to get into, and how there was no peace for her, and no way out of
+them at all except by confession?"
+
+"Yes, I remember," said Hester, gravely.
+
+"Well, I am going to confess now."
+
+"To confess! But you have done nothing wrong, Annie darling."
+
+"Oh, haven't I; I've been just at my old pranks--just as heedless, as
+impetuous, as mad, as I have ever been. Hester, I have done wrong, but
+as it does not concern you, I won't tell you, dear. Only before I go to
+Mrs. Willis, I should like to congratulate you."
+
+"To congratulate me? On what?" asked poor Hester.
+
+"On having the chance of such a girl as Antonia for your sister."
+
+"Now, really, I wont listen to another word," said Hester. "I have quite
+made up my mind to _endure_ Antonia, and to be patient with her, but if,
+in addition, I am to congratulate myself, I'm just afraid I can't rise
+to it. Run away if you want to, Annie, and when you cease to be
+mysterious I will talk to you again."
+
+Annie left the room and went slowly upstairs to Mrs. Willis's bedroom.
+She knocked and was admitted. What she said--what words passed between
+the two were never known, but when Annie left that room there was a look
+on her face which reminded those who saw her of the best of Annie in the
+old days, and Mrs. Willis was more affectionate than ever to her dear
+pupil that evening.
+
+The next day dawned bright and splendid. The trees were beginning to put
+on their autumn tints, but the air was still full of summer. The
+Lorrimers at the Towers were busy making preparations to come over to
+the Grange. They had been invited to the festival by no less a personage
+than Sir John Thornton himself, and he had couched his epistle in gay
+and pleasant words.
+
+"As if we had any heart for it," murmured Molly to herself.
+
+"It is over a week now since we have had even a line from father,"
+whispered Nell to her own heart; "how can we care to go and laugh at the
+Grange?"
+
+"We are going from the dear old place in a week," thought Guy. "I don't
+believe anyone can draw a smile out of me to-day."
+
+But Boris was happy enough to go, for he was so young that any change
+was delightful; and as his pets were also leaving the Towers, and he and
+Kitty had just thought of a splendid way to prepare them for their
+journey, he felt quite light-hearted once again, and that he would be
+happy in his new home.
+
+When Jane Macalister heard of the invitation, she flatly refused to
+accept it.
+
+"Go, if you choose to," she said, with a wave of her hand to the
+assembled children; "you are young, and it's good for the young to
+forget. But I shall take the opportunity of sewing up the feather beds
+in their brown-holland cases. I vowed and declared that when this move
+had to be made no outsider should come in to pack, so my hands are full,
+and I have neither time nor heart for frivolity."
+
+"But, Jane, you are specially asked; you are mentioned by name," said
+Kitty.
+
+"By name, am I?" asked Jane. "Who invited me? That chit of a Hester?"
+
+"No, indeed; the great, magnificent Sir John himself."
+
+"Hoots!" exclaimed Jane; "he's cracked over his second marriage, or he
+wouldn't bother about an old body like me. I'll none of it. Go away
+children, and let me get on with my work."
+
+The children withdrew, apparently discomfited, but they guessed that
+when the time came Jane would go with them, and it proved that they
+were right.
+
+She made no remark as she joined the group, only at intervals as they
+all walked across the fields, the single expression, "Hoots!" passed her
+lips.
+
+In due course they all crossed the stile and entered the grounds of the
+Grange. They had gone a little way, when Boris uttered a short, sharp
+cry.
+
+"Why, there's father!" he exclaimed. The others all looked up at this,
+and then there was a rush and a helter-skelter, and Squire Lorrimer,
+looking just like the Squire of old, no longer bent nor bowed, nor
+broken hearted, was surrounded by his family.
+
+Boris mounted on his father's shoulder, and Nell clasped the Squire's
+hand and looked into his face. Mrs. Lorrimer came close to her husband's
+side, and Molly stood behind him.
+
+"Where's Guy?" said the Squire in a hoarse kind of voice. "Come here, my
+boy, I want to say something. It was Sir John's will that I should tell
+you the good news here, or you'd have all heard from me before I came
+down to meet you by this path, and we'll all go up and thank him
+presently."
+
+"For what, father?" asked Molly.
+
+"Why, the most wonderful thing," replied the Squire. "It seems that a
+girl called Antonia--a strange girl whom I have only met once--put a
+thought into my old friend's head, and he has acted on it in such a way
+that, without anything being done which I could not accept, I am enabled
+to continue as owner of the Towers."
+
+"Oh, father!" said Guy, with a great gasp.
+
+"Yes, my boy," continued the Squire, "I need not sell now. Sir John has
+lent me money to get over my difficulties, and on such easy terms that
+it will be possible to pay him back in the course of years without
+ruining any of us. Drummond was glad to be out of his bargain, so the
+whole thing was settled last night. We'll be poor enough still, but we
+need not leave the Towers; and if we are all careful, and I let my farms
+well--by the way, Sir John is going to take two of them--I have not the
+least doubt that the debt will be cleared away by the time you are of
+age, Guy. Anyhow, I feel like a new man. I can hold up my head once
+more, and all I can say is, God bless Antonia!"
+
+"What's the matter, Jane?" exclaimed Boris.
+
+"Hoots!" said Jane, whose face was nearly purple. "I felt this morning
+that I needn't go on sewing up those feather beds."
+
+She turned her head aside, and, to the amazement of everyone, burst into
+tears.
+
+Those tears of Jane's seemed to loosen all tongues. Eyes grew bright,
+eager voices flew, lips were wreathed in smiles. All the Lorrimers in a
+body went up to the Grange, where Sir John and his family came out to
+meet and welcome them.
+
+"And where's Antonia?" asked the Squire.
+
+Everyone else, even Mrs. Bernard Temple, was present, but Antonia was
+not to be found. Annie volunteered to go and look for her.
+
+After a long search she found her at last busily painting some huge dock
+leaves, which she had found in her morning ramble, and pulled up by the
+roots.
+
+"Come, Antonia, you are wanted," said Annie.
+
+"What for?" said Antonia. "Pray don't stand in my light, Annie."
+
+"But they're all waiting for you, every one of them--the Lorrimers, and
+Hester, and Sir John, and the rest. They want to thank you; it was your
+doing, you know."
+
+"Of all things in the world," replied Antonia, "I hate being thanked
+most of all. I did nothing. It was all dear old Sir John. And look what
+he has given me, Annie. This magnificent paint-box. Oh, the darling! the
+beauty! Oh, the rapture of possessing it! I'll go if I must when I have
+finished my dock leaves, but not before."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Red Rose and Tiger Lily, by L. T. Meade
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Red Rose And Tiger Lily, by Mrs. L. T. Meade.
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Red Rose and Tiger Lily, by L. T. Meade
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Red Rose and Tiger Lily
+       or, In a Wider World
+
+Author: L. T. Meade
+
+Release Date: October 13, 2007 [EBook #23022]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RED ROSE AND TIGER LILY ***
+
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+</pre>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="370" height="600" alt="cover" title="cover" /></p>
+
+<h1>RED ROSE AND
+TIGER LILY</h1>
+
+<h2>Or, In a Wider World</h2>
+
+
+<h3>By</h3>
+<h2>MRS. L. T. MEADE</h2>
+
+
+<p class="center">AUTHOR OF</p>
+
+<p class="center">A BUNCH OF CHERRIES, A RING OF RUBIES,</p>
+<p class="center">BAD LITTLE HANNAH, ETC.
+</p>
+
+<p class="gap">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">"Nothing is required but to set the right way to work,<br />
+but of course the really important thing is to succeed."<br />
+<span class="i19">&mdash;<i>Story of the Poor Tailor.</i><br /></span></p>
+
+<p class="gap">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">NEW YORK</p>
+<p class="center">GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP</p>
+<p class="center">PUBLISHERS
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1894, <span class="smcap">by</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">THE CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved</i></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/i-1.jpg" width="380" height="600" alt="i_1" title="i_1" /></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><b>
+<a href="#Page_10">NAN AND ANNIE ARRIVE
+<i>Frontispiece</i>&mdash;(<i>Page</i> 4.)</a></b></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
+<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
+<tr>
+    <td align='right' style="width:15%;"><span style='font-size:small'>CHAPTER</span></td>
+    <td style="width:5%;">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td style="width:80%;">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align='right' style="width:10%;"><span style='font-size:small'>PAGE</span></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">I.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Nan's Golden Mane</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#RED_ROSE_AND_TIGER_LILY">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">II.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Crushed</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">8</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">III.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Two Proverbs</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">16</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">IV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Colts&mdash;Robin and Joe</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">23</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">V.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Not Missed</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">32</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">VI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Friar's Wood</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">42</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">VII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Story Book Lady</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">53</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">VIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Alone in the Wood</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">63</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">IX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">"I Broke My Word," said Annie</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">70</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">X.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">An Awfully Frivolous Girl</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">79</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Diamond Ring</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">88</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Land of Perhaps</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">97</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Fancy Ball</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">113</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XIV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Poor Mrs. Myrtle</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">124</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">"The Way of Transgressors"</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">132</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XVI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Perhaps</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">143</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XVII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Fairy and Brownie</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">152</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XVIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Lorrimers of the Towers</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">161</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XIX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Topsy-Turvey</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">171</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">The New Owners</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">179</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Hester Speaks Her Mind</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">194</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Antonia's Gift</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">207</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Truth and Fidelity</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">215</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXIV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Wet Sponge</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">222</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Molly's Sorrow</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">234</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXVI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Plot Thickens</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">245</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXVII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Nell is in Trouble</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">252</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXVIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Lion and Mouse</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">262</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXIX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left"><span class="smcap">God Bless Antonia</span></td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">274</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="RED_ROSE_AND_TIGER_LILY" id="RED_ROSE_AND_TIGER_LILY"></a>RED ROSE AND TIGER LILY</h2>
+
+<h2>OR</h2>
+
+<h2>IN A WIDER WORLD</h2>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>NAN'S GOLDEN MANE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was a perfect summer's evening. The sun had just set, and purple,
+gold, violet, rose colour still filled the sky in the west. There was a
+tender new moon, looking like a silver bow, also to be seen; before long
+the evening star would be visible.</p>
+
+<p>Hester Thornton stepped out of the drawing-room at the Grange, and,
+walking a little way down the broad gravel sweep, began to listen
+intently. Hester was about seventeen&mdash;a slender girl for her age. Her
+eyes were dark, her eyebrows somewhat strongly marked, her abundant
+hair, of a much lighter shade of brown, was coiled in close folds round
+her well-shaped head. Her lips were slightly compressed, her chin showed
+determination. Hester had not been beautiful as a child, and she was not
+beautiful as a girl, but her face was pleasant to look at, very bright
+when animated, very steadfast and sweet when in repose. The air was like
+nectar to her cheeks. She was naturally a pale girl, but a faint rose
+colour was now discernible in her complexion, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 2]</a></span>look of
+expectation in her dark eyes made them charming.</p>
+
+<p>A step was heard on the gravel behind, and she turned quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that you, father?" she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Are not you very imprudent to come out at this hour in your thin
+house shoes, and with nothing on your head? There is a very heavy dew
+falling."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I never take cold," replied Hester with a smile, which showed her
+even and pretty white teeth; "and I certainly shan't to-night," she
+continued, "for I am feeling far too excited."</p>
+
+<p>Sir John Thornton was considered by most of his acquaintances (he could
+boast of scarcely any friends) as a reserved and almost repellent
+person, but now, as his eyes rested on his young daughter, something
+seemed to soften their expression; he took her slight hand and drew it
+affectionately through his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"It takes a small thing to excite you, my love," he said; "but you
+always were of a turbulent disposition&mdash;just your poor mother over
+again."</p>
+
+<p>Hester sighed faintly when Sir John spoke of his wife, then she quickly
+cheered up and said in an eager voice&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You don't call it a little thing, father, to know that in a minute or
+two I shall welcome Nan back from school? Nan comes to-night&mdash;Annie
+Forest to-morrow. It would be difficult for any girl to want more to
+make her perfectly happy."</p>
+
+<p>Sir John raised his brows.</p>
+
+<p>"I only know Miss Forest by hearsay," he said, "so I will reserve my
+judgment upon her; but I do know Nan. She will upset the entire <i>r&eacute;gime</i>
+of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 3]</a></span>house. I like order, and she likes disorder. I like quiet meals,
+she likes uproarious ones. I hate shocks and she adores them. I am glad,
+of course, to welcome the child home, but at the same time I dread her
+arrival. I cannot possibly understand how it is that Mrs. Willis, who is
+supposed to be such a splendid instructor of youth, should not have
+brought Nan a little better into control. Now, you, my dear Hetty, are
+very different. You have passions and feelings&mdash;no one has them more
+strongly&mdash;but you keep them in check. Your reticence and your reserve
+please me much. In short, Hester, no father could have a more admirable
+daughter to live with him. I am pleased with you, my dear; the
+experiment of having you home from school to look after my house has
+turned out well. There is nothing I would not do to please you, and
+while your friend Miss Forest is here, I will do my best to render her
+visit a success. The only discordant element will be Nan. I cannot
+understand why Mrs. Willis has not got Nan into the same control she had
+you in."</p>
+
+<p>"You forget," said Hester, "that I am seventeen and Nan only eight. No
+one ever yet could say 'No' to Nan. Father, don't you hear the carriage
+wheels? She is coming&mdash;I know she is coming. Please forgive me, I must
+run to meet her."</p>
+
+<p>Sir John released his daughter's hand, and Hester flew with the speed of
+an arrow from a bow up the long avenue. She was not mistaken. Her keen
+ears had detected the smooth roll of wheels. A landau drawn by a pair of
+horses had even now entered the lodge gates. Hester, looking up, heard
+some gay voices, some childish laughter. Then an imperious <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 4]</a></span>voice
+shouted to the coachman to pull up the horses and Nan Thornton and
+another girl sprang out of the carriage and ran to Hester's side.</p>
+
+<p>Confused utterances, sundry embraces, the quick intermingling of
+ejaculations, kisses, commands, explanatory remarks&mdash;all rose on the
+sweet night air.</p>
+
+<p>"Hetty, you look quite grown up. Please, Jenkins, you can drive on to
+the house. I'm not getting in again. Aren't you glad to see me, Het? I
+have come back a greater tease and torment than ever."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Nan, delighted&mdash;more than delighted. Oh! you sweet, how nice it is
+to feel you kissing me! Why, Annie, how did you happen to come to-night?
+I didn't expect you until to-morrow. I was wondering how I could endure
+the next twenty-four hours of expectation, even with Nan to keep me
+company, and now you are here. Oh, how very, very glad I am."</p>
+
+<p>"Kiss me, Hester," said Annie. "Nan and I concocted this little plan. We
+thought we'd take you by surprise. Oh dear, oh dear, I feel so wild and
+excited that I'm sure I shall be just as troublesome as I used to be
+before you tamed me down at school. Now then, Nan, you are not to have
+all the kisses. Hester, dear, how sweet and gracious and prim and
+lady-of-the-manorish you do look!"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care what I look like, I only know what I feel," replied
+Hester: "about the happiest girl in England. But don't let us stand here
+talking any longer, or father will take it into his head that I am
+catching cold in the night air. Here, Nan, take my arm. Annie, my other
+side is at your disposal. Now, do let us come to the house."</p>
+
+<p>The girls began to move slowly down the long winding avenue. Nan had the
+pretty, soft dark <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 5]</a></span>eyes which used to characterise her as a little
+child. Her abundant fluffy golden hair hung below her waist. Her baby
+lips and sweet little face looked as charming as of old. She was a very
+pretty child, and promised to be a beautiful woman by-and-by. Her
+beauty, however, was nothing at all beside the radiant sort of
+loveliness which Annie Forest possessed. She was a creature all moods,
+all expression, all life, all movement. She had early given promise of
+remarkable beauty, and this had been more than fulfilled. Hester glanced
+at her now and again in the most loving admiration.</p>
+
+<p>"It is good to have you back, Nan," she said, "and it is delightful to
+know that you have come at last to pay your long, long promised visit,"
+she continued, looking at Annie. "Well, here we are at home. Nan, you
+must go up and show yourself to nurse this minute. Annie, let me take
+you to your room."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear old nursey," said Nan; she rushed up the stairs, shouting her old
+nurse's name as she went; her quick footsteps flew down the long
+corridor, she pushed open the baize door which separated the nurseries
+from the rest of the house, and in a moment found herself in the old
+room.</p>
+
+<p>Nan's nurse was a cherry-cheeked old woman of between sixty and seventy
+years of age.</p>
+
+<p>"Eh, my darling, and how did you get back without me hearing the sound
+of the carriage wheels!" she exclaimed. "Eh dear, eh dear, I meant to be
+down on the front steps to greet you, Miss Nan. Eh, but you look bonny,
+and let me examine your hair, dear&mdash;I hope they cut the points regular.
+If they don't, it will break away and not keep even."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 6]</a></span></p><p>"Oh, don't bother about my hair now," said Nan. "What does hair signify
+when a child has just got home, and when she wants a kiss more than
+anything else in the world? Now, nursey, sit down in that low armchair
+and let us have a real hug. <i>That's</i> better; and how are you? You look
+as jolly as ever."</p>
+
+<p>"So I am, my pet; I'm as happy as the day is long since Miss Hetty has
+come home and took the housekeeping over. I was in a mortal fret before,
+with her at school and you at school, but now I think the danger is
+past."</p>
+
+<p>"What danger?" asked Nan; "you always were a dear old croak, you know,
+nurse."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, pet, perhaps so; but I didn't fret without reason, you may be
+quite sure of that."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what were you afraid of? You know I'm an awfully curious girl, so
+you must tell me."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a sin to be too curious, Miss Nan&mdash;it leads people into untold
+mischief. Curiosity was the sin of Eve, and it's best to nip it in the
+bud while you're young. Now let me brush out your hair, my darling, and
+get you ready for supper."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, in a minute," said Nan. She pushed back the shady hat in which she
+had traveled, and seated herself afresh on her nurse's knee.</p>
+
+<p>"How do my kisses feel?" she asked, breathing a very soft one on each of
+the old woman's cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"Eh, dear," said the nurse, "they're like fresh cream and strawberries."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you shall have six more if you tell me what your fears were."</p>
+
+<p>Nurse looked admiringly back at Nan.</p>
+
+<p>"You're just the audacious, contrary, troublesome bit of a thing you
+always were," she said; "but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 7]</a></span>somehow I can't resist you. There's no
+fear now of anything happening, so you needn't be in a taking; but what
+did put me out was this: I thought your father, Sir John, might be
+bringing a new mistress here."</p>
+
+<p>"What! a new mistress?&mdash;A housekeeper, do you mean?" Nan's brown eyes
+were open at their widest.</p>
+
+<p>"No, dearie, no, a wife&mdash;someone to take the head of the house. Men like
+Sir John must have their comforts, and a house without a mistress isn't
+as it ought to be. But there, Miss Hetty is here now, and that makes
+everything right."</p>
+
+<p>"But a new mistress," repeated Nan&mdash;"a new wife for father. Why,
+she&mdash;she'd be a <i>stepmother</i>. Oh, how I'd hate her."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, darling, there's not going to be any such person; it was only an
+idle fear of your poor old nurse's that will never come to anything.
+Forget that I said it to you, Miss Nan. Oh, my word! and there's the
+gong, so supper is ready, and Sir John won't like to be kept waiting.
+Let me brush out your hair, I won't be a minute. Now, there's my pretty.
+It's good to have you back again, Miss Nancy. Only I misdoubt me that
+you'll turn the house topsy-turvey, as you always and ever did."</p>
+
+<p>While nurse was speaking, she was deftly and quickly changing Nan's
+travel-stained frock for a white one, and was tying a coral pink sash
+round her waist.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you're ready," she said, giving the little figure a final pat.</p>
+
+<p>Nan shook out her golden mane and went demurely downstairs&mdash;more
+demurely than was her wont. The dawning of possible trouble filled her
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 8]</a></span>sweet eyes. A new wife&mdash;a possible stepmother! Oh, no, by no
+possibility could such a horror be coming; nevertheless, her full cup of
+happiness was vaguely troubled by the thought.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>CRUSHED.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Sir John Thornton could be a very pleasant host. He was a reserved man
+with a really cold nature. He disliked fuss and what he called
+"ebullitions of affection;" he hated kissing and fondling. He liked to
+treat even his nearest and dearest with ceremony, but he was a perfect
+host&mdash;the little attentions, the small politenesses which the <i>r&ocirc;le</i> of
+host requires, suited his character exactly. Hester and Nan, his only
+children, were his opposites in every respect. It is true that Hester
+inherited some of his pride, and a good deal of his reserve, but the
+fire underneath her calm, the passionate love which she could give so
+warmly to her chosen friends, she inherited from her mother, not from
+her father. Nan had never yet shown reserve to anyone. As far as any
+creature could be said to be without false pride, Nan was that
+individual&mdash;she was also absolutely devoid of fear. She believed that
+all the world loved her. Why not? She was perfectly willing to love all
+the world back again. If it chose to hate her, she could and would hate
+it in return with interest; but, then, why should it? The world was a
+good place to Nan Thornton up to the present.</p>
+
+<p>Now, Sir John dreaded his impulsive younger <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 9]</a></span>daughter more than words
+can say. Perhaps somewhere in his heart he had a certain fatherly
+admiration for her, but if so it did not show itself in the usual
+fatherly way. Annie Forest was at the present moment absorbing his
+attention.</p>
+
+<p>Annie was between sixteen and seventeen years of age; she was still, of
+course, quite a child in Sir John's eyes, but she was undoubtedly very
+pretty&mdash;she had winning ways and bright glances. Her little speeches
+were full of wit and repartee, and she was naturally so full of tact
+that she knew when a word would hurt, and therefore seldom said it.</p>
+
+<p>When Nan entered the room in which a hasty supper had been prepared for
+the hungry travellers, she found her father and Annie talking pleasantly
+to one another at one end of the table, while Hester presided over the
+tea equipage at the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Here you are, little whirlwind," said Sir John, slipping his arm round
+his younger daughter's waist and drawing her for a moment to his side.</p>
+
+<p>Nan looked at him soberly. She gazed into his eyes and examined the
+curves of his lips, and noted with satisfaction the wrinkles on his
+brow, the crows' feet at the corner of each eye, and some strong lines
+which betokened the advance of years in the lower part of his face.</p>
+
+<p>"You're too old," she said, in a contemplative voice. "I'm so
+glad&mdash;you're much too old."</p>
+
+<p>She stroked his deepest wrinkle affectionately as she spoke.</p>
+
+<p>Now Sir John hated being considered old, and an angry wave of colour
+mounted to his forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"As usual, you are a most impolite little girl," he said. "I do not
+trouble myself to inquire what your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 10]</a></span>sage remark means, nor why you
+rejoice in the fact of my possessing the infirmities of years; but I
+wish to repeat to you a proverb which I hope you will bear in mind, at
+least, when in <i>my</i> presence during the holidays, 'Little girls should
+be seen and not heard.' Now go to your seat."</p>
+
+<p>Sir John released his hold of Nan's broad waist and turned to Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a good deal of the country is flat," he said, "but we have some
+pretty drives. Are you fond of riding?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should be if I had a chance," replied Annie; "but the fact is, I
+never was on horseback since I was five years old, so I cannot be said
+to know much about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure you could quickly learn," said Sir John. "Hester has a very
+quiet pony which she can lend you while you are here. By the way,
+Hester, Squire Lorrimer called to-day. I said you would go to the Towers
+to-morrow morning&mdash;you can take Miss Forest with you. The Lorrimers are
+a very lively household, and it will amuse her to know them."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think they are lively," burst from Nan at the far end of the
+table. "How is Kitty Lorrimer, and how is Boris? And have they got as
+many pets as ever? Oh, <i>can</i> you tell me, please, father, if the
+dormouse has awakened yet? It was fast asleep when I was home at
+Christmas, and Boris said it mightn't wake again until May. Boris was so
+sorry it wasn't quite dead, because he wanted to stuff it; but he
+couldn't if it was alive, could he? That would be cruel, wouldn't it?
+Father, can you tell me if the dormouse is awake?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 11]</a></span></p><p>Sir John fixed a cold eye upon Nan.</p>
+
+<p>"I am unacquainted with the state of the dormouse's health," he
+said&mdash;"disgusting little beasts," he added, turning for sympathy to
+Annie, whose bright dark eyes danced with fun as she watched him.</p>
+
+<p>"They're not disgusting; they're perfectly heavenly little darlings,"
+came from Nan in an indignant voice. "Oh, and what about the white rats?
+Boris had four in a box when I went last to the Towers, and Kitty had
+one all to herself, and Boris and Kitty were always fighting as to which
+were the most beautiful&mdash;the one rat or the four. Did you ever see a
+white rat, Annie? They <i>are</i> pets, with long tails like worms."</p>
+
+<p>"Hester," exclaimed Sir John, "will you induce Nan to hold her tongue
+and eat her supper in peace?"</p>
+
+<p>Hester bent forward and whispered something to Nan, who shrugged her
+shoulders indignantly. Her face grew crimson.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't learn that proverb," she said, after a pause. "I can't obey it,
+its no use trying. Father, do you hear? I can't be one of those
+seen-and-not-heard girls. Do you hear me, father?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do, Nan. If we have finished supper, shall we go into the
+drawing-room?" he added, turning to Annie.</p>
+
+<p>Nan lingered behind. She slipped her hand through her sister's arm and
+dragged her on to the terrace.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel so wicked that I think I'll burst," she exclaimed. "Why is
+father always throwing a damp cloth over me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nan, dear, you irritate him a good deal. Why <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 12]</a></span>do you talk in that silly
+way when you know he cannot bear it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I'm Nan," answered the child, pouting her lips.</p>
+
+<p>"But Nan can learn wisdom," said Hester, in her sweet elder-sisterly
+tone. "Even though you are the liveliest, merriest, dearest little girl
+in the world, and though it is delicious to have you back"&mdash;here there
+came an ecstatic hug&mdash;"you need not say things that you know will hurt.
+For instance, you are perfectly well aware that father does not like his
+age commented on."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, <i>that</i>," said Nan, some of the trouble which nurse's words had
+caused coming back to her eyes. "Oh, but I really said what I <i>meant</i>,
+then&mdash;it was not mischief. I was so glad to see that he is old. I love
+those wrinkles of his&mdash;I adore them."</p>
+
+<p>"What can you mean, you queer little thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you see, Hetty, he won't be attractive, and there'll be no fear."</p>
+
+<p>"No fear of what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nurse said that perhaps he'd be having a wife, and giving us a
+stepmother."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what nonsense!" said Hester, in a vexed tone. "What a silly thing
+for nurse to say. I am quite surprised at her. As far as I can tell our
+father has no intention of marrying again; but if he did?"</p>
+
+<p>"If he did," repeated Nancy, "nurse says that you wouldn't be mistress
+of the Grange any longer."</p>
+
+<p>A wistful sort of look, half of pain, half of suppressed longing, filled
+Hester's dark eyes for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"I might go out into the world," she said, "and have my heart's desire."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 13]</a></span></p><p>"But aren't you happy here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, oh yes! I am talking nonsense. My duty lies here, at least at
+present. Mrs. Willis has taught me always to put duty first. Now, Nan,
+let us forget what is not likely to happen. It is nearly time for you to
+go to bed; you look quite tired; there are black rings under your eyes;
+but first, just tell me about Mrs. Willis and the dear old school."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Willis is well," said Nan, with a yawn, "and the school is in
+<i>statu quo</i>. I am in the middle school now, and perhaps I shall get a
+drawing-room to myself before long. I'm not sure though, for I never can
+be tidy."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you could be; it's a pity not to curb one's faults."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, bother faults. I don't want you to lecture me, Hetty."</p>
+
+<p>"No, darling, I don't wish to; but I thought you were so fond of Mrs.
+Willis. I thought you would do anything to please her."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course. I think I do please her. She gave me two prizes at the
+break up&mdash;one for French and one for music. She kissed me, too, quite
+half-a-dozen times. Look here, Hetty, I don't want you to ask Annie
+Forest a lot of questions about me. I can't help having a romping time
+now and then at school; and there are two new girls&mdash;Polly and Milly
+Jenkins; they are so killingly funny; nearly as good as Boris and Kitty
+Lorrimer. I always had a little bit of the wild element in me, and I
+suppose it must come out somehow. Annie was wild enough when she was my
+age, wasn't she, Hester?"</p>
+
+<p>"Annie will be gay and light-hearted to the end of the chapter!"
+exclaimed Hester.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 14]</a></span></p><p>"But she was naughty when she was my age, wasn't she?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is not naughty now."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no more will I be when I am sixteen. Now, good-night, Het. Am I
+to sleep in your room?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"How scrumptious. Look out for a fine waking early in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>Nan hugged Hester in her usual rough-and-ready manner, and danced
+upstairs, singing as she went&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"<i>Old Daddy-long-legs wouldn't say his prayers,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Catch him by his left leg and throw him downstairs.</i>"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This was one of Nan's rhymes which Sir John detested. Her voice was loud
+and somewhat piercing. He heard it in the drawing-room, and went
+deliberately and shut the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Forest," he said to his young guest, "there are moments when I
+feel extremely uneasy with regard to the fate of my youngest daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"About Nan's fate?" exclaimed Annie, raising her arched eyebrows; "why,
+she is quite the dearest little thing in the world. I wish you could see
+her at school; she is the pet of all the girls at Lavender House."</p>
+
+<p>"That may be," said Sir John, with a slightly sarcastic movement of his
+thin lips; "but it does not follow that school pets are home pets. If my
+good friend, Mrs. Willis, finds Nan's society so agreeable, I wish she
+would arrange to keep her for the holidays."</p>
+
+<p>Annie's young face, so round, so fresh, so charming, was fixed in grave
+surprise on her elderly host.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 15]</a></span></p><p>"Don't you love Nan at all?" she asked, wonder in her tone.</p>
+
+<p>Sir John had been giving Miss Forest credit for great tact. Up to this
+moment, he had considered her a very pretty, agreeable little girl, who
+would be an acquisition in the house. Now he winced; she had trodden
+very severely on one of his corns.</p>
+
+<p>"I naturally have a regard for my child," he said, after a pause, "and I
+presume that I show it best by having her properly educated and
+disciplined in her youth."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, I don't think you do," said Annie. "You must forgive me for
+saying frankly what I really think. I used to be like Nan when I was a
+little girl, and I'd never have changed&mdash;never&mdash;never, I'd never have
+become thoughtful for others, I'd always have been an unmitigated horror
+to all my friends if my father had treated me like that. He's not a bit
+like you, Sir John. I don't mean to compare him to you for a moment. He
+is quite a rough sort of man, and he has led a rough life; but, oh dear
+me, from the time he came back from Australia, and I knew that I had a
+living father, I cannot tell you what a difference there has been in my
+life. I have generally spent my holidays with him, and he has loved me
+so much that I have loved him back again, and have learnt to know
+exactly what will please him and make him happy. Nothing tamed me so
+much as the knowledge that I was necessary to my father's happiness. I
+am sure," added Annie in a low voice, and with a suspicion of tears in
+her eyes, "that it would be just the same with dear little Nan."</p>
+
+<p>She broke down suddenly, half afraid of her own temerity. There was
+silence for nearly half a minute <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 16]</a></span>then Sir John rose from his chair,
+and, going over to a lamp which was slightly smoking, turned it down.</p>
+
+<p>"If your father has been in Australia," he said, turning again and
+looking fixedly at his young visitor, "you will be interested in books
+on that country. I have got all Henry Kingsley's novels. You will find
+them in the library. Ask Hester to show you the book-case."</p>
+
+<p>He strode deliberately out of the room, and Annie had to own to herself
+that she felt crushed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>TWO PROVERBS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Hester Thornton and Annie Forest had been educated at the same
+school&mdash;the well-known Lavender House. The fame of this school, the
+noble character of its mistress, the excellent training which each girl
+who went there received, formed a recommendation for each young student
+in after life. Hester and Annie had gone through severe storms in these
+early days. Their friendship had been cemented under the influence of
+great trouble. It was exactly a year now since Hester had been suddenly
+sent for from her busy and happy school life to take care of her father
+through a dangerous illness. He found her company so sweet, her skill
+and tact in managing his house so great, that he resolved not to allow
+her to go back to school again. Annie Forest was now, therefore, the
+head girl at Lavender House. She was Mrs. Willis's right hand; her help
+and support in every way. Annie was as great a favourite as of old, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 17]</a></span>as love and kindness had developed all the best side of her character,
+she was no longer the tomboy of the school, nor the one who was
+invariably the ringleader when mischief was afloat. She was still
+impulsive, however&mdash;eager, impatient&mdash;for such a nature as hers must
+fight on to the end of the chapter. She did not possess Hester
+Thornton's steady principles, and would always be influenced, whether
+for good or evil, by her companions. She was only to spend one more term
+at school; the future, after that, was practically unknown to her.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you'd tell me about Nan," said Hester, on the first evening of
+Annie's visit to the Grange. "I don't know why, but I feel a little
+anxious about her."</p>
+
+<p>"You need not be," replied Annie. "She is a dear, jolly little pet, and
+as open as the day."</p>
+
+<p>"She seems to get wilder and wilder," replied Hester. "You must have
+noticed, Annie, how she irritates my father."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I did," replied Annie. "Do you know, Het, that I had the
+unbounded cheek to give him a piece of my mind this evening?"</p>
+
+<p>Annie was seated on the side of Hester's bed. She was in a blue
+dressing-gown, and her dark hair, in a mass of rebellious curls, was
+falling about her shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"I forgot that Nan was in the room," she said, putting her finger to her
+lips and glancing in the direction of Nan's small bed. "The little
+monkey may be awake, and I don't want her to hear my nonsense."</p>
+
+<p>"She is sound asleep," replied Hester. "If she were awake, she would
+soon acquaint us with the fact."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 18]</a></span></p><p>"Shall I tell you what I really said to your father?" continued Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know that I want to hear. I hope you did not shock him, for he
+is prepared to like you very much."</p>
+
+<p>"I am prepared to like him. I think he is a delightful host; but, oh,
+<i>how</i> I should hate him for a father."</p>
+
+<p>"Annie!"</p>
+
+<p>Hester's delicate face flushed crimson, her eyes flashed an angry light.</p>
+
+<p>Annie jumped off the bed and ran to her friend's side.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you are angry with me," she said; "but if I told him the truth, I
+may surely tell you. I know you are as good as an angel, but I am quite
+certain that he ruffles you up the wrong way."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't, Annie," said Hester, in a voice of pain.</p>
+
+<p>She walked to the window as she spoke, drew up the blind, and looked
+out. The night was dark, but innumerable stars could be seen in the
+deep, unfathomable vault of the sky. Hester clenched one of her hands
+tightly together. Annie stood and watched her.</p>
+
+<p>"I would not hurt you for the world," she said. "I am sorry, very sorry;
+the fact is, I love you with all my heart, but I don't understand you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes you do, too well," replied Hester; "but there are some things I
+cannot and will not talk about even to you. Now let me take you to your
+room, the hour is very late."</p>
+
+<p>Annie's pretty room was just on the other side of the passage. Hester
+took her to it, saw that she had every comfort, and wished her
+good-night. She then <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 19]</a></span>stood for a moment, with a look of irresolution on
+her face, in the corridor.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe nurse is in bed; I will go and speak to her," she said
+to herself. "I thought the day when I welcomed Nan back from school, and
+when Annie came to visit me, would be quite the happiest day of my life,
+but it would never do to make my father's home uncomfortable for him."
+She reached the baize door, opened it, and soon found herself in the old
+nursery. She was right, nurse was not yet in bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, my deary!" exclaimed the old woman, "and why are you losing
+your beauty sleep in this fashion? When I was young things used to be
+very different. Girls had to be in bed by ten o'clock sharp to keep away
+the wrinkles, but now they're all agog to burn the candle at both ends.
+It don't pay, Miss Hetty, my pet, it don't pay."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm all right, nursey," replied Hester. "I'm the quietest and most
+jog-trot girl in the world as a rule. Of course I'm excited to-night,
+because Nan has come back."</p>
+
+<p>"Bless her dear heart!" ejaculated nurse; "but I'm not to say satisfied
+about her hair, Miss Hetty. I don't believe it's pointed often enough. I
+found a lot of split ends when I was combing it out to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I think Nan is all right in every way," replied Hester. "No one
+could be kinder to her than Mrs. Willis, and she is very happy at
+school. Nurse, I've just come here for a moment to ask you to be very
+careful what you say to Nan about my father. You see, the object of my
+life is to make him happy, and to be a good daughter to him, and, in
+short, to try to take my mother's place."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 20]</a></span></p><p>"Eh, dear, we all know that," replied nurse, "and a sweeter young
+mistress there couldn't be. Why, there isn't a servant in the house who
+wouldn't do anything in the world for you, Miss Hetty; and everything in
+apple-pie order, and the meals served regular and beautiful, and inside
+and out perfect order, and all because there's an old head on young
+shoulders. There, perhaps it isn't a compliment I'm paying you, my
+dearie, but in one sense it is."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really think I manage well?" asked the girl, an anxious tone in
+her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Manage well? You manage beautiful. Your own mother, if she were alive,
+couldn't do better."</p>
+
+<p>"I can never forget my mother," replied Hester, tears rising to her
+eyes. "Well, nurse, you will be very careful what you say to Nan. The
+object of my life is to make my father happy. If I can do that, I am
+content."</p>
+
+<p>"You do, you do," replied the old woman. "No mortal can do more than
+their best, and you do that. Now, good-night, Miss Hester."</p>
+
+<p>Hester took up her candle and went away. Nurse stood and watched the
+pretty young figure as it disappeared down the corridor.</p>
+
+<p>"There," she said to herself as she began to prepare for her own bed.
+"There's another victim. Don't I know what my mistress was, and don't I
+know that Sir John's coldness and sharpness and no-heartedness just
+hurried her into her grave? Never a bit of real hearty love could he
+give to anyone. Just as just could be&mdash;righteous as righteous could be,
+but hard as a flint. My mistress drooped and faded and died, and Miss
+Hester will follow in her footsteps if I don't look <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 21]</a></span>after her.
+Sometimes I wish the master <i>would</i> marry again, and that he'd get a
+tartar of a wife. He might think of another wife if things were a bit
+uncomfortable here, but that they never will be while Miss Hetty is at
+the helm. She's a born manager, bless her, with her gentle ways and her
+firm words and her pretty little dignity. Miss Nan's business in life,
+it seems to me, is to set places all in a muddle, and Miss Hetty's to
+smooth them out again. Of course it's due to Miss Hetty to be mistress
+of the Grange, but sometimes I fear the life is too much for her, and
+she'll fret and fade like her mother before her; if I really thought
+that, I'd set my wits to work, old as I am, to get a real <i>selfish wife</i>
+for the master, who'd teach him a thing or two, for that's what he
+wants."</p>
+
+<p>At this stage in her meditations, nurse laid her head on her pillow and
+was soon fast asleep.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning promised a perfect day, and Hester, Annie, and Nan met
+in high spirits in the breakfast-room. The post had not yet arrived, but
+a letter was lying on Hester's plate.</p>
+
+<p>"That's in dad's writing," said Nan, going up and examining it
+critically; "now what's up?"</p>
+
+<p>Hester took the letter and opened it. It contained a few brief words.
+She read them with a sinking of heart which she could not account for&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Hetty</span>,&mdash;Your young companions will make the house quite
+gay for you. I shall, therefore, take the opportunity of going from
+home for a few days. I will send you a line to let you know when
+you may expect me back.&mdash;Your affectionate father, <span class="smcap">John Thornton.</span></p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">P.S.</span>&mdash;I shall have left before you are down in the morning. Give
+my love to Nan, and wish Miss Forest good-bye for me. By the way,
+she is interested in Australia, so will you show her where Henry
+Kingsley's novels are to be found in the library?"</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 22]</a></span></p><p>Nan, who had been peeping over Hester's shoulder while she was reading,
+now suddenly clapped her hands, shouted "hurrah" at the top of her
+voice, and, running up to Annie, began to waltz round and round the
+breakfast-table with her.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, oh!" she exclaimed, "then little girls <i>may</i> be heard as well as
+seen. Annie, there are two proverbs which are the bane of my life. I
+wonder dad has not had them both illuminated and framed and hung up in
+my nursery. One of them is: 'Little girls should be seen and not heard.'
+What a detestable old prig the person must have been who invented that
+proverb! I ask you, Annie, what would life be without little girls and
+their chatter? The other proverb is nearly as objectionable. This is it:
+'Make a page of your own age.' According to dad, that only applies to
+little girls, and it means that they must always be fagging round,
+hunting for slippers and spectacles and newspapers and books for the
+older people who are past the age for paging, and that no one is ever to
+wait on <i>them</i>, however tired or however disinclined to stir they may
+happen to be. Now there'll be no one to make me page, and no one to keep
+me silent. Oh, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! what a dear old dad to absent
+himself in this obliging manner."</p>
+
+<p>"For my part, I am very sorry," said Annie, for Hester had passed her on
+the letter to read.</p>
+
+<p>Hester said nothing, and breakfast began, Nan wasting as usual a
+prodigal amount of energy and spirits even over the operation of eating,
+Hester looking a little pale and a little thoughtful, Annie in a state
+of suppressed high spirits, which a slight awe which she still felt at
+times for Hester Thornton kept rather in check.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 23]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE COLTS&mdash;ROBIN AND JOE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The Towers was situated exactly two miles away from the Grange. It was a
+large, old house, with a castellated roof and a high tower at one end.
+It was a very old family place, and the Lorrimers had lived there from
+father to son for several hundreds of years. Like many ancient families,
+their wealth had diminished rather than increased with the times. The
+luxurious living, which has been in vogue more or less during the whole
+of the present century, had obliged them to part with some of their fair
+acres. The present owner had married for love, not for money. More lands
+had to be sold to meet the wants of a large and vigorous family, and, at
+the time when this story opens, the Lorrimers were, for their position,
+decidedly poor, not rich.</p>
+
+<p>Squire Lorrimer had one dread ever before his eyes. This was the fear of
+having to part with the dear old Towers itself. If this blow fell, he
+was certain that it would kill him. He trusted to be able to avert this
+calamity by putting down expenses in all possible ways. There were too
+few servants, therefore, for the size of the house, too few gardeners
+for the size of the gardens, too few horses for the size of the stables.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, there was not in the whole length and breadth of the
+county of Warwickshire, a jollier, happier, more rollicking household
+than the Lorrimers. There were ten children, varying in age, from Molly,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 24]</a></span>who would be sixteen on her next birthday, to little Phil, who had not
+yet attained the dignity of two years. There were six girls in the
+family and four boys. The two elder boys went to a good grammar school
+in the neighbourhood; the girls and Boris had a governess who taught
+them at home. Neither boys nor girls were educated quite up to the
+requirements of the times, but the father and mother were not going to
+worry themselves over this fact. Mr. Lorrimer had very strong views with
+regard to modern education. He had a hearty preference for big bodies
+instead of big brains. He was intensely old-fashioned as regards all
+modern views for the advancement of women, and said frankly that he
+would rather his sons emigrated than spent their lives as city clerks.
+He had a good deal of faith in things righting themselves naturally, and
+as his wife believed him to be the cleverest and wisest man in the
+universe, he was not tormented by any contrary opinions from her lips.</p>
+
+<p>"The children will do very well," he used to say. "If I can only keep
+the land together, and the old house for Guy to inherit after me, I
+shall die a happy man. The girls are all pretty, unless we except poor
+little Elinor, and she, in some ways, has the sweetest face of the
+bunch; they are sure to find husbands by-and-by, and the younger lads
+can fend for themselves in the colonies if necessary. You needn't fret
+about the children, mother," he would add.</p>
+
+<p>"I never fret about them," replied the soft-voiced, placid-looking
+mother, raising her dove-like blue eyes to her husband's face. "I think
+we are the happiest family in the world, and the children are the
+dearest creatures. With all their high spirits they are never <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 25]</a></span>really
+naughty. I have only one care," she added, looking at her husband
+affectionately and slipping her hand through his arm, "and that is when
+you talk of the possibility of selling the Towers."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Lucy, that hasn't come yet," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>"What about that mortgage and the suretyship?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, pooh! They are right enough yet. I make it a rule never to think of
+evil days before they really come. We'll pull through&mdash;we'll pull
+through, no fear. By the way, my dear, I had a splendid offer yesterday
+for the colts Joe and Robin. I closed with it in double quick time, and
+the dealer who has bought them will send over to fetch them this
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Mrs. Lorrimer. She went to the window of the room
+where the two were talking and stood there looking out.</p>
+
+<p>She gazed on a lovely scene, composed of woodland, river, and gently
+sloping meadows and lawns. Exactly opposite her eyes was a paddock, and
+in the paddock the two colts which had just been sold were contentedly
+grazing. As Mrs. Lorrimer stood and looked out, a girl was seen to enter
+the paddock and go swiftly up to the colts, calling their names as she
+did so. They both came to her immediately. She threw an arm round the
+neck of one, while she fed them in turn with carrots and apples which
+she had in her apron. She was a slightly-made girl, with dark hair and a
+sallow face. Her hair hung heavily about her shoulders. She might have
+been ten years old, but looked younger.</p>
+
+<p>"There's Nell," said the mother. "I am sorry the colts are going, she
+has always made such pets of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 26]</a></span>them. I never saw her take to any
+creatures before as she has done to those two, and they'll follow her
+anywhere like lambs. I'm sorry you've got to sell them, Guy."</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry!" retorted the Squire, with a sort of snort. "Didn't I tell you,
+Lucy, that Simmons has given me a cheque for three hundred and fifty
+pounds for the two. Of course, the creatures are thoroughbred, and may
+turn out worth a great deal more; still, in these days no one gives a
+fair price for anything, and three-fifty is not to be sneezed at when
+your rents are always behindhand and your balance at the bank is
+overdrawn."</p>
+
+<p>The Squire left the room as he spoke, and Mrs. Lorrimer, with the
+faintest of little sighs, presently followed his example. Meanwhile, the
+girl in the paddock was having a thoroughly happy time. As soon as she
+had finished feeding her favourites, and they had done rubbing their
+noses against her face and shoulder, she looked eagerly round her, and
+saw with satisfaction that there was no one watching her from any of the
+many windows which blinked like eyes all over the old house. She now
+approached one of the colts cautiously, laid her hand on his neck, and
+with an adroit, quick movement sprang on his back. He was an untamed,
+unbroken-in creature. He would have submitted to no burden at all
+heavier or at all less dear than that of the slim child who had now
+mounted him.</p>
+
+<p>"Hey, Robin, dear," she said, bending forward, catching hold of a wisp
+of his mane and almost whispering into his ear, "you'll take me round
+the paddock three times, won't you, as swift as the wind, and then it
+will be Joe's turn? As swift as you can <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 27]</a></span>fly you shall go, my bonny,
+bonny Robin. And afterwards you shall have your russet apple; it's in my
+pocket."</p>
+
+<p>From the colt's attitude, he seemed perfectly to understand every word
+that was addressed to him. He pricked his ear; his eye glanced backward
+with loving intelligence. He pawed the ground impatiently&mdash;he would not
+be off until Nell gave the signal, but when it came there was no doubt
+that he would fly swiftly over the ground. Joe, the other colt, stood
+near expectantly. His turn was to come, he knew. For him, too, there
+would be the light weight of a loved little presence, followed by that
+delicious russet apple when the ride was over. Meanwhile, he would
+canter after Nelly and Robin, taking care not to go too near nor in any
+way to intrude himself mischievously.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said Nell, sitting bolt upright, "now, Robin&mdash;one, two, three,
+away!"</p>
+
+<p>Away they went truly, mane and hair alike flying in the breeze&mdash;Nell's
+short skirts puffed out by the wind, Nell's cheeks with red flames on
+them, and Nell's dark grey eyes blazing like subdued fires.</p>
+
+<p>Once round the paddock they flew&mdash;twice they went&mdash;three times. The
+third round was the fastest and the most delirious of all. Nell was so
+sure of her seat, so confident in Robin's powers, that she no longer
+even clasped his arched neck. Up flew her hands in the air. The
+delirious excitement rendered her giddy.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah! hurrah!" she shouted.</p>
+
+<p>The gay words were interrupted by eager words from approaching
+spectators. The gate of the paddock was pushed open, and Kitty, aged
+nine, followed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 28]</a></span>by Boris, who was only seven, rushed on the scene. The
+children were followed by a couple of grooms and a strange,
+horsey-looking man.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Nell, Nell!" exclaimed Kitty.</p>
+
+<p>"They're sold, Nell," said Boris, in a gloomy voice. "You'd better get
+down. That fellow there has come"&mdash;waving his hand with immense dignity
+in the direction of the horsey man&mdash;"that fellow has come to take them
+away; they're sold."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it," said Nell.</p>
+
+<p>Robin, who obeyed her slightest word, stood stock still when she told
+him. She dropped off his back with the lightness of a bird.</p>
+
+<p>"Who says they're sold?" she asked. "I don't believe it."</p>
+
+<p>She pressed her hand to her heart as she spoke, a pang of keen pain had
+shot through it; she turned pale, and her eyes still blazed.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it a bit," she said. "I'll go and find father and ask
+him if its true; I know it isn't true."</p>
+
+<p>"There's father coming into the field," said Boris. "Yes, it's true
+enough, but you can ask him."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my man," said the Squire, who came upon the scene at this moment,
+"your master has sent you for the colts, I suppose? Here they are,
+as&mdash;&mdash;Why, what's the matter, Nell? How white you are, child, and&mdash;not
+so tight, Nell, not so tight, you're half strangling me! What is it, my
+love&mdash;what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't sold Robin and Joe, father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, now, my little girl"&mdash;the Squire began to pat Nell's trembling
+hands soothingly. He looked hard into her quivering face, then, bending
+down, whispered something in her ear.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 29]</a></span></p><p>No one else heard the words.</p>
+
+<p>Nell's frantic grasp relaxed; she let her hands fall to her sides and
+looked piteously round.</p>
+
+<p>Robin and Joe had both followed her across the paddock. Robin expected
+his russet apple&mdash;Joe looked for his canter with Nell on his back.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a brave little girl," said her father. "'Pon my word, I
+wouldn't do it if I could help it."</p>
+
+<p>"No, father dear; of course not."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a plucky young 'un," said her father admiringly. Boris and Kitty
+came close; the grooms and the horse-dealer also approached. There was a
+sort of ring round Nell and the colts.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, father, may I give Robin his apple?" she asked. "He has earned
+it. May he have it?"</p>
+
+<p>The Squire nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he may," he said; then he turned to the horse dealer.</p>
+
+<p>"My little girl is fond of these creatures," he said. "I hope you will
+have patience for a moment or two."</p>
+
+<p>The man touched his hat respectfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, sir," he answered, "as long as the young lady likes; there's
+no manner of hurry, and perhaps little miss would like to have another
+canter. I never see'd no one sit so bird-like on a horse&mdash;never, in the
+whole of my born days."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you hear that, Nell?" said her father. "Would you like another
+canter? I didn't know you could ride bare-backed."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled up at him, a perfectly brave smile; there were no tears in
+her eyes, although there were black shadows under them, and her face was
+as white as a little snowflake.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 30]</a></span></p><p>Robin munched his apple, and Joe came close to Nell and rubbed his head
+against her shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>She fed him also, to his own great surprise, for he did not think that
+he had earned a morsel, and then, without a word, turned and walked out
+of the paddock.</p>
+
+<p>Boris ran after her.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, Nell!" he exclaimed, panting. "Would you like a white rat? I
+have four, and I&mdash;I'll give you one if you'll promise not to forget to
+feed it."</p>
+
+<p>Nell stood still when Boris made this offer, and looked down into his
+ruddy, brown, sunburnt face. Boris had bright eyes, as round as two
+moons. The giving up of one of his white rats meant a great deal to him.
+Nell carefully weighed the value of the offer.</p>
+
+<p>"No," she said at last in a deliberate tone. "I might forget to feed the
+rat, and I don't think I ever could love it; but thank you all the same,
+Boris."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't mention it," said Boris, in his most polite tone; he was
+immensely relieved by Nell's declining his offer.</p>
+
+<p>She walked slowly towards the house, and Boris turned to Kitty, who had
+followed him.</p>
+
+<p>"I offered her a rat," he said; "but she wouldn't have it. Do you think
+she will be very bad for a bit?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do," said Kitty. "She'll creep up into one of the lofts and
+burrow in the hay all by herself, and if she can have a right good cry
+perhaps she'll be better, but if she hasn't a cry, she'll fret awfully,
+and perhaps she'll turn sulky; but never mind about her now. I'm ever so
+glad she didn't take the rat. Let's run and feed them before we go to
+lessons."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish there were no lessons," said Boris. "I hate them. I can't think
+what use they are. What <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 31]</a></span>can it matter in a big world like this, crowded
+up with boys and girls and men and women, whether I can spell right or
+not? <i>I</i> don't mind, and I don't see why anyone else should bother."</p>
+
+<p>"I like spelling," said Kitty, who had a very intelligent face. "If I
+were a man or an embryo man, which you are, Boris, I'd have ambition,
+and I'd try to get on. I'd like to walk over the heads of the other
+boys, if I were you, and to take their prizes from them, and to have
+father and mother looking on, and a lot of grand ladies and gentlemen
+all dressed in their best praising and cheering and bowing and smiling.
+But boys are no good in these days. It's girls who do everything. Now,
+do be quick and let's feed the rats."</p>
+
+<p>"You talk such nonsense," said Boris. "You don't suppose that ladies and
+gentlemen care whether boys and girls spell words right or not, and what
+rubbish you do say about best clothes and smiling and bowing."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't," said Kitty, crossly; "it's you who talk rubbish. You have
+never been to school, so you can't possibly tell. You ask Nan Thornton,
+and she'll soon tell you what's done at school. Oh dear, oh dear, I wish
+I were at Lavender House instead of doing my lessons with stupid Jane
+Macalister!"</p>
+
+<p>"You talk very dis'pectful," said Boris.</p>
+
+<p>"Do I? I don't care. Oh, I <i>am</i> glad you didn't part with the white
+rat!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 32]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>NOT MISSED.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Jane Macalister was the governess. She was old&mdash;at least the Lorrimers
+considered her old&mdash;she wore spectacles, and her hair was slightly
+tinged with grey. She had a queer mixture of qualities. She was
+affectionate and narrow; she was devoted to her pupils, and thought she
+could best show her devotion by an unceasing round of discipline.
+Fortunately, both for her and the little Lorrimers, this discipline
+never extended beyond the hours devoted to lessons. It never showed its
+stern visage in play hours, nor at meals, nor at night, nor on half
+holidays, nor on Sundays. During all these times, Jane was the
+intelligent and much belaboured companion. She was at everyone's beck
+and call. She was to be found here, there, and everywhere&mdash;darning the
+rent in Molly's frock, or helping Nora with her drawing, or trying to
+find a story-book for Nell which she had not already read at least six
+times, or healing the small squabbles with which Boris and Kitty helped
+to beguile the weary hours. Mrs. Lorrimer consulted her with regard to
+the cook and the servants generally. The Squire would shout to her to
+spare him a quarter of an hour in the study to see if he had totted up
+his accounts right. In short, Jane Macalister was as much part and
+parcel of the Lorrimer household as if she were really one of
+themselves. She was by no means educated up to the standard of the
+latter half of the nineteenth century, but what she did know, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 33]</a></span>she knew
+thoroughly. She was methodical and helpful. The kind of person whom Mrs.
+Lorrimer was fond of quoting as invaluable. The children, one and all,
+loved her as a matter of course, but, in school hours, their love was
+certainly mingled with awe. In school hours, Jane allowed no relaxing of
+the iron rod.</p>
+
+<p>Kitty and Boris, having just heard the dismal sound of the schoolroom
+bell, started from their fascinating occupation of feeding the white
+rats and ran as fast as their small feet could carry them in the
+direction of the house. They went in by a side entrance, and with
+panting breath and hot little steps began to mount the spiral staircase
+which led to the schoolroom in the tower. They were late already, and
+they knew that they could not possibly escape bad marks for
+unpunctuality. They pushed open the green baize door which admitted them
+to the sanctum of learning and came in. All the other children whom Miss
+Macalister taught were already in the room. Kitty and Boris were the
+sole delinquents&mdash;the only ones in disgrace; even Elinor was present.
+Their faces fell when they saw her. They had built great hopes on having
+at least Elinor's company in their disgrace. The swift thought had
+darted through both their minds that she would be safe to be extra
+naughty that morning, and in consequence would divert some of the storm
+of Jane Macalister's wrath from their devoted heads; but no, there she
+sat in her accustomed place, her hymn book open on her knee, marks of
+tears on her cheeks, it is true, but in all other respects she looked a
+provokingly model Elinor.</p>
+
+<p>It was too bad; Kitty made a face at her across <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 34]</a></span>the schoolroom, and
+even Boris gave her a reproachful glance.</p>
+
+<p>Jane Macalister fixed two awful spectacled eyes upon the culprits, and,
+scarlet blushes tingling in their cheeks, they took possession of their
+vacant chairs.</p>
+
+<p>The children all sang their usual hymn, although Elinor's voice was a
+little husky and Boris held his book upside down.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"<i>All things bright and beautiful,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i2"><i>All creatures great and small,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>All things wise and wonderful,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i2"><i>The Lord God made them all.</i>"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"I wonder if He really made that dreadful horsey man," thought Nell, as
+she looked out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>Boris smothered a sigh as he reflected again over the problem which had
+often before puzzled his small head&mdash;Why God, when he made everything so
+beautiful, had forgotten to give Jane Macalister a beautiful temper in
+school hours?</p>
+
+<p>The singing was followed by the Bible reading, and then lessons began.
+Molly and Nora acquitted themselves admirably, as was their wont&mdash;Nell's
+dark grey eyes grew full of interest as she read the fascinating story
+of the "Field of the Cloth of Gold" in her history book&mdash;Kitty worked at
+her sums with fierce persistence and tried to fancy herself at
+boarding-school, going up rapidly to the top of her class, while Boris
+made more mistakes than ever over his dictation, and inked his fingers
+unmercifully.</p>
+
+<p>"What was the use of fussing over such a stupid, useless thing as
+spelling?" This was his thought of thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>The day was a warm one. Jane Macalister was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 35]</a></span>icily cold, however, as
+unapproachable as an iceberg. Boris watched her with anxiety. He knew
+well that there was no chance for him and Kitty; they would both be
+punished for being late for prayers.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, dear, oh, dear; <i>why</i> was Jane so unbeautiful, so unapproachable in
+school hours?</p>
+
+<p>"I know she'll keep Kitty and me in during the whole of the play hour,"
+he muttered to himself. "I'm certain of it, because the tip of her nose
+is getting red; that's a sign that she's worried, and when she's worried
+she's twice as bad as she is at any other time."</p>
+
+<p>"What noise is that? Oh!&mdash;I say&mdash;Miss Macalister&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Jane Macalister was always spoken to in this correct fashion during
+school hours.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, there's a visitor!" burst from the eager lips of the little boy.</p>
+
+<p>He started to his feet as he spoke, upsetting the ink-pot over his own
+copybook and also over Kitty's white-frilled pinafore.</p>
+
+<p>"Boris, you are incorrigible!" exclaimed Jane. "You lose all your
+conduct marks for the week, and must stay indoors for an hour and learn
+a piece of poetry after lessons."</p>
+
+<p>Boris got very red and tried to smile. The blow had fallen, so he wasn't
+going to whimper over it. He would stand up to his punishment like a
+man. He meant to be a soldier some day, and felt exactly now as if he
+were facing the guns. He met Elinor's full, troubled grey eyes, and
+seated himself slowly once more in his chair.</p>
+
+<p>The steps had come nearer, the schoolroom door was burst open, and Nan
+Thornton rushed in.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 36]</a></span></p><p>"Here I am," she said. "I have come to torment you, Miss Macalister, and
+to beg off lessons at once. How do you do, children? How are you, Kitty?
+How are you, Boris? How do you do, Nell? Molly and Nora, I'll kiss you
+when I can get breath. Oh, what a climb those stairs are! Why do you
+have lessons in the tower? All the same, it's lovely when you <i>are</i>
+here. What a view! What a darling, darling, heavenly, scrumptious,
+<i>ripping</i> view. Oh, dear! oh, dear! I am out of breath. Jane, aren't you
+glad to see me? Aren't you glad to know that all the children are to
+have a holiday immediately? Shut up your books, young 'uns, and let's be
+off. You don't mind, do you, Jane?"</p>
+
+<p>Certainly Jane Macalister did mind. The icy expression grew more marked
+on her face. Boris gave her a glance, felt that he was very close to the
+guns, and lowered his eyes. Nan began dancing about the room. Nan was in
+white&mdash;white hat, white frock. Her fluffy golden hair surrounded her
+like a cloud. Boris felt that she was something like a very naughty and
+very beautiful angel. Why was she tempting them all when Jane Macalister
+was like ice?</p>
+
+<p>"I think, Nan," said Miss Macalister&mdash;"(how do you do, my dear? Of
+course I'm glad to see you)&mdash;I think I must ask you to leave the
+schoolroom for the present. Recess will be at half-past eleven, and then
+you can talk to all the children except Boris, who I grieve to say will
+have to undergo punishment. As to holidays, the summer holidays will
+begin in a fortnight, until then I cannot permit any such indulgence. Go
+away, Nan, for the present. Molly, I can attend to your German now.
+Bring your exercise book with the grammar and history."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 37]</a></span></p><p>Nan was not accustomed to being vanquished, but she was very near defeat
+then. The next moment she would have found herself ignominiously outside
+the baize door if other steps had not approached, and Hester, looking
+cool and sweet, Annie, all radiant and laughing, and Mrs. Lorrimer, with
+her usual gentle motherly expression, had not appeared on the scene.</p>
+
+<p>"Jane," said the mother, smiling round with her blue eyes at each of the
+children, "Hester wants us to get up a hasty picnic to Friar's Wood. The
+day is perfect, and this is the first of Nan's holidays, so I hope you
+will not object, particularly if the children promise to work extra well
+to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>Jane began to close up all the books hastily. Nan's petition was not to
+be listened to for a moment. Mrs. Lorrimer's was law, and must be
+cheerfully obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," she said, in a pleasant tone, dropping her frozen manner as
+if by magic. "It is a <i>perfect</i> day for a picnic. Leave the schoolroom
+tidy, my loves, and then go and get ready. You'd like me to see the
+cook, wouldn't you, Mrs. Lorrimer? I can help her to cut sandwiches and
+to pack plates and dishes."</p>
+
+<p>"Jane, you're an angel," said Mrs. Lorrimer.</p>
+
+<p>Jane Macalister kissed Hester, was introduced to Annie, and then rushed
+down the spiral stairs, intent on housekeeping cares.</p>
+
+<p>The Lorrimer boys and girls surrounded Hester and Annie. Nan flitted in
+and out of the group, and was here, there, and everywhere. All was
+excitement and laughter. Presently the children left the schoolroom in a
+body.</p>
+
+<p>No, there was one exception. Boris stayed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 38]</a></span>behind. He looked wistfully
+after the others as they streamed away. Miss Macalister had not said a
+word about remitting his punishment, and he must be true to his colours.
+He found it very difficult to keep back his tears, but he would indeed
+think badly of himself if even one bright drop fell from his round blue
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>It would have comforted him if Kitty had noticed him. Kitty might have
+stayed if only to bestow a kiss of sympathy on him, but she was whirled
+on with the others. No one gave him a thought. He was only Boris, one of
+the younger children. He was alone in the schoolroom.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at the clock; it pointed to half past eleven; he would not be
+free until half past twelve. Picnics at the Towers were hastily
+improvised affairs. Long before his hour of punishment was over the
+others would all be off and away. It was scarcely likely that any of
+them would even miss him. Kitty would be in such a frantic state of
+excitement at having Nan Thornton to talk to, that she would not have
+room in her heart to bestow a thought on him. He could not walk all the
+way to Friar's Wood, the day was too hot. How delicious it would be
+there in the shade. How interesting to watch the squirrels in the trees,
+and the rabbits as they darted in and out of their holes. Well, well,
+there was no use fretting. His heart felt sore, of course, but he
+wouldn't be half a boy in his own opinion if he didn't take his
+punishment without a murmur.</p>
+
+<p>He drew his chair up to the table, pushed his ink-stained fingers
+through his curly brown locks, and looked around him.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Macalister had forgotten to set him any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 39]</a></span>task, but he supposed he
+could set himself something.</p>
+
+<p>He was just wondering what would be the least irksome form of punishment
+he could devise, when a small head was pushed in at the door, and a
+voice, in accents of extreme surprise, shouted his name.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Boris, what are you doing? They'll be off if you don't look
+sharp."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not going, Nell," said Boris; "but please don't fuss over it, it's
+nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Nothing!</i>" said Nell, coming into the room and seating herself by the
+side of her little brother. "Don't you love picnics?"</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>adore</i> them," said Boris.</p>
+
+<p>He shut up his lips as he spoke and winked his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't make a fuss," he said again after a pause. "Do you think I might
+learn a bit of the 'Ancient Mariner' for my punishment task? I like that
+old chap, he's so grisly."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a splendid poem," said Nell with enthusiasm, "particularly that
+part about&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'<i>Water, water everywhere,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>And not a drop to drink.</i>'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Can't you picture it all, Boris? The sea like a great pond, and the
+thirsty old mariner looking at it, and longing, and longing, and longing
+to drink it, and the dead people lying round. Sometimes at night I think
+of it, and then afterwards I have a good, big, startling dream. A dream
+that's not <i>too</i> frightful is almost as good as a story-book. Don't you
+think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't," said Boris. "I hate dreams. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 40]</a></span>Perhaps I'd better learn the
+first six verses of the 'Ancient Mariner,' and perhaps I'd better begin
+at once. Jane Macalister is very stern, isn't she, Nell?"</p>
+
+<p>"Awful in lesson times," said Nell.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the only way I can bear it," said Boris, "is this&mdash;I think of her
+as the general of an army. I don't mind obeying her when I think of her
+in that way. Soldiers have to promise obedience before anything else,
+and I'm going to be a soldier some day. I'd better not talk now, Nell,
+for I must get the first six verses of the 'Ancient' into me in an hour,
+and I can't if you keep chattering. The general was rather sharp with me
+this morning, I must say, for all my conduct marks are gone, too, and I
+won't get sixpence on Saturday, and I'll have nothing to subscribe to
+mother's birthday present; still, of course, 'tis 'diculous to fuss.
+You'd best go, Nell. Why aren't you ready for the picnic?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not going," said Nell. "I have a headache, and a drive in the sun
+would make it worse. Besides, Nan Thornton does chatter so awfully."</p>
+
+<p>"Chatter," repeated Boris; "you don't mean to say you mind her
+chattering?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do, when I have a headache."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I think she's sweet," said Boris.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better learn your 'Mariner,' Boris, and I'll sit in the window
+and look out."</p>
+
+<p>The schoolroom was so high up in the tower that people who sat in one of
+its windows had really only a bird's-eye view of what went on below.</p>
+
+<p>Boris, in his rather tumbled sailor suit, sat with his back to Nell. He
+kicked the rungs of the chair very often with his sturdy legs. His inky
+fingers took fond clutches of his curls, his lips murmured the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 41]</a></span>rhyme of
+the "Ancient Mariner" in a monotonous sing-song. Nell pushed open the
+lattice window and looked out. There was a waggonette drawn by a rather
+bony old horse standing by the side entrance; behind the waggonette was
+a pony-cart, a good deal the worse for wear. The pony, whose name was
+Shag, stood very still and flicked his long tail backwards and forwards
+to keep the flies away. Nell saw Miss Macalister and two of the servants
+come out with those flat delicious picnic baskets which she knew so
+well, and which had so often made her lips water in fond anticipation;
+they were placed with solemnity in the waggonette. Then Molly and Nora,
+in their white sun-bonnets, took their places, and Hester and Annie sat
+opposite to them, and Mrs. Lorrimer took the seat of honour, and two or
+three of the smaller children were packed in heterogeneously, while Nan
+and Kitty and Miss Macalister bundled themselves into the pony-cart.</p>
+
+<p>Nell's heart beat high as she watched. Was no one going to think of her
+and Boris? Was no one going to miss them?</p>
+
+<p>Apparently no one was.</p>
+
+<p>The gay cavalcade got under weigh and disappeared from view down the
+long and lovely beech avenue.</p>
+
+<p>Nell did not wish to go to the picnic, not to-day with her heart so
+sore, but it made that heart feel all the sorer not to be missed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 42]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>FRIAR'S WOOD.</h3>
+
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, the picnic party imagined that Boris and Nell
+intended to follow on later in the donkey-cart. The Lorrimer picnics
+were well known in the neighbourhood. They always passed through the
+village in the following order&mdash;first the waggonette, drawn by the bony
+horse and packed to overflowing with baskets and young people, who waved
+their arms and shouted in high glee as they went by; then the pony-trap,
+driven sometimes by Jane Macalister, sometimes, when Jane was in a very
+good humour, by Kitty or even Boris; and last, at an interval of about
+half an hour, the donkey-cart. The donkey-cart as a rule contained
+kettles and pots, for the Lorrimers would consider a picnic only half a
+picnic if they did not boil their own potatoes out of doors and make
+their own tea in the woods. Consequently, the coarser utensils which
+were required for the feast were usually reserved for the donkey-cart.
+The donkey, as a rule, was driven, or rather led, by Guy, the tall
+schoolboy, aged thirteen, who would be owner of the Towers, if it were
+not sold over his head, some day. Harry, the brother next in age, would
+also accompany the donkey-cart, and sometimes one or two of the younger
+children would prefer this rough mode of travelling to the more refined
+waggonette or the fleeter pony-carriage. The donkey-cart had of course
+to be late, as Guy and Harry would not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 43]</a></span>be home from school until quite
+an hour after the rest of the party had started.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Boris?" asked Hester, addressing herself to Molly when they
+had driven about half of the distance.</p>
+
+<p>Molly had tranquil blue eyes, like her mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't he in the pony-carriage?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is Boris?" interrupted Annie Forest. "Is he the pretty little
+round-faced boy in the sailor suit?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Nora, joining in the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"Then he's not in the pony-trap," replied Annie. "I don't think he left
+the schoolroom."</p>
+
+<p>"Cute little beggar," laughed Nora. "He wants to come in the
+donkey-cart."</p>
+
+<p>Annie raised her brows in inquiry; the mystery of the donkey-cart was
+explained to her, and no further questions were asked with regard to
+Boris.</p>
+
+<p>Elinor had not yet been missed.</p>
+
+<p>Friar's Wood was a perfect place for a picnic, and in due course of time
+the happy cavalcade arrived there. The younger children and Miss
+Macalister began to make preparations for the first meal. The Lorrimers
+always had two hearty ones whenever they went on a picnic. Kitty, Nora,
+and Annie Forest went off to explore the Fairies' Glen, a lovely spot
+about a quarter of a mile away. Mrs. Lorrimer took out her knitting and
+sat with her back against a great beech tree, and Molly and Hester found
+themselves thrown together.</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," exclaimed Molly. "I wanted to have a talk with you,
+Hetty. Will you come to the top of the knoll with me? We can sit there
+and cool ourselves. There is not the faintest chance of dinner being
+ready for quite an hour."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 44]</a></span></p><p>The girls set off at once. Molly was not yet sixteen, Hester was past
+seventeen, nevertheless they had been intimate friends for a long time.</p>
+
+<p>"Why have you got that little frown between your brows, Molly?" asked
+Hester.</p>
+
+<p>It smoothed out the moment Hester spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"I surely ought not to have a frown to-day," retorted Molly. "The
+weather is glorious, we are all in perfect health, we are out for a
+picnic, you are here, you have brought your friend, Annie, about whom we
+have always heard so much, and Nan is home from school. Yes, I certainly
+ought not to frown; but let me retort on you, Hester. Why have you those
+grave lines round your lips?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I'm a goose," answered Hester. "Sit down here, Molly. You have
+not got me up to the top of this knoll just to make me recount my
+grievances. Out with yours; you know you have one at least."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes, I have one," said Molly. "A horrid little cankering jade&mdash;a
+sort of black imp. I thought I had tucked him up snug in bed until the
+evening, and there, you have loosened the sheets, and he has sprung up
+again to confront me."</p>
+
+<p>Molly's honest face was undoubtedly troubled now, and there was a
+suspicion of tears in the blue eyes, which were nearly as frank and
+round as Boris's.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose I must confess," she said: "it's only that the colts, Joe and
+Robin, have been sold."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I know them," said Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you must imagine them. They are not broken-in yet. They were born
+at the Towers, and we used to feed them when they were foals. Then one
+day Robin got rather wild, and kicked Boris <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 45]</a></span>severely, and father said
+we were to leave them alone; but Nell somehow managed to evade the
+order; she never could be got to fear any four-footed creature. She
+spent almost all her leisure time with the colts, and I believe she used
+to ride them bare-backed. Well, they were sold this morning, and Nell
+will fret awfully. Fretting is very bad for her, for she is not at all
+strong, you know. That is one thing that troubles me," continued Molly,
+after a brief pause. "I am sorry the colts are sold, on account of Nell,
+for I know, although she won't pretend to fret a bit, how she will
+secretly grieve and grieve; and the other reason is, that I know father
+would not have sold them if he had not been hard up for money again. Oh,
+I wish, I wish," continued Molly, her face turning crimson, "that there
+was no such thing as money in the world."</p>
+
+<p>Hester looked at her with a mingling of sympathy and surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you must be wrong," she said slowly. "I mean, of course, that I
+know you're not rich as my father is rich, for you are such a large
+family, and father has only Nan and me; but still, it cannot be true
+that your father wants money to the extent of having to sell the colts
+to get it, Molly."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid it is true," said Molly, in a sad voice. "I wish it were
+only my imagination. You would never take me for a fanciful girl, would
+you, Hester? I am always called matter-of-fact, and I think I am. I
+really don't care a bit for poetry, and not much for music, and even
+story-books don't amuse me unless they're the downright sort, like
+'Little Women,' or unless they tell all about housekeeping and that sort
+of thing. I love cooking, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 46]</a></span>I rather like accounts, and I delight in
+overhauling the linen cupboard, and I am not a bad hand at darning the
+linen. I'm just a commonplace, matter-of-fact sort of girl; it isn't in
+me to imagine things."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" said Hester, for she saw that Molly was intensely in earnest.</p>
+
+<p>"I know I'm right about the money," said Molly. "You cannot think how
+troubled father looks sometimes; and mother told me only yesterday that
+we were not to go to the seaside this year, and she thinks our shabby
+old hats will do quite well for church. You don't suppose I care about
+shabby hats, or even about the seaside, but I do care when I see father
+looking troubled. Once a stranger came to see him, and they were shut up
+together in the library for a long time, and when he went away I noticed
+that father looked quite old. Oh, I know there are money troubles, and I
+am sure things will get worse. I know what father dreads, and dreads and
+dreads. Oh, Hester, if it happens it will kill him!"</p>
+
+<p>"Molly, dear, how white you are. If what happens?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't whisper it, Hester; but I dread it. If he has to sell the Towers
+it will kill him."</p>
+
+<p>"To sell the Towers!" echoed Hester. "I should think so, indeed;
+but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What are you two doing up there?" shouted the voice of Nora from below.
+"Come down at once and make yourselves useful. The donkey-cart has come,
+and so have Guy and Harry, and we are washing the potatoes and want you
+to rub them, Molly. Come along down and help, you lazy
+good-for-nothings."</p>
+
+<p>The girls hastened to obey. As if by magic all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 47]</a></span>trace of a cloud left
+Molly's face. It became radiant, smiling, and dimpled. She was once more
+matter-of-fact, charming, capable Molly, who could work with a will and
+never once think of herself. Molly was so generally self-forgetful, that
+her happiness was not put on. Good-nature shone from her eyes. She was
+not a particularly brilliant or witty girl, but she was a strong rock to
+rely upon, as all the other Lorrimers knew well.</p>
+
+<p>Nora, who was very pretty and very gay, gave herself up to heedless
+enjoyment as soon as Molly appeared upon the scene. The potatoes would
+certainly be done to a turn now. The table-cloth would be laid in that
+part of the wood where the midges were least troublesome. Jane
+Macalister would not have to complain of no one helping her. Guy, who
+was very like Molly, and nearly as good-natured, would also do his best
+to make the picnic lively, and Nora, one year Molly's junior, could give
+herself up to the fascinations of Annie Forest's society.</p>
+
+<p>Nora had never before found herself in the company of such a completely
+grown-up and such a very pretty girl. Nora could give herself little
+airs when occasion required. She could put on rather a killing grown-up
+sort of would-be society manner. She never dared adopt it when Guy and
+Harry were near, but she contrived to get Annie away by herself, and
+then indulged in what the other children called her "high-falutin" talk.</p>
+
+<p>It was nipped in the bud, however, by Annie herself. Annie Forest was
+nothing if she was not frank and fearlessly matter-of-fact. She quickly
+discovered how hollow and insufficient poor Nora's attempts to maintain
+a worldly conversation really <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 48]</a></span>were. She crushed her by telling her that
+she had never been in society herself in the whole course of her life,
+that she knew nothing whatever of it or its ways, that she had just left
+school, and that in all probability she would have to earn her bread in
+the future.</p>
+
+<p>"But, look here, Nora!" she exclaimed, suddenly, "why should we two
+stand here chattering? I'm sure we ought to help the others."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no; there's nothing really to be done," replied Nora, in a languid
+voice. "I like picnics, but I hate the fuss of preparing the meals, and
+as all the others adore it, I generally leave it for them to do. Won't
+you sit here? There is a charming little peep between those two oak
+trees. You can just see the Towers from there, and I think the Grange
+also. Don't you think the Grange a very beautiful place?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but not half as beautiful as the Towers."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you, really? Well, I am surprised! Of course, the Towers is very
+old. We are quite one of the very oldest of the county families round
+here, but my father likes us to live quietly just at present. Molly and
+I will have to be presented by-and-by. It is a pity father and mother
+don't think more about society, but they'll have to when we are grown
+up, and Molly is sixteen now. Hester will be very rich, and so will Nan.
+I'm surprised that you prefer the Towers to the Grange."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," said Annie, "but did not the donkey-cart arrive
+about half an hour ago?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"And two of your brothers with it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied Nora, suppressing a yawn, "Guy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 49]</a></span>and Harry. How hot it is
+to-day&mdash;the heat makes one dreadfully languid, does it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"I must go and tell Hester that Boris has not come," exclaimed Annie.</p>
+
+<p>She put wings to her feet as she spoke, and left the astonished and
+indignant Nora to her own reflections.</p>
+
+<p>Annie ran quickly through the wood. The sound of many voices floated on
+the summer breeze to greet her. She had almost reached the party when
+she suddenly came upon Kitty, who was standing alone. Kitty had just had
+a furious quarrel with Nan, and was in consequence feeling considerably
+out in the cold. Kitty knew that Boris was not of the party. She had
+known this from the beginning, but in the excitement and fun of having
+Nan Thornton to herself had been too selfish to mention the fact. Kitty
+guessed why Boris had remained behind. She remembered the severe
+punishment which Jane Macalister had inflicted upon him&mdash;a punishment
+which Jane had doubtless forgotten, but which Boris himself remembered.</p>
+
+<p>Kitty thought of Boris now as she stood by a blackberry-bush, and
+pricked her finger on purpose against one of the thorns. Nan had been
+very snubbing and very disagreeable, and Kitty cordially hated her for
+the time being, and wished with all her heart that Boris was there. She
+could snub Boris, who would never retort, but now there was no one for
+her to play with.</p>
+
+<p>"What is your name?" asked Annie, stopping and looking at her kindly;
+"you are one of the Lorrimers, of course, but I have not caught your
+name yet. Do you mind telling it to me?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 50]</a></span></p><p>"I'm Kitty," answered the little girl; she raised her brown eyes and
+looked full at Annie. She had never seen anyone so lovely as Annie
+before. She had never even imagined that the world could contain anyone
+so sparkling and so gay.</p>
+
+<p>"You're Kitty; that is capital," replied Annie. "Then, Kitty, I am sure
+you will do just as well as Hester. Can you tell me why your dear little
+brother Boris has not come to the picnic?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking of him," said Kitty. Tears slowly welled up into her
+eyes; her heart began to ache; she tried to prick her finger again to
+relieve the pain inside.</p>
+
+<p>"Boris has not come," she replied. "I'll tell you why. He spilt some
+ink, and Jane Macalister said he must be punished by staying indoors for
+a whole hour after lessons were over. I expect she forgot all about
+Boris when we got a holiday so suddenly, but Boris didn't forget, and he
+stayed behind."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear little Boris!" exclaimed Annie; "dear, good, plucky little Boris!
+The moment I looked at him I knew I should adore him. But see here,
+Kitty, the hour is up now, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, of course; some time ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he'll follow us, won't he?"</p>
+
+<p>"How can he? He can't come alone; it's nearly an hour's drive to Friar's
+Wood."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he cannot walk," said Annie, impatiently; "but haven't you
+got a trap or carriage, or horse, or something?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm afraid we haven't," said Kitty, looking very sorrowful.
+"There's only old Rover, who draws the waggonette, and Dobbin the pony,
+and Jacko the donkey. Of course, there's father's mare, she's quite <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 51]</a></span>a
+beauty; but we are none of us allowed to have anything to do with her."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we are not to have dear little Boris at the picnic?" said Annie;
+"I declare I shan't enjoy it a bit. I want him to be my own special
+knight."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want a knight for?" asked Kitty, looking up with interest.</p>
+
+<p>"What do I want a knight for? You silly child, all fair ladies want
+their own true knights."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a very fair lady," said Kitty. "At least, I mean you're a very
+lovely lady&mdash;very, very lovely; but can't you do with Guy or Harry for a
+knight?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I have fallen in love with Boris, and I won't have anyone else.
+Kitty, can't we manage to get him to the picnic?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, I'm sure. He could ride Harry's bicycle, but I don't
+think it would once enter into his head."</p>
+
+<p>"It would if I went back and told him to."</p>
+
+<p>"How can you go back? You can't walk."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am a splendid walker. Besides, I am sure the road is longer than
+by the fields, and you could take me part of the way and show me the
+short cuts."</p>
+
+<p>"It would take a long, long time," said Kitty, "and when you came back
+dinner would be over, and you'd have lost quite half the fun."</p>
+
+<p>"No, you dear little thing, I wouldn't. I mean to go and fetch Boris;
+virtue shall be rewarded, and the knight shall be rescued by the lady.
+Now, come with me part of the way and show me the short cuts. Why, I'm
+as strong as a lion. You don't suppose a walk of a few miles tires me?
+Come along, Kit, we are wasting time."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 52]</a></span></p><p>In reality, Kitty was charmed beyond words with any move which was to
+bring Boris on the scene. The moment Boris seemed at all unattainable,
+he became wonderfully precious in Kitty's eyes. She would, of course,
+snub him in five minutes after he did arrive, but that really did not
+matter. The fascination of Annie's secret mission also delighted her
+much, and she skipped along now by the side of this beautiful lady in a
+state of high good-humour.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll show you a lovely short cut," she said. "It will take two miles
+off the distance. There's a bog, and a sunken ditch, and a wire fence;
+but you won't mind them, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit," said Annie, laughter in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"And there's farmer Granger's bull-dog, and perhaps the bull himself may
+be in the four acre field; but you won't mind," continued Kitty.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit, not a bit."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let's run down into this little dell. I'll start you from the
+wicket gate at the end of the dell."</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds quite Pilgrim's Progressy," said Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Annie," said Kitty, in an ecstatic whisper, "is it to be a secret?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course; if you dare to reveal it my knight shall execute vengeance
+on you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Annie!" said Kitty, "I do love you; its so perfectly delicious to
+have a secret."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, see you keep this one faithfully. Now we have come to the wicket
+gate. How shall I go? Can I see the bull from here?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Can I hear the bull-dog bark?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Kitty, you little wretch, you've been trying to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 53]</a></span>frighten me with
+imaginary dangers. Yes, I see my road. I follow the winding path
+wherever it leads. Keep a bit of dinner for me, Kitty. I'll be back in a
+couple of hours."</p>
+
+<p>Kitty promised, and Annie started with great vigour on her long walk.</p>
+
+<p>Kitty stood at the stile and watched her. Suddenly she raised a cry.</p>
+
+<p>"Annie."</p>
+
+<p>Annie turned.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll find Nell at home, too, Annie."</p>
+
+<p>"Is Nell another Lorrimer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; the ugly one of the family; the duckling, we call her most times."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the duckling shall come, too," shouted heedless Annie; and Kitty,
+with the full weight and delirious importance of her secret radiating
+all over her stout little person, slowly returned to the other members
+of the picnic party.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE STORY BOOK LADY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Annie found the road hot and the way long. As she said, she was a very
+good walker, and was never daunted by difficulties or dangers either
+real or imaginary. She was impressed by Boris's bright little face, and
+Kitty's story of his fidelity to the path of duty touched her quick and
+affectionate nature. Annie Forest, the grown-up girl, was very like
+Annie Forest, the child. She was still intensely impulsive, wayward, and
+eager. Her faults were in a great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 54]</a></span>manner subdued, but they were not
+eradicated. She was intensely affectionate, brave, and true as steel;
+but she was apt to be both heedless and thoughtless. When rushing away
+to rescue Boris, it never once entered into her head that the secret of
+her absence might prove very troublesome to poor Kitty, and that the
+rest of the party might suffer uneasiness on her account. Without any
+adventure from bull or bull-dog, without endangering her life in the
+bog, which turned out to be almost non-existent at this time of year,
+she reached the Towers at the most sultry time of the day, and appeared
+upon the scene between one and two o'clock, a tired, flushed, and very
+thirsty Annie. All during her walk she pictured Boris's state of
+despair. She saw in her mind's eye a vision of his little, flushed,
+tear-stained face. She thought of Nell, too, and imagined the rapture
+with which the ugly duckling would greet her, the deliverer of the
+oppressed.</p>
+
+<p>Annie entered the Towers by a side entrance, and, skirting a pretty,
+shady lawn, approached the house by the nearest way. As she did so, she
+was attracted by voices which seemed to proceed from out of a clump of
+trees. She stepped close to the spot from where the sound proceeded,
+and, craning her neck, looked over the thick laurustinus bushes, which
+enclosed a very tiny lawn or plot of grass.</p>
+
+<p>Seated here, in the utmost peace and apparent contentment, were the poor
+victims for whom she had exerted herself so terribly. Nell was lying
+full length on her back on the grass. Boris was seated tailorwise on the
+ground a little way off. Nell had a white rat curled up in her hair and
+another nestling in her neck. Boris was feeding some white hares and
+some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 55]</a></span>pet rabbits. The children were eagerly talking to their animals,
+and Annie had to own to herself that there was nothing in the least
+unhappy or even morbid in the sound of either of the voices.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the children's perfect happiness almost vexed her. It
+seemed provoking to have taken that long, exhausting walk for nothing,
+and oh! how hungry and thirsty, how very hungry and thirsty she felt.</p>
+
+<p>The next instant, however, her good-nature asserted itself. She said
+"Hullo!" pushed her way through the laurustinus hedge, and stood in the
+midst of the group.</p>
+
+<p>Nell started into a sitting position, tumbling the white rats on to her
+lap. She looked up at Annie. What a tumbled, dishevelled, hot, but oh,
+what a pretty strange lady was this! Nell worshipped beauty with the
+passion of a very hot and fervent little soul. She had scarcely noticed
+Annie in the schoolroom, but now her heart went out to her with a great
+throb.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" she said. "Where do you come from? What is your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm not a fairy, my good child!" said Annie. "I'm a poor, exhausted
+girl, who thought she was performing a very heroic feat and finds
+herself mistaken."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray come in and take a seat," said Boris, who was always the soul of
+gentlemanly politeness. He stood up as he spoke, tumbling his rabbits
+and hares helter skelter in all directions, and tried to push back the
+laurustinus hedge for Annie. She squeezed through, tearing her cotton
+dress as she did so.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear, dear, your sweet dress is spoiled!" said Nell, in a tender
+voice.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 56]</a></span></p><p>"Never mind," answered Annie; "one must lose something to attain to this
+perfection."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you seat yourself?" said Boris.</p>
+
+<p>He pointed to the grass, and Annie sat upon it with a sense of delight.</p>
+
+<p>"How hot you are," said Nell. "What can we do for you? Would it soothe
+you to stroke one of the rats? This darling, for instance. His name is
+Crinklety."</p>
+
+<p>Annie took the rat on her lap and looked at it reflectively.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a darling," she said, "and so are the rabbits, and so are the
+hares; but oh, I'm so hot and so thirsty! and oh, children, don't you
+know what I've come about, and don't you know who I am?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm sure we don't," answered Boris. Nell stared solemnly; she did
+not speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Annie, "I see I must introduce myself. I am Annie Forest.
+I'm Hester Thornton's friend, and I came here this morning with Hetty
+and Nan, and we all started on a picnic, and when we came to Friar's
+Wood, I found that you, Boris&mdash;you see I know your name&mdash;and you, Nell,
+were left behind, and I could not stand it somehow; it seemed too cruel
+and unfair, so I&mdash;I came back for you."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you come?" asked Boris. "Did you drive back with Dobbin or
+Jacko?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; they will have plenty to do this evening, and why should I give
+them double work, poor dears? No; I came back with these," she pushed
+out her dainty, but very dusty, feet as she spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean that you <i>walked</i>?" said Nell. "You walked all that long way
+just because of us two children that you knew nothing about. I didn't
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 57]</a></span>believe it was true. I never believed anything so perfectly splendid
+could be true out of a story book. Boris, do you hear? She walked from
+Friar's Wood all by herself."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you awfully dead beat?" asked Boris, standing in his sturdy
+attitude in front of Annie and looking at her with immense attention.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I never was hotter in my life, and I don't think I ever felt more
+tired. It is such a blazing day."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you don't want to walk back again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose I must, only I think I'll rest a little bit first, and
+perhaps one of you can bring me a glass of water. I consulted Kitty
+about it, and Kitty said you could ride your brother's bicycle, Boris.
+She only told me about Nell just when I was starting, but perhaps Nell
+can get on the bicycle sometimes, too. I'm not quite sure how it can be
+managed."</p>
+
+<p>"You need not trouble about me," said Nell, "for I'm not going to the
+picnic. I don't wish to."</p>
+
+<p>"And I don't wish to either," said Boris; "there's nothing to go for
+now, for dinner will be over. I always think the fun of a picnic is
+washing the potatoes and lighting the bonfire, and they'll be all over
+long ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then," said Annie, "I see that I have made myself a martyr in an
+unnecessary cause. You bad children, you are not a bit unhappy at
+staying at home, and I pictured you both such miserable little victims."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you rather have seen us miserable?" asked Boris.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I'd much rather have seen you miserable, you little wretch.
+How dare you look at me <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 58]</a></span>with those smiling, bright blue eyes? If I had
+seen you and Nell pale and wretched, and a little bit withered up, I'd
+have felt that my walk had been taken for a good purpose; but now&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you think," said Nell, looking at Annie with great earnestness,
+"that you did nothing when you took that walk and when you made the
+story books come true. You did a great deal for me. We are Lorrimers,
+Boris and I, and it isn't the fashion for a Lorrimer ever to fret when
+things can't be helped. Boris would have liked to go to the picnic, and
+I'd have liked it, too, if it had happened on another day, but as we
+couldn't go, we meant to have a picnic at home. Will you stay with us
+and help us to make up a jolly picnic at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I will, only too gladly."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Boris," said Nell, "we had best fetch the food while the story
+book lady is resting."</p>
+
+<p>The children disappeared, and Annie lay back on the grass and laughed to
+herself. She was absorbed as usual with the fascination of the moment,
+and forgot all about Kitty, who would be carefully guarding her secret
+far away in Friar's Wood.</p>
+
+<p>The picnic, which was partaken of by Annie, Nell, and Boris on the tiny
+lawn, surrounded by the laurustinus hedge, was a truly gay affair. The
+white hares, the rabbits, the rats, joined the company of diners, and
+Annie became her gayest and wildest self. When dinner was over, Boris
+reluctantly took his pets back to the out-house where they were kept,
+and then returned once more to the fascination of strawberries, cream,
+and Annie Forest's society.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, in Friar's Wood, Kitty was keeping an eager look-out. It was
+almost time for Annie to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 59]</a></span>come back, and all the other members of the
+party who did not know where she had gone were becoming anxious about
+her. They would have been much more so but for Hester and Nan. But
+Hester and Nan were both well accustomed to Annie's many vagaries.</p>
+
+<p>"If it were anyone else, I should fret about her," said Hester,
+answering Nora's eager inquiry for about the twentieth time. "She has
+wandered away in the wood by herself and will come back when she
+pleases, or perhaps she may have gone straight back to the Towers or to
+the Grange. Annie is grown up now, and she can take care of herself.
+There is no manner of use in fretting about her."</p>
+
+<p>"If you only knew Annie at school!" exclaimed Nan. "Why there is quite a
+proverb about Annie at school. Let me see, this is it: 'The only thing
+to be expected of Annie Forest is the unexpected.' Now don't let's talk
+of her any more. She is a dear old Annie; but why should she spoil this
+lovely, perfect day, the first of my holidays? Guy, I wish you'd come
+and sit next me. Let us get up a jolly game of hide and seek."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Guy, "It's too hot at present. We will presently, when the
+sun gets a bit lower."</p>
+
+<p>"Then tell me a story, there's a darling Guy."</p>
+
+<p>Guy complied rather lazily. Nan moved a little apart with him, and the
+two began an eager, whispered conversation. Molly and Hester once more
+joined forces and resumed the interrupted talk of the morning. The
+others wandered away in different directions, and Nora and Kitty found
+themselves together. Nora felt rather discontented. She missed Annie
+Forest, not because she particularly liked her just now, but because
+Annie's conduct during their morning walk <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 60]</a></span>had rather piqued her. Nora
+was quite sharp enough to read Kitty's secret in her troubled, demure,
+watchful and impatient eyes. She thought it would be rather good fun to
+bully Kitty a little.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you staring through that long line of trees for?" she said.
+"Come here, and out with it at once. You know you're bursting with a
+secret. If you don't tell soon you'll explode, and there'll be nothing
+left of you. Come here, I say, and out with it."</p>
+
+<p>Nora thought it quite unnecessary to put on her society manners for
+Kitty's benefit.</p>
+
+<p>"Come here, Kit, at once, when I call you," she said, in a cross voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I needn't come if I don't like," answered Kitty. "I'm not obliged to
+obey you, so don't you think it."</p>
+
+<p>"Highty tighty. Do you suppose I'm going to take impertinence from a
+little chit like you? You know perfectly well where Annie Forest has
+gone, and it is your duty to tell."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't tell. There!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" laughed Nora, now thoroughly exasperated. "I guessed you had a
+secret. I knew it when I saw you shutting up your lips so straightly,
+and putting on that little demure expression whenever Annie's name was
+mentioned. Now you have confessed it."</p>
+
+<p>"I have confessed nothing," said Kitty in alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you have; you said you wouldn't tell. How could you say you
+wouldn't tell if you had nothing to tell? I know mother is uneasy about
+Annie, and I know Jane Macalister is uneasy, and you know where she is
+and you dare to keep them in suspense. Come along to mother at once.
+She'll soon get this secret out of you."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 61]</a></span></p><p>"I won't go, Nora&mdash;I won't. I'll climb up into this tree, where you
+can't catch me. Here," continued Kitty, suiting the action to the word,
+"you can't catch me up here; you can't. I won't go to mother&mdash;no, I
+won't."</p>
+
+<p>"You will if I make you," said Nora. "You think I can't climb."</p>
+
+<p>"You wouldn't dare to climb!" exclaimed Kitty, shouting down from the
+foliage of the tree into which she had hastily swung herself. "You'll
+get your frock all torn, and Molly and Jane will be just mad. You
+daren't climb, Nora&mdash;you daren't. You can't catch me Nora&mdash;you can't."</p>
+
+<p>Nora had a quick temper, and Kitty's manner was most exasperating. Under
+ordinary circumstances the ladylike Nora would have hated climbing
+trees, but now all was forgotten in her fierce desire to lay hold of the
+daring, exasperating little Kitty and to force her secret out of her.
+How dared Annie Forest snub Nora and then confide in a baby like Kitty?</p>
+
+<p>"Unless you come down this minute, I'll follow you into the tree and
+drag you down," said Nora. "Now you know what I mean to do, so come down
+this instant."</p>
+
+<p>"Not I, not I," laughed Kitty. She had been rather frightened while Nora
+was taunting her on the ground, but now she felt so secure that she
+could afford to laugh, and even in her turn to use taunting words.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew you were too much of a coward, fine, ladylike Miss Nora, to
+climb up here," she said; "and I'm going to stay here just as long as I
+please."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, are you?" said Nora. "There'll be two people to decide that point."
+She was in a blind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 62]</a></span>fury now, and, before Kitty could say another word,
+began to swarm up the tree. She managed to catch the branch where Kitty
+had planted herself, and in another instant would have caught hold of
+the little girl's dress; but Kitty and Boris could both climb like
+monkeys, and it did not take the little girl an instant to swing herself
+on to a higher branch. Nora's mettle was now up. She was resolved that
+Kitty should not conquer her. The spirit of defiance in Kitty made her
+resolve to die rather than be taken.</p>
+
+<p>"You shan't catch me&mdash;you shan't," screamed the child. "I'm lighter than
+you. I'm going to creep on to the end of this bough; it will bear my
+weight, but it won't bear yours, Nora. Don't attempt to get on it, Nora;
+if you do the bough will break."</p>
+
+<p>Kitty, as good as her word, crept on to a dead branch of the forest
+beech tree; it was high above the ground and nearly bare of leaves. It
+looked what it was, thoroughly rotten; but it bore Kitty's light weight
+without strain. She reached almost the end, and turned her flushed,
+laughing, defiant face towards Nora. Nora had reached the bough, but
+hesitated a moment before trusting herself on it.</p>
+
+<p>"Who said I was going to be caught?" exclaimed Kitty. "Hurrah! hurrah!
+I'm safe enough."</p>
+
+<p>"I will catch you!" exclaimed Nora. "You horrid, sneaking little cheat.
+This bough looks firm enough. It will hold me as well as you; anyhow,
+I'm going to try."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't, don't!" screamed Kitty. She was really frightened now, for she
+saw the danger from the position where she was sitting far more plainly
+than Nora did. "Don't do it, Nora," she shrieked. "I'd rather come back
+to you. I would really, really. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 63]</a></span>You'll be killed&mdash;we'll both be killed
+if you get upon this rotten bough. Oh, dear! oh, dear! Nora, are you
+mad? Are you mad?"</p>
+
+<p>Blind passion had made Nora almost mad. She did not believe Kitty's
+words. The bare bough looked safe enough from her position. She
+stretched out one cautious hand, then another, and propelled herself
+slowly along. Her whole weight was now upon the bough. It was thoroughly
+rotten and very brittle. Kitty gave a shriek of terror, and, with a wild
+leap, managed to throw her arms over the bough just above. She was not a
+minute too soon. The rotten branch cracked and broke with a loud report,
+and poor Nora was hurled with great violence to the ground.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>ALONE IN THE WOOD.</h3>
+
+
+<p>There was a dizzy moment for Kitty when she seemed to hang between
+heaven and earth, and everything swam in circles before her dazed eyes.
+Then, with a supreme effort, she managed to clutch the bough, to which
+she clung with a firmer grasp, and slowly but surely to drag herself up
+into safety on its broad, firm stem.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm coming, Nora. I'll be down in a minute," she shouted.</p>
+
+<p>She crept along the bough, and soon, much scratched and covered with
+moss and leaves, her dress torn, her face hotly flushed, she reached the
+ground and rushed to Nora's side.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Nora had fallen from a height of nearly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 64]</a></span>twenty feet. Her fall had
+been slightly broken by the rotten bough which had come to the ground
+with her; but, notwithstanding this fact, she lay now on her back, faint
+and sick and moaning, as if she were in great pain.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Kitty's repentance was intense.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Nora, Nora!" she sobbed, bending over her, "are you hurt badly?
+Can't you get up? Oh, dear! oh, dear! you do look ill, and it's my fault
+of course. Why did I have a secret? and why did I tease you? Oh, Nora!"
+she added, terror in her tone as she noticed the increasing whiteness of
+Nora's pretty face, "are you in dreadful, shocking pain?"</p>
+
+<p>"I feel sick," said Nora, "and&mdash;and faint. Can't you fetch some water.
+Oh, everything seems miles away. What shall I do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go for mother," said Kitty. "Lie very still, Nonie, darling; you
+have got an awful shake from that fall, but you'll be all right
+soon&mdash;I'm sure you will; and, oh, here's some water in one of the picnic
+bottles."</p>
+
+<p>Kitty sprang towards this welcome sight, wetted a handkerchief with part
+of the contents and put it on Nora's forehead, and then gave her a
+little to drink.</p>
+
+<p>The cold refreshing water revived the poor girl; but when she attempted
+to sit up, she fell back groaning and very faint once more.</p>
+
+<p>"You <i>must</i> let me fetch mother," said Kitty. "I won't be a minute. I'll
+go as if I were a bird. I'll be back in no time, really."</p>
+
+<p>"No; I can't be left alone," said Nora. "It&mdash;it's awful. The pain in my
+back gets worse and worse. Kitty, don't leave me. Kitty, I'm frightened.
+I'm sorry I was so cross to you."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 65]</a></span></p><p>"And I'm sorry I aggravated you," said Kitty; "but, oh, dear! what's the
+use of being sorry? That won't mend your poor back. I wish you'd let me
+get mother."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; you mustn't leave me."</p>
+
+<p>Nora tried to stretch out one of her hands, but the pain of the least
+movement was extreme, and she was forced to lie absolutely still, while
+Kitty wetted her lips at intervals with a few drops of the precious
+water left in the bottle.</p>
+
+<p>Nora was in too great pain to care anything about the loneliness of
+their position. She was in too great suffering even to be keenly sorry
+for her own wrongdoing. The one only desire she had was to keep Kitty by
+her side. But poor Kitty's little heart was full of absolute terror. She
+had never seen anyone look so ill as Nora. Her face was white; her lips
+were blue; she was evidently in severe pain; but, with the pain, there
+was a strange faintness, which Kitty had never encountered before in the
+whole course of her ten sturdy years.</p>
+
+<p>Many and many a fall had both Kitty and Boris had in the wild
+expeditions and daring feats which they performed in each other's
+company. Kitty knew of the fall which stings; of the fall which shakes
+you all over, which raises a great bump and causes great soreness of the
+injured part; she knew of the fall which scratches and even renders you
+giddy; but she had never before seen the effects of such a serious fall
+as poor Nora's.</p>
+
+<p>Friar's Wood was a very lonely place, and when, in utter exhaustion and
+pain, Nora closed her eyes, poor Kitty felt almost as if she were
+sitting alone in this great solitude with a person who was dead.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 66]</a></span></p><p>Oh, suppose pretty Nora was dead. Pretty Nora, who had been so mocking
+and full of life only ten minutes ago. If this were the case, to her
+dying day Kitty would feel that she had killed her by tempting her on to
+a rotten bough. It was terrible, terrible to be here alone with Nora,
+who might be going to die. Why could not she slip away and fetch someone
+to her aid?</p>
+
+<p>Nora had clutched a very tight hold of Kitty's hand when first the
+little girl had proposed to fetch her mother, but now, in the kind of
+torpor of pain into which she had sunk, she relaxed the firm grip, and
+Kitty found that by a very gentle movement she could release her hand
+altogether.</p>
+
+<p>She did so, and rose slowly to her feet.</p>
+
+<p>Nora felt the movement and spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Kitty."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"You're not going away?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm only looking to see if there's anyone coming."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, don't go away."</p>
+
+<p>Nora's voice had sunk to a hoarse whisper, and Kitty's terrors and her
+certain fears that Nora was about to die became greater than ever.</p>
+
+<p>She looked all around her, to right and left, before and behind.</p>
+
+<p>No one was in sight. Not even the voice of a living creature broke the
+stillness. The birds were silent, the creatures of the wood seemed to be
+all asleep, the other members of the picnic had evidently wandered far
+afield; but, hark, what sound was that? Oh, joy! Who was this coming
+swiftly through the trees? Kitty's heart gave a bound of rapture, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 67]</a></span>then, forgetting all Nora's injunctions to keep by her side, she flew
+with lightning speed towards the figure of a horseman who was riding
+through the wood.</p>
+
+<p>The man on horseback was Squire Lorrimer himself.</p>
+
+<p>He had promised to join the children in time for dinner, but had not
+turned up. It was not his custom, however, on any occasion to disappoint
+his young people, and although late in the day he was now hastening to
+the scene of revelry.</p>
+
+<p>Kitty's frantic speed in his direction by no means surprised him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, little woman," he said, pulling up the mare as he spoke. "Shall I
+give you a mount on Black Bessy's back? and where are all the others? I
+expected quite a swarm of you to rush forth. Where is Molly, and where
+is Nora, and where is the beautiful Annie Forest, whom everybody seems
+to rave about, and mother and Jane Macalister? Are they all hiding and
+ready to rush out upon me with wild whoops?"</p>
+
+<p>Kitty panted visibly before she replied.</p>
+
+<p>"No, father, it isn't that," she said. "I and Nora are alone, I&mdash;get
+down please, father, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what's the matter with you child?" The Squire hastily dismounted.
+"Are you hurt, Kit? What a red, excited face."</p>
+
+<p>"No, 'tisn't me, it's Nora. She fell; I think she'll die. It was my
+fault. The beech tree had a rotten bough, and I crept out on it, as I
+didn't wish to be caught; and Nora followed me, and the bough broke, and
+she's lying on her back now and she can't move, and I think she'll die,
+and they're all away&mdash;I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 68]</a></span>don't know where&mdash;somewhere else in the wood,
+and I think she's going to die, and it's my fault."</p>
+
+<p>"There, Kitty, keep your pecker up," said the Squire. "I'm glad I came
+round this way; it was a lucky chance. Wait a minute until I tie Black
+Bess to this tree. Where is Nora?"</p>
+
+<p>"Over there, lying on that knoll of grass. I think she'll die."</p>
+
+<p>"Tut, tut, monkey, what do you know about people dying? Give me your
+hand, and bring me to her."</p>
+
+<p>Oh, the comfort to Kitty of that firm, cool, strong hand of
+father's&mdash;oh, the support of looking into his face. A burden as of black
+night was lifted from her. She ran in eager accompaniment to his great
+strides. He was bending over Nora in a minute.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my poor little maid, what is this?" he asked, dropping on one knee
+and trying to put his hand under her head as he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>Nora opened her pretty, dark eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, father, is it you? I'm glad," she said in a faint voice. "I've been
+naughty, father; I&mdash;I'm sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you can't be more than sorry, can you, Nonie? Don't bother about
+anything now, but just tell me where you are hurt."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's my back. Oh, don't touch me; it's dreadful!"</p>
+
+<p>Squire Lorrimer's face looked very grave.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did she fall from, Kitty?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Kitty pointed to the gash made in the beech-tree by the broken bough.</p>
+
+<p>"Over twenty feet," murmured the Squire to himself. "God help my poor
+little girl!"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 69]</a></span></p><p>"Look here, Kitty," he said aloud, "Nora is in a good deal of pain; but
+I hope we'll soon have her easier. We must try and get her home somehow,
+and it would be a good thing if your mother were here; you had better
+fetch her. Don't frighten her, Kit, for Nora may not be badly hurt after
+all; but bring her here as quickly as you can, and Guy, too, and Molly;
+they are both strong, and have their wits about them. We must contrive a
+litter of some sort. Now, be quick and find the folks."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied Kitty, who was almost happy again under the influence of
+her father's encouraging words.</p>
+
+<p>She was soon out of sight, and in less than half an hour Mrs. Lorrimer,
+Jane Macalister, and every other member of the picnic party, were
+gathered round the prostrate figure of little Nora.</p>
+
+<p>She was more conscious now, and looked eagerly for one face, the solace
+of all sick children.</p>
+
+<p>"Let Mummie hold my hand," she said.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lorrimer took it, bent down, and kissed her; Nora smiled as if a
+load had been lifted from her heart.</p>
+
+<p>A rough litter was presently constructed, and with great difficulty the
+poor child was lifted into it. The pain of even this slight move,
+however, caused her to faint completely away.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this juncture that Hester Thornton came forward with a
+suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>"The Grange is nearly three miles nearer than the Towers," she said;
+"had not we better bring her there? And had not Guy better ride off at
+once to Nortonbury for the doctor?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is a good idea," said Mr. Lorrimer. "Guy, mount on Black Bess's
+back and off with you. Bring <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 70]</a></span>Dr. Jervis back with you to the Grange if
+you can."</p>
+
+<p>The merry little picnic party looked dismal enough as they slowly, and
+almost in funereal fashion, left the scene of festivity. The strongest
+of the party had to take turns to carry poor Nora's litter, for she
+could not endure any less easy movement.</p>
+
+<p>Nan came up to Hester and took her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what the meaning of all this is," she said; "but, somehow
+or other, I think Annie must be at the bottom of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Annie?" queried Hester. "How completely she seems to have lost
+herself. Oh, how miserable poor little Kitty looks. Come here, Kitty,
+dear, and tell me all about the accident."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot," said Kitty. "Don't ask me; it's part of the secret."</p>
+
+<p>"I knew Annie Forest was at the bottom of it," murmured Nan. "Oh, what a
+horrid, horrid, dreadful ending to the first of my holidays!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>"I BROKE MY WORD," SAID ANNIE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In utter ignorance of the tragic events which were happening in Friar's
+Wood, Annie Forest and her two little companions were having a gay time
+at the Towers. Annie's old passion for children had not deserted her.
+She was often heard to say that she was happier with a frank, original
+child than she was with most grown people. Boris was certainly frank;
+Nell was certainly original. Annie's beauty and brightness <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 71]</a></span>had won
+Boris's heart from the moment of her arrival; Nell's affections went out
+to her also, but for a different reason. Nell lived in a world of
+romance, and Annie's conduct in giving up her own pleasure had seemed to
+Nell to fit in with her fairy tales and other story-books. The three
+were, therefore, supremely happy during that long afternoon. The picnic
+behind the laurustinus hedge being quite a thing of the past, they
+proceeded to explore the tower, the old ruined chapel, where services
+used to be held morning and night more than three hundred years ago, the
+dungeon under the chapel, and all the other places of historic interest.
+Then the children's gardens were visited; and, finally, Annie was
+persuaded to seat herself in the swing and be sent up into space as high
+as Boris's and Nell's united efforts could accomplish. In their turn
+they were swung by Annie; and then followed tea in the play-room, where
+Nell presided, sitting solemnly in front of the dolls' tea-service and
+helping Annie and Boris and herself to unlimited weak tea, with heaps of
+cream.</p>
+
+<p>The heat of the day was over at last, a perfect summer's evening had set
+in.</p>
+
+<p>"When are they all likely to be back?" asked Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Not until night, dark night," said Boris with a little sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you sighing for?" asked Annie. "You look quite sad, and I
+don't like you sad; I like you with your eyes smiling and your face
+puckered up with laughter. Nell looks pale and sad, too. What is it
+Nell? what is it Boris?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like to be at the picnic now," said Boris, "I didn't mind it in the
+daytime when it was so hot; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 72]</a></span>but now they're lighting another bonfire
+and they're going to have tea, and after tea Guy will tell stories."</p>
+
+<p>"All about bogies," struck up Nell; "yes, I wish I were there."</p>
+
+<p>Annie looked at them both reflectively. She never cared to be with
+children unless she could succeed in making them almost boisterously
+happy.</p>
+
+<p>"But it doesn't matter a bit," said Nell, seeing the shadow cross her
+face; "I shouldn't be very happy in any case to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" said Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather not say, please. You have been good to us; you have helped
+us to have a beautiful day; we are grateful to you, aren't we, Boris?"</p>
+
+<p>"We love her," said Boris.</p>
+
+<p>"You are two darlings," said Annie. "Well, now, suppose we have a bit of
+fun on our own account. How far is it from here to the Grange?"</p>
+
+<p>"By the road, three miles," said Boris; "but across the fields, only a
+mile and a half."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll go to the Grange across the fields," said Annie. "I heard Hester
+say this morning that she was going to try and induce you all to come
+back to the Grange to supper, so we three will join the rest of the
+party at supper, and if we start at once well be ready to welcome them
+when they arrive."</p>
+
+<p>"What a spiffin' plan," said Boris; "do let's start at once."</p>
+
+<p>Nell clapped her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I've made you happy again, that's all right," said Annie. She took
+a hand of each child, and they started on their pleasant walk. Boris was
+very messy and untidy, his face was stained with fruit and his hands
+were dirty. Nell's blue <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 73]</a></span>cotton frock was also considerably out at the
+gathers round the waist, but the children did not give a thought to
+their clothes or personal appearance in the sudden rapture with which
+they hailed Annie's suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>The walk across the fields in the sweet freshness of the summer's
+evening was all that was delightful, and in an incredibly short space of
+time, the three found themselves at the other side of the turnstile
+which led into the grounds of the Grange.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll be there long before the others," said Boris. "Suppose we light a
+great bonfire on the lawn to welcome them." But even wild Annie did not
+see the propriety of this suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>"No, we won't do that," she said. "If the Grange were our own place we
+would. We'll just go and sit on the terrace and watch for them."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't Kitty jump when she sees us?" said Boris, a look of satisfaction
+radiating all over his face. "She'll see that we have had our lark as
+well as the rest of them; oh, I call it real spiffin' fine."</p>
+
+<p>They were walking rapidly through the shrubbery now, and as Boris
+finished his speech they came out on the broad sweep in front of the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>Just before the entrance a brougham was standing, and instead of
+solitude they found themselves surrounded by familiar figures.</p>
+
+<p>Kitty was the first to observe them. She gave a stifled sort of scream,
+and pushing aside Boris, who was prepared to rush into her arms, came up
+to Annie, took one of her hands, and looked into her face.</p>
+
+<p>"I kept the secret true as true," she said; "but it almost killed me,
+and it has nearly quite killed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 74]</a></span>Nora." Her poor little voice broke with
+these last words, and she burst into the frantic sobs which she had
+bravely kept back until now.</p>
+
+<p>"What in the world is the matter?" said Annie, kneeling down and putting
+her arm round the excited child.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that's Dr. Jervis's carriage," shouted Boris. "What can be up?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why are you back so early from the picnic?" asked Nell.</p>
+
+<p>But Kitty sobbed on unable to reply.</p>
+
+<p>She felt the comfort of Annie's arms round her, and presently she laid
+her hot, flushed, little face on Annie's neck and wetted her frill with
+her plentiful tears, but no information could be got at present from
+poor Kitty's lips.</p>
+
+<p>"There's Molly, and there's Hester," exclaimed Boris, "they'll tell us;
+oh, and there's Nan, too. Hullo Nan, come here and tell us what the
+rumpus is about."</p>
+
+<p>Nan rushed up excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Nora is nearly killed," she said; "she fell from a tree over twenty
+feet from the ground, and her back is hurt awfully, and Hester said
+she'd better come here, and she's lying in the library and Dr. Jervis is
+there. I haven't the faintest idea how it happened," continued Nan;
+"only it seems to be your fault, Annie; it seems to have something to do
+with you and a secret, only Kitty won't tell."</p>
+
+<p>Kitty ceased to cry; she raised her face and looked at Annie. Annie
+struggled to her feet.</p>
+
+<p>She was about to reply to Nan when Hester came up and spoke to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Annie," she said, "where have you been all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 75]</a></span>day? We have been
+dreadfully anxious about you; and poor Nora has been hurt, and Kitty
+seems in trouble of some sort, and says that she won't tell her secret.
+What can it all mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, really!" said Annie. She paused a minute; the rich colour mantled
+her cheeks; her bright eyes seemed to flash fire.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm awfully sorry about Nora," she said; "but I fail to see how I am to
+blame. From your manner, Nan, and yours, Hester, I seem to be accused of
+something. What is it, pray?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's nothing, indeed," said Molly, who had come up now and joined
+Hester. "What does it matter, Hetty, when we are all so awfully
+wretched? Poor Annie did not mean anything. Do let her alone!"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not mean anything?" echoed Annie. "I'm afraid I can't allow
+myself to be let alone. I must find out what I'm accused of. Kitty, you
+say you kept my secret safely. Speak now and tell everybody."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't stay to listen," said Molly, turning away; "it's too&mdash;too
+trivial!"</p>
+
+<p>Hester and Nan, however, still stood facing Annie, and the boys, Guy and
+Harry, also came and joined the group.</p>
+
+<p>"Speak, Kitty," said Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"You were kind," said Kitty; "it's wicked to say you weren't kind. You
+found out that Boris hadn't come to the picnic, and you said you'd go
+back for him; you'd walk back all in the heat, and you didn't mind the
+bull, nor the bull-dog, nor&mdash;nor&mdash;anything; and you said I wasn't to
+tell, and 'twould be a surprise when you came back with Boris and,
+perhaps, Nell, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 76]</a></span>too&mdash;and I promised. Then we had dinner, and you weren't
+there, and everybody asked for you and everybody wondered where you
+could be; but Hester said you were a sort of 'centric girl, and that you
+was grown up and we needn't fret; and Nan said you was nothing if you
+wasn't unexpected; so nobody fretted, and I kept my secret locked up
+tight. But Nora wanted you more than the others, and she saw my lips
+shut tight and my eyes watching for you through the trees, and she
+guessed I had a secret; and I said I had, but I wouldn't tell; and she
+said she'd take me to mother, and that mother would make me tell, and so
+I climbed up into the beech-tree to get away from her; and I was naughty
+and cross, and she was naughty and cross, too, and she followed me up
+into the beech-tree, and I got out upon a rotten bough, where I thought
+she'd be sure not to come; but she did come, cause I was real naughty
+and I taunted her; and the bough broke and she fell, but I didn't fall
+'cause I caught on to a bough higher up. It's been dreadful ever since,"
+continued Kitty, pressing her hands tightly together. "Worse than when I
+forgot to give water to Harry's canary and it died, and worse than when
+I pulled up all Guy's canariensis in mistake for weeds; its been awful,
+but I did keep the secret."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that all?" said Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's all," replied Kitty. "I did keep the secret."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand," said Annie. "I should have come back, of course. I did
+not remember that I might get you into trouble, Kitty; it did not occur
+to me that you were the plucky sort of child you are."</p>
+
+<p>"Plucky?" echoed Guy with some scorn. "I don't <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 77]</a></span>call it plucky to be
+just decently <i>honourable</i>. We don't tell lies. Kitty would have told a
+lie if she had broken her word."</p>
+
+<p>"And I promised to come back, and I broke my word," said Annie. "Yes, I
+fully understand; it's just like me."</p>
+
+<p>She turned away as she spoke, and, plunging into the shrubbery, was lost
+to view.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave her alone, children," said Hester to the astonished children, who
+were preparing to follow her. "I knew it would cut her to the heart, but
+it can't be helped. She'll be all right by-and-by, but she can't stand
+any of you now; you must leave her alone."</p>
+
+<p>Boris came up to Kitty, put his arms round her neck, and kissed her. His
+kiss was of the deepest consolation to her; she walked away with him
+slowly, and Nell took Hester's hand. Nell's face was like a little white
+sheet; she was trembling in her agitation.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what is the matter?" she gasped. "Is Nonie awfully hurt? Is it
+dangerous? Oh, Hetty, it's worse than the colts! Oh, I felt bad this
+morning, but it was nothing to this&mdash;nothing! May I stay with you for
+the present, Hetty?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, darling," said Hester in her kindest voice. "Come into the house
+with me. We are all very anxious until we get the doctor's opinion. Your
+father and mother are both with Nora; and Dr. Jervis is there and Jane.
+Everything is being done that can be done, and we know nothing at
+present. Come, Nell, we must be brave&mdash;and here is Molly; she is just as
+anxious as you."</p>
+
+<p>Nell looked at Molly, who was standing in the porch; she flew to her
+eldest sister's side, clasped her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 78]</a></span>arms round her neck, and shed a few
+of those silent, rare tears which only came to her now and then, for
+Nell was no ordinary child, and rarely showed her deepest feelings.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how I'm to live through this suspense," said poor Molly.</p>
+
+<p>But even as she spoke it came to an end.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lorrimer came out of the study, closing the door softly behind him.
+He strode quickly through the hall, and entered the porch where the
+three girls were standing. Molly stepped forward quickly and seized his
+arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>He gave her a quick look; his face was very pale, and a sudden
+contraction of pain flitted across his brow.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my loves," he said, "we must all try to be as cheerful as we can
+and not break down; there isn't a bit of use in breaking down."</p>
+
+<p>"But how is she, father?" asked Molly. "What does Dr. Jervis say?"</p>
+
+<p>"He says, Molly, that poor Nora is very seriously hurt; but it is
+impossible to form a reliable opinion on her case so soon. He wishes us
+to get Dr. Bentinck from London to see her, and I am going to drive to
+Nortonbury to telegraph to him to come at once. Now, don't keep me, my
+dears. By the way, Molly, mother says you had better take the children
+home as soon as ever you can."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, may I not stay?" asked Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear, I think not; there must be some head at home. Jane
+Macalister will stay and help your mother to-night until we can get the
+services of a proper nurse. Take the children back as soon as you can,
+Molly. God bless you, my love."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 79]</a></span></p><p>The Squire stepped into the doctor's brougham and was driven rapidly
+away. Molly raised her hand to her forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel stunned," she said. "Nora was the gayest and the brightest and
+the prettiest of us all. Nothing ever seemed to happen to Nora, and now
+she is so ill that I may not even see her."</p>
+
+<p>"She will be better to-morrow, I am sure," said Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Hetty, if I could only stay here," cried poor Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you could, Molly, with all my heart."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll know nothing of how she's getting on at the Towers," continued
+Molly. "I think it will drive me mad not to know."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll come over very early in the morning and tell you, and perhaps
+something may be arranged to-morrow so that you can stay here."</p>
+
+<p>"I might stay instead of Jane. I know I could help mother far better
+than Jane can. But there, I suppose I must have patience. Come, Nell."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>AN AWFULLY FRIVOLOUS GIRL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Dr. Bentinck, the great London surgeon, arrived early on the following
+morning. Poor Nora was quite conscious now, and in great pain. This
+pain, however, was considered rather a good sign than otherwise, for had
+the spine been much injured the little girl would have been numbed and
+stupid. Dr. Bentinck examined his little patient with great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 80]</a></span>tenderness
+and care. His opinion, when it was given, was a great deal more
+favourable than anyone dared to hope. He thought that Nora would
+eventually be as well as ever again; but although he was sure that there
+was no permanent injury to the spine, there was a great deal of present
+distress and discomfort to be got through. The little girl must lie
+perfectly still on her back for many weeks, and it would be many a long
+day before the dancing, romping Nora of old would return to the Towers.</p>
+
+<p>After the night of suspense and terror, however, which poor Mrs.
+Lorrimer, by Nora's bedside, and Molly in her lonely little bedroom at
+the Towers, had undergone, the great London doctor's news seemed all
+that was delightful. Hester hurried to the Towers to put Molly's anxious
+heart at rest, and Mrs. Lorrimer returned to the room where Nora was
+lying very white and still.</p>
+
+<p>Nora had received a shock the day before which must influence her during
+all the remainder of her days. It seemed to shake all her little
+artificial affected nature off and to reveal the real Nora, who was
+frightened and weak and silly, and yet who had somewhere beneath her
+frivolous exterior a real little heart of gold. If there was one person
+whom Nora really adored, and in whose presence she was ever her truest
+and best, it was her mother. She looked at her mother now as she
+re-entered the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Stoop down and tell me," she said in a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lorrimer bent over her.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my love," she said. "What do you want to know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Am I going to die, mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Die? not a bit of it, my darling. Dr. Bentinck <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 81]</a></span>has given us quite a
+cheerful opinion of you. He says there is no very serious injury, and
+that you will be your usual self by-and-by."</p>
+
+<p>Nora's eyes brightened.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad," she said. "I didn't want to die. I don't think I'm
+quite fit."</p>
+
+<p>"My little daughter will have learnt a severe lesson by this accident,"
+said Mrs. Lorrimer; "but now you must lie still, love, and think of
+nothing but how quickly you can get well again."</p>
+
+<p>Nora closed her eyes, and Mrs. Lorrimer sat down in an easy chair by the
+bedside.</p>
+
+<p>The next day the little girl was considerably better, and Mrs. Lorrimer
+proposed that she and Jane should return to the Towers and send Molly to
+look after Nora. A good surgical nurse had arrived from town the evening
+before; Molly's services, therefore, would only be of the lightest.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lorrimer went into the morning room, where Hester and Annie were
+sitting together.</p>
+
+<p>The moment she did so Annie jumped up and came to her.</p>
+
+<p>"How is Nora?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"She is much better, my dear; in fact, almost quite like her old self
+to-day. She cannot, of course, move without the greatest pain, but when
+she lies perfectly still she is tolerably easy."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I may go to see her, may I not?" asked Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"If you will promise to be very quiet. It would not do to excite her in
+any way."</p>
+
+<p>"There never was such a good nurse as Annie," exclaimed Hester. "She has
+a soothing influence over sick people which is quite marvellous. Did I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 82]</a></span>ever tell you how she saved Nan's life years ago at Lavender House?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's an old story," said Annie, laughing and reddening. "Well,
+granted that I possess a sort of mesmerism, may I use it for Nora's
+benefit?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, my love," said Mrs. Lorrimer, smiling affectionately at
+Annie's bright face.</p>
+
+<p>She ran off, singing as she went.</p>
+
+<p>Nora was lying perfectly flat on the little bed which had been hastily
+improvised for her in the study. The room was now turned into a
+comfortable bedroom, but was also in part a sitting-room. A large screen
+effectually shut away the bedroom part of the furniture and partly
+screened Nora also.</p>
+
+<p>Annie had not gone straight to the sick room. She had rushed first into
+the conservatory and made frantic mad havoc amongst the roses there. The
+choicest blooms, any quantity of unopened buds, were cut by her reckless
+fingers. She gathered a whole quantity of maidenhair to mix with the
+roses, and then, a tender colour on her own cheeks, her dark eyes bright
+as well as soft, she appeared like a radiant vision before the tired,
+sad eyes of the sick child.</p>
+
+<p>Nora was just well enough to feel the monotony of her present position,
+to think longingly of the life of active movement which was hers at the
+Towers. Even lessons in the old schoolroom, even that hateful darning
+and mending to which she had to devote a portion of her time each day,
+seemed delightful in contrast to her present inertia. She was thinking
+of Friar's Wood and of Annie's bright face just when Annie herself,
+looking like a bit of the summer morning, appeared in view.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, don't get excited," said Annie smiling at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 83]</a></span>her. "You'll see such a
+lot of me during the next few weeks that you need not get into a state
+just because I've come into the room. I feel that in a certain fashion I
+am to blame for your accident, so I am going to take your amusements
+upon my shoulders; and if you just allow me to manage matters, I'll
+promise that you shan't have a dull time while you are getting well.
+Have you a headache?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not a bit."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right; then you won't mind my talking. Are you fond of
+pretty things?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very fond."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll sit here, just where you can comfortably see the flowers and
+me. I expect we'll make a very pretty picture, but you need not say so.
+I wonder where there's a looking-glass. Oh, yes, in that corner,
+decently covered with an antimacassar. Well, then, glass, you have got
+to uncover for my benefit. I wish to see whether I look pretty or not."</p>
+
+<p>Annie danced up to the glass; Nora could watch her each movement.</p>
+
+<p>Her steps were as light as a sylph's, nothing rattled in the sick-room
+as she moved about it. She took up a comb and re-arranged her dark,
+curling hair. She placed a rose in her belt, nodded to her own bright
+image, and then, seating herself before a small table, began to arrange
+the flowers. "Nora, you can't think what a mass of roses there are in
+the green-house this morning. Of course the garden is full, too, but I
+did not wait to go to the garden to get these for you. You can watch me
+just as long as you fancy and then shut your eyes. These half-open buds
+are to be placed on a table close to you, where you can smell them. The
+other flowers we'll put <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 84]</a></span>here and there about the room. It's a good
+thing you were brought into this pretty study, for from where you lie
+you can fancy you are in a sitting-room, and that you are just having a
+stretch on the sofa to rest yourself. Fancy goes a long way, doesn't
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," replied Nora. "I'm afraid I can't fancy that."</p>
+
+<p>Tears filled her eyes as she spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"How cool you look," she said presently, "and&mdash;and active and happy."</p>
+
+<p>"It wouldn't do for me to look unhappy when I am with you, would it?"
+asked Annie. "Now tell me, do you like this dress?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it's very pretty. What stuff is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only pink cambric, trimmed with pink embroidery. Would you like me to
+make you one?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>Nora's eyes brightened perceptibly.</p>
+
+<p>"What I say," replied Annie. "I made this dress for myself. I make all
+my dresses, for I am not at all well off; in short, I am poor, and Mrs.
+Willis is so sweet and dear that she gives me a couple of hours every
+day to devote to needlework. In consequence I have got some pretty
+things, although they cost next to nothing. Now, I think you and I are
+something alike. We are both dark, and we have both got bright colour.
+Oh, I don't mean that you have a bright colour just now, you poor little
+darling; but when you are well, you are sweet, like a wild rose. Suppose
+I make you a pink cambric frock, and a white one and a blue one? I have
+got a white and a blue. When you're well again you'll look quite lovely
+in them, Nora. What do you say?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 85]</a></span></p><p>"I'd like it awfully," said Nora. "You are very good, very good; but I
+haven't got any money. I&mdash;I am even poorer than you."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you? How delightful. I adore <i>poor lady</i> girls, because they are
+always contriving, and that's so interesting. We'll make the dresses out
+of odds and ends, and they shan't cost you a penny."</p>
+
+<p>"It's very good of you," said Nora. She was too weak to argue and
+protest, and the vision of her pretty little self in alternate dresses
+of pink and white and blue cambric was decidedly refreshing.</p>
+
+<p>She lay and looked at Annie and acknowledged to herself that she made a
+pretty, a beautiful, picture, and the discontented lines round her mouth
+vanished, and the time did not seem long.</p>
+
+<p>That evening Molly, excited and in high spirits, arrived on the scene.</p>
+
+<p>Molly was absolutely trembling as she came into the room where Nora was
+lying; but although her love was ten times deeper, she had not Annie's
+marvellous tact, and soon contrived to tire poor Nora dreadfully. The
+nurse seeing this sent her away, and Molly came back to Hester with a
+very crestfallen expression of face.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't make out how it is," she said; "but Nora does not seem a bit
+glad to see me."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nonsense," said Hester; "what do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>Annie was sitting in a corner of the room busily engaged over Henry
+Kingsley's novel, "Geoffrey Hamlyn." She did not raise her eyes, but
+bent her curly head still lower over the fascinating pages. Nan had gone
+to spend a few days at the Towers, and the great house at the Grange
+seemed very quiet and still.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Molly sank down into a chair near Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been so excited about this meeting," she said. "Nora is almost
+my twin-sister, and I have suffered so terribly about her. I cannot tell
+you the relief and joy of being allowed to come here to look after her,
+but now I fear I shall be next to no good."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you'll be no end of good to me," said Hester; "and, of course,
+Nora will like to have you by-and-by, but she is still very weak and
+cannot bear the least excitement."</p>
+
+<p>"But nurse tells me that you, Annie, spent some hours in her room
+to-day."</p>
+
+<p>At these words Annie sprang to her feet, and "Geoffrey Hamlyn" fell with
+a bang to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"I did spend hours in her room," she said, "and I don't think I tired
+her; but, then, perhaps you kissed her a lot, Molly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Kissed her?" exclaimed Molly; "I should think so, at least a hundred
+times."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, good gracious, how dreadfully fatiguing for a sick person. Well,
+you see, I didn't kiss her once, nor even touch her."</p>
+
+<p>"But you aren't her sister," said Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; and that is the reason that I am a very good person to be with
+her, because I amuse her without exciting her. All I did to-day was to
+sit in the room where she could see me, and arrange some flowers and
+have a little talk about dressmaking."</p>
+
+<p>Molly opened her eyes in astonishment. Nora had been at the brink of
+death. Had not Molly spent a whole night in fervent and passionate
+prayers for her recovery? Did not Nora love Molly, and did <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 87]</a></span>not Molly
+love Nora as only loving sisters can love? and yet Molly exhausted poor
+Nora, while Annie Forest, who was a stranger, soothed her.</p>
+
+<p>Molly looked at Annie now without in the least comprehending her, and
+for the first time in all her gentle life a distinct sensation of
+jealousy was aroused within her.</p>
+
+<p>Annie left the room a moment later, and Hester turned to Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"I see you don't understand Annie," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I'm sure I do; what an awfully frivolous girl she must be. Fancy
+her talking of dress to Nora, and she so ill."</p>
+
+<p>"But it did Nora heaps of good; nurse said she was quite jolly this
+afternoon, and that Annie was the companion of all others for her."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't say that again, Hester," said Molly; "it makes me feel quite
+wicked."</p>
+
+<p>"I know well," replied Hester, "that Annie is thoughtless."</p>
+
+<p>"Thoughtless? I should think so; but for her Nora would never have been
+hurt."</p>
+
+<p>"But she has the warmest heart in the world," continued Hester. "I did
+not understand her for a long time. Indeed, Molly, I don't mind telling
+you that once I hated her; but, oh, if you could only see Annie at her
+best. She can be&mdash;yes, she can be noble."</p>
+
+<p>Molly stared in non-comprehension.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE DIAMOND RING.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Those of my readers who have read "A World of Girls" will know all about
+the early story of Annie Forest; but, to those who have not, I may as
+well explain that she was a motherless girl, that she had been in her
+day a sad tomboy, that she had a father living, but that it was
+absolutely necessary for her before long to earn her own living. She was
+still at school, however, although she now occupied the post there of
+pupil-teacher. Mrs. Willis, the head-mistress of Lavender House, the
+school where Annie was educated, was her warm and devoted friend. Mrs.
+Willis loved all her pupils and had an extraordinary influence over
+them, but Annie was almost like her adopted child.</p>
+
+<p>She stood now in the wide, cool hall at the Grange, and reflected for a
+moment as to what she should do. She then ran lightly up to her pretty
+bedroom, and, opening her trunk, began to rummage eagerly among its
+contents. Annie would not be Annie if she were not the most impulsive
+creature in the world. She meant to devote herself to Nora; she had a
+great gift for reading character, and a quick glance showed her how best
+she might amuse this little girl. Nora was pretty, but Nora was not
+richly endowed with pretty frocks. Annie felt sure that she would arouse
+the keenest sympathy in the sick girl if she used her skilful fingers to
+cover the defects in Nora's wardrobe. She had made her own cambric
+frocks, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 89]</a></span>imagined that she had plenty of stuff in her trunk to make
+similar ones for Nora; she saw, to her dismay, however, that she had
+left the cambric behind her at school; and, as Mrs. Willis was away, and
+Lavender House was shut up during the summer vacation, it would be
+impossible for her to send for it. She had only a few shillings in her
+purse; she was well aware that Nora was possessed of no money. How,
+then, could she redeem her promise? Annie could not bring herself to ask
+Hester to help her, and yet, at the same time, it would never, never do
+to disappoint Nora! Annie had brought herself to consider Nora her own
+special patient. She had spent an hour with her in the morning and
+nearly two hours in the afternoon, and during the afternoon visit the
+girls had talked a good deal about the frocks. It was arranged between
+them that they were to be surprise frocks, and that Mr. and Mrs.
+Lorrimer were to know nothing about them until they saw Nora well once
+more and arrayed in the prettiest of the three. Annie had hunted up some
+fashion-books, and had consulted Nora about the shape and the cut of the
+sleeves, and the way the skirt was to be hung and the embroidery sewn
+on. Both girls had been animated over the discussion, and Nora had been
+too interested to feel fatigue.</p>
+
+<p>Well, that happened a few hours ago; now Annie, on her knees, bent over
+her empty trunk with an expression of keen dismay.</p>
+
+<p>What was she to do? How could she possibly raise the money necessary to
+the purchase of the cambric? She calculated that the cambric and
+embroidery necessary for the making of three simple dresses would cost
+from twenty-five to thirty shillings <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 90]</a></span>This was not a large sum, but
+everything is by proportion, and for poor Annie, with five shillings in
+her purse and very little chance of any more money coming to her until
+the end of her visit to the Grange, thirty shillings seemed absolutely
+unattainable.</p>
+
+<p>"But I must get it somehow!" she murmured, flinging herself on the floor
+by her open trunk as she spoke. "I'm not going to be beaten by a little
+paltry sum like that! I promised Nora the frocks, and she shall have
+them! I didn't care a bit for Nora yesterday&mdash;she didn't suit me, and I
+thought her affected; but if I hadn't been so desperately thoughtless,
+she'd have been well now; and, as I have been in part the cause of her
+accident, I'm simply bound to look after her. Have those frocks she
+must! Poor little bit of frivolity, nothing in the world will soothe her
+nerves so much as seeing me making them for her. But that money&mdash;that
+thirty shillings! Oh, <i>dash</i> that thirty shillings! Why should a mean
+little sum like that worry a girl almost into fits? Get it, I <i>will</i>;
+and ask Hester to help me, I <i>won't</i>! The frocks are to be a secret
+between Nora and me; the secret will be half the fun. Now, how am I to
+get the money? Have I anything to sell?"</p>
+
+<p>Annie rose from the floor, where she had seated herself, and, going to a
+drawer, opened it. She took out a little leather box, and looked
+anxiously at its contents. There were a few treasures there, dear from
+association, but not of a valuable sort. There was a silver brooch,
+shaped like a horn, with a little bell attached; a schoolfellow had
+brought it to her from Switzerland; it probably cost a franc, and,
+although Annie admired it immensely on her neck, she did not believe any
+jeweller would give her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 91]</a></span>sixpence for it. Then there was a basket
+beautifully carved out of an apricot-stone, and a narrow silver chain
+broken in many parts; and there was a bog-oak brooch and an old jet
+bracelet. Annie also possessed a gold locket and chain which she had won
+as a prize on a certain memorable occasion, but this treasure she had
+also stupidly left behind her. How provoking! She had really nothing she
+could sell for thirty shillings. But stay, she had forgotten. She
+coloured high as a memory came to her. She had one article of solid
+value&mdash;a ring. In one sense it was not hers; in another it was. It was a
+gold ring, with a single diamond; this ring had belonged to Annie
+Forest's mother. On her dying bed she had given the ring to Mrs. Willis.
+One day Mrs. Willis had shown it to Annie, had yielded to Annie's
+entreaties that she might borrow it for this visit to the Grange, and
+had told her that, although she could not part with her mother's last
+gift during her lifetime, she would leave the ring to Annie in her will.</p>
+
+<p>With her dark eyes full of excitement, Annie now took the ring out of
+its little morocco case and looked at it.</p>
+
+<p>She had meant to wear it proudly on her finger during her stay at the
+Grange; but, in the excitement of passing events, had forgotten to do so
+up to the present time. The ring was of value; no one had seen it on her
+finger, therefore no one would miss it. It occurred to Annie that she
+might ask a jeweller to lend her thirty shillings on the ring. With this
+thirty shillings she could buy the stuff for Nora's frocks; and as her
+father always sent her a pound on her birthday, and that birthday was
+only a little over a month away, she thought that she might manage to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 92]</a></span>scrape together thirty shillings to redeem the ring before she returned
+to school.</p>
+
+<p>Annie's mind was quickly made up. She would pawn the ring to someone,
+and trust to her lucky star to get it back before she returned to
+Lavender House. She knew well that Mrs. Willis would ask her for it as
+soon as ever she went back to school. Mrs. Willis was a person who never
+forgot: big things and small things alike found a place in her memory;
+but long before then Annie would, of course, have the ring in her
+possession.</p>
+
+<p>Having made up her mind to sell it, she wondered how she could
+accomplish this feat. She would have not only to sell the ring, but also
+to buy the cambric and embroidery without anyone knowing anything about
+it. The secret would lose half its fascination if anybody guessed. Annie
+thought anxiously for a moment, then an idea came to her. Nan had talked
+a good deal about her old nurse. Annie was a prime favourite with nurse,
+who always considered that she owed Annie a good deal for having rescued
+her darling from the gipsies some years ago. Perhaps nurse would help
+Annie now; she resolved to go and sound the old woman.</p>
+
+<p>Putting the ring in its morocco case, she opened the baize door which
+led to the nursery part of the house, and soon found herself in Mrs.
+Martin's apartments. Mrs. Martin was known by three different
+appellations: to Hester she was nurse, or nursey, to Sir John Thornton
+she was Patty, but to the servants and to strangers she was always
+spoken of as Mrs. Martin. She was extremely punctilious as to the manner
+in which she was addressed; and now, as Annie entered her room <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 93]</a></span>she
+wondered which of her three titles would best propitiate her.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, what do you want?" said the old lady, looking up with a
+pleased smile from her knitting as Annie's pretty head was pushed
+roguishly round the door. "Oh, come now, Miss Forest; I know your
+collogueing ways. But you ought to be in bed, my dear, for it's past ten
+o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"And so ought you to be in bed, you dear, naughty, old thing," said
+Annie; "but you know people don't always do what they ought. If going to
+bed is what I ought to do at the present moment, you ought to do the
+same, nursey. May I call you nursey?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Miss Annie, you're almost like one of the family; but still I'm
+properly only nurse to my own two bairns&mdash;Miss Hetty and Miss Nan."</p>
+
+<p>"And this is a motherless bairn who would like you to be nursey to her,"
+said Annie, seating herself on a low hassock at the old woman's feet and
+looking into her face.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, and nursey it shall be," said Mrs. Martin. "Eh, but God has given
+you a very bonny face, my love."</p>
+
+<p>Annie took up one of the horny hands, and rubbed it affectionately
+against her soft cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"Nurse," she said, "I am quite in trouble. I wonder if I might tell you
+a secret?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, dear, if you like to trust me, safe it shall be. Inviolate it
+shall be kept, Miss Annie, and you know that violet's the colour of
+truth."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I do, you dear old thing. What a wonderful comfort it is to
+talk to you. I knew you'd let me confide in you, and it will be such a
+load off my mind."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 94]</a></span></p><p>"My dear, I hope you haven't been at any mad pranks. The young ladies of
+the present day are wonderful for audaciousness."</p>
+
+<p>Annie sighed.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I wasn't audacious," she said; "and I wish I wasn't thoughtless
+and reckless. I'm always meaning to be kind to people, and somehow or
+other I'm always kind in the wrong way; it's very, very trying."</p>
+
+<p>Annie's pretty eyes filled with real tears of contrition.</p>
+
+<p>"You're but young, my bairn," said Mrs. Martin, "and the heart's in the
+right place; anyone can see that who looks at you, Miss Annie."</p>
+
+<p>"Nurse, you are a comfort to me. Now I will tell you my trouble. At the
+picnic the other day I got into a state of mind because little Boris
+Lorrimer had not come, and I confided in Kitty Lorrimer and went off to
+fetch him, and Kitty promised she would not tell where I had gone until
+I had brought him back; but when I got to the Towers I was very
+hot&mdash;very, very hot with my long walk, and I found that Boris did not
+wish to come back with me, and I forgot all about my promise to Kitty,
+and stayed at the Towers for the rest of the day; but poor Kitty kept
+her word and did not tell, and Nora got cross with her, and climbed up
+the beech tree after her, and crept out on to the rotten bough, and so
+got the dreadful fall which has made her so ill. Nora would not have met
+with this terrible accident but for me; so I have taken upon myself to
+amuse her, and I promised to make her three dresses."</p>
+
+<p>"Sakes alive! Three?" interrupted Mrs. Martin; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 95]</a></span>"and why three, Miss
+Annie? Wouldn't one be enough to content her?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, nursey, no; three cambric dresses or nothing. I promised to make
+them, and I thought I had the cambric and embroidery in my trunk, but
+when I looked I found I had left it all behind me at school. You can't
+think how upset I am about it, for I must keep my promise to Nora, and
+Nora has got no money, and I have only five shillings, which I must keep
+for stamps and odds and ends; and I would not ask Hester or Nan to lend
+me sixpence for the world."</p>
+
+<p>"But why not, my dear? I am sure Miss Hetty would be proud to oblige."</p>
+
+<p>"No, nurse, it must not be," said Annie; "Hester is to know nothing
+about the frocks, and Nan is to know nothing and Molly is to know
+nothing. The fun of the thing is its being a great, great secret. Why,
+the making of those frocks in the room with Nora and only Nora knowing;
+why, the mystery of the thing will almost cure her, it will, really. Oh,
+nursey, nursey," patting Mrs. Martin excitedly as she spoke, "you must,
+you shall help me."</p>
+
+<p>"And you want me to lend you the money, my pet?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; how can you imagine such a thing. But I'll tell you what I want you
+to do. I want you to get up early to-morrow morning, quite early, and to
+make one of the grooms drive you into Nortonbury."</p>
+
+<p>"Sakes alive! What for? I'm not used to the air without my breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll get up and get you your breakfast. I'll boil the kettle here, and
+make your tea and toast your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 96]</a></span>bread. You must go to Nortonbury, and you
+must be back between ten and eleven o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"And when I go what am I to do there, my dear? Oh, dear, dear, the ways
+of the young of the present day are masterful beyond belief. You make me
+all of a quiver, Miss Annie."</p>
+
+<p>"I knew you'd rise to it," said Annie. "I felt if there were a soul in
+this world who would pull me out of the horrid scrape I have got myself
+into, it would be you, nursey."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my love, you have got a blarneying tongue, and no mistake; but
+now, when I do get to Nortonbury, what am I to do?"</p>
+
+<p>Annie pulled the morocco case out of her pocket. She opened it, and
+slipped the ring on Mrs. Martin's little finger.</p>
+
+<p>"You are to sell that," she said; "or, rather&mdash;no, you are not to sell
+it for the world&mdash;but you are to borrow thirty shillings on it."</p>
+
+<p>"My word! Is it to the pawn-shop you expect me to go, Miss Forest?"</p>
+
+<p>"How nasty of you to say Miss Forest. I'm Annie Forest, in great
+trouble, and looking to you as my last comfort. You are to borrow thirty
+shillings on that beautiful diamond ring. I don't mind where you get it;
+and then you are to buy me seven yards of pink cambric, and seven yards
+of white cambric, and seven yards of blue cambric. These shades, do you
+see? And I want embroidery to match. I have put the number of yards on
+this slip of paper, and a list of buttons and hooks and waistbands and
+linings. Oh, and, of course, cottons to match. Now, will you or won't
+you? Will you be an angel or won't you? That's the plain question I have
+got to ask."</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/i-2.jpg" width="378" height="600" alt="i_2" title="i_2" /></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><b>
+<a href="#Page_102">&quot;'YOU ARE TO BORROW THIRTY SHILLINGS ON THAT BEAUTIFUL
+DIAMOND RING'" (<i>p.</i> 96)</a></b></p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 97]</a></span></p><p>"It's the pawn-shop that gets over me, Miss Annie."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, <i>please</i> don't let it get over you. What can the pawnbroker do to
+you? Most people call him uncle, so I expect he's awfully good-natured."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle, indeed," exclaimed Mrs. Martin, tossing her head; "it's a word
+you shouldn't know, Miss Annie Forest."</p>
+
+<p>"But why shouldn't I? I never heard that uncles were wicked, except the
+one who killed the babes in the wood. Now you will go; you will be an
+angel! I know this special uncle who is to lend money on my ring will be
+delightful!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LAND OF PERHAPS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>There are some people who always get their way in life. They are by no
+means the best people, nor the most amiable, nor the most thoughtful.
+Sometimes, and not a very rare sometimes either, the poor, thoughtful
+people go to the wall, when the thoughtless and impulsive and careless
+come triumphantly out of their difficulties.</p>
+
+<p>There never was a girl who got into a greater number of scrapes than
+Annie Forest; but neither was there ever a girl who managed to right
+herself more quickly. She knew the art of twisting other people round
+her little finger. Having performed this feat to perfection on Mrs.
+Martin, alias Patty, alias nursey, she went happily to bed, knowing that
+all would be right for the present, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 98]</a></span>never giving a thought to the
+evil but still distant hour when she must return her mother's ring to
+Mrs. Willis.</p>
+
+<p>Annie rose in good time in the morning, and took upon herself the
+preparing of Mrs. Martin's breakfast. She lit a fire in the old lady's
+sitting-room, and toasted her bread with her own fair hands, and made
+the tea for her to drink.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Martin started on her journey to Nortonbury with many fervent
+blessings from Annie, who then returned in a high state of content to
+her own room.</p>
+
+<p>The parcel of cambric arrived in due time, and Annie cut out the first
+of the three frocks that morning.</p>
+
+<p>In order to keep their secret quite to themselves, Nora and Annie
+decided to keep the door of the library locked while they were at work.
+This arrangement was delightful to Nora, but it irritated Molly not a
+little. When she came to see her sister, to be greeted by a locked
+door&mdash;and to hear Annie's clear voice singing out from within, "Oh,
+we're so busy, you darling of a Molly asthore. Don't disturb us for the
+present, there's a love," and when this remark was followed by silvery
+laughter from Nora&mdash;poor Molly felt herself decidedly out in the cold.</p>
+
+<p>Jealousy was for the first time fiercely stirred in her gentle breast
+and she shed some tears in secret over the change in Nora, who had
+hitherto clung to her and loved her better than anyone else in the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>But what will not a rather frivolous little heart do for the sake of a
+pretty dress?</p>
+
+<p>Nora in her own way was as thoughtless as Annie, and it never occurred
+to either of them as even <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 99]</a></span>possible that Molly should be pained by the
+fact of the locked door.</p>
+
+<p>A fortnight passed away. The pink dress and the white were both finished
+and the blue was rapidly approaching completion, when one day the whole
+party at the Grange were considerably electrified and their attention
+turned into a completely new quarter by a letter which arrived for
+Hester from Sir John Thornton.</p>
+
+<p>After writing on various subjects, he concluded his lengthy epistle as
+follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"I shall not be home for another week. For some reasons I am sorry
+for this delay; but when I explain matters to you, my dear Hester,
+on the occasion of my return, you will, I am sure, agree with me
+that my absence from home is, under the circumstances, allowable.
+In the meantime, I have not forgotten that Nan's birthday is on the
+15th of August, and that that date is only a week distant. If in
+any way possible, I shall return either on the fifteenth or the
+evening of the day before; but, meanwhile, I give you <i>carte
+blanche</i> to celebrate the auspicious event in any manner you like.
+You need spare no expense to make the day as truly festive to
+yourself and your young friends as you possibly can. I enclose in
+this letter a blank cheque to which I have affixed my signature.
+You may fill it in for any sum within reason, and then if you take
+it to the bank at Nortonbury it will be cashed for you. Buy Nan a
+handsome present from me, and please choose presents for Annie
+Forest and all the Lorrimer children. I am sorry to hear bad
+rumours with regard to the Squire, and that there is a possibility
+of the Towers being soon in the market; but I trust these rumours
+are either grossly exaggerated or without any foundation. I am
+sorry, also, to hear that Nora Lorrimer has met with an accident,
+but am glad that you are taking care of her, as I know by
+experience that no one could have a kinder nurse than my good
+little Hetty. Get every possible thing you can want, my love, for
+Nan's birthday. Make it a festival to be long remembered by you
+all. Set your wits to work to make the day a really brilliant one,
+and expect your loving father, if not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 100]</a></span>to share in the whole of the
+festivity, at least to be present at a portion of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Now good-bye, my dear Hester; give my love to Nan, and remember me
+kindly to your young friend, Miss Forest.&mdash;Believe me, your
+affectionate father,</p></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot2"><p>"<span class="smcap">John Thornton</span>."</p></div>
+
+<p>Hester received this letter at breakfast time. She read it through
+gravely&mdash;not once, but twice. Annie's gay voice, her peals of merry
+laughter, and her gay and irresistibly funny speeches were diverting the
+attention of Molly, and to a certain extent of Nan; but Nan knew the
+handwriting on the envelope. She was also well aware of the fact that
+the birthday, when she would have the glorious privilege of counting
+nine years as her own, was close at hand. When Hester, therefore, folded
+up the letter, she called to her from the other end of the table.</p>
+
+<p>"Toss it over, Hetty," she said. "I know it's from the Dad; let us hear
+what he says."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is from father," replied Hester in a grave voice.</p>
+
+<p>"May not I read what he says?"</p>
+
+<p>"The beginning part is business."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll skip the business; you can point out where the fun begins.
+What are you looking so mysterious and solemn about? Why may not I read
+the letter?"</p>
+
+<p>Nan looked almost cross; Hester was disturbed. She showed this by
+slipping the letter into her pocket. This fact aroused Annie's
+curiosity, who looked at her with sparkling eyes full of mischief.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a cross-patch," exclaimed Nan in her most spoilt tone. "I never
+knew such a thing. Is not a father's letter meant for one child as well
+as for another?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 101]</a></span></p><p>"No, Nan, dear, not on this occasion," said Hester in a firm tone. "Now,
+try not to be silly; finish your breakfast, and I will speak to you
+afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>Nan pouted.</p>
+
+<p>"When is Sir John coming back, Hester?" inquired Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"In about a week," replied Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"A week," shouted Nan suddenly recovering her good humour. "Hurrah! my
+birthday will be in a week. My dear, good girls all of you, I am getting
+elderly as fast as possible. I'll be nine in a week; isn't that
+scrumptious? Did Dad say anything about my birthday in that mysterious
+letter, Hetty?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is coming home for your birthday," replied Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"Good, kind, considerate old gentleman," responded Nan in her most
+flippant voice. "Did he say anything more about that great and
+auspicious event, Hetty?"</p>
+
+<p>"He said a great deal more about it; in fact, the largest part of his
+letter was about it; but I'm not going to talk it over now. I propose
+that we all go to Nora's room after breakfast and discuss the letter.
+There is a good deal to discuss, and it is very exciting," continued
+Hester, a flush of brilliant colour coming into her cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>The news that there was a good deal to discuss of an exciting character
+restored even Nan's good humour. Breakfast was hurried over, and Annie
+Forest and Nan rushed off to Nora's room to prepare her for the fact
+that she was soon expected to hold a <i>lev&eacute;e</i>, and that the subject under
+discussion was likely to be of a very rousing character.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 102]</a></span></p><p>Molly lingered behind in the breakfast-room; she looked anxiously at
+Hester, who avoided her eyes. Hester did not wish to say anything to
+make Molly unhappy, and she knew that her father's allusion to the
+possible sale of the Towers would fill the poor little girl's heart with
+the most acute misery.</p>
+
+<p>Making a great effort, therefore, to fight down a nameless apprehension
+on her own account, for what important business could be keeping Sir
+John so long away from home, she said in a cheerful voice&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Molly, we're not going to croak, nor spend the day imagining all
+kinds of unpleasant things. Father has written me a long letter, and
+there are some things in it which I don't quite like; but I am not going
+to talk them over at present. All the end of the letter is taken up with
+Nan's birthday, and that is the matter we have to discuss just now. Come
+along now to the library, and let's get it over."</p>
+
+<p>Nora was still lying flat on her back; but all pain had long left her,
+and she was practically quite well.</p>
+
+<p>The subject of the letter was therefore discussed with intense animation
+by the five eager girls.</p>
+
+<p>Unlimited money, any amount of presents, and <i>carte blanche</i> how to
+spend the birthday in the most agreeable way was surely enough to turn
+the brains of most people.</p>
+
+<p>Many and wild were the plans which Nan proposed.</p>
+
+<p>They would start for a picnic at six in the morning. They would order
+ices from Nortonbury to arrive by special messenger at some impossible
+place at an unearthly hour. They would have bonfires on the top of every
+hill within a reasonable distance. Although it was not Christmas time,
+they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 103]</a></span>would end up with the largest Christmas tree ever seen, and it
+should stand in the centre of the lawn, and every poor child for miles
+round should be invited to see it and to share the wonderful presents
+which should hang from every branch and twig.</p>
+
+<p>Nan's cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright while she made these
+suggestions; but, after all, it was Annie's proposal in the end which
+carried the day.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's have the picnic by all means," she said; "and let all who will go
+to it. If Nan wishes to be charitable, and to think of others rather
+than herself, let her do so; and let all the school children be taken in
+waggons and waggonettes to Friar's Wood or any other beautiful place in
+the neighbourhood, and let Nan herself give them presents before they go
+home. All that, of course, will be very delightful; although, of course,
+neither Nora nor I can be present."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by <i>your</i> not being present?" asked Molly, her brown
+eyes growing dark with anger. "I suppose if anyone is to stay with Nora,
+it ought to be me."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it oughtn't," said Nora. "I wish for Annie; she's more fun."</p>
+
+<p>"And I can't do without you, Molly, darling," interrupted Hester. "You
+always are my right hand when anything important is going on; and then
+you know all the school children by name, which, frankly, I do not."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, <i>do</i> hear me out," said Annie; "I have not half done. What I
+say is this, that as Sir John Thornton is so generous, and as he wishes
+everyone in the house to be happy on the day of Nan's birthday, I think
+something should be done to make it up to Nora and me. Now, why
+shouldn't we have a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 104]</a></span>real glorious time in the evening? You have a
+billiard-room in this house, haven't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't we have a ball there?"</p>
+
+<p>"What are we to do with the table?" said Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," exclaimed Nora, her eyes sparkling, "we have such a heavenly
+ball-room at the Towers; a great enormous room, never used and full of
+rubbish, which can easily be turned out."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there a gallery to that room?" interrupted Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, at one end."</p>
+
+<p>"Then the whole thing is complete," continued Annie. "We'll have a
+children's fancy ball in the evening, and Nora shall look on from the
+gallery. Nora shall be, in a sort of way, princess of the ceremonies.
+We'll make her up the sweetest dress, and everyone shall come up and
+talk to her; and if presents are to be given away at the end, she shall
+give them. What do you say, girls? Could anything be more perfectly
+lovely than a children's fancy ball in the old ball-room at the Towers?
+Oh, I hope it will be a moonlight night, and the whole place will look
+like fairyland!"</p>
+
+<p>This suggestion was so daring and brilliant that it carried Nora away on
+a storm of enthusiasm immediately. Nan clapped her hands and screamed
+with glee; and even the more sober Hester and Molly could find no
+objections to raise. The ball-room was certainly at the Towers; it
+contained a gallery where the musicians could be, and where, if
+necessary, Nora might rest; it contained what seemed to the children
+like unlimited space, and if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 105]</a></span>to unlimited space unlimited money could
+be added, what brilliant results must be produced!</p>
+
+<p>"If I consent to this," said Hester&mdash;"and I think my consent is
+essential&mdash;it must be on condition that not a single Lorrimer is put to
+even a shilling's worth of expense. The ball must be Nan's ball; the
+Lorrimers will most kindly give her a room to hold it in, all the rest
+will be our affair. Do you clearly understand, Molly? Do you, Nora?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I understand fast enough," said Nora quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I understand," replied Molly in a graver tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you agree?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, your consent being obtained," continued Hester, "I will go with
+you to the Towers this morning, Molly, and look at the ball-room, and
+see Mrs. Lorrimer on the subject."</p>
+
+<p>"The worst of it is," continued Annie, "that we have such a very short
+time to prepare&mdash;only one week to make all our fancy dresses and to see
+to all the other arrangements!"</p>
+
+<p>"Fancy dresses!" exclaimed Nora from her sofa. "What am I to wear?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are to be dressed as Queen of the Fairies. You shall lie on a bed
+of rose-leaves, and have gossamer, cloudy sort of drapery all around
+you. Never fear, Nora, you will look lovely&mdash;leave it to me."</p>
+
+<p>Nora's eyes sparkled.</p>
+
+<p>"Annie, you're a darling!" she exclaimed, with enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>"And what character am I to be, Annie?" cried Nan, pouting her full
+lips. "I'm not jealous, and I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 106]</a></span>don't mind Nora being Queen of the
+Fairies; but please remember that it's my party, and I am really the
+queen of the day."</p>
+
+<p>"So you are, you sweet!" exclaimed Annie. "Don't think for a moment that
+I'll forget you; but you must really give me a little time to think the
+characters over. Suppose I consider everything carefully and jot down a
+few ideas, and suppose we discuss them to-night; and then to-morrow we
+can go to Nortonbury to buy the materials for the dresses."</p>
+
+<p>"But we can't possibly make our own dresses," exclaimed Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, we can; they'll be twice as original. If you can get in a
+couple of good workwomen to help us, the dresses can easily be made at
+home," exclaimed Annie, her eyes sparkling.</p>
+
+<p>"Hester!" cried Molly, suddenly springing to her feet, "if we are to go
+to the Towers this morning, don't you think we had better start?"</p>
+
+<p>Hester stood up.</p>
+
+<p>"The day is such a delightful one," she said, "that I think we will just
+walk across the fields. I'll run up to my room and fetch my hat and
+gloves, and bring yours down at the same time, Molly."</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes later the two girls had set off. It was now holiday time at
+the Towers, and almost immediately on their arrival they were greeted by
+a whole bevy of children, who rushed up the avenue in a state of
+breathless excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think, Molly?" exclaimed Kitty, stammering almost in her
+eagerness. "Oh, you'll never guess, for it is so uncommon and
+unexpected&mdash;father <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 107]</a></span>and mother both went to London this morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Both&mdash;to London?" exclaimed Molly, stepping back a pace or two, while a
+look of surprise, and even consternation, spread itself over her round,
+fair face.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me, yes!" exclaimed Nell.</p>
+
+<p>"And they were awfully jolly about it," exclaimed Boris; "and mother has
+promised to bring me a rabbit."</p>
+
+<p>"And me a dove," screamed Kitty.</p>
+
+<p>"And perhaps I'm to have a shaggy pony all to myself," exclaimed Nell;
+"but it's only perhaps. It's perhaps, too, with you, Boris, and you,
+Kitty; you oughtn't to forget that."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, bother perhapses!" exclaimed Kitty. "I know I'm to have my rabbit;
+he's to have lop-ears and long fur, and he's to be snow-white, if
+possible. I described him fully to mother last night when she came to
+tuck me up. I kept pulling my eyes open to stay awake for the purpose."</p>
+
+<p>"And I told mother that I wished for a ring-dove," said Boris. "I want a
+ring-dove awfully, for there's an empty cage in the attic that will just
+fit it. Oh, I do hope, I do hope, that it will come!"</p>
+
+<p>He looked almost sad as he spoke and glanced at Nell, who was not
+looking at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Nell, come here," exclaimed Molly suddenly. "Hester, you can explain to
+Boris and Kitty what you have come about, and they can take you round
+and show you the ball-room. Come along, Nell, I want to talk to you."</p>
+
+<p>Molly put her arm round Nell and drew her down a side walk.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Nell," she said, "you must explain all this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 108]</a></span>to me. Why has mother
+gone to London? I am not so much surprised about father; father does go
+sometimes, but mother. Why has she gone? Answer me, Nell; tell me what
+you know."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know anything," said Nell. "Father was out all day yesterday,
+and mother looked very sad. She didn't cry or anything of that sort, of
+course; but she looked sad, and then father came home about tea-time
+quite jolly and in high spirits, and he said something to mother and
+they went into the study together; and then father shouted to Jane
+Macalister to come to them, and Jane went; and presently we were told
+that father and mother were to go to London this morning, and that
+they'd be away perhaps a week, perhaps ten days. Jane told us that, and
+then mother came into the room and she said the same thing, and she
+looked kind of <i>pretence</i>-merry you know, and said that <i>perhaps</i> she'd
+bring us back things. It was then Kitty asked for the rabbit, and Boris
+for the dove, and Guy wanted Star-Land and Harry some new carpenter's
+tools, and mother promised everything with a perhaps tacked on; but I
+don't think anyone noticed the perhaps except me, and all the time she
+kept smiling with her lips, but her eyes were so sad."</p>
+
+<p>"And you asked for a pony, Nell?"</p>
+
+<p>Nell coloured crimson.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I didn't," she replied; "but mother turned to me and put her arm
+round me and said, 'If the others get their things you shall have the
+wish of your heart, a shaggy pony.'"</p>
+
+<p>"And what did you say to that, Nell?"</p>
+
+<p>"I whispered back to her that I didn't want her to spend her money; and
+then she kissed me very hard."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 109]</a></span></p><p>"And did father promise things?"</p>
+
+<p>"He said that the house should be refurnished, and that we should go to
+the sea, and he would buy new horses and a lovely carriage for mother.
+Father was lively; I never saw him so gay."</p>
+
+<p>"And they went off this morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very early; I wasn't even dressed, but I jumped out of bed and ran
+to the window and saw them driving away."</p>
+
+<p>"And that's all you know, Nell?" exclaimed Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's all I know."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, tell me what you think."</p>
+
+<p>"What I think?" replied Nell. "I&mdash;" she hesitated. "No, I'd rather not."</p>
+
+<p>"You must, Nell, you must. Remember I'm your own cosy old Moll; remember
+I understand you, and I'm the eldest girl and mother's right hand.
+There's something that you think very, very hard, Nell, and you have
+wise thoughts, though you are so young. Tell me what they are; tell me
+at once."</p>
+
+<p>Molly knelt on the grass as she spoke and put her arms round Nell, who
+leant up against her and laid her head on her shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Nell, speak."</p>
+
+<p>Nell rubbed her cheek against Molly's, as if she found great comfort in
+the contact.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that mother is unhappy," she said, "and that, that we won't get
+the presents."</p>
+
+<p>"Come along and let's find Jane Macalister," exclaimed Molly suddenly.
+She caught Nell's hand and rushed with her towards the house.</p>
+
+<p>When Jane was not teaching, she was, generally, cooking, or mending
+clothes, or putting the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 110]</a></span>store-room in order. Jane never wasted a moment
+of her time, and she was extremely fond of taking up all the loose
+threads of work which other people had dropped. When the girls,
+therefore, now found themselves in the great central hall, and Nell's
+clear, high voice shouted for Jane, the single word, "store-room,"
+seemed to echo back to them from somewhere in the clouds.</p>
+
+<p>The store-room, where the largest supply of preserves and dried goods
+was kept, was high up in the old tower&mdash;higher up even than the
+schoolroom.</p>
+
+<p>"You stay downstairs, Nell," exclaimed Molly; "I wish to see Jane
+alone." She reached the spiral stairs, which she began to mount quickly.
+By-and-by with panting breath she arrived at the store-room. The door
+was open, but there was no Jane.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you, Jane Macalister?" called Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"Linen press," called Jane from still higher up.</p>
+
+<p>Molly mounted once more. Jane, with an old pillow-case pinned round her
+head and a huge apron on, was on her knees sorting feathers.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing?" exclaimed Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't speak to me for a moment, Molly; I'm in a perfect rage,"
+exclaimed Jane. "There stand out of the draught, child, or you'll get
+all this fluff into your hair. I have just discovered that the feathers
+put into these last pillows were not properly cured, so I've been
+obliged to take them all out, and I'm sprinkling them with lime. Faugh,
+what a mess the place is in. This is what comes of taking in an
+incompetent kitchen-maid like Susan Hicks. She did not half do the work
+of sorting and curing these feathers. Now, what is it you want, Molly?
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 111]</a></span>You can see for yourself that I'm up to my eyes in work."</p>
+
+<p>"I can," said Molly. "Well, I'll wait for a moment."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll wait for a moment!" screamed Jane. "I tell you I shan't have
+done for hours. There are at least a dozen pillows to be unpicked and
+their contents well sorted, and sprinkled with lime. I brought up a
+sandwich in my pocket, and don't mean to come downstairs until the job
+is done, and well done, too. Nothing frets me like half-finished work,
+and these pillows would get on my brain at night if I didn't see to
+them."</p>
+
+<p>Molly slowly crossed the linen-press room, and stood by the window.</p>
+
+<p>"There, child," exclaimed Jane, "you're exactly in my light. If you have
+anything to say, say it and have done with it. By the way, how is Nora?
+I hope they're not spoiling her at the Grange."</p>
+
+<p>"Nora is getting on nicely, thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a lucky chance for her," continued Jane, "that she happened to
+be near the Grange when she got hurt. Hester Thornton is sure to give
+her every comfort. Molly, you're exactly in my light."</p>
+
+<p>Molly moved to one side of the window.</p>
+
+<p>Jane Macalister went on vigorously with her work, the fluff from the
+feathers rose in the air, the smell of the lime was pungent.</p>
+
+<p>"Faugh," continued Jane; "here's a lump for you. Susan Hicks, you'd
+better keep out of my way for the present. 'Pon my word! look at this
+quill, why I could make a pen with it; disgraceful, perfectly
+disgraceful. Molly, I wish you wouldn't fidget. What in the world do you
+want to say to me?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 112]</a></span></p><p>"I want to ask you this," said Molly. "Why has mother gone to London?"</p>
+
+<p>Jane bent low over her work, some fluff got into her nose and made her
+sneeze.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, Molly," she exclaimed; "your mother went to London with your
+father because she wished to, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but why did she wish it?"</p>
+
+<p>"That I am not prepared to tell you, my dear."</p>
+
+<p>Molly stamped her foot.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you'd look at me, Jane," she said, "and leave off fiddling with
+those horrid, detestable feathers. When&mdash;when one is quite wretched,
+what do feathers matter? I have come home to find father and mother
+gone."</p>
+
+<p>"And me over the feathers," interrupted Jane. "Well, I suppose people
+want pillows, whether they're happy or miserable. I never knew before,
+at least, that they didn't."</p>
+
+<p>"Jane," said Molly, "you're hiding something from me."</p>
+
+<p>Jane Macalister suddenly rose to her feet. She came up to Molly and took
+her hand. "I didn't know you'd come over this morning, my love," she
+said. "I have been told certain things, and what I'm told in confidence
+cart-ropes won't drag from me. Your father and mother have gone to
+London because there is a hope, just a hope, that terrible trouble may
+be averted. It's all uncertainty, and it's all suspense at present,
+Molly; and those who are cowards will bear it badly, and those who are
+brave will bear it well. That's all I can tell you, my love; and now let
+me get back to the feathers, or I won't have them done by night."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 113]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FANCY BALL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The best cure for anxiety, short of removing it altogether, is plenty of
+work. Molly came down from her interview with Jane Macalister with a
+sickening sense of coming disaster filling her heart. Hers was not a
+particularly hopeful nature. By nature she was inclined to look at the
+dark side rather than at the bright. She had plenty of courage and was
+unselfish to a fault; but when she arrived in the hall now and found all
+the rest of the children gathered round Hester and was greeted by peals
+of excited laughter and shouts of excited joy, she would have given a
+great deal to have been able to run away and hide herself.</p>
+
+<p>This was impossible, however; she was dragged into the eager group of
+children, and was obliged not only to listen to their remarks, but to
+make suggestions of her own. In the absence of Mr. and Mrs. Lorrimer,
+Molly had to decide whether the ball-room could be used or not. She
+would have given the world to say no, but scarcely dared to do this with
+all those eager delighted faces gazing at her.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure mother will consent," she said after a pause. "I will write
+to her to-day and ask her; but I think we may act as if her consent were
+already given. Now, shall we come to the ball-room and see what is
+necessary to be done?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a darling Molly you are," exclaimed all the other Lorrimers in
+a breath. She found <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 114]</a></span>herself whirled in their midst to the old
+ball-room, and the rest of the morning was spent in eager and animated
+discussion.</p>
+
+<p>This magnificent old room was apart from the rest of the house. It was
+entered by a covered way from one of the drawing-rooms; but this
+entrance had long been closed, and the room itself&mdash;since the family
+purse had become so low&mdash;was only made use of as a play-room for the
+children in wet weather, and as a place for all kinds of lumber and
+rubbish. Hester and Molly were neither of them artistic in their tastes
+or ideas, but they were intensely practical in all they said and did.
+Molly proposed that the room should be first cleared out and thoroughly
+cleaned, and that early on the following morning Annie Forest should
+come and see it. The room was lit by seven tall Gothic windows, and had
+a high arched roof of oak. Round the windows the thick ivy which only
+years can produce hung in heavy masses. Some of this must be cleared
+away, and some light draperies must relieve the dark tone of the walls.
+The gallery was pronounced sufficiently sound for the band to stand
+there, and Annie's original idea of placing Nora in the gallery as a
+sort of queen of the ceremonies was superseded by a better one. She was
+to have a special throne made for her at the other end of the ball-room.
+There she would not only see perfectly, but would also be seen. It
+seemed simple enough to have a ball in such a lovely room, and Hester
+arranged to send some men over that very afternoon to begin the work of
+clearing out the rubbish.</p>
+
+<p>"We don't wish to take possession of the Towers," she said. "We only
+want the loan of the ball-room, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 115]</a></span>and of this delightful lawn just
+beyond, where we can put up a marquee or tent."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," exclaimed Molly, "it must be all or nothing. You know how big
+our entrance hall is, Hester, and those great half-empty drawing rooms.
+The whole ground floor is to be at your disposal. If we do it at all,
+let it be a real merry-making. It will be nice to have a merry-making
+once again at the Towers."</p>
+
+<p>Molly sighed as she spoke. Hester glanced at her, and the remark in her
+father's letter flashed through her brain.</p>
+
+<p>While the others were planning and talking at least twenty words to the
+dozen, Nell was looking solemnly up at the tall windows with an
+expression of ecstacy on her small face. Boris came up presently and
+pulled her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you in a brown study for?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Boris," she exclaimed, flashing round on him; "it is more a white
+dream than a brown study. Fancy this room all lit with Chinese lanterns
+and the moon outside, and us sitting up until twelve o'clock, and music,
+Boris, and everybody dancing. The story books will have come true&mdash;oh,
+it will be too lovely."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm thinking of the supper," said Boris. "I expect I'll get awful
+peckish sitting up so late. I hope there'll be jellies&mdash;I love jellies;
+don't you, Nell?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I heard Hester say there was to be a real band. I wonder if
+they'll play any of the airs out of <i>Faust</i>. I do so love the Soldier's
+Chorus, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I'll march to it when I'm big. Nell, do you think I'll be allowed
+to have as many cakes as I wish, and <i>pat&eacute; de foie gras</i>? I tasted it
+once and 'twas ripping."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 116]</a></span></p><p>"I like it, too, rather," said Nell in a contemplative voice. "I mean to
+be a fairy in the dance, though, and I'll have wings. Wings! how I wish
+they'd bear me upward."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do come out," exclaimed Boris. "I want to show you my dove's cage;
+it was ever so musty, but I've cleaned it out, and it's as sweet as a
+nut now."</p>
+
+<p>The children left the room, and a few moments later Hester and Molly
+returned to the Grange.</p>
+
+<p>That evening Annie Forest had a very comprehensive scheme drawn out with
+regard to the proposed characters which the different members of the
+party were to adopt. Molly would make an ideal shepherdess. Hester was
+to be in white, and was to represent St Agnes. Nora was to be Queen of
+the Fairies, and Nan little Bo-Peep. Annie had not yet decided on her
+own character, but was strongly inclined to act the part of a gipsy.
+Annie further suggested that it would save a great deal of trouble and
+have a decidedly pretty effect if all the girls under twelve years of
+age were dressed as white fairies, with wings, and all the boys of the
+same age as brownies. She considered that so many fairies and brownies
+would have a very picturesque effect, and would help to throw up the gay
+<i>bizarre</i> colours of the older girls and boys.</p>
+
+<p>Her suggestion was immediately adopted, and Hester and Molly sat down
+then and there to write invitations.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the Lorrimers, about a hundred and forty other children were
+invited, and the girls expected that quite sixty or seventy of these
+would take the parts of fairies and brownies.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know how relieved the mothers will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 117]</a></span>be," exclaimed Annie.
+"When people have no imagination it is the most difficult thing in the
+world to think of a dress for a fancy ball which has not been adopted
+dozens and dozens of times before. Please keep the notes open for a
+moment, Hester, for I mean to slip into each of them some very simple
+directions with regard to the dress, which will insure our having a
+certain amount of uniformity."</p>
+
+<p>Annie was in her element now, and even Molly was constrained to admire
+the absolute genius which she showed in all matters which required tact
+and brisk, quick work. Annie could write fluently, and her little slips
+of paper, with their simple and plain directions, were soon ready, and
+Molly and Hester set to work making copies of them as fast as they
+could. The letters of invitation were all posted before they went to bed
+that night. Nora shut her eyes to dream of herself as queen of the
+fairies, and Molly and Hester sat down to write letters which required a
+little more thought than the invitations which had just been got
+through. Hester wrote&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Father</span>,</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry you are still away; I like to feel that I am of use to
+you. Whenever you come back you will have a hearty welcome from me.
+We are all well here and the weather is splendid; even Nora is
+quite well, although the doctor says she must lie on her back for
+some weeks longer. Annie is still with us, and Molly has been
+staying here to help look after Nora; not that she is wanted much
+for that post, for Annie is the most indefatigable nurse, and Nora
+simply adores her. But Molly is great company for me and I am
+delighted to have her, she is such a dear girl. I hope what you say
+about Squire Lorrimer is not true. I can see that Molly is very
+anxious, and the Squire and Mrs. Lorrimer have just gone to London,
+which is quite unusual. There is evidently something the matter,
+but none of the children have been told what it is. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 118]</a></span>How I wish you
+could help the Squire, father. I know you are very very rich, and
+oh, it will break Molly's heart if they have to leave the dear old
+Towers. Now, I must talk to you about Nan's birthday. We are going
+to have a children's ball in the old ball-room at the Towers. It is
+going to be quite lovely. Annie is designing our dresses. She makes
+us all quite enthusiastic, she has such exquisite taste. I hope you
+will come home in time to see us in our pretty dresses. I am to be
+St. Agnes, and Annie says that I shall look like a dream! Did you
+ever think that your sensible Hetty would talk such folly?&mdash;Your
+affectionate daughter,</p></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot2"><p>"<span class="smcap">Hester Thornton</span>."</p></div>
+
+<p>Hester finished her letter, folded it up, and addressed it. She then
+glanced towards Molly, whose fair head was bent low over the sheet of
+paper which she was filling. She wrote&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Darling Mother</span>,</p>
+
+<p>"I went to the Towers this morning with Hester and found that you
+had gone. Is anything the matter? Oh, if I had been at home you
+might have told me. I can't bear either you or father to have a
+burden that I don't share. I feel anxious and unhappy, but I will
+try very hard to be brave. Nonie is getting on so nicely, and Annie
+Forest is very kind to her. Mother, darling, there is going to be a
+great big party on the fifteenth, Nan's birthday, and Hester and
+Nora and Annie and I are very anxious that it should be a
+children's ball&mdash;a fancy ball, you know, mother, and that it should
+be held in our beautiful old ball-room. It is the Thorntons' party,
+and they will go to all the expense, but they haven't a big room
+like ours, so I thought we might lend them the big hall and the
+drawing-rooms and the ball-room, and they are beginning
+preparations already. If by any chance you or father object, will
+you send me a telegram to-morrow? I wish I could kiss you
+good-night.&mdash;Your most loving</p></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot2"><p>"<span class="smcap">Molly</span>."</p></div>
+
+<p>Molly's letter was also directed and stamped, and when these important
+epistles had been taken to the post, the whole household went to bed.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 119]</a></span></p><p>That is, with one exception.</p>
+
+<p>Annie Forest, notwithstanding her gaiety and the high spirits she had
+been in all day, had a care upon her mind.</p>
+
+<p>It was three weeks now since the day when Mrs. Martin had pawned Mrs.
+Willis's beautiful ring for the small sum of thirty shillings. That
+thirty shillings had purchased cambric and embroidery and lace, and even
+a few knots of coloured ribbon, to make three charming frocks for Nora
+Lorrimer, but alack and alas, though the frocks lay neatly folded up in
+their drawer waiting to be worn on the first festive occasion, poor
+Annie had not the faintest idea how to get back the ring. That morning's
+post had certainly been an important one. It had not only brought a
+letter for Hester which had nearly turned the heads of two households,
+but had brought Annie two epistles of a profoundly and painfully
+interesting character. One was from her father, telling her that he must
+postpone sending her her usual birthday present for a time, and the
+other was from Mrs. Willis herself. Mrs. Willis wrote from Paris. She
+was staying there for a short time on her way home, and asked Annie to
+send her the diamond ring without delay by registered post. The ring was
+of a very antique pattern and she wished to have it copied for a wedding
+present for one of her pupils.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Try and post it to me at once, dear," she said, "for I shall not
+be in Paris after Saturday. I return to London that day and shall
+very likely accept Hester Thornton's invitation to come to the
+Grange for a few days. You shall then have the ring back to make
+your finger look smart for the remainder of your visit. I am
+writing in great haste in order to catch this post, so do not fail
+me, my love. The ring will be perfectly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 120]</a></span>safe if you register it.
+My dear love to Hester and Nan, and much to yourself.&mdash;Your
+affectionate</p></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot2"><p>"<span class="smcap">M. Willis</span>."</p></div>
+
+<p>Annie had glanced her eyes quickly over the contents of this disquieting
+letter at breakfast time, but it was only now, in the solitude of her
+own room, that she ventured to take it out and study it. What was she to
+do? How could she possibly get the ring out of pawn without any money to
+redeem it? She dared not confide this trouble to Mrs. Martin. She
+thought and thought until her head ached and her bright eyes looked
+dull.</p>
+
+<p>What kind of man was the pawnbroker? Why were pawnbrokers called uncles?
+Was it because they were really good-natured and helpful? She wondered
+if it might be possible for her to induce the pawnbroker to let her have
+the ring out on condition that she paid for it by instalments? If he
+really was quite a good-natured order of uncle, he might consent to such
+an arrangement. Annie felt, however, that it would be useless to get
+Mrs. Martin to make such terms with him.</p>
+
+<p>"She was very proud about him," thought Annie. "She did not wish to go
+to him at all. I'm afraid he's disagreeable. I'm afraid he's not the
+sort of man who would help a girl out of a difficulty. What <i>shall</i> I
+do? The ring <i>must</i> go to-morrow if Mrs. Willis is to do anything with
+it before she leaves Paris. It ought to have gone to-day, but to-morrow
+is the very last, the very last chance. We are all going to Nortonbury
+to-morrow to buy the materials for the dresses. Oh, suppose I go and see
+the pawnbroker and tell him of my difficulty, and assure him that I will
+honestly pay him back that money if he will only <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 121]</a></span>let me have the ring
+again. I have four shillings still in my purse, and father's sovereign
+will be certain to come sooner or later. I could show uncle father's
+letter, he would then see that I was not humbugging. I expect he would
+like me to call him uncle, as it seems to be <i>the</i> name. Yes, I really
+think I will go, but I must on no account whatever let Mrs. Martin or
+Molly or Hester know anything about this. I should rather like to
+confide in Nora, for she would think it no end of a lark; but if I did,
+the poor darling would know that I had got into all this trouble on
+account of her dresses, and that would simply never do. Yes, there seems
+nothing for it but to visit my uncle, the pawnbroker."</p>
+
+<p>Annie presently laid her head on her pillow and went to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>When she awoke in the morning she still thought an appeal to the
+pawnbroker the only available solution of her difficulty. The girls were
+much excited about their gay shopping, and the landau was ordered to be
+round at an early hour to convey Hester, Nan, Molly, and Annie to
+Nortonbury. Nora had to resign herself to the company of her nurse, but
+her thoughts were so full of pleasurable anticipations that under the
+circumstances she did not mind the loss of her favourite Annie.</p>
+
+<p>Before starting, Annie ran quickly round to Mrs. Martin's rooms.</p>
+
+<p>"Here I am," she exclaimed in her bright way. "I have just rushed up to
+say good morning to you before we start. You have heard of all the fun
+that we are going to have, haven't you, nursey?"</p>
+
+<p>"Folly, I call it," said nurse. "Throwing away good money on fallals and
+wings and clouds. Miss <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 122]</a></span>Nan was up here last night so late that I
+thought I'd never get her to bed, bamboozling me with stories of all the
+children round the country being turned into fairies, which you know,
+Miss Annie, is sheer nonsense and impossible to do, and Miss Nora, who
+has narrowly escaped her death, is to lie on rose leaves with clouds
+under her. The folly of it is beyond belief, even if it can be done,
+which I sincerely hope it can't. In old days people took their pleasures
+properly. Children were kept in the nursery and were sent early to bed,
+and young ladies were presented to her Gracious Majesty the Queen, and
+then went to balls in good stiff silks and no wings nor clouds about
+'em. They met the gentlemen they were to marry at the balls, and then
+there was a proper wedding breakfast and all the rest, as it should be.
+I don't hold with the scarum days of the present."</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, nursey," exclaimed Annie, "the fairies will look lovely, and
+I'll show you myself how innocent and simple the clouds are, and as to
+the wings, I'll make a pair for you if you like."</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you, Miss Annie, I hope I know what's due to myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I must run away," continued Annie. "You know we're just off to
+Nortonbury."</p>
+
+<p>"So I hear, miss."</p>
+
+<p>"It was to Nortonbury you went when you sold my ring; you were a dear to
+do it."</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't do it for no one else, miss, and I don't know even now how I
+came to demean myself by such a job."</p>
+
+<p>"Was," said Annie in an almost trembling voice, "was the uncle very
+disagreeable, then?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 123]</a></span></p><p>"Miss Forest, such a word oughtn't to pass your lips."</p>
+
+<p>"Why so, nurse? I cannot imagine why you dislike such helpful people."</p>
+
+<p>"We won't argue the point," said nurse; "the subject is not suited to
+the young."</p>
+
+<p>Annie fidgeted. Nan's voice was heard down stairs shouting for her.</p>
+
+<p>"Nurse," she said in sudden desperation, "I want to get the ring back;
+tell me the name of the uncle."</p>
+
+<p>A look of relief came over Mrs. Martin's face.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd be glad if you had that valuable ring again," she said. "Have you
+got the money for it? It would be thirty-two shillings; thirty shillings
+for the loan and two shillings interest."</p>
+
+<p>"Annie, we're all waiting," shouted Nan.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do tell me the address," said Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better let me get the ring out of pawn for you, miss."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, I must get it to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you got the money, Miss Forest?"</p>
+
+<p>"What would be the use of going if I hadn't?" prevaricated Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but you're not going to take my young ladies to a pawnbroker's?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I promise not to take any of them; I'll go alone, quite alone. You
+may trust me, really. Oh, nursey, nursey, I'm in such trouble."</p>
+
+<p>Again the bright lovely eyes and sweet voice did their work.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Martin fumbled for her keys, and taking a small piece of blue paper
+out of her work-box, put it into Annie's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"There," she said. "I'm sorry I ever made or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 124]</a></span>meddled with this thing.
+Mind you don't take one of my young ladies with you."</p>
+
+<p>"I promise," said Annie. She thrust the paper into her pocket and rushed
+from the room.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>POOR MRS. MYRTLE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The girls spent a busy morning in Nortonbury, and if Annie had any care
+on her mind she certainly did not show it. She was a splendid girl to go
+shopping with. She could make up her mind quickly with regard to the
+exact material she required. Her choice was practically made before she
+entered a shop, her taste in colour and texture was excellent, and with
+her to guide them, Hester and Molly got through their business with
+great celerity. Many parcels were piled up on the front seat of the
+landau, but work as they would, the girls could not get through their
+necessary shopping in the morning. Hester therefore determined to lunch
+at a restaurant which she knew well, and to finish buying the rest of
+the materials for the fancy dresses before they returned to the Grange.
+It was while they were at lunch that Annie seized the opportunity to
+secure a few moments to herself. She had not yet had time even to glance
+at the address which nurse had given her on the little slip of blue
+paper. But it was now or never, if she were to seek the pawnbroker
+without the others discovering where she was going.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 125]</a></span></p><p>Hester had ordered a very tempting lunch, and Nan was attacking her
+nicely roasted chicken and bread sauce with appetite, when Annie,
+snatching up a sandwich, sprang suddenly to her feet.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not hungry," she exclaimed, "and as there is so much to be done, I
+won't waste time eating. Mrs. Willis wrote to me yesterday and asked me
+to send her a small parcel. It contains a ring which she lent me, and as
+it ought to be registered, I will go to the post-office now and get it
+done while you are at lunch."</p>
+
+<p>"But you really must eat something first," exclaimed Hester. "You will
+be ill if you don't; the carriage is to call for us in a few minutes,
+and you may just as well drive to the post-office in it; you would do it
+in half the time."</p>
+
+<p>"But I would rather walk," replied Annie. "I am perfectly sick of
+driving. I see by Nan's face that lunch will be quite an affair of half
+an hour, and I'll be back long before then."</p>
+
+<p>She left the shop before Hester had time to remonstrate, and the next
+moment found herself in the street.</p>
+
+<p>"Now for it," she exclaimed, a little catch of excitement in her breath.
+She took out her purse, opened it, and removing the slip of blue paper,
+looked at the words written on it. The address rather surprised her. It
+was a fancy goods shop, and was kept by a woman of the name of Myrtle.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1 smcap">"Mrs. Myrtle,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"Haberdashery and Fancy Goods Warehouse,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">"30, Eden Street,"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>was the address on the sheet of paper.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 126]</a></span></p><p>Annie had never in the course of her life come in contact with a live
+pawnbroker, but she had a vague idea that pawnbrokers were of the male
+species, and that they invariably had three gilt balls over their
+establishments.</p>
+
+<p>She was relieved rather than otherwise to find that this pawnbroker was
+of the female sex, and fancied that it would be easier to deal with her
+on this account. A policeman directed her to Eden Street, which was a
+thoroughly respectable broad thoroughfare off the High Street.</p>
+
+<p>Annie walked quickly until she came to number thirty. Then, raising her
+eyes and seeing Mrs. Myrtle's name over the door, she boldly entered.
+The shop was the sort that ladies delight in. One side of it was
+entirely devoted to the best class of haberdashery, the other was
+extremely attractive with coloured wools and silks, and all sorts of
+materials for crewel and other fancy works. A thin, pale girl, of about
+sixteen, was attending to the haberdashery department, and a little old
+lady, with pink cheeks, bright dark eyes and white hair, was busily
+serving several customers at the fancy goods side.</p>
+
+<p>Annie had to wait until these customers had completed their business.
+The girl who had charge of the haberdashery asked if she could serve
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to speak to Mrs. Myrtle," replied Annie in a decided tone. The
+little woman raised her head at hearing her own name pronounced, and
+said in a respectful voice&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be at leisure to serve you in a moment, miss."</p>
+
+<p>"She seems very nice," said Annie to herself; "she has a decidedly kind
+face. What can there be objectionable in pawnbrokers, if she is one?
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 127]</a></span>Perhaps I'd better call her aunt; she'll be sure to like it."</p>
+
+<p>In a couple of moments Mrs. Myrtle was at leisure, and Annie went up to
+the counter. Now that the critical instant had come, she felt her heart
+beating quickly, and knew that her cheeks were pale. Annie could look
+wonderfully pathetic when any emotion stirred her. She had a voice full
+of vibrations, and her eyes could assume the dumb pleading expression of
+a dog's.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to speak to you about a very private matter," she said, looking
+full at Mrs. Myrtle.</p>
+
+<p>The little woman could not help giving her a glance of great surprise.
+What could such a pretty, nicely-dressed young lady want with her; then
+suddenly it flashed through her mind that Annie must want to buy a
+present; perhaps the present was for her sweetheart; if so, the state of
+affairs was perfectly natural.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, miss," she said, in a cordial voice of sympathy, "but Netty, my
+niece, is a bit deaf and won't hear a word you're saying. I have got
+some really nice things, miss, and quite suitable; tobacco pouches made
+of different coloured plushes, and flowers traced very beautifully on
+them; you could work the pouch yourself, miss, and it would look most
+suitable; then I've got braces, too; they're quite the newest thing, and
+can be embroidered with any colour, and cases for gentlemen's evening
+ties, they really are very new; shall I show you some, miss?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, thank you," said Annie in a choking voice. "I'm in an awful
+hurry and I don't want to buy any present for a gentleman; I don't know
+any gentleman except my father well enough to think of giving <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 128]</a></span>presents
+to. No, no, I don't want to buy anything, but I want&mdash;I want you to give
+me something, aunt."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Myrtle looked at Annie as if she were now quite sure that the poor
+pretty young lady was not quite right in her head. She did not speak at
+all, but waited for Annie to continue.</p>
+
+<p>"You're a female pawnbroker, are you not?" said Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"A female what, my dear?" said Mrs. Myrtle, her face growing crimson.
+This was really the last straw. "I don't understand you, miss," she said
+in a stiff tone. "I have nothing whatever to do with the trade you
+indicate."</p>
+
+<p>Just then some ladies, very good customers, entered the shop.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll excuse me for a moment, miss," said Mrs. Myrtle; "but if you
+don't want to buy, I shall be obliged to leave you to attend to my
+customers. Good morning, Lady Dalgetty; what can I show your ladyship?"</p>
+
+<p>Poor Annie found herself pushed into a corner. Lady Dalgetty and her
+suite occupied all Mrs. Myrtle's attention. Even the humble-looking
+Netty was busy serving out spools of cotton, needles, and pins to a
+prim-looking lady. Neither of the women in the shop had a moment to
+attend to Annie's sore need.</p>
+
+<p>She began to think that Mrs. Myrtle was not so kind as she looked, and
+to understand a little of nurse's repugnance to the pawnbroker class.</p>
+
+<p>"They must be low people," she murmured to herself; "for this woman
+won't even own to the fact that she is a pawnbroker."</p>
+
+<p>The shop became empty once more; and Mrs. Myrtle, who was really quite
+as kind hearted as she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 129]</a></span>looked, raised her eyes, and encountered a very
+forlorn glance from Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor, pretty young lady," she said to herself. "She's gone in the head
+without any manner of doubt, calling me aunt, and asking me if I'm a
+female pawnbroker; but I'd best humour her a bit, and try to find out
+who she belongs to."</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly Mrs. Myrtle called Annie back to the counter in a kind
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I can attend to you now, miss," she said; "but if you have anything to
+say, perhaps you'll say it quickly, for this is market day, and heaps of
+farmer's wives come in for no end of small matters."</p>
+
+<p>"Do they pawn rings, and then take them out by degrees in instalments?"
+asked poor Annie in an eager voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor, poor young lady, she's very, very bad," murmured Mrs. Myrtle to
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't say for positive, miss," she replied, "that a farmer's wife
+has never pawned a ring; but if they are reduced to such straits, I know
+nothing about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you are not a pawnbroker yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am <i>not</i>, miss. Wouldn't you like to come into my parlour and rest a
+bit if you're tired, and maybe you'll tell me your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"She's getting quite kind again," thought Annie. "Of course she is a
+pawnbroker, but she doesn't like to own it; it evidently is a very
+disgraceful calling."</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Annie Forest," she said; "and I'm not at all tired, thank
+you, aunt. You don't mind me calling you aunt, do you? for we always
+call the men in your trade uncles."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope heaven will preserve my patience," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 130]</a></span>muttered poor Mrs. Myrtle.
+"I must get this young lady to her friends whatever happens. Netty!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't call Netty here," exclaimed Annie. "Now, look here, do you
+see this piece of blue paper?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, miss. It's my address, sure and certain."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know the handwriting?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I can't say that I do; it seems a sort of an ordinary hand, don't
+it, miss?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is Mrs. Martin, who lives at the Grange, a friend of yours?" asked
+Annie suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Myrtle's face glowed all over with pleased relief.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Martin of the Grange," she exclaimed, "old nurse to Miss Hester
+and Miss Nan Thornton? I should rather think she is a friend of mine. I
+have known her ever since we went to school together, and that's many a
+year ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how glad I am," exclaimed Annie; "then I am sure, quite sure, you
+will be kind to me. You will do what I ask for the sake of your friend
+Mrs. Martin. You won't mind just confiding to me that you are a
+pawnbroker? I promise most faithfully not to call you aunt if you really
+dislike it."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid I don't understand you, Miss Forest. I am <i>not</i> a
+pawnbroker; not one of my belongings would own to such a trade; and if
+Patty Martin gave you to understand that I am, I'll quarrel with her,
+late as it is in the day."</p>
+
+<p>"But she pawned a ring to you," said Annie; "an old-fashioned gold ring
+with one big diamond in the middle. You lent her thirty shillings on it,
+and the interest is two shillings. That ring is mine. She did pawn a
+ring to you, did she not?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 131]</a></span></p><p>A light at last broke over Mrs. Myrtle's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," she exclaimed; "I begin to see what you're driving at.
+Won't I have a crow to pick with Patty Martin for this. No, no, miss,
+she pawned no ring to me; but she gave me a diamond ring to keep for her
+early one morning about three weeks ago. 'And keep it safe until I ask
+for it, Martha Myrtle,' said she; and safe I will keep it until then,
+Miss Annie Forest."</p>
+
+<p>"But it's my ring," said Annie in great distress. "You'll give it back
+to me now when I ask for it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll give it back to Patty Martin, miss, and to no one else."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but really, really, don't you understand? It's <i>my</i> ring."</p>
+
+<p>"I've only your word for that, miss. It was given to me by Mrs. Martin."</p>
+
+<p>"But I know Patty Martin would let you give it back to me. Why, she gave
+me your address and told me to go to you; and I thought, of course, you
+were a pawnbroker."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't I have a crow to pluck with her for this?" exclaimed Mrs. Myrtle.
+"Pawnbroker, indeed! Why my poor mother who's dead would rise up from
+her grave if she thought I was called by such a name. No, miss, I'm
+sorry not to oblige, but Mrs. Martin gave me the ring to keep for her,
+and she must come herself to fetch it away, for to no one else will I
+give it."</p>
+
+<p>Some farmers' wives, looking flourishing and handsome and full of
+purpose, now entered the shop. Mrs. Myrtle devoted all her energies to
+serving them, and poor Annie with sinking heart had to go away.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 132]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>"THE WAY OF TRANSGRESSORS."</h3>
+
+
+<p>The week that followed passed all too quickly. There was no hitch
+whatever in the girls' plans. Mrs. Lorrimer wrote to Molly to express
+her complete satisfaction with the arrangement proposed by Hester. The
+workwomen who had now taken up their abode at the Grange were both
+efficient and clever. With Annie's help the different dresses began to
+assume form and completion with marvellous rapidity. Annie was the life
+and soul of the dressmaking. She sketched pictures of the proposed
+toilettes; she coloured these sketches; then she tried on and cut out,
+and basted, and tacked. She helped to hang draperies and to arrange the
+wings of the fairies. The women became interested themselves in such an
+artistic assistant, and did everything in their power to help her. At
+the Towers the ball-room began to show its noble proportions to the best
+advantage. Hester and Annie and Nan and Molly went backwards and
+forwards at all hours of the day. By Monday evening, the ball-room was
+in complete order. Every possible direction was given with regard to the
+different refreshments, and the last stitch in the pretty fancy dresses
+had been done. The news of Nan's fancy ball had spread far and wide.
+Almost every invitation met with an acceptance, and the Thornton and
+Lorrimer households were borne forward just at present on a full tide of
+victorious excitement. Even Molly felt herself obliged to enter <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 133]</a></span>into
+the full spirit of the fun. Not a murmur of anxiety from her father and
+mother in London reached her. Mrs. Lorrimer, in writing to Molly, had
+assumed as cheerful a tone as possible; she had alluded to no possible
+care, had hinted at no canker root of possible trouble. She had said, it
+is true, that it was rather unlikely that she and the Squire would
+return in time for the ball; but if this could not be managed, she hoped
+the children would enjoy themselves to the full in their absence; and
+finally, she said how heartily she rejoiced in the thought of their
+having such a delightful time. Hester also forgot the small worrying
+thought which came to her now and again about her father, in this week
+of rush and pleasure. Hester was by nature a very quiet-mannered girl,
+but she became nearly as lively now as Annie; she laughed, and joked,
+and danced, and skipped until Mrs. Martin, who watched her from the
+nursery window, began to shake her head gravely, and to say that such
+mirth was not "fey" as she expressed it, and that it surely forbode a
+season of gloom by-and-by.</p>
+
+<p>Annie's high spirits being natural to her, no one specially noticed
+them, and according to her custom, she put dull care aside and was as
+lively as she looked.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that she had been obliged to ignore Mrs. Willis's letter; it
+is true that the ring was still being jealously guarded by that dreadful
+Mrs. Myrtle, for Annie had not the courage to ask Mrs. Martin for it.
+The whole situation was now quite plain; Mrs. Martin had never gone near
+the pawnbroker's, but had lent Annie the money herself. Why she had
+parted with the ring under these circumstances was a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 134]</a></span>problem which poor
+Annie could not attempt to fathom. All she could do now was to abide the
+issue of events as patiently as possible. All her life long she had
+found that, somehow or other, matters did right themselves for her, and
+she trusted to her usual good luck on this occasion.</p>
+
+<p>The preparations were almost all completed for the fancy ball by Monday
+night. Nan's birthday would be on Wednesday. No second letter had
+arrived from Sir John Thornton, and Hester wondered whether he would be
+present on the birthday or not. The day was to be one long scene of
+triumph for the young birthday queen. Annie and Hester both stole out of
+bed at an early hour that morning, and going out into the garden, they
+picked baskets full of flowers with the dew on them, with which they
+made wreaths to decorate the breakfast table, and to cover the piles of
+presents which lay not only on Nan's plate, but all round it.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as Nan appeared in the breakfast-room, Annie tripped up to her,
+bent on one knee as if to a liege lady, told her that she was her lawful
+sovereign for that entire day, and then begged leave to crown the
+birthday queen with flowers. Nan's cheeks were flushed already, and her
+eyes bright with excitement. Molly came in by-and-by, and Nora, who was
+now much better, was wheeled into the room on her sofa. She wore the
+white cambric dress which Annie had made for her. Her dark hair was
+swept back from her pretty, low forehead, her cheeks had roses in them,
+and her eyes sparkled.</p>
+
+<p>"Molly, Molly," she exclaimed, "look at me, look at me. Now you know the
+secret of the locked door. Annie made me this frock; she had some bits
+of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 135]</a></span>cambric over from dresses of her own, and she made this and a blue
+one, and a pink one also; I have the other two in my drawer; I know they
+are all sweetly becoming, aren't they? It's nearly as good as having a
+<i>trousseau</i>. Oh, do kiss me and congratulate me, Molly; you know how I
+have always longed for pretty dresses. Was not it perfectly <i>darling</i> of
+Annie to make them for me?"</p>
+
+<p>Before Molly could reply a loud exclamation from Hester turned all eyes
+in her direction.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think?" she exclaimed. "The crowning bliss of our day is
+come. Nan, you will never guess. Annie, dear, how charmed you will be.
+Here is a letter from Mrs. Willis; she expects to reach Nortonbury by
+the mid-day train, and asks me to send to meet her. Oh, dear, this is
+lovely. I have not seen my dear Mrs. Willis for over a year. What a rest
+and comfort it will be to talk to her again. Molly, you will delight in
+her; she is just the woman to captivate you completely. Nora, you will
+lose your heart to her, too. I don't know what wonderful thing there is
+about her; she is so strong, so noble, so gentle, that she wins all
+hearts; it is impossible for anybody to be naughty when Mrs. Willis is
+in the house. Nan, the arrival of Mrs. Willis on your birthday is the
+happiest possible omen for the whole year. Oh, how truly rejoiced I am!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it's awfully jolly of her to come," said Nan. "Of course I'm very
+fond of her, but I hope she won't remind me of my holiday task, for,
+frankly, I have not looked at it yet, and I don't mean to do so until
+the last week of the holidays. Now, do let's all begin breakfast; even
+though I am queen, I happen to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 136]</a></span>have an appetite. Annie, what are you in
+a brown study about? Why, you look quite pale!"</p>
+
+<p>"I expect Annie is so glad about Mrs. Willis that she can scarcely
+speak," said Hester, glancing at her friend in an affectionate manner.
+"Yes, we had better get breakfast through. I shall give Mrs. Willis the
+maple room, with that lovely west view. There is a little sitting-room
+which goes with it, where she can be quiet whenever she wants to be
+quiet. How glad nursey will be when she hears that dear Mrs. Willis is
+coming."</p>
+
+<p>Hester began to perform the duties of tea-maker in a rather abstracted
+manner. As she kept on filling up cups of tea, she also glanced from
+time to time at the letter which gave her such delight.</p>
+
+<p>"It is such a surprise," she said; "perhaps that is half the pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Please don't put any more sugar into my tea," exclaimed Annie in an
+almost cross voice; "you know I never touch sugar, and that is the
+fourth lump."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am sorry," exclaimed Hester; "I'll take that cup and you shall
+have mine."</p>
+
+<p>"You put five lumps into your own cup, I watched you; oh, dear, it
+doesn't matter, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it doesn't matter," said Hester, still reading her letter. "Molly,
+will you pass the tea on, please. Oh, yes, I'll have some honey; you can
+put a piece on my plate if you like."</p>
+
+<p>"The only plate you have before you at present contains eggs and bacon,"
+exclaimed Molly. "I think I won't help the honey for a few minutes."</p>
+
+<p>"This is a delightful surprise," murmured Hester; "but, dear me, it is
+rather strange, Mrs. Willis says <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 137]</a></span>she wrote to you last week, Annie, and
+said that she would try to give us a couple of days at the Grange on her
+way back to Lavender House. How was it you never mentioned it?"</p>
+
+<p>There was just a pause long enough to be noticed before Annie replied.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not get the letter," she said then, in a steady voice.</p>
+
+<p>She hated herself the moment she had uttered the words. She felt as if
+she had fallen from a height, and was lying maimed and bruised, bleeding
+and ugly in some dismal abyss; but all the time her eyes looked bright
+and her face was cheerful.</p>
+
+<p>Hester exclaimed, "How strange! what a pity! How could the letter have
+gone astray?" but other thoughts soon chased this one from her mind.</p>
+
+<p>Breakfast being over the young housekeeper had much to attend to.</p>
+
+<p>Nora held out her hand to Annie, who stooped down and kissed her
+affectionately.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you really glad that she is coming?" asked Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I am, Nonie; she is&mdash;" a stab went through Annie's
+heart&mdash;"she is my best friend."</p>
+
+<p>"Is she really as good as Hester says she is?" continued Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, better; no one quite knows how good she is."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be afraid of her," said Nora shuddering. "I hate such perfectly
+good people; they make me feel small and mean."</p>
+
+<p>Annie took up a basket of flowers, and began deftly to form them into
+wreaths for the further decoration of the ball-room.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 138]</a></span></p><p>"It's dreadful to feel mean," she said almost in a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"You can't surely know what it means," replied Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, can't I though; don't let's talk of it any more. I like you in
+white, Nora. White, toned with lace and coloured ribbons, makes a
+charming dress for you. You have such a pretty face. It is so full of
+<i>esprit</i>&mdash;so <i>piquant</i>. Some day you will be a beautiful woman."</p>
+
+<p>"As beautiful as you are?" asked Nora. "I don't desire to be more
+beautiful than you."</p>
+
+<p>"In some ways you will be more beautiful," replied Annie. "I don't
+pretend that I am not pretty, I know I am; but in some ways you will be
+superior to me. You will have a greater air of distinction. <i>Noblesse
+oblige</i> will be abundantly manifested in you. Oh, yes," continued Annie,
+"it is all very fine for us <i>parvenus</i> to despise race. We don't really
+despise it; we adore it, we envy it; we can never, never, never get what
+race confers."</p>
+
+<p>"How excitedly you talk," said Nora; "you seem angry about something."</p>
+
+<p>"I am angry with myself," said Annie; "my low ways and my meanness.
+<i>Noblesse oblige</i> has nothing to do with me. Now, look here, Nora,
+forget all this rubbishy talk; be thankful that you are a beautiful girl
+of good family, who could not do a shabby action. I must leave you now,
+for Mrs. Willis is coming, and I should like to go into Nortonbury to
+meet her."</p>
+
+<p>Annie ran off to find Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"Hester," she exclaimed, "may I go in the carriage to Nortonbury to meet
+Mrs. Willis?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is an excellent idea," said Hester; "take <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 139]</a></span>Molly with you, the
+drive will do her good. I am so busy this morning that I can scarcely be
+spared from home. Yes, that is an excellent idea. I was wondering who
+would go to meet her."</p>
+
+<p>Molly was very pleased to accompany Annie to Nortonbury, and Annie was
+glad of her company. Molly would be a sort of shield to her; not that it
+really mattered, for she had already quite made up her mind how to act.</p>
+
+<p>The girls enjoyed their pleasant drive together. Mrs. Willis's train was
+punctual, and she was soon driving back to the Grange, Molly seated by
+her side and Annie on the seat facing her.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Willis had the knack of making all girls perfectly at home with
+her. Molly felt sure that a certain feeling of restraint would come over
+her when she sat by the side of this excellent and adorable woman; but
+the moment she looked into Mrs. Willis's kind eyes, and Mrs. Willis
+returned her glance, and said in that full, rich, motherly voice of
+hers, "Oh, I have heard of you; you are Molly Lorrimer, you live at the
+Towers, and you have a great many brothers and sisters, and your
+schoolroom is reached by a spiral stair, and is somewhere up in the
+clouds. I have heard all about you many times from Nan." Then Molly
+laughed, and felt at home. She felt more than at home, for her heart
+gave a strange flutter, and then a curious sense of peace pervaded it.
+It was something like being near her mother, and yet it was something
+different. The magnetic influence of a good and great spirit was already
+making itself felt.</p>
+
+<p>Annie sat opposite to the two with dancing eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"How well you look my love," said Mrs. Willis. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 140]</a></span>"I am delighted to see
+that the change has done you so much good."</p>
+
+<p>Annie drooped her long lashes for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"I am as well as well can be," she said, "and as jolly as jolly can be,
+and you have just come in the nick of time to make everything perfect.
+Molly, do tell Mrs. Willis about our fancy ball to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"I will listen to you in a moment, Molly," said Mrs. Willis; "but first
+of all I want to ask Annie a question. I hope you did not send the ring
+to Paris, Annie, for, if you did, I never received it."</p>
+
+<p>"What ring?" asked Annie, looking up in pretended amazement. "Do you
+mean my mother's ring, Mrs. Willis, the&mdash;the one you lent me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear. I wrote to you last week about it. I was surprised at never
+hearing from you, for my letter was quite urgent. I wanted the ring for
+a special object, and was disappointed at its never coming."</p>
+
+<p>"That must have been the letter you never got, Annie," exclaimed Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"You never got my letter?" exclaimed Mrs. Willis. "How very, very
+strange! But I posted it myself, and I know I put the right address on
+it. I am relieved, of course, that you did not send the ring when it was
+too late; but it is odd about the letter."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I didn't send the ring," said Annie in a light voice. "How could
+I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not, dear, if you did not know that I wanted it."</p>
+
+<p>"Hester was surprised this morning," continued Molly, taking up the
+thread of the narrative, and unconsciously giving Annie immense
+assistance. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 141]</a></span>"You said, in your letter to her, that you had told Annie a
+week ago that you were coming. Then Annie said that she had never got
+your letter."</p>
+
+<p>"It is very queer," said Mrs. Willis. "I must write to the post office
+in Paris and make inquiries. Well, I am glad the ring is safe."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, it is as safe as possible," said Annie. "It is too bad about
+the letter," she continued. "Did you want the ring very badly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very badly; but it is not too late yet to manage matters. I want
+to have the ring copied as a wedding present for Margaret Cecil, but I
+have already spoken to a jeweller about it, and if I send him the ring
+to-day or to-morrow he will have it in time. Don't forget to give it to
+me, Annie, dear, when we get home."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no," said Annie, "I won't forget."</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later they arrived at the Grange, where Mrs. Willis was
+received with a kind of trembling joy by Hester, who took her into the
+house and showered every imaginable attention which her love could
+suggest upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"Time, time," muttered Annie to herself as she rushed away. "Something
+must happen between now and to-morrow. I'll keep out of her way to-day,
+and in the fuss and excitement she'll forget about the ring. I have told
+one big lie about it, and I have insinuated a dozen more, and I vow and
+declare one thing&mdash;that I will not be discovered now. I'll go on to the
+bitter end now, come what will. Heigh-ho, is that you, Nan? What are you
+doing? Don't you know that Mrs. Willis has come? What is that you have
+in your hand?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's a letter of yours," said Nan; "I found it in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 142]</a></span>the garden under a
+rose bush; it's in Mrs. Willis's handwriting; didn't you say that you did
+not hear from her last week?"</p>
+
+<p>"No more I did; give me that letter; it's quite an old one." Annie
+stretched out her hand, snatched the letter from Nan, and pushed it into
+her pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"You didn't read it?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm not so mean; what is the matter with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hate to have my letters read."</p>
+
+<p>"They're not read by girls like me; you needn't be afraid."</p>
+
+<p>Nan rushed off in a huff, and Annie walked slowly down the corridor. Her
+heart felt like lead. She fully believed that Nan had not read the
+letter, but Nan's eyes might have happened to glance at the postmark on
+it. That postmark contained a date only one week old. Nan was the last
+child to whom Annie felt she could confide her guilty secret.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear, dear," she murmured under her breath, "what a true saying it
+is, that 'the way of transgressors is hard.' I am a mean, low sort, not
+a doubt of that. Why, if the Lorrimers and Thorntons really knew me as I
+am, they wouldn't speak to me. Well, there's nothing for it now but to
+carry matters with a high hand, and to let nothing out. If Nan does
+happen to have noticed the date on the letter, I'll tell her she was
+mistaken. How could I have been so mad as to carry this letter about in
+my pocket? Well, to make all things sure, I'll destroy it now."</p>
+
+<p>"Annie, Annie, we're just going to lunch," called out Hester; "what are
+you running into the garden for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be back in a minute," shouted Annie.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 143]</a></span></p><p>She ran quickly out of the house and down the broad grass walk which led
+to the arbour at the farther end. By the side of the arbour lay a basket
+of tools. Annie snatched up a small trowel, and going to the back of the
+arbour, dug a hole for her letter. She tore it then into fragments and
+buried it, looked round her eagerly, saw that there was not a soul in
+sight, and then, with a certain sense of relief, hurried back to the
+house.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>PERHAPS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The ball was to begin at nine o'clock. The festive hour grew on apace.
+Mrs. Willis said nothing more about the ring, and Annie Forest heaved a
+deep sigh of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"Reprieved until to-morrow," she murmured to herself; "and now for high
+frivolity."</p>
+
+<p>The horses from the Thorntons' stables were in great request during that
+eventful day. Hester, who was most anxious to spare her friends all
+possible trouble, had decided that she and Nan, and all the rest of
+their party, should dress for the ball at the Grange, and come over in
+their separate characters prepared to act their different parts at once.
+Molly and Hester were to be the two hostesses for the occasion. Guy, who
+was a very gentlemanly boy, was to assist them to the best part of his
+ability. Annie promised to look after the refreshments, and also to
+establish Nora in a becoming attitude on her bed of rose leaves and
+clouds.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 144]</a></span></p><p>Nora made a most beautiful queen of the fairies. She was dressed in a
+sort of transparent white; her large, clear wings were very slightly
+toned with rose colour, and the whole dress was bespangled with light
+sprays of silver. Nora's hair was crimped, and hung in masses over her
+shoulders. The silvery dust also shone in her hair. Her eyes were dark
+and deep, and natural roses of happiness and excitement bloomed on her
+pretty round cheeks. To Annie's ingenuity and genius the whole of the
+charming dream-like effect of this fairy queen was due. Mrs. Willis, who
+insisted on coming to the ball in the part of the schoolmistress, "The
+only part which I shall ever play in life," she had said with a smile to
+Hester, was much delighted with the arrangement of everything. Mrs.
+Willis was in grey silk, with her favourite Honiton lace. She was a very
+striking and beautiful woman, and in her grand simplicity, made a
+perfect foil to the fantastic appearance of the younger members of the
+party.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the honoured guests on this occasion, Mrs. Martin shone
+conspicuous. Hester had insisted on her coming over early, and when the
+good woman entered the ball-room and saw Nora on her cloudy throne, she
+could not help muttering, in an almost angry tone of great excitement&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Eh, eh, why this is almost witchcraft. I didn't believe in them wings
+and clouds till now, but sure enough there they are. Seein' is
+believin'. I don't hold with it, but I don't deny as it ain't clever."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad you think it clever, Patty Martin," said a very gay voice in
+her ear.</p>
+
+<p>She turned almost in alarm, to be confronted by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 145]</a></span>the most
+impudent-looking, and yet the most charming gipsy lass she had ever
+looked at.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Martin loathed gipsies.</p>
+
+<p>"None of your sauce," she said in an angry voice. "This is no place for
+the like of you; get out at once or I'll let Miss Hester Thornton know."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nursey, nursey, you'll kill me," exclaimed Annie in a voice choked
+with laughter. "Do you mean to say you don't know me?"</p>
+
+<p>"My sakes alive, Miss Annie Forest!" exclaimed the old woman. "Who'd
+have thought you'd have been up to this folly? What are you doing,
+masquerading like them hateful gipsies? It's bad enough to have wings
+and clouds about; but gipsies&mdash;'tain't respectable; my word, no."</p>
+
+<p>"This gipsy is eminently respectable," said Annie, with a sort of bitter
+emphasis. "Here, nursey, take my hand, and let me lead you up the
+ball-room. I have many strange characters to introduce you to. I see
+plainly that you won't recognise them without my kind assistance. Here,
+come along, be quick."</p>
+
+<p>"My head is getting <i>moithered</i>, and that's the only word," said nurse
+Martin. "Dear, dear, what <i>are</i> the young coming to? And sakes alive,
+what in the world are those?"</p>
+
+<p>The creatures thus apostrophised by the almost frightened nurse Martin,
+were a troop of fairies and brownies, who now rushed into the ball-room
+from every direction. The band struck up a merry waltz, and the fairies
+and brownies began to dance with vigour.</p>
+
+<p>"Its past belief," said Mrs. Martin "and did you make all them wings,
+Miss Annie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear, no," replied Annie; "they were made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 146]</a></span>by the mothers of the
+fairies&mdash;at least, I presume so. Now come into the supper-room and let
+me get you a comfortable seat."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Martin was glad enough to comply. She said the slippery floor of
+the ball-room, and the uncanny creatures that were all round her, made
+her feel as if the top of her head would come off. She uttered a little
+shriek of terror as Jane Macalister, dressed as Minerva, glided fiercely
+by, and was glad to seat herself in a safe corner behind one of the long
+supper tables. Annie desired a servant to give her all the refreshment
+she required, and then ran off to attend to the other guests.</p>
+
+<p>Fast and furious rose the fun. During the whole of the present century
+the old ball-room at the Towers had not reflected so gay and animated a
+scene. Grim ancestors of the house of Lorrimer looked down from their
+tarnished frames at the last Lorrimers as they danced away their
+precious time in this frivolous and yet enchanting manner. The grown
+people, who sat in the gallery and on benches near the walls, talked in
+whispers to one another about the lovely scene. The Lorrimers were
+popular in the county, and although rumours of coming trouble were rife
+about them, yet their friends and well-wishers augured happy results
+from this present gaiety.</p>
+
+<p>But why was not the Squire present, and why was Mrs. Lorrimer absent?</p>
+
+<p>Molly, who made the gentlest of shepherdesses, came up as these remarks
+passed the good people's lips. She stopped to speak to an old friend of
+her mother's.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so glad you were able to come," she said; "and how sweet your
+children look."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 147]</a></span></p><p>"It was very kind of you to ask us, my dear," responded this lady, "and
+the sight is a charming one&mdash;quite charming; but I am sorry to miss your
+mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother is in London at present; she is away on special business. She is
+ever so sorry to be absent to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"And the Squire, is he quite well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, thank you. He is in London with mother."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment a brownie with a hot face and looking rather
+uncomfortable in his brown-velvet tights, accompanied by the most
+spiritual-looking fairy it was possible to see, revolved slowly round in
+the mazes of the waltz.</p>
+
+<p>The brownie's honest face was raised to Molly's; his brown eyes were
+full of a question; the fairy by his side had a far-away look. They both
+floated away.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a charming little pair," said Mrs. Fortescue, Molly's friend.
+"Do you know who they are, Miss Lorrimer?"</p>
+
+<p>"That poor, hot brownie is my brother, Boris," exclaimed Molly; "and
+that little girl is Nell, my sister."</p>
+
+<p>The lady sat down again; and, Molly's partner coming up to claim her,
+she joined in the dance, and forgot the question in Boris's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>There was a commotion near the entrance door. Hester was seen to move
+hastily forward. There was a call for Nan, who, accompanied by her
+partner, Little Boy Blue, rushed quickly across the room, and the next
+moment a tall, aristocratic-looking man was seen moving up the ball-room
+with Hester's hand on his arm. Sir John Thornton had kept his word. He
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 148]</a></span>had returned in time if not for the whole of Nan's birthday, at least
+to see it out.</p>
+
+<p>The matrons who sat about the room remarked on his appearance, and said
+that they had never seen him look better, younger, or more cheerful.
+They said what an admirable thing it was for Sir John to have Hester at
+home; and, as Sir John himself was the best possible company in society,
+he soon made his presence agreeably felt all over the room. In the
+Squire's absence he naturally took the part of host; and no one could be
+a more polished or charming host than he.</p>
+
+<p>One of the many delightful features of this great fancy ball was the
+presents which the fairy queen was to bestow upon her many subjects at
+the end of the festivities. These presents lay piled up in comical
+shapes all round her, and helped to form some of the billowy clouds on
+which she was supposed to be resting. The poor little fairy queen
+certainly looked most charming, and when the moment came for giving away
+the presents, she would enjoy herself to the full; but just now she
+could not help envying those fairies and brownies, who could jump about
+and skip and dance and have a very good time, without being in quite
+such a grand position as she was. On the queen fairy's head rested a
+spangled crown of light texture. She felt it almost heavy just now, and
+murmured to herself in a sentimental voice, "Uneasy lies the head that
+wears a crown."</p>
+
+<p>Boris, with his eyes still full of that unanswered question, came near
+and looked at her.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you having an awfully dull time, Nonie?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's all right," said Nora, who would have scorned to complain.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 149]</a></span></p><p>"You're going to give us our presents by-and-by."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll feel jolly and hop o' my thumb, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'll feel nothing special," replied Nora, who did not wish to
+encourage this brownie in his efforts after familiarity.</p>
+
+<p>"How hot you look, Boris," she said, with a slight laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Hot?" echoed Boris. "I'm boiling. It's these abominations of tights.
+Nonie, I'd like to tell you something; it's very important, very."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't possibly tell it to me now, Boris," replied Nora; "don't
+attempt to come too near, disarranging my clouds. Oh, what a naughty,
+troublesome boy you are; you have trodden upon that piece of white
+tarlatan, and it has all got out of shape. Do run away; do leave me
+alone."</p>
+
+<p>Boris scampered off; he had suddenly caught a glimpse of the round,
+smooth face of the shepherdess, Molly, in the distance. If he could only
+catch her up, she would allow him to whisper in her ear. Nora was always
+rather a cross patch, but Molly was kind. Molly would be interested,
+even though she was a shepherdess. He trod on some long trains as he
+skimmed by. People called him a tiresome child and an awkward little
+worry, but he did not heed them; he was gaining on Molly, and Molly
+would be sure to listen to him. Everything would be all right when Molly
+knew. Now, he had all but reached her, but no, how tiresome&mdash;how more
+than tiresome&mdash;a shepherd came up and held out his crook to Molly, who
+held out hers to him, and then they joined hands, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 150]</a></span>and then they danced
+away, away, away, far, very far from Boris and his question.</p>
+
+<p>He turned round and stamped his pointed shoe in his vexation.</p>
+
+<p>Nell suddenly came up and touched him.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you find Molly? Have you told her?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I can't get to her," replied Boris; "she's dancing over there with
+that horrid shepherd; he's only Hugh Pierson, and he doesn't look a bit
+well. Let's dance by ourselves, Nell; let's forget; 'twasn't nothing but
+nonsense, I'm sure."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't forget," replied Nell.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, aren't you a little bit hungry? There's lobster and pink
+champagne in the supper-room. I'm going in for some; I heard Hugh
+Pierson say it was ripping; come and let's have some."</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't touch any," said Nell with a little shudder of disgust.</p>
+
+<p>Boris looked at her and gave vent to the faintest of sighs.</p>
+
+<p>"While I'm having my lobster, you could eat a jelly, couldn't you?" he
+said in the most insinuating of whispers.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I couldn't; I couldn't touch anything. Go and eat if you want to,
+and then come back to me here. I'm going to stand by that window;
+perhaps he'll come back and take another peep."</p>
+
+<p>"It couldn't have been him, Nell; you know it couldn't; he's away in
+London, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you it was him."</p>
+
+<p>"Has he brought back my dove, do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; who cares about a dove just now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nell, I really do care, and my cage is most <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 151]</a></span>beautiful and clean. I put
+in fresh seed and water only this morning; wasn't it lucky?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the dove hasn't come," said Nell; "you know it was 'perhaps'
+about the dove, and about the pony, and about all the jolly
+things&mdash;you're always forgetting that it was 'perhaps.' There, go and
+eat your lobster, and come back to me when you have done; don't drink
+too much champagne, or maybe you'll turn giddy. I'll wait here by this
+window."</p>
+
+<p>Boris, looking decidedly depressed, hesitated for a moment; then seeing
+that Nell was resolute, he decided that, even if disappointment were in
+store, he could all the rest of his life reflect that he had sat up late
+and eaten lobster salad for supper. He accordingly sidled away in the
+direction of the supper-room, and Nell, with a light movement, sprang on
+one of the benches and then into the deep recess of a window. Here, with
+her cloudy hair all about her, her little face as white as her dress,
+her eyes big and spiritual in the trouble which vaguely stirred her
+sensitive soul, she looked out into the night. Her large wings shielded
+her little form, and nobody noticed that one fairy was not joining in
+the revels.</p>
+
+<p>"I did see him," murmured Nell; "I saw his face just for a minute; he
+pressed it up against the pane and looked in; his hair was all ruffled,
+and his eyes, his eyes&mdash;oh, the thought of his eyes makes me ache so
+badly. Why doesn't he come in? What is he doing out in the garden? I
+know he has come back. I know he's not in London; he has come back and
+he is in the garden, and we are all so jolly, and he so sad. What is the
+matter? Oh, I know quite well; it's <i>perhaps</i>; and the pony, and the
+dove, and the rabbits have not come home. Wings&mdash;I thought I'd <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 152]</a></span>be so
+happy when I had wings, but I'm just mis'ribble I'm just mis'ribble."</p>
+
+<p>There was a little noise behind Nell; she turned her head to see Boris
+scrambling up into the seat by her side.</p>
+
+<p>"I had two plates of salad," he began; "'twasn't so very nice, not so
+nice as&mdash;why, what's the matter, Nell?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said Nell, taking his hand, "quick, jump down, he's under the
+oak tree, just where the shadow is thickest; I saw him move; that's him;
+let's go to him, Boris; take my hand; let's run to him."</p>
+
+<p>Boris's hot hand clutched Nell's. They ran quickly along by the
+comparatively empty space near the wall, reached the entrance, and flew
+swiftly across the moonlit grass.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>FAIRY AND BROWNIE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Perhaps it was not the first time that the moon had looked down on a
+fairy and a brownie running across that old, old lawn. No one could say
+anything for certain on this point. We all of us have a sort of undying
+belief in fairies, so perhaps they did exist once, before our hearts had
+grown too cold and our natures too worldly to understand them. Children
+know most about them, but even children don't quite believe in them now,
+in the good old-fashioned way of long ago.</p>
+
+<p>A very pretty fairy and brownie were out now. The moon silvered Nell's
+wings and put a sort of unearthly radiance into her hair, and Boris,
+with his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 153]</a></span>bright locks standing almost upright on his head, in his
+quaint little costume, with his upturned toes and ruffled hands, looked
+quite like a true denizen of fairy land. Certain it is that the man who
+stood under the shadow of the oak gave a perceptible start when he saw
+the fairy and brownie. For a moment the old belief of his early
+childhood flashed through his brain, then he recognised Nell and Boris,
+and coming to meet them, he took a hand of each.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, father?" exclaimed Boris; "what are you standing out of
+doors for? I know it's a very warm night, but we want you dreadfully,
+dreadfully, in the house."</p>
+
+<p>Boris rubbed himself against his father's knee as he spoke. Nell
+clutched Squire Lorrimer's other hand, and raising it to her lips,
+kissed it passionately. Nell did not speak at all.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in, father, come in," repeated Boris; "and where's mother, and
+what are you doing out here under the oak tree?"</p>
+
+<p>"Looking at you little people; you make a gay sight," said the Squire.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of himself, his voice was quite hollow.</p>
+
+<p>"But why don't you come in?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not coming in; I'm going back to London again to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, father?" asked Nell, opening her lips for the first time, and
+looking at him with great intentness.</p>
+
+<p>The Squire stooped and lifted Nell into his arms.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not want you to see me," he said. "I knew you were having your
+big party to-night, and I had to come to the Towers on&mdash;on business.
+What are you trembling for, Nell? You ought not to be out; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 154]</a></span>you must run
+back to the house at once; why, you are cold, child."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm <i>not</i> cold, and I <i>will</i> stay and kiss you."</p>
+
+<p>Nell's arms were pressed tightly round the Squire's neck. Her little
+soft lips pressed kiss after kiss on his somewhat grisly cheek.</p>
+
+<p>Boris, standing on the ground, and looking up at Nell in her fathers
+arms, thoroughly realised for the first time that he had gone to useless
+trouble in cleaning the dove's cage.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Nell, you must be sensible," said her father. "I was obliged to
+come to the Towers to-night to&mdash;to fetch something. I knew from Molly's
+letters that you were going to have a big ball. I thought I'd like to
+see how the ball-room looked. We have not had a ball, a very big ball,
+in that room since the days of my great-grandmother. My grandmother has
+told me about that ball, and about the very window where my
+great-grandfather stood when he asked my great-grandmother to be his
+wife. He asked her to marry him at that ball, so of course she never
+could forget it; and the story of the green dress she wore&mdash;apple
+green&mdash;with her golden locks falling over her shoulders, and the story
+of the window where he proposed to her, have been handed down in the
+family ever since. To-night, in that same window, the little
+great-great-grandchild sat, and looked out, and I saw her; now, you must
+run back, Nell. Boris, you run back, too; run and enjoy yourselves; be
+happy&mdash;God, God bless you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you come in, father?" asked Boris.</p>
+
+<p>Nell felt as if she could not say a word. There was so much meaning in
+fathers words; there was so much that he said with his eyes, and with
+the tight <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 155]</a></span>pressure of his arms, which the rather commonplace words he
+uttered seemed to have nothing to do with. Nell understood, and her
+heart ached so, she seemed to be turned dumb.</p>
+
+<p>The Squire put Nell firmly on the grass.</p>
+
+<p>"Run in, both of you," he said. "I must go back to the railway station
+at once, or I shall miss my train. I am returning to town to-night. Say
+nothing of this to anyone until the ball is over, then you may tell
+Molly, if you like, that she will probably see her mother to-morrow.
+Good night, chicks."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't we see you to-morrow, father?"</p>
+
+<p>But the Squire's only reply was to stride softly away under the trees.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, he's gone," exclaimed Boris with a little cry.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Didn't you know he was going, Boris? What is the use of making a
+fuss?" said Nell. She found she could speak quite well again now. "Take
+my hand and come back to the house; let's do what he said."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think he's put out about anything?" asked Boris. "He seemed
+dumpy, like; I couldn't say anything about the dove; I knew it hadn't
+come. Do you think father was sad about anything, Nell?"</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't say he was, did he?" asked Nell.</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let's come back and dance, or people will miss us. Father said we
+weren't to say anything until the ball was over, and then only to
+Molly."</p>
+
+<p>"But if Molly goes back to the Grange?"</p>
+
+<p>"She mustn't; she must stay here. I'll dance with you now, Boris, if you
+like."</p>
+
+<p>The time had sped faster than the children had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 156]</a></span>any idea of while they
+were out. But the dancing still continued and went on until a late hour.
+Then the moment when expectation must yield to a delightful reality
+arrived. Towards the end of one of the prettiest figures of the
+cotillion, the fairies and brownies assumed new characters. Either a
+fairy or a brownie conducted one of the many personages who figured in
+the fancy ball up to the fairy queen, who, assisted by a number of
+satellites, bestowed upon each a gift carefully selected in advance to
+meet the requirements of the special child in question. Each child was
+expected to drop on one knee to receive the fairy queen's benediction
+with her gift; they then filed one by one into the supper-room, where
+refreshments of a particularly ethereal, grateful character awaited
+them. This scene really ended the never-to-be-forgotten fancy ball.
+Hasty departures followed. Carriages rolled away with many sleepy and
+happy little folk, and at last the two carriages which were to convey
+Sir John Thornton and his party back to the Grange, appeared.</p>
+
+<p>Nora was to return with them, and Annie Forest had arranged to specially
+attend to her comforts. Molly, who intended to come back to the Towers
+in a day or two, was also wrapping a white shawl round her shoulders
+preparatory to departure, when a brownie rushed quickly from one of the
+ante-rooms, flung his arms round her neck, and whispered in her ear.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Molly, what are you waiting for?" exclaimed Nan. "We're all
+perfectly dead with sleep, Boris, you naughty boy; you know you have
+nothing whatever to say; what are you keeping Molly for now?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 157]</a></span></p><p>"I have something to say," replied Boris. "Something most 'portant, I
+can tell you." His face flushed with anger; he dragged Molly into the
+ante-room.</p>
+
+<p>"There she is, Nell," he exclaimed; "now you can tell her."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, Nell, darling?" exclaimed Molly, struck by the
+expression on her little sisters face.</p>
+
+<p>"Molly, Molly," exclaimed Nell, with a sort of gasp in her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Nell, dear? Do speak; they're all waiting for me and I must
+go."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, must you go? Do stay, do stay; I have something very important to
+say; its a message."</p>
+
+<p>"A message!" exclaimed Molly; anxiety stealing quickly into her voice;
+"is it anything about&mdash;about father and mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes; and nobody else is to know; you will stay?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I'll stay. Wait there a minute, and I'll be back with you."</p>
+
+<p>Molly ran up to Hester, who was waiting for her in the entrance hall.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, Hetty," she said, kissing her; "I'm not going back with you."</p>
+
+<p>"What in the world do you mean, Molly?" exclaimed Hester. "You know you
+have promised to stay with us for another day or two, and I want you to
+know more of Mrs. Willis, and&mdash;why, what's the matter, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nell is not quite well, I think," replied Molly; "anyhow, I must stay
+here to-night; don't say anything to make Nora anxious; good-night."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid, Hester, that we must not keep the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 158]</a></span>horses waiting any
+longer," said Sir John in his most measured tones. "Good-night, Molly,
+we shall be pleased to see you at the Grange to-morrow if you can tear
+yourself away from domestic cares."</p>
+
+<p>Hester went away, the carriage door was shut, and a moment later the
+last of the visitors had departed.</p>
+
+<p>Molly rushed back for one moment to Nell.</p>
+
+<p>"I am here," she said, "but if you have a secret to tell me, I can't
+talk to you for the present without exciting the curiosity of the whole
+house. Go upstairs and get into bed, and I'll be with you as soon as I
+can. I daresay my bed is not ready for me, so I'll sleep with you
+to-night."</p>
+
+<p>A ghost of a smile of pleasure flitted across Nell's face as she glided
+away.</p>
+
+<p>Molly went back to the rest of her brothers and sisters. Jane
+Macalister, still true to her Minerva costume, was seated at the supper
+table, eating a large slice of cold game pie.</p>
+
+<p>"I am famished," she said; "it was the most fatiguing thing I ever did,
+and the dressmaker has made the sleeves of this horrid dress a great
+deal too tight, and the neck chokes me. Now, I hope this is the last
+folly of the kind that we shall have here for many a long day. I, for
+one, refuse to be laced up in this heathen mythology style again. Now
+then, my dears, all of you to bed. Molly, what in the world are you
+staying here for? We didn't expect you, and your room isn't ready."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'll sleep with Nell," replied Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"Very inconsiderate indeed," replied poor Minerva. "Nell's bed is only
+large enough for herself, and she's like a feathers weight&mdash;with those
+dark circles under <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 159]</a></span>her eyes too. I saw her flying about and absolutely
+going out on to the lawn this evening. Nell is a great deal too
+excitable, and certainly her sleep ought not to be disturbed."</p>
+
+<p>"I promise not to disturb it," replied Molly; "you know, Jane, I'm not
+an exciting sort of person."</p>
+
+<p>"No more you are, my dear; but it frets me to have my arrangements put
+out by fads. However, off with you to bed now. Dear me, I am famished.
+If Minerva felt as I do, I pity her, poor soul. I'll have a glass of
+stout; there's nothing like it when you're worn out. Good night, Molly."</p>
+
+<p>Molly ran eagerly away. She was waylaid by more than one brother and
+sister on her way upstairs, but at last she found herself in Nell's
+room.</p>
+
+<p>Nell was sitting on the side of the bed; she had not attempted to
+undress.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, come, this will never do," said the practical Molly; "why, you're
+ready to drop with fatigue, you poor mite. Here, let me undress you, and
+you can talk while I'm doing it. Now, what's the trouble?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's about father."</p>
+
+<p>"What about him?"</p>
+
+<p>"He came back to-night; he stood under the oak tree at the end of the
+lawn. I saw him first, because he pressed his face up against one of the
+windows and looked in, and afterwards he stood under the oak tree; Boris
+and I ran out to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes; go on, Nell."</p>
+
+<p>Molly's fingers were trembling now, but they did not cease their busy
+task of unfastening Nell's clothes.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on," she said; "what did he say, and why, <i>why</i> didn't you call me?"</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 160]</a></span></p><p>"Boris tried to catch you up, but you would dance with Hugh Pierson. We
+ran out to father and he talked to us. The 'perhaps' has come true,
+Molly; oh, Molly, the 'perhaps' has come quite true."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know, Nell? Don't tremble so, Nell, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Father wouldn't come in," continued Nell, making a brave effort to
+recover herself. "He told us about our great-great-grandmother and her
+apple-green dress, and he said that he had come back to fetch something,
+and that he must return to London to-night; and then he said,'God&mdash;God
+bless you,' and his voice shook just a tiny bit, and he said that mother
+would be home to-morrow, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Nell, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Boris said 'Will you come home?' and&mdash;but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What did he say to that?"</p>
+
+<p>"He said nothing to that; he walked away very soft and quick. Molly,
+what does it mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Molly. "Now, Nell, you must get into bed. You are
+quite cold and shivery. I am going downstairs to fetch you a little hot
+wine and water, and then I'll put my arms round you until you sleep."</p>
+
+<p>Nell was glad to submit to Molly's most comforting ministrations.</p>
+
+<p>"But I think I do know what it means," murmured the elder girl as she
+listened to the gentle breathing of her little sister by-and-by.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LORRIMERS OF THE TOWERS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The morning post brought a letter from Mrs. Lorrimer, which set all
+curiosity at rest. This letter was addressed to Jane Macalister, who
+read it through first, with feverish haste and brows drawn darkly
+together, then again straight from the beginning more slowly, and then a
+third time, during which she surreptitiously wiped her eyes, and hoped
+the children had not seen her do so.</p>
+
+<p>Jane was seated before the tea equipage at the head of the long
+breakfast table. Molly was helping her brothers and sisters to porridge,
+cups of milk, and bread and jam, in her usual deft fashion. Jane raised
+her eyes and encountered the brown ones of Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Jane," said the young girl in a steady voice; "what is the news?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's for you all to know, my dears," said Jane Macalister in a steady
+voice. "Your mother has asked me to break it to you all. It's just a
+question whether you shall all hear it together, or whether Molly shall
+hear it by herself first. I think Molly must decide that point."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll hear it with the others," said Molly.</p>
+
+<p>As she spoke she went and sat down in a vacant chair near Nell.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it is not such news to Nell and me as you think," she said.
+"Anyhow, we are prepared to hear it."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 162]</a></span></p><p>"It's 'perhaps' come true," said Nell in a faint voice, looking at Molly
+with the ghost of a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, dear," exclaimed Kitty, "whatever it is, let's out with it. I
+don't suppose we are a set of cowards, any of us. I'm going to guess
+what it is beforehand; it's that father's mare has broken her knees;
+that's about the worst thing that <i>could</i> happen. Father sent for the
+mare to London a week ago; don't you remember, Guy, and when he was
+riding her in the park she fell and broke her knees; that's it, you
+bet."</p>
+
+<p>"Do shut up," exclaimed Guy.</p>
+
+<p>"You bet I'm right," replied Kitty, flushed and defiant.</p>
+
+<p>Under no other possible circumstances would Kitty have dared to say "you
+bet" in the presence of Jane Macalister.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dears," said poor Jane, looking round at all the eager faces,
+"I'd better read your mother's letter aloud. I've read it three times to
+myself, and have got over the choky business; so now I can read it aloud
+without breaking down. This is what your mother says, children. If I
+stand up, my loves, you'll all hear it better."</p>
+
+<p>Jane Macalister stood up at the end of the long table. All the children
+dropped their spoons, and knives, and forks, as they listened to her.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Jane</span>," she began.</p>
+
+<p>Here she paused.</p>
+
+<p>"Your mother and I," she said, "have been Jane and Lucy to each other
+ever since we were children."</p>
+
+<p>"Who cares about that rot now?" murmured angry Kitty. Harry gave her a
+pinch which make her scream.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 163]</a></span></p><p>"You shut up," she said back to him. "I must say something or I'll
+'splode."</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Jane</span>," continued the governess,</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"I must ask you to break the news as you best can to the poor
+children. The Squire and I have done all that lay in the power of
+mortals to avert the blow. But it has been God's will that we
+should not succeed. You can tell Molly by-and-by how it is that her
+dear father has got into such terrible money difficulties, but now
+the all-important thing for the children to know is this.... The
+Towers is sold, and we must all go away from the dear home we have
+loved so long. The Squire is terribly upset, and cannot bring
+himself to come back just at once, but I am returning to-morrow.
+There is nothing for us now but to bear up and make the best of
+things. It is not so hard on any of us as it is on the
+Squire.&mdash;Believe me, dear Jane, your affectionate friend,</p></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot2"><p>"<span class="smcap">Lucy Lorrimer</span>."</p></div>
+
+<p>There was dead silence after the letter had been read. Then quite
+suddenly the terrible and unexpected sound of Nell's weeping filled the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, father," sobbed Nell. "Oh, father's face; oh, father's face."</p>
+
+<p>She hid her head on Molly's shoulder and moaned in the most
+broken-hearted way. Boris, too, looked very pale. He remembered the
+pressure of the hand which had held his the night before. He heard the
+words which were commonplace enough, once again, and he saw the haggard
+lines round the lips and round the kindly eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Boris slipped away from his own side of the table. He went up to Nell
+and began to kiss her.</p>
+
+<p>"I know," he said. "I understand. I saw him, too; but he'll be all right
+by-and-by. It's like a big battle, but he'll not flinch; father's made
+of the stuff that soldiers have in them. He'll be all right by-and-by."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 164]</a></span></p><p>"I wish you'd let me look at that letter, Jane Macalister," said Guy.</p>
+
+<p>Guy was the heir of the Towers. It was his property and all his future,
+which that letter seemed suddenly to deprive him of. He was the last boy
+in the world to think first of himself; but now his head did feel a
+little dizzy. If, it seemed to him up to this moment, there was a solid
+fact in all the world, it was that in due time he should step into his
+father's shoes and become Squire Lorrimer of the Towers.</p>
+
+<p>Molly instantly understood the tone of Guy's voice. She started up, and
+going to Jane took the letter; then she went to Guy, and put her arm
+round his neck.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's come into the garden and read it together," she said.</p>
+
+<p>He stumbled up and went with her as if he were blind. They went out
+through the open window and down the lawn, and Molly read the letter
+aloud once again.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's all up," she said when she had finished. "I have been
+expecting it for a long time&mdash;a long time; haven't you, Guy?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered Guy. "That's the awful part to me; it's such a sudden
+blow. I knew, of course, there were money difficulties; but, then,
+somehow or other, most fellows' fathers seem to have got them; and I was
+so busy with my books and keeping ahead of the other fellows in form
+that I didn't fret specially. I never wanted to think of myself
+specially; but sometimes the thought used to cross my mind that there
+might be a difficulty about my going to Cambridge by-and-by, and, of
+course, I knew that Eton <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 165]</a></span>was quite out of the question; but that was
+the worst, the very worst, that I thought could happen to me, and
+now&mdash;now."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Guy," said Molly. "You'll never be Squire Lorrimer of the Towers."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, of course, that doesn't matter," said Guy, in a would-be careless
+tone. "They can never take my real birthright from me. I'm the son of a
+gentleman, and I come of the real old stock. It's thinking of father
+that floors me, though, Molly. Why, this will just kill him."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm awfully anxious about him," said Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"How did he contrive to get into a scrape of this sort? I'm sure we
+never were extravagant; we didn't care a bit what we wore nor what we
+ate; and I know the grammar school at Nortonbury is cheap enough, and I
+really don't think Jane Macalister gets ten pounds a year. I'm sure she
+never has a new rag to her back; and as to you girls, of course I'm not
+blind; but if you were dressed like other fellows' sisters, you and Nora
+would look far and away the prettiest girls in the place."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, that's humbug," said downright Molly. "I'm not a bit pretty,
+and what's more I don't want to be. Of course, Nora is different. I
+acknowledge that she has a beautiful face."</p>
+
+<p>"And you acknowledge another thing," said Guy; "that very little money
+has been spent. How in the world has father got into this scrape?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, of course, we can't understand that," said Molly; "only I think I
+can guess a little bit. Of course, these are bad times for all
+landlords, and half the farmers don't pay their rents properly; and you
+remember, Guy, last autumn, the lease of the Sunny <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 166]</a></span>Side farm fell in,
+and father hasn't been able to let it since, because the whole place is
+so fearfully out of repair that no one will take it until it is put in
+order; but the real thing which has made it necessary to sell the Towers
+is, that father went security a long time ago for a very large sum of
+money, and all the other sureties have died or lost their money, and so
+father has to pay. I know there was a great fear of that, because mother
+told me of it more than a year ago. She said that father always
+intended, if the worst came, to try and borrow the money. I suppose he
+has failed to do so, and that must be the reason why the Towers has to
+be sold."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a bad business," said Guy, "and I can't realise it a bit yet; of
+course we young ones must be as plucky as we can about it, that goes
+without saying, but I can't take it in yet. I'm glad it's holiday time,
+and I needn't go to school. I couldn't face the other fellows just for a
+bit."</p>
+
+<p>"I know you'll be splendid about it, Guy darling," said Molly looking
+affectionately at her brother; "and now do you mind coming with me to
+the Grange, for, of course, poor Nonie must be told? We won't stay there
+long, for we must do what we can to help mother when she comes home."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I'll come with you," said Guy; "we'd best start at once, it's not
+too early."</p>
+
+<p>"Stay where you are, then, for a moment," said Molly. "I'll run into the
+house and tell them we are going."</p>
+
+<p>She went back to the breakfast-room, where an animated conversation was
+going on.</p>
+
+<p>Nell was lying on a sofa with a shawl over her, and Jane Macalister was
+sitting by her side and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 167]</a></span>holding her hand. Harry, Boris, and Kitty were
+standing in a little knot by the open window eagerly discussing a
+subject which was causing them intense pain, and obliging them to use
+many bickering words. They were feverishly anxious about the removal of
+their several pets.</p>
+
+<p>"I know the big rabbit will die," exclaimed Boris. "Unless we can take
+the hutch which is built into the wall he'll die. He never will sleep
+anywhere except in that one corner of his hutch. It makes him ill, I
+know it does, to sleep anywhere else. He'll die if he's moved."</p>
+
+<p>"No he won't die," said Kitty roundly; "rabbits have got no souls, and
+you can't be affectionate and fond of a thing if you haven't got a
+soul."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a lie," interrupted Harry; "and you mean to tell me that my
+dormice aren't fond of me, and that they don't prefer me to you&mdash;you
+clumsy monkey."</p>
+
+<p>Kitty looked nonplussed for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"That's only because you feed them," she said then. "If you didn't feed
+them, they'd love me just as well. Ah, yah; who's right? You can't
+answer me now, can you? It's only cupboard-love animals have got, and
+that proves that they have no souls."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me," said Harry, in a would-be sarcastic voice, "that very
+much the same thing may be said of some girls. Who caught you stealing a
+peach a week ago? Ha, ha, Miss Kitty."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, for pity's sake, children, don't quarrel," exclaimed Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I'm telling 'em," said Boris in a tearful voice; "and I
+think my big rabbit <i>has</i> a soul, and I'm awful 'feared it will kill him
+if he leaves his corner of the hutch."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 168]</a></span></p><p>"Jane," interrupted Molly, "Guy and I are going over to the Grange to
+tell poor Nora about mother's letter, but we'll both be home before
+mother returns."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, my dear," replied Jane Macalister. "You'd better not have
+Nora back, though, Molly, for she's quite certain not to be sensible
+about matters, and that's the only thing left to us now. For heaven's
+sake, I say, let us keep our senses and not give way to sentiment at a
+crisis like this. Go, my dear; tell her that she must take it in a
+quiet, matter-of-fact way, and not consider herself in the very least.
+The Squire and your mother, and Guy are the three victims; the rest of
+us are of no consequence; go, Molly."</p>
+
+<p>Jane blew her nose very hard after uttering this oration, and there were
+suspicious red rims round her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Molly joined Guy, and they started on their walk to the Grange.</p>
+
+<p>Guy had now quite got over the stunned feeling which oppressed him.
+There was a great deal of grit in all the Lorrimers, and Guy and Molly
+had both even a larger amount of this most valuable quality than the
+younger children. The ground, therefore, no longer swam under the brave
+boy's feet, and Molly, now that she was obliged to act, and now that she
+knew exactly what was going to happen, felt really less unhappy than
+before the blow had fallen.</p>
+
+<p>It was little after ten o clock when the children reached the Grange.
+They found Hester and Annie out in the garden picking flowers, and Nora,
+looking very happy and very pretty in her new pink cambric, was lying
+under a shady tree on the lawn.</p>
+
+<p>"Hullo, what have you come over so early for?" <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 169]</a></span>she asked of the two,
+as, dusty and hot, they came up to her side. Mrs. Willis was sitting
+near Nora, and reading aloud to her. Nora felt immensely flattered by
+her attentions, and yet at the same time not absolutely at home with
+her. Mrs. Willis could read character at a glance. She had taken an
+immense fancy to Molly, and pitied Nora without admiring her.</p>
+
+<p>"She is a shallow little thing," she murmured to herself. "Pretty, of
+course, but nothing will ever make her either great or wise. Sweet Molly
+is one of the angels of the world."</p>
+
+<p>She rose now to greet the brother and sister as they approached. The
+trouble round Guy's handsome eyes was not lost upon her. Poor Molly
+looked untidy, and quite worn and old.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how the ball has fagged you!" exclaimed Nora; "see how fresh I am,
+and kind Mrs. Willis is reading me a charming story."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't read any more at present, my dear," said Mrs. Willis, "as no
+doubt your brother and sister want to talk to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm sure they don't," said Nora; "they can't have anything at all
+particular to say, and I am so immensely interested. I want to know how
+Lucile conquered her difficulties with the French grammar. I have such a
+fellow feeling for her, for I always detest grammar. Please, Mrs.
+Willis, don't go away."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll come back presently," said Mrs. Willis; she crossed the lawn as
+she spoke, leaving the fascinating book open on Nora's sofa.</p>
+
+<p>"How tiresome of you both to come and interrupt," said Nora in her
+crossest tone. "Molly, you look positively dishevelled; and Guy, you
+needn't <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 170]</a></span>wear those worn-out tennis shoes when you come to the Grange.
+You really, neither of you, have the least idea of what is due to our
+position."</p>
+
+<p>"Our position be hanged," growled Guy. "Look here, we have come to say
+something, and as it's particularly unpleasant, you had better listen as
+quietly as you can."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'm sure I don't want to hear it; I hate and detest unpleasant
+things. You know I do, don't you, Molly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, darling," said Molly, kneeling down by her; "but sometimes bad
+things must come and we must be brave and bear them."</p>
+
+<p>She knelt down by Nora as she spoke, and laid her hot, and not too clean
+hand, on Nora's pretty fresh sleeve.</p>
+
+<p>"I do think its unkind of you to rumple up my frock like that," said
+Nora; "if you don't care to look nice, I do, and if you've got
+unpleasant news, you shouldn't tell it to me; for the doctor says that
+I'm not to be worried at present. I'm getting well nicely, but I'll be
+thrown back awfully if I'm worried."</p>
+
+<p>"That can't be helped," said Guy in a firm voice. "Sometimes unpleasant
+things have to be borne. It's no worse for you than for the others."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Nonie, Nonie," sobbed Molly, burying her head on her sister's
+shoulder; "it's this, it's this: Guy, you mustn't be cruel; remember she
+is weak. Nora, darling, we wouldn't tell you if we could help it, but
+you must know, because everyone else will know. The Towers is sold. The
+dear old home is ours no longer. We are not the Lorrimers of the Towers
+any more."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>TOPSY-TURVEY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>While Guy and Molly were in vain endeavouring to comfort Nora, who,
+after uttering shriek after shriek, closed her eyes and lay perfectly
+still, so much so, that Molly thought for a moment that she had fainted,
+Sir John Thornton left his own private study, where he had been busily
+writing letters, and stepping out on the lawn, approached the spot where
+Hester and Annie, in their cool white dresses, were picking flowers to
+replenish the vases in the different sitting-rooms. The girls made a
+pretty picture, and Sir John always admired beauty in any form and under
+any guise.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Hester is becoming quite distinguished looking," he said to
+himself; "she inherits a good deal of her mother's grace, and although
+she will never be exactly pretty, she is very aristocratic in
+appearance. She has a good figure, too&mdash;graceful and lithe. Even beside
+Miss Forest, who is a regular beauty of the piquant gipsy order, she
+quite shows to advantage. Presently we may be able to get her presented,
+and, if necessary, we must have a house in town for three months in the
+season. (I shall detest it, but Laura says it is inevitable.) Yes, I'm
+sure I have done right. Hester is such a sensible girl that she will
+probably be glad of my news; yes, it is evidently my duty to take Hester
+into society, and Laura is just the woman to take all the care and worry
+off my hands. I should never have thought of marrying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 172]</a></span>again if it were
+not for Hester and Nan, but no one can say that I shirk a father's
+duties. Now I must break it to Hetty, for Laura says she will be here on
+Saturday. I would rather she did not bring her daughter with her, but
+she evidently has not the least intention of coming anywhere without
+Antonia. Dear, dear, I hope Hester will be sensible. I don't want a bad
+quarter of an hour."</p>
+
+<p>Sir John had now reached the two girls. He had quite forgotten his
+dislike to Annie, and smiling at her, asked her in his gracious way why
+she did not offer him a rosebud.</p>
+
+<p>She picked one at once, and he got her to place it in his button-hole.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," he said with a smile; "your taste is admirable, and now I
+have a favour to ask of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Granted, of course," said Annie with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to deprive you of Hetty's company for a quarter of an hour. I
+have some domestic matters to discuss with my fair housekeeper."</p>
+
+<p>"You can arrange the flowers, Annie," called Hester, dropping her basket
+as she spoke, and going up to her fathers side.</p>
+
+<p>He drew her hand through his arm and they walked across the lawn
+together.</p>
+
+<p>"I have just been admiring you and your friend," he said. "Do you know,
+Hester, that you really grow very nice looking."</p>
+
+<p>Hester flushed with a strange mingling of irritation and elation.</p>
+
+<p>To be praised by her fastidious father was something to be remembered,
+but she always shrank from having her personal appearance commented
+upon.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 173]</a></span></p><p>Sir John turned round now and smiled into her blushing face.</p>
+
+<p>"Come down this shady walk with me," he said. "I have a good deal to
+talk over with you. Hester, you and Nan have always found me a kind,
+indulgent father, have you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have been very good to us," replied Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, perhaps not so good as some fathers, but good according to my
+lights, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have been very good to us," repeated Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"And you are a good, dear daughter," replied Sir John, with almost
+enthusiasm; "you never complain of the dull life I give you at the
+Grange."</p>
+
+<p>"The life is not dull, father."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, my dear," Sir John patted Hester's long slim fingers as they
+rested on his arm, "I was young once myself and I know what youth wants,
+and I have seen other girls, and I know what my girl requires. Hester, I
+am not unmindful of you; and the step&mdash;the step I am about to take is
+taken not wholly, but mainly, on your account and Nan's."</p>
+
+<p>Hester suddenly withdrew her hand from Sir John's arm. A kind of
+intuition told her what was coming. Like a flash a sword seemed to
+pierce right through her heart. She had a memory of her mother, of the
+loving eyes now closed&mdash;the voice so full of sympathy now silent. Was
+her mother to be supplanted and because of her? For once passion got the
+upper hand of prudence.</p>
+
+<p>"Do it," she said, suddenly flashing round upon Sir John; "do it,
+certainly, if you wish, but do not do it for Nan's sake and mine.
+Nothing in all the wide world could pain us more."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 174]</a></span></p><p>Sir John looked as astonished as if Hester had suddenly slapped him in
+the face.</p>
+
+<p>"Your words are extremely vigorous, my dear," he said in a voice of ice;
+"and I am not aware that I have yet told you what I mean to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know, I know," answered Hester; "you are going to marry again.
+Oh, don't do it for our sakes; that is all I have to say."</p>
+
+<p>Sir John was quite silent for nearly a minute. Then he said quietly: "As
+you have been so clever as to guess my intention, you have of course
+saved me the trouble of breaking my news to you. Young girls sometimes
+resent the presence of a stepmother, but as a rule they appreciate the
+advantage of one when once they have become accustomed to the change.
+The lady who has honoured me by promising to accept my hand is Mrs.
+Bernard Temple. She is about my own age and has one daughter of
+seventeen&mdash;your age, Hester&mdash;whose name is Antonia. I have not yet seen
+Antonia, but I am told that she is a most charming, ladylike girl. Mrs.
+Bernard Temple has written to me to say she will come here on a visit on
+Saturday with Antonia. This is Thursday, and I expect you, Hester, in
+the meantime, to break the news to Nan, and to get everything ready for
+the honoured guests who will then arrive. I expect this is a surprise to
+you, my dear, so I forgive the excited words you have just made use of.
+You will doubtless have reason to rejoice yet at my decision. You are
+too young to be at the head of a great establishment like this, Hetty. I
+am doing wisely in removing such a burden from such young shoulders."</p>
+
+<p>"I have never felt it a burden," said Hester in a choked voice.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 175]</a></span></p><p>"No; you have been good, very good, and now you will reap your reward.
+My marriage will probably take place in October, and my wife and I will
+return to the Grange for Christmas. Next season we shall probably have a
+house in town, when my dear Laura will present you and Antonia at one of
+the drawing-rooms."</p>
+
+<p>Hester made no remark.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that is all, my love," said Sir John; "you can now return to
+your friends. I have several letters to attend to."</p>
+
+<p>"May I tell Mrs. Willis, and&mdash;and the others?" asked Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"You may tell everyone; it is no secret."</p>
+
+<p>Sir John took out his cigar case as he spoke, and Hester, with a sinking
+heart, turned away.</p>
+
+<p>Annie, full of trouble on her account, dreading inexpressibly the moment
+when Mrs. Willis should ask her for the ring, was sauntering up and
+down, lost in anxious thought in front of the house.</p>
+
+<p>She caught sight of Hester coming slowly towards her.</p>
+
+<p>"Good gracious, Hetty, whatever is the matter?" she exclaimed. "I never
+saw your pale face with peonies on it before, and your eyes look as if
+you had been crying. I cannot imagine what has come to everyone,"
+continued Annie; "the whole place seems to be in a ferment. Nora, I
+know, has been crying about something, and Molly's face looks positively
+blotchy."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I should like to see Molly; is she here?" exclaimed Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she's on the lawn talking to Nora, and Guy is with them, and Mrs.
+Willis joined them half an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 176]</a></span>hour ago. I was running up to them, but Nora
+shrieked out to me to keep away. What can be the matter? There seems to
+be an earthquake everywhere."</p>
+
+<p>"So there is as far as I am concerned," replied Hester. "There is an
+awful earthquake, and I don't know at the present moment whether I am
+standing on my head or my heels."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me, you are on your heels," replied Annie; "but you look rather
+top-heavy, so do be careful."</p>
+
+<p>"My father is going to marry again in October," continued Hester, "and
+my future stepmother is coming here on Saturday, and there is a girl
+called Antonia coming with her&mdash;her daughter, and&mdash;and Antonia will live
+at the Grange in the future, and Annie, I cannot realise it; oh, Annie,
+I cannot bear it."</p>
+
+<p>"You poor darling," said Annie. She put her arm round Hester's neck and
+kissed her hot cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"What a horrid old man Sir John is," murmured Annie to herself; "what in
+the world is he making a goose of himself for?"</p>
+
+<p>Aloud she said in a faint voice, "Oh, I am bitterly sorry for you. I
+don't know what I'd do to my dear old rough-and-ready father if he dared
+to give me another mother. And Hetty, Hetty, if these new people are
+coming on Saturday, must I go away?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, of course not, Annie; it would make me much more wretched even than
+I am now not to have you in the house; oh, I really don't know how I
+dare tell Nan; she is so excitable, and Mrs. Martin has put her against
+stepmothers already."</p>
+
+<p>"It doesn't matter half as much for her," said Annie, "for she will be
+at school most of the time. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 177]</a></span>Would you like me to tackle her? I think I
+can get her to behave with outward propriety at least."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would tell her," said Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, I'll search for her right away; and shall I send Molly to
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Molly; yes, I'd rather see her than anyone."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll fly round and tell her you're here," replied Annie.</p>
+
+<p>She had now a reason for joining the group on the lawn, which not even
+Nora's frantic wavings of the hand to her to keep away could prevent her
+attending to.</p>
+
+<p>"Molly," she said, not coming too near, but shouting from a little
+distance; "Hester is on the lawn at the back of the house and wants
+particularly to see you for a minute or two."</p>
+
+<p>Molly stood up and shook out her crumpled holland frock.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," she said, "I'll go to her."</p>
+
+<p>"Stay here, Guy," she continued, laying her hand on her brother's
+shoulder. "I won't stay long with Hetty, but she would think it unkind
+if I did not tell her. I wonder if she has heard anything. I won't be
+long away, for we must go back to the Towers before lunch, in order to
+be sure to be in time to meet mother."</p>
+
+<p>Molly went slowly away, her poor dejected little figure showing only too
+plainly the weight of sad care which filled her heart.</p>
+
+<p>Hester Thornton was, however, for once so self-centred that she could
+think of no sorrow but her own. She noticed nothing particular in
+Molly's lagging step, and guessed of no special sorrow in her
+tear-dimmed brown eyes.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 178]</a></span></p><p>Hester ran up to Molly and clutched her arm with feverish force.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Molly," she gasped, "how can I bear it? my worst, worst fears are
+realised. My father is going to marry again."</p>
+
+<p>These words gave Molly a shock; she turned quite white for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Hester," she said, "oh, Hester, and I remember your mother, your sweet
+mother. I was only a very little girl when I saw her last. She was ill
+at the time and she died soon afterwards, but I cannot forget her face
+nor her words; she seemed something like an angel."</p>
+
+<p>"So she was," said Hester. "A beautiful, dear angel&mdash;too good for this
+world."</p>
+
+<p>Hester's courage gave way; she began to sob brokenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Come into the field at the back of the house," said Molly; "we'll be
+quite alone there, and then you can tell me everything and I can tell
+you everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, have you bad news too?" said Hester. "Annie seemed to think you
+had; she said your face was blotchy, and that Nora had been crying. Oh,
+Molly dear, Molly dear, how selfish I am; I have been absolutely
+swallowed up in this dark cloud, and can think of no one but myself. I
+notice now how red your eyes are, and how sad your mouth. Poor, dear
+Molly, what is it? Is Nell really ill? Was that why you did not come
+back with us last night?"</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't Nell," said Molly in a trembling voice; "it's&mdash;Hester&mdash;it's
+what we feared. We had a letter from mother this morning, and it's all
+over&mdash;it's all over, Hetty&mdash;the Towers is sold."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 179]</a></span></p><p>"And my father is going to marry again," said Hester; "it seems to me as
+if the world were turning topsy-turvey. Oh, Molly, what are we both to
+do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Jane Macalister would say that we are not to think of ourselves," said
+Molly with a wan attempt at a smile, "but somehow I don't feel like
+following her advice just at present."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor I either," replied Hester; "I never, never in the whole course of
+my life felt more horrid and wicked, and rebellious, and selfish."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE NEW OWNERS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is surprising how soon, at least when we are young, the greater
+number of us get accustomed to things. The news of the sale of the
+Towers, and of Sir John Thornton's approaching marriage, had electrified
+the Lorrimers and the Thorntons on Thursday. Had electrified them to
+such a degree that even the common observances of life seemed queer and
+out of place. It seemed wrong to eat when one was hungry; inhuman to
+smile; and even when one was sleepy, it seemed necessary to go to bed
+with a sort of apology. Nevertheless, the hungry people had to be fed,
+smiles had now and then to chase away tears, and in youthful slumber
+sorrow was for a time forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>By Saturday life was going on much as usual in the two households. The
+Lorrimers were not to leave the Towers for six weeks. There was no
+immediate necessity, therefore, for the younger members <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 180]</a></span>of the
+household to think about moving the pets. Six weeks seemed something
+like for ever to them. The anxious consultations of the elders were not
+shared by them. Mother had come home, and mother kissed them just as
+tenderly as ever at night, and petted them just as much in the morning,
+and coddled them just as persistently when there was the least scrap of
+anything the matter. Whenever they went away, mother would go with them,
+and that, after all, was the main thing. In their secret hearts, they
+became rather excited about the move, the packing, and the new home.
+Boris, it is true, sometimes woke at night with a start and a hot
+remembrance of the clutch the Squire had given his hand when he stood
+under the oak tree, and Nell sobbed out piteously once or twice, "Oh,
+father's face, oh, father's face;" but father was not with them and
+mother was, and the sun rose and set as usual, and the fruit ripened in
+great plenty, and the pets were all well, and it was holiday time, and
+mother earth was specially tranquilising and kind. By Saturday, Boris,
+Kitty, and Nell were to all appearance just as they were before, and
+even the elder members of the family behaved, as Jane Macalister
+expressed it, "like sensible Christians."</p>
+
+<p>In the Thornton household, too, the first overwhelming shock of Sir
+John's approaching marriage had passed by. Nan had stormed and raged,
+and flung her arms round nurse's neck, and sobbed herself at last to
+sleep on her breast, but Nan's passion was over now, and she was even a
+little curious to see what sort of woman Mrs. Bernard Temple was, and
+what sort of girl Antonia would be. Hester, whether her heart was heavy
+or light, was forced to attend to many household cares, and Annie was
+happy once <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 181]</a></span>more, for Mrs. Willis had not yet asked her for the ring.
+Mrs. Willis had yielded to Hester's strong entreaties to remain at the
+Grange until Monday. She was deeply interested in the Lorrimers, and was
+most anxious to help Molly in any way in her power; she was also
+desirous of seeing Hetty through the difficult ordeal of her first
+introduction to her future stepmother; she resolved, therefore, at some
+personal sacrifice, to prolong her visit at the Grange for a few days.
+No events less absorbing would have made her forget the ring. The
+exciting events of Thursday had, however, put it completely out of her
+head. On Friday, it is true, she did think of it, but Annie was not
+present at the time, and she now resolved not to trouble herself to have
+the ring copied, but to buy another present for her ex-pupil.</p>
+
+<p>Annie knew nothing of this intention, but delay had made her bold, and,
+as usual, she had great faith in her own good luck.</p>
+
+<p>On Saturday morning Sir John contributed vastly to the excitement and
+interest of the party by a certain piece of news which he read aloud to
+them from a letter he had just received from Mrs. Bernard Temple.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Hester," he said, looking down the length of the table at his
+daughter, "did not you once tell me that you had a schoolfellow at
+Lavender House of the name of Susan Drummond?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sleepy Susy," exclaimed Hester with a smile. "I had almost forgotten
+her, although she managed to worry me a good deal at school. She was my
+room-mate for the first couple of terms. Oh, dear, oh, dear, shall I
+ever forget the trouble we used to have to wake her?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 182]</a></span></p><p>"She left Lavender House a good many years ago; what of her?" exclaimed
+Mrs. Willis; "the fact is, I have quite lost sight of her."</p>
+
+<p>"And so have I," said Hester; "frankly, I did not care about remembering
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, whether you like it or not, you are likely to hear a good deal
+more of her now," said Sir John, "for Susan's father is the new owner of
+the Towers, and Mrs. Bernard Temple wants to know if she may bring Susan
+as well as Antonia to-day, as Susan is naturally most anxious to see her
+new home. Have we a vacant bedroom, Hester?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," replied Hester, "but it seems&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What, my dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, father&mdash;only&mdash;but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But me no buts," replied Sir John in a tone of irritation. "Nothing can
+be more natural than a young girl's wish to see her future home. I shall
+telegraph to Mrs. Bernard Temple to let her know that we shall be
+pleased to give Miss Drummond a hearty welcome."</p>
+
+<p>Sir John rose from his chair as he spoke, and a moment later left the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Nora," exclaimed Hester, when the door had closed behind him.
+"Susy is certain to say something to hurt her dreadfully, for unless she
+has tremendously altered, I never saw a creature with less tact."</p>
+
+<p>"We must hope for the best," said Mrs. Willis. "I am rather glad, my
+dear," she added, "that I am here, for I think Miss Susy will be on her
+best behaviour in my presence."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I think it's the most awful thing that ever happened," exclaimed
+Nan. "Fancy having a sleepy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 183]</a></span>thing like that at the Towers, instead of
+Nell and Kitty and Boris."</p>
+
+<p>The girls discussed the matter a little further, and then Hester went
+away to attend to Nora.</p>
+
+<p>The shock of Molly's intelligence had really affected Nora to an almost
+painful degree. Her nerves had been terribly shaken by her serious fall,
+and she was so restless and miserable for the first twenty-four hours
+after the stunning blow had been given to her that the beloved Towers
+was no longer her home, that a doctor had to be sent for, who ordered
+her a soothing draught, and said that she ought to be kept extremely
+quiet.</p>
+
+<p>By this time, however, Nora was not only better, but much interested in
+the strange new outlook. She had found her life often dull enough in the
+dear old home&mdash;for it was by this term she now invariably spoke of the
+Towers&mdash;she had longed to flutter her little wings in a larger and gayer
+world&mdash;she had fancied the small triumphs which might be hers, and had
+believed much in the charms of her own pretty face. She had dreamed
+dreams of herself in society, and felt sure that the fact of her being a
+Lorrimer of the Towers would insure her a passport into any circle. Now,
+of course, matters would be different, but still the new life must be,
+at least, more interesting than the old. It would be impossible any
+longer to have nothing to do in the day except to learn rather
+old-fashioned lessons under the tutorship of Jane Macalister, to
+contrive to dress out of almost nothing at all, and to listen for ever
+to Molly's slow talk about ways and means, and the children's chatter
+over their pets. Nora looked ahead with interest. She was sorry for
+Hester, of course, but she thought it would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 184]</a></span>be very delightful to meet
+Mrs. Bernard Temple and Antonia, and even the news that Susan Drummond
+was coming, and that Susy's father was now the owner of the Towers,
+scarcely disturbed her equanimity.</p>
+
+<p>"It's very kind of you to break it to me, Hetty," she said; "but of
+course I knew that someone had bought the Towers, and why not Mr.
+Drummond as well as another?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not, truly," replied Hester; "I am glad you are so sensible, Nora.
+I'll send Annie to you as soon as ever I can. Now I must run away, as
+there is a great deal to be done."</p>
+
+<p>"How pale you look," said Nora, touched with a feeling of compunction at
+an indescribable something in Hester's face and voice. "Are you really,
+really fretting?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I hope not," replied Hester; "but I am really, really fighting, and
+that is hard work; now I must be off."</p>
+
+<p>She left the room in a hurry, and as she went away to interview the
+housekeeper, some tears gathered in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, dear Molly," she murmured to herself; "how very different she is
+from Nora; oh, how I wish Susy was not going to be settled at the
+Towers, it seems to be quite the last straw. 'As well Mr. Drummond as
+another,' says Nora; ah, but she would not say that if she really knew
+Susy."</p>
+
+<p>The remaining hours which were to intervene before the arrival of the
+guests passed swiftly by. Sir John went alone in the landau to
+Nortonbury to meet them. An omnibus was sent for the luggage and for
+Mrs. Bernard Temple's and Miss Drummond's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 185]</a></span>maids. Nan, flushed, excited,
+and defiant, stood in her white dress on the steps; Hester, also in
+white, stood by her little sister and held her hand with a firm
+pressure.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep quiet, Nan&mdash;do keep quiet, for my sake," she whispered once in an
+emphatic voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll vent it on Susy Drummond," exclaimed Nan: "she's the safety valve;
+I'm glad she's coming."</p>
+
+<p>"Here they are," said Hester. She felt herself turning very pale, and
+laid her other hand on Nan's shoulder. The sound of wheels was
+distinctly audible, and the next moment the landau with its four
+occupants bowled rapidly up to the door. Mrs. Bernard Temple was all
+smiles and bows. She was a graceful, well-preserved woman, handsomely
+and fashionably dressed. Although the same age as Sir John, she looked
+years younger. Antonia was a dark-eyed, sallow-faced girl, difficult to
+say anything about at the first glance, and Susy Drummond was the
+well-known Susy Drummond of Lavender House. A little taller, a little
+fatter, a little more sleepy-looking, if that were possible, than she
+used to be in the old days, but still the Susy whom Hester had detested,
+and whose departure from the school was hailed with relief by everyone.</p>
+
+<p>Before anyone else could speak she now raised her full, light blue eyes,
+fixed them on Hester, and drawled out, "Who would have thought of seeing
+you again, Prunes and Prism?"</p>
+
+<p>Hester ran down the steps accompanied by Nan. There was a confused
+murmur of greeting and introduction. Mrs. Bernard Temple kissed Hester
+on her forehead, called her "dear child," and looked into her eyes in a
+way which made Hester long to shut them, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 186]</a></span>patted Nan on her shoulder and
+hoped she was a good, obliging little girl, and then, followed by
+Antonia and Susy, who dropped a succession of wraps the whole way,
+entered one of the drawing rooms.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear John, what a perfectly <i>charming</i> room," exclaimed Mrs. Bernard
+Temple, turning to her future husband and glancing down the long room
+with a critical eye. "Furniture just a <i>little</i> out of date&mdash;not enough
+Chippendale&mdash;old-fashioned, but not antique&mdash;we'll soon put that right,
+however. Antonia has a wonderful eye for colour. You see, she has been
+trained in an atelier in Paris."</p>
+
+<p>The faintest perceptible frown might have been seen between Sir John's
+eyebrows. He took no special notice of Mrs. Bernard Temple's remark, but
+walking up the long and exquisitely proportioned room flung open some
+French windows which led into a flower garden, gay with every imaginable
+flower. There was a distant and very lovely view from this window.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you will admire the landscape from this window," he said,
+turning and speaking with an air of great deference to his distinguished
+guest.</p>
+
+<p>"In one moment, my love," she replied. "Antonia, what do you think of
+old gold curtains, and one of those dark olive-green papers for the
+walls? This light decoration is absolutely inadmissible."</p>
+
+<p>"Old gold is quite out of date," replied Antonia, opening her lips for
+the first time. "I'm sick of old gold, it's not <i>chic</i> now. I'll look
+through some of my antique designs and sketch my idea of a drawing-room
+for you presently, mother; now pray attend to Sir John."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bernard Temple favoured her daughter with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 187]</a></span>a glance which was
+returned in a very frank and determined manner by that young lady. She
+then sailed slowly up the room and condescended to admire the view
+pointed out by Sir John.</p>
+
+<p>Hester was standing near one of the windows talking to Susy, who had
+already sunk into an easy chair, and was fanning herself with an
+enormous black fan which hung at her girdle. Antonia, after a moment's
+hesitation, came up to Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm very sorry we have come," she said, "but it really is not my fault.
+Mother is in a state of flutter at having caught Sir John. I'm disgusted
+about it all. I don't want a stepfather any more than you want a
+stepmother. I'm to be turned into a fine lady now, and I hate being a
+fine lady. I have a soul for art. I adore art. I'm all art. Art is
+sacred; it shouldn't be talked about the way mother speaks of it. When I
+was in Paris I was in my element. I wore a linen blouse all over paint;
+ah, that blouse&mdash;those happy days."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Tony," suddenly burst from Susy's lips, "for pity's sake don't go
+off into a trance; you'll put Hester into a fit. Her face at the present
+moment is enough to kill anyone. For goodness sake, Hester, don't look
+like that; you'll make me laugh, and if I laugh immoderately it always
+wakes me up. I was looking out for a little nap before tea&mdash;forty winks,
+you know&mdash;I can't live without my forty winks, and now if you put on
+that killingly tragic face, I'll scream with laughter, I know I shall.
+Oh, dear, oh, dear, you must learn once for all never to mind a single
+thing Tony says; she's the oddest, most irrational creature&mdash;a genius of
+course&mdash;her pictures are simply monstrosities, which is a sure sign of
+genius."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 188]</a></span></p><p>"Would you like me to take you to your room?" said Hester, turning to
+Antonia when Susy had given her a moment of time to open her lips. "I'm
+sure you must be tired after your long journey."</p>
+
+<p>"What should tire me?" asked Antonia, opening her big brown eyes in
+astonishment. "I travelled first-class from London, and drove out here
+in a landau; the whole journey was nothing short of effeminate. When I
+was in Paris I rose at four in the morning, and worked at my easel
+standing for five hours at a stretch; that was something like work. No,
+I'm not the least tired, thank you, and I don't want to be bothered
+tidying myself, for I may as well say frankly that I don't care twopence
+how I look."</p>
+
+<p>"Tea will be ready in half an hour," said Hester. "Will you come out
+into the garden, then, for a stroll?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you don't hate me too much to walk with me; but pray consider your
+own feelings if you do, for I don't in the least object to strolling
+about alone."</p>
+
+<p>Hester and Antonia had now stepped out on the velvet lawn. They each
+gazed fully at the other.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Hester, speaking with a sudden swift intuition; "I don't hate
+you; I rather like you. I am glad you are frank."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I hate pretence," said Antonia, with a shudder. "Fancy a priestess
+of art stooping to pretence. Well, if you don't detest me, let us walk
+about for a little. Have you no wild, uncultured spot to show me, which
+the hand of man has not defaced? My whole soul recoils from a velvet
+lawn."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Tony, Tony, you're too killing to live," shrieked Susy from the
+other side of the window.</p>
+
+<p>Antonia and Hester moved slowly away together; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 189]</a></span>Hester was trying to
+think of some portion of the grounds which might be sufficiently full of
+weeds and thorns to satisfy the priestess of high art, and Susy lay back
+in her chair and wiped her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"This is rich," she murmured to herself. "To think of poor Prunes and
+Prism being thrown with Tony&mdash;to think of Tony as a sort of sister to
+Prunes and Prism. Well, this is a delicious lark. Hullo! is that you,
+Nan? Come along and speak to me at once, you pert puss. Why, do you know
+you've grown?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't suppose I've stood still for the last five years,"
+replied Nan, who could be intensely pert when she pleased. "I'm too busy
+to stay with you now, Susy; Nora wants me."</p>
+
+<p>"Nora; who is Nora?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nora Lorrimer."</p>
+
+<p>"Nora Lorrimer, is she one of the Tower Lorrimers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; she wants me in a hurry; I must fly to her."</p>
+
+<p>"Stay a moment, my dear child," Susy absolutely rose from her chair in
+her strong interest. "If this girl is one of the Tower Lorrimers, I had
+better know her at once; you had better bring her to me and I'll
+question her."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't bring her to you; she has had a fall and is lying on her back;
+she can't walk."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me, what a nuisance; well, I'll go to her, then. Come along,
+Nancy, show me the way this minute."</p>
+
+<p>"But really, really, Susy," began Nan, raising blue, imploring eyes.
+"Really, it is very sad about the Towers, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Sad; good heavens, are the drains wrong?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 190]</a></span></p><p>"It's sad about the Lorrimers," continued Nan, stamping her foot and
+growing red with anger; "we love the Lorrimers; they are our dearest,
+our very, very dearest friends, and we hate their leaving the Towers.
+Perhaps Nora doesn't want to see you, Susy."</p>
+
+<p>"Come along," said Susy in a firm voice; "I want to see her. What
+sentimental folly you talk, Nan. Squire Lorrimer was very glad indeed to
+find such a purchaser as my father for his tumbledown old place."</p>
+
+<p>"The Towers tumbledown!" exclaimed Nan, "the beautiful, lovely, darling
+Towers! Susy, I hate you&mdash;I hate and detest you; I won't show you the
+way to Nora's room, so there!"</p>
+
+<p>Nan pulled her frock out of Susy's detaining hand and rushed away.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Drummond stood quite still for a moment where she had been left.
+Then she put up her hand to smooth her brow.</p>
+
+<p>"This sort of thing would be ruffling to most people," she murmured,
+"but I really don't mind. Now, shall I have my forty winks before tea,
+or shall I poke round by myself until I find this blessed aggrieved
+Nora? That horrid little piece of impertinence has quite woke me up, so
+it's scarcely worth while to get soothed down again; I think I'll find
+Nora and ask for some information which I am anxious to write to father
+about, then after tea I can have a snooze until it is time to dress for
+dinner. Dear, dear, they might have the politeness to have tea ready on
+one's arrival. I expect my stay here will be precious slow, with their
+old-fashioned, prim ideas; if it weren't for Tony I'd die, but she'd
+really make a cat laugh; it will be better than a play to watch her at
+dinner <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 191]</a></span>to-night with Sir John. Now, then, for a search for the tearful
+Nora."</p>
+
+<p>Susy, accordingly, in her usual ponderous, somewhat heavy mode of
+progress, wandered from one room to another until at last the sound of
+voices guided her to the pretty little boudoir, where Annie Forest and
+Nora had taken shelter, and where Nan was now standing, pouring out her
+tale of woe. A slight creak which the door made caused the girls to turn
+their heads, and there stood Susy, shedding articles of her wardrobe, as
+usual, as she walked. Her flaxen hair was partly unpinned and lay in a
+rough coil on her fat neck. She came with elephantine weight into the
+room, and ignoring Annie Forest altogether, held out a hand to Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"Here I am," she said. "I'm Susy Drummond. 'Miss Susan Drummond, the
+Towers,' will soon be on my visiting cards. Isn't the place very
+ramshackle? Doesn't it want to be put into repair a good bit? I'm just
+dying to hear all about it. Oh, and here's an American swinging-chair&mdash;I
+just adore them. You don't mind if I see-saw gently while you talk to
+me. Nan, I bear no malice; fetch me a footstool, love, and let me know
+when tea is brought into the drawing-room. Annie, how do? I hope the
+female dragon is very well." Annie flushed crimson. Only a startled look
+on Nora's pretty face enabled her to control herself. She walked to the
+window and looked out.</p>
+
+<p>Susy blinked her sleepy eyes after her.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," she said, winking at Nora, "it's an old feud which I
+buried&mdash;I'm the most forgiving creature in Christendom&mdash;but if she
+chooses to dig up the hatchet, I can't help her. I always called that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 192]</a></span>detestable Mrs. Willis the she-dragon. You don't know her, I suppose?
+You're in luck, I can tell you. Thank you, Nan, for the footstool. Now,
+this is most comfortable. You'll begin to tell me all you can about the
+Towers, won't you?" she continued, bending slightly forward and laying
+her fat hand on Nora's slim white arm; "and so you really are a
+Lorrimer? How profoundly interesting."</p>
+
+<p>Nora fidgeted restlessly on her sofa.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm a Lorrimer," she said at last in a steady voice. "I&mdash;I don't think
+I can tell you about the Towers; you'll probably go and see the place
+for yourself, either to-morrow or Monday."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall certainly go to-morrow, and at an early hour, too; my father is
+most anxious to get my opinion on it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, you'll see it for yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"So I shall&mdash;quite true, little Miss Rosebud; but, nevertheless, there
+is such a thing as curiosity, which, doubtless, you can gratify. Now,
+let's begin. I'm nothing if I'm not practical. How many bedrooms are
+there?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know? Are you simple? Have not you lived there all your
+life?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have, but I don't really know. Perhaps if I count I can tell you.
+First, in the Tower, there's Jane Macalister's room, and Boris sleeps
+near her, and then there's Kitty&mdash;she has a room to herself&mdash;it's rather
+small, but she's immensely proud of it, and there's Nell and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Susy suddenly clapped her hands to her ears.</p>
+
+<p>"For goodness sake stop," she exclaimed. "What do I care for your
+Macalisters, and Boris's, and Kittys? <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 193]</a></span>I want to know how many bedrooms
+there are&mdash;ten, twelve, twenty, thirty? Can't you count?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, perfectly," replied Nora with spirit; "but I never troubled myself
+to count the number of bedrooms at the Towers; you can do so for
+yourself when you go to see it to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks for nothing. If I'm anything I'm practical, and I shall not only
+count the bedrooms to-morrow, but measure them also. I shall take a
+measuring tape with me, and my maid Linette and a foot measure."</p>
+
+<p>"How pleasant for Linette to be sandwiched between a measuring tape and
+a foot measure," exclaimed Annie, turning round from her position at the
+window and speaking for the first time.</p>
+
+<p>Susy favoured her with a slow glance of intense dislike. Slightly
+turning her back she proceeded with her catechism of Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"At least you can say something about the drawing-rooms. How many feet
+long is the principal drawing-room?"</p>
+
+<p>Before poor Nora could reply, the door of the room was slowly opened and
+Mrs. Willis, with her usual calm, strong face, entered.</p>
+
+<p>Susy Drummond gave such a start of dismayed surprise that Annie forgave
+her a good many of her sins on the spot.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Willis came up to her and held out her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do?" she said. "Sir John Thornton told us this morning at
+breakfast that we might have the pleasure of meeting you here. Are you
+well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I'm&mdash;I'm quite well, ma'am," replied <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 194]</a></span>Susy, stammering out her
+words in hopeless confusion.</p>
+
+<p>"Nora, dear, you are looking very tired," continued Mrs. Willis. "I
+propose to have tea with you here alone, and to read to you for a little
+afterwards. Annie, will you take Miss Drummond to the drawing-room? I
+saw the tea equipage being taken in as I passed."</p>
+
+<p>Susy shambled out of the room in Annie's wake.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+<h3>HESTER SPEAKS HER MIND.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The next day was Sunday, and Susy, notwithstanding her strong
+inclinations, was forced to submit to Sir John Thornton's decree that
+she should not visit the Towers that day. Hester had sent a hurried note
+to Molly apprizing her of Susy's arrival, and begging of her, if she
+valued her peace of mind, not to come near the Grange on this dreadful
+Sunday.</p>
+
+<p>It passed somehow. Poor Hester always, during the remainder of her life,
+looked back upon it as a day of hopeless worry and confusion of brain.
+Everyone seemed to be playing the game of cross-purposes with everyone
+else. Sir John kept on assuring himself that he was the happiest man in
+existence, while Mrs. Bernard Temple and Antonia evidently trod on his
+corns at each step he took. Susy, in her moments of wakefulness, was sly
+and watchful. Antonia was absolutely indifferent to everything but high
+art. Mrs. Bernard Temple was busy as busy could be making hay while the
+sun shone. She guessed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 195]</a></span>shrewdly&mdash;perhaps her experiences with the late
+Mr. Bernard Temple helped her&mdash;that it was during the time of courtship
+when most of her wishes would be carried out. She insisted, therefore,
+on going carefully into the many alterations which she proposed to make
+in the Grange, and Sir John, notwithstanding his innate aversion to fuss
+of any kind, was forced to listen to her demands, and, as he was really
+attached to her, she soon got him to say yes to her different proposals.</p>
+
+<p>Nan and Hester, Annie and Nora, kept as much together as possible. This
+was made easy for them by kind Mrs. Willis, who not only kept Susy in
+considerable awe, but contrived to interest Antonia by allowing her to
+talk art to her by the hour. Antonia used a jargon which Mrs. Willis did
+not in the least understand, but even Antonia was not proof against the
+gracious sympathy of this high-minded woman.</p>
+
+<p>The girls had, therefore, plenty of time for self-pity. Annie was the
+very soul of sympathy, and it was a comfort to poor Nora and Hester to
+pour out their sorrows in her affectionate ears. As for Nan, she took
+refuge a good part of the time with Mrs. Martin, who shook her fists,
+when Nan was not looking, at the backs of Sir John and Mrs. Bernard
+Temple as they walked down one of the lawns side by side.</p>
+
+<p>"She's his match!" murmured the old woman. "She'll give it to him; now
+he'll know what a selfish wife means! He have 'ad his turn of the other
+kind, and now he'll know what the selfish sort is. Serve him right, I
+say; serve him well right!"</p>
+
+<p>At last the weary Sunday came to an end and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 196]</a></span>on Monday, after breakfast,
+Susy announced her intention of going over to the Towers.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose I can have a carriage?" she said, turning to Sir John, who
+paused in his exit from the dining-room to give her his polite
+attention.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose I can have a carriage?" she repeated.</p>
+
+<p>Annie interrupted&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The Towers is scarcely a mile away across the fields," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I can walk a mile," replied Susy; "my muscles are awfully
+weak&mdash;I dare not strain them."</p>
+
+<p>"You can have a carriage with pleasure," said Sir John. "I will order
+one to be round at whatever hour you wish to name."</p>
+
+<p>"At once, please," said Susy; "there's a good deal to be done. I've to
+measure all the rooms for carpets and druggets."</p>
+
+<p>"You surely won't cover the rooms with carpets?" exclaimed Antonia. "I
+never heard of anything so Philistine. Oak parquetry, with rugs that
+slip about, is the only thing admissible. Better bare boards than
+carpets&mdash;carpets are simply atrocious!"</p>
+
+<p>When Antonia began to speak, Sir John was heard to slam the door behind
+him; he had had quite enough of this young lady.</p>
+
+<p>An eager discussion followed his departure, and it was finally decided
+that Susy, Hester, and Antonia, accompanied by Annie Forest, should
+drive over to the Towers.</p>
+
+<p>"My part in the expedition will be this," exclaimed Annie, taking Hester
+aside for a moment. "I'll collect every single Lorrimer child I can lay
+hold of and carry them away to the most remote part of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 197]</a></span>grounds I
+can find, to be out of the reach of that detestable Susy and the torture
+she means to inflict. I should recommend you, Hester, to come with us."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like to very much," replied Hester, with a faint smile; "but I
+think I must stay with Mrs. Lorrimer and Molly. I don't know that I
+shall be the least comfort to them, but somehow I can't desert them."</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later the little party drove off, and in the course of
+half-an-hour they arrived at the Towers. There was a winding and rather
+steep beech avenue, leading up to the older part of the mansion. Owing
+to the sad state of Squire Lorrimer's finances, this avenue was by no
+means in a state of complete repair. Hester turned her fleet little
+ponies&mdash;for she was driving&mdash;into it. They were spirited, but always
+well-behaved; on this occasion, however, they started violently, for
+Antonia was heard to utter a piercing shriek of rapture.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, those briars," she exclaimed&mdash;"those heavenly, heavenly, artistic
+briars! Stop the carriage, I beg of you, Miss Thornton! I must cut some
+without a moment's delay!"</p>
+
+<p>"We can't stop on the side of a hill, Antonia," said Susy. "The ponies
+are fretting already, and nothing would induce them to stand still. You
+don't want us to be killed, I suppose, for the sake of an odious briar?"</p>
+
+<p>The only answer Antonia made was to press her bony right hand with
+unnecessary force on Susy's right arm and vault from the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on," she said, waving her hand to Hester; "I'll follow you
+presently. You don't suppose I'm going to lose a chance of this kind! I
+have brought <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 198]</a></span>my colour-box with me, and I mean to make a study of those
+briars before I go another step."</p>
+
+<p>Suiting her action to her words, Antonia had already seated herself on a
+steep bank and was unfastening her portfolio.</p>
+
+<p>"What a show she'll be when she does arrive," exclaimed Susy. "She'll
+probably bring three or four enormous briars into the house with her;
+but we may be thankful to be rid of her for a little, for she is so
+painfully positive. I place the greatest faith, of course, in her
+opinions, for she really is a magnificently ugly artist, and ugly art
+is, of course, the only correct thing now; but I do think we might have
+the bedrooms comfortable, don't you, Hester? With my tendency to forty
+winks at odd moments, I think it is scarcely safe to have every room
+covered with oak parquetry and rugs that slip about. The doctor says I
+am very deficient in muscle, and if I fell I might break a bone rather
+badly&mdash;don't you think so, Hester?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do!" said Hester. "I think you had better furnish the Towers
+exactly as you please, and not take any opinions from Antonia!"</p>
+
+<p>They had reached the brow of the hill now, and Hester was resting her
+ponies for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"How fiercely you speak," said Susy in an aggrieved tone. "Aren't you
+really interested in me and my future? Coming to the Towers is a very
+important step for me. I shall be the mistress, and in a position of
+great distinction. Father says I must entertain, and I hate
+entertaining, for it rouses one up so dreadfully; but I do think that
+you, as an old schoolfellow, might take a little interest in me."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 199]</a></span></p><p>"Listen to me for a moment," said Hester; "I want to say something."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how appallingly solemn you are! I wish I had a lollipop to stop
+your mouth with."</p>
+
+<p>"You must listen," said Hester in a firm voice; "I'm not joking. Times
+come in all lives when one cannot joke. I did not love you as my
+schoolfellow, Susy, and, frankly, I do not love you now; but, when you
+come to the Towers, I'll do everything in my power to help you, not
+because I like to do this, but because it's right. I can help you in
+many ways, for you don't know anything of county society; and, coming
+after such an old and popular family as the Lorrimers, people will be
+very apt to cut you if you are not careful. My father and I know
+everyone in the place, and we can get them to be kind to you if&mdash;if you
+deserve it; but that depends altogether on how you treat the Lorrimers
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"Bravo," burst from Annie, who was sitting in the back seat, but who
+overheard Hester's words.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't interrupt me, Annie, please," said Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"The Lorrimers are my dearest friends," continued Hester. "Molly
+Lorrimer, whom you have not yet seen, and Annie, here, are the two
+greatest girl friends I have in the world. It is a great, great sorrow
+to the Lorrimers to leave the home where they and their people have
+lived before them for hundreds of years, and until they leave the place
+you ought not to talk before them of the way you mean to furnish the
+Towers when you are in possession. You ought to regard their feelings;
+and if you wish to please me, and if you wish me to help you by-and-by,
+you will. Remember, you are not in possession yet. The Towers is not
+your place yet."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 200]</a></span></p><p>"Well, I never!" exclaimed Susy. "Why, you've turned into an orator;"
+but Hester's words had subdued her a good deal, for if she had one
+source of envy, it was the envy which <i>parvenus</i> like her give to the
+old county people, and if there was an ambition in her stagnant soul, it
+was to be considered a county person herself.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, when the party entered one of the drawing-rooms of the
+Towers, and Molly, looking pale and anxious, came forward, and Mrs.
+Lorrimer received Susy with that gentle kindness which always
+characterised her, the young lady had not a word to say. She sank down
+on an ottoman in the centre of the room and gazed vacantly around her.</p>
+
+<p>A whoop from Boris was heard outside. Annie rushed to the door to be
+greeted by him and the other children, and carried away in their midst.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lorrimer asked Susy if she would like to see over the house.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, please," replied Susy; "I have brought the tapes and measures."</p>
+
+<p>She stopped, for Hester had given her a heavy frown.</p>
+
+<p>"If its really inconvenient, I needn't do anything to-day," she said,
+sinking back into her seat.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lorrimer looked puzzled, and Molly opened her brown eyes very wide.</p>
+
+<p>Just then there came an interruption, in the shape of two individuals
+who entered the drawing-room by separate doors. One of them was Jane
+Macalister, who carried a duster in her hand, and had a large smut on
+her forehead. The other was Antonia, whose hat had fallen off, and who
+trailed two enormous briars behind her.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 201]</a></span></p><p>The priestess of high art and the priestess of domestic economy, met
+almost in the centre of the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Good gracious me," exclaimed Jane Macalister, "who in the world are
+you, my dear, and what, in the name of all that's orderly, are you
+bringing those abominable briars into the house for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Abominable?" exclaimed Antonia; "these briars abominable? Oh, what
+crass ignorance one comes across in this benighted land. My name is
+Antonia Bernard Temple, and I am an art student. I claim nothing higher.
+I shall be an art student as long as I breathe."</p>
+
+<p>"And my name is Jane Macalister," replied poor Jane, her whole face
+growing scarlet with vexation, "and I claim nothing higher than the love
+of order and decent neatness. Give me those briars, child, and don't
+lumber the room with such messes."</p>
+
+<p>Before Antonia could utter a word of remonstrance, Jane had whipped her
+duster round the briars and had rushed out of the room with them.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Antonia felt inclined to pursue her; but as she was
+preparing to move, her large gaze was attracted by a couple of huge
+Chinese dragons which were reposing under one of the tables.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you loves! you darlings! you adorables!" she shrieked. "Here,
+indeed, is a prize."</p>
+
+<p>She made a rush to the objects of her worship, and kneeling down on the
+floor opposite to them, whipped out her sketching materials preparatory
+to work.</p>
+
+<p>"Tony, you must at least allow me to introduce you to Mrs. Lorrimer
+before you begin to sketch," said Susy, who had perfectly recovered her
+own <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 202]</a></span>equanimity in the amusement which Antonia's conduct afforded her.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, anything," muttered Antonia "Oh, these dragons are a prize;
+they are a prize. Yes, Susy, what is it you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"Get up," said Susy, "and come and be introduced."</p>
+
+<p>She pulled Antonia by her sleeve, who rose in a sort of dream and
+approached Mrs. Lorrimer, looking like a person in a trance.</p>
+
+<p>"This is my friend, Antonia Bernard Temple," exclaimed Susy, addressing
+Mrs. Lorrimer.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to see you, my dear," said Mrs. Lorrimer in her sweet voice;
+"and I am pleased to find that you appreciate the old china."</p>
+
+<p>"The dragons? Superb; Ruskinesque," exclaimed Antonia. "You don't mind
+if I go back to them? I must seize the opportunity of transferring them
+to my note book. Oh, what a heavenly room this is! Old, disorderly,
+worn, dim with the hue of ages. An artist might grovel in this
+room&mdash;grovel with delight!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, go back and grovel over the dragons," exclaimed Susy, giving her
+friend a playful poke.</p>
+
+<p>Antonia hurried to obey. Her work instantly absorbed her; she saw
+nothing else.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't she killing?" exclaimed Susy, addressing poor surprised Mrs.
+Lorrimer. "She's to be a sort of sister to Hester in the future; she's
+to live at the Grange. She's the daughter of Sir John Thornton's
+<i>fianc&eacute;e</i>. Don't you love the word <i>fianc&eacute;e</i>? I do. Did you know that at
+school we called Hetty Prunes and Prism? Fancy Prunes and Prism and the
+Priestess together. Its almost too killing."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 203]</a></span>Mrs. Lorrimer, gentle as
+she was, was also the soul of quiet dignity. She made no reply whatever
+to Susy's outburst with regard to Antonia, but gently led the
+conversation to matters of every-day interest.</p>
+
+<p>"This is our largest drawing-room," she said, "but we have two others
+leading into it. The farthest drawing-room takes you into the
+dining-room, and that again into the library and morning-room. All our
+reception-rooms open one into the other. You will notice that they are
+built round the central hall, which is almost octagon in shape. I am
+sure you would like to see the house, and I do not at all object to
+showing it to you. Ah! here comes Jane Macalister. I'm sure she will
+have great pleasure in taking you round. Jane, dear, come here."</p>
+
+<p>Jane came up at once. She still wore her smut, but the duster was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"Jane, let me introduce you to Miss Drummond. Her father is the new
+owner of the Towers; Miss Drummond would like to see over the house, if
+it would not trouble you too much to show her round."</p>
+
+<p>"Trouble me," exclaimed Jane; "<i>that</i> doesn't trouble me. Come, child,
+this way. I'll go in front and you can follow. This is the smaller
+drawing-room. It was here that Charles the Second passed a night in the
+year of grace&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, for heaven's sake," exclaimed Susy, stopping her ears, "don't go
+into dates; the whole thing is confusing enough without dates."</p>
+
+<p>Jane favoured her with a quick, contemptuous glance.</p>
+
+<p>"I shan't dream of instructing you if you don't wish it, my dear," she
+said. "Those who like ignorance, in ignorance they shall remain, as far
+as Jane <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 204]</a></span>Macalister is concerned. Well, then, here's a room with three
+windows and four walls and a ceiling and a floor. The furniture won't
+belong to you, so you needn't look at it. Now come on. This room we also
+use as a drawing-room, but <i>you</i> needn't unless you like."</p>
+
+<p>"Do stop, pray!" exclaimed Susy. "I can't rush through the place like
+this. You are not a Lorrimer, are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm a Macalister, of the clan of&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please, I don't want to hear about the clan. What I wanted to say
+was this, that I have got the tapes and measures in my pocket; Hester
+tells me I mustn't use them on account of paining the Lorrimers, but as
+you are not one, of course you won't mind. I see you have got carpets on
+all the floors."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, why not? Carpets are put on most floors&mdash;at least they used to be
+when I was young."</p>
+
+<p>"But Antonia says that we ought to have parquetry and slippery rugs."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you mean to tell me," exclaimed Jane, "that you are going to
+heed the words of that poor daft lassie? It's nothing to me what you do,
+of course, but that poor girl has not got her proper wits, and if I were
+you I would try to follow someone with a grain of sense."</p>
+
+<p>Susy laughed heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"Antonia is as right as anyone else," she said "only she has a passion
+for art."</p>
+
+<p>"Preserve me from such a craze," exclaimed Jane. "How much longer are we
+to stand in the middle of this floor while we talk about tapes and
+measurements and that silly girl?"</p>
+
+<p>"But may I measure?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 205]</a></span></p><p>"You may do anything you please, provided you don't injure the
+furniture."</p>
+
+<p>"And it won't hurt your feelings?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, you couldn't touch 'em. I'll sit here and wait till you have done."</p>
+
+<p>Jane flung herself on a hard chair as she spoke, and drawing a long
+stocking out of her pocket, began to knit furiously.</p>
+
+<p>Susy, who had about as much idea of measuring a room as she had of
+turning the heel of a stocking took her tapes out of her pocket and
+began an impossible task.</p>
+
+<p>Jane watched her in silence for a moment or two, but Susy's futile
+attempts were too much for this deft, managing creature.</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you foot it?" she exclaimed. "My word, I never saw such a way
+to set to work. Here, you want the length of the room. I'll do it for
+you. Take your pencil and paper and jot down what I say. You haven't got
+any? That's a nice way of doing business. Well, then, I hope you have a
+good memory. I always measure a yard as I walk. Now, then, you count.
+Here I begin&mdash;one, two, three&mdash;are you counting?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Susy; "I'm greatly obliged, but you confuse me awfully. I
+won't do any more measuring to-day; I shouldn't sleep for a week if I
+had to keep all that in my head. Some men must come down from Liberty's
+or Morris's. Antonia prefers Morris, she says he's the most <i>chic</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you mean by chick," said Jane Macalister, "unless you
+allude in some mysterious way to the fowls; but I am glad you've got
+sense enough not to undertake what Providence has given <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 206]</a></span>you no aptitude
+for. Now, do you or do you not want to see the rest of the house? To a
+person like you, it's just like any other house, only nothing like so
+modern and nothing like so comfortable. There's a ghost in the
+tower&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A ghost," shrieked Susy; "I tremble at ghosts, I'm in terror at them; I
+won't go near the tower."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to drag you there against your will. It's my private
+opinion that the ghost is made up of rats, but be that as it may,
+there's an awful scrimmage in the old tower at night. Now, then, will
+you see it, or will you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think I won't," said Susy. "The Towers seems to be, from what you
+say, much like any other place. I hope my father has not been induced to
+pay too much for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Hoots! he has got a place that mere money couldn't purchase unless the
+Lorrimers had come to grief. Don't you talk of what you know nothing
+about, child. The Towers is the Towers, sacred with memory and
+beautiful&mdash;&mdash;; do you know why the Towers is beautiful, Miss Susy
+Drummond?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm sure I don't," said Susy, staring in astonishment at Jane, who
+had stalked up to her now and was staring her full in the face.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, perhaps I'd better tell you, if it is for the last time.
+The Towers is beautiful because for hundreds of years brave men have
+been born here and gentle noble women have lived here, and their
+influence has got somehow into the walls and into the furniture, and it
+pervades the rooms inside and out. It's bad to go against that kind of
+spirit and you and your father had better be careful when you come here,
+or you may rake up ghosts that you won't much care <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 207]</a></span>about. Now, if
+you'll have the goodness to go back to the others&mdash;you'll find them in
+the front drawing room. I'll return to my duties, which at the present
+moment consist of shelling peas and chucking raspberries. That's your
+way, Miss Susan Drummond, through that door, and if you're wise you'll
+remember my words."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<h3>ANTONIA'S GIFT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>When Susan returned to the drawing room she saw no one there but
+Antonia, who, squatting on the floor, was absorbed heart and soul in
+copying her Chinese dragons. Susy was not in a humour to talk to
+Antonia, she therefore proceeded to go further afield. She was anxious
+to find Hester and Annie. The Towers, with its old-fashioned rooms and
+old-world furniture, had much disappointed her. It needs the sort of
+education which nothing could ever give to Susy Drummond, to appreciate
+a place like the Towers. Hester and Jane Macalister had also between
+them contrived to depress her, and it was a subdued and rather
+crestfallen Susy who now crossed the magnificent octagon hall in pursuit
+of the rest of her party.</p>
+
+<p>Antonia meanwhile worked at her dragons with a will. If Susy were out of
+her element, Antonia was absolutely steeped in hers. The faded
+furniture, the subdued light, the rich colour of the magnificent china
+filled her really artistic nature with a sense of rejoicing. Behind all
+her affectations, Antonia had a soul. It had never been awakened yet.
+All her life hitherto <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 208]</a></span>poor Antonia had spent her time with the most
+empty-headed and frivolous people. Only art seemed great and glorious
+and satisfying. She loved it sincerely, and for itself alone; she had no
+ambitions with regard to it, ambition was not a part of her queer
+nature; she would all her life be a humble votary at a lofty shrine. She
+did not imagine that there could be anything greater than art in the
+whole world. As yet her soul had not been really aroused, but the time
+of awakening was near.</p>
+
+<p>Having made a rough, and, in truth, a very distorted sketch of the
+dragons, she gathered up her colours and portfolio, and prepared to
+search farther afield for objects on which to expend her genius. She
+followed Susy into the octagon hall, but, seeing the wide front doors
+open, went out, and, crossing a by no means well-kept field, entered the
+paddock, where the colts, Joe and Robin, had disported themselves before
+their sale. The paddock was skirted by a copse of small fir-trees, and
+Antonia sniffed the air as she walked towards it. Antonia was in a rusty
+black dress, with very little material in the skirt, and an extremely
+long train, which she never held up. She had just got to the edge of the
+copse of young trees, and was preparing to make a sketch of their
+straight trunks with the delicate sunlight shining across them, when a
+strange noise attracted her attention. She dropped her colour box,
+uttered one of her affected little shrieks, and then dropped on her
+knees beside a child who was lying face downwards on the grass. The
+child's dark hair completely covered her face, but the sobs which shook
+her slender little frame were too violent to be inaudible. Whatever
+ailed the child, she was prostrated by such a tempest of grief that
+Antonia forgot high art in an honest wish to comfort human misery.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/i-3.jpg" width="382" height="600" alt="i_3" title="i_3" /></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><b>
+<a href="#Page_219">ANTONIA AND NELL IN THE PADDOCK (<i>p.</i> 209).</a></b></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 209]</a></span></p><p>"Who are you?" she asked. "Can I do anything for you? What can be the
+matter with you? Have you lost your colour box?"</p>
+
+<p>Antonia could understand grief at such a loss, hence her inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>Nell turned a little when she was spoken to; dabbed her
+pocket-handkerchief into each eye, and then looked up at Antonia.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you'd go away," she said. "I don't want you. I have come away
+here to hide. I wish, I wish you'd go away!"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wish to trouble you in any way," replied Antonia, "but I can't
+go away, for I've come here to sketch. Your sobs don't disturb me now
+that I know there's nothing very serious the matter, so perhaps my
+presence won't disturb you. I'll sit here and not take the least notice
+of you. I must imprison that sunshine before it goes. You can sob away,
+I won't listen."</p>
+
+<p>But to be told that you can sob as long as you like has generally the
+effect of stopping tears, and Nell, astonished at Antonia's appearance
+and words, presently sat up on the grass, and, flinging back her heavy
+mane of hair, watched the priestess of art with great interest. How
+could Antonia imprison a sunbeam? It sounded interesting! Nell blinked
+her eyes and looked at her solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, child," said Antonia, pausing in her work, and giving her one of
+her slow glances, "I'm glad you're better; I never heard such
+distressing sobs. It's a great pity for you to cry so much, for you
+disfigure yourself; but I wish now that you are here <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 210]</a></span>you'd sit still,
+for I'd like to sketch you with that woebegone look. I never saw such a
+perfect ideal of true artistic beauty before."</p>
+
+<p>"Beauty?" said Nell, with a little laugh. "But I'm called 'the ugly
+duckling'!"</p>
+
+<p>"Charming!" exclaimed Antonia. "I'll immortalise this 'ugly duckling.'
+She shall be the foreground for these pine trees, and the imprisoned
+sunbeams can light her up from behind."</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding her sorrow, Nell found it intensely interesting to be
+made the foreground of a picture. She wondered how the imprisoned
+sunbeams would like their office of always shining round her head. Nell
+was by no means vain. She honestly believed herself to be a hideous
+little girl, but it was refreshing once, as a change, to be spoken of as
+a true artistic beauty. She thought that she would learn the phrase, and
+repeat it over when she looked at herself in the glass, or when Kitty
+and Harry became more than usually aggravating about her personal
+appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the artist dashed in her colours with fiery speed. Nell sat
+perfectly still, and gazed straight at Antonia. Suddenly a flood of
+colour spread itself all over her face. Was Antonia the new owner of the
+Towers? If so, <i>she</i> was the cause of poor Nell's heart-broken sobs.</p>
+
+<p>The younger members of the Lorrimer household had solemnly vowed an
+undying feud against the new owner of the Towers. They had established
+this feud with the solemnity of a sacred rite. They had made a bonfire
+and stood round it in a circle and joined hands, and declared the
+following awful formula:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Neither I, nor my children, nor my grandchildren, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 211]</a></span>nor any of my
+descendants, will ever speak a friendly word to the new owner of my
+ancestral home. I wish the ghost of my ancestor, Hugh Lorrimer, who died
+in the Wars of the Roses, to haunt the new owner and his family; and I
+solemnly declare that I never will have part or lot with him or his."</p>
+
+<p>This jargon had been made up by Harry, but each member of the feud, as
+they termed themselves, had solemnly repeated it, even down to little
+two-year-old Philip.</p>
+
+<p>Suppose this wonderful, queer lady, who was making a sketch of Nell, was
+the new owner. In that case, it was Nell's duty to leave her at once.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to ask you a question," said Nell.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;don't stir, please&mdash;ask me anything you like."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you the new owner of my home?"</p>
+
+<p>"I the new owner?" exclaimed Antonia. "Heavens! no! I own nothing except
+this"&mdash;she clasped her colour-box and looked up with a face of ecstacy.
+"I only want this," she said, "<i>and this</i>," she continued, waving her
+hand with an impressive sweep which was meant to include both earth and
+sky.</p>
+
+<p>She claimed a good deal, Nell thought; but, after all, that did not
+matter, as she had nothing to do with the feud.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad you are not the owner," said Nell, "for, if you were, I should
+have been obliged to leave you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I and the others have sworn it solemnly round a bonfire."</p>
+
+<p>The words were so unusual that Antonia was greatly amused.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 212]</a></span></p><p>"You don't like to leave the Towers, then?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Like it?" replied Nell. "Would you, if you had lived here ever since
+the tenth century?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy, child! how venerable I'd be!" exclaimed Antonia. She smiled in
+quite a tragic way&mdash;it was quite a new thing to see a smile on Antonia's
+face.</p>
+
+<p>Nell looked at her very gravely. Her own sweet grey eyes grew full of
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>"It will kill father," she said suddenly, in a smothered voice.</p>
+
+<p>She swayed herself backwards and forwards as she spoke, in an ecstasy of
+pain. Strange to say, she seemed to understand Antonia, and, still
+stranger, Antonia understood her.</p>
+
+<p>The priestess of art dropped her palette.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me about your father," she said, quickly; "tell me about yourself.
+You and your people have lived here for years&mdash;centuries&mdash;and it breaks
+your hearts to go? It's wonderfully artistic&mdash;it savours of medi&aelig;val
+romance. And you go for a creature like Susan Drummond&mdash;shallow as a
+plate&mdash;no soul anywhere about her? She gets your rooms replete with
+memories, and your dear briary avenues and your fir trees, and this
+uncultured waste?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's a paddock," interrupted Nell, who could not quite follow Antonia's
+imagery.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a waste," said Miss Bernard Temple, with fire. "The Towers is
+untrammelled by man's vulgar restraint. Child, I do not even know your
+name, but I think I understand your grief."</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot," said Nell, with gentle dignity&mdash;"you are not a Lorrimer.
+But I'm glad I didn't vow <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 213]</a></span>to hate you round the bonfire. Now I'm afraid
+I must go."</p>
+
+<p>"One minute first," said Antonia. "Did you say that leaving this place
+would kill your father?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid it will," said Nell. "He won't come home&mdash;mother can't get
+him to come back. He came the night he had sold the Towers, and Boris
+and I saw him; but I don't think he'll ever come back again. I think his
+heart is broken. But I cannot speak of it any longer, please&mdash;it hurts
+me so dreadfully here."</p>
+
+<p>Nell had risen from the grass&mdash;she stood tall and thin and pale by
+Antonia's side. When she uttered the last words, she pressed her hand
+against her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye," she said solemnly. "Jane Macalister said I was to be in at
+twelve o'clock to help her with some darning. Good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>Antonia held out one of her very long, very bony hands. She slipped it
+round Nell's waist, and drawing her close, kissed her gently between her
+eyebrows, then she let her go.</p>
+
+<p>Nell left the paddock; but Antonia did not attempt to finish her
+interrupted sketch. She sat on, lost in a world of musing. At last she
+uttered some emphatic words aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not much use," she said to herself; "nobody cares about me, and I
+care for no one. I love art with a divine passion; but art does not need
+such a poor, feeble disciple. Art can still exist and be glorious
+without Antonia. I am ugly I know, and I have no genius; but I have got
+one power&mdash;I can get my own way. All my life long, through a queer kind
+of persistence which is in me, I have got my way. I do not get it
+because people love me, for I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 214]</a></span>don't honestly think a soul in the wide
+world loves me, but I get it because&mdash;because of something which I don't
+myself understand. It's a power I've got; it's my one gift. Did mother
+want me to study art in Paris? No; still I went. Did mother wish me to
+become grotesque, and to wear a dress like this? No; still I wear it.
+Did mother intend me to come with her on Saturday to the Grange? No, a
+thousand times no; still I came. I can twist mother round this finger.
+She appeals to me; I counsel her; she asks my advice; she is obliged to
+take it whether she likes or not. Mother is completely under my thumb.
+So it was with the professor who taught me; so it was with the students
+who worked with me; so it will be in the future with Hester, if I still
+wish it; and with Sir John Thornton, if I ordain it. They think very
+little of Antonia now; but wait until they feel my power; wait until I
+choose to direct them, and&mdash;hey, presto&mdash;they walk in my paths, not
+their own. Now I have made up my mind on one point. I have not the
+faintest idea how it is to be managed; but managed it shall be. Susan
+Drummond and her father are not to desecrate the Towers with their
+commonplaceness, their shallowness, and vulgarity. The Lorrimers are
+still to live here; and Nell's heart is not to be broken. For the sake
+of the ugly duckling I do this. How, I know not; but I turn all the
+power that is in me in that one direction from this hour forward.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor, ugly duckling with the pathetic eyes. I do believe Antonia loves
+you."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 215]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>TRUTH AND FIDELITY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Hester and her party returned to the Grange in time for lunch. All the
+way back Antonia was silent. They drove home by another road; they
+passed a bog of extreme desolation, and some larger and wilder briars
+than ever; they skirted a melancholy common, but Antonia never made an
+observation; her whole gaze was turned inward; she was looking so
+intently at the picture of a sorrowful child, that she was blind to
+everything else. Susy was decidedly in a bad temper; Hester's brave
+heart was full of aches, doubts, and fears; and Annie was again going
+back to that unsolved problem of how she was to get back the ring for
+Mrs. Willis.</p>
+
+<p>The return party was, therefore, a dull one; although no one noticed the
+other's dulness, each being so occupied with her own thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Willis was to leave the Grange immediately after lunch, and Hester
+and Annie were to accompany her to Nortonbury in the landau.</p>
+
+<p>Just as the carriage drove up to the house, Mrs. Willis remembered the
+ring and spoke to Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear," she said with a smile, "I am leaving the house without my
+ring. It is too late now to send it to Paris to be copied; but as I see
+you never wear it, I may as well take it back with me to Lavender House.
+You know, my love, how much I value that ring. I feel quite lonely
+without it."</p>
+
+<p>Annie's pretty face turned pink.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 216]</a></span></p><p>"But I should like to wear it before I go back to school," she said,
+"and you promised that I might have it during the holidays."</p>
+
+<p>"So I did; well, I will say nothing more. Be sure you take good care of
+it and give it back to me on the day of your return to Lavender House."</p>
+
+<p>Annie promised with a light heart. The holidays were to last for another
+week, and what might not happen in a week? She laughed quite gaily, and
+springing lightly into the carriage, seated herself by Hester's side. As
+she did so, her eyes encountered the grave dark ones of Antonia fixed
+fully upon her. There was a curious expression round Antonia's mouth
+which puzzled Annie and gave her a momentary sense of discomfort.</p>
+
+<p>The drive, however, through the pleasant summer air revived her spirits,
+and on the way home she had so much to talk over with Hester that she
+naturally forgot the ring and her anxieties with regard to it.</p>
+
+<p>When the girls returned to the Grange they found the whole party out of
+doors enjoying afternoon tea on one of the lawns. Susy was swinging
+backwards and forwards in a large American chair. Nora was lying on a
+low couch slowly fanning herself. Mrs. Bernard Temple, looking very
+handsome and stately, was pouring out tea for the rest of the party and
+looking down at Sir John, who was lounging on the grass. Antonia was
+sitting with her back straight up against an oak tree, her eyes were
+half shut, and a very full cup of tea was on her lap&mdash;the tea was in
+extreme danger of being spilt, but Antonia cared nothing for any of
+these things.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as ever Annie and Hester appeared in view Miss Bernard Temple
+sprang suddenly to her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 217]</a></span>feet. Of course the cup of tea came to instant
+grief. Sir John uttered an exclamation of decided annoyance; Nora
+exclaimed, "Oh, Miss Bernard Temple, what a mess you have made of your
+dress!" and Susy roused herself sufficiently to shake a playful finger
+at Antonia.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Tony, Tony, how killing you are," she said; Mrs. Bernard Temple
+looked aggrieved but said nothing, she knew Antonia too well.</p>
+
+<p>"How am I killing?" exclaimed Antonia; "this will shake off: that is the
+good of a shabby black dress&mdash;it stands anything. Miss Forest, I
+particularly want to speak to you; I am glad you have come home."</p>
+
+<p>She went straight up to Annie and tucked one bony hand through her arm.
+"Come," she said, "let us retire somewhere&mdash;I am anxious to talk to
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"But I want my tea first," said Annie. "I am really very thirsty."</p>
+
+<p>"How material," exclaimed Antonia; "well, I'll wait&mdash;be quick."</p>
+
+<p>She marched a step or two away, and leant against the wide trunk of the
+oak tree.</p>
+
+<p>Annie felt provoked. Antonia's queer glance returned uncomfortably to
+her memory.</p>
+
+<p>She took her tea, therefore, in greater haste than usual and then, going
+up to Miss Bernard Temple, told her she was ready to listen to anything
+she had to say.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, then," said Antonia; "we must have solitude. Where is the most
+solitary spot?"</p>
+
+<p>"We can walk up this rise," said Annie&mdash;"here, where the path is. There
+is a summer-house at the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 218]</a></span>top of this hill, where we can sit. But I
+cannot imagine what you have to say to me."</p>
+
+<p>"It's simple enough," said Antonia; "I wish just to inform you that I
+know something."</p>
+
+<p>"I expect you do," said Annie, with a light laugh; "several things, most
+probably."</p>
+
+<p>"Something about you," pursued Antonia, in a firm, hard voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed? How interesting!" Annie's tone was not quite so comfortable
+now.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you what it is," continued Antonia, standing still, facing
+round and turning her melancholy gaze full on Annie: "you have not got
+the ring."</p>
+
+<p>"What ring? What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"The ring Mrs. Willis asked you to return to her. You did not return it,
+because you had not got it You would have returned it if you had it&mdash;you
+are not the girl to care enough about rings just to keep it for the sake
+of wearing it. I know what has happened&mdash;you have sold or pawned the
+ring."</p>
+
+<p>"How can you know?" exclaimed Annie, in a voice almost of fear; "how is
+it possible for you to tell? You don't know anything whatever about
+me&mdash;how can you tell?"</p>
+
+<p>"Intuition," replied Antonia, in a light voice. "I can see farther than
+most people when I choose to see. Intuition and experience. Do you
+imagine that I, in my chequered career, have never had to part with a
+jewel. Once, when in Paris, I sold my hair. I had no money to buy canvas
+and colours, so I went to a barber, and he cut it quite short and gave
+me a napoleon for it. Ah! that nap, that darling nap, how I loved it!"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 219]</a></span></p><p>"You are a very queer girl," said Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"That's neither here nor there," replied Antonia. "I didn't take you
+away from the others to speak of myself. I have watched you since I came
+here, and I can see that you are a very bright, clever girl; also, that
+you are pretty, according to modern ideas. You are not true art, by any
+means; but what of that? I know that you are in trouble about that ring,
+so you may as well confide in me."</p>
+
+<p>"But will you tell?" asked Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell!" said Antonia, with scorn. "I don't ask for confidences to repeat
+them again&mdash;that is not Antonia Bernard Temple. Art is my mistress&mdash;art
+exacts both truth and fidelity from her disciples. You need not fear
+that I will tell."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a queer girl," replied Annie. "I'm sure you will not tell. Yes,
+I am in trouble about the ring, and I don't mind confiding the trouble
+to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down here, then, on the bank," said Antonia, flinging herself on
+the grass as she spoke, "and state the case as briefly as possible.
+Where and when did you pawn the ring?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I didn't pawn it&mdash;it wasn't done by me; and, as things have turned
+out, it wasn't really pawned at all. This is the story."</p>
+
+<p>Annie told it in a few forcible words; Antonia listened attentively,
+taking in all the facts.</p>
+
+<p>"And thirty-two shillings would get you out of this scrape?" she said,
+in conclusion, looking fixedly at Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, indeed. If I had thirty-two shillings, I would pay Mrs. Martin
+and get the ring back, and when I return to Lavender House I would tell
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 220]</a></span>everything to Mrs. Willis. I would tell her what I have done, and how
+badly I have acted. At present there is a cloud between us; and she is
+my best, my kindest, my most valued friend. What I cannot bear to
+do&mdash;what I cannot stand&mdash;is to have to tell her that I pawned what was
+not my own, and at the same time not to be able to give her back the
+ring."</p>
+
+<p>"I partly understand," said Antonia in a slow voice; "I partly grasp
+your meaning. The pawning of the jewel is to me a mere nothing. I have
+had chequered times when the tea-pot and even the coffee-pot have been
+sold for the sake of a quarter of a cake of cobalt or of rose-madder,
+but then the tea-pot and the coffee-pot and the hair which grew on my
+head were undoubtedly my own. I cannot understand your taking another's
+property, nor your being deceitful about it. The paths of deceit are
+shut doors to me, naturally, who am a disciple of the great and divine
+Art. I mention this as an incident, but whether I understand you or not
+scarcely affects the case. I am willing to help you if you will help me.
+I can manage to get you thirty-two shillings, perhaps not to-day and
+perhaps not to-morrow, but certainly before you return to your school."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you are good!" exclaimed Annie, whose pretty cheeks were like
+peonies, for Antonia had managed to make her feel terribly small and
+contemptible.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am not good," replied Miss Bernard Temple, "and I am not doing
+this in any sense for you. I do it because I wish to be in your
+confidence, as I think you can be a useful ally. I have a delicate
+mission before me, and I see that you may be very useful."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 221]</a></span></p><p>"A mission?" said Annie, looking up in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; there is a great deal at stake, but I believe that, difficult as
+the undertaking is, I may be permitted to succeed. I want to wrest the
+Towers from the hand of the Philistines."</p>
+
+<p>"What <i>do</i> you mean?" exclaimed Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"In other words," continued Miss Bernard Temple, "I want to keep the
+Lorrimers in the home of their ancestors and to make those shallow
+Drummonds stay in their own place."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose we all want that," said Annie; "but how can you possibly do
+it? You have no power."</p>
+
+<p>"So you think, but you are mistaken; I have a great deal of power. Now,
+will you help me?"</p>
+
+<p>"To do this? Yes. With all my heart and soul."</p>
+
+<p>"That is good. I don't wish to say anything to Hester Thornton nor to
+Nora Lorrimer, nor to any of the Lorrimers, nor least of all to Susan
+Drummond. I think I can manage Susy, for I am up to some of her pretty
+little vagaries. I can also manage mother, and mother has a good deal of
+influence in a certain quarter just now. You are a sort of outsider, and
+yet you are very friendly with everybody, so you can render me very
+important help; but, of course, you clearly understand that fidelity is
+my motto, and you know also that your mission will be one of extreme
+delicacy."</p>
+
+<p>"I have plenty of tact," said Annie. "I most faithfully promise to
+reveal nothing, and I will do everything in my power for you. I begin to
+believe in you. I think you are a wonderful girl."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't say that," said Antonia, with solemn impressiveness; "if there is
+one thing more than another that gives me intense pain, it is praise. I
+am but the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 222]</a></span>meanest disciple of great Art. I am doing this in the cause
+of Art. Now, I am not going to tell you what my plan of campaign is, at
+least, not to-day, but I want you to make certain inquiries for me. I
+want you to try and discover all you can from Hester with regard to her
+father's wealth, and all you can from Molly with regard to the
+Lorrimers' difficulties; and you are somehow or other to get the address
+in London where Squire Lorrimer is now staying. Have all this
+information ready for me by to-morrow morning. Now you can return to the
+others; I am going back to the house."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A WET SPONGE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Antonia walked slowly in the direction of the house, trailing her long
+skirt behind her. She entered by a side door, and went straight up to
+her own room. The bedroom set apart for Miss Bernard Temple opened into
+the large and stately bedroom occupied by the future mistress of the
+Grange. Both rooms were dainty and fresh in the extreme. Mrs. Bernard
+Temple's maid was now sitting in Antonia's room mending a long rent in
+that young lady's brown Liberty velveteen evening dress.</p>
+
+<p>"You have made an awfully jagged rent, Miss Antonia," said the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Have I?" said Antonia; "why mend it, then? I never expect to have my
+clothes mended. Of course, if you are good enough to occupy your time
+over me, Pinkerton, I am much obliged to you, but I don't <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 223]</a></span>expect your
+services, so clearly understand the position."</p>
+
+<p>"Lor'!" answered Pinkerton, who had a round, country face and a somewhat
+brusque manner, "what a show you'd be, Miss Antonia, if someone didn't
+make you and mend you."</p>
+
+<p>Antonia went over to the open window, and, flopping herself down on her
+knees, leant her two elbows on the window-sill and looked out.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you'd let me know if Miss Drummond is having forty winks in her
+room," she said suddenly. "She generally does go to her own room about
+this hour, does she not?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe so, miss. I'll inquire if she's there now."</p>
+
+<p>Pinkerton soon returned with the information that Miss Drummond's door
+was locked, that she could not see her maid anywhere, but that she heard
+sounds proceeding from within the room which led her to infer that the
+forty winks were being enjoyed.</p>
+
+<p>"But there's no use in your going to her, Miss Antonia," said Pinkerton,
+"for she won't hear you however hard you knock."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll see about that," said Antonia. "Do you happen to know, Pinkerton,
+if Miss Drummond's window is open?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure to be, miss; every window in the house is kept open during this
+sultry weather."</p>
+
+<p>"There's no time to be lost," murmured Antonia; "I must scale the wall."</p>
+
+<p>She left her own bedroom in a hurry, and ran downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Nan," she shouted, catching sight of Nan's white frock in the distance,
+"come here."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 224]</a></span></p><p>Nan ran up to her rather unwillingly. Antonia was detestable in her eyes
+as belonging to the dreadful new stepmother.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you frown at me like that, child?" said Antonia; "it isn't
+pretty."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell-tale tit," answered Nan rudely; "you'll be making up stories of me
+in the future, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I?" said Antonia, with a careless rise of her brows. "No; I shan't have
+time. Now, can you tell me if there's a ladder about?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I can't," answered Nan.</p>
+
+<p>"Are there no ladders to be found in this benighted and over-cultivated
+region?"</p>
+
+<p>"Plenty; but I can't tell you where they are."</p>
+
+<p>Antonia knitted her brows. Nan gazed at her curiously. It was really
+interesting to have something to do with a person who wanted a ladder.
+What was she going to do with it?</p>
+
+<p>"I must climb without," said Antonia. "I wonder are there creepers."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want with it?" said Nan in quite a friendly tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to get into Susan Drummond's room by her window."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear, what fun!" Nan's eyes danced.</p>
+
+<p>"She is sound asleep," pursued Antonia, "and I propose to use the wet
+sponge with effect."</p>
+
+<p>"They did that at school," replied Nan. "How lovely! Oh, how perfectly
+lovely! I'm sure I can help you to find a ladder. Come round with me to
+the farmyard."</p>
+
+<p>Nan held out her hand, which Antonia grasped. They rushed across the
+lawn helter-skelter, and in an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 225]</a></span>incredibly short space of time a ladder
+was leaning up against Susy's window. Nan held it from below while
+Antonia climbed. The next moment she had entered the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you heartily, Nan," she called to the little girl.</p>
+
+<p>She made a good deal of noise, but Susy, lying on her back in the centre
+of the big bed, was impervious to sound. Antonia filled the sponge with
+cold water, and, standing at the foot of the bed, dashed it at Susy. The
+first application only made the sleeper groan and snore heavily, but at
+the second she opened her eyes, and at the third she sat up.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, what is the matter?" she exclaimed. "Am I back at that detestable
+school with the she-dragon once more? Oh, Antonia, what in the world are
+you doing here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sponging you," said Antonia. "I have something to say, so wake up."</p>
+
+<p>"Wake up?" replied Susy. "I should think I am awake. Who could stand
+such barbarous treatment? I was so comfortable, and I had locked the
+door to make all things perfectly safe. How in the world did you get
+into the room?"</p>
+
+<p>"By a ladder, through the open window. Now pray don't waste any more
+time over trivial details. I have come here to have a serious talk with
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why serious, Tony? You know how I hate grave subjects."</p>
+
+<p>"I have come to have a quiet talk with you about the Towers; you can sit
+there, just where you are. Don't dry your hair, or you'll get sleepy
+again. I'll keep a basin of cold water near me and sponge you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 226]</a></span>whenever
+you wink an eyelid. Now then, what do you think of the Towers?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have scarcely seen it yet."</p>
+
+<p>"You must have a first impression; what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Tony, you needn't have awakened me and gone to the trouble of a
+ladder, and an open window, and a sponge, for the sake of hearing my
+first impressions."</p>
+
+<p>"That's neither here nor there," answered Antonia. "What do you think of
+the Towers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's well enough; it seems to be a very old place."</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't it strike you that the rooms were musty?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes; now that you mention it, I thought they were decidedly
+musty."</p>
+
+<p>"It will be impossible," said Antonia, "for you to turn the Towers into
+a proper Moresque or Libertyesque house."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you liked the place; you seemed so delighted with the
+briars."</p>
+
+<p>"The briars are well enough, and so is the china; it's the rooms I
+complain of; they never can be reduced to high art&mdash;your sort of high
+art, I mean, Susy. But now, tell me, did you do much measuring?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I didn't; a dreadful woman came with me; she quite frightened me,
+and spoke a lot about the Lorrimers, and a ghost in the tower."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, of course there'd be a ghost in the tower," continued Antonia;
+"an old place like that couldn't exist without its ghost."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe a bit in ghosts," said Susy. "No sensible people
+believe in them; there are no such things. You know that, of course,
+Antonia."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 227]</a></span></p><p>Susy looked uncomfortable while she spoke, and Antonia knew well that
+she was an arrant coward.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't believe in ghosts either," continued Susy; "do you now,
+Tony?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but I do," answered Antonia; "I believe in them profoundly. I have
+Shakespeare for my authority on the subject."</p>
+
+<p>"And you really think that&mdash;that the Towers is haunted?"</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt whatever on the subject. If you don't want to be convinced
+against your will, you must choose a bedroom in the most modern part of
+the house, and avoid the old tower, with its funny, quaint little rooms.
+Frankly, I am disappointed in the Towers as a place for <i>you</i>&mdash;the rooms
+are not your sort&mdash;you want great, lofty, bright, modern rooms. I don't
+like that musty smell either; it points to damp somewhere. Then, it is
+scarcely likely that the water supply is perfect; those old wells are
+full of danger, and you once had typhoid, don't you remember? Your
+father will have to spend a lot on the place before he makes it anything
+like what your sort of high art requires; and when all is said and done,
+you'd be lonely there. You know I'm perfectly frank; you know that well,
+don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Tony," answered poor Susy in a most melancholy voice. "Oh, please
+don't throw any more sponges at me; I am quite shivering, and your words
+make me feel so melancholy. But why should I be lonely at the Towers;
+there are plenty of neighbours all around?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is true, but I don't believe you'll care for them, nor they for
+you: they are the Lorrimer sort, and the Miss Macalister sort, and the
+Hester <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 228]</a></span>Thornton sort. You know you don't care for those sorts of
+people, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't. I hate them. I wish father hadn't bought the Towers
+without consulting me."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't he back out of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Back out of his bargain? What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean what I say; can't he get out of it? The Towers isn't a bit the
+sort of place for you; it isn't even healthy for a girl like you.
+There's a ghost there, and ground damp, and bad water, and the
+neighbours aren't sociable, and you'll be moped to death."</p>
+
+<p>"How perfectly miserable you make me, Tony, but I won't be quite
+friendless, for you'll be here most of the time now, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not I; I am going back to my atelier in Paris. Do you think I'd live in
+a poky corner of the world like this?"</p>
+
+<p>"What shall I do?" echoed Susy. "I think you're very unkind to make me
+so wretched and to depress me in the way you are doing. The Towers is
+bought now, and we must make the best of it."</p>
+
+<p>"I only hope you won't suffer the consequences of this piece of folly,"
+retorted Antonia with spirit. "The Towers is not the place for you, and
+you ought to persuade your father to get out of that bargain. Let him
+take a nice cheerful villa at Richmond; that's where you ought to live."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish he would," said Susy; "but it's a great deal too late, a great
+deal too late to draw back now. Besides, we did so want to be county
+people."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll never be county people, whatever that jargon means&mdash;that is,
+you'll never be like the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 229]</a></span>Lorrimers and the Thorntons. You don't want to
+be, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Good gracious, no; they are a depressing set."</p>
+
+<p>"Then that's what county people are, so why should you kill yourself to
+be one of them? Aren't you going to write to your father to tell him
+what you think of the Towers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would if I were you. You might suggest&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; do you think it would be any use?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is no saying&mdash;it's your own affair. If you choose to die of
+<i>ennui</i>, don't tell me that I haven't warned you. Now I see you are wide
+awake, so you may dry your hair and get up."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear, oh, dear," sighed Susy after Antonia had swung herself out of
+the room, "I'm chilled to the bone and every scrap of spirit taken out
+of me. I hate that awful Towers&mdash;<i>why</i> did father buy it?"</p>
+
+<p>One of Antonia's great ideas was on all occasions to strike while the
+iron is hot. It was her plan to leap over obstacles or to push them
+vigorously aside. She had no respect for people's corns. Their
+preconceived prejudices were nothing to her. Having succeeded in
+disturbing Susy, she now went straight to her mother's room. Mrs.
+Bernard Temple was seated in an easy chair by the open window, enjoying
+a quiet ten minutes for thought and rest before It was time for her to
+dress for dinner. Pinkerton was moving about putting the different
+accessories for her mistress's toilet in order. Antonia pushed her
+almost rudely aside as she swept across the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Go away, Pinkerton," she said, "I want to speak to mother by herself."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, really, not at present, Antonia," said Mrs. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 230]</a></span>Bernard Temple, with a
+look of alarm spreading over her high-class features. "I have gone
+through a great deal to-day and am quite tired, and I shall have to
+begin to dress for dinner in a few minutes. Sir John is very particular
+about my appearance, and I wish Pinkerton to try the effect of arranging
+my hair in a new manner. I thought, Pinkerton, that you might pile it up
+high on a sort of cushion&mdash;it has a very old-picture effect."</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to wear a cap," said Antonia, standing in front of her
+parent; "it would be much more suitable and appropriate, and would save
+you a lot of trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"A cap!" almost screamed Mrs. Bernard Temple. "To hear you speak,
+Antonia, one would think that I was advanced in years."</p>
+
+<p>"As it's only I who think that, it doesn't matter, mother," said
+Antonia. "You shall wear your hair any way you please, only I really
+must have a little talk with you first. The sooner I begin my talk the
+sooner it will be over, so please go away at once, Pinkerton."</p>
+
+<p>Pinkerton knew Antonia too well to dream of disobeying her. She left the
+room, slamming the door behind her, and Mrs. Bernard Temple looked up at
+her resolute daughter with a frown between her brows.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, out with it, whatever it is," she said. "You have got something at
+the back of your head, and you can say it in ten words as well as
+twenty. What do you want me to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have great influence with Sir John Thornton, haven't you, mother?"
+asked Antonia, kneeling down as she spoke by the open window, and
+leaning one pointed elbow on the sill. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 231]</a></span>Mrs. Bernard Temple permitted
+herself to smile agreeably.</p>
+
+<p>"A man's <i>fianc&eacute;e</i> has generally influence over him," she said in a
+sentimental voice.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I thought," said Antonia. "I'll never be anybody's
+<i>fianc&eacute;e</i>&mdash;the mere thought would make me ill&mdash;but that's neither here
+nor there. Granted that you have influence over Sir John, I want you to
+use it in my way&mdash;now, do you understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Antonia, really,"&mdash;Mrs. Bernard Temple looked quite
+alarmed&mdash;"Sir John cannot bear erratic people, he tells me so from
+morning to night. I am afraid you have managed to displease him very
+seriously, my dear. When you spilt your tea in the garden this evening,
+he acknowledged, when I pressed him on the subject, that it gave him
+quite a sense of nausea. You see, Antonia, how careful you ought to be.
+The comforts of the home I have provided for you may be jeopardised if
+you are too erratic. You know I did not wish you to come to the Grange
+until after my wedding. The fact is, Sir John is very much annoyed about
+you. He has spoken to me most seriously on the subject of your
+extraordinary manners, and has asked me why I permit you to do the
+things you do. When I tell him that I have not the smallest scrap of
+influence over you, he simply does not believe me; and then he has such
+an aggravating way of drawing comparisons between you and that
+icy-mannered girl, Hester."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm not a patch upon Hester," said Antonia; "she is a very nice,
+well-bred, English young lady. I'm Bohemian of the Bohemians. I'm
+nobody&mdash;nobody at all. I extinguish myself at the shrine of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 232]</a></span>great Art.
+I love to extinguish myself. I adore being a shadow."</p>
+
+<p>"I think, Antonia, you are quite mad."</p>
+
+<p>"Think it away, my dearest mother, only grant my request; influence Sir
+John in my way."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you terrible, terrible child! Well, what do you want me to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Now you're becoming reasonable," said Antonia, "and I really won't keep
+you from your hair a moment longer than I can help. I went to the Towers
+this morning, mother; it's really a heavenly old place; quite steeped in
+the best sort of medi&aelig;val art. In the house, old china and low ceilings;
+out of doors, nature untrammelled. Think of a place like the Towers in
+the possession of Susy Drummond and her father, the ex-coal-merchant.
+Mother, it is not to be."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Antonia, I can't listen to you another moment." Mrs. Bernard
+Temple rose as she spoke. "Pinkerton, come at once," she called.</p>
+
+<p>Pinkerton turned the handle of the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Go away, Pinkerton!" shouted Antonia. "Now, mother, sit down; there's
+oceans of time."</p>
+
+<p>"Really, really, my dear! Oh, what a trial one's children sometimes are.
+The Drummonds have bought the Towers. The whole thing is an accomplished
+fact."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not too late," pursued Antonia. "I have been giving a spice of my
+mind to Susy, and she hates and detests the place, and will do what she
+can to get her father to back out of his bargain. Well, the Lorrimers
+are almost dying at the thought of going. The ugly duckling told me the
+whole story to-day, and I never listened to anything more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 233]</a></span>piteous; and
+Squire Lorrimer is hiding in London because of his poor feelings. In
+short, the moment for strong measures has arrived; and if you won't
+speak to Sir John, I will."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bernard Temple turned white.</p>
+
+<p>"If <i>you</i> speak to him, Antonia," she said, "he will break off the
+match, and we shall be ruined&mdash;ruined."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, mother; you must have a conversation with him. One or other
+of us must have it, that is certain."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you most terrible child! What am I to say to him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Say this, and say it firmly. Say that you won't marry him unless he
+goes to see Squire Lorrimer, and makes an arrangement to lend him
+sufficient money to stay on at the Towers. The Drummonds will be
+delighted to get out of their bargain, and the Lorrimers will be saved.
+That's the plan of campaign. Either I undertake to see it through,
+mother, or you do. Now, which is it to be?"</p>
+
+<p>"You must give me until to-morrow morning to think over your wild words.
+Really, my poor head is splitting."</p>
+
+<p>Antonia went up and kissed her mother.</p>
+
+<p>"You can come now, Pinkerton," she called out.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 234]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2>
+
+<h3>MOLLY'S SORROW.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Hester was a good deal astonished that same day, when, just before
+dinner, Annie Forest came up to her with a request.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to dine here to-night," she said. "I want to go to the
+Towers to have a good long talk with Molly."</p>
+
+<p>"But, really, Annie," replied Hester, "is it necessary for you to go
+to-night? I did not know&mdash;I mean I did not think that&mdash;that you and
+Molly&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That we were special friends?" interrupted Annie. "Oh, yes, we are
+quite friendly enough for the little talk I mean to have. You'll spare
+me, won't you, Hetty, and if Molly offers me a bed, I'll sleep there and
+be back quite early in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't refuse you, of course," said Hester, "but that won't prevent my
+missing you. It will be rather a dreadful dinner party, with only Mrs.
+Bernard Temple and Antonia and that dreadful, sleepy Susy. You are so
+full of tact and so bright, Annie, that you generally make matters go
+off fairly well. But to-night there won't be anyone to stem the current.
+Oh, dear, I do trust that Antonia won't talk <i>too</i> much high art."</p>
+
+<p>As Hester spoke, she looked at her friend with an expression of great
+anxiety on her face. Under ordinary circumstances this look would have
+completely overmastered Annie, who would immediately <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 235]</a></span>have yielded up
+her own wishes to please Hester, but now she remained quite obdurate.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure you will manage very well," she said, in an almost hard voice
+for her. "You know, Hetty, you won't always have me, and you will have
+Mrs. Bernard Temple and Antonia."</p>
+
+<p>"It is too dreadful," sighed Hester. "When my father thought of marrying
+again, why did he not think of someone more congenial?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose Mrs. Bernard Temple is congenial to him," replied Annie, "and
+that he doubtless considers of the first importance. After all, Hetty,
+I'm sure she will let you have your own way in everything, and I don't
+really think that Antonia is half bad. If I were you I would try and
+make friends with her."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not in my nature to make friends easily," replied Hester.</p>
+
+<p>She was standing in her pretty bedroom as she spoke, and Annie was
+leaning by the open window, swinging her garden hat in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Hester," she said, suddenly, "forgive me if I ask you rather a rude
+question. Is your father a very rich man?"</p>
+
+<p>Hester looked surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose so," she answered; "to tell the truth, I have never thought
+about it. Oh, yes, I conclude that he is quite well off."</p>
+
+<p>"But I want him to be more than well off. Is he rich&mdash;very rich? so rich
+that he would not miss a lot of money if he had suddenly to&mdash;to lose
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"What a very queer question to ask me, Annie," replied Hester. "I am
+really afraid I cannot reply to it. I think my father must be rich, but
+I don't know if he is rich enough to be able to afford to lose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 236]</a></span>a lot of
+money&mdash;I don't think anyone is rich enough for that."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, some people are," answered Annie. "Well, good-bye, Hetty, keep
+up your heart. I'll be back early to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"I must get that question of Sir John Thornton's wealth clearly answered
+somehow or other," thought Annie, "for there is no manner of use in
+Antonia stirring up a lot of mischief if there is no money to be found.
+I wonder if nursey could help me. I think I'll just have a word with her
+before I go to the Towers."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Martin was alone when Annie entered the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, and why ain't you at dinner?" asked the old woman. She
+was still fond of Annie, whom she invariably spoke of as "a winsome
+young body," but recent events had soured her considerably, and as she
+herself expressed it, the keenest pleasure now left to her in life was
+to "mope and mutter."</p>
+
+<p>"Moping and muttering eases the mind," she said; "it's a wonderful
+relief not to have to sit up straight and smiling when you feel crooked
+and all of a frown."</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly Mrs. Martin received Annie Forest with brief displeasure.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no heart for dinner," said Annie, who took her cue at once from
+the old woman's face. "I know you are miserable, Nurse Martin, but you
+need not look at me so scornfully, for I am trying to mend matters."</p>
+
+<p>"You," exclaimed nurse, "a child like you! Now, Miss Annie, I would try
+and talk sensibly, I would, really."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 237]</a></span></p><p>"Well, I'm going off to the Towers for the night," said Annie, "and if
+you weren't so cross I'd like to say good-bye and give you a kiss before
+I started."</p>
+
+<p>"Eh, dear," replied nurse, her countenance visibly softening however;
+"kisses, however sweet they be, don't heal sore places."</p>
+
+<p>"But you'll take one, won't you, nursey?"</p>
+
+<p>"Eh, my bairn, you have a winsome way, but don't you come canoodling me
+now, when my heart is like to break about my own dear children; and the
+young ladies at the Towers, too, in such a muck of trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear nursey," exclaimed Annie; "dear, loving, faithful, true-hearted
+nursey."</p>
+
+<p>She stroked the old woman's brow and rubbed her soft cheek against hers.</p>
+
+<p>"Out with it now, my pet," said Nurse Martin. "What is it you want me to
+do? If it's the pawn-shop again&mdash;once for all, no, I won't."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't the pawn-shop," said Annie; "it's just to ask you a simple
+question. I asked Hester, but she couldn't tell me. Is Sir John Thornton
+a rich man?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is he rich?" echoed nurse; "do you think <i>she'd</i> be after him if he
+wasn't?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. Is he rich, nursey?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he's rich," replied nurse.</p>
+
+<p>"Very, very rich? Dear Nurse Martin, please say yes."</p>
+
+<p>"He's rich," replied nurse in an emphatic voice. "He has got his gold
+and his lands, and not a debt anywhere, and small expenses compared to
+his means. Yes, he's rich. More shame to him for taking the money from
+Miss Hester and Miss Nan <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 238]</a></span>to provide a new wife and an outlandish
+stepdaughter."</p>
+
+<p>"If he lost a lot of money, a great lot, would he be a beggar?" pursued
+Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, really, Miss Annie, it isn't for me to say; but I think it would
+be a very big sum that would beggar Sir John. What are you after, Miss?
+I don't understand you at all."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm thinking of the outlandish stepdaughter," replied Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Miss Annie Forest, don't name her to me. She turns my heart sick.
+Its in an asylum she should be. The messes she carries about with her,
+and the dress she wears, and the whole look of her! It isn't fit for
+Miss Hester and Miss Nan to have anything to do with her."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know her yet," replied Annie. "She has beautiful thoughts and
+grand resolves."</p>
+
+<p>"Preserve me from 'em," said nurse. "There, now, miss, if you re going,
+you'd better go. I don't want to hear anything more about that girl, for
+lady she ain't."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, nurse," said Annie. "I am glad you are certain that Sir John
+Thornton is rich."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd be glad if I was as certain that Miss Hester and Miss Nan were
+going to be happy," replied the old woman.</p>
+
+<p>Annie blew a kiss to her and ran away.</p>
+
+<p>The task Antonia had set her was quite to her heart. If, in addition to
+helping the Lorrimers, she could by this means get out of her own
+scrape, why, so much the better. It was one of Annie's gifts to be able
+to discriminate character with great nicety; and while Antonia spoke to
+her, she acknowledged a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 239]</a></span>sudden respect and even admiration for the
+power which this queer girl possessed.</p>
+
+<p>It was almost night when Annie set off on her walk across the fields to
+the Towers. She could not help singing to herself as she skipped lightly
+over the ground. She felt somehow, she could scarcely tell why, as if a
+great load had been lifted off her mind. One part of Antonia's mission
+she had already accomplished. She had found out from a very trustworthy
+source that Sir John Thornton was really a rich man. The second half of
+her task, the discovery of the present address of Squire Lorrimer, would
+surely not be impossible of fulfilment.</p>
+
+<p>The Lorrimer children were out as usual. Whenever was a Lorrimer within
+doors, when he or she could be out? When Annie approached they were
+dismally employed, for Harry had inaugurated weekly meetings of the feud
+during the remainder of their stay at the Towers; and the children were
+now dancing solemnly round the bonfire, and repeating the solemn dirge
+which was to work evil consequences to the new-comers. Harry was
+spokesman on the occasion. He repeated the words to a sort of chanting
+air, and all the others repeated them after him with immense unction and
+smacking of lips. Kitty said afterwards that the dirge made her feel
+nearly as bloodthirsty as a Red Indian, and Boris openly wished that he
+could live in a wigwam and wear scalps.</p>
+
+<p>Annie's appearance on the scene diverted the whole party, and Boris
+eagerly asked her if she would like to become a member of the feud.</p>
+
+<p>"I would immensely," replied Annie; "but it wouldn't be of any use, as
+I'm not a Lorrimer."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 240]</a></span></p><p>"I could marry you, and then you'd be one," said Boris, looking up at
+her with a great shining light in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"So you could, you sweet," said Annie, bending down and kissing him,
+"and the day I marry you I faithfully promise to join the feud; but I
+must run off now to find Molly."</p>
+
+<p>"She's somewhere in the tower packing books," screamed Kitty after her.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly Annie pursued her way round to that part of the house.</p>
+
+<p>The tower was at least two hundred years older than the rest of the
+mansion, and, as Annie ran up the spiral stairs, she had to feel her way
+through thick darkness, for the Lorrimers never thought of spending
+money on illuminating the stairs and passages of this ancient building.</p>
+
+<p>A dim light in the distance presently guided her steps, and she soon
+found herself standing, out of breath and a good deal blown, in the
+presence of Molly and Jane Macalister. They were both clothed from head
+to foot in long brown-holland aprons. Jane was vigorously dusting and
+brushing a heap of dilapidated books, which Molly was arranging in
+orderly piles on the floor. Jane looked up when she saw Annie and
+uttered a little scream.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, what have you come about?" she said; "you see we are quite up to
+our eyes in work."</p>
+
+<p>"Delightful," said Annie; "I'll help. Toss me an apron, Molly, do."</p>
+
+<p>Off went Annie's hat, on went the brown-holland apron, and Jane found
+that she had secured a valuable assistant in the matter of dusting and
+brushing.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/i-4.jpg" width="391" height="600" alt="i_4" title="i_4" /></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><b>
+<a href="#Page_250">PACKING THE BOOKS (<i>p.</i> 240).</a></b></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 241]</a></span></p><p>The work went on for two or three minutes in silence, then Molly said,
+"I hope there's nothing the matter with Nora, Annie? It seems so very
+late for you to come to pay us a visit."</p>
+
+<p>"I have come here to stay for the night, if I may," replied Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoots! I don't know if that will be possible," interrupted Jane.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'll sleep anywhere; I'm not a bit particular. I want to talk to
+you, Molly; I've a great deal to say."</p>
+
+<p>"There's no use in girls wasting their time with silly havering when
+work has to be done," snapped Jane. "I'm willing to grant that a heavy
+misfortune has come to this house, but come rain or sunshine the daily
+round <i>must</i> go on. Pass me that clean duster, Molly. These books have
+to be sorted and put in boxes before we either of us lie down to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"But three pairs of hands make lighter work than two," rejoined Annie.
+"I'm willing to help; I mean to help; I am helping. Molly, pass me a
+duster, too. I'll talk to you, Molly, when the work is over."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the time for sleep," said Jane.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, come, Jane, if Annie wants to talk to me, she must," said Molly in
+an almost fretful tone. "There's plenty of room for you in my bed,
+Annie, so that matter is settled; now let us fly along with the books."</p>
+
+<p>Jane did not utter another word of remonstrance. In her inmost heart she
+had a great admiration for Annie, whom she always spoke of as a "bonny,
+capable lassie." The books were all sorted and packed in a little over
+an hour, and then the girls went downstairs to supper in the great hall.
+Supper consisted of porridge and milk, followed by great dishes of
+stewed fruit. The children all sat round a table, and Mrs. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 242]</a></span>Lorrimer,
+with the air of a royal matron, dispensed the simple food.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately afterwards, Annie slipped her hand through Molly's arm, and
+drew her out of doors on to the moonlit lawn.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't wait another moment," she said. "I've oceans of things to ask
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you have come over on some special business," replied Molly.
+"Has Hester sent me a message?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; Hester has had nothing to do with it. I came over because I really
+want a talk with you all by myself. I cannot tell you what I thought
+to-day when that dreadful Susy Drummond came with her sort of 'take
+possession' style into the house."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you really imagine," answered Molly, "that Miss Drummond annoyed
+us in any way? for if you do you are greatly mistaken. We are in great
+trouble just now about father, and about dear Guy being cut out of his
+rightful inheritance, and naturally we shall all feel leaving the
+Towers, but if you think that girl makes any difference one way or
+other, you are quite wrong."</p>
+
+<p>Annie was silent for a moment. Then she said in a low voice, "I'm glad
+you don't mind her; she would try me a good bit. How soon have you got
+to leave, Molly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mother would like us to be out in a month," replied Molly. "Mr.
+Drummond does not take possession for over five weeks, but mother thinks
+that when a very painful thing has to be done, the sooner it is over the
+better. And she has almost taken a roomy old cottage on the edge of
+Sharsted Common. She says the children must not be cooped up in a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 243]</a></span>town
+house, and they will have plenty of room to run about on the common, and
+as Nortonbury is only a mile away, Guy and Harry can still go to school
+there."</p>
+
+<p>"And will you still stay at home, Molly?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, all the future is a complete blank. I am not educated
+according to modern ideas, and I love my own people so deeply that it
+would be agony to leave them. At the same time, I know some of us must
+go away, for we shall be very poor; we'll have no money at all except
+the income from mother's little fortune, and that will go a small way. I
+have asked mother to let us do without a servant, for I quite love
+housework. But really, Annie, everything at present is simply in chaos."</p>
+
+<p>"It is good of you to tell me," said Annie, in her caressing voice. "You
+know I am poor myself, and I dearly love poor people; they are fifty
+times more interesting than rich ones. Fancy what zest is added to life
+when you have to contrive and scrape, and patch and fit every one of
+your dresses."</p>
+
+<p>"As to that," replied Molly, "I don't in the least care what I wear; but
+I must frankly say that patched and contrived dresses are, as a rule,
+very ugly. Now shall we come into the house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet," replied Annie; "it is lovely out. Let us take another turn
+just here in the moonlight. Have you heard anything about the Squire
+lately, Molly? Is he likely to come back to the Towers soon?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I'm afraid he won't come at all. The sudden necessity which obliged
+him to sell the old home has had the strangest effect upon him. We are
+very anxious about him&mdash;very, very unhappy. The state of his health is
+our keenest grief."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 244]</a></span></p><p>"And do you know where he is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, in London. Mother writes to him to his club."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems a great pity that he should be alone there," said Annie. "I
+wonder your mother likes to leave him."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother is only carrying out his wishes. He has absolutely refused to
+come back to the Towers. He says he may come after we have all gone, but
+not before. I cannot tell you, Annie, how miserable we are about him. He
+is completely altered. He used to be the tenderest, the most unselfish
+of fathers, and now the whole burden of everything is put on poor
+mother's shoulders."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the name of his club?" asked Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"The Carlton."</p>
+
+<p>"Have none of you any influence over him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nell has the most. She is a strange child, and has a way of seeing down
+into the very heart of things. Where her interests are aroused, she has
+such intense sympathy that it gives her wonderful tact. If father were
+at home, I believe Nell could manage him; but where is the use of
+talking? He is away, and we none of us can move him by letter or
+otherwise. Mother hopes that when we are really settled at the cottage,
+he will return; but oh, dear&mdash;oh, dear&mdash;I believe the changed life will
+shorten his days. There, Annie, I never thought to confide in you, but
+you see I have done so. Now let us come indoors."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 245]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>PLOT THICKENS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Mother," said Antonia, two days after the events mentioned in the last
+chapter, "I think we have been quite long enough at the Grange."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bernard Temple was taking a walk by herself round one of the lawns
+when Antonia swept up to her and made this remark.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you would be saying something erratic of this sort," replied
+her parent, a good deal of annoyance in her tone. "We have not been at
+the Grange a week yet and, as it is to be the future home of both of us,
+it does not seem at all inconsistent to spend a fortnight here now,
+particularly when we are enjoying ourselves so much."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray speak for yourself with regard to the enjoyment, mother,"
+responded Miss Bernard Temple. "I must say that dreariness is no word
+for this place as far as I am concerned. These trim <i>parterres</i>, those
+undulating velvet lawns are abhorrence to me; but I am not thinking of
+myself at all when I say that I think it would be well for us to return
+to our rooms in town. I wish to do so for quite another motive. In the
+first place, I have got to take care of you, mother; you must not make
+yourself too cheap."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dear Antonia, what a horrid expression! I hope I understand what
+is due to my own dignity."</p>
+
+<p>"Frankly, mother, you don't&mdash;not on all occasions; but now to revert to
+the more important business. I am anxious to be back in town because I
+want this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 246]</a></span>matter with regard to the Towers to be carried into effect as
+soon as possible. By the way, have you spoken to Sir John Thornton on
+the subject?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, oh, yes! for goodness sake don't you interfere, my dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I won't if you have done your duty. What did you say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, just what I thought necessary! I think I made up quite a moving
+story. Sir John listened attentively. Said he had the greatest possible
+respect for Squire Lorrimer; that it gave him considerable pain to feel
+that <i>parvenus</i>, like the Drummonds should reside at the Towers; but he
+said, further, that he could not quite tell how he was to interfere."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I dare say!" answered Antonia. "I know enough of him to be certain
+that every step of the path to the rescue must be made clear by others.
+Did he give you to understand, mother, that he would be willing to help
+Squire Lorrimer if the occasion arose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, I gathered that he would not be averse to doing so; but,
+really, the matter is one of extreme delicacy, and one which it is quite
+impossible for me to say much about."</p>
+
+<p>"But I have not the least objection to talking about it," said Antonia.
+"It is one of my failings not to feel delicacy except with regard to
+art. I can talk to him if you like. I should recommend extreme
+bluntness. These obtuse people never see things unless they are put
+right up in front of their eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Antonia, in addition to being eccentric, you are now becoming
+positively vulgar. What have I done to be afflicted with a daughter like
+you? I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 247]</a></span>beg and beseech of you not to say a word to Sir John on the
+subject."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, mother, I won't, if you will promise without fail to return
+to London to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear, dear, it will be most inconvenient."</p>
+
+<p>"But you'll come?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;really&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I see Sir John in the distance; he is smoking a cigarette, which will
+soothe him while I talk. If I talk to him, you needn't go to London so
+soon. Which shall it be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, London, London&mdash;anything better than that you should worry poor Sir
+John. Was there ever a woman so worried? You had better send Pinkerton
+to me."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good mother," said Antonia, bestowing one of her rare and
+wonderfully sweet smiles upon her parent. She rushed away to the house
+in her headlong style; met Hester in one of the corridors; stopped her
+to exclaim, "Cheer up, Hetty, the incubus is leaving by the first train
+in the morning," and then finding Pinkerton, despatched her for orders
+to Mrs. Bernard Temple.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later, Antonia had forced her way into Susy's presence.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother and I leave to-morrow," she said. "I don't know if you feel
+inclined to stay here much longer?"</p>
+
+<p>"I? No, I'm sure I don't," answered Susy. "I am sick of the place; they
+are all such a lot of slow coaches."</p>
+
+<p>"County people, you know," said Antonia with a slight sneer, "are always
+a little slow to us <i>parvenus</i>; we're so wonderfully fresh, you know;
+not worn out like the poor county folk."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 248]</a></span></p><p>"You can call yourself a <i>parvenu</i> if you like," said Susy in a rage,
+"but I decline to allow the name to be applied to me; however, I think
+I'll go back to father to-morrow, and I may as well take advantage of
+your escort."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I thought. Get your maid to pack your things, for we shall
+be off by the first train, remember. By the way, did you hear from your
+father with regard to your letter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I heard this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what did he say?"</p>
+
+<p>"He says he is sorry I don't like the Towers, but he doesn't see how he
+is to get out of the purchase now. He is to take possession in a little
+over a month."</p>
+
+<p>"What a horrible future for you," said Antonia. "That musty old
+place&mdash;the ghost in the tower&mdash;the family feud&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by the family feud?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a little arrangement lately entered into by the younger Lorrimers
+for your benefit. I'm not bound to repeat it, but I can truly say I
+shouldn't like the little formula they have made up to be chanted
+nightly about me. Frankly, Susy, I pity you. You must hate the idea of
+going to the Towers."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I loathe it," said Susy.</p>
+
+<p>"The best thing you can do is to see your father, and have a very
+serious talk. Its settled that you come back with us to-morrow. That's
+right. Ta-ta for the present."</p>
+
+<p>Antonia left the room.</p>
+
+<p>She stood for a moment by herself in one of the passages.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 249]</a></span></p><p>"Who would have thought," she murmured to herself, "that I, Antonia
+Bernard Temple, would devote myself to anything except the services of
+high Art. Here am I absolutely wearing myself out and devising the most
+horrible plots and stratagems, all for the sake of an ugly duckling.
+Shall I succeed? Yes, I think so. Matters move in the right direction.
+Susy hates going to the Towers; the Lorrimers hate leaving the Towers.
+Sir John Thornton has more money than he knows what to do with. Surely
+some scheme can be suggested to keep the old family in the old place.
+When we are in town, we can soon get to know Squire Lorrimer. Hurrah! I
+have an idea. Annie Forest and Nora shall both come up to town with us
+to-morrow. Annie is a capital kind of girl, although she did behave with
+want of fidelity as regards that ring. I must get it back for her
+somehow before we leave. Annie we must have, for she's a perfect jewel
+of tact, and so sweetly pretty, just like a red rose, while I'm a
+fierce&mdash;very fierce&mdash;tiger lily. Nora must come, too, because, of
+course, Squire Lorrimer will visit us for the sake of seeing his child.
+Mother shall propose to Sir John Thornton, and he will further suggest
+to Mrs. Lorrimer, that Nora would be the better for the best surgical
+advice. Hey presto! the thing is delightfully managed. Antonia, my dear,
+you begin to see daylight, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>Antonia skipped away in high good humour, and, wonderful to relate, her
+different little schemes for collecting a party to accompany her mother
+and herself to town were all carried out without hitch or difficulty.
+Annie, of course, was only too delighted to spend her last few days of
+holiday in London, and Nora, who had never been there, quite forgave
+Mrs. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 250]</a></span>Bernard Temple for becoming Hester's stepmother when she heard
+that she was going to take her to the "Heart of the World," as she
+termed the great metropolis.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of that same day Antonia, having concluded, as she
+considered, an arduous campaign, stood for a moment in earnest
+contemplation. "There's only the ring," she said to herself. "I must get
+the ring for poor Annie before I go. Now, who will lend me thirty
+shillings? I'll try Pinkerton first."</p>
+
+<p>She swept into the room where the tired maid was completing her somewhat
+laborious packing, for Mrs. Bernard Temple invariably carried nearly a
+houseful of dresses about with her.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Miss Antonia, what now?" said the maid. "I wish you'd take off
+that evening dress, miss, and let me lay it just over the others here in
+in this box."</p>
+
+<p>"I can stuff it into my Gladstone bag," said Antonia; "don't trouble
+about it. Pinkerton, when were you paid your wages last?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, wages, indeed!" said Pinkerton, with a sniff. "Don't talk of em,
+Miss Antonia. It's months and months I'm owed, but I suppose it will be
+all right when your ma is married to this rich gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't got about thirty-two shillings you could spare me?" said
+Antonia.</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't oblige you with thirty-two pence, miss."</p>
+
+<p>Antonia drummed with her fingers on a chest of drawers near which she
+was leaning. "And it's such a paltry sum," she muttered&mdash;"not worth a
+fuss. You ought to have your wages, Pinkerton&mdash;it's a shame! I must
+speak to mother about them when my mind is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 251]</a></span>a little less burdened. I
+have a good deal to think of just now, so good-night!"</p>
+
+<p>"What about that dress, miss?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't give it to you at present. I'll stow it away somewhere.
+Good-night!"</p>
+
+<p>Antonia closed the door behind her and ran downstairs. She must get the
+thirty-two shillings from somewhere. To whom could she apply? She
+suddenly found herself face to face with Sir John Thornton. An
+inspiration seized her. She rushed up to him and took one of his hands.
+He shuddered, but had the strength of mind to remain perfectly still.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you lend me thirty-two shillings?" said Antonia. "You're as rich as
+Cr&oelig;sus, so you won't mind. I'll pay it back to you a shilling a week
+out of my dress allowance. Will you lend it? Say yes or no in a hurry,
+please."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Sir John, "... with pleasure." He moved back a step or two.
+"Here are two sovereigns," he said. "Pray don't mind the change. The
+change doesn't matter, I assure you. Oh, any time, of course, as regards
+repayment. I am happy to oblige you." He dropped the sovereigns into
+Antonia's large palm and prepared to fly.</p>
+
+<p>"You are happy to oblige me?" she said with a sort of gasp. "Oh, do stay
+just a single moment. You have made me very happy. Thirty-two shillings
+must go for a special purpose, but eight blessed shillings remain. Don't
+you really want the change? May I really borrow the change?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most certainly. I am rather in a hurry."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd kiss you, but you wouldn't like it," said Antonia. "These eight
+shillings mean&mdash;do you know what they mean?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 252]</a></span></p><p>"If they make you happy, my dear young lady, that is enough for me."</p>
+
+<p>"They do, they do! Cobalt ... Indian red ... rose madder ... burnt
+sienna ... canvasses ... a new flat brush for the skies ... some drawing
+pins&mdash;Oh, he's gone! Dear old man. What an affliction I was to him; but
+how triumphant I feel!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>NELL IS IN TROUBLE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>All Antonia's plans were carried into effect. She paid Mrs. Martin
+thirty-two shillings and gave the old woman her address in town, begging
+of her to forward the ring there without an hour's delay. In due course
+it arrived, and Annie had it once more in her possession. Poor Annie
+turned pale when Antonia put the little box which contained it into her
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I could cry as well as laugh," she said, looking at Antonia with tears
+springing to her eyes. "I have not behaved well about this ring, and I
+ought not to have it back like this. I ought to be properly punished. It
+does not seem fair that I should have the ring returned to me again in
+this easy manner."</p>
+
+<p>"Undoubtedly you have been deceitful," replied Antonia, "and your
+conscience must feel ruffled. I can stand most things, but a ruffled
+conscience, I confess, is too much for me. I suppose you will soothe it
+in the only possible way?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 253]</a></span></p><p>"What do you mean?" asked Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Confession is good for the soul," replied Antonia, in a sing-song
+voice. She went to the window as she spoke and looked out into the
+sunlit street.</p>
+
+<p>The two girls were standing in the room which Antonia was pleased to
+call her studio. It was an attic at the top of the house, and had a
+dormer window with a north light. The dormer window had sides which were
+curtained with green. In Annie's opinion this room was simply hideous.
+Huge canvasses covered with great daubs of colour occupied the walls. A
+skeleton stood in one corner, and one or two draped figures were in
+others. Antonia had lured Annie up here for the purpose of taking her
+likeness in a white kerchief. Antonia was fired with an idea that Annie
+would look well as Marie Antoinette on her way to execution. She was not
+quite sure whether to make her Charlotte Corday or Marie Antoinette;
+but, on reflection, decided that the latter character would suit her
+best, as she did not think that Annie could ever get sufficient tragedy
+into her eyes for the former.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to paint myself some day for Charlotte," exclaimed Antonia.
+"I'll study before the glass whenever I've an odd moment, and I believe
+I shall do the fixity of purpose stare after another week of hard
+practice. Now, do stand still Annie&mdash;the bother of the ring is at an
+end, so you can forget it. Just turn your head a little to the left, I
+want to get a peep at your ear&mdash;you have got a good ear, quite
+shell-like. Now, for mercy's sake look tragical! Think of the
+guillotine, and the crowd looking on, and La Belle France and the
+Tuileries, and the horrid feeling when your head is separated from your
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 254]</a></span>trunk. Now, then, realise it&mdash;get it into your eyes. Are you realising
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Frankly, I'm not," replied Annie. "I can't sit for Marie Antoinette any
+longer to-day. I really can't, Antonia. This room is so stiflingly hot,
+and I want to go out. I want to get into one of the parks. Are there any
+near this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes! Hyde Park is quite close; but you'll find it as dry as chips.
+Remember, it is September now. Hyde Park is not pretty in September."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder anyone can live in London," replied Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you? I don't. I hate this poky little house in the centre of
+detestable fashion; but if I could have an atelier, or a studio, I ought
+to say, in Gower Street, it would be nearly as good as Paris. Well, if
+you won't sit any longer, I suppose you won't. Now let us come
+downstairs."</p>
+
+<p>The girls left the studio and entered the drawing-room. Here they found
+Mrs. Bernard Temple and Nora. Nora was lying on a sofa looking tired and
+pale, and Mrs. Bernard Temple was moving about the room in a bustling
+sort of fashion arranging flowers. The drawing-room was small and
+crowded with knick-knacks. Antonia seldom swept across this room without
+knocking a table over or flicking a paper on to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my dear, be careful!" exclaimed her parent. "That papier-m&acirc;che
+table on which I have just arranged these lovely late roses, sent to me
+by dear Sir John, will not stand one of your lunges. I cannot imagine
+how you have got that peculiar walk, Antonia; its exactly as if you were
+on board ship."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 255]</a></span></p><p>Antonia lounged towards a chair, into which she flung herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me, it is hot!" she exclaimed, pushing back her thick black hair
+from her forehead. "Never mind about my walk, mother; let me hear the
+news. What did Sir Henry Fraser say of Nora?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bernard Temple sank into another chair.</p>
+
+<p>"The dear child!" she exclaimed. "She had a trying morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray don't talk of it!" exclaimed Nora from her sofa. "It was too
+desperate."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, did he hurt you?" exclaimed Antonia.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no! he was kindness itself; but we had to wait so long before we
+saw him."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh!" answered Antonia. "Was that the dreadful part? Tell me what he
+said when you did see him? Are you likely soon to be quite well again?"</p>
+
+<p>"With care," interrupted Mrs. Bernard Temple, "dear Nora will recover
+perfectly. Her back is still very weak, but there is no injury. She may
+walk a little daily, but must lie down a good deal."</p>
+
+<p>"You're quite sure he wasn't anxious about you?" asked Antonia, fixing
+her eyes on Nora.</p>
+
+<p>Nora started.</p>
+
+<p>"No; what do you mean?" she said. "You quite startle me. Why should he
+be anxious?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I almost wish he were. It would suit my purpose to have him
+anxious for a day or two. However, if he isn't, he isn't, and there's an
+end of it. Nora, don't you want to see your father very badly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes!" replied Nora. Her face grew pink and red. "Of course I'd like
+to see him, but I have not an idea where he is."</p>
+
+<p>"He's in London, close to you, you goose."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 256]</a></span></p><p>"Antonia!" interrupted Mrs. Bernard Temple.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, she is a goose not to remember that Squire Lorrimer is in town.
+You ought to write to him, Nora, and ask him to come to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"If he's in London I don't know his address," answered Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"You can write to his club&mdash;the Carlton. Here, I'll find you paper and
+pen, or, if you are too tired to write after the doctor's examination,
+you can dictate a letter to me. Here, what do you want to say? I'm not a
+good hand at letter-writing, but you must know the sort of thing. You
+had better ask him to dinner to-night; there's not an hour to be lost."</p>
+
+<p>"You forget that we are going to the theatre to-night," said Mrs.
+Bernard Temple.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what does that matter. Nora can't go, with her weak back."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes she can. I have taken a box, and she shall have my air-cushion to
+lean against."</p>
+
+<p>"And I want to go to a theatre awfully," said Nora.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, so much for filial affection. Ask him to come to lunch
+to-morrow. Write any way&mdash;show that you're a daughter, a loving
+daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I'm a loving daughter, but I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"For goodness sake don't have any more buts. Write or dictate, whichever
+you please."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll write if I must, but really&mdash;I don't suppose father will care to
+come."</p>
+
+<p>"Doesn't he care for you, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Care for me? What a thing to say. Of course he cares for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he'll come. Now, I give you five minutes. Write the letter, and
+I'll take it out and post it."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 257]</a></span></p><p>Nora muttered and grumbled, but Antonia's perfectly motionless figure,
+as she sat in an easy chair facing her, was too much to be resisted. She
+took up a pen, dipped it in ink, and began to write.</p>
+
+<p>"Do it lovingly," said Antonia; "put heart into it; show that you're a
+daughter."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bernard Temple motioned Annie to come and sit near her.</p>
+
+<p>"Really," she said in a whisper, "poor Antonia becomes more peculiar and
+trying each day. She simply bullies us all. Look at that poor dear
+little Nora, submitting to her caprice as gently as a lamb. I don't know
+why she wants Squire Lorrimer to come here. I am not acquainted with
+him, and it will be really painful for me to see him in his present
+afflicted condition. I am a very cheerful person by nature, and hate
+depressing circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry you are not sympathetic," answered Annie.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bernard Temple raised her brows.</p>
+
+<p>"Sympathetic," she exclaimed; "my dear, I'm the soul&mdash;the very soul of
+sympathy; but where's the use of wasting emotion? I can do nothing for
+Squire Lorrimer, and it will only pain poor Nora to see him. Really,
+really, Antonia is beyond anything afflicting. Now, my love, where are
+you going?"</p>
+
+<p>The latter part of this speech was addressed to Miss Bernard Temple, who
+was leaving the room. "Where are you going, Antonia, my love?" repeated
+her mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Out, mother; to post this letter."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg of you to do nothing of the kind. I can send it by William, when
+next he goes for a message."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 258]</a></span></p><p>William was a very diminutive, and much overworked, page-boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks," said Antonia; "but I prefer to go myself."</p>
+
+<p>She left the room, shutting the door rather noisily; and Mrs. Bernard
+Temple looked for sympathy to the two girls.</p>
+
+<p>"Is not she trying?" she repeated. "With my mind so preoccupied with
+thoughts of my approaching marriage, and of dear Sir John, and those
+sweet girls, Hester and Nan; it is really too much to be worried by
+Antonia's whims."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but she means everything splendidly," said Annie. "I admire her
+beyond anything. If you will let me, Mrs. Bernard Temple, I will go out
+with her."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, certainly, my dear. I see you are under her spell, so I have
+nothing to say. Dear Nora and I will try to make ourselves happy
+together."</p>
+
+<p>Annie left the room, and met Antonia in the hall.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait one moment, Antonia," she said; "I'll go with you."</p>
+
+<p>She ran upstairs, fetched her hat and gloves, and joined Antonia. The two
+girls went into the street.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm determined that no pranks shall be played with this letter," said
+Antonia; "so I intend not to post it, but to take it to the Carlton
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Antonia, is that right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Right&mdash;what can there be wrong in it? There is no one who will eat me
+at the Carlton. I shall simply give the letter to the hall-porter, and
+desire him to put it into Mr. Lorrimer's hands the moment he appears.
+Now, come on, if you are coming. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 259]</a></span>You can stay in the street while I
+interview the porter."</p>
+
+<p>"But the post seems safer and easier," said Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't think so. Come, come; what are you loitering for?"</p>
+
+<p>As was universally the case, Antonia's strong will prevailed.</p>
+
+<p>She knew London thoroughly, and followed by the somewhat breathless
+Annie, in due course reached the Carlton Club.</p>
+
+<p>She had run up the steps, entered the hall, interviewed the porter,
+delivered her letter, and once more joined Annie, when the latter said
+to her in a voice of suppressed excitement&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There is Squire Lorrimer; that man with the bent head and hat pushed
+over his eyes. He passed the club while you were within. There he is,
+just turning the corner."</p>
+
+<p>"Run after him and stop him," exclaimed Antonia. "Quick, quick&mdash;I'll
+fetch the letter out while you're catching him up."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't like to," said Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"What a goose you are&mdash;then I'll do it&mdash;he'll be lost to view if we wait
+another instant arguing. Is it that rather old man who walks slowly?
+Yes, yes, I see him. Stay where you are and I'll bring him back to you."</p>
+
+<p>Before Annie could interfere, Antonia had hastened forward with long
+strides, which she soon quickened into a run. She reached Mr. Lorrimer,
+and gave one of his coat sleeves a fierce tug.</p>
+
+<p>He started, took off his hat instinctively, and then stared in amazement
+at the wild-looking girl, whose face was completely unknown to him.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 260]</a></span></p><p>"Oh, yes, you think I'm mad," said Antonia, "but I'm not. I'm about as
+sane as anyone in England. You are Mr. Lorrimer, and you're afraid to go
+home, and your family are in dreadful trouble. I'm Antonia Bernard
+Temple; yes, it's a long unwieldy sort of name, but I have the
+misfortune to own it. If I'm a diamond at all, I'm a rough sort; very
+rough and uncouth, but I mean well. My mother is engaged to Sir John
+Thornton, and we have been staying at the Grange, and I have seen your
+magnificent untrammelled old place, with its briars, and dragon china,
+and I, in short&mdash;I have seen Nell. Nell is in trouble, and my heart has
+gone out to her; and Nora is in town staying with us, with my mother and
+me, and she wants to see you, naturally; so please come home with me
+now. Please turn round and come to the Carlton first. There's a letter
+there for you from Nora. Come and see her, and hear about Nell and
+Molly."</p>
+
+<p>There was the queerest mixture of every sort of emotion in Antonia's
+wild, disjointed speech; but above it all was an overpowering
+earnestness, which somehow attracted the poor, forlorn-looking Squire.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a very queer young lady," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they all say that," exclaimed Antonia clasping her hands. "I beg of
+you not to be commonplace; do come home with me."</p>
+
+<p>"But somehow you seem to know all about my people," he continued. "Is it
+possible that Nora is in town? Yes, I'll go and see her. Where is she?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come with me and I'll take you to the house. It's in a most poky,
+fashionable part&mdash;an odious locality, where poor Art hides her head.
+Just walk <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 261]</a></span>back with me to meet Annie Forest, and to get your letter.
+You know Annie Forest, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have met her."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, she's waiting close to the Carlton Club for us both; and we can't
+leave her there, you know; come quickly."</p>
+
+<p>The Squire turned.</p>
+
+<p>His step was slow. The look of depression on his face was painful; his
+grizzled hair was nearly white, and his once keen, hawk-like blue eyes
+were now dim and dull. Antonia had never seen him before, but Annie
+started when he held out his hand to her.</p>
+
+<p>He walked in almost silence back with the two girls, and in a little
+more than half an hour, Antonia had the pleasure of introducing him to
+her mother and Nora, who were enjoying afternoon tea together in great
+contentment and peace of mind. Nora uttered a little shriek when she saw
+her father. He took her in his arms and kissed her tenderly. Annie did
+not follow the Squire into the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, mother," said Antonia, going up to her parent.</p>
+
+<p>"Where?" asked Mrs. Bernard Temple in astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Out of the room&mdash;come."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 262]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LION AND MOUSE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>No one could be in a more terrible state of complete collapse than poor
+Mr. Lorrimer. The blow he had most dreaded had overtaken him. He had
+been as plucky an English gentleman as ever walked. As true-hearted and
+affectionate a husband and father, as kind and considerate a
+landlord&mdash;as honourable as man could be in all his dealings&mdash;a keen
+sportsman, a lover of horses&mdash;in short, an ideal squire of the old
+school; but the Towers had been his backbone; now that circumstances for
+which he was scarcely to blame deprived him of the home of his fathers,
+he found himself unable to stand up against the blow. He had made a
+gallant fight up to the last moment, but when he saw plainly that the
+tide had set in dead against him, he ceased to fight and allowed himself
+to drift. He made up his mind that his last memory of the Towers should
+be that evening when the old ball-room was full of light and movement,
+and when two little fairy-like figures had flitted across the lawn to
+greet him. That fairy and that brownie had comforted him on that night
+of keen desolation, and their memory lingered with him still. He lived
+in cheap lodgings near his club, ate what was put before him, read
+nothing, moped away the long hours, and was fast reaching a stage when
+serious breakdown of some sort or other was imminent. He desired all
+letters to be sent to him to the Carlton, and not only refused <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 263]</a></span>to allow
+his wife to come to him, but would not let her know where he was
+lodging. He promised, however, to join his family when the move from the
+Towers had been made.</p>
+
+<p>On the day when Antonia met him, he was feeling more wretched even than
+usual. He had never hitherto been a weak or undecided man, but now he
+was completely limp&mdash;there was no other word to describe his condition.
+Antonia's firmness compelled him to obey her, and he found himself
+against his will in Nora's company. Nora was not his favourite child;
+she was not like Molly to him, nor like Nell and Boris, still she was
+one of his children, and his heart throbbed with a great wave of pain
+when he saw her.</p>
+
+<p>"My poor little girl," he said, kissing her tenderly, "my poor dear
+little girl. I have been a bad father to you, my little Nora."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no, father," said Nora, sobbing now, and much overcome. "No,
+no, dear, darling father; I'm so delighted, so delighted to see you
+again."</p>
+
+<p>The Squire sat down on the sofa near Nora, and putting his arm round
+her, drew her pretty head to rest on his breast.</p>
+
+<p>"So you are staying in town," he said, "quite close to me; and how&mdash;how
+are the others, my dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite well," replied Nora "only fretting about you."</p>
+
+<p>"About me? They needn't do that&mdash;I'm not worth it. You're sure your
+mother is quite well, Nora?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And Molly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, quite well."</p>
+
+<p>"And the young 'uns, Nell and Boris?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they're well, only Nell frets a good bit."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 264]</a></span></p><p>"Poor child, poor child; bless her, she's a loving little soul. I
+suppose Guy is awfully cut up, eh, Nonie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, father, indeed he's not. Guy is too much of a man&mdash;he's splendid,
+he is, really. I wish you'd go back again, father, that's all they want.
+It's you they want, not the Towers&mdash;you are more to them than the
+Towers."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a good child to say so," said the Squire; "but I can't go back
+at present. When I think of that place going out of the family, I feel
+like an unfaithful steward. It was committed to me to keep and to hand
+on intact to my boy, and I've lost him his inheritance. You none of you
+know what it means; but I can't go back&mdash;not at present."</p>
+
+<p>"May I write and tell mother where you are?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; she writes to me to the Carlton&mdash;I'm all right; don't you worry
+about me, pet."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't look all right&mdash;you look very ill."</p>
+
+<p>"See here, Nora, don't you write home and tell them that&mdash;promise."</p>
+
+<p>The Squire's manner grew quite fierce. He looked at Nora out of his
+bloodshot eyes. "Promise," he said. "I won't have it done&mdash;do you hear?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, father, of course I won't if it vexes you."</p>
+
+<p>"It does, my child, it does," the Squire's manner became tenderer than
+ever. "I'm worried and in trouble at present, and I am best alone; I am
+best all by myself for a bit. God knows, I suppose I shall pull round
+after a bit, and face you all&mdash;that poor boy whom I've ruined, and the
+rest of you&mdash;but I must get time&mdash;that's only reasonable&mdash;I must get
+time. Now I'm off; I'm glad to see you looking well, Nora."</p>
+
+<p>"But you'll come and see me again, father; you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 265]</a></span>promise, do promise that
+you'll come and see me again."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my child, if you wish it."</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow; promise you'll come to-morrow. Antonia made me write to ask
+you to come to lunch, and I sent the letter to the Carlton. Will you
+come to lunch to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I can't do that, but I'll look in some day. Good-bye, Nora,
+good-bye, my pet."</p>
+
+<p>The Squire put his arms again round Nora, kissed her on her lips and
+brow, and left the house.</p>
+
+<p>Antonia, who was trying to keep her mother quiet in the dismal
+dining-room, heard him slam the hall door after him, and rushed to the
+window to watch him down the street.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bernard Temple went and peeped over her daughter's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad he has gone," she said. "It's so trying to be turned out of
+one's drawing-room. He's very seedy about his clothes, but he has an
+aristocratic walk. I suppose I may go back now, Antonia, to finish my
+cup of tea."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, mother, all in good time. What does tea signify when you see a
+man broken with an awful grief of that sort? Why, he looks like a
+captive lion. Mother, cant you get enthusiastic on the subject? Can't
+you try?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure, my dear, I have tried, but I cannot really see that it will
+injure the Lorrimers for me to finish my tea. With all I am undergoing
+on my own account at present&mdash;but of course, Antonia, you have no
+sympathy for your mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I have when you need it, but you don't just now; you are
+perfectly happy. However, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 266]</a></span>you must of course have your tea, and I won't
+worry you any more after you have sent off the telegram."</p>
+
+<p>"The telegram! Oh, you erratic, perverse child; what next?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have to telegraph to Sir John, mother, to beg of him to come here
+immediately. Things have gone much farther with Squire Lorrimer than I
+had the least idea of. He must be put out of his pain as quickly as
+possible or something bad will happen. We must get my new father that is
+to be on the spot to-night, and if you don't telegraph for him I shall
+myself take the next train to Nortonbury, and tackle him on the subject.
+I don't in the least mind which it is, but one or other must be done
+directly."</p>
+
+<p>"Antonia, you quite terrify me. Sir John will be seriously angry."</p>
+
+<p>"What of that. Let him be angry."</p>
+
+<p>"But I assure you, my dear, he is not a man to be trifled with."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'll manage him, mother, if you're nervous."</p>
+
+<p>"I really think you must. I have not the courage to make or meddle in
+this matter; in short, I wash my hands of it."</p>
+
+<p>Antonia clapped hers.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah!" she said. "I can manage much better all by myself. All I ask
+you now, dear, good mother, is to trust me. Be sure that nothing
+whatever will happen to injure you, and simply give me leave to say,
+when I am telegraphing, that you would like to see Sir John."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, naturally, I always like to see him, dear, devoted fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right. Now you shall go back to your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 267]</a></span>tea, and I'll be as
+mum as a mouse for the rest of the day."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bernard Temple left the room, relieved at any sort of truce with
+her troublesome daughter. Antonia addressed the telegraph form to ...
+<i>Sir John Thornton, The Grange, Nortonbury</i>, and filled in the following
+words:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Mother wants to see you without fail this evening. Take next
+train. Important. Antonia. Reply paid."</p></div>
+
+<p>The words went hard with the enthusiastic girl, for her precious eight
+shillings were nearly exhausted, and she knew that she must deny herself
+some sadly-needed cobalt if she sent that telegram.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," she said, as she let herself out of the house, and rushed
+off to the nearest post-office. "You must do without that background of
+blue sky which I so wanted for your picture, Marie Antoinette. It is
+odd, but I never did think that I would allow Art to suffer in the cause
+of an ugly duckling."</p>
+
+<p>Antonia sent off her telegram and watched anxiously for the reply. It
+came in the course of an hour and a half, and was addressed to her
+mother.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Expect me by the train which reaches Waterloo at nine o'clock,"</p></div>
+
+<p>wired the gallant Sir John.</p>
+
+<p>"There, now, Antonia," said Mrs. Bernard Temple, "you have only yourself
+to blame. What is to be done? We shall be at the theatre at nine
+o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing could possibly be better, mother; I shan't go. I shall wait
+here for Sir John; we'll have a nice quiet time."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, I'm afraid he'll be terribly offended."</p>
+
+<p>"No, mother, he won't; at least, not with you. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 268]</a></span>Now, do go the theatre
+and be happy. Take Annie and Nora, and let them enjoy themselves. I
+promise you that you shall have serene skies on your return. Can't you
+trust me? Did you ever find me fail you yet when I promised you
+anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I never did, you queer, queer creature."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bernard Temple was restored to good humour. Dinner passed off
+pleasantly, and immediately afterwards a cab conveyed three of the party
+to the Lyceum.</p>
+
+<p>Antonia had donned her rusty brown velveteen dress, and sat with her
+hands folded in front of her in a deep armchair.</p>
+
+<p>Her black hair was combed high over her forehead; her eyes were bright.
+Anxiety had brought a slight colour into her cheeks; she looked almost
+handsome.</p>
+
+<p>At about twenty minutes past nine a cab was heard to stop at the door,
+and a moment later Sir John Thornton was ushered into the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do?" he said, in a stiff voice, to Antonia. "Where is your
+mother? Her telegram has startled me a good deal."</p>
+
+<p>"It was my telegram," said Antonia, in a calm voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that does not matter. Will you have the goodness to inform your
+mother that I am here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't very well at the present moment, for she is enjoying herself at
+the Lyceum."</p>
+
+<p>Sir John's face grew scarlet. He drew himself up to his stiffest
+attitude, and compressed his lips firmly together.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you feel annoyed," said Antonia, "and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 269]</a></span>I don't think I am
+surprised. Will you sit down and let me explain matters?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pray do nothing of the kind. I can wait until Mrs. Bernard Temple comes
+home. When is the play likely to be over?"</p>
+
+<p>"I expect mother and Annie and Nora back about half-past eleven. It is
+now half-past nine. Have you had dinner?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you come downstairs, and let me give you something to eat?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you. As your mother is not at home, I shall dine at my club,
+and come back later on."</p>
+
+<p>"No, you won't," said Antonia.</p>
+
+<p>She started up, and placed herself between Sir John and the door. He
+felt himself groaning inwardly. Was that awful girl mad? What did her
+strange telegram mean? And why, if Mrs. Bernard Temple sent for him in a
+hurry, had she not the civility to wait at home to see him? This was
+really taking matters with a free-and-easy hand with a vengeance. The
+proud Sir John had never felt more thoroughly angry in his life. He
+stalked up to Antonia now, and endeavoured to pass her, but she dodged
+him successfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I know you are a gentleman," she said; "and a gentleman always listens
+to what a lady has got to say, even when he is angry with her. I'm an
+awful personage in your eyes, but if you will listen to me to-night, I
+will promise to be as good and unobtrusive as girl can be in the future.
+I'll even wear ordinary dresses when I come to visit you, and I won't
+talk of my sacred Art when you are in the room. There, can girl promise
+more?&mdash;can she?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 270]</a></span></p><p>"Will you have the goodness to let me pass?" said Sir John.</p>
+
+<p>"I will in a moment or two. You shall go and dine at your club after you
+have heard why I sent for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why <i>you</i> sent for me?" exclaimed Sir John.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; it was all my doing."</p>
+
+<p>"But the message certainly came in your mother's name."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, because you would not have come otherwise. It was I, Antonia, who
+really sent for you. You have come up to town in this violent hurry on
+my account. Now, will you come down to eat a very nice little dinner
+which has been prepared, and which the cook is waiting to send upstairs,
+and let me talk to you while you are enjoying it? Or will you listen to
+me here, and then go afterwards to your club? You must do one or other,
+unless you are rude enough to take me by main force and move me away
+from the door."</p>
+
+<p>Sir John Thornton might be very angry, but he was the pink of propriety,
+and the idea of lifting the bony Antonia from the neighbourhood of the
+door was too repellent even to be thought of for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"You have got me into a trap," he said, "and I am deeply offended. Your
+mother must explain the position of affairs to me when she chooses to
+return home. I suppose I must listen to you, whether I wish it or not. I
+only beg of you to be brief."</p>
+
+<p>"Now you are delightful," said Antonia. "Won't you sit down?"</p>
+
+<p>"I prefer to stand."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 271]</a></span></p><p>"Well, I'll sit, if you don't mind, for I've a good deal to say."</p>
+
+<p>"I must again beg of you to be brief."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; I'll put it into a few words, but they'll be strong, I
+promise you."</p>
+
+<p>Sir John made no response. He folded his arms and looked down at
+Antonia. His face looked very cold and satirical; his lips were so
+tightly shut as to appear like a straight line. Antonia's face, all
+enthusiasm and fire, gazed up at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Can I melt that iceberg?" she said inwardly. "Now for the tug of war."</p>
+
+<p>"This is the heart and kernel of my reason for wishing to see you," she
+said. "I have taken up the cause of the Lorrimers. The Lorrimers are
+leaving the Towers because Squire Lorrimer has got into money
+difficulties. I don't know how, and I don't know why. He is obliged to
+sell the beautiful and noble home of his ancestors to clear himself of
+these difficulties. The children are all sorry to go&mdash;Molly loses the
+freshness of her youth when she leaves the Towers; Guy loses his
+rightful inheritance; the younger children are embittered by an
+unnatural feud which I need not trouble you about, but which will sour
+their characters; Nell is not strong, and simple grief may shorten her
+days; and the Squire, the Squire himself is so cut up, so heart-broken,
+that he cannot bring himself to say good-bye to the old place. He is in
+town, here, close to us; he is hiding somewhere near us because his
+proud old heart is broken. His hair is white ... his head is bowed and
+his eyes are dim."</p>
+
+<p>"What does all this mean?" interrupted Sir John.</p>
+
+<p>"What does it mean?" exclaimed Antonia, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 272]</a></span>springing like a young lioness
+from her chair. "It means that you are to come to the rescue. Why should
+all that family be made wretched? and why should the Towers go to
+strangers when you can put things right? Take your money out of the
+bank, or wherever you have placed it&mdash;it will be the finest deed you
+ever did in your life&mdash;and buy back the Towers and give it to Squire
+Lorrimer and to Guy for their own place again. Yours is the talent
+buried in the ground. Take it out and save the Squire, and you'll be so
+happy you won't know yourself. Why, you'll be all on fire and alive with
+gladness. There, that's what I telegraphed to you for; you know now.
+You'll do it ... of course you'll do it. I have spoken now. You know
+what I want."</p>
+
+<p>Antonia sank down into her chair again. She was trembling visibly
+through all her slender figure. Sir John gazed at her in amazement. Her
+eyes met his fully, and then her heart gave a leap in her breast. He was
+not angry. She guessed then that she had won her cause.</p>
+
+<p>"You certainly are a queer girl," he said, sitting down near her. "You
+amaze me. I never heard of a girl who would take up a thing in this way
+... and the Lorrimers are not even your friends. Oh, no! I am not angry
+... not now. Hester frets morning, noon, and night, at the thought of
+parting with Molly; but Hester never thought of this. It is fine of
+you&mdash;quite impossible, of course; but I always admire real bravery when
+I see it."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind praising me," said Antonia; "tell me why you call it
+impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear young lady, do you think for a single moment Squire Lorrimer
+would accept a gift of this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 273]</a></span>sort from me? Do you think the Towers would
+be of the least value to him won back in such a way? <i>Noblesse oblige</i>
+would prevent his accepting such an offer."</p>
+
+<p>"I have thought of all that," said Antonia. "I guessed that there would
+be a good deal of pride to overcome. Fortunately I am not bothered with
+<i>noblesse oblige</i>; but I guessed that you county people would worry over
+it. We art lovers never think of it; we rise above it; we go back to the
+old, old, <i>old</i>, times, when those who loved each other had all things
+in common."</p>
+
+<p>"As long as we live in the world," said Sir John, "the men of the world
+must adhere to its usages. It is not the custom for one man to present
+another with the sort of gift you propose that I should favour Squire
+Lorrimer with."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you must not give it in the form of a gift. You must go to your
+solicitor and consult him about the matter. I happen to know that Susy
+Drummond hates the Towers, so I am quite sure that Mr. Drummond would be
+very glad to be out of his bargain. The Squire wants a certain sum of
+money; you must lend it to him on very easy terms. Oh! of course you
+know how to manage! You must make it possible for him to stay at the
+Towers whatever happens. Oh! I know you'll do it! I know you'll be
+clever enough and kind enough to do it. You'll think of a way, and in
+all the world no man will ever have a more faithful daughter than I'll
+be to you. Dear me! how dead tired I am! Are you going out to your club
+to dinner? If so, I'll go to bed."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 274]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2>
+
+<h3>GOD BLESS ANTONIA.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mrs. Bernard Temple waited up for Sir John that night; but he did not
+appear. When he left Antonia he went straight to his club, ordered
+dinner, and ate it with his usual refined and somewhat languid appetite.
+He then went up to his room, and being tired thought he would go early
+to bed. He did go to bed&mdash;he even went to the length of shutting his
+eyes, preparatory for a peaceful night's slumber. Up to that point he
+was the Sir John of old. The calculating, reserved, cold-natured
+Englishman; but beyond that point he was different, altogether different
+from what he had been before. Between him and his accustomed night's
+rest came the eager face and passionate words of a girl&mdash;a lanky,
+untidy, and, in his opinion, most disagreeable girl. Still, she had
+roused him as he had never yet been roused. She had absolutely awakened
+a sort of conscience in him. For the first time in his whole existence,
+he carefully considered the question, who is my neighbour?</p>
+
+<p>Certainly Squire Lorrimer was his neighbour. Their estates joined; they
+had been good friends from boyhood upward; they had been lads at the
+same school, and afterwards men of the same college. His children and
+Squire Lorrimer's children loved each other dearly. He had noticed of
+late how often Hester's eyes had been red as if with tears. She had been
+very good about his own proposed marriage, but she had cried when the
+Lorrimers were mentioned <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 275]</a></span>Nan had been sulky and disagreeable and
+defiant, and this was also on account of the Lorrimers. He was very
+sorry for his children, and very sorry also for the Lorrimers, but never
+until to-night had it entered into his head to help the Lorrimers out of
+their trouble.</p>
+
+<p>He could do so, of course&mdash;he was a very rich man&mdash;he was also a careful
+man, never living up to his large yearly income. By no means extravagant
+in his tastes, not specially fond of hoarding money, but being really
+possessed of more than his wants required. He lay awake, and thought and
+thought, and after an early breakfast the next morning he did adopt
+Antonia's suggestion, and went to see his solicitor. From there he wrote
+a brief note to Mrs. Bernard Temple.</p>
+
+<p>"As she had not, after all, required his presence in town," he wrote,
+"he would not come to see her. He happened to be particularly engaged,
+and wanted to return to the Grange that evening."</p>
+
+<p>This letter was delivered at Mrs. Bernard Temple's house by a
+Commissionaire. It made that good lady very uneasy, but when Antonia
+read it she proceeded to skip up and down the drawing-room with such
+energy that two papier-m&acirc;che tables were knocked over and a valuable
+china cup and saucer smashed.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't speak to me, mother," she exclaimed. "I have nothing whatever to
+say, only if I don't give vent to my feelings in some sort of exercise I
+shall go mad."</p>
+
+<p>The next day or two passed without anything special occurring, but on
+the third day Mrs. Bernard Temple received a letter which astonished her
+very much.</p>
+
+<p>It was from Sir John, begging of her to come <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 276]</a></span>back to the Grange, and
+especially asking that Antonia should accompany her.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear old man," murmured Antonia when she received this message. "I knew
+he'd rise to it; I knew he would. Mother, which is the most fashionable
+shop in London?"</p>
+
+<p>"For what, my dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"For an up-to-date costume. I must go at once and be rigged up. You had
+better order a hansom&mdash;never mind the extravagance&mdash;it will be untold
+torture, but it is a promise, and it must be done. Annie, love, you are
+exquisite on the subject of dress; come and see Antonia made
+fashionable."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, go with her, Annie," said Mrs. Bernard Temple. "I cannot imagine
+what this queer thing portends, but anything to make Antonia look like
+an ordinary girl I willingly agree to. Don't be extravagant, my love,
+for my purse is not too heavy; but anything under ten pounds I will
+willingly spend to make you presentable."</p>
+
+<p>"It's appalling to think of the waste of money," said Antonia. "Oh, what
+would not ten pounds do in the cause of Art? But a promise is a promise.
+Come along, Annie, we'll go to Regent Street and choose."</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes later, the two girls set off. Antonia's face was wreathed
+with wonderful smiles, but she was mute as to the subject of her
+thoughts, even to Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose I must have a respectable hat," she said, suddenly; "and I
+suppose it must sit in the correct way on my head; therefore, the first
+thing is to go to a hairdresser's. I must be fringed, and curled, and
+frizzed."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 277]</a></span></p><p>"Oh, Antonia, no, no;" said Annie. "Your beautiful hair&mdash;it would be a
+sin to put a pair of scissors near it."</p>
+
+<p>"A promise is a promise," said Antonia. "Which is the best hairdresser?"</p>
+
+<p>They stopped at one in Bond Street, and half an hour later Antonia left
+the shop, very stiff about the head and red about the face.</p>
+
+<p>"The hairpins are sticking into me all over," she gasped, "and the
+weight of the fringe is like a furnace on my forehead; but never mind."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't at all becoming either," said Annie.</p>
+
+<p>Antonia looked at her with large eyes of reproach.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think I <i>want</i> it to be becoming?" she said. "That would be the
+final straw."</p>
+
+<p>The fashionable dress was not only bought, but put on, and Mrs. Bernard
+Temple scarcely knew her daughter when she saw her back again.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm in misery," said Antonia; "but a promise is a promise. My dear
+mother, when you are married to Sir John, that dear, dear old man, you
+need not expect to see me often at the Grange."</p>
+
+<p>"I really do not see, Antonia, why you should speak of your future
+father as so very old."</p>
+
+<p>"He's old to me," said Antonia. "I always speak of people as I find
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a most extraordinary girl," remarked her mother.</p>
+
+<p>But she made this remark so often that Antonia did not think it
+necessary to reply.</p>
+
+<p>By a late train in the afternoon the whole party were conveyed back to
+the Grange, where Hester received them with rather a puzzled expression
+on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 278]</a></span>her face. As soon as possible she drew Annie aside, and began to
+speak to her.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot imagine what is the matter," she said; "father is going on in
+a most extraordinary way. You won't mind my speaking frankly, Annie, but
+he seemed really quite relieved when you all went away. Then he got that
+telegram from Mrs. Bernard Temple, and rushed off to town in a hurry. He
+came back the following evening completely altered&mdash;very silent and
+absorbed, but with a kind of change over him which Nan and I could not
+help noticing. I asked him if he had seen anything of Squire Lorrimer,
+and he looked hard at me and said&mdash;'I wonder if you are in it, too.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know, I know," said Annie softly, rubbing her hands; "dear
+Antonia, dear Antonia."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, for pity's sake, Annie, don't you get mysterious," exclaimed
+Hester, almost fretfully. "What can Antonia have to say to Squire
+Lorrimer? Let me finish my story. I asked father if he had seen him, and
+he replied, 'I have heard and seen enough of Lorrimer to fill all my
+thoughts.' He would not tell me another word; but he went to town again
+the next morning, and came back absolutely excited in the evening. Fancy
+my father in a state of excitement! He was ever so nice to me; and when
+Nan said that she must go to school almost immediately, he said that
+Mrs. Willis should be invited to come back to the Grange, for he wanted
+us all to have a happy meeting before his wedding. And he has been
+telegraphing to all kinds of people all day, and I believe all the
+Lorrimers are coming here to-morrow. Father said he wanted to have a
+real, jolly time, and that everyone of the Lorrimers, even to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 279]</a></span>little
+Phil, and, of course, Jane Macalister, were to be asked. I ventured to
+remind him that dear Molly and all of them were not just in the mood for
+festivities at present, but he would not listen to me for a moment. He
+said, that on such an auspicious occasion he must have his own way, and
+that he would engage that they would be jolly enough when the time
+came."</p>
+
+<p>"So they will, I am sure," said Annie. "Did you say Mrs. Willis was
+here, Hester?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she came an hour ago. She is in her room. She says she will take
+you and Nan back with her to Lavender House the day after to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>Annie's face, which had been very bright a moment before, grew suddenly
+grave. She murmured something half aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't be outdone by Antonia," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, really, Annie," exclaimed Hester, "I shall get to hate Antonia,
+if you allude to her in that sphinx-like way any longer."</p>
+
+<p>Annie looked hard at Hester with dilating eyes and paling cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember," she said, suddenly coming up to her friend, "the old
+Annie of Lavender House?"</p>
+
+<p>"How can I forget her," said Hester; "when she is my dearest friend?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember," continued Annie, "the heaps and heaps of scrapes she
+used to get into, and how there was no peace for her, and no way out of
+them at all except by confession?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I remember," said Hester, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am going to confess now."</p>
+
+<p>"To confess! But you have done nothing wrong, Annie darling."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 280]</a></span></p><p>"Oh, haven't I; I've been just at my old pranks&mdash;just as heedless, as
+impetuous, as mad, as I have ever been. Hester, I have done wrong, but
+as it does not concern you, I won't tell you, dear. Only before I go to
+Mrs. Willis, I should like to congratulate you."</p>
+
+<p>"To congratulate me? On what?" asked poor Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"On having the chance of such a girl as Antonia for your sister."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, really, I wont listen to another word," said Hester. "I have quite
+made up my mind to <i>endure</i> Antonia, and to be patient with her, but if,
+in addition, I am to congratulate myself, I'm just afraid I can't rise
+to it. Run away if you want to, Annie, and when you cease to be
+mysterious I will talk to you again."</p>
+
+<p>Annie left the room and went slowly upstairs to Mrs. Willis's bedroom.
+She knocked and was admitted. What she said&mdash;what words passed between
+the two were never known, but when Annie left that room there was a look
+on her face which reminded those who saw her of the best of Annie in the
+old days, and Mrs. Willis was more affectionate than ever to her dear
+pupil that evening.</p>
+
+<p>The next day dawned bright and splendid. The trees were beginning to put
+on their autumn tints, but the air was still full of summer. The
+Lorrimers at the Towers were busy making preparations to come over to
+the Grange. They had been invited to the festival by no less a personage
+than Sir John Thornton himself, and he had couched his epistle in gay
+and pleasant words.</p>
+
+<p>"As if we had any heart for it," murmured Molly to herself.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 281]</a></span></p><p>"It is over a week now since we have had even a line from father,"
+whispered Nell to her own heart; "how can we care to go and laugh at the
+Grange?"</p>
+
+<p>"We are going from the dear old place in a week," thought Guy. "I don't
+believe anyone can draw a smile out of me to-day."</p>
+
+<p>But Boris was happy enough to go, for he was so young that any change
+was delightful; and as his pets were also leaving the Towers, and he and
+Kitty had just thought of a splendid way to prepare them for their
+journey, he felt quite light-hearted once again, and that he would be
+happy in his new home.</p>
+
+<p>When Jane Macalister heard of the invitation, she flatly refused to
+accept it.</p>
+
+<p>"Go, if you choose to," she said, with a wave of her hand to the
+assembled children; "you are young, and it's good for the young to
+forget. But I shall take the opportunity of sewing up the feather beds
+in their brown-holland cases. I vowed and declared that when this move
+had to be made no outsider should come in to pack, so my hands are full,
+and I have neither time nor heart for frivolity."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Jane, you are specially asked; you are mentioned by name," said
+Kitty.</p>
+
+<p>"By name, am I?" asked Jane. "Who invited me? That chit of a Hester?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed; the great, magnificent Sir John himself."</p>
+
+<p>"Hoots!" exclaimed Jane; "he's cracked over his second marriage, or he
+wouldn't bother about an old body like me. I'll none of it. Go away
+children, and let me get on with my work."</p>
+
+<p>The children withdrew, apparently discomfited, but they guessed that
+when the time came Jane <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 282]</a></span>would go with them, and it proved that they
+were right.</p>
+
+<p>She made no remark as she joined the group, only at intervals as they
+all walked across the fields, the single expression, "Hoots!" passed her
+lips.</p>
+
+<p>In due course they all crossed the stile and entered the grounds of the
+Grange. They had gone a little way, when Boris uttered a short, sharp
+cry.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, there's father!" he exclaimed. The others all looked up at this,
+and then there was a rush and a helter-skelter, and Squire Lorrimer,
+looking just like the Squire of old, no longer bent nor bowed, nor
+broken hearted, was surrounded by his family.</p>
+
+<p>Boris mounted on his father's shoulder, and Nell clasped the Squire's
+hand and looked into his face. Mrs. Lorrimer came close to her husband's
+side, and Molly stood behind him.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's Guy?" said the Squire in a hoarse kind of voice. "Come here, my
+boy, I want to say something. It was Sir John's will that I should tell
+you the good news here, or you'd have all heard from me before I came
+down to meet you by this path, and we'll all go up and thank him
+presently."</p>
+
+<p>"For what, father?" asked Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the most wonderful thing," replied the Squire. "It seems that a
+girl called Antonia&mdash;a strange girl whom I have only met once&mdash;put a
+thought into my old friend's head, and he has acted on it in such a way
+that, without anything being done which I could not accept, I am enabled
+to continue as owner of the Towers."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, father!" said Guy, with a great gasp.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my boy," continued the Squire, "I need not sell now. Sir John has
+lent me money to get over <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 283]</a></span>my difficulties, and on such easy terms that
+it will be possible to pay him back in the course of years without
+ruining any of us. Drummond was glad to be out of his bargain, so the
+whole thing was settled last night. We'll be poor enough still, but we
+need not leave the Towers; and if we are all careful, and I let my farms
+well&mdash;by the way, Sir John is going to take two of them&mdash;I have not the
+least doubt that the debt will be cleared away by the time you are of
+age, Guy. Anyhow, I feel like a new man. I can hold up my head once
+more, and all I can say is, God bless Antonia!"</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, Jane?" exclaimed Boris.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoots!" said Jane, whose face was nearly purple. "I felt this morning
+that I needn't go on sewing up those feather beds."</p>
+
+<p>She turned her head aside, and, to the amazement of everyone, burst into
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>Those tears of Jane's seemed to loosen all tongues. Eyes grew bright,
+eager voices flew, lips were wreathed in smiles. All the Lorrimers in a
+body went up to the Grange, where Sir John and his family came out to
+meet and welcome them.</p>
+
+<p>"And where's Antonia?" asked the Squire.</p>
+
+<p>Everyone else, even Mrs. Bernard Temple, was present, but Antonia was
+not to be found. Annie volunteered to go and look for her.</p>
+
+<p>After a long search she found her at last busily painting some huge dock
+leaves, which she had found in her morning ramble, and pulled up by the
+roots.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Antonia, you are wanted," said Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"What for?" said Antonia. "Pray don't stand in my light, Annie."</p>
+
+<p>"But they're all waiting for you, every one of them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 284]</a></span>&mdash;the Lorrimers, and
+Hester, and Sir John, and the rest. They want to thank you; it was your
+doing, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Of all things in the world," replied Antonia, "I hate being thanked
+most of all. I did nothing. It was all dear old Sir John. And look what
+he has given me, Annie. This magnificent paint-box. Oh, the darling! the
+beauty! Oh, the rapture of possessing it! I'll go if I must when I have
+finished my dock leaves, but not before."</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Red Rose and Tiger Lily, by L. T. Meade
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+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,9887 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Red Rose and Tiger Lily, by L. T. Meade
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Red Rose and Tiger Lily
+       or, In a Wider World
+
+Author: L. T. Meade
+
+Release Date: October 13, 2007 [EBook #23022]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RED ROSE AND TIGER LILY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ RED ROSE AND
+ TIGER LILY
+
+ Or, In a Wider World
+
+
+ By
+ MRS. L. T. MEADE
+
+
+ AUTHOR OF
+
+ A BUNCH OF CHERRIES, A RING OF RUBIES,
+ BAD LITTLE HANNAH, ETC.
+
+
+    "Nothing is required but to set the right way to work,
+    but of course the really important thing is to succeed."
+                       --_Story of the Poor Tailor._
+
+
+ NEW YORK
+ GROSSET & DUNLAP
+ PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+ COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY
+
+ THE CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY
+
+ _All rights reserved_
+
+[Illustration: NAN AND ANNIE ARRIVE. _Red Rose and Tiger Lily._
+_Frontispiece_--(_Page_ 4.)]
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER                                            PAGE
+
+     I. NAN'S GOLDEN MANE                            1
+
+    II. CRUSHED                                      8
+
+   III. TWO PROVERBS                                16
+
+    IV. THE COLTS--ROBIN AND JOE                    23
+
+     V. NOT MISSED                                  32
+
+    VI. FRIAR'S WOOD                                42
+
+   VII. THE STORY BOOK LADY                         53
+
+  VIII. ALONE IN THE WOOD                           63
+
+    IX. "I BROKE MY WORD," SAID ANNIE                70
+
+     X. AN AWFULLY FRIVOLOUS GIRL                   79
+
+    XI. THE DIAMOND RING                            88
+
+   XII. THE LAND OF PERHAPS                         97
+
+  XIII. THE FANCY BALL                             113
+
+   XIV. POOR MRS. MYRTLE                           124
+
+    XV. "THE WAY OF TRANSGRESSORS"                 132
+
+   XVI. PERHAPS                                    143
+
+  XVII. FAIRY AND BROWNIE                          152
+
+ XVIII. THE LORRIMERS OF THE TOWERS                161
+
+   XIX. TOPSY-TURVEY                               171
+
+    XX. THE NEW OWNERS                             179
+
+   XXI. HESTER SPEAKS HER MIND                     194
+
+  XXII. ANTONIA'S GIFT                             207
+
+ XXIII. TRUTH AND FIDELITY                         215
+
+  XXIV. A WET SPONGE                               222
+
+   XXV. MOLLY'S SORROW                             234
+
+  XXVI. PLOT THICKENS                              245
+
+ XXVII. NELL IS IN TROUBLE                         252
+
+XXVIII. THE LION AND MOUSE                         262
+
+  XXIX. GOD BLESS ANTONIA                          274
+
+
+
+
+RED ROSE AND TIGER LILY
+
+OR
+
+IN A WIDER WORLD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+NAN'S GOLDEN MANE.
+
+
+It was a perfect summer's evening. The sun had just set, and purple,
+gold, violet, rose colour still filled the sky in the west. There was a
+tender new moon, looking like a silver bow, also to be seen; before long
+the evening star would be visible.
+
+Hester Thornton stepped out of the drawing-room at the Grange, and,
+walking a little way down the broad gravel sweep, began to listen
+intently. Hester was about seventeen--a slender girl for her age. Her
+eyes were dark, her eyebrows somewhat strongly marked, her abundant
+hair, of a much lighter shade of brown, was coiled in close folds round
+her well-shaped head. Her lips were slightly compressed, her chin showed
+determination. Hester had not been beautiful as a child, and she was not
+beautiful as a girl, but her face was pleasant to look at, very bright
+when animated, very steadfast and sweet when in repose. The air was like
+nectar to her cheeks. She was naturally a pale girl, but a faint rose
+colour was now discernible in her complexion, and the look of
+expectation in her dark eyes made them charming.
+
+A step was heard on the gravel behind, and she turned quickly.
+
+"Is that you, father?" she exclaimed.
+
+"Yes. Are not you very imprudent to come out at this hour in your thin
+house shoes, and with nothing on your head? There is a very heavy dew
+falling."
+
+"Oh, I never take cold," replied Hester with a smile, which showed her
+even and pretty white teeth; "and I certainly shan't to-night," she
+continued, "for I am feeling far too excited."
+
+Sir John Thornton was considered by most of his acquaintances (he could
+boast of scarcely any friends) as a reserved and almost repellent
+person, but now, as his eyes rested on his young daughter, something
+seemed to soften their expression; he took her slight hand and drew it
+affectionately through his arm.
+
+"It takes a small thing to excite you, my love," he said; "but you
+always were of a turbulent disposition--just your poor mother over
+again."
+
+Hester sighed faintly when Sir John spoke of his wife, then she quickly
+cheered up and said in an eager voice--
+
+"You don't call it a little thing, father, to know that in a minute or
+two I shall welcome Nan back from school? Nan comes to-night--Annie
+Forest to-morrow. It would be difficult for any girl to want more to
+make her perfectly happy."
+
+Sir John raised his brows.
+
+"I only know Miss Forest by hearsay," he said, "so I will reserve my
+judgment upon her; but I do know Nan. She will upset the entire _regime_
+of the house. I like order, and she likes disorder. I like quiet meals,
+she likes uproarious ones. I hate shocks and she adores them. I am glad,
+of course, to welcome the child home, but at the same time I dread her
+arrival. I cannot possibly understand how it is that Mrs. Willis, who is
+supposed to be such a splendid instructor of youth, should not have
+brought Nan a little better into control. Now, you, my dear Hetty, are
+very different. You have passions and feelings--no one has them more
+strongly--but you keep them in check. Your reticence and your reserve
+please me much. In short, Hester, no father could have a more admirable
+daughter to live with him. I am pleased with you, my dear; the
+experiment of having you home from school to look after my house has
+turned out well. There is nothing I would not do to please you, and
+while your friend Miss Forest is here, I will do my best to render her
+visit a success. The only discordant element will be Nan. I cannot
+understand why Mrs. Willis has not got Nan into the same control she had
+you in."
+
+"You forget," said Hester, "that I am seventeen and Nan only eight. No
+one ever yet could say 'No' to Nan. Father, don't you hear the carriage
+wheels? She is coming--I know she is coming. Please forgive me, I must
+run to meet her."
+
+Sir John released his daughter's hand, and Hester flew with the speed of
+an arrow from a bow up the long avenue. She was not mistaken. Her keen
+ears had detected the smooth roll of wheels. A landau drawn by a pair of
+horses had even now entered the lodge gates. Hester, looking up, heard
+some gay voices, some childish laughter. Then an imperious voice
+shouted to the coachman to pull up the horses and Nan Thornton and
+another girl sprang out of the carriage and ran to Hester's side.
+
+Confused utterances, sundry embraces, the quick intermingling of
+ejaculations, kisses, commands, explanatory remarks--all rose on the
+sweet night air.
+
+"Hetty, you look quite grown up. Please, Jenkins, you can drive on to
+the house. I'm not getting in again. Aren't you glad to see me, Het? I
+have come back a greater tease and torment than ever."
+
+"Yes, Nan, delighted--more than delighted. Oh! you sweet, how nice it is
+to feel you kissing me! Why, Annie, how did you happen to come to-night?
+I didn't expect you until to-morrow. I was wondering how I could endure
+the next twenty-four hours of expectation, even with Nan to keep me
+company, and now you are here. Oh, how very, very glad I am."
+
+"Kiss me, Hester," said Annie. "Nan and I concocted this little plan. We
+thought we'd take you by surprise. Oh dear, oh dear, I feel so wild and
+excited that I'm sure I shall be just as troublesome as I used to be
+before you tamed me down at school. Now then, Nan, you are not to have
+all the kisses. Hester, dear, how sweet and gracious and prim and
+lady-of-the-manorish you do look!"
+
+"I don't care what I look like, I only know what I feel," replied
+Hester: "about the happiest girl in England. But don't let us stand here
+talking any longer, or father will take it into his head that I am
+catching cold in the night air. Here, Nan, take my arm. Annie, my other
+side is at your disposal. Now, do let us come to the house."
+
+The girls began to move slowly down the long winding avenue. Nan had the
+pretty, soft dark eyes which used to characterise her as a little
+child. Her abundant fluffy golden hair hung below her waist. Her baby
+lips and sweet little face looked as charming as of old. She was a very
+pretty child, and promised to be a beautiful woman by-and-by. Her
+beauty, however, was nothing at all beside the radiant sort of
+loveliness which Annie Forest possessed. She was a creature all moods,
+all expression, all life, all movement. She had early given promise of
+remarkable beauty, and this had been more than fulfilled. Hester glanced
+at her now and again in the most loving admiration.
+
+"It is good to have you back, Nan," she said, "and it is delightful to
+know that you have come at last to pay your long, long promised visit,"
+she continued, looking at Annie. "Well, here we are at home. Nan, you
+must go up and show yourself to nurse this minute. Annie, let me take
+you to your room."
+
+"Dear old nursey," said Nan; she rushed up the stairs, shouting her old
+nurse's name as she went; her quick footsteps flew down the long
+corridor, she pushed open the baize door which separated the nurseries
+from the rest of the house, and in a moment found herself in the old
+room.
+
+Nan's nurse was a cherry-cheeked old woman of between sixty and seventy
+years of age.
+
+"Eh, my darling, and how did you get back without me hearing the sound
+of the carriage wheels!" she exclaimed. "Eh dear, eh dear, I meant to be
+down on the front steps to greet you, Miss Nan. Eh, but you look bonny,
+and let me examine your hair, dear--I hope they cut the points regular.
+If they don't, it will break away and not keep even."
+
+"Oh, don't bother about my hair now," said Nan. "What does hair signify
+when a child has just got home, and when she wants a kiss more than
+anything else in the world? Now, nursey, sit down in that low armchair
+and let us have a real hug. _That's_ better; and how are you? You look
+as jolly as ever."
+
+"So I am, my pet; I'm as happy as the day is long since Miss Hetty has
+come home and took the housekeeping over. I was in a mortal fret before,
+with her at school and you at school, but now I think the danger is
+past."
+
+"What danger?" asked Nan; "you always were a dear old croak, you know,
+nurse."
+
+"Yes, pet, perhaps so; but I didn't fret without reason, you may be
+quite sure of that."
+
+"Well, what were you afraid of? You know I'm an awfully curious girl, so
+you must tell me."
+
+"It's a sin to be too curious, Miss Nan--it leads people into untold
+mischief. Curiosity was the sin of Eve, and it's best to nip it in the
+bud while you're young. Now let me brush out your hair, my darling, and
+get you ready for supper."
+
+"Yes, in a minute," said Nan. She pushed back the shady hat in which she
+had traveled, and seated herself afresh on her nurse's knee.
+
+"How do my kisses feel?" she asked, breathing a very soft one on each of
+the old woman's cheeks.
+
+"Eh, dear," said the nurse, "they're like fresh cream and strawberries."
+
+"Well, you shall have six more if you tell me what your fears were."
+
+Nurse looked admiringly back at Nan.
+
+"You're just the audacious, contrary, troublesome bit of a thing you
+always were," she said; "but somehow I can't resist you. There's no
+fear now of anything happening, so you needn't be in a taking; but what
+did put me out was this: I thought your father, Sir John, might be
+bringing a new mistress here."
+
+"What! a new mistress?--A housekeeper, do you mean?" Nan's brown eyes
+were open at their widest.
+
+"No, dearie, no, a wife--someone to take the head of the house. Men like
+Sir John must have their comforts, and a house without a mistress isn't
+as it ought to be. But there, Miss Hetty is here now, and that makes
+everything right."
+
+"But a new mistress," repeated Nan--"a new wife for father. Why,
+she--she'd be a _stepmother_. Oh, how I'd hate her."
+
+"Well, darling, there's not going to be any such person; it was only an
+idle fear of your poor old nurse's that will never come to anything.
+Forget that I said it to you, Miss Nan. Oh, my word! and there's the
+gong, so supper is ready, and Sir John won't like to be kept waiting.
+Let me brush out your hair, I won't be a minute. Now, there's my pretty.
+It's good to have you back again, Miss Nancy. Only I misdoubt me that
+you'll turn the house topsy-turvey, as you always and ever did."
+
+While nurse was speaking, she was deftly and quickly changing Nan's
+travel-stained frock for a white one, and was tying a coral pink sash
+round her waist.
+
+"Now you're ready," she said, giving the little figure a final pat.
+
+Nan shook out her golden mane and went demurely downstairs--more
+demurely than was her wont. The dawning of possible trouble filled her
+sweet eyes. A new wife--a possible stepmother! Oh, no, by no
+possibility could such a horror be coming; nevertheless, her full cup of
+happiness was vaguely troubled by the thought.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+CRUSHED.
+
+
+Sir John Thornton could be a very pleasant host. He was a reserved man
+with a really cold nature. He disliked fuss and what he called
+"ebullitions of affection;" he hated kissing and fondling. He liked to
+treat even his nearest and dearest with ceremony, but he was a perfect
+host--the little attentions, the small politenesses which the _role_ of
+host requires, suited his character exactly. Hester and Nan, his only
+children, were his opposites in every respect. It is true that Hester
+inherited some of his pride, and a good deal of his reserve, but the
+fire underneath her calm, the passionate love which she could give so
+warmly to her chosen friends, she inherited from her mother, not from
+her father. Nan had never yet shown reserve to anyone. As far as any
+creature could be said to be without false pride, Nan was that
+individual--she was also absolutely devoid of fear. She believed that
+all the world loved her. Why not? She was perfectly willing to love all
+the world back again. If it chose to hate her, she could and would hate
+it in return with interest; but, then, why should it? The world was a
+good place to Nan Thornton up to the present.
+
+Now, Sir John dreaded his impulsive younger daughter more than words
+can say. Perhaps somewhere in his heart he had a certain fatherly
+admiration for her, but if so it did not show itself in the usual
+fatherly way. Annie Forest was at the present moment absorbing his
+attention.
+
+Annie was between sixteen and seventeen years of age; she was still, of
+course, quite a child in Sir John's eyes, but she was undoubtedly very
+pretty--she had winning ways and bright glances. Her little speeches
+were full of wit and repartee, and she was naturally so full of tact
+that she knew when a word would hurt, and therefore seldom said it.
+
+When Nan entered the room in which a hasty supper had been prepared for
+the hungry travellers, she found her father and Annie talking pleasantly
+to one another at one end of the table, while Hester presided over the
+tea equipage at the other.
+
+"Here you are, little whirlwind," said Sir John, slipping his arm round
+his younger daughter's waist and drawing her for a moment to his side.
+
+Nan looked at him soberly. She gazed into his eyes and examined the
+curves of his lips, and noted with satisfaction the wrinkles on his
+brow, the crows' feet at the corner of each eye, and some strong lines
+which betokened the advance of years in the lower part of his face.
+
+"You're too old," she said, in a contemplative voice. "I'm so
+glad--you're much too old."
+
+She stroked his deepest wrinkle affectionately as she spoke.
+
+Now Sir John hated being considered old, and an angry wave of colour
+mounted to his forehead.
+
+"As usual, you are a most impolite little girl," he said. "I do not
+trouble myself to inquire what your sage remark means, nor why you
+rejoice in the fact of my possessing the infirmities of years; but I
+wish to repeat to you a proverb which I hope you will bear in mind, at
+least, when in _my_ presence during the holidays, 'Little girls should
+be seen and not heard.' Now go to your seat."
+
+Sir John released his hold of Nan's broad waist and turned to Annie.
+
+"Yes, a good deal of the country is flat," he said, "but we have some
+pretty drives. Are you fond of riding?"
+
+"I should be if I had a chance," replied Annie; "but the fact is, I
+never was on horseback since I was five years old, so I cannot be said
+to know much about it."
+
+"I am sure you could quickly learn," said Sir John. "Hester has a very
+quiet pony which she can lend you while you are here. By the way,
+Hester, Squire Lorrimer called to-day. I said you would go to the Towers
+to-morrow morning--you can take Miss Forest with you. The Lorrimers are
+a very lively household, and it will amuse her to know them."
+
+"I should think they are lively," burst from Nan at the far end of the
+table. "How is Kitty Lorrimer, and how is Boris? And have they got as
+many pets as ever? Oh, _can_ you tell me, please, father, if the
+dormouse has awakened yet? It was fast asleep when I was home at
+Christmas, and Boris said it mightn't wake again until May. Boris was so
+sorry it wasn't quite dead, because he wanted to stuff it; but he
+couldn't if it was alive, could he? That would be cruel, wouldn't it?
+Father, can you tell me if the dormouse is awake?"
+
+Sir John fixed a cold eye upon Nan.
+
+"I am unacquainted with the state of the dormouse's health," he
+said--"disgusting little beasts," he added, turning for sympathy to
+Annie, whose bright dark eyes danced with fun as she watched him.
+
+"They're not disgusting; they're perfectly heavenly little darlings,"
+came from Nan in an indignant voice. "Oh, and what about the white rats?
+Boris had four in a box when I went last to the Towers, and Kitty had
+one all to herself, and Boris and Kitty were always fighting as to which
+were the most beautiful--the one rat or the four. Did you ever see a
+white rat, Annie? They _are_ pets, with long tails like worms."
+
+"Hester," exclaimed Sir John, "will you induce Nan to hold her tongue
+and eat her supper in peace?"
+
+Hester bent forward and whispered something to Nan, who shrugged her
+shoulders indignantly. Her face grew crimson.
+
+"I can't learn that proverb," she said, after a pause. "I can't obey it,
+its no use trying. Father, do you hear? I can't be one of those
+seen-and-not-heard girls. Do you hear me, father?"
+
+"I do, Nan. If we have finished supper, shall we go into the
+drawing-room?" he added, turning to Annie.
+
+Nan lingered behind. She slipped her hand through her sister's arm and
+dragged her on to the terrace.
+
+"I feel so wicked that I think I'll burst," she exclaimed. "Why is
+father always throwing a damp cloth over me?"
+
+"Nan, dear, you irritate him a good deal. Why do you talk in that silly
+way when you know he cannot bear it?"
+
+"Because I'm Nan," answered the child, pouting her lips.
+
+"But Nan can learn wisdom," said Hester, in her sweet elder-sisterly
+tone. "Even though you are the liveliest, merriest, dearest little girl
+in the world, and though it is delicious to have you back"--here there
+came an ecstatic hug--"you need not say things that you know will hurt.
+For instance, you are perfectly well aware that father does not like his
+age commented on."
+
+"Oh, _that_," said Nan, some of the trouble which nurse's words had
+caused coming back to her eyes. "Oh, but I really said what I _meant_,
+then--it was not mischief. I was so glad to see that he is old. I love
+those wrinkles of his--I adore them."
+
+"What can you mean, you queer little thing?"
+
+"Why, you see, Hetty, he won't be attractive, and there'll be no fear."
+
+"No fear of what?"
+
+"Nurse said that perhaps he'd be having a wife, and giving us a
+stepmother."
+
+"Oh, what nonsense!" said Hester, in a vexed tone. "What a silly thing
+for nurse to say. I am quite surprised at her. As far as I can tell our
+father has no intention of marrying again; but if he did?"
+
+"If he did," repeated Nancy, "nurse says that you wouldn't be mistress
+of the Grange any longer."
+
+A wistful sort of look, half of pain, half of suppressed longing, filled
+Hester's dark eyes for a moment.
+
+"I might go out into the world," she said, "and have my heart's desire."
+
+"But aren't you happy here?"
+
+"Yes, oh yes! I am talking nonsense. My duty lies here, at least at
+present. Mrs. Willis has taught me always to put duty first. Now, Nan,
+let us forget what is not likely to happen. It is nearly time for you to
+go to bed; you look quite tired; there are black rings under your eyes;
+but first, just tell me about Mrs. Willis and the dear old school."
+
+"Mrs. Willis is well," said Nan, with a yawn, "and the school is in
+_statu quo_. I am in the middle school now, and perhaps I shall get a
+drawing-room to myself before long. I'm not sure though, for I never can
+be tidy."
+
+"I wish you could be; it's a pity not to curb one's faults."
+
+"Oh, bother faults. I don't want you to lecture me, Hetty."
+
+"No, darling, I don't wish to; but I thought you were so fond of Mrs.
+Willis. I thought you would do anything to please her."
+
+"Yes, of course. I think I do please her. She gave me two prizes at the
+break up--one for French and one for music. She kissed me, too, quite
+half-a-dozen times. Look here, Hetty, I don't want you to ask Annie
+Forest a lot of questions about me. I can't help having a romping time
+now and then at school; and there are two new girls--Polly and Milly
+Jenkins; they are so killingly funny; nearly as good as Boris and Kitty
+Lorrimer. I always had a little bit of the wild element in me, and I
+suppose it must come out somehow. Annie was wild enough when she was my
+age, wasn't she, Hester?"
+
+"Annie will be gay and light-hearted to the end of the chapter!"
+exclaimed Hester.
+
+"But she was naughty when she was my age, wasn't she?"
+
+"She is not naughty now."
+
+"Well, no more will I be when I am sixteen. Now, good-night, Het. Am I
+to sleep in your room?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How scrumptious. Look out for a fine waking early in the morning."
+
+Nan hugged Hester in her usual rough-and-ready manner, and danced
+upstairs, singing as she went--
+
+    "_Old Daddy-long-legs wouldn't say his prayers,
+    Catch him by his left leg and throw him downstairs._"
+
+This was one of Nan's rhymes which Sir John detested. Her voice was loud
+and somewhat piercing. He heard it in the drawing-room, and went
+deliberately and shut the door.
+
+"Miss Forest," he said to his young guest, "there are moments when I
+feel extremely uneasy with regard to the fate of my youngest daughter."
+
+"About Nan's fate?" exclaimed Annie, raising her arched eyebrows; "why,
+she is quite the dearest little thing in the world. I wish you could see
+her at school; she is the pet of all the girls at Lavender House."
+
+"That may be," said Sir John, with a slightly sarcastic movement of his
+thin lips; "but it does not follow that school pets are home pets. If my
+good friend, Mrs. Willis, finds Nan's society so agreeable, I wish she
+would arrange to keep her for the holidays."
+
+Annie's young face, so round, so fresh, so charming, was fixed in grave
+surprise on her elderly host.
+
+"Don't you love Nan at all?" she asked, wonder in her tone.
+
+Sir John had been giving Miss Forest credit for great tact. Up to this
+moment, he had considered her a very pretty, agreeable little girl, who
+would be an acquisition in the house. Now he winced; she had trodden
+very severely on one of his corns.
+
+"I naturally have a regard for my child," he said, after a pause, "and I
+presume that I show it best by having her properly educated and
+disciplined in her youth."
+
+"Oh, no, I don't think you do," said Annie. "You must forgive me for
+saying frankly what I really think. I used to be like Nan when I was a
+little girl, and I'd never have changed--never--never, I'd never have
+become thoughtful for others, I'd always have been an unmitigated horror
+to all my friends if my father had treated me like that. He's not a bit
+like you, Sir John. I don't mean to compare him to you for a moment. He
+is quite a rough sort of man, and he has led a rough life; but, oh dear
+me, from the time he came back from Australia, and I knew that I had a
+living father, I cannot tell you what a difference there has been in my
+life. I have generally spent my holidays with him, and he has loved me
+so much that I have loved him back again, and have learnt to know
+exactly what will please him and make him happy. Nothing tamed me so
+much as the knowledge that I was necessary to my father's happiness. I
+am sure," added Annie in a low voice, and with a suspicion of tears in
+her eyes, "that it would be just the same with dear little Nan."
+
+She broke down suddenly, half afraid of her own temerity. There was
+silence for nearly half a minute then Sir John rose from his chair,
+and, going over to a lamp which was slightly smoking, turned it down.
+
+"If your father has been in Australia," he said, turning again and
+looking fixedly at his young visitor, "you will be interested in books
+on that country. I have got all Henry Kingsley's novels. You will find
+them in the library. Ask Hester to show you the book-case."
+
+He strode deliberately out of the room, and Annie had to own to herself
+that she felt crushed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+TWO PROVERBS.
+
+
+Hester Thornton and Annie Forest had been educated at the same
+school--the well-known Lavender House. The fame of this school, the
+noble character of its mistress, the excellent training which each girl
+who went there received, formed a recommendation for each young student
+in after life. Hester and Annie had gone through severe storms in these
+early days. Their friendship had been cemented under the influence of
+great trouble. It was exactly a year now since Hester had been suddenly
+sent for from her busy and happy school life to take care of her father
+through a dangerous illness. He found her company so sweet, her skill
+and tact in managing his house so great, that he resolved not to allow
+her to go back to school again. Annie Forest was now, therefore, the
+head girl at Lavender House. She was Mrs. Willis's right hand; her help
+and support in every way. Annie was as great a favourite as of old, and
+as love and kindness had developed all the best side of her character,
+she was no longer the tomboy of the school, nor the one who was
+invariably the ringleader when mischief was afloat. She was still
+impulsive, however--eager, impatient--for such a nature as hers must
+fight on to the end of the chapter. She did not possess Hester
+Thornton's steady principles, and would always be influenced, whether
+for good or evil, by her companions. She was only to spend one more term
+at school; the future, after that, was practically unknown to her.
+
+"I wish you'd tell me about Nan," said Hester, on the first evening of
+Annie's visit to the Grange. "I don't know why, but I feel a little
+anxious about her."
+
+"You need not be," replied Annie. "She is a dear, jolly little pet, and
+as open as the day."
+
+"She seems to get wilder and wilder," replied Hester. "You must have
+noticed, Annie, how she irritates my father."
+
+"Of course I did," replied Annie. "Do you know, Het, that I had the
+unbounded cheek to give him a piece of my mind this evening?"
+
+Annie was seated on the side of Hester's bed. She was in a blue
+dressing-gown, and her dark hair, in a mass of rebellious curls, was
+falling about her shoulders.
+
+"I forgot that Nan was in the room," she said, putting her finger to her
+lips and glancing in the direction of Nan's small bed. "The little
+monkey may be awake, and I don't want her to hear my nonsense."
+
+"She is sound asleep," replied Hester. "If she were awake, she would
+soon acquaint us with the fact."
+
+"Shall I tell you what I really said to your father?" continued Annie.
+
+"I don't know that I want to hear. I hope you did not shock him, for he
+is prepared to like you very much."
+
+"I am prepared to like him. I think he is a delightful host; but, oh,
+_how_ I should hate him for a father."
+
+"Annie!"
+
+Hester's delicate face flushed crimson, her eyes flashed an angry light.
+
+Annie jumped off the bed and ran to her friend's side.
+
+"Now you are angry with me," she said; "but if I told him the truth, I
+may surely tell you. I know you are as good as an angel, but I am quite
+certain that he ruffles you up the wrong way."
+
+"Don't, Annie," said Hester, in a voice of pain.
+
+She walked to the window as she spoke, drew up the blind, and looked
+out. The night was dark, but innumerable stars could be seen in the
+deep, unfathomable vault of the sky. Hester clenched one of her hands
+tightly together. Annie stood and watched her.
+
+"I would not hurt you for the world," she said. "I am sorry, very sorry;
+the fact is, I love you with all my heart, but I don't understand you."
+
+"Yes you do, too well," replied Hester; "but there are some things I
+cannot and will not talk about even to you. Now let me take you to your
+room, the hour is very late."
+
+Annie's pretty room was just on the other side of the passage. Hester
+took her to it, saw that she had every comfort, and wished her
+good-night. She then stood for a moment, with a look of irresolution on
+her face, in the corridor.
+
+"I don't believe nurse is in bed; I will go and speak to her," she said
+to herself. "I thought the day when I welcomed Nan back from school, and
+when Annie came to visit me, would be quite the happiest day of my life,
+but it would never do to make my father's home uncomfortable for him."
+She reached the baize door, opened it, and soon found herself in the old
+nursery. She was right, nurse was not yet in bed.
+
+"Well, now, my deary!" exclaimed the old woman, "and why are you losing
+your beauty sleep in this fashion? When I was young things used to be
+very different. Girls had to be in bed by ten o'clock sharp to keep away
+the wrinkles, but now they're all agog to burn the candle at both ends.
+It don't pay, Miss Hetty, my pet, it don't pay."
+
+"I'm all right, nursey," replied Hester. "I'm the quietest and most
+jog-trot girl in the world as a rule. Of course I'm excited to-night,
+because Nan has come back."
+
+"Bless her dear heart!" ejaculated nurse; "but I'm not to say satisfied
+about her hair, Miss Hetty. I don't believe it's pointed often enough. I
+found a lot of split ends when I was combing it out to-night."
+
+"Oh, I think Nan is all right in every way," replied Hester. "No one
+could be kinder to her than Mrs. Willis, and she is very happy at
+school. Nurse, I've just come here for a moment to ask you to be very
+careful what you say to Nan about my father. You see, the object of my
+life is to make him happy, and to be a good daughter to him, and, in
+short, to try to take my mother's place."
+
+"Eh, dear, we all know that," replied nurse, "and a sweeter young
+mistress there couldn't be. Why, there isn't a servant in the house who
+wouldn't do anything in the world for you, Miss Hetty; and everything in
+apple-pie order, and the meals served regular and beautiful, and inside
+and out perfect order, and all because there's an old head on young
+shoulders. There, perhaps it isn't a compliment I'm paying you, my
+dearie, but in one sense it is."
+
+"Do you really think I manage well?" asked the girl, an anxious tone in
+her voice.
+
+"Manage well? You manage beautiful. Your own mother, if she were alive,
+couldn't do better."
+
+"I can never forget my mother," replied Hester, tears rising to her
+eyes. "Well, nurse, you will be very careful what you say to Nan. The
+object of my life is to make my father happy. If I can do that, I am
+content."
+
+"You do, you do," replied the old woman. "No mortal can do more than
+their best, and you do that. Now, good-night, Miss Hester."
+
+Hester took up her candle and went away. Nurse stood and watched the
+pretty young figure as it disappeared down the corridor.
+
+"There," she said to herself as she began to prepare for her own bed.
+"There's another victim. Don't I know what my mistress was, and don't I
+know that Sir John's coldness and sharpness and no-heartedness just
+hurried her into her grave? Never a bit of real hearty love could he
+give to anyone. Just as just could be--righteous as righteous could be,
+but hard as a flint. My mistress drooped and faded and died, and Miss
+Hester will follow in her footsteps if I don't look after her.
+Sometimes I wish the master _would_ marry again, and that he'd get a
+tartar of a wife. He might think of another wife if things were a bit
+uncomfortable here, but that they never will be while Miss Hetty is at
+the helm. She's a born manager, bless her, with her gentle ways and her
+firm words and her pretty little dignity. Miss Nan's business in life,
+it seems to me, is to set places all in a muddle, and Miss Hetty's to
+smooth them out again. Of course it's due to Miss Hetty to be mistress
+of the Grange, but sometimes I fear the life is too much for her, and
+she'll fret and fade like her mother before her; if I really thought
+that, I'd set my wits to work, old as I am, to get a real _selfish wife_
+for the master, who'd teach him a thing or two, for that's what he
+wants."
+
+At this stage in her meditations, nurse laid her head on her pillow and
+was soon fast asleep.
+
+The next morning promised a perfect day, and Hester, Annie, and Nan met
+in high spirits in the breakfast-room. The post had not yet arrived, but
+a letter was lying on Hester's plate.
+
+"That's in dad's writing," said Nan, going up and examining it
+critically; "now what's up?"
+
+Hester took the letter and opened it. It contained a few brief words.
+She read them with a sinking of heart which she could not account for--
+
+     "MY DEAR HETTY,--Your young companions will make the house quite
+     gay for you. I shall, therefore, take the opportunity of going from
+     home for a few days. I will send you a line to let you know when
+     you may expect me back.--Your affectionate father, JOHN THORNTON.
+
+     "P.S.--I shall have left before you are down in the morning. Give
+     my love to Nan, and wish Miss Forest good-bye for me. By the way,
+     she is interested in Australia, so will you show her where Henry
+     Kingsley's novels are to be found in the library?"
+
+Nan, who had been peeping over Hester's shoulder while she was reading,
+now suddenly clapped her hands, shouted "hurrah" at the top of her
+voice, and, running up to Annie, began to waltz round and round the
+breakfast-table with her.
+
+"Oh, oh!" she exclaimed, "then little girls _may_ be heard as well as
+seen. Annie, there are two proverbs which are the bane of my life. I
+wonder dad has not had them both illuminated and framed and hung up in
+my nursery. One of them is: 'Little girls should be seen and not heard.'
+What a detestable old prig the person must have been who invented that
+proverb! I ask you, Annie, what would life be without little girls and
+their chatter? The other proverb is nearly as objectionable. This is it:
+'Make a page of your own age.' According to dad, that only applies to
+little girls, and it means that they must always be fagging round,
+hunting for slippers and spectacles and newspapers and books for the
+older people who are past the age for paging, and that no one is ever to
+wait on _them_, however tired or however disinclined to stir they may
+happen to be. Now there'll be no one to make me page, and no one to keep
+me silent. Oh, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! what a dear old dad to absent
+himself in this obliging manner."
+
+"For my part, I am very sorry," said Annie, for Hester had passed her on
+the letter to read.
+
+Hester said nothing, and breakfast began, Nan wasting as usual a
+prodigal amount of energy and spirits even over the operation of eating,
+Hester looking a little pale and a little thoughtful, Annie in a state
+of suppressed high spirits, which a slight awe which she still felt at
+times for Hester Thornton kept rather in check.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE COLTS--ROBIN AND JOE.
+
+
+The Towers was situated exactly two miles away from the Grange. It was a
+large, old house, with a castellated roof and a high tower at one end.
+It was a very old family place, and the Lorrimers had lived there from
+father to son for several hundreds of years. Like many ancient families,
+their wealth had diminished rather than increased with the times. The
+luxurious living, which has been in vogue more or less during the whole
+of the present century, had obliged them to part with some of their fair
+acres. The present owner had married for love, not for money. More lands
+had to be sold to meet the wants of a large and vigorous family, and, at
+the time when this story opens, the Lorrimers were, for their position,
+decidedly poor, not rich.
+
+Squire Lorrimer had one dread ever before his eyes. This was the fear of
+having to part with the dear old Towers itself. If this blow fell, he
+was certain that it would kill him. He trusted to be able to avert this
+calamity by putting down expenses in all possible ways. There were too
+few servants, therefore, for the size of the house, too few gardeners
+for the size of the gardens, too few horses for the size of the stables.
+
+Nevertheless, there was not in the whole length and breadth of the
+county of Warwickshire, a jollier, happier, more rollicking household
+than the Lorrimers. There were ten children, varying in age, from Molly,
+who would be sixteen on her next birthday, to little Phil, who had not
+yet attained the dignity of two years. There were six girls in the
+family and four boys. The two elder boys went to a good grammar school
+in the neighbourhood; the girls and Boris had a governess who taught
+them at home. Neither boys nor girls were educated quite up to the
+requirements of the times, but the father and mother were not going to
+worry themselves over this fact. Mr. Lorrimer had very strong views with
+regard to modern education. He had a hearty preference for big bodies
+instead of big brains. He was intensely old-fashioned as regards all
+modern views for the advancement of women, and said frankly that he
+would rather his sons emigrated than spent their lives as city clerks.
+He had a good deal of faith in things righting themselves naturally, and
+as his wife believed him to be the cleverest and wisest man in the
+universe, he was not tormented by any contrary opinions from her lips.
+
+"The children will do very well," he used to say. "If I can only keep
+the land together, and the old house for Guy to inherit after me, I
+shall die a happy man. The girls are all pretty, unless we except poor
+little Elinor, and she, in some ways, has the sweetest face of the
+bunch; they are sure to find husbands by-and-by, and the younger lads
+can fend for themselves in the colonies if necessary. You needn't fret
+about the children, mother," he would add.
+
+"I never fret about them," replied the soft-voiced, placid-looking
+mother, raising her dove-like blue eyes to her husband's face. "I think
+we are the happiest family in the world, and the children are the
+dearest creatures. With all their high spirits they are never really
+naughty. I have only one care," she added, looking at her husband
+affectionately and slipping her hand through his arm, "and that is when
+you talk of the possibility of selling the Towers."
+
+"Well, Lucy, that hasn't come yet," he answered.
+
+"What about that mortgage and the suretyship?"
+
+"Oh, pooh! They are right enough yet. I make it a rule never to think of
+evil days before they really come. We'll pull through--we'll pull
+through, no fear. By the way, my dear, I had a splendid offer yesterday
+for the colts Joe and Robin. I closed with it in double quick time, and
+the dealer who has bought them will send over to fetch them this
+morning."
+
+"Very well," said Mrs. Lorrimer. She went to the window of the room
+where the two were talking and stood there looking out.
+
+She gazed on a lovely scene, composed of woodland, river, and gently
+sloping meadows and lawns. Exactly opposite her eyes was a paddock, and
+in the paddock the two colts which had just been sold were contentedly
+grazing. As Mrs. Lorrimer stood and looked out, a girl was seen to enter
+the paddock and go swiftly up to the colts, calling their names as she
+did so. They both came to her immediately. She threw an arm round the
+neck of one, while she fed them in turn with carrots and apples which
+she had in her apron. She was a slightly-made girl, with dark hair and a
+sallow face. Her hair hung heavily about her shoulders. She might have
+been ten years old, but looked younger.
+
+"There's Nell," said the mother. "I am sorry the colts are going, she
+has always made such pets of them. I never saw her take to any
+creatures before as she has done to those two, and they'll follow her
+anywhere like lambs. I'm sorry you've got to sell them, Guy."
+
+"Sorry!" retorted the Squire, with a sort of snort. "Didn't I tell you,
+Lucy, that Simmons has given me a cheque for three hundred and fifty
+pounds for the two. Of course, the creatures are thoroughbred, and may
+turn out worth a great deal more; still, in these days no one gives a
+fair price for anything, and three-fifty is not to be sneezed at when
+your rents are always behindhand and your balance at the bank is
+overdrawn."
+
+The Squire left the room as he spoke, and Mrs. Lorrimer, with the
+faintest of little sighs, presently followed his example. Meanwhile, the
+girl in the paddock was having a thoroughly happy time. As soon as she
+had finished feeding her favourites, and they had done rubbing their
+noses against her face and shoulder, she looked eagerly round her, and
+saw with satisfaction that there was no one watching her from any of the
+many windows which blinked like eyes all over the old house. She now
+approached one of the colts cautiously, laid her hand on his neck, and
+with an adroit, quick movement sprang on his back. He was an untamed,
+unbroken-in creature. He would have submitted to no burden at all
+heavier or at all less dear than that of the slim child who had now
+mounted him.
+
+"Hey, Robin, dear," she said, bending forward, catching hold of a wisp
+of his mane and almost whispering into his ear, "you'll take me round
+the paddock three times, won't you, as swift as the wind, and then it
+will be Joe's turn? As swift as you can fly you shall go, my bonny,
+bonny Robin. And afterwards you shall have your russet apple; it's in my
+pocket."
+
+From the colt's attitude, he seemed perfectly to understand every word
+that was addressed to him. He pricked his ear; his eye glanced backward
+with loving intelligence. He pawed the ground impatiently--he would not
+be off until Nell gave the signal, but when it came there was no doubt
+that he would fly swiftly over the ground. Joe, the other colt, stood
+near expectantly. His turn was to come, he knew. For him, too, there
+would be the light weight of a loved little presence, followed by that
+delicious russet apple when the ride was over. Meanwhile, he would
+canter after Nelly and Robin, taking care not to go too near nor in any
+way to intrude himself mischievously.
+
+"Now," said Nell, sitting bolt upright, "now, Robin--one, two, three,
+away!"
+
+Away they went truly, mane and hair alike flying in the breeze--Nell's
+short skirts puffed out by the wind, Nell's cheeks with red flames on
+them, and Nell's dark grey eyes blazing like subdued fires.
+
+Once round the paddock they flew--twice they went--three times. The
+third round was the fastest and the most delirious of all. Nell was so
+sure of her seat, so confident in Robin's powers, that she no longer
+even clasped his arched neck. Up flew her hands in the air. The
+delirious excitement rendered her giddy.
+
+"Hurrah! hurrah!" she shouted.
+
+The gay words were interrupted by eager words from approaching
+spectators. The gate of the paddock was pushed open, and Kitty, aged
+nine, followed by Boris, who was only seven, rushed on the scene. The
+children were followed by a couple of grooms and a strange,
+horsey-looking man.
+
+"Oh, Nell, Nell!" exclaimed Kitty.
+
+"They're sold, Nell," said Boris, in a gloomy voice. "You'd better get
+down. That fellow there has come"--waving his hand with immense dignity
+in the direction of the horsey man--"that fellow has come to take them
+away; they're sold."
+
+"I don't believe it," said Nell.
+
+Robin, who obeyed her slightest word, stood stock still when she told
+him. She dropped off his back with the lightness of a bird.
+
+"Who says they're sold?" she asked. "I don't believe it."
+
+She pressed her hand to her heart as she spoke, a pang of keen pain had
+shot through it; she turned pale, and her eyes still blazed.
+
+"I don't believe it a bit," she said. "I'll go and find father and ask
+him if its true; I know it isn't true."
+
+"There's father coming into the field," said Boris. "Yes, it's true
+enough, but you can ask him."
+
+"Well, my man," said the Squire, who came upon the scene at this moment,
+"your master has sent you for the colts, I suppose? Here they are,
+as----Why, what's the matter, Nell? How white you are, child, and--not
+so tight, Nell, not so tight, you're half strangling me! What is it, my
+love--what is it?"
+
+"You haven't sold Robin and Joe, father?"
+
+"Oh, now, my little girl"--the Squire began to pat Nell's trembling
+hands soothingly. He looked hard into her quivering face, then, bending
+down, whispered something in her ear.
+
+No one else heard the words.
+
+Nell's frantic grasp relaxed; she let her hands fall to her sides and
+looked piteously round.
+
+Robin and Joe had both followed her across the paddock. Robin expected
+his russet apple--Joe looked for his canter with Nell on his back.
+
+"There's a brave little girl," said her father. "'Pon my word, I
+wouldn't do it if I could help it."
+
+"No, father dear; of course not."
+
+"You're a plucky young 'un," said her father admiringly. Boris and Kitty
+came close; the grooms and the horse-dealer also approached. There was a
+sort of ring round Nell and the colts.
+
+"Please, father, may I give Robin his apple?" she asked. "He has earned
+it. May he have it?"
+
+The Squire nodded.
+
+"Of course he may," he said; then he turned to the horse dealer.
+
+"My little girl is fond of these creatures," he said. "I hope you will
+have patience for a moment or two."
+
+The man touched his hat respectfully.
+
+"Certainly, sir," he answered, "as long as the young lady likes; there's
+no manner of hurry, and perhaps little miss would like to have another
+canter. I never see'd no one sit so bird-like on a horse--never, in the
+whole of my born days."
+
+"Do you hear that, Nell?" said her father. "Would you like another
+canter? I didn't know you could ride bare-backed."
+
+She smiled up at him, a perfectly brave smile; there were no tears in
+her eyes, although there were black shadows under them, and her face was
+as white as a little snowflake.
+
+Robin munched his apple, and Joe came close to Nell and rubbed his head
+against her shoulder.
+
+She fed him also, to his own great surprise, for he did not think that
+he had earned a morsel, and then, without a word, turned and walked out
+of the paddock.
+
+Boris ran after her.
+
+"I say, Nell!" he exclaimed, panting. "Would you like a white rat? I
+have four, and I--I'll give you one if you'll promise not to forget to
+feed it."
+
+Nell stood still when Boris made this offer, and looked down into his
+ruddy, brown, sunburnt face. Boris had bright eyes, as round as two
+moons. The giving up of one of his white rats meant a great deal to him.
+Nell carefully weighed the value of the offer.
+
+"No," she said at last in a deliberate tone. "I might forget to feed the
+rat, and I don't think I ever could love it; but thank you all the same,
+Boris."
+
+"Don't mention it," said Boris, in his most polite tone; he was
+immensely relieved by Nell's declining his offer.
+
+She walked slowly towards the house, and Boris turned to Kitty, who had
+followed him.
+
+"I offered her a rat," he said; "but she wouldn't have it. Do you think
+she will be very bad for a bit?"
+
+"Yes, I do," said Kitty. "She'll creep up into one of the lofts and
+burrow in the hay all by herself, and if she can have a right good cry
+perhaps she'll be better, but if she hasn't a cry, she'll fret awfully,
+and perhaps she'll turn sulky; but never mind about her now. I'm ever so
+glad she didn't take the rat. Let's run and feed them before we go to
+lessons."
+
+"I wish there were no lessons," said Boris. "I hate them. I can't think
+what use they are. What can it matter in a big world like this, crowded
+up with boys and girls and men and women, whether I can spell right or
+not? _I_ don't mind, and I don't see why anyone else should bother."
+
+"I like spelling," said Kitty, who had a very intelligent face. "If I
+were a man or an embryo man, which you are, Boris, I'd have ambition,
+and I'd try to get on. I'd like to walk over the heads of the other
+boys, if I were you, and to take their prizes from them, and to have
+father and mother looking on, and a lot of grand ladies and gentlemen
+all dressed in their best praising and cheering and bowing and smiling.
+But boys are no good in these days. It's girls who do everything. Now,
+do be quick and let's feed the rats."
+
+"You talk such nonsense," said Boris. "You don't suppose that ladies and
+gentlemen care whether boys and girls spell words right or not, and what
+rubbish you do say about best clothes and smiling and bowing."
+
+"I don't," said Kitty, crossly; "it's you who talk rubbish. You have
+never been to school, so you can't possibly tell. You ask Nan Thornton,
+and she'll soon tell you what's done at school. Oh dear, oh dear, I wish
+I were at Lavender House instead of doing my lessons with stupid Jane
+Macalister!"
+
+"You talk very dis'pectful," said Boris.
+
+"Do I? I don't care. Oh, I _am_ glad you didn't part with the white
+rat!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+NOT MISSED.
+
+
+Jane Macalister was the governess. She was old--at least the Lorrimers
+considered her old--she wore spectacles, and her hair was slightly
+tinged with grey. She had a queer mixture of qualities. She was
+affectionate and narrow; she was devoted to her pupils, and thought she
+could best show her devotion by an unceasing round of discipline.
+Fortunately, both for her and the little Lorrimers, this discipline
+never extended beyond the hours devoted to lessons. It never showed its
+stern visage in play hours, nor at meals, nor at night, nor on half
+holidays, nor on Sundays. During all these times, Jane was the
+intelligent and much belaboured companion. She was at everyone's beck
+and call. She was to be found here, there, and everywhere--darning the
+rent in Molly's frock, or helping Nora with her drawing, or trying to
+find a story-book for Nell which she had not already read at least six
+times, or healing the small squabbles with which Boris and Kitty helped
+to beguile the weary hours. Mrs. Lorrimer consulted her with regard to
+the cook and the servants generally. The Squire would shout to her to
+spare him a quarter of an hour in the study to see if he had totted up
+his accounts right. In short, Jane Macalister was as much part and
+parcel of the Lorrimer household as if she were really one of
+themselves. She was by no means educated up to the standard of the
+latter half of the nineteenth century, but what she did know, she knew
+thoroughly. She was methodical and helpful. The kind of person whom Mrs.
+Lorrimer was fond of quoting as invaluable. The children, one and all,
+loved her as a matter of course, but, in school hours, their love was
+certainly mingled with awe. In school hours, Jane allowed no relaxing of
+the iron rod.
+
+Kitty and Boris, having just heard the dismal sound of the schoolroom
+bell, started from their fascinating occupation of feeding the white
+rats and ran as fast as their small feet could carry them in the
+direction of the house. They went in by a side entrance, and with
+panting breath and hot little steps began to mount the spiral staircase
+which led to the schoolroom in the tower. They were late already, and
+they knew that they could not possibly escape bad marks for
+unpunctuality. They pushed open the green baize door which admitted them
+to the sanctum of learning and came in. All the other children whom Miss
+Macalister taught were already in the room. Kitty and Boris were the
+sole delinquents--the only ones in disgrace; even Elinor was present.
+Their faces fell when they saw her. They had built great hopes on having
+at least Elinor's company in their disgrace. The swift thought had
+darted through both their minds that she would be safe to be extra
+naughty that morning, and in consequence would divert some of the storm
+of Jane Macalister's wrath from their devoted heads; but no, there she
+sat in her accustomed place, her hymn book open on her knee, marks of
+tears on her cheeks, it is true, but in all other respects she looked a
+provokingly model Elinor.
+
+It was too bad; Kitty made a face at her across the schoolroom, and
+even Boris gave her a reproachful glance.
+
+Jane Macalister fixed two awful spectacled eyes upon the culprits, and,
+scarlet blushes tingling in their cheeks, they took possession of their
+vacant chairs.
+
+The children all sang their usual hymn, although Elinor's voice was a
+little husky and Boris held his book upside down.
+
+    "_All things bright and beautiful,
+      All creatures great and small,
+    All things wise and wonderful,
+      The Lord God made them all._"
+
+"I wonder if He really made that dreadful horsey man," thought Nell, as
+she looked out of the window.
+
+Boris smothered a sigh as he reflected again over the problem which had
+often before puzzled his small head--Why God, when he made everything so
+beautiful, had forgotten to give Jane Macalister a beautiful temper in
+school hours?
+
+The singing was followed by the Bible reading, and then lessons began.
+Molly and Nora acquitted themselves admirably, as was their wont--Nell's
+dark grey eyes grew full of interest as she read the fascinating story
+of the "Field of the Cloth of Gold" in her history book--Kitty worked at
+her sums with fierce persistence and tried to fancy herself at
+boarding-school, going up rapidly to the top of her class, while Boris
+made more mistakes than ever over his dictation, and inked his fingers
+unmercifully.
+
+"What was the use of fussing over such a stupid, useless thing as
+spelling?" This was his thought of thoughts.
+
+The day was a warm one. Jane Macalister was icily cold, however, as
+unapproachable as an iceberg. Boris watched her with anxiety. He knew
+well that there was no chance for him and Kitty; they would both be
+punished for being late for prayers.
+
+Oh, dear, oh, dear; _why_ was Jane so unbeautiful, so unapproachable in
+school hours?
+
+"I know she'll keep Kitty and me in during the whole of the play hour,"
+he muttered to himself. "I'm certain of it, because the tip of her nose
+is getting red; that's a sign that she's worried, and when she's worried
+she's twice as bad as she is at any other time."
+
+"What noise is that? Oh!--I say--Miss Macalister----"
+
+Jane Macalister was always spoken to in this correct fashion during
+school hours.
+
+"I say, there's a visitor!" burst from the eager lips of the little boy.
+
+He started to his feet as he spoke, upsetting the ink-pot over his own
+copybook and also over Kitty's white-frilled pinafore.
+
+"Boris, you are incorrigible!" exclaimed Jane. "You lose all your
+conduct marks for the week, and must stay indoors for an hour and learn
+a piece of poetry after lessons."
+
+Boris got very red and tried to smile. The blow had fallen, so he wasn't
+going to whimper over it. He would stand up to his punishment like a
+man. He meant to be a soldier some day, and felt exactly now as if he
+were facing the guns. He met Elinor's full, troubled grey eyes, and
+seated himself slowly once more in his chair.
+
+The steps had come nearer, the schoolroom door was burst open, and Nan
+Thornton rushed in.
+
+"Here I am," she said. "I have come to torment you, Miss Macalister, and
+to beg off lessons at once. How do you do, children? How are you, Kitty?
+How are you, Boris? How do you do, Nell? Molly and Nora, I'll kiss you
+when I can get breath. Oh, what a climb those stairs are! Why do you
+have lessons in the tower? All the same, it's lovely when you _are_
+here. What a view! What a darling, darling, heavenly, scrumptious,
+_ripping_ view. Oh, dear! oh, dear! I am out of breath. Jane, aren't you
+glad to see me? Aren't you glad to know that all the children are to
+have a holiday immediately? Shut up your books, young 'uns, and let's be
+off. You don't mind, do you, Jane?"
+
+Certainly Jane Macalister did mind. The icy expression grew more marked
+on her face. Boris gave her a glance, felt that he was very close to the
+guns, and lowered his eyes. Nan began dancing about the room. Nan was in
+white--white hat, white frock. Her fluffy golden hair surrounded her
+like a cloud. Boris felt that she was something like a very naughty and
+very beautiful angel. Why was she tempting them all when Jane Macalister
+was like ice?
+
+"I think, Nan," said Miss Macalister--"(how do you do, my dear? Of
+course I'm glad to see you)--I think I must ask you to leave the
+schoolroom for the present. Recess will be at half-past eleven, and then
+you can talk to all the children except Boris, who I grieve to say will
+have to undergo punishment. As to holidays, the summer holidays will
+begin in a fortnight, until then I cannot permit any such indulgence. Go
+away, Nan, for the present. Molly, I can attend to your German now.
+Bring your exercise book with the grammar and history."
+
+Nan was not accustomed to being vanquished, but she was very near defeat
+then. The next moment she would have found herself ignominiously outside
+the baize door if other steps had not approached, and Hester, looking
+cool and sweet, Annie, all radiant and laughing, and Mrs. Lorrimer, with
+her usual gentle motherly expression, had not appeared on the scene.
+
+"Jane," said the mother, smiling round with her blue eyes at each of the
+children, "Hester wants us to get up a hasty picnic to Friar's Wood. The
+day is perfect, and this is the first of Nan's holidays, so I hope you
+will not object, particularly if the children promise to work extra well
+to-morrow."
+
+Jane began to close up all the books hastily. Nan's petition was not to
+be listened to for a moment. Mrs. Lorrimer's was law, and must be
+cheerfully obeyed.
+
+"Certainly," she said, in a pleasant tone, dropping her frozen manner as
+if by magic. "It is a _perfect_ day for a picnic. Leave the schoolroom
+tidy, my loves, and then go and get ready. You'd like me to see the
+cook, wouldn't you, Mrs. Lorrimer? I can help her to cut sandwiches and
+to pack plates and dishes."
+
+"Jane, you're an angel," said Mrs. Lorrimer.
+
+Jane Macalister kissed Hester, was introduced to Annie, and then rushed
+down the spiral stairs, intent on housekeeping cares.
+
+The Lorrimer boys and girls surrounded Hester and Annie. Nan flitted in
+and out of the group, and was here, there, and everywhere. All was
+excitement and laughter. Presently the children left the schoolroom in a
+body.
+
+No, there was one exception. Boris stayed behind. He looked wistfully
+after the others as they streamed away. Miss Macalister had not said a
+word about remitting his punishment, and he must be true to his colours.
+He found it very difficult to keep back his tears, but he would indeed
+think badly of himself if even one bright drop fell from his round blue
+eyes.
+
+It would have comforted him if Kitty had noticed him. Kitty might have
+stayed if only to bestow a kiss of sympathy on him, but she was whirled
+on with the others. No one gave him a thought. He was only Boris, one of
+the younger children. He was alone in the schoolroom.
+
+He looked at the clock; it pointed to half past eleven; he would not be
+free until half past twelve. Picnics at the Towers were hastily
+improvised affairs. Long before his hour of punishment was over the
+others would all be off and away. It was scarcely likely that any of
+them would even miss him. Kitty would be in such a frantic state of
+excitement at having Nan Thornton to talk to, that she would not have
+room in her heart to bestow a thought on him. He could not walk all the
+way to Friar's Wood, the day was too hot. How delicious it would be
+there in the shade. How interesting to watch the squirrels in the trees,
+and the rabbits as they darted in and out of their holes. Well, well,
+there was no use fretting. His heart felt sore, of course, but he
+wouldn't be half a boy in his own opinion if he didn't take his
+punishment without a murmur.
+
+He drew his chair up to the table, pushed his ink-stained fingers
+through his curly brown locks, and looked around him.
+
+Miss Macalister had forgotten to set him any task, but he supposed he
+could set himself something.
+
+He was just wondering what would be the least irksome form of punishment
+he could devise, when a small head was pushed in at the door, and a
+voice, in accents of extreme surprise, shouted his name.
+
+"Why, Boris, what are you doing? They'll be off if you don't look
+sharp."
+
+"I'm not going, Nell," said Boris; "but please don't fuss over it, it's
+nothing."
+
+"_Nothing!_" said Nell, coming into the room and seating herself by the
+side of her little brother. "Don't you love picnics?"
+
+"I _adore_ them," said Boris.
+
+He shut up his lips as he spoke and winked his eyes.
+
+"Don't make a fuss," he said again after a pause. "Do you think I might
+learn a bit of the 'Ancient Mariner' for my punishment task? I like that
+old chap, he's so grisly."
+
+"It's a splendid poem," said Nell with enthusiasm, "particularly that
+part about--
+
+    _'Water, water everywhere,
+    And not a drop to drink.'_
+
+Can't you picture it all, Boris? The sea like a great pond, and the
+thirsty old mariner looking at it, and longing, and longing, and longing
+to drink it, and the dead people lying round. Sometimes at night I think
+of it, and then afterwards I have a good, big, startling dream. A dream
+that's not _too_ frightful is almost as good as a story-book. Don't you
+think so?"
+
+"No, I don't," said Boris. "I hate dreams. Perhaps I'd better learn the
+first six verses of the 'Ancient Mariner,' and perhaps I'd better begin
+at once. Jane Macalister is very stern, isn't she, Nell?"
+
+"Awful in lesson times," said Nell.
+
+"Well, the only way I can bear it," said Boris, "is this--I think of her
+as the general of an army. I don't mind obeying her when I think of her
+in that way. Soldiers have to promise obedience before anything else,
+and I'm going to be a soldier some day. I'd better not talk now, Nell,
+for I must get the first six verses of the 'Ancient' into me in an hour,
+and I can't if you keep chattering. The general was rather sharp with me
+this morning, I must say, for all my conduct marks are gone, too, and I
+won't get sixpence on Saturday, and I'll have nothing to subscribe to
+mother's birthday present; still, of course, 'tis 'diculous to fuss.
+You'd best go, Nell. Why aren't you ready for the picnic?"
+
+"I'm not going," said Nell. "I have a headache, and a drive in the sun
+would make it worse. Besides, Nan Thornton does chatter so awfully."
+
+"Chatter," repeated Boris; "you don't mean to say you mind her
+chattering?"
+
+"Yes, I do, when I have a headache."
+
+"Well, I think she's sweet," said Boris.
+
+"You had better learn your 'Mariner,' Boris, and I'll sit in the window
+and look out."
+
+The schoolroom was so high up in the tower that people who sat in one of
+its windows had really only a bird's-eye view of what went on below.
+
+Boris, in his rather tumbled sailor suit, sat with his back to Nell. He
+kicked the rungs of the chair very often with his sturdy legs. His inky
+fingers took fond clutches of his curls, his lips murmured the rhyme of
+the "Ancient Mariner" in a monotonous sing-song. Nell pushed open the
+lattice window and looked out. There was a waggonette drawn by a rather
+bony old horse standing by the side entrance; behind the waggonette was
+a pony-cart, a good deal the worse for wear. The pony, whose name was
+Shag, stood very still and flicked his long tail backwards and forwards
+to keep the flies away. Nell saw Miss Macalister and two of the servants
+come out with those flat delicious picnic baskets which she knew so
+well, and which had so often made her lips water in fond anticipation;
+they were placed with solemnity in the waggonette. Then Molly and Nora,
+in their white sun-bonnets, took their places, and Hester and Annie sat
+opposite to them, and Mrs. Lorrimer took the seat of honour, and two or
+three of the smaller children were packed in heterogeneously, while Nan
+and Kitty and Miss Macalister bundled themselves into the pony-cart.
+
+Nell's heart beat high as she watched. Was no one going to think of her
+and Boris? Was no one going to miss them?
+
+Apparently no one was.
+
+The gay cavalcade got under weigh and disappeared from view down the
+long and lovely beech avenue.
+
+Nell did not wish to go to the picnic, not to-day with her heart so
+sore, but it made that heart feel all the sorer not to be missed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+FRIAR'S WOOD.
+
+
+As a matter of fact, the picnic party imagined that Boris and Nell
+intended to follow on later in the donkey-cart. The Lorrimer picnics
+were well known in the neighbourhood. They always passed through the
+village in the following order--first the waggonette, drawn by the bony
+horse and packed to overflowing with baskets and young people, who waved
+their arms and shouted in high glee as they went by; then the pony-trap,
+driven sometimes by Jane Macalister, sometimes, when Jane was in a very
+good humour, by Kitty or even Boris; and last, at an interval of about
+half an hour, the donkey-cart. The donkey-cart as a rule contained
+kettles and pots, for the Lorrimers would consider a picnic only half a
+picnic if they did not boil their own potatoes out of doors and make
+their own tea in the woods. Consequently, the coarser utensils which
+were required for the feast were usually reserved for the donkey-cart.
+The donkey, as a rule, was driven, or rather led, by Guy, the tall
+schoolboy, aged thirteen, who would be owner of the Towers, if it were
+not sold over his head, some day. Harry, the brother next in age, would
+also accompany the donkey-cart, and sometimes one or two of the younger
+children would prefer this rough mode of travelling to the more refined
+waggonette or the fleeter pony-carriage. The donkey-cart had of course
+to be late, as Guy and Harry would not be home from school until quite
+an hour after the rest of the party had started.
+
+"Where is Boris?" asked Hester, addressing herself to Molly when they
+had driven about half of the distance.
+
+Molly had tranquil blue eyes, like her mother.
+
+"Isn't he in the pony-carriage?" she asked.
+
+"Who is Boris?" interrupted Annie Forest. "Is he the pretty little
+round-faced boy in the sailor suit?"
+
+"Yes," said Nora, joining in the conversation.
+
+"Then he's not in the pony-trap," replied Annie. "I don't think he left
+the schoolroom."
+
+"Cute little beggar," laughed Nora. "He wants to come in the
+donkey-cart."
+
+Annie raised her brows in inquiry; the mystery of the donkey-cart was
+explained to her, and no further questions were asked with regard to
+Boris.
+
+Elinor had not yet been missed.
+
+Friar's Wood was a perfect place for a picnic, and in due course of time
+the happy cavalcade arrived there. The younger children and Miss
+Macalister began to make preparations for the first meal. The Lorrimers
+always had two hearty ones whenever they went on a picnic. Kitty, Nora,
+and Annie Forest went off to explore the Fairies' Glen, a lovely spot
+about a quarter of a mile away. Mrs. Lorrimer took out her knitting and
+sat with her back against a great beech tree, and Molly and Hester found
+themselves thrown together.
+
+"That's right," exclaimed Molly. "I wanted to have a talk with you,
+Hetty. Will you come to the top of the knoll with me? We can sit there
+and cool ourselves. There is not the faintest chance of dinner being
+ready for quite an hour."
+
+The girls set off at once. Molly was not yet sixteen, Hester was past
+seventeen, nevertheless they had been intimate friends for a long time.
+
+"Why have you got that little frown between your brows, Molly?" asked
+Hester.
+
+It smoothed out the moment Hester spoke.
+
+"I surely ought not to have a frown to-day," retorted Molly. "The
+weather is glorious, we are all in perfect health, we are out for a
+picnic, you are here, you have brought your friend, Annie, about whom we
+have always heard so much, and Nan is home from school. Yes, I certainly
+ought not to frown; but let me retort on you, Hester. Why have you those
+grave lines round your lips?"
+
+"Because I'm a goose," answered Hester. "Sit down here, Molly. You have
+not got me up to the top of this knoll just to make me recount my
+grievances. Out with yours; you know you have one at least."
+
+"Well, yes, I have one," said Molly. "A horrid little cankering jade--a
+sort of black imp. I thought I had tucked him up snug in bed until the
+evening, and there, you have loosened the sheets, and he has sprung up
+again to confront me."
+
+Molly's honest face was undoubtedly troubled now, and there was a
+suspicion of tears in the blue eyes, which were nearly as frank and
+round as Boris's.
+
+"I suppose I must confess," she said: "it's only that the colts, Joe and
+Robin, have been sold."
+
+"I don't think I know them," said Hester.
+
+"Well, you must imagine them. They are not broken-in yet. They were born
+at the Towers, and we used to feed them when they were foals. Then one
+day Robin got rather wild, and kicked Boris severely, and father said
+we were to leave them alone; but Nell somehow managed to evade the
+order; she never could be got to fear any four-footed creature. She
+spent almost all her leisure time with the colts, and I believe she used
+to ride them bare-backed. Well, they were sold this morning, and Nell
+will fret awfully. Fretting is very bad for her, for she is not at all
+strong, you know. That is one thing that troubles me," continued Molly,
+after a brief pause. "I am sorry the colts are sold, on account of Nell,
+for I know, although she won't pretend to fret a bit, how she will
+secretly grieve and grieve; and the other reason is, that I know father
+would not have sold them if he had not been hard up for money again. Oh,
+I wish, I wish," continued Molly, her face turning crimson, "that there
+was no such thing as money in the world."
+
+Hester looked at her with a mingling of sympathy and surprise.
+
+"I think you must be wrong," she said slowly. "I mean, of course, that I
+know you're not rich as my father is rich, for you are such a large
+family, and father has only Nan and me; but still, it cannot be true
+that your father wants money to the extent of having to sell the colts
+to get it, Molly."
+
+"I'm afraid it is true," said Molly, in a sad voice. "I wish it were
+only my imagination. You would never take me for a fanciful girl, would
+you, Hester? I am always called matter-of-fact, and I think I am. I
+really don't care a bit for poetry, and not much for music, and even
+story-books don't amuse me unless they're the downright sort, like
+'Little Women,' or unless they tell all about housekeeping and that sort
+of thing. I love cooking, and I rather like accounts, and I delight in
+overhauling the linen cupboard, and I am not a bad hand at darning the
+linen. I'm just a commonplace, matter-of-fact sort of girl; it isn't in
+me to imagine things."
+
+"Well?" said Hester, for she saw that Molly was intensely in earnest.
+
+"I know I'm right about the money," said Molly. "You cannot think how
+troubled father looks sometimes; and mother told me only yesterday that
+we were not to go to the seaside this year, and she thinks our shabby
+old hats will do quite well for church. You don't suppose I care about
+shabby hats, or even about the seaside, but I do care when I see father
+looking troubled. Once a stranger came to see him, and they were shut up
+together in the library for a long time, and when he went away I noticed
+that father looked quite old. Oh, I know there are money troubles, and I
+am sure things will get worse. I know what father dreads, and dreads and
+dreads. Oh, Hester, if it happens it will kill him!"
+
+"Molly, dear, how white you are. If what happens?"
+
+"Don't whisper it, Hester; but I dread it. If he has to sell the Towers
+it will kill him."
+
+"To sell the Towers!" echoed Hester. "I should think so, indeed;
+but----"
+
+"What are you two doing up there?" shouted the voice of Nora from below.
+"Come down at once and make yourselves useful. The donkey-cart has come,
+and so have Guy and Harry, and we are washing the potatoes and want you
+to rub them, Molly. Come along down and help, you lazy good-for-nothings."
+
+The girls hastened to obey. As if by magic all trace of a cloud left
+Molly's face. It became radiant, smiling, and dimpled. She was once more
+matter-of-fact, charming, capable Molly, who could work with a will and
+never once think of herself. Molly was so generally self-forgetful, that
+her happiness was not put on. Good-nature shone from her eyes. She was
+not a particularly brilliant or witty girl, but she was a strong rock to
+rely upon, as all the other Lorrimers knew well.
+
+Nora, who was very pretty and very gay, gave herself up to heedless
+enjoyment as soon as Molly appeared upon the scene. The potatoes would
+certainly be done to a turn now. The table-cloth would be laid in that
+part of the wood where the midges were least troublesome. Jane
+Macalister would not have to complain of no one helping her. Guy, who
+was very like Molly, and nearly as good-natured, would also do his best
+to make the picnic lively, and Nora, one year Molly's junior, could give
+herself up to the fascinations of Annie Forest's society.
+
+Nora had never before found herself in the company of such a completely
+grown-up and such a very pretty girl. Nora could give herself little
+airs when occasion required. She could put on rather a killing grown-up
+sort of would-be society manner. She never dared adopt it when Guy and
+Harry were near, but she contrived to get Annie away by herself, and
+then indulged in what the other children called her "high-falutin" talk.
+
+It was nipped in the bud, however, by Annie herself. Annie Forest was
+nothing if she was not frank and fearlessly matter-of-fact. She quickly
+discovered how hollow and insufficient poor Nora's attempts to maintain
+a worldly conversation really were. She crushed her by telling her that
+she had never been in society herself in the whole course of her life,
+that she knew nothing whatever of it or its ways, that she had just left
+school, and that in all probability she would have to earn her bread in
+the future.
+
+"But, look here, Nora!" she exclaimed, suddenly, "why should we two
+stand here chattering? I'm sure we ought to help the others."
+
+"Oh, no; there's nothing really to be done," replied Nora, in a languid
+voice. "I like picnics, but I hate the fuss of preparing the meals, and
+as all the others adore it, I generally leave it for them to do. Won't
+you sit here? There is a charming little peep between those two oak
+trees. You can just see the Towers from there, and I think the Grange
+also. Don't you think the Grange a very beautiful place?"
+
+"Yes; but not half as beautiful as the Towers."
+
+"Don't you, really? Well, I am surprised! Of course, the Towers is very
+old. We are quite one of the very oldest of the county families round
+here, but my father likes us to live quietly just at present. Molly and
+I will have to be presented by-and-by. It is a pity father and mother
+don't think more about society, but they'll have to when we are grown
+up, and Molly is sixteen now. Hester will be very rich, and so will Nan.
+I'm surprised that you prefer the Towers to the Grange."
+
+"I beg your pardon," said Annie, "but did not the donkey-cart arrive
+about half an hour ago?"
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"And two of your brothers with it?"
+
+"Yes," replied Nora, suppressing a yawn, "Guy and Harry. How hot it is
+to-day--the heat makes one dreadfully languid, does it not?"
+
+"I must go and tell Hester that Boris has not come," exclaimed Annie.
+
+She put wings to her feet as she spoke, and left the astonished and
+indignant Nora to her own reflections.
+
+Annie ran quickly through the wood. The sound of many voices floated on
+the summer breeze to greet her. She had almost reached the party when
+she suddenly came upon Kitty, who was standing alone. Kitty had just had
+a furious quarrel with Nan, and was in consequence feeling considerably
+out in the cold. Kitty knew that Boris was not of the party. She had
+known this from the beginning, but in the excitement and fun of having
+Nan Thornton to herself had been too selfish to mention the fact. Kitty
+guessed why Boris had remained behind. She remembered the severe
+punishment which Jane Macalister had inflicted upon him--a punishment
+which Jane had doubtless forgotten, but which Boris himself remembered.
+
+Kitty thought of Boris now as she stood by a blackberry-bush, and
+pricked her finger on purpose against one of the thorns. Nan had been
+very snubbing and very disagreeable, and Kitty cordially hated her for
+the time being, and wished with all her heart that Boris was there. She
+could snub Boris, who would never retort, but now there was no one for
+her to play with.
+
+"What is your name?" asked Annie, stopping and looking at her kindly;
+"you are one of the Lorrimers, of course, but I have not caught your
+name yet. Do you mind telling it to me?"
+
+"I'm Kitty," answered the little girl; she raised her brown eyes and
+looked full at Annie. She had never seen anyone so lovely as Annie
+before. She had never even imagined that the world could contain anyone
+so sparkling and so gay.
+
+"You're Kitty; that is capital," replied Annie. "Then, Kitty, I am sure
+you will do just as well as Hester. Can you tell me why your dear little
+brother Boris has not come to the picnic?"
+
+"I was thinking of him," said Kitty. Tears slowly welled up into her
+eyes; her heart began to ache; she tried to prick her finger again to
+relieve the pain inside.
+
+"Boris has not come," she replied. "I'll tell you why. He spilt some
+ink, and Jane Macalister said he must be punished by staying indoors for
+a whole hour after lessons were over. I expect she forgot all about
+Boris when we got a holiday so suddenly, but Boris didn't forget, and he
+stayed behind."
+
+"Dear little Boris!" exclaimed Annie; "dear, good, plucky little Boris!
+The moment I looked at him I knew I should adore him. But see here,
+Kitty, the hour is up now, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh, yes, of course; some time ago."
+
+"Then he'll follow us, won't he?"
+
+"How can he? He can't come alone; it's nearly an hour's drive to Friar's
+Wood."
+
+"Of course he cannot walk," said Annie, impatiently; "but haven't you
+got a trap or carriage, or horse, or something?"
+
+"No, I'm afraid we haven't," said Kitty, looking very sorrowful.
+"There's only old Rover, who draws the waggonette, and Dobbin the pony,
+and Jacko the donkey. Of course, there's father's mare, she's quite a
+beauty; but we are none of us allowed to have anything to do with her."
+
+"Then we are not to have dear little Boris at the picnic?" said Annie;
+"I declare I shan't enjoy it a bit. I want him to be my own special
+knight."
+
+"What do you want a knight for?" asked Kitty, looking up with interest.
+
+"What do I want a knight for? You silly child, all fair ladies want
+their own true knights."
+
+"You are a very fair lady," said Kitty. "At least, I mean you're a very
+lovely lady--very, very lovely; but can't you do with Guy or Harry for a
+knight?"
+
+"No; I have fallen in love with Boris, and I won't have anyone else.
+Kitty, can't we manage to get him to the picnic?"
+
+"I don't know, I'm sure. He could ride Harry's bicycle, but I don't
+think it would once enter into his head."
+
+"It would if I went back and told him to."
+
+"How can you go back? You can't walk."
+
+"Yes, I am a splendid walker. Besides, I am sure the road is longer than
+by the fields, and you could take me part of the way and show me the
+short cuts."
+
+"It would take a long, long time," said Kitty, "and when you came back
+dinner would be over, and you'd have lost quite half the fun."
+
+"No, you dear little thing, I wouldn't. I mean to go and fetch Boris;
+virtue shall be rewarded, and the knight shall be rescued by the lady.
+Now, come with me part of the way and show me the short cuts. Why, I'm
+as strong as a lion. You don't suppose a walk of a few miles tires me?
+Come along, Kit, we are wasting time."
+
+In reality, Kitty was charmed beyond words with any move which was to
+bring Boris on the scene. The moment Boris seemed at all unattainable,
+he became wonderfully precious in Kitty's eyes. She would, of course,
+snub him in five minutes after he did arrive, but that really did not
+matter. The fascination of Annie's secret mission also delighted her
+much, and she skipped along now by the side of this beautiful lady in a
+state of high good-humour.
+
+"I'll show you a lovely short cut," she said. "It will take two miles
+off the distance. There's a bog, and a sunken ditch, and a wire fence;
+but you won't mind them, will you?"
+
+"Not a bit," said Annie, laughter in her eyes.
+
+"And there's farmer Granger's bull-dog, and perhaps the bull himself may
+be in the four acre field; but you won't mind," continued Kitty.
+
+"Not a bit, not a bit."
+
+"Well, let's run down into this little dell. I'll start you from the
+wicket gate at the end of the dell."
+
+"It sounds quite Pilgrim's Progressy," said Annie.
+
+"Annie," said Kitty, in an ecstatic whisper, "is it to be a secret?"
+
+"Of course; if you dare to reveal it my knight shall execute vengeance
+on you."
+
+"Oh, Annie!" said Kitty, "I do love you; its so perfectly delicious to
+have a secret."
+
+"Well, see you keep this one faithfully. Now we have come to the wicket
+gate. How shall I go? Can I see the bull from here?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Can I hear the bull-dog bark?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Kitty, you little wretch, you've been trying to frighten me with
+imaginary dangers. Yes, I see my road. I follow the winding path
+wherever it leads. Keep a bit of dinner for me, Kitty. I'll be back in a
+couple of hours."
+
+Kitty promised, and Annie started with great vigour on her long walk.
+
+Kitty stood at the stile and watched her. Suddenly she raised a cry.
+
+"Annie."
+
+Annie turned.
+
+"You'll find Nell at home, too, Annie."
+
+"Is Nell another Lorrimer?"
+
+"Yes; the ugly one of the family; the duckling, we call her most times."
+
+"Well, the duckling shall come, too," shouted heedless Annie; and Kitty,
+with the full weight and delirious importance of her secret radiating
+all over her stout little person, slowly returned to the other members
+of the picnic party.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE STORY BOOK LADY.
+
+
+Annie found the road hot and the way long. As she said, she was a very
+good walker, and was never daunted by difficulties or dangers either
+real or imaginary. She was impressed by Boris's bright little face, and
+Kitty's story of his fidelity to the path of duty touched her quick and
+affectionate nature. Annie Forest, the grown-up girl, was very like
+Annie Forest, the child. She was still intensely impulsive, wayward, and
+eager. Her faults were in a great manner subdued, but they were not
+eradicated. She was intensely affectionate, brave, and true as steel;
+but she was apt to be both heedless and thoughtless. When rushing away
+to rescue Boris, it never once entered into her head that the secret of
+her absence might prove very troublesome to poor Kitty, and that the
+rest of the party might suffer uneasiness on her account. Without any
+adventure from bull or bull-dog, without endangering her life in the
+bog, which turned out to be almost non-existent at this time of year,
+she reached the Towers at the most sultry time of the day, and appeared
+upon the scene between one and two o'clock, a tired, flushed, and very
+thirsty Annie. All during her walk she pictured Boris's state of
+despair. She saw in her mind's eye a vision of his little, flushed,
+tear-stained face. She thought of Nell, too, and imagined the rapture
+with which the ugly duckling would greet her, the deliverer of the
+oppressed.
+
+Annie entered the Towers by a side entrance, and, skirting a pretty,
+shady lawn, approached the house by the nearest way. As she did so, she
+was attracted by voices which seemed to proceed from out of a clump of
+trees. She stepped close to the spot from where the sound proceeded,
+and, craning her neck, looked over the thick laurustinus bushes, which
+enclosed a very tiny lawn or plot of grass.
+
+Seated here, in the utmost peace and apparent contentment, were the poor
+victims for whom she had exerted herself so terribly. Nell was lying
+full length on her back on the grass. Boris was seated tailorwise on the
+ground a little way off. Nell had a white rat curled up in her hair and
+another nestling in her neck. Boris was feeding some white hares and
+some pet rabbits. The children were eagerly talking to their animals,
+and Annie had to own to herself that there was nothing in the least
+unhappy or even morbid in the sound of either of the voices.
+
+For a moment the children's perfect happiness almost vexed her. It
+seemed provoking to have taken that long, exhausting walk for nothing,
+and oh! how hungry and thirsty, how very hungry and thirsty she felt.
+
+The next instant, however, her good-nature asserted itself. She said
+"Hullo!" pushed her way through the laurustinus hedge, and stood in the
+midst of the group.
+
+Nell started into a sitting position, tumbling the white rats on to her
+lap. She looked up at Annie. What a tumbled, dishevelled, hot, but oh,
+what a pretty strange lady was this! Nell worshipped beauty with the
+passion of a very hot and fervent little soul. She had scarcely noticed
+Annie in the schoolroom, but now her heart went out to her with a great
+throb.
+
+"Who are you?" she said. "Where do you come from? What is your name?"
+
+"Oh, I'm not a fairy, my good child!" said Annie. "I'm a poor, exhausted
+girl, who thought she was performing a very heroic feat and finds
+herself mistaken."
+
+"Pray come in and take a seat," said Boris, who was always the soul of
+gentlemanly politeness. He stood up as he spoke, tumbling his rabbits
+and hares helter skelter in all directions, and tried to push back the
+laurustinus hedge for Annie. She squeezed through, tearing her cotton
+dress as she did so.
+
+"Oh, dear, dear, your sweet dress is spoiled!" said Nell, in a tender
+voice.
+
+"Never mind," answered Annie; "one must lose something to attain to this
+perfection."
+
+"Won't you seat yourself?" said Boris.
+
+He pointed to the grass, and Annie sat upon it with a sense of delight.
+
+"How hot you are," said Nell. "What can we do for you? Would it soothe
+you to stroke one of the rats? This darling, for instance. His name is
+Crinklety."
+
+Annie took the rat on her lap and looked at it reflectively.
+
+"It's a darling," she said, "and so are the rabbits, and so are the
+hares; but oh, I'm so hot and so thirsty! and oh, children, don't you
+know what I've come about, and don't you know who I am?"
+
+"No, I'm sure we don't," answered Boris. Nell stared solemnly; she did
+not speak.
+
+"Well," said Annie, "I see I must introduce myself. I am Annie Forest.
+I'm Hester Thornton's friend, and I came here this morning with Hetty
+and Nan, and we all started on a picnic, and when we came to Friar's
+Wood, I found that you, Boris--you see I know your name--and you, Nell,
+were left behind, and I could not stand it somehow; it seemed too cruel
+and unfair, so I--I came back for you."
+
+"How did you come?" asked Boris. "Did you drive back with Dobbin or
+Jacko?"
+
+"No; they will have plenty to do this evening, and why should I give
+them double work, poor dears? No; I came back with these," she pushed
+out her dainty, but very dusty, feet as she spoke.
+
+"You mean that you _walked_?" said Nell. "You walked all that long way
+just because of us two children that you knew nothing about. I didn't
+believe it was true. I never believed anything so perfectly splendid
+could be true out of a story book. Boris, do you hear? She walked from
+Friar's Wood all by herself."
+
+"Are you awfully dead beat?" asked Boris, standing in his sturdy
+attitude in front of Annie and looking at her with immense attention.
+
+"Yes; I never was hotter in my life, and I don't think I ever felt more
+tired. It is such a blazing day."
+
+"Then you don't want to walk back again?"
+
+"Well, I suppose I must, only I think I'll rest a little bit first, and
+perhaps one of you can bring me a glass of water. I consulted Kitty
+about it, and Kitty said you could ride your brother's bicycle, Boris.
+She only told me about Nell just when I was starting, but perhaps Nell
+can get on the bicycle sometimes, too. I'm not quite sure how it can be
+managed."
+
+"You need not trouble about me," said Nell, "for I'm not going to the
+picnic. I don't wish to."
+
+"And I don't wish to either," said Boris; "there's nothing to go for
+now, for dinner will be over. I always think the fun of a picnic is
+washing the potatoes and lighting the bonfire, and they'll be all over
+long ago."
+
+"Well, then," said Annie, "I see that I have made myself a martyr in an
+unnecessary cause. You bad children, you are not a bit unhappy at
+staying at home, and I pictured you both such miserable little victims."
+
+"Would you rather have seen us miserable?" asked Boris.
+
+"Of course I'd much rather have seen you miserable, you little wretch.
+How dare you look at me with those smiling, bright blue eyes? If I had
+seen you and Nell pale and wretched, and a little bit withered up, I'd
+have felt that my walk had been taken for a good purpose; but now----"
+
+"Perhaps you think," said Nell, looking at Annie with great earnestness,
+"that you did nothing when you took that walk and when you made the
+story books come true. You did a great deal for me. We are Lorrimers,
+Boris and I, and it isn't the fashion for a Lorrimer ever to fret when
+things can't be helped. Boris would have liked to go to the picnic, and
+I'd have liked it, too, if it had happened on another day, but as we
+couldn't go, we meant to have a picnic at home. Will you stay with us
+and help us to make up a jolly picnic at home?"
+
+"Of course I will, only too gladly."
+
+"Then, Boris," said Nell, "we had best fetch the food while the story
+book lady is resting."
+
+The children disappeared, and Annie lay back on the grass and laughed to
+herself. She was absorbed as usual with the fascination of the moment,
+and forgot all about Kitty, who would be carefully guarding her secret
+far away in Friar's Wood.
+
+The picnic, which was partaken of by Annie, Nell, and Boris on the tiny
+lawn, surrounded by the laurustinus hedge, was a truly gay affair. The
+white hares, the rabbits, the rats, joined the company of diners, and
+Annie became her gayest and wildest self. When dinner was over, Boris
+reluctantly took his pets back to the out-house where they were kept,
+and then returned once more to the fascination of strawberries, cream,
+and Annie Forest's society.
+
+Meanwhile, in Friar's Wood, Kitty was keeping an eager look-out. It was
+almost time for Annie to come back, and all the other members of the
+party who did not know where she had gone were becoming anxious about
+her. They would have been much more so but for Hester and Nan. But
+Hester and Nan were both well accustomed to Annie's many vagaries.
+
+"If it were anyone else, I should fret about her," said Hester,
+answering Nora's eager inquiry for about the twentieth time. "She has
+wandered away in the wood by herself and will come back when she
+pleases, or perhaps she may have gone straight back to the Towers or to
+the Grange. Annie is grown up now, and she can take care of herself.
+There is no manner of use in fretting about her."
+
+"If you only knew Annie at school!" exclaimed Nan. "Why there is quite a
+proverb about Annie at school. Let me see, this is it: 'The only thing
+to be expected of Annie Forest is the unexpected.' Now don't let's talk
+of her any more. She is a dear old Annie; but why should she spoil this
+lovely, perfect day, the first of my holidays? Guy, I wish you'd come
+and sit next me. Let us get up a jolly game of hide and seek."
+
+"No," said Guy, "It's too hot at present. We will presently, when the
+sun gets a bit lower."
+
+"Then tell me a story, there's a darling Guy."
+
+Guy complied rather lazily. Nan moved a little apart with him, and the
+two began an eager, whispered conversation. Molly and Hester once more
+joined forces and resumed the interrupted talk of the morning. The
+others wandered away in different directions, and Nora and Kitty found
+themselves together. Nora felt rather discontented. She missed Annie
+Forest, not because she particularly liked her just now, but because
+Annie's conduct during their morning walk had rather piqued her. Nora
+was quite sharp enough to read Kitty's secret in her troubled, demure,
+watchful and impatient eyes. She thought it would be rather good fun to
+bully Kitty a little.
+
+"What are you staring through that long line of trees for?" she said.
+"Come here, and out with it at once. You know you're bursting with a
+secret. If you don't tell soon you'll explode, and there'll be nothing
+left of you. Come here, I say, and out with it."
+
+Nora thought it quite unnecessary to put on her society manners for
+Kitty's benefit.
+
+"Come here, Kit, at once, when I call you," she said, in a cross voice.
+
+"I needn't come if I don't like," answered Kitty. "I'm not obliged to
+obey you, so don't you think it."
+
+"Highty tighty. Do you suppose I'm going to take impertinence from a
+little chit like you? You know perfectly well where Annie Forest has
+gone, and it is your duty to tell."
+
+"I won't tell. There!"
+
+"Ah!" laughed Nora, now thoroughly exasperated. "I guessed you had a
+secret. I knew it when I saw you shutting up your lips so straightly,
+and putting on that little demure expression whenever Annie's name was
+mentioned. Now you have confessed it."
+
+"I have confessed nothing," said Kitty in alarm.
+
+"Yes, you have; you said you wouldn't tell. How could you say you
+wouldn't tell if you had nothing to tell? I know mother is uneasy about
+Annie, and I know Jane Macalister is uneasy, and you know where she is
+and you dare to keep them in suspense. Come along to mother at once.
+She'll soon get this secret out of you."
+
+"I won't go, Nora--I won't. I'll climb up into this tree, where you
+can't catch me. Here," continued Kitty, suiting the action to the word,
+"you can't catch me up here; you can't. I won't go to mother--no, I
+won't."
+
+"You will if I make you," said Nora. "You think I can't climb."
+
+"You wouldn't dare to climb!" exclaimed Kitty, shouting down from the
+foliage of the tree into which she had hastily swung herself. "You'll
+get your frock all torn, and Molly and Jane will be just mad. You
+daren't climb, Nora--you daren't. You can't catch me Nora--you can't."
+
+Nora had a quick temper, and Kitty's manner was most exasperating. Under
+ordinary circumstances the ladylike Nora would have hated climbing
+trees, but now all was forgotten in her fierce desire to lay hold of the
+daring, exasperating little Kitty and to force her secret out of her.
+How dared Annie Forest snub Nora and then confide in a baby like Kitty?
+
+"Unless you come down this minute, I'll follow you into the tree and
+drag you down," said Nora. "Now you know what I mean to do, so come down
+this instant."
+
+"Not I, not I," laughed Kitty. She had been rather frightened while Nora
+was taunting her on the ground, but now she felt so secure that she
+could afford to laugh, and even in her turn to use taunting words.
+
+"I knew you were too much of a coward, fine, ladylike Miss Nora, to
+climb up here," she said; "and I'm going to stay here just as long as I
+please."
+
+"Oh, are you?" said Nora. "There'll be two people to decide that point."
+She was in a blind fury now, and, before Kitty could say another word,
+began to swarm up the tree. She managed to catch the branch where Kitty
+had planted herself, and in another instant would have caught hold of
+the little girl's dress; but Kitty and Boris could both climb like
+monkeys, and it did not take the little girl an instant to swing herself
+on to a higher branch. Nora's mettle was now up. She was resolved that
+Kitty should not conquer her. The spirit of defiance in Kitty made her
+resolve to die rather than be taken.
+
+"You shan't catch me--you shan't," screamed the child. "I'm lighter than
+you. I'm going to creep on to the end of this bough; it will bear my
+weight, but it won't bear yours, Nora. Don't attempt to get on it, Nora;
+if you do the bough will break."
+
+Kitty, as good as her word, crept on to a dead branch of the forest
+beech tree; it was high above the ground and nearly bare of leaves. It
+looked what it was, thoroughly rotten; but it bore Kitty's light weight
+without strain. She reached almost the end, and turned her flushed,
+laughing, defiant face towards Nora. Nora had reached the bough, but
+hesitated a moment before trusting herself on it.
+
+"Who said I was going to be caught?" exclaimed Kitty. "Hurrah! hurrah!
+I'm safe enough."
+
+"I will catch you!" exclaimed Nora. "You horrid, sneaking little cheat.
+This bough looks firm enough. It will hold me as well as you; anyhow,
+I'm going to try."
+
+"Don't, don't!" screamed Kitty. She was really frightened now, for she
+saw the danger from the position where she was sitting far more plainly
+than Nora did. "Don't do it, Nora," she shrieked. "I'd rather come back
+to you. I would really, really. You'll be killed--we'll both be killed
+if you get upon this rotten bough. Oh, dear! oh, dear! Nora, are you
+mad? Are you mad?"
+
+Blind passion had made Nora almost mad. She did not believe Kitty's
+words. The bare bough looked safe enough from her position. She
+stretched out one cautious hand, then another, and propelled herself
+slowly along. Her whole weight was now upon the bough. It was thoroughly
+rotten and very brittle. Kitty gave a shriek of terror, and, with a wild
+leap, managed to throw her arms over the bough just above. She was not a
+minute too soon. The rotten branch cracked and broke with a loud report,
+and poor Nora was hurled with great violence to the ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ALONE IN THE WOOD.
+
+
+There was a dizzy moment for Kitty when she seemed to hang between
+heaven and earth, and everything swam in circles before her dazed eyes.
+Then, with a supreme effort, she managed to clutch the bough, to which
+she clung with a firmer grasp, and slowly but surely to drag herself up
+into safety on its broad, firm stem.
+
+"I'm coming, Nora. I'll be down in a minute," she shouted.
+
+She crept along the bough, and soon, much scratched and covered with
+moss and leaves, her dress torn, her face hotly flushed, she reached the
+ground and rushed to Nora's side.
+
+Poor Nora had fallen from a height of nearly twenty feet. Her fall had
+been slightly broken by the rotten bough which had come to the ground
+with her; but, notwithstanding this fact, she lay now on her back, faint
+and sick and moaning, as if she were in great pain.
+
+Poor Kitty's repentance was intense.
+
+"Oh, Nora, Nora!" she sobbed, bending over her, "are you hurt badly?
+Can't you get up? Oh, dear! oh, dear! you do look ill, and it's my fault
+of course. Why did I have a secret? and why did I tease you? Oh, Nora!"
+she added, terror in her tone as she noticed the increasing whiteness of
+Nora's pretty face, "are you in dreadful, shocking pain?"
+
+"I feel sick," said Nora, "and--and faint. Can't you fetch some water.
+Oh, everything seems miles away. What shall I do?"
+
+"I'll go for mother," said Kitty. "Lie very still, Nonie, darling; you
+have got an awful shake from that fall, but you'll be all right
+soon--I'm sure you will; and, oh, here's some water in one of the picnic
+bottles."
+
+Kitty sprang towards this welcome sight, wetted a handkerchief with part
+of the contents and put it on Nora's forehead, and then gave her a
+little to drink.
+
+The cold refreshing water revived the poor girl; but when she attempted
+to sit up, she fell back groaning and very faint once more.
+
+"You _must_ let me fetch mother," said Kitty. "I won't be a minute. I'll
+go as if I were a bird. I'll be back in no time, really."
+
+"No; I can't be left alone," said Nora. "It--it's awful. The pain in my
+back gets worse and worse. Kitty, don't leave me. Kitty, I'm frightened.
+I'm sorry I was so cross to you."
+
+"And I'm sorry I aggravated you," said Kitty; "but, oh, dear! what's the
+use of being sorry? That won't mend your poor back. I wish you'd let me
+get mother."
+
+"No, no; you mustn't leave me."
+
+Nora tried to stretch out one of her hands, but the pain of the least
+movement was extreme, and she was forced to lie absolutely still, while
+Kitty wetted her lips at intervals with a few drops of the precious
+water left in the bottle.
+
+Nora was in too great pain to care anything about the loneliness of
+their position. She was in too great suffering even to be keenly sorry
+for her own wrongdoing. The one only desire she had was to keep Kitty by
+her side. But poor Kitty's little heart was full of absolute terror. She
+had never seen anyone look so ill as Nora. Her face was white; her lips
+were blue; she was evidently in severe pain; but, with the pain, there
+was a strange faintness, which Kitty had never encountered before in the
+whole course of her ten sturdy years.
+
+Many and many a fall had both Kitty and Boris had in the wild
+expeditions and daring feats which they performed in each other's
+company. Kitty knew of the fall which stings; of the fall which shakes
+you all over, which raises a great bump and causes great soreness of the
+injured part; she knew of the fall which scratches and even renders you
+giddy; but she had never before seen the effects of such a serious fall
+as poor Nora's.
+
+Friar's Wood was a very lonely place, and when, in utter exhaustion and
+pain, Nora closed her eyes, poor Kitty felt almost as if she were
+sitting alone in this great solitude with a person who was dead.
+
+Oh, suppose pretty Nora was dead. Pretty Nora, who had been so mocking
+and full of life only ten minutes ago. If this were the case, to her
+dying day Kitty would feel that she had killed her by tempting her on to
+a rotten bough. It was terrible, terrible to be here alone with Nora,
+who might be going to die. Why could not she slip away and fetch someone
+to her aid?
+
+Nora had clutched a very tight hold of Kitty's hand when first the
+little girl had proposed to fetch her mother, but now, in the kind of
+torpor of pain into which she had sunk, she relaxed the firm grip, and
+Kitty found that by a very gentle movement she could release her hand
+altogether.
+
+She did so, and rose slowly to her feet.
+
+Nora felt the movement and spoke.
+
+"Kitty."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You're not going away?"
+
+"I'm only looking to see if there's anyone coming."
+
+"Well, don't go away."
+
+Nora's voice had sunk to a hoarse whisper, and Kitty's terrors and her
+certain fears that Nora was about to die became greater than ever.
+
+She looked all around her, to right and left, before and behind.
+
+No one was in sight. Not even the voice of a living creature broke the
+stillness. The birds were silent, the creatures of the wood seemed to be
+all asleep, the other members of the picnic had evidently wandered far
+afield; but, hark, what sound was that? Oh, joy! Who was this coming
+swiftly through the trees? Kitty's heart gave a bound of rapture, and
+then, forgetting all Nora's injunctions to keep by her side, she flew
+with lightning speed towards the figure of a horseman who was riding
+through the wood.
+
+The man on horseback was Squire Lorrimer himself.
+
+He had promised to join the children in time for dinner, but had not
+turned up. It was not his custom, however, on any occasion to disappoint
+his young people, and although late in the day he was now hastening to
+the scene of revelry.
+
+Kitty's frantic speed in his direction by no means surprised him.
+
+"Well, little woman," he said, pulling up the mare as he spoke. "Shall I
+give you a mount on Black Bessy's back? and where are all the others? I
+expected quite a swarm of you to rush forth. Where is Molly, and where
+is Nora, and where is the beautiful Annie Forest, whom everybody seems
+to rave about, and mother and Jane Macalister? Are they all hiding and
+ready to rush out upon me with wild whoops?"
+
+Kitty panted visibly before she replied.
+
+"No, father, it isn't that," she said. "I and Nora are alone, I--get
+down please, father, won't you?"
+
+"Why, what's the matter with you child?" The Squire hastily dismounted.
+"Are you hurt, Kit? What a red, excited face."
+
+"No, 'tisn't me, it's Nora. She fell; I think she'll die. It was my
+fault. The beech tree had a rotten bough, and I crept out on it, as I
+didn't wish to be caught; and Nora followed me, and the bough broke, and
+she's lying on her back now and she can't move, and I think she'll die,
+and they're all away--I don't know where--somewhere else in the wood,
+and I think she's going to die, and it's my fault."
+
+"There, Kitty, keep your pecker up," said the Squire. "I'm glad I came
+round this way; it was a lucky chance. Wait a minute until I tie Black
+Bess to this tree. Where is Nora?"
+
+"Over there, lying on that knoll of grass. I think she'll die."
+
+"Tut, tut, monkey, what do you know about people dying? Give me your
+hand, and bring me to her."
+
+Oh, the comfort to Kitty of that firm, cool, strong hand of
+father's--oh, the support of looking into his face. A burden as of black
+night was lifted from her. She ran in eager accompaniment to his great
+strides. He was bending over Nora in a minute.
+
+"Now, my poor little maid, what is this?" he asked, dropping on one knee
+and trying to put his hand under her head as he spoke.
+
+Nora opened her pretty, dark eyes.
+
+"Oh, father, is it you? I'm glad," she said in a faint voice. "I've been
+naughty, father; I--I'm sorry."
+
+"Well, you can't be more than sorry, can you, Nonie? Don't bother about
+anything now, but just tell me where you are hurt."
+
+"Oh, it's my back. Oh, don't touch me; it's dreadful!"
+
+Squire Lorrimer's face looked very grave.
+
+"Where did she fall from, Kitty?" he asked.
+
+Kitty pointed to the gash made in the beech-tree by the broken bough.
+
+"Over twenty feet," murmured the Squire to himself. "God help my poor
+little girl!"
+
+"Look here, Kitty," he said aloud, "Nora is in a good deal of pain; but
+I hope we'll soon have her easier. We must try and get her home somehow,
+and it would be a good thing if your mother were here; you had better
+fetch her. Don't frighten her, Kit, for Nora may not be badly hurt after
+all; but bring her here as quickly as you can, and Guy, too, and Molly;
+they are both strong, and have their wits about them. We must contrive a
+litter of some sort. Now, be quick and find the folks."
+
+"Yes," replied Kitty, who was almost happy again under the influence of
+her father's encouraging words.
+
+She was soon out of sight, and in less than half an hour Mrs. Lorrimer,
+Jane Macalister, and every other member of the picnic party, were
+gathered round the prostrate figure of little Nora.
+
+She was more conscious now, and looked eagerly for one face, the solace
+of all sick children.
+
+"Let Mummie hold my hand," she said.
+
+Mrs. Lorrimer took it, bent down, and kissed her; Nora smiled as if a
+load had been lifted from her heart.
+
+A rough litter was presently constructed, and with great difficulty the
+poor child was lifted into it. The pain of even this slight move,
+however, caused her to faint completely away.
+
+It was at this juncture that Hester Thornton came forward with a
+suggestion.
+
+"The Grange is nearly three miles nearer than the Towers," she said;
+"had not we better bring her there? And had not Guy better ride off at
+once to Nortonbury for the doctor?"
+
+"That is a good idea," said Mr. Lorrimer. "Guy, mount on Black Bess's
+back and off with you. Bring Dr. Jervis back with you to the Grange if
+you can."
+
+The merry little picnic party looked dismal enough as they slowly, and
+almost in funereal fashion, left the scene of festivity. The strongest
+of the party had to take turns to carry poor Nora's litter, for she
+could not endure any less easy movement.
+
+Nan came up to Hester and took her hand.
+
+"I don't know what the meaning of all this is," she said; "but, somehow
+or other, I think Annie must be at the bottom of it."
+
+"Where is Annie?" queried Hester. "How completely she seems to have lost
+herself. Oh, how miserable poor little Kitty looks. Come here, Kitty,
+dear, and tell me all about the accident."
+
+"I cannot," said Kitty. "Don't ask me; it's part of the secret."
+
+"I knew Annie Forest was at the bottom of it," murmured Nan. "Oh, what a
+horrid, horrid, dreadful ending to the first of my holidays!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+"I BROKE MY WORD," SAID ANNIE.
+
+
+In utter ignorance of the tragic events which were happening in Friar's
+Wood, Annie Forest and her two little companions were having a gay time
+at the Towers. Annie's old passion for children had not deserted her.
+She was often heard to say that she was happier with a frank, original
+child than she was with most grown people. Boris was certainly frank;
+Nell was certainly original. Annie's beauty and brightness had won
+Boris's heart from the moment of her arrival; Nell's affections went out
+to her also, but for a different reason. Nell lived in a world of
+romance, and Annie's conduct in giving up her own pleasure had seemed to
+Nell to fit in with her fairy tales and other story-books. The three
+were, therefore, supremely happy during that long afternoon. The picnic
+behind the laurustinus hedge being quite a thing of the past, they
+proceeded to explore the tower, the old ruined chapel, where services
+used to be held morning and night more than three hundred years ago, the
+dungeon under the chapel, and all the other places of historic interest.
+Then the children's gardens were visited; and, finally, Annie was
+persuaded to seat herself in the swing and be sent up into space as high
+as Boris's and Nell's united efforts could accomplish. In their turn
+they were swung by Annie; and then followed tea in the play-room, where
+Nell presided, sitting solemnly in front of the dolls' tea-service and
+helping Annie and Boris and herself to unlimited weak tea, with heaps of
+cream.
+
+The heat of the day was over at last, a perfect summer's evening had set
+in.
+
+"When are they all likely to be back?" asked Annie.
+
+"Not until night, dark night," said Boris with a little sigh.
+
+"What are you sighing for?" asked Annie. "You look quite sad, and I
+don't like you sad; I like you with your eyes smiling and your face
+puckered up with laughter. Nell looks pale and sad, too. What is it
+Nell? what is it Boris?"
+
+"I'd like to be at the picnic now," said Boris, "I didn't mind it in the
+daytime when it was so hot; but now they're lighting another bonfire
+and they're going to have tea, and after tea Guy will tell stories."
+
+"All about bogies," struck up Nell; "yes, I wish I were there."
+
+Annie looked at them both reflectively. She never cared to be with
+children unless she could succeed in making them almost boisterously
+happy.
+
+"But it doesn't matter a bit," said Nell, seeing the shadow cross her
+face; "I shouldn't be very happy in any case to-night."
+
+"Why?" said Annie.
+
+"I'd rather not say, please. You have been good to us; you have helped
+us to have a beautiful day; we are grateful to you, aren't we, Boris?"
+
+"We love her," said Boris.
+
+"You are two darlings," said Annie. "Well, now, suppose we have a bit of
+fun on our own account. How far is it from here to the Grange?"
+
+"By the road, three miles," said Boris; "but across the fields, only a
+mile and a half."
+
+"We'll go to the Grange across the fields," said Annie. "I heard Hester
+say this morning that she was going to try and induce you all to come
+back to the Grange to supper, so we three will join the rest of the
+party at supper, and if we start at once well be ready to welcome them
+when they arrive."
+
+"What a spiffin' plan," said Boris; "do let's start at once."
+
+Nell clapped her hands.
+
+"Now I've made you happy again, that's all right," said Annie. She took
+a hand of each child, and they started on their pleasant walk. Boris was
+very messy and untidy, his face was stained with fruit and his hands
+were dirty. Nell's blue cotton frock was also considerably out at the
+gathers round the waist, but the children did not give a thought to
+their clothes or personal appearance in the sudden rapture with which
+they hailed Annie's suggestion.
+
+The walk across the fields in the sweet freshness of the summer's
+evening was all that was delightful, and in an incredibly short space of
+time, the three found themselves at the other side of the turnstile
+which led into the grounds of the Grange.
+
+"We'll be there long before the others," said Boris. "Suppose we light a
+great bonfire on the lawn to welcome them." But even wild Annie did not
+see the propriety of this suggestion.
+
+"No, we won't do that," she said. "If the Grange were our own place we
+would. We'll just go and sit on the terrace and watch for them."
+
+"Won't Kitty jump when she sees us?" said Boris, a look of satisfaction
+radiating all over his face. "She'll see that we have had our lark as
+well as the rest of them; oh, I call it real spiffin' fine."
+
+They were walking rapidly through the shrubbery now, and as Boris
+finished his speech they came out on the broad sweep in front of the
+house.
+
+Just before the entrance a brougham was standing, and instead of
+solitude they found themselves surrounded by familiar figures.
+
+Kitty was the first to observe them. She gave a stifled sort of scream,
+and pushing aside Boris, who was prepared to rush into her arms, came up
+to Annie, took one of her hands, and looked into her face.
+
+"I kept the secret true as true," she said; "but it almost killed me,
+and it has nearly quite killed Nora." Her poor little voice broke with
+these last words, and she burst into the frantic sobs which she had
+bravely kept back until now.
+
+"What in the world is the matter?" said Annie, kneeling down and putting
+her arm round the excited child.
+
+"Why, that's Dr. Jervis's carriage," shouted Boris. "What can be up?"
+
+"Why are you back so early from the picnic?" asked Nell.
+
+But Kitty sobbed on unable to reply.
+
+She felt the comfort of Annie's arms round her, and presently she laid
+her hot, flushed, little face on Annie's neck and wetted her frill with
+her plentiful tears, but no information could be got at present from
+poor Kitty's lips.
+
+"There's Molly, and there's Hester," exclaimed Boris, "they'll tell us;
+oh, and there's Nan, too. Hullo Nan, come here and tell us what the
+rumpus is about."
+
+Nan rushed up excitedly.
+
+"Nora is nearly killed," she said; "she fell from a tree over twenty
+feet from the ground, and her back is hurt awfully, and Hester said
+she'd better come here, and she's lying in the library and Dr. Jervis is
+there. I haven't the faintest idea how it happened," continued Nan;
+"only it seems to be your fault, Annie; it seems to have something to do
+with you and a secret, only Kitty won't tell."
+
+Kitty ceased to cry; she raised her face and looked at Annie. Annie
+struggled to her feet.
+
+She was about to reply to Nan when Hester came up and spoke to her.
+
+"Oh, Annie," she said, "where have you been all day? We have been
+dreadfully anxious about you; and poor Nora has been hurt, and Kitty
+seems in trouble of some sort, and says that she won't tell her secret.
+What can it all mean?"
+
+"Well, really!" said Annie. She paused a minute; the rich colour mantled
+her cheeks; her bright eyes seemed to flash fire.
+
+"I'm awfully sorry about Nora," she said; "but I fail to see how I am to
+blame. From your manner, Nan, and yours, Hester, I seem to be accused of
+something. What is it, pray?"
+
+"Oh, it's nothing, indeed," said Molly, who had come up now and joined
+Hester. "What does it matter, Hetty, when we are all so awfully
+wretched? Poor Annie did not mean anything. Do let her alone!"
+
+"I did not mean anything?" echoed Annie. "I'm afraid I can't allow
+myself to be let alone. I must find out what I'm accused of. Kitty, you
+say you kept my secret safely. Speak now and tell everybody."
+
+"I can't stay to listen," said Molly, turning away; "it's too--too
+trivial!"
+
+Hester and Nan, however, still stood facing Annie, and the boys, Guy and
+Harry, also came and joined the group.
+
+"Speak, Kitty," said Annie.
+
+"You were kind," said Kitty; "it's wicked to say you weren't kind. You
+found out that Boris hadn't come to the picnic, and you said you'd go
+back for him; you'd walk back all in the heat, and you didn't mind the
+bull, nor the bull-dog, nor--nor--anything; and you said I wasn't to
+tell, and 'twould be a surprise when you came back with Boris and,
+perhaps, Nell, too--and I promised. Then we had dinner, and you weren't
+there, and everybody asked for you and everybody wondered where you
+could be; but Hester said you were a sort of 'centric girl, and that you
+was grown up and we needn't fret; and Nan said you was nothing if you
+wasn't unexpected; so nobody fretted, and I kept my secret locked up
+tight. But Nora wanted you more than the others, and she saw my lips
+shut tight and my eyes watching for you through the trees, and she
+guessed I had a secret; and I said I had, but I wouldn't tell; and she
+said she'd take me to mother, and that mother would make me tell, and so
+I climbed up into the beech-tree to get away from her; and I was naughty
+and cross, and she was naughty and cross, too, and she followed me up
+into the beech-tree, and I got out upon a rotten bough, where I thought
+she'd be sure not to come; but she did come, cause I was real naughty
+and I taunted her; and the bough broke and she fell, but I didn't fall
+'cause I caught on to a bough higher up. It's been dreadful ever since,"
+continued Kitty, pressing her hands tightly together. "Worse than when I
+forgot to give water to Harry's canary and it died, and worse than when
+I pulled up all Guy's canariensis in mistake for weeds; its been awful,
+but I did keep the secret."
+
+"Is that all?" said Annie.
+
+"Yes, that's all," replied Kitty. "I did keep the secret."
+
+"I understand," said Annie. "I should have come back, of course. I did
+not remember that I might get you into trouble, Kitty; it did not occur
+to me that you were the plucky sort of child you are."
+
+"Plucky?" echoed Guy with some scorn. "I don't call it plucky to be
+just decently _honourable_. We don't tell lies. Kitty would have told a
+lie if she had broken her word."
+
+"And I promised to come back, and I broke my word," said Annie. "Yes, I
+fully understand; it's just like me."
+
+She turned away as she spoke, and, plunging into the shrubbery, was lost
+to view.
+
+"Leave her alone, children," said Hester to the astonished children, who
+were preparing to follow her. "I knew it would cut her to the heart, but
+it can't be helped. She'll be all right by-and-by, but she can't stand
+any of you now; you must leave her alone."
+
+Boris came up to Kitty, put his arms round her neck, and kissed her. His
+kiss was of the deepest consolation to her; she walked away with him
+slowly, and Nell took Hester's hand. Nell's face was like a little white
+sheet; she was trembling in her agitation.
+
+"Oh, what is the matter?" she gasped. "Is Nonie awfully hurt? Is it
+dangerous? Oh, Hetty, it's worse than the colts! Oh, I felt bad this
+morning, but it was nothing to this--nothing! May I stay with you for
+the present, Hetty?"
+
+"Yes, darling," said Hester in her kindest voice. "Come into the house
+with me. We are all very anxious until we get the doctor's opinion. Your
+father and mother are both with Nora; and Dr. Jervis is there and Jane.
+Everything is being done that can be done, and we know nothing at
+present. Come, Nell, we must be brave--and here is Molly; she is just as
+anxious as you."
+
+Nell looked at Molly, who was standing in the porch; she flew to her
+eldest sister's side, clasped her arms round her neck, and shed a few
+of those silent, rare tears which only came to her now and then, for
+Nell was no ordinary child, and rarely showed her deepest feelings.
+
+"I don't know how I'm to live through this suspense," said poor Molly.
+
+But even as she spoke it came to an end.
+
+Mr. Lorrimer came out of the study, closing the door softly behind him.
+He strode quickly through the hall, and entered the porch where the
+three girls were standing. Molly stepped forward quickly and seized his
+arm.
+
+"Well?" she asked.
+
+He gave her a quick look; his face was very pale, and a sudden
+contraction of pain flitted across his brow.
+
+"Well, my loves," he said, "we must all try to be as cheerful as we can
+and not break down; there isn't a bit of use in breaking down."
+
+"But how is she, father?" asked Molly. "What does Dr. Jervis say?"
+
+"He says, Molly, that poor Nora is very seriously hurt; but it is
+impossible to form a reliable opinion on her case so soon. He wishes us
+to get Dr. Bentinck from London to see her, and I am going to drive to
+Nortonbury to telegraph to him to come at once. Now, don't keep me, my
+dears. By the way, Molly, mother says you had better take the children
+home as soon as ever you can."
+
+"Oh, may I not stay?" asked Molly.
+
+"No, my dear, I think not; there must be some head at home. Jane
+Macalister will stay and help your mother to-night until we can get the
+services of a proper nurse. Take the children back as soon as you can,
+Molly. God bless you, my love."
+
+The Squire stepped into the doctor's brougham and was driven rapidly
+away. Molly raised her hand to her forehead.
+
+"I feel stunned," she said. "Nora was the gayest and the brightest and
+the prettiest of us all. Nothing ever seemed to happen to Nora, and now
+she is so ill that I may not even see her."
+
+"She will be better to-morrow, I am sure," said Hester.
+
+"Oh, Hetty, if I could only stay here," cried poor Molly.
+
+"I wish you could, Molly, with all my heart."
+
+"We'll know nothing of how she's getting on at the Towers," continued
+Molly. "I think it will drive me mad not to know."
+
+"I'll come over very early in the morning and tell you, and perhaps
+something may be arranged to-morrow so that you can stay here."
+
+"I might stay instead of Jane. I know I could help mother far better
+than Jane can. But there, I suppose I must have patience. Come, Nell."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+AN AWFULLY FRIVOLOUS GIRL.
+
+
+Dr. Bentinck, the great London surgeon, arrived early on the following
+morning. Poor Nora was quite conscious now, and in great pain. This
+pain, however, was considered rather a good sign than otherwise, for had
+the spine been much injured the little girl would have been numbed and
+stupid. Dr. Bentinck examined his little patient with great tenderness
+and care. His opinion, when it was given, was a great deal more
+favourable than anyone dared to hope. He thought that Nora would
+eventually be as well as ever again; but although he was sure that there
+was no permanent injury to the spine, there was a great deal of present
+distress and discomfort to be got through. The little girl must lie
+perfectly still on her back for many weeks, and it would be many a long
+day before the dancing, romping Nora of old would return to the Towers.
+
+After the night of suspense and terror, however, which poor Mrs.
+Lorrimer, by Nora's bedside, and Molly in her lonely little bedroom at
+the Towers, had undergone, the great London doctor's news seemed all
+that was delightful. Hester hurried to the Towers to put Molly's anxious
+heart at rest, and Mrs. Lorrimer returned to the room where Nora was
+lying very white and still.
+
+Nora had received a shock the day before which must influence her during
+all the remainder of her days. It seemed to shake all her little
+artificial affected nature off and to reveal the real Nora, who was
+frightened and weak and silly, and yet who had somewhere beneath her
+frivolous exterior a real little heart of gold. If there was one person
+whom Nora really adored, and in whose presence she was ever her truest
+and best, it was her mother. She looked at her mother now as she
+re-entered the room.
+
+"Stoop down and tell me," she said in a whisper.
+
+Mrs. Lorrimer bent over her.
+
+"Yes, my love," she said. "What do you want to know?"
+
+"Am I going to die, mother?"
+
+"Die? not a bit of it, my darling. Dr. Bentinck has given us quite a
+cheerful opinion of you. He says there is no very serious injury, and
+that you will be your usual self by-and-by."
+
+Nora's eyes brightened.
+
+"I am very glad," she said. "I didn't want to die. I don't think I'm
+quite fit."
+
+"My little daughter will have learnt a severe lesson by this accident,"
+said Mrs. Lorrimer; "but now you must lie still, love, and think of
+nothing but how quickly you can get well again."
+
+Nora closed her eyes, and Mrs. Lorrimer sat down in an easy chair by the
+bedside.
+
+The next day the little girl was considerably better, and Mrs. Lorrimer
+proposed that she and Jane should return to the Towers and send Molly to
+look after Nora. A good surgical nurse had arrived from town the evening
+before; Molly's services, therefore, would only be of the lightest.
+
+Mrs. Lorrimer went into the morning room, where Hester and Annie were
+sitting together.
+
+The moment she did so Annie jumped up and came to her.
+
+"How is Nora?" she asked.
+
+"She is much better, my dear; in fact, almost quite like her old self
+to-day. She cannot, of course, move without the greatest pain, but when
+she lies perfectly still she is tolerably easy."
+
+"Then I may go to see her, may I not?" asked Annie.
+
+"If you will promise to be very quiet. It would not do to excite her in
+any way."
+
+"There never was such a good nurse as Annie," exclaimed Hester. "She has
+a soothing influence over sick people which is quite marvellous. Did I
+ever tell you how she saved Nan's life years ago at Lavender House?"
+
+"Oh, that's an old story," said Annie, laughing and reddening. "Well,
+granted that I possess a sort of mesmerism, may I use it for Nora's
+benefit?"
+
+"Certainly, my love," said Mrs. Lorrimer, smiling affectionately at
+Annie's bright face.
+
+She ran off, singing as she went.
+
+Nora was lying perfectly flat on the little bed which had been hastily
+improvised for her in the study. The room was now turned into a
+comfortable bedroom, but was also in part a sitting-room. A large screen
+effectually shut away the bedroom part of the furniture and partly
+screened Nora also.
+
+Annie had not gone straight to the sick room. She had rushed first into
+the conservatory and made frantic mad havoc amongst the roses there. The
+choicest blooms, any quantity of unopened buds, were cut by her reckless
+fingers. She gathered a whole quantity of maidenhair to mix with the
+roses, and then, a tender colour on her own cheeks, her dark eyes bright
+as well as soft, she appeared like a radiant vision before the tired,
+sad eyes of the sick child.
+
+Nora was just well enough to feel the monotony of her present position,
+to think longingly of the life of active movement which was hers at the
+Towers. Even lessons in the old schoolroom, even that hateful darning
+and mending to which she had to devote a portion of her time each day,
+seemed delightful in contrast to her present inertia. She was thinking
+of Friar's Wood and of Annie's bright face just when Annie herself,
+looking like a bit of the summer morning, appeared in view.
+
+"Now, don't get excited," said Annie smiling at her. "You'll see such a
+lot of me during the next few weeks that you need not get into a state
+just because I've come into the room. I feel that in a certain fashion I
+am to blame for your accident, so I am going to take your amusements
+upon my shoulders; and if you just allow me to manage matters, I'll
+promise that you shan't have a dull time while you are getting well.
+Have you a headache?"
+
+"No, not a bit."
+
+"That's all right; then you won't mind my talking. Are you fond of
+pretty things?"
+
+"Yes, very fond."
+
+"Well, I'll sit here, just where you can comfortably see the flowers and
+me. I expect we'll make a very pretty picture, but you need not say so.
+I wonder where there's a looking-glass. Oh, yes, in that corner,
+decently covered with an antimacassar. Well, then, glass, you have got
+to uncover for my benefit. I wish to see whether I look pretty or not."
+
+Annie danced up to the glass; Nora could watch her each movement.
+
+Her steps were as light as a sylph's, nothing rattled in the sick-room
+as she moved about it. She took up a comb and re-arranged her dark,
+curling hair. She placed a rose in her belt, nodded to her own bright
+image, and then, seating herself before a small table, began to arrange
+the flowers. "Nora, you can't think what a mass of roses there are in
+the green-house this morning. Of course the garden is full, too, but I
+did not wait to go to the garden to get these for you. You can watch me
+just as long as you fancy and then shut your eyes. These half-open buds
+are to be placed on a table close to you, where you can smell them. The
+other flowers we'll put here and there about the room. It's a good
+thing you were brought into this pretty study, for from where you lie
+you can fancy you are in a sitting-room, and that you are just having a
+stretch on the sofa to rest yourself. Fancy goes a long way, doesn't
+it?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Nora. "I'm afraid I can't fancy that."
+
+Tears filled her eyes as she spoke.
+
+"How cool you look," she said presently, "and--and active and happy."
+
+"It wouldn't do for me to look unhappy when I am with you, would it?"
+asked Annie. "Now tell me, do you like this dress?"
+
+"Yes, it's very pretty. What stuff is it?"
+
+"Only pink cambric, trimmed with pink embroidery. Would you like me to
+make you one?"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+Nora's eyes brightened perceptibly.
+
+"What I say," replied Annie. "I made this dress for myself. I make all
+my dresses, for I am not at all well off; in short, I am poor, and Mrs.
+Willis is so sweet and dear that she gives me a couple of hours every
+day to devote to needlework. In consequence I have got some pretty
+things, although they cost next to nothing. Now, I think you and I are
+something alike. We are both dark, and we have both got bright colour.
+Oh, I don't mean that you have a bright colour just now, you poor little
+darling; but when you are well, you are sweet, like a wild rose. Suppose
+I make you a pink cambric frock, and a white one and a blue one? I have
+got a white and a blue. When you're well again you'll look quite lovely
+in them, Nora. What do you say?"
+
+"I'd like it awfully," said Nora. "You are very good, very good; but I
+haven't got any money. I--I am even poorer than you."
+
+"Are you? How delightful. I adore _poor lady_ girls, because they are
+always contriving, and that's so interesting. We'll make the dresses out
+of odds and ends, and they shan't cost you a penny."
+
+"It's very good of you," said Nora. She was too weak to argue and
+protest, and the vision of her pretty little self in alternate dresses
+of pink and white and blue cambric was decidedly refreshing.
+
+She lay and looked at Annie and acknowledged to herself that she made a
+pretty, a beautiful, picture, and the discontented lines round her mouth
+vanished, and the time did not seem long.
+
+That evening Molly, excited and in high spirits, arrived on the scene.
+
+Molly was absolutely trembling as she came into the room where Nora was
+lying; but although her love was ten times deeper, she had not Annie's
+marvellous tact, and soon contrived to tire poor Nora dreadfully. The
+nurse seeing this sent her away, and Molly came back to Hester with a
+very crestfallen expression of face.
+
+"I can't make out how it is," she said; "but Nora does not seem a bit
+glad to see me."
+
+"Oh, nonsense," said Hester; "what do you mean?"
+
+Annie was sitting in a corner of the room busily engaged over Henry
+Kingsley's novel, "Geoffrey Hamlyn." She did not raise her eyes, but
+bent her curly head still lower over the fascinating pages. Nan had gone
+to spend a few days at the Towers, and the great house at the Grange
+seemed very quiet and still.
+
+Molly sank down into a chair near Hester.
+
+"I have been so excited about this meeting," she said. "Nora is almost
+my twin-sister, and I have suffered so terribly about her. I cannot tell
+you the relief and joy of being allowed to come here to look after her,
+but now I fear I shall be next to no good."
+
+"Well, you'll be no end of good to me," said Hester; "and, of course,
+Nora will like to have you by-and-by, but she is still very weak and
+cannot bear the least excitement."
+
+"But nurse tells me that you, Annie, spent some hours in her room
+to-day."
+
+At these words Annie sprang to her feet, and "Geoffrey Hamlyn" fell with
+a bang to the floor.
+
+"I did spend hours in her room," she said, "and I don't think I tired
+her; but, then, perhaps you kissed her a lot, Molly?"
+
+"Kissed her?" exclaimed Molly; "I should think so, at least a hundred
+times."
+
+"Oh, good gracious, how dreadfully fatiguing for a sick person. Well,
+you see, I didn't kiss her once, nor even touch her."
+
+"But you aren't her sister," said Molly.
+
+"No, no; and that is the reason that I am a very good person to be with
+her, because I amuse her without exciting her. All I did to-day was to
+sit in the room where she could see me, and arrange some flowers and
+have a little talk about dressmaking."
+
+Molly opened her eyes in astonishment. Nora had been at the brink of
+death. Had not Molly spent a whole night in fervent and passionate
+prayers for her recovery? Did not Nora love Molly, and did not Molly
+love Nora as only loving sisters can love? and yet Molly exhausted poor
+Nora, while Annie Forest, who was a stranger, soothed her.
+
+Molly looked at Annie now without in the least comprehending her, and
+for the first time in all her gentle life a distinct sensation of
+jealousy was aroused within her.
+
+Annie left the room a moment later, and Hester turned to Molly.
+
+"I see you don't understand Annie," she said.
+
+"Yes, I'm sure I do; what an awfully frivolous girl she must be. Fancy
+her talking of dress to Nora, and she so ill."
+
+"But it did Nora heaps of good; nurse said she was quite jolly this
+afternoon, and that Annie was the companion of all others for her."
+
+"Don't say that again, Hester," said Molly; "it makes me feel quite
+wicked."
+
+"I know well," replied Hester, "that Annie is thoughtless."
+
+"Thoughtless? I should think so; but for her Nora would never have been
+hurt."
+
+"But she has the warmest heart in the world," continued Hester. "I did
+not understand her for a long time. Indeed, Molly, I don't mind telling
+you that once I hated her; but, oh, if you could only see Annie at her
+best. She can be--yes, she can be noble."
+
+Molly stared in non-comprehension.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE DIAMOND RING.
+
+
+Those of my readers who have read "A World of Girls" will know all about
+the early story of Annie Forest; but, to those who have not, I may as
+well explain that she was a motherless girl, that she had been in her
+day a sad tomboy, that she had a father living, but that it was
+absolutely necessary for her before long to earn her own living. She was
+still at school, however, although she now occupied the post there of
+pupil-teacher. Mrs. Willis, the head-mistress of Lavender House, the
+school where Annie was educated, was her warm and devoted friend. Mrs.
+Willis loved all her pupils and had an extraordinary influence over
+them, but Annie was almost like her adopted child.
+
+She stood now in the wide, cool hall at the Grange, and reflected for a
+moment as to what she should do. She then ran lightly up to her pretty
+bedroom, and, opening her trunk, began to rummage eagerly among its
+contents. Annie would not be Annie if she were not the most impulsive
+creature in the world. She meant to devote herself to Nora; she had a
+great gift for reading character, and a quick glance showed her how best
+she might amuse this little girl. Nora was pretty, but Nora was not
+richly endowed with pretty frocks. Annie felt sure that she would arouse
+the keenest sympathy in the sick girl if she used her skilful fingers to
+cover the defects in Nora's wardrobe. She had made her own cambric
+frocks, and imagined that she had plenty of stuff in her trunk to make
+similar ones for Nora; she saw, to her dismay, however, that she had
+left the cambric behind her at school; and, as Mrs. Willis was away, and
+Lavender House was shut up during the summer vacation, it would be
+impossible for her to send for it. She had only a few shillings in her
+purse; she was well aware that Nora was possessed of no money. How,
+then, could she redeem her promise? Annie could not bring herself to ask
+Hester to help her, and yet, at the same time, it would never, never do
+to disappoint Nora! Annie had brought herself to consider Nora her own
+special patient. She had spent an hour with her in the morning and
+nearly two hours in the afternoon, and during the afternoon visit the
+girls had talked a good deal about the frocks. It was arranged between
+them that they were to be surprise frocks, and that Mr. and Mrs.
+Lorrimer were to know nothing about them until they saw Nora well once
+more and arrayed in the prettiest of the three. Annie had hunted up some
+fashion-books, and had consulted Nora about the shape and the cut of the
+sleeves, and the way the skirt was to be hung and the embroidery sewn
+on. Both girls had been animated over the discussion, and Nora had been
+too interested to feel fatigue.
+
+Well, that happened a few hours ago; now Annie, on her knees, bent over
+her empty trunk with an expression of keen dismay.
+
+What was she to do? How could she possibly raise the money necessary to
+the purchase of the cambric? She calculated that the cambric and
+embroidery necessary for the making of three simple dresses would cost
+from twenty-five to thirty shillings This was not a large sum, but
+everything is by proportion, and for poor Annie, with five shillings in
+her purse and very little chance of any more money coming to her until
+the end of her visit to the Grange, thirty shillings seemed absolutely
+unattainable.
+
+"But I must get it somehow!" she murmured, flinging herself on the floor
+by her open trunk as she spoke. "I'm not going to be beaten by a little
+paltry sum like that! I promised Nora the frocks, and she shall have
+them! I didn't care a bit for Nora yesterday--she didn't suit me, and I
+thought her affected; but if I hadn't been so desperately thoughtless,
+she'd have been well now; and, as I have been in part the cause of her
+accident, I'm simply bound to look after her. Have those frocks she
+must! Poor little bit of frivolity, nothing in the world will soothe her
+nerves so much as seeing me making them for her. But that money--that
+thirty shillings! Oh, _dash_ that thirty shillings! Why should a mean
+little sum like that worry a girl almost into fits? Get it, I _will_;
+and ask Hester to help me, I _won't_! The frocks are to be a secret
+between Nora and me; the secret will be half the fun. Now, how am I to
+get the money? Have I anything to sell?"
+
+Annie rose from the floor, where she had seated herself, and, going to a
+drawer, opened it. She took out a little leather box, and looked
+anxiously at its contents. There were a few treasures there, dear from
+association, but not of a valuable sort. There was a silver brooch,
+shaped like a horn, with a little bell attached; a schoolfellow had
+brought it to her from Switzerland; it probably cost a franc, and,
+although Annie admired it immensely on her neck, she did not believe any
+jeweller would give her sixpence for it. Then there was a basket
+beautifully carved out of an apricot-stone, and a narrow silver chain
+broken in many parts; and there was a bog-oak brooch and an old jet
+bracelet. Annie also possessed a gold locket and chain which she had won
+as a prize on a certain memorable occasion, but this treasure she had
+also stupidly left behind her. How provoking! She had really nothing she
+could sell for thirty shillings. But stay, she had forgotten. She
+coloured high as a memory came to her. She had one article of solid
+value--a ring. In one sense it was not hers; in another it was. It was a
+gold ring, with a single diamond; this ring had belonged to Annie
+Forest's mother. On her dying bed she had given the ring to Mrs. Willis.
+One day Mrs. Willis had shown it to Annie, had yielded to Annie's
+entreaties that she might borrow it for this visit to the Grange, and
+had told her that, although she could not part with her mother's last
+gift during her lifetime, she would leave the ring to Annie in her will.
+
+With her dark eyes full of excitement, Annie now took the ring out of
+its little morocco case and looked at it.
+
+She had meant to wear it proudly on her finger during her stay at the
+Grange; but, in the excitement of passing events, had forgotten to do so
+up to the present time. The ring was of value; no one had seen it on her
+finger, therefore no one would miss it. It occurred to Annie that she
+might ask a jeweller to lend her thirty shillings on the ring. With this
+thirty shillings she could buy the stuff for Nora's frocks; and as her
+father always sent her a pound on her birthday, and that birthday was
+only a little over a month away, she thought that she might manage to
+scrape together thirty shillings to redeem the ring before she returned
+to school.
+
+Annie's mind was quickly made up. She would pawn the ring to someone,
+and trust to her lucky star to get it back before she returned to
+Lavender House. She knew well that Mrs. Willis would ask her for it as
+soon as ever she went back to school. Mrs. Willis was a person who never
+forgot: big things and small things alike found a place in her memory;
+but long before then Annie would, of course, have the ring in her
+possession.
+
+Having made up her mind to sell it, she wondered how she could
+accomplish this feat. She would have not only to sell the ring, but also
+to buy the cambric and embroidery without anyone knowing anything about
+it. The secret would lose half its fascination if anybody guessed. Annie
+thought anxiously for a moment, then an idea came to her. Nan had talked
+a good deal about her old nurse. Annie was a prime favourite with nurse,
+who always considered that she owed Annie a good deal for having rescued
+her darling from the gipsies some years ago. Perhaps nurse would help
+Annie now; she resolved to go and sound the old woman.
+
+Putting the ring in its morocco case, she opened the baize door which
+led to the nursery part of the house, and soon found herself in Mrs.
+Martin's apartments. Mrs. Martin was known by three different
+appellations: to Hester she was nurse, or nursey, to Sir John Thornton
+she was Patty, but to the servants and to strangers she was always
+spoken of as Mrs. Martin. She was extremely punctilious as to the manner
+in which she was addressed; and now, as Annie entered her room she
+wondered which of her three titles would best propitiate her.
+
+"Well, my dear, what do you want?" said the old lady, looking up with a
+pleased smile from her knitting as Annie's pretty head was pushed
+roguishly round the door. "Oh, come now, Miss Forest; I know your
+collogueing ways. But you ought to be in bed, my dear, for it's past ten
+o'clock."
+
+"And so ought you to be in bed, you dear, naughty, old thing," said
+Annie; "but you know people don't always do what they ought. If going to
+bed is what I ought to do at the present moment, you ought to do the
+same, nursey. May I call you nursey?"
+
+"Well, Miss Annie, you're almost like one of the family; but still I'm
+properly only nurse to my own two bairns--Miss Hetty and Miss Nan."
+
+"And this is a motherless bairn who would like you to be nursey to her,"
+said Annie, seating herself on a low hassock at the old woman's feet and
+looking into her face.
+
+"Well, and nursey it shall be," said Mrs. Martin. "Eh, but God has given
+you a very bonny face, my love."
+
+Annie took up one of the horny hands, and rubbed it affectionately
+against her soft cheek.
+
+"Nurse," she said, "I am quite in trouble. I wonder if I might tell you
+a secret?"
+
+"Well, dear, if you like to trust me, safe it shall be. Inviolate it
+shall be kept, Miss Annie, and you know that violet's the colour of
+truth."
+
+"Of course I do, you dear old thing. What a wonderful comfort it is to
+talk to you. I knew you'd let me confide in you, and it will be such a
+load off my mind."
+
+"My dear, I hope you haven't been at any mad pranks. The young ladies of
+the present day are wonderful for audaciousness."
+
+Annie sighed.
+
+"I wish I wasn't audacious," she said; "and I wish I wasn't thoughtless
+and reckless. I'm always meaning to be kind to people, and somehow or
+other I'm always kind in the wrong way; it's very, very trying."
+
+Annie's pretty eyes filled with real tears of contrition.
+
+"You're but young, my bairn," said Mrs. Martin, "and the heart's in the
+right place; anyone can see that who looks at you, Miss Annie."
+
+"Nurse, you are a comfort to me. Now I will tell you my trouble. At the
+picnic the other day I got into a state of mind because little Boris
+Lorrimer had not come, and I confided in Kitty Lorrimer and went off to
+fetch him, and Kitty promised she would not tell where I had gone until
+I had brought him back; but when I got to the Towers I was very
+hot--very, very hot with my long walk, and I found that Boris did not
+wish to come back with me, and I forgot all about my promise to Kitty,
+and stayed at the Towers for the rest of the day; but poor Kitty kept
+her word and did not tell, and Nora got cross with her, and climbed up
+the beech tree after her, and crept out on to the rotten bough, and so
+got the dreadful fall which has made her so ill. Nora would not have met
+with this terrible accident but for me; so I have taken upon myself to
+amuse her, and I promised to make her three dresses."
+
+"Sakes alive! Three?" interrupted Mrs. Martin; "and why three, Miss
+Annie? Wouldn't one be enough to content her?"
+
+"No, nursey, no; three cambric dresses or nothing. I promised to make
+them, and I thought I had the cambric and embroidery in my trunk, but
+when I looked I found I had left it all behind me at school. You can't
+think how upset I am about it, for I must keep my promise to Nora, and
+Nora has got no money, and I have only five shillings, which I must keep
+for stamps and odds and ends; and I would not ask Hester or Nan to lend
+me sixpence for the world."
+
+"But why not, my dear? I am sure Miss Hetty would be proud to oblige."
+
+"No, nurse, it must not be," said Annie; "Hester is to know nothing
+about the frocks, and Nan is to know nothing and Molly is to know
+nothing. The fun of the thing is its being a great, great secret. Why,
+the making of those frocks in the room with Nora and only Nora knowing;
+why, the mystery of the thing will almost cure her, it will, really. Oh,
+nursey, nursey," patting Mrs. Martin excitedly as she spoke, "you must,
+you shall help me."
+
+"And you want me to lend you the money, my pet?"
+
+"No; how can you imagine such a thing. But I'll tell you what I want you
+to do. I want you to get up early to-morrow morning, quite early, and to
+make one of the grooms drive you into Nortonbury."
+
+"Sakes alive! What for? I'm not used to the air without my breakfast."
+
+"I'll get up and get you your breakfast. I'll boil the kettle here, and
+make your tea and toast your bread. You must go to Nortonbury, and you
+must be back between ten and eleven o'clock."
+
+"And when I go what am I to do there, my dear? Oh, dear, dear, the ways
+of the young of the present day are masterful beyond belief. You make me
+all of a quiver, Miss Annie."
+
+"I knew you'd rise to it," said Annie. "I felt if there were a soul in
+this world who would pull me out of the horrid scrape I have got myself
+into, it would be you, nursey."
+
+"Well, my love, you have got a blarneying tongue, and no mistake; but
+now, when I do get to Nortonbury, what am I to do?"
+
+Annie pulled the morocco case out of her pocket. She opened it, and
+slipped the ring on Mrs. Martin's little finger.
+
+"You are to sell that," she said; "or, rather--no, you are not to sell
+it for the world--but you are to borrow thirty shillings on it."
+
+"My word! Is it to the pawn-shop you expect me to go, Miss Forest?"
+
+"How nasty of you to say Miss Forest. I'm Annie Forest, in great
+trouble, and looking to you as my last comfort. You are to borrow thirty
+shillings on that beautiful diamond ring. I don't mind where you get it;
+and then you are to buy me seven yards of pink cambric, and seven yards
+of white cambric, and seven yards of blue cambric. These shades, do you
+see? And I want embroidery to match. I have put the number of yards on
+this slip of paper, and a list of buttons and hooks and waistbands and
+linings. Oh, and, of course, cottons to match. Now, will you or won't
+you? Will you be an angel or won't you? That's the plain question I have
+got to ask."
+
+[Illustration: "'YOU ARE TO BORROW THIRTY SHILLINGS ON THAT BEAUTIFUL
+DIAMOND RING'" (_p._ 96).]
+
+"It's the pawn-shop that gets over me, Miss Annie."
+
+"Oh, _please_ don't let it get over you. What can the pawnbroker do to
+you? Most people call him uncle, so I expect he's awfully good-natured."
+
+"Uncle, indeed," exclaimed Mrs. Martin, tossing her head; "it's a word
+you shouldn't know, Miss Annie Forest."
+
+"But why shouldn't I? I never heard that uncles were wicked, except the
+one who killed the babes in the wood. Now you will go; you will be an
+angel! I know this special uncle who is to lend money on my ring will be
+delightful!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE LAND OF PERHAPS.
+
+
+There are some people who always get their way in life. They are by no
+means the best people, nor the most amiable, nor the most thoughtful.
+Sometimes, and not a very rare sometimes either, the poor, thoughtful
+people go to the wall, when the thoughtless and impulsive and careless
+come triumphantly out of their difficulties.
+
+There never was a girl who got into a greater number of scrapes than
+Annie Forest; but neither was there ever a girl who managed to right
+herself more quickly. She knew the art of twisting other people round
+her little finger. Having performed this feat to perfection on Mrs.
+Martin, alias Patty, alias nursey, she went happily to bed, knowing that
+all would be right for the present, and never giving a thought to the
+evil but still distant hour when she must return her mother's ring to
+Mrs. Willis.
+
+Annie rose in good time in the morning, and took upon herself the
+preparing of Mrs. Martin's breakfast. She lit a fire in the old lady's
+sitting-room, and toasted her bread with her own fair hands, and made
+the tea for her to drink.
+
+Mrs. Martin started on her journey to Nortonbury with many fervent
+blessings from Annie, who then returned in a high state of content to
+her own room.
+
+The parcel of cambric arrived in due time, and Annie cut out the first
+of the three frocks that morning.
+
+In order to keep their secret quite to themselves, Nora and Annie
+decided to keep the door of the library locked while they were at work.
+This arrangement was delightful to Nora, but it irritated Molly not a
+little. When she came to see her sister, to be greeted by a locked
+door--and to hear Annie's clear voice singing out from within, "Oh,
+we're so busy, you darling of a Molly asthore. Don't disturb us for the
+present, there's a love," and when this remark was followed by silvery
+laughter from Nora--poor Molly felt herself decidedly out in the cold.
+
+Jealousy was for the first time fiercely stirred in her gentle breast
+and she shed some tears in secret over the change in Nora, who had
+hitherto clung to her and loved her better than anyone else in the
+world.
+
+But what will not a rather frivolous little heart do for the sake of a
+pretty dress?
+
+Nora in her own way was as thoughtless as Annie, and it never occurred
+to either of them as even possible that Molly should be pained by the
+fact of the locked door.
+
+A fortnight passed away. The pink dress and the white were both finished
+and the blue was rapidly approaching completion, when one day the whole
+party at the Grange were considerably electrified and their attention
+turned into a completely new quarter by a letter which arrived for
+Hester from Sir John Thornton.
+
+After writing on various subjects, he concluded his lengthy epistle as
+follows:--
+
+     "I shall not be home for another week. For some reasons I am sorry
+     for this delay; but when I explain matters to you, my dear Hester,
+     on the occasion of my return, you will, I am sure, agree with me
+     that my absence from home is, under the circumstances, allowable.
+     In the meantime, I have not forgotten that Nan's birthday is on the
+     15th of August, and that that date is only a week distant. If in
+     any way possible, I shall return either on the fifteenth or the
+     evening of the day before; but, meanwhile, I give you _carte
+     blanche_ to celebrate the auspicious event in any manner you like.
+     You need spare no expense to make the day as truly festive to
+     yourself and your young friends as you possibly can. I enclose in
+     this letter a blank cheque to which I have affixed my signature.
+     You may fill it in for any sum within reason, and then if you take
+     it to the bank at Nortonbury it will be cashed for you. Buy Nan a
+     handsome present from me, and please choose presents for Annie
+     Forest and all the Lorrimer children. I am sorry to hear bad
+     rumours with regard to the Squire, and that there is a possibility
+     of the Towers being soon in the market; but I trust these rumours
+     are either grossly exaggerated or without any foundation. I am
+     sorry, also, to hear that Nora Lorrimer has met with an accident,
+     but am glad that you are taking care of her, as I know by
+     experience that no one could have a kinder nurse than my good
+     little Hetty. Get every possible thing you can want, my love, for
+     Nan's birthday. Make it a festival to be long remembered by you
+     all. Set your wits to work to make the day a really brilliant one,
+     and expect your loving father, if not to share in the whole of the
+     festivity, at least to be present at a portion of it.
+
+     "Now good-bye, my dear Hester; give my love to Nan, and remember me
+     kindly to your young friend, Miss Forest.--Believe me, your
+     affectionate father,
+
+                              "JOHN THORNTON."
+
+Hester received this letter at breakfast time. She read it through
+gravely--not once, but twice. Annie's gay voice, her peals of merry
+laughter, and her gay and irresistibly funny speeches were diverting the
+attention of Molly, and to a certain extent of Nan; but Nan knew the
+handwriting on the envelope. She was also well aware of the fact that
+the birthday, when she would have the glorious privilege of counting
+nine years as her own, was close at hand. When Hester, therefore, folded
+up the letter, she called to her from the other end of the table.
+
+"Toss it over, Hetty," she said. "I know it's from the Dad; let us hear
+what he says."
+
+"Yes, it is from father," replied Hester in a grave voice.
+
+"May not I read what he says?"
+
+"The beginning part is business."
+
+"Well, I'll skip the business; you can point out where the fun begins.
+What are you looking so mysterious and solemn about? Why may not I read
+the letter?"
+
+Nan looked almost cross; Hester was disturbed. She showed this by
+slipping the letter into her pocket. This fact aroused Annie's
+curiosity, who looked at her with sparkling eyes full of mischief.
+
+"You are a cross-patch," exclaimed Nan in her most spoilt tone. "I never
+knew such a thing. Is not a father's letter meant for one child as well
+as for another?"
+
+"No, Nan, dear, not on this occasion," said Hester in a firm tone. "Now,
+try not to be silly; finish your breakfast, and I will speak to you
+afterwards."
+
+Nan pouted.
+
+"When is Sir John coming back, Hester?" inquired Molly.
+
+"In about a week," replied Hester.
+
+"A week," shouted Nan suddenly recovering her good humour. "Hurrah! my
+birthday will be in a week. My dear, good girls all of you, I am getting
+elderly as fast as possible. I'll be nine in a week; isn't that
+scrumptious? Did Dad say anything about my birthday in that mysterious
+letter, Hetty?"
+
+"He is coming home for your birthday," replied Hester.
+
+"Good, kind, considerate old gentleman," responded Nan in her most
+flippant voice. "Did he say anything more about that great and
+auspicious event, Hetty?"
+
+"He said a great deal more about it; in fact, the largest part of his
+letter was about it; but I'm not going to talk it over now. I propose
+that we all go to Nora's room after breakfast and discuss the letter.
+There is a good deal to discuss, and it is very exciting," continued
+Hester, a flush of brilliant colour coming into her cheeks.
+
+The news that there was a good deal to discuss of an exciting character
+restored even Nan's good humour. Breakfast was hurried over, and Annie
+Forest and Nan rushed off to Nora's room to prepare her for the fact
+that she was soon expected to hold a _levee_, and that the subject under
+discussion was likely to be of a very rousing character.
+
+Molly lingered behind in the breakfast-room; she looked anxiously at
+Hester, who avoided her eyes. Hester did not wish to say anything to
+make Molly unhappy, and she knew that her father's allusion to the
+possible sale of the Towers would fill the poor little girl's heart with
+the most acute misery.
+
+Making a great effort, therefore, to fight down a nameless apprehension
+on her own account, for what important business could be keeping Sir
+John so long away from home, she said in a cheerful voice--
+
+"Now, Molly, we're not going to croak, nor spend the day imagining all
+kinds of unpleasant things. Father has written me a long letter, and
+there are some things in it which I don't quite like; but I am not going
+to talk them over at present. All the end of the letter is taken up with
+Nan's birthday, and that is the matter we have to discuss just now. Come
+along now to the library, and let's get it over."
+
+Nora was still lying flat on her back; but all pain had long left her,
+and she was practically quite well.
+
+The subject of the letter was therefore discussed with intense animation
+by the five eager girls.
+
+Unlimited money, any amount of presents, and _carte blanche_ how to
+spend the birthday in the most agreeable way was surely enough to turn
+the brains of most people.
+
+Many and wild were the plans which Nan proposed.
+
+They would start for a picnic at six in the morning. They would order
+ices from Nortonbury to arrive by special messenger at some impossible
+place at an unearthly hour. They would have bonfires on the top of every
+hill within a reasonable distance. Although it was not Christmas time,
+they would end up with the largest Christmas tree ever seen, and it
+should stand in the centre of the lawn, and every poor child for miles
+round should be invited to see it and to share the wonderful presents
+which should hang from every branch and twig.
+
+Nan's cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright while she made these
+suggestions; but, after all, it was Annie's proposal in the end which
+carried the day.
+
+"Let's have the picnic by all means," she said; "and let all who will go
+to it. If Nan wishes to be charitable, and to think of others rather
+than herself, let her do so; and let all the school children be taken in
+waggons and waggonettes to Friar's Wood or any other beautiful place in
+the neighbourhood, and let Nan herself give them presents before they go
+home. All that, of course, will be very delightful; although, of course,
+neither Nora nor I can be present."
+
+"What do you mean by _your_ not being present?" asked Molly, her brown
+eyes growing dark with anger. "I suppose if anyone is to stay with Nora,
+it ought to be me."
+
+"No, it oughtn't," said Nora. "I wish for Annie; she's more fun."
+
+"And I can't do without you, Molly, darling," interrupted Hester. "You
+always are my right hand when anything important is going on; and then
+you know all the school children by name, which, frankly, I do not."
+
+"Well, now, _do_ hear me out," said Annie; "I have not half done. What I
+say is this, that as Sir John Thornton is so generous, and as he wishes
+everyone in the house to be happy on the day of Nan's birthday, I think
+something should be done to make it up to Nora and me. Now, why
+shouldn't we have a real glorious time in the evening? You have a
+billiard-room in this house, haven't you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Can't we have a ball there?"
+
+"What are we to do with the table?" said Hester.
+
+"Oh," exclaimed Nora, her eyes sparkling, "we have such a heavenly
+ball-room at the Towers; a great enormous room, never used and full of
+rubbish, which can easily be turned out."
+
+"Is there a gallery to that room?" interrupted Annie.
+
+"Yes, at one end."
+
+"Then the whole thing is complete," continued Annie. "We'll have a
+children's fancy ball in the evening, and Nora shall look on from the
+gallery. Nora shall be, in a sort of way, princess of the ceremonies.
+We'll make her up the sweetest dress, and everyone shall come up and
+talk to her; and if presents are to be given away at the end, she shall
+give them. What do you say, girls? Could anything be more perfectly
+lovely than a children's fancy ball in the old ball-room at the Towers?
+Oh, I hope it will be a moonlight night, and the whole place will look
+like fairyland!"
+
+This suggestion was so daring and brilliant that it carried Nora away on
+a storm of enthusiasm immediately. Nan clapped her hands and screamed
+with glee; and even the more sober Hester and Molly could find no
+objections to raise. The ball-room was certainly at the Towers; it
+contained a gallery where the musicians could be, and where, if
+necessary, Nora might rest; it contained what seemed to the children
+like unlimited space, and if to unlimited space unlimited money could
+be added, what brilliant results must be produced!
+
+"If I consent to this," said Hester--"and I think my consent is
+essential--it must be on condition that not a single Lorrimer is put to
+even a shilling's worth of expense. The ball must be Nan's ball; the
+Lorrimers will most kindly give her a room to hold it in, all the rest
+will be our affair. Do you clearly understand, Molly? Do you, Nora?"
+
+"Oh, I understand fast enough," said Nora quickly.
+
+"Yes, I understand," replied Molly in a graver tone.
+
+"Do you agree?"
+
+"Yes," answered Molly.
+
+"Well, your consent being obtained," continued Hester, "I will go with
+you to the Towers this morning, Molly, and look at the ball-room, and
+see Mrs. Lorrimer on the subject."
+
+"The worst of it is," continued Annie, "that we have such a very short
+time to prepare--only one week to make all our fancy dresses and to see
+to all the other arrangements!"
+
+"Fancy dresses!" exclaimed Nora from her sofa. "What am I to wear?"
+
+"You are to be dressed as Queen of the Fairies. You shall lie on a bed
+of rose-leaves, and have gossamer, cloudy sort of drapery all around
+you. Never fear, Nora, you will look lovely--leave it to me."
+
+Nora's eyes sparkled.
+
+"Annie, you're a darling!" she exclaimed, with enthusiasm.
+
+"And what character am I to be, Annie?" cried Nan, pouting her full
+lips. "I'm not jealous, and I don't mind Nora being Queen of the
+Fairies; but please remember that it's my party, and I am really the
+queen of the day."
+
+"So you are, you sweet!" exclaimed Annie. "Don't think for a moment that
+I'll forget you; but you must really give me a little time to think the
+characters over. Suppose I consider everything carefully and jot down a
+few ideas, and suppose we discuss them to-night; and then to-morrow we
+can go to Nortonbury to buy the materials for the dresses."
+
+"But we can't possibly make our own dresses," exclaimed Hester.
+
+"Oh, yes, we can; they'll be twice as original. If you can get in a
+couple of good workwomen to help us, the dresses can easily be made at
+home," exclaimed Annie, her eyes sparkling.
+
+"Hester!" cried Molly, suddenly springing to her feet, "if we are to go
+to the Towers this morning, don't you think we had better start?"
+
+Hester stood up.
+
+"The day is such a delightful one," she said, "that I think we will just
+walk across the fields. I'll run up to my room and fetch my hat and
+gloves, and bring yours down at the same time, Molly."
+
+Five minutes later the two girls had set off. It was now holiday time at
+the Towers, and almost immediately on their arrival they were greeted by
+a whole bevy of children, who rushed up the avenue in a state of
+breathless excitement.
+
+"What do you think, Molly?" exclaimed Kitty, stammering almost in her
+eagerness. "Oh, you'll never guess, for it is so uncommon and
+unexpected--father and mother both went to London this morning?"
+
+"Both--to London?" exclaimed Molly, stepping back a pace or two, while a
+look of surprise, and even consternation, spread itself over her round,
+fair face.
+
+"Dear me, yes!" exclaimed Nell.
+
+"And they were awfully jolly about it," exclaimed Boris; "and mother has
+promised to bring me a rabbit."
+
+"And me a dove," screamed Kitty.
+
+"And perhaps I'm to have a shaggy pony all to myself," exclaimed Nell;
+"but it's only perhaps. It's perhaps, too, with you, Boris, and you,
+Kitty; you oughtn't to forget that."
+
+"Oh, bother perhapses!" exclaimed Kitty. "I know I'm to have my rabbit;
+he's to have lop-ears and long fur, and he's to be snow-white, if
+possible. I described him fully to mother last night when she came to
+tuck me up. I kept pulling my eyes open to stay awake for the purpose."
+
+"And I told mother that I wished for a ring-dove," said Boris. "I want a
+ring-dove awfully, for there's an empty cage in the attic that will just
+fit it. Oh, I do hope, I do hope, that it will come!"
+
+He looked almost sad as he spoke and glanced at Nell, who was not
+looking at him.
+
+"Nell, come here," exclaimed Molly suddenly. "Hester, you can explain to
+Boris and Kitty what you have come about, and they can take you round
+and show you the ball-room. Come along, Nell, I want to talk to you."
+
+Molly put her arm round Nell and drew her down a side walk.
+
+"Now, Nell," she said, "you must explain all this to me. Why has mother
+gone to London? I am not so much surprised about father; father does go
+sometimes, but mother. Why has she gone? Answer me, Nell; tell me what
+you know."
+
+"I don't know anything," said Nell. "Father was out all day yesterday,
+and mother looked very sad. She didn't cry or anything of that sort, of
+course; but she looked sad, and then father came home about tea-time
+quite jolly and in high spirits, and he said something to mother and
+they went into the study together; and then father shouted to Jane
+Macalister to come to them, and Jane went; and presently we were told
+that father and mother were to go to London this morning, and that
+they'd be away perhaps a week, perhaps ten days. Jane told us that, and
+then mother came into the room and she said the same thing, and she
+looked kind of _pretence_-merry you know, and said that _perhaps_ she'd
+bring us back things. It was then Kitty asked for the rabbit, and Boris
+for the dove, and Guy wanted Star-Land and Harry some new carpenter's
+tools, and mother promised everything with a perhaps tacked on; but I
+don't think anyone noticed the perhaps except me, and all the time she
+kept smiling with her lips, but her eyes were so sad."
+
+"And you asked for a pony, Nell?"
+
+Nell coloured crimson.
+
+"No, I didn't," she replied; "but mother turned to me and put her arm
+round me and said, 'If the others get their things you shall have the
+wish of your heart, a shaggy pony.'"
+
+"And what did you say to that, Nell?"
+
+"I whispered back to her that I didn't want her to spend her money; and
+then she kissed me very hard."
+
+"And did father promise things?"
+
+"He said that the house should be refurnished, and that we should go to
+the sea, and he would buy new horses and a lovely carriage for mother.
+Father was lively; I never saw him so gay."
+
+"And they went off this morning?"
+
+"Yes, very early; I wasn't even dressed, but I jumped out of bed and ran
+to the window and saw them driving away."
+
+"And that's all you know, Nell?" exclaimed Molly.
+
+"Yes, that's all I know."
+
+"Now, tell me what you think."
+
+"What I think?" replied Nell. "I--" she hesitated. "No, I'd rather not."
+
+"You must, Nell, you must. Remember I'm your own cosy old Moll; remember
+I understand you, and I'm the eldest girl and mother's right hand.
+There's something that you think very, very hard, Nell, and you have
+wise thoughts, though you are so young. Tell me what they are; tell me
+at once."
+
+Molly knelt on the grass as she spoke and put her arms round Nell, who
+leant up against her and laid her head on her shoulder.
+
+"Now, Nell, speak."
+
+Nell rubbed her cheek against Molly's, as if she found great comfort in
+the contact.
+
+"I think that mother is unhappy," she said, "and that, that we won't get
+the presents."
+
+"Come along and let's find Jane Macalister," exclaimed Molly suddenly.
+She caught Nell's hand and rushed with her towards the house.
+
+When Jane was not teaching, she was, generally, cooking, or mending
+clothes, or putting the store-room in order. Jane never wasted a moment
+of her time, and she was extremely fond of taking up all the loose
+threads of work which other people had dropped. When the girls,
+therefore, now found themselves in the great central hall, and Nell's
+clear, high voice shouted for Jane, the single word, "store-room,"
+seemed to echo back to them from somewhere in the clouds.
+
+The store-room, where the largest supply of preserves and dried goods
+was kept, was high up in the old tower--higher up even than the
+schoolroom.
+
+"You stay downstairs, Nell," exclaimed Molly; "I wish to see Jane
+alone." She reached the spiral stairs, which she began to mount quickly.
+By-and-by with panting breath she arrived at the store-room. The door
+was open, but there was no Jane.
+
+"Where are you, Jane Macalister?" called Molly.
+
+"Linen press," called Jane from still higher up.
+
+Molly mounted once more. Jane, with an old pillow-case pinned round her
+head and a huge apron on, was on her knees sorting feathers.
+
+"What are you doing?" exclaimed Molly.
+
+"Don't speak to me for a moment, Molly; I'm in a perfect rage,"
+exclaimed Jane. "There stand out of the draught, child, or you'll get
+all this fluff into your hair. I have just discovered that the feathers
+put into these last pillows were not properly cured, so I've been
+obliged to take them all out, and I'm sprinkling them with lime. Faugh,
+what a mess the place is in. This is what comes of taking in an
+incompetent kitchen-maid like Susan Hicks. She did not half do the work
+of sorting and curing these feathers. Now, what is it you want, Molly?
+You can see for yourself that I'm up to my eyes in work."
+
+"I can," said Molly. "Well, I'll wait for a moment."
+
+"You'll wait for a moment!" screamed Jane. "I tell you I shan't have
+done for hours. There are at least a dozen pillows to be unpicked and
+their contents well sorted, and sprinkled with lime. I brought up a
+sandwich in my pocket, and don't mean to come downstairs until the job
+is done, and well done, too. Nothing frets me like half-finished work,
+and these pillows would get on my brain at night if I didn't see to
+them."
+
+Molly slowly crossed the linen-press room, and stood by the window.
+
+"There, child," exclaimed Jane, "you're exactly in my light. If you have
+anything to say, say it and have done with it. By the way, how is Nora?
+I hope they're not spoiling her at the Grange."
+
+"Nora is getting on nicely, thank you."
+
+"It was a lucky chance for her," continued Jane, "that she happened to
+be near the Grange when she got hurt. Hester Thornton is sure to give
+her every comfort. Molly, you're exactly in my light."
+
+Molly moved to one side of the window.
+
+Jane Macalister went on vigorously with her work, the fluff from the
+feathers rose in the air, the smell of the lime was pungent.
+
+"Faugh," continued Jane; "here's a lump for you. Susan Hicks, you'd
+better keep out of my way for the present. 'Pon my word! look at this
+quill, why I could make a pen with it; disgraceful, perfectly
+disgraceful. Molly, I wish you wouldn't fidget. What in the world do you
+want to say to me?"
+
+"I want to ask you this," said Molly. "Why has mother gone to London?"
+
+Jane bent low over her work, some fluff got into her nose and made her
+sneeze.
+
+"Look here, Molly," she exclaimed; "your mother went to London with your
+father because she wished to, I suppose."
+
+"Yes, but why did she wish it?"
+
+"That I am not prepared to tell you, my dear."
+
+Molly stamped her foot.
+
+"I wish you'd look at me, Jane," she said, "and leave off fiddling with
+those horrid, detestable feathers. When--when one is quite wretched,
+what do feathers matter? I have come home to find father and mother
+gone."
+
+"And me over the feathers," interrupted Jane. "Well, I suppose people
+want pillows, whether they're happy or miserable. I never knew before,
+at least, that they didn't."
+
+"Jane," said Molly, "you're hiding something from me."
+
+Jane Macalister suddenly rose to her feet. She came up to Molly and took
+her hand. "I didn't know you'd come over this morning, my love," she
+said. "I have been told certain things, and what I'm told in confidence
+cart-ropes won't drag from me. Your father and mother have gone to
+London because there is a hope, just a hope, that terrible trouble may
+be averted. It's all uncertainty, and it's all suspense at present,
+Molly; and those who are cowards will bear it badly, and those who are
+brave will bear it well. That's all I can tell you, my love; and now let
+me get back to the feathers, or I won't have them done by night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE FANCY BALL.
+
+
+The best cure for anxiety, short of removing it altogether, is plenty of
+work. Molly came down from her interview with Jane Macalister with a
+sickening sense of coming disaster filling her heart. Hers was not a
+particularly hopeful nature. By nature she was inclined to look at the
+dark side rather than at the bright. She had plenty of courage and was
+unselfish to a fault; but when she arrived in the hall now and found all
+the rest of the children gathered round Hester and was greeted by peals
+of excited laughter and shouts of excited joy, she would have given a
+great deal to have been able to run away and hide herself.
+
+This was impossible, however; she was dragged into the eager group of
+children, and was obliged not only to listen to their remarks, but to
+make suggestions of her own. In the absence of Mr. and Mrs. Lorrimer,
+Molly had to decide whether the ball-room could be used or not. She
+would have given the world to say no, but scarcely dared to do this with
+all those eager delighted faces gazing at her.
+
+"I am sure mother will consent," she said after a pause. "I will write
+to her to-day and ask her; but I think we may act as if her consent were
+already given. Now, shall we come to the ball-room and see what is
+necessary to be done?"
+
+"Oh, what a darling Molly you are," exclaimed all the other Lorrimers in
+a breath. She found herself whirled in their midst to the old
+ball-room, and the rest of the morning was spent in eager and animated
+discussion.
+
+This magnificent old room was apart from the rest of the house. It was
+entered by a covered way from one of the drawing-rooms; but this
+entrance had long been closed, and the room itself--since the family
+purse had become so low--was only made use of as a play-room for the
+children in wet weather, and as a place for all kinds of lumber and
+rubbish. Hester and Molly were neither of them artistic in their tastes
+or ideas, but they were intensely practical in all they said and did.
+Molly proposed that the room should be first cleared out and thoroughly
+cleaned, and that early on the following morning Annie Forest should
+come and see it. The room was lit by seven tall Gothic windows, and had
+a high arched roof of oak. Round the windows the thick ivy which only
+years can produce hung in heavy masses. Some of this must be cleared
+away, and some light draperies must relieve the dark tone of the walls.
+The gallery was pronounced sufficiently sound for the band to stand
+there, and Annie's original idea of placing Nora in the gallery as a
+sort of queen of the ceremonies was superseded by a better one. She was
+to have a special throne made for her at the other end of the ball-room.
+There she would not only see perfectly, but would also be seen. It
+seemed simple enough to have a ball in such a lovely room, and Hester
+arranged to send some men over that very afternoon to begin the work of
+clearing out the rubbish.
+
+"We don't wish to take possession of the Towers," she said. "We only
+want the loan of the ball-room, and of this delightful lawn just
+beyond, where we can put up a marquee or tent."
+
+"No, no," exclaimed Molly, "it must be all or nothing. You know how big
+our entrance hall is, Hester, and those great half-empty drawing rooms.
+The whole ground floor is to be at your disposal. If we do it at all,
+let it be a real merry-making. It will be nice to have a merry-making
+once again at the Towers."
+
+Molly sighed as she spoke. Hester glanced at her, and the remark in her
+father's letter flashed through her brain.
+
+While the others were planning and talking at least twenty words to the
+dozen, Nell was looking solemnly up at the tall windows with an
+expression of ecstacy on her small face. Boris came up presently and
+pulled her hand.
+
+"What are you in a brown study for?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, Boris," she exclaimed, flashing round on him; "it is more a white
+dream than a brown study. Fancy this room all lit with Chinese lanterns
+and the moon outside, and us sitting up until twelve o'clock, and music,
+Boris, and everybody dancing. The story books will have come true--oh,
+it will be too lovely."
+
+"I'm thinking of the supper," said Boris. "I expect I'll get awful
+peckish sitting up so late. I hope there'll be jellies--I love jellies;
+don't you, Nell?"
+
+"Yes; I heard Hester say there was to be a real band. I wonder if
+they'll play any of the airs out of _Faust_. I do so love the Soldier's
+Chorus, don't you?"
+
+"Yes; I'll march to it when I'm big. Nell, do you think I'll be allowed
+to have as many cakes as I wish, and _pate de foie gras_? I tasted it
+once and 'twas ripping."
+
+"I like it, too, rather," said Nell in a contemplative voice. "I mean to
+be a fairy in the dance, though, and I'll have wings. Wings! how I wish
+they'd bear me upward."
+
+"Oh, do come out," exclaimed Boris. "I want to show you my dove's cage;
+it was ever so musty, but I've cleaned it out, and it's as sweet as a
+nut now."
+
+The children left the room, and a few moments later Hester and Molly
+returned to the Grange.
+
+That evening Annie Forest had a very comprehensive scheme drawn out with
+regard to the proposed characters which the different members of the
+party were to adopt. Molly would make an ideal shepherdess. Hester was
+to be in white, and was to represent St Agnes. Nora was to be Queen of
+the Fairies, and Nan little Bo-Peep. Annie had not yet decided on her
+own character, but was strongly inclined to act the part of a gipsy.
+Annie further suggested that it would save a great deal of trouble and
+have a decidedly pretty effect if all the girls under twelve years of
+age were dressed as white fairies, with wings, and all the boys of the
+same age as brownies. She considered that so many fairies and brownies
+would have a very picturesque effect, and would help to throw up the gay
+_bizarre_ colours of the older girls and boys.
+
+Her suggestion was immediately adopted, and Hester and Molly sat down
+then and there to write invitations.
+
+Besides the Lorrimers, about a hundred and forty other children were
+invited, and the girls expected that quite sixty or seventy of these
+would take the parts of fairies and brownies.
+
+"You don't know how relieved the mothers will be," exclaimed Annie.
+"When people have no imagination it is the most difficult thing in the
+world to think of a dress for a fancy ball which has not been adopted
+dozens and dozens of times before. Please keep the notes open for a
+moment, Hester, for I mean to slip into each of them some very simple
+directions with regard to the dress, which will insure our having a
+certain amount of uniformity."
+
+Annie was in her element now, and even Molly was constrained to admire
+the absolute genius which she showed in all matters which required tact
+and brisk, quick work. Annie could write fluently, and her little slips
+of paper, with their simple and plain directions, were soon ready, and
+Molly and Hester set to work making copies of them as fast as they
+could. The letters of invitation were all posted before they went to bed
+that night. Nora shut her eyes to dream of herself as queen of the
+fairies, and Molly and Hester sat down to write letters which required a
+little more thought than the invitations which had just been got
+through. Hester wrote--
+
+     "DEAR FATHER,
+
+     "I am sorry you are still away; I like to feel that I am of use to
+     you. Whenever you come back you will have a hearty welcome from me.
+     We are all well here and the weather is splendid; even Nora is
+     quite well, although the doctor says she must lie on her back for
+     some weeks longer. Annie is still with us, and Molly has been
+     staying here to help look after Nora; not that she is wanted much
+     for that post, for Annie is the most indefatigable nurse, and Nora
+     simply adores her. But Molly is great company for me and I am
+     delighted to have her, she is such a dear girl. I hope what you say
+     about Squire Lorrimer is not true. I can see that Molly is very
+     anxious, and the Squire and Mrs. Lorrimer have just gone to London,
+     which is quite unusual. There is evidently something the matter,
+     but none of the children have been told what it is. How I wish you
+     could help the Squire, father. I know you are very very rich, and
+     oh, it will break Molly's heart if they have to leave the dear old
+     Towers. Now, I must talk to you about Nan's birthday. We are going
+     to have a children's ball in the old ball-room at the Towers. It is
+     going to be quite lovely. Annie is designing our dresses. She makes
+     us all quite enthusiastic, she has such exquisite taste. I hope you
+     will come home in time to see us in our pretty dresses. I am to be
+     St. Agnes, and Annie says that I shall look like a dream! Did you
+     ever think that your sensible Hetty would talk such folly?--Your
+     affectionate daughter,
+
+                              "HESTER THORNTON."
+
+Hester finished her letter, folded it up, and addressed it. She then
+glanced towards Molly, whose fair head was bent low over the sheet of
+paper which she was filling. She wrote--
+
+     "DARLING MOTHER,
+
+     "I went to the Towers this morning with Hester and found that you
+     had gone. Is anything the matter? Oh, if I had been at home you
+     might have told me. I can't bear either you or father to have a
+     burden that I don't share. I feel anxious and unhappy, but I will
+     try very hard to be brave. Nonie is getting on so nicely, and Annie
+     Forest is very kind to her. Mother, darling, there is going to be a
+     great big party on the fifteenth, Nan's birthday, and Hester and
+     Nora and Annie and I are very anxious that it should be a
+     children's ball--a fancy ball, you know, mother, and that it should
+     be held in our beautiful old ball-room. It is the Thorntons' party,
+     and they will go to all the expense, but they haven't a big room
+     like ours, so I thought we might lend them the big hall and the
+     drawing-rooms and the ball-room, and they are beginning
+     preparations already. If by any chance you or father object, will
+     you send me a telegram to-morrow? I wish I could kiss you
+     good-night.--Your most loving
+
+                              "MOLLY."
+
+Molly's letter was also directed and stamped, and when these important
+epistles had been taken to the post, the whole household went to bed.
+
+That is, with one exception.
+
+Annie Forest, notwithstanding her gaiety and the high spirits she had
+been in all day, had a care upon her mind.
+
+It was three weeks now since the day when Mrs. Martin had pawned Mrs.
+Willis's beautiful ring for the small sum of thirty shillings. That
+thirty shillings had purchased cambric and embroidery and lace, and even
+a few knots of coloured ribbon, to make three charming frocks for Nora
+Lorrimer, but alack and alas, though the frocks lay neatly folded up in
+their drawer waiting to be worn on the first festive occasion, poor
+Annie had not the faintest idea how to get back the ring. That morning's
+post had certainly been an important one. It had not only brought a
+letter for Hester which had nearly turned the heads of two households,
+but had brought Annie two epistles of a profoundly and painfully
+interesting character. One was from her father, telling her that he must
+postpone sending her her usual birthday present for a time, and the
+other was from Mrs. Willis herself. Mrs. Willis wrote from Paris. She
+was staying there for a short time on her way home, and asked Annie to
+send her the diamond ring without delay by registered post. The ring was
+of a very antique pattern and she wished to have it copied for a wedding
+present for one of her pupils.
+
+     "Try and post it to me at once, dear," she said, "for I shall not
+     be in Paris after Saturday. I return to London that day and shall
+     very likely accept Hester Thornton's invitation to come to the
+     Grange for a few days. You shall then have the ring back to make
+     your finger look smart for the remainder of your visit. I am
+     writing in great haste in order to catch this post, so do not fail
+     me, my love. The ring will be perfectly safe if you register it.
+     My dear love to Hester and Nan, and much to yourself.--Your
+     affectionate
+
+                              "M. WILLIS."
+
+Annie had glanced her eyes quickly over the contents of this disquieting
+letter at breakfast time, but it was only now, in the solitude of her
+own room, that she ventured to take it out and study it. What was she to
+do? How could she possibly get the ring out of pawn without any money to
+redeem it? She dared not confide this trouble to Mrs. Martin. She
+thought and thought until her head ached and her bright eyes looked
+dull.
+
+What kind of man was the pawnbroker? Why were pawnbrokers called uncles?
+Was it because they were really good-natured and helpful? She wondered
+if it might be possible for her to induce the pawnbroker to let her have
+the ring out on condition that she paid for it by instalments? If he
+really was quite a good-natured order of uncle, he might consent to such
+an arrangement. Annie felt, however, that it would be useless to get
+Mrs. Martin to make such terms with him.
+
+"She was very proud about him," thought Annie. "She did not wish to go
+to him at all. I'm afraid he's disagreeable. I'm afraid he's not the
+sort of man who would help a girl out of a difficulty. What _shall_ I
+do? The ring _must_ go to-morrow if Mrs. Willis is to do anything with
+it before she leaves Paris. It ought to have gone to-day, but to-morrow
+is the very last, the very last chance. We are all going to Nortonbury
+to-morrow to buy the materials for the dresses. Oh, suppose I go and see
+the pawnbroker and tell him of my difficulty, and assure him that I will
+honestly pay him back that money if he will only let me have the ring
+again. I have four shillings still in my purse, and father's sovereign
+will be certain to come sooner or later. I could show uncle father's
+letter, he would then see that I was not humbugging. I expect he would
+like me to call him uncle, as it seems to be _the_ name. Yes, I really
+think I will go, but I must on no account whatever let Mrs. Martin or
+Molly or Hester know anything about this. I should rather like to
+confide in Nora, for she would think it no end of a lark; but if I did,
+the poor darling would know that I had got into all this trouble on
+account of her dresses, and that would simply never do. Yes, there seems
+nothing for it but to visit my uncle, the pawnbroker."
+
+Annie presently laid her head on her pillow and went to sleep.
+
+When she awoke in the morning she still thought an appeal to the
+pawnbroker the only available solution of her difficulty. The girls were
+much excited about their gay shopping, and the landau was ordered to be
+round at an early hour to convey Hester, Nan, Molly, and Annie to
+Nortonbury. Nora had to resign herself to the company of her nurse, but
+her thoughts were so full of pleasurable anticipations that under the
+circumstances she did not mind the loss of her favourite Annie.
+
+Before starting, Annie ran quickly round to Mrs. Martin's rooms.
+
+"Here I am," she exclaimed in her bright way. "I have just rushed up to
+say good morning to you before we start. You have heard of all the fun
+that we are going to have, haven't you, nursey?"
+
+"Folly, I call it," said nurse. "Throwing away good money on fallals and
+wings and clouds. Miss Nan was up here last night so late that I
+thought I'd never get her to bed, bamboozling me with stories of all the
+children round the country being turned into fairies, which you know,
+Miss Annie, is sheer nonsense and impossible to do, and Miss Nora, who
+has narrowly escaped her death, is to lie on rose leaves with clouds
+under her. The folly of it is beyond belief, even if it can be done,
+which I sincerely hope it can't. In old days people took their pleasures
+properly. Children were kept in the nursery and were sent early to bed,
+and young ladies were presented to her Gracious Majesty the Queen, and
+then went to balls in good stiff silks and no wings nor clouds about
+'em. They met the gentlemen they were to marry at the balls, and then
+there was a proper wedding breakfast and all the rest, as it should be.
+I don't hold with the scarum days of the present."
+
+"Look here, nursey," exclaimed Annie, "the fairies will look lovely, and
+I'll show you myself how innocent and simple the clouds are, and as to
+the wings, I'll make a pair for you if you like."
+
+"No, thank you, Miss Annie, I hope I know what's due to myself."
+
+"Well, I must run away," continued Annie. "You know we're just off to
+Nortonbury."
+
+"So I hear, miss."
+
+"It was to Nortonbury you went when you sold my ring; you were a dear to
+do it."
+
+"I wouldn't do it for no one else, miss, and I don't know even now how I
+came to demean myself by such a job."
+
+"Was," said Annie in an almost trembling voice, "was the uncle very
+disagreeable, then?"
+
+"Miss Forest, such a word oughtn't to pass your lips."
+
+"Why so, nurse? I cannot imagine why you dislike such helpful people."
+
+"We won't argue the point," said nurse; "the subject is not suited to
+the young."
+
+Annie fidgeted. Nan's voice was heard down stairs shouting for her.
+
+"Nurse," she said in sudden desperation, "I want to get the ring back;
+tell me the name of the uncle."
+
+A look of relief came over Mrs. Martin's face.
+
+"I'd be glad if you had that valuable ring again," she said. "Have you
+got the money for it? It would be thirty-two shillings; thirty shillings
+for the loan and two shillings interest."
+
+"Annie, we're all waiting," shouted Nan.
+
+"Oh, do tell me the address," said Annie.
+
+"You had better let me get the ring out of pawn for you, miss."
+
+"No, no, I must get it to-day."
+
+"Have you got the money, Miss Forest?"
+
+"What would be the use of going if I hadn't?" prevaricated Annie.
+
+"Well, but you're not going to take my young ladies to a pawnbroker's?"
+
+"No, I promise not to take any of them; I'll go alone, quite alone. You
+may trust me, really. Oh, nursey, nursey, I'm in such trouble."
+
+Again the bright lovely eyes and sweet voice did their work.
+
+Mrs. Martin fumbled for her keys, and taking a small piece of blue paper
+out of her work-box, put it into Annie's hand.
+
+"There," she said. "I'm sorry I ever made or meddled with this thing.
+Mind you don't take one of my young ladies with you."
+
+"I promise," said Annie. She thrust the paper into her pocket and rushed
+from the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+POOR MRS. MYRTLE.
+
+
+The girls spent a busy morning in Nortonbury, and if Annie had any care
+on her mind she certainly did not show it. She was a splendid girl to go
+shopping with. She could make up her mind quickly with regard to the
+exact material she required. Her choice was practically made before she
+entered a shop, her taste in colour and texture was excellent, and with
+her to guide them, Hester and Molly got through their business with
+great celerity. Many parcels were piled up on the front seat of the
+landau, but work as they would, the girls could not get through their
+necessary shopping in the morning. Hester therefore determined to lunch
+at a restaurant which she knew well, and to finish buying the rest of
+the materials for the fancy dresses before they returned to the Grange.
+It was while they were at lunch that Annie seized the opportunity to
+secure a few moments to herself. She had not yet had time even to glance
+at the address which nurse had given her on the little slip of blue
+paper. But it was now or never, if she were to seek the pawnbroker
+without the others discovering where she was going.
+
+Hester had ordered a very tempting lunch, and Nan was attacking her
+nicely roasted chicken and bread sauce with appetite, when Annie,
+snatching up a sandwich, sprang suddenly to her feet.
+
+"I'm not hungry," she exclaimed, "and as there is so much to be done, I
+won't waste time eating. Mrs. Willis wrote to me yesterday and asked me
+to send her a small parcel. It contains a ring which she lent me, and as
+it ought to be registered, I will go to the post-office now and get it
+done while you are at lunch."
+
+"But you really must eat something first," exclaimed Hester. "You will
+be ill if you don't; the carriage is to call for us in a few minutes,
+and you may just as well drive to the post-office in it; you would do it
+in half the time."
+
+"But I would rather walk," replied Annie. "I am perfectly sick of
+driving. I see by Nan's face that lunch will be quite an affair of half
+an hour, and I'll be back long before then."
+
+She left the shop before Hester had time to remonstrate, and the next
+moment found herself in the street.
+
+"Now for it," she exclaimed, a little catch of excitement in her breath.
+She took out her purse, opened it, and removing the slip of blue paper,
+looked at the words written on it. The address rather surprised her. It
+was a fancy goods shop, and was kept by a woman of the name of Myrtle.
+
+     "MRS. MYRTLE,
+       "Haberdashery and Fancy Goods Warehouse,
+        "30, Eden Street,"
+
+was the address on the sheet of paper.
+
+Annie had never in the course of her life come in contact with a live
+pawnbroker, but she had a vague idea that pawnbrokers were of the male
+species, and that they invariably had three gilt balls over their
+establishments.
+
+She was relieved rather than otherwise to find that this pawnbroker was
+of the female sex, and fancied that it would be easier to deal with her
+on this account. A policeman directed her to Eden Street, which was a
+thoroughly respectable broad thoroughfare off the High Street.
+
+Annie walked quickly until she came to number thirty. Then, raising her
+eyes and seeing Mrs. Myrtle's name over the door, she boldly entered.
+The shop was the sort that ladies delight in. One side of it was
+entirely devoted to the best class of haberdashery, the other was
+extremely attractive with coloured wools and silks, and all sorts of
+materials for crewel and other fancy works. A thin, pale girl, of about
+sixteen, was attending to the haberdashery department, and a little old
+lady, with pink cheeks, bright dark eyes and white hair, was busily
+serving several customers at the fancy goods side.
+
+Annie had to wait until these customers had completed their business.
+The girl who had charge of the haberdashery asked if she could serve
+her.
+
+"I wish to speak to Mrs. Myrtle," replied Annie in a decided tone. The
+little woman raised her head at hearing her own name pronounced, and
+said in a respectful voice--
+
+"I'll be at leisure to serve you in a moment, miss."
+
+"She seems very nice," said Annie to herself; "she has a decidedly kind
+face. What can there be objectionable in pawnbrokers, if she is one?
+Perhaps I'd better call her aunt; she'll be sure to like it."
+
+In a couple of moments Mrs. Myrtle was at leisure, and Annie went up to
+the counter. Now that the critical instant had come, she felt her heart
+beating quickly, and knew that her cheeks were pale. Annie could look
+wonderfully pathetic when any emotion stirred her. She had a voice full
+of vibrations, and her eyes could assume the dumb pleading expression of
+a dog's.
+
+"I want to speak to you about a very private matter," she said, looking
+full at Mrs. Myrtle.
+
+The little woman could not help giving her a glance of great surprise.
+What could such a pretty, nicely-dressed young lady want with her; then
+suddenly it flashed through her mind that Annie must want to buy a
+present; perhaps the present was for her sweetheart; if so, the state of
+affairs was perfectly natural.
+
+"Yes, miss," she said, in a cordial voice of sympathy, "but Netty, my
+niece, is a bit deaf and won't hear a word you're saying. I have got
+some really nice things, miss, and quite suitable; tobacco pouches made
+of different coloured plushes, and flowers traced very beautifully on
+them; you could work the pouch yourself, miss, and it would look most
+suitable; then I've got braces, too; they're quite the newest thing, and
+can be embroidered with any colour, and cases for gentlemen's evening
+ties, they really are very new; shall I show you some, miss?"
+
+"Oh, no, thank you," said Annie in a choking voice. "I'm in an awful
+hurry and I don't want to buy any present for a gentleman; I don't know
+any gentleman except my father well enough to think of giving presents
+to. No, no, I don't want to buy anything, but I want--I want you to give
+me something, aunt."
+
+Mrs. Myrtle looked at Annie as if she were now quite sure that the poor
+pretty young lady was not quite right in her head. She did not speak at
+all, but waited for Annie to continue.
+
+"You're a female pawnbroker, are you not?" said Annie.
+
+"A female what, my dear?" said Mrs. Myrtle, her face growing crimson.
+This was really the last straw. "I don't understand you, miss," she said
+in a stiff tone. "I have nothing whatever to do with the trade you
+indicate."
+
+Just then some ladies, very good customers, entered the shop.
+
+"You'll excuse me for a moment, miss," said Mrs. Myrtle; "but if you
+don't want to buy, I shall be obliged to leave you to attend to my
+customers. Good morning, Lady Dalgetty; what can I show your ladyship?"
+
+Poor Annie found herself pushed into a corner. Lady Dalgetty and her
+suite occupied all Mrs. Myrtle's attention. Even the humble-looking
+Netty was busy serving out spools of cotton, needles, and pins to a
+prim-looking lady. Neither of the women in the shop had a moment to
+attend to Annie's sore need.
+
+She began to think that Mrs. Myrtle was not so kind as she looked, and
+to understand a little of nurse's repugnance to the pawnbroker class.
+
+"They must be low people," she murmured to herself; "for this woman
+won't even own to the fact that she is a pawnbroker."
+
+The shop became empty once more; and Mrs. Myrtle, who was really quite
+as kind hearted as she looked, raised her eyes, and encountered a very
+forlorn glance from Annie.
+
+"Poor, pretty young lady," she said to herself. "She's gone in the head
+without any manner of doubt, calling me aunt, and asking me if I'm a
+female pawnbroker; but I'd best humour her a bit, and try to find out
+who she belongs to."
+
+Accordingly Mrs. Myrtle called Annie back to the counter in a kind
+voice.
+
+"I can attend to you now, miss," she said; "but if you have anything to
+say, perhaps you'll say it quickly, for this is market day, and heaps of
+farmer's wives come in for no end of small matters."
+
+"Do they pawn rings, and then take them out by degrees in instalments?"
+asked poor Annie in an eager voice.
+
+"Poor, poor young lady, she's very, very bad," murmured Mrs. Myrtle to
+herself.
+
+"I couldn't say for positive, miss," she replied, "that a farmer's wife
+has never pawned a ring; but if they are reduced to such straits, I know
+nothing about it."
+
+"Then you are not a pawnbroker yourself?"
+
+"I am _not_, miss. Wouldn't you like to come into my parlour and rest a
+bit if you're tired, and maybe you'll tell me your name?"
+
+"She's getting quite kind again," thought Annie. "Of course she is a
+pawnbroker, but she doesn't like to own it; it evidently is a very
+disgraceful calling."
+
+"My name is Annie Forest," she said; "and I'm not at all tired, thank
+you, aunt. You don't mind me calling you aunt, do you? for we always
+call the men in your trade uncles."
+
+"I hope heaven will preserve my patience," muttered poor Mrs. Myrtle.
+"I must get this young lady to her friends whatever happens. Netty!"
+
+"Oh, don't call Netty here," exclaimed Annie. "Now, look here, do you
+see this piece of blue paper?"
+
+"Yes, miss. It's my address, sure and certain."
+
+"Do you know the handwriting?"
+
+"Well, I can't say that I do; it seems a sort of an ordinary hand, don't
+it, miss?"
+
+"Is Mrs. Martin, who lives at the Grange, a friend of yours?" asked
+Annie suddenly.
+
+Mrs. Myrtle's face glowed all over with pleased relief.
+
+"Mrs. Martin of the Grange," she exclaimed, "old nurse to Miss Hester
+and Miss Nan Thornton? I should rather think she is a friend of mine. I
+have known her ever since we went to school together, and that's many a
+year ago."
+
+"Oh, how glad I am," exclaimed Annie; "then I am sure, quite sure, you
+will be kind to me. You will do what I ask for the sake of your friend
+Mrs. Martin. You won't mind just confiding to me that you are a
+pawnbroker? I promise most faithfully not to call you aunt if you really
+dislike it."
+
+"I'm afraid I don't understand you, Miss Forest. I am _not_ a
+pawnbroker; not one of my belongings would own to such a trade; and if
+Patty Martin gave you to understand that I am, I'll quarrel with her,
+late as it is in the day."
+
+"But she pawned a ring to you," said Annie; "an old-fashioned gold ring
+with one big diamond in the middle. You lent her thirty shillings on it,
+and the interest is two shillings. That ring is mine. She did pawn a
+ring to you, did she not?"
+
+A light at last broke over Mrs. Myrtle's face.
+
+"Well, well," she exclaimed; "I begin to see what you're driving at.
+Won't I have a crow to pick with Patty Martin for this. No, no, miss,
+she pawned no ring to me; but she gave me a diamond ring to keep for her
+early one morning about three weeks ago. 'And keep it safe until I ask
+for it, Martha Myrtle,' said she; and safe I will keep it until then,
+Miss Annie Forest."
+
+"But it's my ring," said Annie in great distress. "You'll give it back
+to me now when I ask for it?"
+
+"I'll give it back to Patty Martin, miss, and to no one else."
+
+"Oh, but really, really, don't you understand? It's _my_ ring."
+
+"I've only your word for that, miss. It was given to me by Mrs. Martin."
+
+"But I know Patty Martin would let you give it back to me. Why, she gave
+me your address and told me to go to you; and I thought, of course, you
+were a pawnbroker."
+
+"Won't I have a crow to pluck with her for this?" exclaimed Mrs. Myrtle.
+"Pawnbroker, indeed! Why my poor mother who's dead would rise up from
+her grave if she thought I was called by such a name. No, miss, I'm
+sorry not to oblige, but Mrs. Martin gave me the ring to keep for her,
+and she must come herself to fetch it away, for to no one else will I
+give it."
+
+Some farmers' wives, looking flourishing and handsome and full of
+purpose, now entered the shop. Mrs. Myrtle devoted all her energies to
+serving them, and poor Annie with sinking heart had to go away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+"THE WAY OF TRANSGRESSORS."
+
+
+The week that followed passed all too quickly. There was no hitch
+whatever in the girls' plans. Mrs. Lorrimer wrote to Molly to express
+her complete satisfaction with the arrangement proposed by Hester. The
+workwomen who had now taken up their abode at the Grange were both
+efficient and clever. With Annie's help the different dresses began to
+assume form and completion with marvellous rapidity. Annie was the life
+and soul of the dressmaking. She sketched pictures of the proposed
+toilettes; she coloured these sketches; then she tried on and cut out,
+and basted, and tacked. She helped to hang draperies and to arrange the
+wings of the fairies. The women became interested themselves in such an
+artistic assistant, and did everything in their power to help her. At
+the Towers the ball-room began to show its noble proportions to the best
+advantage. Hester and Annie and Nan and Molly went backwards and
+forwards at all hours of the day. By Monday evening, the ball-room was
+in complete order. Every possible direction was given with regard to the
+different refreshments, and the last stitch in the pretty fancy dresses
+had been done. The news of Nan's fancy ball had spread far and wide.
+Almost every invitation met with an acceptance, and the Thornton and
+Lorrimer households were borne forward just at present on a full tide of
+victorious excitement. Even Molly felt herself obliged to enter into
+the full spirit of the fun. Not a murmur of anxiety from her father and
+mother in London reached her. Mrs. Lorrimer, in writing to Molly, had
+assumed as cheerful a tone as possible; she had alluded to no possible
+care, had hinted at no canker root of possible trouble. She had said, it
+is true, that it was rather unlikely that she and the Squire would
+return in time for the ball; but if this could not be managed, she hoped
+the children would enjoy themselves to the full in their absence; and
+finally, she said how heartily she rejoiced in the thought of their
+having such a delightful time. Hester also forgot the small worrying
+thought which came to her now and again about her father, in this week
+of rush and pleasure. Hester was by nature a very quiet-mannered girl,
+but she became nearly as lively now as Annie; she laughed, and joked,
+and danced, and skipped until Mrs. Martin, who watched her from the
+nursery window, began to shake her head gravely, and to say that such
+mirth was not "fey" as she expressed it, and that it surely forbode a
+season of gloom by-and-by.
+
+Annie's high spirits being natural to her, no one specially noticed
+them, and according to her custom, she put dull care aside and was as
+lively as she looked.
+
+It is true that she had been obliged to ignore Mrs. Willis's letter; it
+is true that the ring was still being jealously guarded by that dreadful
+Mrs. Myrtle, for Annie had not the courage to ask Mrs. Martin for it.
+The whole situation was now quite plain; Mrs. Martin had never gone near
+the pawnbroker's, but had lent Annie the money herself. Why she had
+parted with the ring under these circumstances was a problem which poor
+Annie could not attempt to fathom. All she could do now was to abide the
+issue of events as patiently as possible. All her life long she had
+found that, somehow or other, matters did right themselves for her, and
+she trusted to her usual good luck on this occasion.
+
+The preparations were almost all completed for the fancy ball by Monday
+night. Nan's birthday would be on Wednesday. No second letter had
+arrived from Sir John Thornton, and Hester wondered whether he would be
+present on the birthday or not. The day was to be one long scene of
+triumph for the young birthday queen. Annie and Hester both stole out of
+bed at an early hour that morning, and going out into the garden, they
+picked baskets full of flowers with the dew on them, with which they
+made wreaths to decorate the breakfast table, and to cover the piles of
+presents which lay not only on Nan's plate, but all round it.
+
+As soon as Nan appeared in the breakfast-room, Annie tripped up to her,
+bent on one knee as if to a liege lady, told her that she was her lawful
+sovereign for that entire day, and then begged leave to crown the
+birthday queen with flowers. Nan's cheeks were flushed already, and her
+eyes bright with excitement. Molly came in by-and-by, and Nora, who was
+now much better, was wheeled into the room on her sofa. She wore the
+white cambric dress which Annie had made for her. Her dark hair was
+swept back from her pretty, low forehead, her cheeks had roses in them,
+and her eyes sparkled.
+
+"Molly, Molly," she exclaimed, "look at me, look at me. Now you know the
+secret of the locked door. Annie made me this frock; she had some bits
+of cambric over from dresses of her own, and she made this and a blue
+one, and a pink one also; I have the other two in my drawer; I know they
+are all sweetly becoming, aren't they? It's nearly as good as having a
+_trousseau_. Oh, do kiss me and congratulate me, Molly; you know how I
+have always longed for pretty dresses. Was not it perfectly _darling_ of
+Annie to make them for me?"
+
+Before Molly could reply a loud exclamation from Hester turned all eyes
+in her direction.
+
+"What do you think?" she exclaimed. "The crowning bliss of our day is
+come. Nan, you will never guess. Annie, dear, how charmed you will be.
+Here is a letter from Mrs. Willis; she expects to reach Nortonbury by
+the mid-day train, and asks me to send to meet her. Oh, dear, this is
+lovely. I have not seen my dear Mrs. Willis for over a year. What a rest
+and comfort it will be to talk to her again. Molly, you will delight in
+her; she is just the woman to captivate you completely. Nora, you will
+lose your heart to her, too. I don't know what wonderful thing there is
+about her; she is so strong, so noble, so gentle, that she wins all
+hearts; it is impossible for anybody to be naughty when Mrs. Willis is
+in the house. Nan, the arrival of Mrs. Willis on your birthday is the
+happiest possible omen for the whole year. Oh, how truly rejoiced I am!"
+
+"Yes, it's awfully jolly of her to come," said Nan. "Of course I'm very
+fond of her, but I hope she won't remind me of my holiday task, for,
+frankly, I have not looked at it yet, and I don't mean to do so until
+the last week of the holidays. Now, do let's all begin breakfast; even
+though I am queen, I happen to have an appetite. Annie, what are you in
+a brown study about? Why, you look quite pale!"
+
+"I expect Annie is so glad about Mrs. Willis that she can scarcely
+speak," said Hester, glancing at her friend in an affectionate manner.
+"Yes, we had better get breakfast through. I shall give Mrs. Willis the
+maple room, with that lovely west view. There is a little sitting-room
+which goes with it, where she can be quiet whenever she wants to be
+quiet. How glad nursey will be when she hears that dear Mrs. Willis is
+coming."
+
+Hester began to perform the duties of tea-maker in a rather abstracted
+manner. As she kept on filling up cups of tea, she also glanced from
+time to time at the letter which gave her such delight.
+
+"It is such a surprise," she said; "perhaps that is half the pleasure."
+
+"Please don't put any more sugar into my tea," exclaimed Annie in an
+almost cross voice; "you know I never touch sugar, and that is the
+fourth lump."
+
+"Oh, I am sorry," exclaimed Hester; "I'll take that cup and you shall
+have mine."
+
+"You put five lumps into your own cup, I watched you; oh, dear, it
+doesn't matter, of course."
+
+"No, it doesn't matter," said Hester, still reading her letter. "Molly,
+will you pass the tea on, please. Oh, yes, I'll have some honey; you can
+put a piece on my plate if you like."
+
+"The only plate you have before you at present contains eggs and bacon,"
+exclaimed Molly. "I think I won't help the honey for a few minutes."
+
+"This is a delightful surprise," murmured Hester; "but, dear me, it is
+rather strange, Mrs. Willis says she wrote to you last week, Annie, and
+said that she would try to give us a couple of days at the Grange on her
+way back to Lavender House. How was it you never mentioned it?"
+
+There was just a pause long enough to be noticed before Annie replied.
+
+"I did not get the letter," she said then, in a steady voice.
+
+She hated herself the moment she had uttered the words. She felt as if
+she had fallen from a height, and was lying maimed and bruised, bleeding
+and ugly in some dismal abyss; but all the time her eyes looked bright
+and her face was cheerful.
+
+Hester exclaimed, "How strange! what a pity! How could the letter have
+gone astray?" but other thoughts soon chased this one from her mind.
+
+Breakfast being over the young housekeeper had much to attend to.
+
+Nora held out her hand to Annie, who stooped down and kissed her
+affectionately.
+
+"Are you really glad that she is coming?" asked Nora.
+
+"Of course I am, Nonie; she is--" a stab went through Annie's
+heart--"she is my best friend."
+
+"Is she really as good as Hester says she is?" continued Nora.
+
+"Yes, yes, better; no one quite knows how good she is."
+
+"I shall be afraid of her," said Nora shuddering. "I hate such perfectly
+good people; they make me feel small and mean."
+
+Annie took up a basket of flowers, and began deftly to form them into
+wreaths for the further decoration of the ball-room.
+
+"It's dreadful to feel mean," she said almost in a whisper.
+
+"You can't surely know what it means," replied Nora.
+
+"Oh, can't I though; don't let's talk of it any more. I like you in
+white, Nora. White, toned with lace and coloured ribbons, makes a
+charming dress for you. You have such a pretty face. It is so full of
+_esprit_--so _piquant_. Some day you will be a beautiful woman."
+
+"As beautiful as you are?" asked Nora. "I don't desire to be more
+beautiful than you."
+
+"In some ways you will be more beautiful," replied Annie. "I don't
+pretend that I am not pretty, I know I am; but in some ways you will be
+superior to me. You will have a greater air of distinction. _Noblesse
+oblige_ will be abundantly manifested in you. Oh, yes," continued Annie,
+"it is all very fine for us _parvenus_ to despise race. We don't really
+despise it; we adore it, we envy it; we can never, never, never get what
+race confers."
+
+"How excitedly you talk," said Nora; "you seem angry about something."
+
+"I am angry with myself," said Annie; "my low ways and my meanness.
+_Noblesse oblige_ has nothing to do with me. Now, look here, Nora,
+forget all this rubbishy talk; be thankful that you are a beautiful girl
+of good family, who could not do a shabby action. I must leave you now,
+for Mrs. Willis is coming, and I should like to go into Nortonbury to
+meet her."
+
+Annie ran off to find Hester.
+
+"Hester," she exclaimed, "may I go in the carriage to Nortonbury to meet
+Mrs. Willis?"
+
+"That is an excellent idea," said Hester; "take Molly with you, the
+drive will do her good. I am so busy this morning that I can scarcely be
+spared from home. Yes, that is an excellent idea. I was wondering who
+would go to meet her."
+
+Molly was very pleased to accompany Annie to Nortonbury, and Annie was
+glad of her company. Molly would be a sort of shield to her; not that it
+really mattered, for she had already quite made up her mind how to act.
+
+The girls enjoyed their pleasant drive together. Mrs. Willis's train was
+punctual, and she was soon driving back to the Grange, Molly seated by
+her side and Annie on the seat facing her.
+
+Mrs. Willis had the knack of making all girls perfectly at home with
+her. Molly felt sure that a certain feeling of restraint would come over
+her when she sat by the side of this excellent and adorable woman; but
+the moment she looked into Mrs. Willis's kind eyes, and Mrs. Willis
+returned her glance, and said in that full, rich, motherly voice of
+hers, "Oh, I have heard of you; you are Molly Lorrimer, you live at the
+Towers, and you have a great many brothers and sisters, and your
+schoolroom is reached by a spiral stair, and is somewhere up in the
+clouds. I have heard all about you many times from Nan." Then Molly
+laughed, and felt at home. She felt more than at home, for her heart
+gave a strange flutter, and then a curious sense of peace pervaded it.
+It was something like being near her mother, and yet it was something
+different. The magnetic influence of a good and great spirit was already
+making itself felt.
+
+Annie sat opposite to the two with dancing eyes.
+
+"How well you look my love," said Mrs. Willis. "I am delighted to see
+that the change has done you so much good."
+
+Annie drooped her long lashes for a moment.
+
+"I am as well as well can be," she said, "and as jolly as jolly can be,
+and you have just come in the nick of time to make everything perfect.
+Molly, do tell Mrs. Willis about our fancy ball to-night."
+
+"I will listen to you in a moment, Molly," said Mrs. Willis; "but first
+of all I want to ask Annie a question. I hope you did not send the ring
+to Paris, Annie, for, if you did, I never received it."
+
+"What ring?" asked Annie, looking up in pretended amazement. "Do you
+mean my mother's ring, Mrs. Willis, the--the one you lent me?"
+
+"Yes, dear. I wrote to you last week about it. I was surprised at never
+hearing from you, for my letter was quite urgent. I wanted the ring for
+a special object, and was disappointed at its never coming."
+
+"That must have been the letter you never got, Annie," exclaimed Molly.
+
+"You never got my letter?" exclaimed Mrs. Willis. "How very, very
+strange! But I posted it myself, and I know I put the right address on
+it. I am relieved, of course, that you did not send the ring when it was
+too late; but it is odd about the letter."
+
+"No, I didn't send the ring," said Annie in a light voice. "How could
+I?"
+
+"Certainly not, dear, if you did not know that I wanted it."
+
+"Hester was surprised this morning," continued Molly, taking up the
+thread of the narrative, and unconsciously giving Annie immense
+assistance. "You said, in your letter to her, that you had told Annie a
+week ago that you were coming. Then Annie said that she had never got
+your letter."
+
+"It is very queer," said Mrs. Willis. "I must write to the post office
+in Paris and make inquiries. Well, I am glad the ring is safe."
+
+"Of course, it is as safe as possible," said Annie. "It is too bad about
+the letter," she continued. "Did you want the ring very badly?"
+
+"Yes, very badly; but it is not too late yet to manage matters. I want
+to have the ring copied as a wedding present for Margaret Cecil, but I
+have already spoken to a jeweller about it, and if I send him the ring
+to-day or to-morrow he will have it in time. Don't forget to give it to
+me, Annie, dear, when we get home."
+
+"Oh, no," said Annie, "I won't forget."
+
+A few moments later they arrived at the Grange, where Mrs. Willis was
+received with a kind of trembling joy by Hester, who took her into the
+house and showered every imaginable attention which her love could
+suggest upon her.
+
+"Time, time," muttered Annie to herself as she rushed away. "Something
+must happen between now and to-morrow. I'll keep out of her way to-day,
+and in the fuss and excitement she'll forget about the ring. I have told
+one big lie about it, and I have insinuated a dozen more, and I vow and
+declare one thing--that I will not be discovered now. I'll go on to the
+bitter end now, come what will. Heigh-ho, is that you, Nan? What are you
+doing? Don't you know that Mrs. Willis has come? What is that you have
+in your hand?"
+
+"It's a letter of yours," said Nan; "I found it in the garden under a
+rose bush; it's in Mrs. Willis's handwriting; didn't you say that you did
+not hear from her last week?"
+
+"No more I did; give me that letter; it's quite an old one." Annie
+stretched out her hand, snatched the letter from Nan, and pushed it into
+her pocket.
+
+"You didn't read it?" she asked.
+
+"No, I'm not so mean; what is the matter with you?"
+
+"I hate to have my letters read."
+
+"They're not read by girls like me; you needn't be afraid."
+
+Nan rushed off in a huff, and Annie walked slowly down the corridor. Her
+heart felt like lead. She fully believed that Nan had not read the
+letter, but Nan's eyes might have happened to glance at the postmark on
+it. That postmark contained a date only one week old. Nan was the last
+child to whom Annie felt she could confide her guilty secret.
+
+"Oh, dear, dear," she murmured under her breath, "what a true saying it
+is, that 'the way of transgressors is hard.' I am a mean, low sort, not
+a doubt of that. Why, if the Lorrimers and Thorntons really knew me as I
+am, they wouldn't speak to me. Well, there's nothing for it now but to
+carry matters with a high hand, and to let nothing out. If Nan does
+happen to have noticed the date on the letter, I'll tell her she was
+mistaken. How could I have been so mad as to carry this letter about in
+my pocket? Well, to make all things sure, I'll destroy it now."
+
+"Annie, Annie, we're just going to lunch," called out Hester; "what are
+you running into the garden for?"
+
+"I'll be back in a minute," shouted Annie.
+
+She ran quickly out of the house and down the broad grass walk which led
+to the arbour at the farther end. By the side of the arbour lay a basket
+of tools. Annie snatched up a small trowel, and going to the back of the
+arbour, dug a hole for her letter. She tore it then into fragments and
+buried it, looked round her eagerly, saw that there was not a soul in
+sight, and then, with a certain sense of relief, hurried back to the
+house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+PERHAPS.
+
+
+The ball was to begin at nine o'clock. The festive hour grew on apace.
+Mrs. Willis said nothing more about the ring, and Annie Forest heaved a
+deep sigh of relief.
+
+"Reprieved until to-morrow," she murmured to herself; "and now for high
+frivolity."
+
+The horses from the Thorntons' stables were in great request during that
+eventful day. Hester, who was most anxious to spare her friends all
+possible trouble, had decided that she and Nan, and all the rest of
+their party, should dress for the ball at the Grange, and come over in
+their separate characters prepared to act their different parts at once.
+Molly and Hester were to be the two hostesses for the occasion. Guy, who
+was a very gentlemanly boy, was to assist them to the best part of his
+ability. Annie promised to look after the refreshments, and also to
+establish Nora in a becoming attitude on her bed of rose leaves and
+clouds.
+
+Nora made a most beautiful queen of the fairies. She was dressed in a
+sort of transparent white; her large, clear wings were very slightly
+toned with rose colour, and the whole dress was bespangled with light
+sprays of silver. Nora's hair was crimped, and hung in masses over her
+shoulders. The silvery dust also shone in her hair. Her eyes were dark
+and deep, and natural roses of happiness and excitement bloomed on her
+pretty round cheeks. To Annie's ingenuity and genius the whole of the
+charming dream-like effect of this fairy queen was due. Mrs. Willis, who
+insisted on coming to the ball in the part of the schoolmistress, "The
+only part which I shall ever play in life," she had said with a smile to
+Hester, was much delighted with the arrangement of everything. Mrs.
+Willis was in grey silk, with her favourite Honiton lace. She was a very
+striking and beautiful woman, and in her grand simplicity, made a
+perfect foil to the fantastic appearance of the younger members of the
+party.
+
+Amongst the honoured guests on this occasion, Mrs. Martin shone
+conspicuous. Hester had insisted on her coming over early, and when the
+good woman entered the ball-room and saw Nora on her cloudy throne, she
+could not help muttering, in an almost angry tone of great excitement--
+
+"Eh, eh, why this is almost witchcraft. I didn't believe in them wings
+and clouds till now, but sure enough there they are. Seein' is
+believin'. I don't hold with it, but I don't deny as it ain't clever."
+
+"I'm glad you think it clever, Patty Martin," said a very gay voice in
+her ear.
+
+She turned almost in alarm, to be confronted by the most
+impudent-looking, and yet the most charming gipsy lass she had ever
+looked at.
+
+Mrs. Martin loathed gipsies.
+
+"None of your sauce," she said in an angry voice. "This is no place for
+the like of you; get out at once or I'll let Miss Hester Thornton know."
+
+"Oh, nursey, nursey, you'll kill me," exclaimed Annie in a voice choked
+with laughter. "Do you mean to say you don't know me?"
+
+"My sakes alive, Miss Annie Forest!" exclaimed the old woman. "Who'd
+have thought you'd have been up to this folly? What are you doing,
+masquerading like them hateful gipsies? It's bad enough to have wings
+and clouds about; but gipsies--'tain't respectable; my word, no."
+
+"This gipsy is eminently respectable," said Annie, with a sort of bitter
+emphasis. "Here, nursey, take my hand, and let me lead you up the
+ball-room. I have many strange characters to introduce you to. I see
+plainly that you won't recognise them without my kind assistance. Here,
+come along, be quick."
+
+"My head is getting _moithered_, and that's the only word," said nurse
+Martin. "Dear, dear, what _are_ the young coming to? And sakes alive,
+what in the world are those?"
+
+The creatures thus apostrophised by the almost frightened nurse Martin,
+were a troop of fairies and brownies, who now rushed into the ball-room
+from every direction. The band struck up a merry waltz, and the fairies
+and brownies began to dance with vigour.
+
+"Its past belief," said Mrs. Martin "and did you make all them wings,
+Miss Annie?"
+
+"Oh, dear, no," replied Annie; "they were made by the mothers of the
+fairies--at least, I presume so. Now come into the supper-room and let
+me get you a comfortable seat."
+
+Mrs. Martin was glad enough to comply. She said the slippery floor of
+the ball-room, and the uncanny creatures that were all round her, made
+her feel as if the top of her head would come off. She uttered a little
+shriek of terror as Jane Macalister, dressed as Minerva, glided fiercely
+by, and was glad to seat herself in a safe corner behind one of the long
+supper tables. Annie desired a servant to give her all the refreshment
+she required, and then ran off to attend to the other guests.
+
+Fast and furious rose the fun. During the whole of the present century
+the old ball-room at the Towers had not reflected so gay and animated a
+scene. Grim ancestors of the house of Lorrimer looked down from their
+tarnished frames at the last Lorrimers as they danced away their
+precious time in this frivolous and yet enchanting manner. The grown
+people, who sat in the gallery and on benches near the walls, talked in
+whispers to one another about the lovely scene. The Lorrimers were
+popular in the county, and although rumours of coming trouble were rife
+about them, yet their friends and well-wishers augured happy results
+from this present gaiety.
+
+But why was not the Squire present, and why was Mrs. Lorrimer absent?
+
+Molly, who made the gentlest of shepherdesses, came up as these remarks
+passed the good people's lips. She stopped to speak to an old friend of
+her mother's.
+
+"I'm so glad you were able to come," she said; "and how sweet your
+children look."
+
+"It was very kind of you to ask us, my dear," responded this lady, "and
+the sight is a charming one--quite charming; but I am sorry to miss your
+mother."
+
+"Mother is in London at present; she is away on special business. She is
+ever so sorry to be absent to-night."
+
+"And the Squire, is he quite well?"
+
+"Yes, thank you. He is in London with mother."
+
+At this moment a brownie with a hot face and looking rather
+uncomfortable in his brown-velvet tights, accompanied by the most
+spiritual-looking fairy it was possible to see, revolved slowly round in
+the mazes of the waltz.
+
+The brownie's honest face was raised to Molly's; his brown eyes were
+full of a question; the fairy by his side had a far-away look. They both
+floated away.
+
+"Oh, what a charming little pair," said Mrs. Fortescue, Molly's friend.
+"Do you know who they are, Miss Lorrimer?"
+
+"That poor, hot brownie is my brother, Boris," exclaimed Molly; "and
+that little girl is Nell, my sister."
+
+The lady sat down again; and, Molly's partner coming up to claim her,
+she joined in the dance, and forgot the question in Boris's eyes.
+
+There was a commotion near the entrance door. Hester was seen to move
+hastily forward. There was a call for Nan, who, accompanied by her
+partner, Little Boy Blue, rushed quickly across the room, and the next
+moment a tall, aristocratic-looking man was seen moving up the ball-room
+with Hester's hand on his arm. Sir John Thornton had kept his word. He
+had returned in time if not for the whole of Nan's birthday, at least
+to see it out.
+
+The matrons who sat about the room remarked on his appearance, and said
+that they had never seen him look better, younger, or more cheerful.
+They said what an admirable thing it was for Sir John to have Hester at
+home; and, as Sir John himself was the best possible company in society,
+he soon made his presence agreeably felt all over the room. In the
+Squire's absence he naturally took the part of host; and no one could be
+a more polished or charming host than he.
+
+One of the many delightful features of this great fancy ball was the
+presents which the fairy queen was to bestow upon her many subjects at
+the end of the festivities. These presents lay piled up in comical
+shapes all round her, and helped to form some of the billowy clouds on
+which she was supposed to be resting. The poor little fairy queen
+certainly looked most charming, and when the moment came for giving away
+the presents, she would enjoy herself to the full; but just now she
+could not help envying those fairies and brownies, who could jump about
+and skip and dance and have a very good time, without being in quite
+such a grand position as she was. On the queen fairy's head rested a
+spangled crown of light texture. She felt it almost heavy just now, and
+murmured to herself in a sentimental voice, "Uneasy lies the head that
+wears a crown."
+
+Boris, with his eyes still full of that unanswered question, came near
+and looked at her.
+
+"Are you having an awfully dull time, Nonie?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, it's all right," said Nora, who would have scorned to complain.
+
+"You're going to give us our presents by-and-by."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You'll feel jolly and hop o' my thumb, won't you?"
+
+"Oh, I'll feel nothing special," replied Nora, who did not wish to
+encourage this brownie in his efforts after familiarity.
+
+"How hot you look, Boris," she said, with a slight laugh.
+
+"Hot?" echoed Boris. "I'm boiling. It's these abominations of tights.
+Nonie, I'd like to tell you something; it's very important, very."
+
+"You can't possibly tell it to me now, Boris," replied Nora; "don't
+attempt to come too near, disarranging my clouds. Oh, what a naughty,
+troublesome boy you are; you have trodden upon that piece of white
+tarlatan, and it has all got out of shape. Do run away; do leave me
+alone."
+
+Boris scampered off; he had suddenly caught a glimpse of the round,
+smooth face of the shepherdess, Molly, in the distance. If he could only
+catch her up, she would allow him to whisper in her ear. Nora was always
+rather a cross patch, but Molly was kind. Molly would be interested,
+even though she was a shepherdess. He trod on some long trains as he
+skimmed by. People called him a tiresome child and an awkward little
+worry, but he did not heed them; he was gaining on Molly, and Molly
+would be sure to listen to him. Everything would be all right when Molly
+knew. Now, he had all but reached her, but no, how tiresome--how more
+than tiresome--a shepherd came up and held out his crook to Molly, who
+held out hers to him, and then they joined hands, and then they danced
+away, away, away, far, very far from Boris and his question.
+
+He turned round and stamped his pointed shoe in his vexation.
+
+Nell suddenly came up and touched him.
+
+"Did you find Molly? Have you told her?" she asked.
+
+"No, I can't get to her," replied Boris; "she's dancing over there with
+that horrid shepherd; he's only Hugh Pierson, and he doesn't look a bit
+well. Let's dance by ourselves, Nell; let's forget; 'twasn't nothing but
+nonsense, I'm sure."
+
+"I can't forget," replied Nell.
+
+"Well, aren't you a little bit hungry? There's lobster and pink
+champagne in the supper-room. I'm going in for some; I heard Hugh
+Pierson say it was ripping; come and let's have some."
+
+"I couldn't touch any," said Nell with a little shudder of disgust.
+
+Boris looked at her and gave vent to the faintest of sighs.
+
+"While I'm having my lobster, you could eat a jelly, couldn't you?" he
+said in the most insinuating of whispers.
+
+"No, I couldn't; I couldn't touch anything. Go and eat if you want to,
+and then come back to me here. I'm going to stand by that window;
+perhaps he'll come back and take another peep."
+
+"It couldn't have been him, Nell; you know it couldn't; he's away in
+London, you know."
+
+"I tell you it was him."
+
+"Has he brought back my dove, do you think?"
+
+"No, no; who cares about a dove just now?"
+
+"Nell, I really do care, and my cage is most beautiful and clean. I put
+in fresh seed and water only this morning; wasn't it lucky?"
+
+"Well, the dove hasn't come," said Nell; "you know it was 'perhaps'
+about the dove, and about the pony, and about all the jolly
+things--you're always forgetting that it was 'perhaps.' There, go and
+eat your lobster, and come back to me when you have done; don't drink
+too much champagne, or maybe you'll turn giddy. I'll wait here by this
+window."
+
+Boris, looking decidedly depressed, hesitated for a moment; then seeing
+that Nell was resolute, he decided that, even if disappointment were in
+store, he could all the rest of his life reflect that he had sat up late
+and eaten lobster salad for supper. He accordingly sidled away in the
+direction of the supper-room, and Nell, with a light movement, sprang on
+one of the benches and then into the deep recess of a window. Here, with
+her cloudy hair all about her, her little face as white as her dress,
+her eyes big and spiritual in the trouble which vaguely stirred her
+sensitive soul, she looked out into the night. Her large wings shielded
+her little form, and nobody noticed that one fairy was not joining in
+the revels.
+
+"I did see him," murmured Nell; "I saw his face just for a minute; he
+pressed it up against the pane and looked in; his hair was all ruffled,
+and his eyes, his eyes--oh, the thought of his eyes makes me ache so
+badly. Why doesn't he come in? What is he doing out in the garden? I
+know he has come back. I know he's not in London; he has come back and
+he is in the garden, and we are all so jolly, and he so sad. What is the
+matter? Oh, I know quite well; it's _perhaps_; and the pony, and the
+dove, and the rabbits have not come home. Wings--I thought I'd be so
+happy when I had wings, but I'm just mis'ribble I'm just mis'ribble."
+
+There was a little noise behind Nell; she turned her head to see Boris
+scrambling up into the seat by her side.
+
+"I had two plates of salad," he began; "'twasn't so very nice, not so
+nice as--why, what's the matter, Nell?"
+
+"Come," said Nell, taking his hand, "quick, jump down, he's under the
+oak tree, just where the shadow is thickest; I saw him move; that's him;
+let's go to him, Boris; take my hand; let's run to him."
+
+Boris's hot hand clutched Nell's. They ran quickly along by the
+comparatively empty space near the wall, reached the entrance, and flew
+swiftly across the moonlit grass.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+FAIRY AND BROWNIE.
+
+
+Perhaps it was not the first time that the moon had looked down on a
+fairy and a brownie running across that old, old lawn. No one could say
+anything for certain on this point. We all of us have a sort of undying
+belief in fairies, so perhaps they did exist once, before our hearts had
+grown too cold and our natures too worldly to understand them. Children
+know most about them, but even children don't quite believe in them now,
+in the good old-fashioned way of long ago.
+
+A very pretty fairy and brownie were out now. The moon silvered Nell's
+wings and put a sort of unearthly radiance into her hair, and Boris,
+with his bright locks standing almost upright on his head, in his
+quaint little costume, with his upturned toes and ruffled hands, looked
+quite like a true denizen of fairy land. Certain it is that the man who
+stood under the shadow of the oak gave a perceptible start when he saw
+the fairy and brownie. For a moment the old belief of his early
+childhood flashed through his brain, then he recognised Nell and Boris,
+and coming to meet them, he took a hand of each.
+
+"What is it, father?" exclaimed Boris; "what are you standing out of
+doors for? I know it's a very warm night, but we want you dreadfully,
+dreadfully, in the house."
+
+Boris rubbed himself against his father's knee as he spoke. Nell
+clutched Squire Lorrimer's other hand, and raising it to her lips,
+kissed it passionately. Nell did not speak at all.
+
+"Come in, father, come in," repeated Boris; "and where's mother, and
+what are you doing out here under the oak tree?"
+
+"Looking at you little people; you make a gay sight," said the Squire.
+
+In spite of himself, his voice was quite hollow.
+
+"But why don't you come in?"
+
+"I'm not coming in; I'm going back to London again to-night."
+
+"Why, father?" asked Nell, opening her lips for the first time, and
+looking at him with great intentness.
+
+The Squire stooped and lifted Nell into his arms.
+
+"I did not want you to see me," he said. "I knew you were having your
+big party to-night, and I had to come to the Towers on--on business.
+What are you trembling for, Nell? You ought not to be out; you must run
+back to the house at once; why, you are cold, child."
+
+"I'm _not_ cold, and I _will_ stay and kiss you."
+
+Nell's arms were pressed tightly round the Squire's neck. Her little
+soft lips pressed kiss after kiss on his somewhat grisly cheek.
+
+Boris, standing on the ground, and looking up at Nell in her fathers
+arms, thoroughly realised for the first time that he had gone to useless
+trouble in cleaning the dove's cage.
+
+"Now, Nell, you must be sensible," said her father. "I was obliged to
+come to the Towers to-night to--to fetch something. I knew from Molly's
+letters that you were going to have a big ball. I thought I'd like to
+see how the ball-room looked. We have not had a ball, a very big ball,
+in that room since the days of my great-grandmother. My grandmother has
+told me about that ball, and about the very window where my
+great-grandfather stood when he asked my great-grandmother to be his
+wife. He asked her to marry him at that ball, so of course she never
+could forget it; and the story of the green dress she wore--apple
+green--with her golden locks falling over her shoulders, and the story
+of the window where he proposed to her, have been handed down in the
+family ever since. To-night, in that same window, the little
+great-great-grandchild sat, and looked out, and I saw her; now, you must
+run back, Nell. Boris, you run back, too; run and enjoy yourselves; be
+happy--God, God bless you."
+
+"Why don't you come in, father?" asked Boris.
+
+Nell felt as if she could not say a word. There was so much meaning in
+fathers words; there was so much that he said with his eyes, and with
+the tight pressure of his arms, which the rather commonplace words he
+uttered seemed to have nothing to do with. Nell understood, and her
+heart ached so, she seemed to be turned dumb.
+
+The Squire put Nell firmly on the grass.
+
+"Run in, both of you," he said. "I must go back to the railway station
+at once, or I shall miss my train. I am returning to town to-night. Say
+nothing of this to anyone until the ball is over, then you may tell
+Molly, if you like, that she will probably see her mother to-morrow.
+Good night, chicks."
+
+"Won't we see you to-morrow, father?"
+
+But the Squire's only reply was to stride softly away under the trees.
+
+"Why, he's gone," exclaimed Boris with a little cry.
+
+"Yes. Didn't you know he was going, Boris? What is the use of making a
+fuss?" said Nell. She found she could speak quite well again now. "Take
+my hand and come back to the house; let's do what he said."
+
+"Do you think he's put out about anything?" asked Boris. "He seemed
+dumpy, like; I couldn't say anything about the dove; I knew it hadn't
+come. Do you think father was sad about anything, Nell?"
+
+"He didn't say he was, did he?" asked Nell.
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, let's come back and dance, or people will miss us. Father said we
+weren't to say anything until the ball was over, and then only to
+Molly."
+
+"But if Molly goes back to the Grange?"
+
+"She mustn't; she must stay here. I'll dance with you now, Boris, if you
+like."
+
+The time had sped faster than the children had any idea of while they
+were out. But the dancing still continued and went on until a late hour.
+Then the moment when expectation must yield to a delightful reality
+arrived. Towards the end of one of the prettiest figures of the
+cotillion, the fairies and brownies assumed new characters. Either a
+fairy or a brownie conducted one of the many personages who figured in
+the fancy ball up to the fairy queen, who, assisted by a number of
+satellites, bestowed upon each a gift carefully selected in advance to
+meet the requirements of the special child in question. Each child was
+expected to drop on one knee to receive the fairy queen's benediction
+with her gift; they then filed one by one into the supper-room, where
+refreshments of a particularly ethereal, grateful character awaited
+them. This scene really ended the never-to-be-forgotten fancy ball.
+Hasty departures followed. Carriages rolled away with many sleepy and
+happy little folk, and at last the two carriages which were to convey
+Sir John Thornton and his party back to the Grange, appeared.
+
+Nora was to return with them, and Annie Forest had arranged to specially
+attend to her comforts. Molly, who intended to come back to the Towers
+in a day or two, was also wrapping a white shawl round her shoulders
+preparatory to departure, when a brownie rushed quickly from one of the
+ante-rooms, flung his arms round her neck, and whispered in her ear.
+
+"Oh, Molly, what are you waiting for?" exclaimed Nan. "We're all
+perfectly dead with sleep, Boris, you naughty boy; you know you have
+nothing whatever to say; what are you keeping Molly for now?"
+
+"I have something to say," replied Boris. "Something most 'portant, I
+can tell you." His face flushed with anger; he dragged Molly into the
+ante-room.
+
+"There she is, Nell," he exclaimed; "now you can tell her."
+
+"What is the matter, Nell, darling?" exclaimed Molly, struck by the
+expression on her little sisters face.
+
+"Molly, Molly," exclaimed Nell, with a sort of gasp in her voice.
+
+"What is it, Nell, dear? Do speak; they're all waiting for me and I must
+go."
+
+"Oh, must you go? Do stay, do stay; I have something very important to
+say; its a message."
+
+"A message!" exclaimed Molly; anxiety stealing quickly into her voice;
+"is it anything about--about father and mother?"
+
+"Yes, yes; and nobody else is to know; you will stay?"
+
+"Yes, I'll stay. Wait there a minute, and I'll be back with you."
+
+Molly ran up to Hester, who was waiting for her in the entrance hall.
+
+"Good-bye, Hetty," she said, kissing her; "I'm not going back with you."
+
+"What in the world do you mean, Molly?" exclaimed Hester. "You know you
+have promised to stay with us for another day or two, and I want you to
+know more of Mrs. Willis, and--why, what's the matter, dear?"
+
+"Nell is not quite well, I think," replied Molly; "anyhow, I must stay
+here to-night; don't say anything to make Nora anxious; good-night."
+
+"I am afraid, Hester, that we must not keep the horses waiting any
+longer," said Sir John in his most measured tones. "Good-night, Molly,
+we shall be pleased to see you at the Grange to-morrow if you can tear
+yourself away from domestic cares."
+
+Hester went away, the carriage door was shut, and a moment later the
+last of the visitors had departed.
+
+Molly rushed back for one moment to Nell.
+
+"I am here," she said, "but if you have a secret to tell me, I can't
+talk to you for the present without exciting the curiosity of the whole
+house. Go upstairs and get into bed, and I'll be with you as soon as I
+can. I daresay my bed is not ready for me, so I'll sleep with you
+to-night."
+
+A ghost of a smile of pleasure flitted across Nell's face as she glided
+away.
+
+Molly went back to the rest of her brothers and sisters. Jane
+Macalister, still true to her Minerva costume, was seated at the supper
+table, eating a large slice of cold game pie.
+
+"I am famished," she said; "it was the most fatiguing thing I ever did,
+and the dressmaker has made the sleeves of this horrid dress a great
+deal too tight, and the neck chokes me. Now, I hope this is the last
+folly of the kind that we shall have here for many a long day. I, for
+one, refuse to be laced up in this heathen mythology style again. Now
+then, my dears, all of you to bed. Molly, what in the world are you
+staying here for? We didn't expect you, and your room isn't ready."
+
+"Oh, I'll sleep with Nell," replied Molly.
+
+"Very inconsiderate indeed," replied poor Minerva. "Nell's bed is only
+large enough for herself, and she's like a feathers weight--with those
+dark circles under her eyes too. I saw her flying about and absolutely
+going out on to the lawn this evening. Nell is a great deal too
+excitable, and certainly her sleep ought not to be disturbed."
+
+"I promise not to disturb it," replied Molly; "you know, Jane, I'm not
+an exciting sort of person."
+
+"No more you are, my dear; but it frets me to have my arrangements put
+out by fads. However, off with you to bed now. Dear me, I am famished.
+If Minerva felt as I do, I pity her, poor soul. I'll have a glass of
+stout; there's nothing like it when you're worn out. Good night, Molly."
+
+Molly ran eagerly away. She was waylaid by more than one brother and
+sister on her way upstairs, but at last she found herself in Nell's
+room.
+
+Nell was sitting on the side of the bed; she had not attempted to
+undress.
+
+"Oh, come, this will never do," said the practical Molly; "why, you're
+ready to drop with fatigue, you poor mite. Here, let me undress you, and
+you can talk while I'm doing it. Now, what's the trouble?"
+
+"It's about father."
+
+"What about him?"
+
+"He came back to-night; he stood under the oak tree at the end of the
+lawn. I saw him first, because he pressed his face up against one of the
+windows and looked in, and afterwards he stood under the oak tree; Boris
+and I ran out to him."
+
+"Yes, yes; go on, Nell."
+
+Molly's fingers were trembling now, but they did not cease their busy
+task of unfastening Nell's clothes.
+
+"Go on," she said; "what did he say, and why, _why_ didn't you call me?"
+
+
+"Boris tried to catch you up, but you would dance with Hugh Pierson. We
+ran out to father and he talked to us. The 'perhaps' has come true,
+Molly; oh, Molly, the 'perhaps' has come quite true."
+
+"How do you know, Nell? Don't tremble so, Nell, dear."
+
+"Father wouldn't come in," continued Nell, making a brave effort to
+recover herself. "He told us about our great-great-grandmother and her
+apple-green dress, and he said that he had come back to fetch something,
+and that he must return to London to-night; and then he said,'God--God
+bless you,' and his voice shook just a tiny bit, and he said that mother
+would be home to-morrow, and----"
+
+"Yes, Nell, and----"
+
+"Boris said 'Will you come home?' and--but----"
+
+"What did he say to that?"
+
+"He said nothing to that; he walked away very soft and quick. Molly,
+what does it mean?"
+
+"I don't know," said Molly. "Now, Nell, you must get into bed. You are
+quite cold and shivery. I am going downstairs to fetch you a little hot
+wine and water, and then I'll put my arms round you until you sleep."
+
+Nell was glad to submit to Molly's most comforting ministrations.
+
+"But I think I do know what it means," murmured the elder girl as she
+listened to the gentle breathing of her little sister by-and-by.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE LORRIMERS OF THE TOWERS.
+
+
+The morning post brought a letter from Mrs. Lorrimer, which set all
+curiosity at rest. This letter was addressed to Jane Macalister, who
+read it through first, with feverish haste and brows drawn darkly
+together, then again straight from the beginning more slowly, and then a
+third time, during which she surreptitiously wiped her eyes, and hoped
+the children had not seen her do so.
+
+Jane was seated before the tea equipage at the head of the long
+breakfast table. Molly was helping her brothers and sisters to porridge,
+cups of milk, and bread and jam, in her usual deft fashion. Jane raised
+her eyes and encountered the brown ones of Molly.
+
+"Well, Jane," said the young girl in a steady voice; "what is the news?"
+
+"It's for you all to know, my dears," said Jane Macalister in a steady
+voice. "Your mother has asked me to break it to you all. It's just a
+question whether you shall all hear it together, or whether Molly shall
+hear it by herself first. I think Molly must decide that point."
+
+"I'll hear it with the others," said Molly.
+
+As she spoke she went and sat down in a vacant chair near Nell.
+
+"Perhaps it is not such news to Nell and me as you think," she said.
+"Anyhow, we are prepared to hear it."
+
+"It's 'perhaps' come true," said Nell in a faint voice, looking at Molly
+with the ghost of a smile.
+
+"Dear, dear," exclaimed Kitty, "whatever it is, let's out with it. I
+don't suppose we are a set of cowards, any of us. I'm going to guess
+what it is beforehand; it's that father's mare has broken her knees;
+that's about the worst thing that _could_ happen. Father sent for the
+mare to London a week ago; don't you remember, Guy, and when he was
+riding her in the park she fell and broke her knees; that's it, you
+bet."
+
+"Do shut up," exclaimed Guy.
+
+"You bet I'm right," replied Kitty, flushed and defiant.
+
+Under no other possible circumstances would Kitty have dared to say "you
+bet" in the presence of Jane Macalister.
+
+"Well, my dears," said poor Jane, looking round at all the eager faces,
+"I'd better read your mother's letter aloud. I've read it three times to
+myself, and have got over the choky business; so now I can read it aloud
+without breaking down. This is what your mother says, children. If I
+stand up, my loves, you'll all hear it better."
+
+Jane Macalister stood up at the end of the long table. All the children
+dropped their spoons, and knives, and forks, as they listened to her.
+
+"MY DEAR JANE," she began.
+
+Here she paused.
+
+"Your mother and I," she said, "have been Jane and Lucy to each other
+ever since we were children."
+
+"Who cares about that rot now?" murmured angry Kitty. Harry gave her a
+pinch which make her scream.
+
+"You shut up," she said back to him. "I must say something or I'll
+'splode."
+
+"MY DEAR JANE," continued the governess,
+
+     "I must ask you to break the news as you best can to the poor
+     children. The Squire and I have done all that lay in the power of
+     mortals to avert the blow. But it has been God's will that we
+     should not succeed. You can tell Molly by-and-by how it is that her
+     dear father has got into such terrible money difficulties, but now
+     the all-important thing for the children to know is this.... The
+     Towers is sold, and we must all go away from the dear home we have
+     loved so long. The Squire is terribly upset, and cannot bring
+     himself to come back just at once, but I am returning to-morrow.
+     There is nothing for us now but to bear up and make the best of
+     things. It is not so hard on any of us as it is on the
+     Squire.--Believe me, dear Jane, your affectionate friend,
+
+                              "LUCY LORRIMER."
+
+There was dead silence after the letter had been read. Then quite
+suddenly the terrible and unexpected sound of Nell's weeping filled the
+room.
+
+"Oh, father," sobbed Nell. "Oh, father's face; oh, father's face."
+
+She hid her head on Molly's shoulder and moaned in the most
+broken-hearted way. Boris, too, looked very pale. He remembered the
+pressure of the hand which had held his the night before. He heard the
+words which were commonplace enough, once again, and he saw the haggard
+lines round the lips and round the kindly eyes.
+
+Boris slipped away from his own side of the table. He went up to Nell
+and began to kiss her.
+
+"I know," he said. "I understand. I saw him, too; but he'll be all right
+by-and-by. It's like a big battle, but he'll not flinch; father's made
+of the stuff that soldiers have in them. He'll be all right by-and-by."
+
+"I wish you'd let me look at that letter, Jane Macalister," said Guy.
+
+Guy was the heir of the Towers. It was his property and all his future,
+which that letter seemed suddenly to deprive him of. He was the last boy
+in the world to think first of himself; but now his head did feel a
+little dizzy. If, it seemed to him up to this moment, there was a solid
+fact in all the world, it was that in due time he should step into his
+father's shoes and become Squire Lorrimer of the Towers.
+
+Molly instantly understood the tone of Guy's voice. She started up, and
+going to Jane took the letter; then she went to Guy, and put her arm
+round his neck.
+
+"Let's come into the garden and read it together," she said.
+
+He stumbled up and went with her as if he were blind. They went out
+through the open window and down the lawn, and Molly read the letter
+aloud once again.
+
+"Well, it's all up," she said when she had finished. "I have been
+expecting it for a long time--a long time; haven't you, Guy?"
+
+"No," answered Guy. "That's the awful part to me; it's such a sudden
+blow. I knew, of course, there were money difficulties; but, then,
+somehow or other, most fellows' fathers seem to have got them; and I was
+so busy with my books and keeping ahead of the other fellows in form
+that I didn't fret specially. I never wanted to think of myself
+specially; but sometimes the thought used to cross my mind that there
+might be a difficulty about my going to Cambridge by-and-by, and, of
+course, I knew that Eton was quite out of the question; but that was
+the worst, the very worst, that I thought could happen to me, and
+now--now."
+
+"Poor Guy," said Molly. "You'll never be Squire Lorrimer of the Towers."
+
+"Oh, of course, that doesn't matter," said Guy, in a would-be careless
+tone. "They can never take my real birthright from me. I'm the son of a
+gentleman, and I come of the real old stock. It's thinking of father
+that floors me, though, Molly. Why, this will just kill him."
+
+"I'm awfully anxious about him," said Molly.
+
+"How did he contrive to get into a scrape of this sort? I'm sure we
+never were extravagant; we didn't care a bit what we wore nor what we
+ate; and I know the grammar school at Nortonbury is cheap enough, and I
+really don't think Jane Macalister gets ten pounds a year. I'm sure she
+never has a new rag to her back; and as to you girls, of course I'm not
+blind; but if you were dressed like other fellows' sisters, you and Nora
+would look far and away the prettiest girls in the place."
+
+"No, no, that's humbug," said downright Molly. "I'm not a bit pretty,
+and what's more I don't want to be. Of course, Nora is different. I
+acknowledge that she has a beautiful face."
+
+"And you acknowledge another thing," said Guy; "that very little money
+has been spent. How in the world has father got into this scrape?"
+
+"Well, of course, we can't understand that," said Molly; "only I think I
+can guess a little bit. Of course, these are bad times for all
+landlords, and half the farmers don't pay their rents properly; and you
+remember, Guy, last autumn, the lease of the Sunny Side farm fell in,
+and father hasn't been able to let it since, because the whole place is
+so fearfully out of repair that no one will take it until it is put in
+order; but the real thing which has made it necessary to sell the Towers
+is, that father went security a long time ago for a very large sum of
+money, and all the other sureties have died or lost their money, and so
+father has to pay. I know there was a great fear of that, because mother
+told me of it more than a year ago. She said that father always
+intended, if the worst came, to try and borrow the money. I suppose he
+has failed to do so, and that must be the reason why the Towers has to
+be sold."
+
+"It's a bad business," said Guy, "and I can't realise it a bit yet; of
+course we young ones must be as plucky as we can about it, that goes
+without saying, but I can't take it in yet. I'm glad it's holiday time,
+and I needn't go to school. I couldn't face the other fellows just for a
+bit."
+
+"I know you'll be splendid about it, Guy darling," said Molly looking
+affectionately at her brother; "and now do you mind coming with me to
+the Grange, for, of course, poor Nonie must be told? We won't stay there
+long, for we must do what we can to help mother when she comes home."
+
+"Yes, I'll come with you," said Guy; "we'd best start at once, it's not
+too early."
+
+"Stay where you are, then, for a moment," said Molly. "I'll run into the
+house and tell them we are going."
+
+She went back to the breakfast-room, where an animated conversation was
+going on.
+
+Nell was lying on a sofa with a shawl over her, and Jane Macalister was
+sitting by her side and holding her hand. Harry, Boris, and Kitty were
+standing in a little knot by the open window eagerly discussing a
+subject which was causing them intense pain, and obliging them to use
+many bickering words. They were feverishly anxious about the removal of
+their several pets.
+
+"I know the big rabbit will die," exclaimed Boris. "Unless we can take
+the hutch which is built into the wall he'll die. He never will sleep
+anywhere except in that one corner of his hutch. It makes him ill, I
+know it does, to sleep anywhere else. He'll die if he's moved."
+
+"No he won't die," said Kitty roundly; "rabbits have got no souls, and
+you can't be affectionate and fond of a thing if you haven't got a
+soul."
+
+"Oh, what a lie," interrupted Harry; "and you mean to tell me that my
+dormice aren't fond of me, and that they don't prefer me to you--you
+clumsy monkey."
+
+Kitty looked nonplussed for a moment.
+
+"That's only because you feed them," she said then. "If you didn't feed
+them, they'd love me just as well. Ah, yah; who's right? You can't
+answer me now, can you? It's only cupboard-love animals have got, and
+that proves that they have no souls."
+
+"It seems to me," said Harry, in a would-be sarcastic voice, "that very
+much the same thing may be said of some girls. Who caught you stealing a
+peach a week ago? Ha, ha, Miss Kitty."
+
+"Oh, for pity's sake, children, don't quarrel," exclaimed Molly.
+
+"That's what I'm telling 'em," said Boris in a tearful voice; "and I
+think my big rabbit _has_ a soul, and I'm awful 'feared it will kill him
+if he leaves his corner of the hutch."
+
+"Jane," interrupted Molly, "Guy and I are going over to the Grange to
+tell poor Nora about mother's letter, but we'll both be home before
+mother returns."
+
+"Very well, my dear," replied Jane Macalister. "You'd better not have
+Nora back, though, Molly, for she's quite certain not to be sensible
+about matters, and that's the only thing left to us now. For heaven's
+sake, I say, let us keep our senses and not give way to sentiment at a
+crisis like this. Go, my dear; tell her that she must take it in a
+quiet, matter-of-fact way, and not consider herself in the very least.
+The Squire and your mother, and Guy are the three victims; the rest of
+us are of no consequence; go, Molly."
+
+Jane blew her nose very hard after uttering this oration, and there were
+suspicious red rims round her eyes.
+
+Molly joined Guy, and they started on their walk to the Grange.
+
+Guy had now quite got over the stunned feeling which oppressed him.
+There was a great deal of grit in all the Lorrimers, and Guy and Molly
+had both even a larger amount of this most valuable quality than the
+younger children. The ground, therefore, no longer swam under the brave
+boy's feet, and Molly, now that she was obliged to act, and now that she
+knew exactly what was going to happen, felt really less unhappy than
+before the blow had fallen.
+
+It was little after ten o clock when the children reached the Grange.
+They found Hester and Annie out in the garden picking flowers, and Nora,
+looking very happy and very pretty in her new pink cambric, was lying
+under a shady tree on the lawn.
+
+"Hullo, what have you come over so early for?" she asked of the two,
+as, dusty and hot, they came up to her side. Mrs. Willis was sitting
+near Nora, and reading aloud to her. Nora felt immensely flattered by
+her attentions, and yet at the same time not absolutely at home with
+her. Mrs. Willis could read character at a glance. She had taken an
+immense fancy to Molly, and pitied Nora without admiring her.
+
+"She is a shallow little thing," she murmured to herself. "Pretty, of
+course, but nothing will ever make her either great or wise. Sweet Molly
+is one of the angels of the world."
+
+She rose now to greet the brother and sister as they approached. The
+trouble round Guy's handsome eyes was not lost upon her. Poor Molly
+looked untidy, and quite worn and old.
+
+"Oh, how the ball has fagged you!" exclaimed Nora; "see how fresh I am,
+and kind Mrs. Willis is reading me a charming story."
+
+"I won't read any more at present, my dear," said Mrs. Willis, "as no
+doubt your brother and sister want to talk to you."
+
+"Oh, I'm sure they don't," said Nora; "they can't have anything at all
+particular to say, and I am so immensely interested. I want to know how
+Lucile conquered her difficulties with the French grammar. I have such a
+fellow feeling for her, for I always detest grammar. Please, Mrs.
+Willis, don't go away."
+
+"I'll come back presently," said Mrs. Willis; she crossed the lawn as
+she spoke, leaving the fascinating book open on Nora's sofa.
+
+"How tiresome of you both to come and interrupt," said Nora in her
+crossest tone. "Molly, you look positively dishevelled; and Guy, you
+needn't wear those worn-out tennis shoes when you come to the Grange.
+You really, neither of you, have the least idea of what is due to our
+position."
+
+"Our position be hanged," growled Guy. "Look here, we have come to say
+something, and as it's particularly unpleasant, you had better listen as
+quietly as you can."
+
+"Then I'm sure I don't want to hear it; I hate and detest unpleasant
+things. You know I do, don't you, Molly?"
+
+"Yes, darling," said Molly, kneeling down by her; "but sometimes bad
+things must come and we must be brave and bear them."
+
+She knelt down by Nora as she spoke, and laid her hot, and not too clean
+hand, on Nora's pretty fresh sleeve.
+
+"I do think its unkind of you to rumple up my frock like that," said
+Nora; "if you don't care to look nice, I do, and if you've got
+unpleasant news, you shouldn't tell it to me; for the doctor says that
+I'm not to be worried at present. I'm getting well nicely, but I'll be
+thrown back awfully if I'm worried."
+
+"That can't be helped," said Guy in a firm voice. "Sometimes unpleasant
+things have to be borne. It's no worse for you than for the others."
+
+"Oh, Nonie, Nonie," sobbed Molly, burying her head on her sister's
+shoulder; "it's this, it's this: Guy, you mustn't be cruel; remember she
+is weak. Nora, darling, we wouldn't tell you if we could help it, but
+you must know, because everyone else will know. The Towers is sold. The
+dear old home is ours no longer. We are not the Lorrimers of the Towers
+any more."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+TOPSY-TURVEY.
+
+
+While Guy and Molly were in vain endeavouring to comfort Nora, who,
+after uttering shriek after shriek, closed her eyes and lay perfectly
+still, so much so, that Molly thought for a moment that she had fainted,
+Sir John Thornton left his own private study, where he had been busily
+writing letters, and stepping out on the lawn, approached the spot where
+Hester and Annie, in their cool white dresses, were picking flowers to
+replenish the vases in the different sitting-rooms. The girls made a
+pretty picture, and Sir John always admired beauty in any form and under
+any guise.
+
+"Really, Hester is becoming quite distinguished looking," he said to
+himself; "she inherits a good deal of her mother's grace, and although
+she will never be exactly pretty, she is very aristocratic in
+appearance. She has a good figure, too--graceful and lithe. Even beside
+Miss Forest, who is a regular beauty of the piquant gipsy order, she
+quite shows to advantage. Presently we may be able to get her presented,
+and, if necessary, we must have a house in town for three months in the
+season. (I shall detest it, but Laura says it is inevitable.) Yes, I'm
+sure I have done right. Hester is such a sensible girl that she will
+probably be glad of my news; yes, it is evidently my duty to take Hester
+into society, and Laura is just the woman to take all the care and worry
+off my hands. I should never have thought of marrying again if it were
+not for Hester and Nan, but no one can say that I shirk a father's
+duties. Now I must break it to Hetty, for Laura says she will be here on
+Saturday. I would rather she did not bring her daughter with her, but
+she evidently has not the least intention of coming anywhere without
+Antonia. Dear, dear, I hope Hester will be sensible. I don't want a bad
+quarter of an hour."
+
+Sir John had now reached the two girls. He had quite forgotten his
+dislike to Annie, and smiling at her, asked her in his gracious way why
+she did not offer him a rosebud.
+
+She picked one at once, and he got her to place it in his button-hole.
+
+"Thank you," he said with a smile; "your taste is admirable, and now I
+have a favour to ask of you."
+
+"Granted, of course," said Annie with a smile.
+
+"I want to deprive you of Hetty's company for a quarter of an hour. I
+have some domestic matters to discuss with my fair housekeeper."
+
+"You can arrange the flowers, Annie," called Hester, dropping her basket
+as she spoke, and going up to her fathers side.
+
+He drew her hand through his arm and they walked across the lawn
+together.
+
+"I have just been admiring you and your friend," he said. "Do you know,
+Hester, that you really grow very nice looking."
+
+Hester flushed with a strange mingling of irritation and elation.
+
+To be praised by her fastidious father was something to be remembered,
+but she always shrank from having her personal appearance commented
+upon.
+
+Sir John turned round now and smiled into her blushing face.
+
+"Come down this shady walk with me," he said. "I have a good deal to
+talk over with you. Hester, you and Nan have always found me a kind,
+indulgent father, have you not?"
+
+"You have been very good to us," replied Hester.
+
+"Oh, perhaps not so good as some fathers, but good according to my
+lights, eh?"
+
+"You have been very good to us," repeated Hester.
+
+"And you are a good, dear daughter," replied Sir John, with almost
+enthusiasm; "you never complain of the dull life I give you at the
+Grange."
+
+"The life is not dull, father."
+
+"My dear, my dear," Sir John patted Hester's long slim fingers as they
+rested on his arm, "I was young once myself and I know what youth wants,
+and I have seen other girls, and I know what my girl requires. Hester, I
+am not unmindful of you; and the step--the step I am about to take is
+taken not wholly, but mainly, on your account and Nan's."
+
+Hester suddenly withdrew her hand from Sir John's arm. A kind of
+intuition told her what was coming. Like a flash a sword seemed to
+pierce right through her heart. She had a memory of her mother, of the
+loving eyes now closed--the voice so full of sympathy now silent. Was
+her mother to be supplanted and because of her? For once passion got the
+upper hand of prudence.
+
+"Do it," she said, suddenly flashing round upon Sir John; "do it,
+certainly, if you wish, but do not do it for Nan's sake and mine.
+Nothing in all the wide world could pain us more."
+
+Sir John looked as astonished as if Hester had suddenly slapped him in
+the face.
+
+"Your words are extremely vigorous, my dear," he said in a voice of ice;
+"and I am not aware that I have yet told you what I mean to do."
+
+"Oh, I know, I know," answered Hester; "you are going to marry again.
+Oh, don't do it for our sakes; that is all I have to say."
+
+Sir John was quite silent for nearly a minute. Then he said quietly: "As
+you have been so clever as to guess my intention, you have of course
+saved me the trouble of breaking my news to you. Young girls sometimes
+resent the presence of a stepmother, but as a rule they appreciate the
+advantage of one when once they have become accustomed to the change.
+The lady who has honoured me by promising to accept my hand is Mrs.
+Bernard Temple. She is about my own age and has one daughter of
+seventeen--your age, Hester--whose name is Antonia. I have not yet seen
+Antonia, but I am told that she is a most charming, ladylike girl. Mrs.
+Bernard Temple has written to me to say she will come here on a visit on
+Saturday with Antonia. This is Thursday, and I expect you, Hester, in
+the meantime, to break the news to Nan, and to get everything ready for
+the honoured guests who will then arrive. I expect this is a surprise to
+you, my dear, so I forgive the excited words you have just made use of.
+You will doubtless have reason to rejoice yet at my decision. You are
+too young to be at the head of a great establishment like this, Hetty. I
+am doing wisely in removing such a burden from such young shoulders."
+
+"I have never felt it a burden," said Hester in a choked voice.
+
+"No; you have been good, very good, and now you will reap your reward.
+My marriage will probably take place in October, and my wife and I will
+return to the Grange for Christmas. Next season we shall probably have a
+house in town, when my dear Laura will present you and Antonia at one of
+the drawing-rooms."
+
+Hester made no remark.
+
+"I think that is all, my love," said Sir John; "you can now return to
+your friends. I have several letters to attend to."
+
+"May I tell Mrs. Willis, and--and the others?" asked Hester.
+
+"You may tell everyone; it is no secret."
+
+Sir John took out his cigar case as he spoke, and Hester, with a sinking
+heart, turned away.
+
+Annie, full of trouble on her account, dreading inexpressibly the moment
+when Mrs. Willis should ask her for the ring, was sauntering up and
+down, lost in anxious thought in front of the house.
+
+She caught sight of Hester coming slowly towards her.
+
+"Good gracious, Hetty, whatever is the matter?" she exclaimed. "I never
+saw your pale face with peonies on it before, and your eyes look as if
+you had been crying. I cannot imagine what has come to everyone,"
+continued Annie; "the whole place seems to be in a ferment. Nora, I
+know, has been crying about something, and Molly's face looks positively
+blotchy."
+
+"Oh, I should like to see Molly; is she here?" exclaimed Hester.
+
+"Yes, she's on the lawn talking to Nora, and Guy is with them, and Mrs.
+Willis joined them half an hour ago. I was running up to them, but Nora
+shrieked out to me to keep away. What can be the matter? There seems to
+be an earthquake everywhere."
+
+"So there is as far as I am concerned," replied Hester. "There is an
+awful earthquake, and I don't know at the present moment whether I am
+standing on my head or my heels."
+
+"Dear me, you are on your heels," replied Annie; "but you look rather
+top-heavy, so do be careful."
+
+"My father is going to marry again in October," continued Hester, "and
+my future stepmother is coming here on Saturday, and there is a girl
+called Antonia coming with her--her daughter, and--and Antonia will live
+at the Grange in the future, and Annie, I cannot realise it; oh, Annie,
+I cannot bear it."
+
+"You poor darling," said Annie. She put her arm round Hester's neck and
+kissed her hot cheeks.
+
+"What a horrid old man Sir John is," murmured Annie to herself; "what in
+the world is he making a goose of himself for?"
+
+Aloud she said in a faint voice, "Oh, I am bitterly sorry for you. I
+don't know what I'd do to my dear old rough-and-ready father if he dared
+to give me another mother. And Hetty, Hetty, if these new people are
+coming on Saturday, must I go away?"
+
+"No, of course not, Annie; it would make me much more wretched even than
+I am now not to have you in the house; oh, I really don't know how I
+dare tell Nan; she is so excitable, and Mrs. Martin has put her against
+stepmothers already."
+
+"It doesn't matter half as much for her," said Annie, "for she will be
+at school most of the time. Would you like me to tackle her? I think I
+can get her to behave with outward propriety at least."
+
+"I wish you would tell her," said Hester.
+
+"Very well, I'll search for her right away; and shall I send Molly to
+you?"
+
+"Dear Molly; yes, I'd rather see her than anyone."
+
+"I'll fly round and tell her you're here," replied Annie.
+
+She had now a reason for joining the group on the lawn, which not even
+Nora's frantic wavings of the hand to her to keep away could prevent her
+attending to.
+
+"Molly," she said, not coming too near, but shouting from a little
+distance; "Hester is on the lawn at the back of the house and wants
+particularly to see you for a minute or two."
+
+Molly stood up and shook out her crumpled holland frock.
+
+"Very well," she said, "I'll go to her."
+
+"Stay here, Guy," she continued, laying her hand on her brother's
+shoulder. "I won't stay long with Hetty, but she would think it unkind
+if I did not tell her. I wonder if she has heard anything. I won't be
+long away, for we must go back to the Towers before lunch, in order to
+be sure to be in time to meet mother."
+
+Molly went slowly away, her poor dejected little figure showing only too
+plainly the weight of sad care which filled her heart.
+
+Hester Thornton was, however, for once so self-centred that she could
+think of no sorrow but her own. She noticed nothing particular in
+Molly's lagging step, and guessed of no special sorrow in her
+tear-dimmed brown eyes.
+
+Hester ran up to Molly and clutched her arm with feverish force.
+
+"Oh, Molly," she gasped, "how can I bear it? my worst, worst fears are
+realised. My father is going to marry again."
+
+These words gave Molly a shock; she turned quite white for a moment.
+
+"Hester," she said, "oh, Hester, and I remember your mother, your sweet
+mother. I was only a very little girl when I saw her last. She was ill
+at the time and she died soon afterwards, but I cannot forget her face
+nor her words; she seemed something like an angel."
+
+"So she was," said Hester. "A beautiful, dear angel--too good for this
+world."
+
+Hester's courage gave way; she began to sob brokenly.
+
+"Come into the field at the back of the house," said Molly; "we'll be
+quite alone there, and then you can tell me everything and I can tell
+you everything."
+
+"Oh, have you bad news too?" said Hester. "Annie seemed to think you
+had; she said your face was blotchy, and that Nora had been crying. Oh,
+Molly dear, Molly dear, how selfish I am; I have been absolutely
+swallowed up in this dark cloud, and can think of no one but myself. I
+notice now how red your eyes are, and how sad your mouth. Poor, dear
+Molly, what is it? Is Nell really ill? Was that why you did not come
+back with us last night?"
+
+"It isn't Nell," said Molly in a trembling voice; "it's--Hester--it's
+what we feared. We had a letter from mother this morning, and it's all
+over--it's all over, Hetty--the Towers is sold."
+
+"And my father is going to marry again," said Hester; "it seems to me as
+if the world were turning topsy-turvey. Oh, Molly, what are we both to
+do?"
+
+"Jane Macalister would say that we are not to think of ourselves," said
+Molly with a wan attempt at a smile, "but somehow I don't feel like
+following her advice just at present."
+
+"Nor I either," replied Hester; "I never, never in the whole course of
+my life felt more horrid and wicked, and rebellious, and selfish."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE NEW OWNERS.
+
+
+It is surprising how soon, at least when we are young, the greater
+number of us get accustomed to things. The news of the sale of the
+Towers, and of Sir John Thornton's approaching marriage, had electrified
+the Lorrimers and the Thorntons on Thursday. Had electrified them to
+such a degree that even the common observances of life seemed queer and
+out of place. It seemed wrong to eat when one was hungry; inhuman to
+smile; and even when one was sleepy, it seemed necessary to go to bed
+with a sort of apology. Nevertheless, the hungry people had to be fed,
+smiles had now and then to chase away tears, and in youthful slumber
+sorrow was for a time forgotten.
+
+By Saturday life was going on much as usual in the two households. The
+Lorrimers were not to leave the Towers for six weeks. There was no
+immediate necessity, therefore, for the younger members of the
+household to think about moving the pets. Six weeks seemed something
+like for ever to them. The anxious consultations of the elders were not
+shared by them. Mother had come home, and mother kissed them just as
+tenderly as ever at night, and petted them just as much in the morning,
+and coddled them just as persistently when there was the least scrap of
+anything the matter. Whenever they went away, mother would go with them,
+and that, after all, was the main thing. In their secret hearts, they
+became rather excited about the move, the packing, and the new home.
+Boris, it is true, sometimes woke at night with a start and a hot
+remembrance of the clutch the Squire had given his hand when he stood
+under the oak tree, and Nell sobbed out piteously once or twice, "Oh,
+father's face, oh, father's face;" but father was not with them and
+mother was, and the sun rose and set as usual, and the fruit ripened in
+great plenty, and the pets were all well, and it was holiday time, and
+mother earth was specially tranquilising and kind. By Saturday, Boris,
+Kitty, and Nell were to all appearance just as they were before, and
+even the elder members of the family behaved, as Jane Macalister
+expressed it, "like sensible Christians."
+
+In the Thornton household, too, the first overwhelming shock of Sir
+John's approaching marriage had passed by. Nan had stormed and raged,
+and flung her arms round nurse's neck, and sobbed herself at last to
+sleep on her breast, but Nan's passion was over now, and she was even a
+little curious to see what sort of woman Mrs. Bernard Temple was, and
+what sort of girl Antonia would be. Hester, whether her heart was heavy
+or light, was forced to attend to many household cares, and Annie was
+happy once more, for Mrs. Willis had not yet asked her for the ring.
+Mrs. Willis had yielded to Hester's strong entreaties to remain at the
+Grange until Monday. She was deeply interested in the Lorrimers, and was
+most anxious to help Molly in any way in her power; she was also
+desirous of seeing Hetty through the difficult ordeal of her first
+introduction to her future stepmother; she resolved, therefore, at some
+personal sacrifice, to prolong her visit at the Grange for a few days.
+No events less absorbing would have made her forget the ring. The
+exciting events of Thursday had, however, put it completely out of her
+head. On Friday, it is true, she did think of it, but Annie was not
+present at the time, and she now resolved not to trouble herself to have
+the ring copied, but to buy another present for her ex-pupil.
+
+Annie knew nothing of this intention, but delay had made her bold, and,
+as usual, she had great faith in her own good luck.
+
+On Saturday morning Sir John contributed vastly to the excitement and
+interest of the party by a certain piece of news which he read aloud to
+them from a letter he had just received from Mrs. Bernard Temple.
+
+"My dear Hester," he said, looking down the length of the table at his
+daughter, "did not you once tell me that you had a schoolfellow at
+Lavender House of the name of Susan Drummond?"
+
+"Sleepy Susy," exclaimed Hester with a smile. "I had almost forgotten
+her, although she managed to worry me a good deal at school. She was my
+room-mate for the first couple of terms. Oh, dear, oh, dear, shall I
+ever forget the trouble we used to have to wake her?"
+
+"She left Lavender House a good many years ago; what of her?" exclaimed
+Mrs. Willis; "the fact is, I have quite lost sight of her."
+
+"And so have I," said Hester; "frankly, I did not care about remembering
+her."
+
+"Well, whether you like it or not, you are likely to hear a good deal
+more of her now," said Sir John, "for Susan's father is the new owner of
+the Towers, and Mrs. Bernard Temple wants to know if she may bring Susan
+as well as Antonia to-day, as Susan is naturally most anxious to see her
+new home. Have we a vacant bedroom, Hester?"
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Hester, "but it seems----"
+
+"What, my dear?"
+
+"Nothing, father--only--but----"
+
+"But me no buts," replied Sir John in a tone of irritation. "Nothing can
+be more natural than a young girl's wish to see her future home. I shall
+telegraph to Mrs. Bernard Temple to let her know that we shall be
+pleased to give Miss Drummond a hearty welcome."
+
+Sir John rose from his chair as he spoke, and a moment later left the
+room.
+
+"Poor Nora," exclaimed Hester, when the door had closed behind him.
+"Susy is certain to say something to hurt her dreadfully, for unless she
+has tremendously altered, I never saw a creature with less tact."
+
+"We must hope for the best," said Mrs. Willis. "I am rather glad, my
+dear," she added, "that I am here, for I think Miss Susy will be on her
+best behaviour in my presence."
+
+"Well, I think it's the most awful thing that ever happened," exclaimed
+Nan. "Fancy having a sleepy thing like that at the Towers, instead of
+Nell and Kitty and Boris."
+
+The girls discussed the matter a little further, and then Hester went
+away to attend to Nora.
+
+The shock of Molly's intelligence had really affected Nora to an almost
+painful degree. Her nerves had been terribly shaken by her serious fall,
+and she was so restless and miserable for the first twenty-four hours
+after the stunning blow had been given to her that the beloved Towers
+was no longer her home, that a doctor had to be sent for, who ordered
+her a soothing draught, and said that she ought to be kept extremely
+quiet.
+
+By this time, however, Nora was not only better, but much interested in
+the strange new outlook. She had found her life often dull enough in the
+dear old home--for it was by this term she now invariably spoke of the
+Towers--she had longed to flutter her little wings in a larger and gayer
+world--she had fancied the small triumphs which might be hers, and had
+believed much in the charms of her own pretty face. She had dreamed
+dreams of herself in society, and felt sure that the fact of her being a
+Lorrimer of the Towers would insure her a passport into any circle. Now,
+of course, matters would be different, but still the new life must be,
+at least, more interesting than the old. It would be impossible any
+longer to have nothing to do in the day except to learn rather
+old-fashioned lessons under the tutorship of Jane Macalister, to
+contrive to dress out of almost nothing at all, and to listen for ever
+to Molly's slow talk about ways and means, and the children's chatter
+over their pets. Nora looked ahead with interest. She was sorry for
+Hester, of course, but she thought it would be very delightful to meet
+Mrs. Bernard Temple and Antonia, and even the news that Susan Drummond
+was coming, and that Susy's father was now the owner of the Towers,
+scarcely disturbed her equanimity.
+
+"It's very kind of you to break it to me, Hetty," she said; "but of
+course I knew that someone had bought the Towers, and why not Mr.
+Drummond as well as another?"
+
+"Why not, truly," replied Hester; "I am glad you are so sensible, Nora.
+I'll send Annie to you as soon as ever I can. Now I must run away, as
+there is a great deal to be done."
+
+"How pale you look," said Nora, touched with a feeling of compunction at
+an indescribable something in Hester's face and voice. "Are you really,
+really fretting?"
+
+"No, I hope not," replied Hester; "but I am really, really fighting, and
+that is hard work; now I must be off."
+
+She left the room in a hurry, and as she went away to interview the
+housekeeper, some tears gathered in her eyes.
+
+"Dear, dear Molly," she murmured to herself; "how very different she is
+from Nora; oh, how I wish Susy was not going to be settled at the
+Towers, it seems to be quite the last straw. 'As well Mr. Drummond as
+another,' says Nora; ah, but she would not say that if she really knew
+Susy."
+
+The remaining hours which were to intervene before the arrival of the
+guests passed swiftly by. Sir John went alone in the landau to
+Nortonbury to meet them. An omnibus was sent for the luggage and for
+Mrs. Bernard Temple's and Miss Drummond's maids. Nan, flushed, excited,
+and defiant, stood in her white dress on the steps; Hester, also in
+white, stood by her little sister and held her hand with a firm
+pressure.
+
+"Keep quiet, Nan--do keep quiet, for my sake," she whispered once in an
+emphatic voice.
+
+"I'll vent it on Susy Drummond," exclaimed Nan: "she's the safety valve;
+I'm glad she's coming."
+
+"Here they are," said Hester. She felt herself turning very pale, and
+laid her other hand on Nan's shoulder. The sound of wheels was
+distinctly audible, and the next moment the landau with its four
+occupants bowled rapidly up to the door. Mrs. Bernard Temple was all
+smiles and bows. She was a graceful, well-preserved woman, handsomely
+and fashionably dressed. Although the same age as Sir John, she looked
+years younger. Antonia was a dark-eyed, sallow-faced girl, difficult to
+say anything about at the first glance, and Susy Drummond was the
+well-known Susy Drummond of Lavender House. A little taller, a little
+fatter, a little more sleepy-looking, if that were possible, than she
+used to be in the old days, but still the Susy whom Hester had detested,
+and whose departure from the school was hailed with relief by everyone.
+
+Before anyone else could speak she now raised her full, light blue eyes,
+fixed them on Hester, and drawled out, "Who would have thought of seeing
+you again, Prunes and Prism?"
+
+Hester ran down the steps accompanied by Nan. There was a confused
+murmur of greeting and introduction. Mrs. Bernard Temple kissed Hester
+on her forehead, called her "dear child," and looked into her eyes in a
+way which made Hester long to shut them, patted Nan on her shoulder and
+hoped she was a good, obliging little girl, and then, followed by
+Antonia and Susy, who dropped a succession of wraps the whole way,
+entered one of the drawing rooms.
+
+"My dear John, what a perfectly _charming_ room," exclaimed Mrs. Bernard
+Temple, turning to her future husband and glancing down the long room
+with a critical eye. "Furniture just a _little_ out of date--not enough
+Chippendale--old-fashioned, but not antique--we'll soon put that right,
+however. Antonia has a wonderful eye for colour. You see, she has been
+trained in an atelier in Paris."
+
+The faintest perceptible frown might have been seen between Sir John's
+eyebrows. He took no special notice of Mrs. Bernard Temple's remark, but
+walking up the long and exquisitely proportioned room flung open some
+French windows which led into a flower garden, gay with every imaginable
+flower. There was a distant and very lovely view from this window.
+
+"I think you will admire the landscape from this window," he said,
+turning and speaking with an air of great deference to his distinguished
+guest.
+
+"In one moment, my love," she replied. "Antonia, what do you think of
+old gold curtains, and one of those dark olive-green papers for the
+walls? This light decoration is absolutely inadmissible."
+
+"Old gold is quite out of date," replied Antonia, opening her lips for
+the first time. "I'm sick of old gold, it's not _chic_ now. I'll look
+through some of my antique designs and sketch my idea of a drawing-room
+for you presently, mother; now pray attend to Sir John."
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple favoured her daughter with a glance which was
+returned in a very frank and determined manner by that young lady. She
+then sailed slowly up the room and condescended to admire the view
+pointed out by Sir John.
+
+Hester was standing near one of the windows talking to Susy, who had
+already sunk into an easy chair, and was fanning herself with an
+enormous black fan which hung at her girdle. Antonia, after a moment's
+hesitation, came up to Hester.
+
+"I'm very sorry we have come," she said, "but it really is not my fault.
+Mother is in a state of flutter at having caught Sir John. I'm disgusted
+about it all. I don't want a stepfather any more than you want a
+stepmother. I'm to be turned into a fine lady now, and I hate being a
+fine lady. I have a soul for art. I adore art. I'm all art. Art is
+sacred; it shouldn't be talked about the way mother speaks of it. When I
+was in Paris I was in my element. I wore a linen blouse all over paint;
+ah, that blouse--those happy days."
+
+"Oh, Tony," suddenly burst from Susy's lips, "for pity's sake don't go
+off into a trance; you'll put Hester into a fit. Her face at the present
+moment is enough to kill anyone. For goodness sake, Hester, don't look
+like that; you'll make me laugh, and if I laugh immoderately it always
+wakes me up. I was looking out for a little nap before tea--forty winks,
+you know--I can't live without my forty winks, and now if you put on
+that killingly tragic face, I'll scream with laughter, I know I shall.
+Oh, dear, oh, dear, you must learn once for all never to mind a single
+thing Tony says; she's the oddest, most irrational creature--a genius of
+course--her pictures are simply monstrosities, which is a sure sign of
+genius."
+
+"Would you like me to take you to your room?" said Hester, turning to
+Antonia when Susy had given her a moment of time to open her lips. "I'm
+sure you must be tired after your long journey."
+
+"What should tire me?" asked Antonia, opening her big brown eyes in
+astonishment. "I travelled first-class from London, and drove out here
+in a landau; the whole journey was nothing short of effeminate. When I
+was in Paris I rose at four in the morning, and worked at my easel
+standing for five hours at a stretch; that was something like work. No,
+I'm not the least tired, thank you, and I don't want to be bothered
+tidying myself, for I may as well say frankly that I don't care twopence
+how I look."
+
+"Tea will be ready in half an hour," said Hester. "Will you come out
+into the garden, then, for a stroll?"
+
+"If you don't hate me too much to walk with me; but pray consider your
+own feelings if you do, for I don't in the least object to strolling
+about alone."
+
+Hester and Antonia had now stepped out on the velvet lawn. They each
+gazed fully at the other.
+
+"No," said Hester, speaking with a sudden swift intuition; "I don't hate
+you; I rather like you. I am glad you are frank."
+
+"Oh, I hate pretence," said Antonia, with a shudder. "Fancy a priestess
+of art stooping to pretence. Well, if you don't detest me, let us walk
+about for a little. Have you no wild, uncultured spot to show me, which
+the hand of man has not defaced? My whole soul recoils from a velvet
+lawn."
+
+"Oh, Tony, Tony, you're too killing to live," shrieked Susy from the
+other side of the window.
+
+Antonia and Hester moved slowly away together; Hester was trying to
+think of some portion of the grounds which might be sufficiently full of
+weeds and thorns to satisfy the priestess of high art, and Susy lay back
+in her chair and wiped her eyes.
+
+"This is rich," she murmured to herself. "To think of poor Prunes and
+Prism being thrown with Tony--to think of Tony as a sort of sister to
+Prunes and Prism. Well, this is a delicious lark. Hullo! is that you,
+Nan? Come along and speak to me at once, you pert puss. Why, do you know
+you've grown?"
+
+"Well, I don't suppose I've stood still for the last five years,"
+replied Nan, who could be intensely pert when she pleased. "I'm too busy
+to stay with you now, Susy; Nora wants me."
+
+"Nora; who is Nora?"
+
+"Nora Lorrimer."
+
+"Nora Lorrimer, is she one of the Tower Lorrimers?"
+
+"Yes; she wants me in a hurry; I must fly to her."
+
+"Stay a moment, my dear child," Susy absolutely rose from her chair in
+her strong interest. "If this girl is one of the Tower Lorrimers, I had
+better know her at once; you had better bring her to me and I'll
+question her."
+
+"I can't bring her to you; she has had a fall and is lying on her back;
+she can't walk."
+
+"Dear me, what a nuisance; well, I'll go to her, then. Come along,
+Nancy, show me the way this minute."
+
+"But really, really, Susy," began Nan, raising blue, imploring eyes.
+"Really, it is very sad about the Towers, you know."
+
+"Sad; good heavens, are the drains wrong?"
+
+"It's sad about the Lorrimers," continued Nan, stamping her foot and
+growing red with anger; "we love the Lorrimers; they are our dearest,
+our very, very dearest friends, and we hate their leaving the Towers.
+Perhaps Nora doesn't want to see you, Susy."
+
+"Come along," said Susy in a firm voice; "I want to see her. What
+sentimental folly you talk, Nan. Squire Lorrimer was very glad indeed to
+find such a purchaser as my father for his tumbledown old place."
+
+"The Towers tumbledown!" exclaimed Nan, "the beautiful, lovely, darling
+Towers! Susy, I hate you--I hate and detest you; I won't show you the
+way to Nora's room, so there!"
+
+Nan pulled her frock out of Susy's detaining hand and rushed away.
+
+Miss Drummond stood quite still for a moment where she had been left.
+Then she put up her hand to smooth her brow.
+
+"This sort of thing would be ruffling to most people," she murmured,
+"but I really don't mind. Now, shall I have my forty winks before tea,
+or shall I poke round by myself until I find this blessed aggrieved
+Nora? That horrid little piece of impertinence has quite woke me up, so
+it's scarcely worth while to get soothed down again; I think I'll find
+Nora and ask for some information which I am anxious to write to father
+about, then after tea I can have a snooze until it is time to dress for
+dinner. Dear, dear, they might have the politeness to have tea ready on
+one's arrival. I expect my stay here will be precious slow, with their
+old-fashioned, prim ideas; if it weren't for Tony I'd die, but she'd
+really make a cat laugh; it will be better than a play to watch her at
+dinner to-night with Sir John. Now, then, for a search for the tearful
+Nora."
+
+Susy, accordingly, in her usual ponderous, somewhat heavy mode of
+progress, wandered from one room to another until at last the sound of
+voices guided her to the pretty little boudoir, where Annie Forest and
+Nora had taken shelter, and where Nan was now standing, pouring out her
+tale of woe. A slight creak which the door made caused the girls to turn
+their heads, and there stood Susy, shedding articles of her wardrobe, as
+usual, as she walked. Her flaxen hair was partly unpinned and lay in a
+rough coil on her fat neck. She came with elephantine weight into the
+room, and ignoring Annie Forest altogether, held out a hand to Nora.
+
+"Here I am," she said. "I'm Susy Drummond. 'Miss Susan Drummond, the
+Towers,' will soon be on my visiting cards. Isn't the place very
+ramshackle? Doesn't it want to be put into repair a good bit? I'm just
+dying to hear all about it. Oh, and here's an American swinging-chair--I
+just adore them. You don't mind if I see-saw gently while you talk to
+me. Nan, I bear no malice; fetch me a footstool, love, and let me know
+when tea is brought into the drawing-room. Annie, how do? I hope the
+female dragon is very well." Annie flushed crimson. Only a startled look
+on Nora's pretty face enabled her to control herself. She walked to the
+window and looked out.
+
+Susy blinked her sleepy eyes after her.
+
+"Never mind," she said, winking at Nora, "it's an old feud which I
+buried--I'm the most forgiving creature in Christendom--but if she
+chooses to dig up the hatchet, I can't help her. I always called that
+detestable Mrs. Willis the she-dragon. You don't know her, I suppose?
+You're in luck, I can tell you. Thank you, Nan, for the footstool. Now,
+this is most comfortable. You'll begin to tell me all you can about the
+Towers, won't you?" she continued, bending slightly forward and laying
+her fat hand on Nora's slim white arm; "and so you really are a
+Lorrimer? How profoundly interesting."
+
+Nora fidgeted restlessly on her sofa.
+
+"I'm a Lorrimer," she said at last in a steady voice. "I--I don't think
+I can tell you about the Towers; you'll probably go and see the place
+for yourself, either to-morrow or Monday."
+
+"I shall certainly go to-morrow, and at an early hour, too; my father is
+most anxious to get my opinion on it."
+
+"Well, then, you'll see it for yourself."
+
+"So I shall--quite true, little Miss Rosebud; but, nevertheless, there
+is such a thing as curiosity, which, doubtless, you can gratify. Now,
+let's begin. I'm nothing if I'm not practical. How many bedrooms are
+there?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"You don't know? Are you simple? Have not you lived there all your
+life?"
+
+"I have, but I don't really know. Perhaps if I count I can tell you.
+First, in the Tower, there's Jane Macalister's room, and Boris sleeps
+near her, and then there's Kitty--she has a room to herself--it's rather
+small, but she's immensely proud of it, and there's Nell and--"
+
+Susy suddenly clapped her hands to her ears.
+
+"For goodness sake stop," she exclaimed. "What do I care for your
+Macalisters, and Boris's, and Kittys? I want to know how many bedrooms
+there are--ten, twelve, twenty, thirty? Can't you count?"
+
+"Yes, perfectly," replied Nora with spirit; "but I never troubled myself
+to count the number of bedrooms at the Towers; you can do so for
+yourself when you go to see it to-morrow."
+
+"Thanks for nothing. If I'm anything I'm practical, and I shall not only
+count the bedrooms to-morrow, but measure them also. I shall take a
+measuring tape with me, and my maid Linette and a foot measure."
+
+"How pleasant for Linette to be sandwiched between a measuring tape and
+a foot measure," exclaimed Annie, turning round from her position at the
+window and speaking for the first time.
+
+Susy favoured her with a slow glance of intense dislike. Slightly
+turning her back she proceeded with her catechism of Nora.
+
+"At least you can say something about the drawing-rooms. How many feet
+long is the principal drawing-room?"
+
+Before poor Nora could reply, the door of the room was slowly opened and
+Mrs. Willis, with her usual calm, strong face, entered.
+
+Susy Drummond gave such a start of dismayed surprise that Annie forgave
+her a good many of her sins on the spot.
+
+Mrs. Willis came up to her and held out her hand.
+
+"How do you do?" she said. "Sir John Thornton told us this morning at
+breakfast that we might have the pleasure of meeting you here. Are you
+well?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I'm--I'm quite well, ma'am," replied Susy, stammering out her
+words in hopeless confusion.
+
+"Nora, dear, you are looking very tired," continued Mrs. Willis. "I
+propose to have tea with you here alone, and to read to you for a little
+afterwards. Annie, will you take Miss Drummond to the drawing-room? I
+saw the tea equipage being taken in as I passed."
+
+Susy shambled out of the room in Annie's wake.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+HESTER SPEAKS HER MIND.
+
+
+The next day was Sunday, and Susy, notwithstanding her strong
+inclinations, was forced to submit to Sir John Thornton's decree that
+she should not visit the Towers that day. Hester had sent a hurried note
+to Molly apprizing her of Susy's arrival, and begging of her, if she
+valued her peace of mind, not to come near the Grange on this dreadful
+Sunday.
+
+It passed somehow. Poor Hester always, during the remainder of her life,
+looked back upon it as a day of hopeless worry and confusion of brain.
+Everyone seemed to be playing the game of cross-purposes with everyone
+else. Sir John kept on assuring himself that he was the happiest man in
+existence, while Mrs. Bernard Temple and Antonia evidently trod on his
+corns at each step he took. Susy, in her moments of wakefulness, was sly
+and watchful. Antonia was absolutely indifferent to everything but high
+art. Mrs. Bernard Temple was busy as busy could be making hay while the
+sun shone. She guessed shrewdly--perhaps her experiences with the late
+Mr. Bernard Temple helped her--that it was during the time of courtship
+when most of her wishes would be carried out. She insisted, therefore,
+on going carefully into the many alterations which she proposed to make
+in the Grange, and Sir John, notwithstanding his innate aversion to fuss
+of any kind, was forced to listen to her demands, and, as he was really
+attached to her, she soon got him to say yes to her different proposals.
+
+Nan and Hester, Annie and Nora, kept as much together as possible. This
+was made easy for them by kind Mrs. Willis, who not only kept Susy in
+considerable awe, but contrived to interest Antonia by allowing her to
+talk art to her by the hour. Antonia used a jargon which Mrs. Willis did
+not in the least understand, but even Antonia was not proof against the
+gracious sympathy of this high-minded woman.
+
+The girls had, therefore, plenty of time for self-pity. Annie was the
+very soul of sympathy, and it was a comfort to poor Nora and Hester to
+pour out their sorrows in her affectionate ears. As for Nan, she took
+refuge a good part of the time with Mrs. Martin, who shook her fists,
+when Nan was not looking, at the backs of Sir John and Mrs. Bernard
+Temple as they walked down one of the lawns side by side.
+
+"She's his match!" murmured the old woman. "She'll give it to him; now
+he'll know what a selfish wife means! He have 'ad his turn of the other
+kind, and now he'll know what the selfish sort is. Serve him right, I
+say; serve him well right!"
+
+At last the weary Sunday came to an end and on Monday, after breakfast,
+Susy announced her intention of going over to the Towers.
+
+"I suppose I can have a carriage?" she said, turning to Sir John, who
+paused in his exit from the dining-room to give her his polite
+attention.
+
+"I suppose I can have a carriage?" she repeated.
+
+Annie interrupted--
+
+"The Towers is scarcely a mile away across the fields," she said.
+
+"I don't think I can walk a mile," replied Susy; "my muscles are awfully
+weak--I dare not strain them."
+
+"You can have a carriage with pleasure," said Sir John. "I will order
+one to be round at whatever hour you wish to name."
+
+"At once, please," said Susy; "there's a good deal to be done. I've to
+measure all the rooms for carpets and druggets."
+
+"You surely won't cover the rooms with carpets?" exclaimed Antonia. "I
+never heard of anything so Philistine. Oak parquetry, with rugs that
+slip about, is the only thing admissible. Better bare boards than
+carpets--carpets are simply atrocious!"
+
+When Antonia began to speak, Sir John was heard to slam the door behind
+him; he had had quite enough of this young lady.
+
+An eager discussion followed his departure, and it was finally decided
+that Susy, Hester, and Antonia, accompanied by Annie Forest, should
+drive over to the Towers.
+
+"My part in the expedition will be this," exclaimed Annie, taking Hester
+aside for a moment. "I'll collect every single Lorrimer child I can lay
+hold of and carry them away to the most remote part of the grounds I
+can find, to be out of the reach of that detestable Susy and the torture
+she means to inflict. I should recommend you, Hester, to come with us."
+
+"I'd like to very much," replied Hester, with a faint smile; "but I
+think I must stay with Mrs. Lorrimer and Molly. I don't know that I
+shall be the least comfort to them, but somehow I can't desert them."
+
+A few moments later the little party drove off, and in the course of
+half-an-hour they arrived at the Towers. There was a winding and rather
+steep beech avenue, leading up to the older part of the mansion. Owing
+to the sad state of Squire Lorrimer's finances, this avenue was by no
+means in a state of complete repair. Hester turned her fleet little
+ponies--for she was driving--into it. They were spirited, but always
+well-behaved; on this occasion, however, they started violently, for
+Antonia was heard to utter a piercing shriek of rapture.
+
+"Oh, those briars," she exclaimed--"those heavenly, heavenly, artistic
+briars! Stop the carriage, I beg of you, Miss Thornton! I must cut some
+without a moment's delay!"
+
+"We can't stop on the side of a hill, Antonia," said Susy. "The ponies
+are fretting already, and nothing would induce them to stand still. You
+don't want us to be killed, I suppose, for the sake of an odious briar?"
+
+The only answer Antonia made was to press her bony right hand with
+unnecessary force on Susy's right arm and vault from the carriage.
+
+"Go on," she said, waving her hand to Hester; "I'll follow you
+presently. You don't suppose I'm going to lose a chance of this kind! I
+have brought my colour-box with me, and I mean to make a study of those
+briars before I go another step."
+
+Suiting her action to her words, Antonia had already seated herself on a
+steep bank and was unfastening her portfolio.
+
+"What a show she'll be when she does arrive," exclaimed Susy. "She'll
+probably bring three or four enormous briars into the house with her;
+but we may be thankful to be rid of her for a little, for she is so
+painfully positive. I place the greatest faith, of course, in her
+opinions, for she really is a magnificently ugly artist, and ugly art
+is, of course, the only correct thing now; but I do think we might have
+the bedrooms comfortable, don't you, Hester? With my tendency to forty
+winks at odd moments, I think it is scarcely safe to have every room
+covered with oak parquetry and rugs that slip about. The doctor says I
+am very deficient in muscle, and if I fell I might break a bone rather
+badly--don't you think so, Hester?"
+
+"Yes, I do!" said Hester. "I think you had better furnish the Towers
+exactly as you please, and not take any opinions from Antonia!"
+
+They had reached the brow of the hill now, and Hester was resting her
+ponies for a moment.
+
+"How fiercely you speak," said Susy in an aggrieved tone. "Aren't you
+really interested in me and my future? Coming to the Towers is a very
+important step for me. I shall be the mistress, and in a position of
+great distinction. Father says I must entertain, and I hate
+entertaining, for it rouses one up so dreadfully; but I do think that
+you, as an old schoolfellow, might take a little interest in me."
+
+"Listen to me for a moment," said Hester; "I want to say something."
+
+"Oh, how appallingly solemn you are! I wish I had a lollipop to stop
+your mouth with."
+
+"You must listen," said Hester in a firm voice; "I'm not joking. Times
+come in all lives when one cannot joke. I did not love you as my
+schoolfellow, Susy, and, frankly, I do not love you now; but, when you
+come to the Towers, I'll do everything in my power to help you, not
+because I like to do this, but because it's right. I can help you in
+many ways, for you don't know anything of county society; and, coming
+after such an old and popular family as the Lorrimers, people will be
+very apt to cut you if you are not careful. My father and I know
+everyone in the place, and we can get them to be kind to you if--if you
+deserve it; but that depends altogether on how you treat the Lorrimers
+now."
+
+"Bravo," burst from Annie, who was sitting in the back seat, but who
+overheard Hester's words.
+
+"Don't interrupt me, Annie, please," said Hester.
+
+"The Lorrimers are my dearest friends," continued Hester. "Molly
+Lorrimer, whom you have not yet seen, and Annie, here, are the two
+greatest girl friends I have in the world. It is a great, great sorrow
+to the Lorrimers to leave the home where they and their people have
+lived before them for hundreds of years, and until they leave the place
+you ought not to talk before them of the way you mean to furnish the
+Towers when you are in possession. You ought to regard their feelings;
+and if you wish to please me, and if you wish me to help you by-and-by,
+you will. Remember, you are not in possession yet. The Towers is not
+your place yet."
+
+"Well, I never!" exclaimed Susy. "Why, you've turned into an orator;"
+but Hester's words had subdued her a good deal, for if she had one
+source of envy, it was the envy which _parvenus_ like her give to the
+old county people, and if there was an ambition in her stagnant soul, it
+was to be considered a county person herself.
+
+Accordingly, when the party entered one of the drawing-rooms of the
+Towers, and Molly, looking pale and anxious, came forward, and Mrs.
+Lorrimer received Susy with that gentle kindness which always
+characterised her, the young lady had not a word to say. She sank down
+on an ottoman in the centre of the room and gazed vacantly around her.
+
+A whoop from Boris was heard outside. Annie rushed to the door to be
+greeted by him and the other children, and carried away in their midst.
+
+Mrs. Lorrimer asked Susy if she would like to see over the house.
+
+"Yes, please," replied Susy; "I have brought the tapes and measures."
+
+She stopped, for Hester had given her a heavy frown.
+
+"If its really inconvenient, I needn't do anything to-day," she said,
+sinking back into her seat.
+
+Mrs. Lorrimer looked puzzled, and Molly opened her brown eyes very wide.
+
+Just then there came an interruption, in the shape of two individuals
+who entered the drawing-room by separate doors. One of them was Jane
+Macalister, who carried a duster in her hand, and had a large smut on
+her forehead. The other was Antonia, whose hat had fallen off, and who
+trailed two enormous briars behind her.
+
+The priestess of high art and the priestess of domestic economy, met
+almost in the centre of the room.
+
+"Good gracious me," exclaimed Jane Macalister, "who in the world are
+you, my dear, and what, in the name of all that's orderly, are you
+bringing those abominable briars into the house for?"
+
+"Abominable?" exclaimed Antonia; "these briars abominable? Oh, what
+crass ignorance one comes across in this benighted land. My name is
+Antonia Bernard Temple, and I am an art student. I claim nothing higher.
+I shall be an art student as long as I breathe."
+
+"And my name is Jane Macalister," replied poor Jane, her whole face
+growing scarlet with vexation, "and I claim nothing higher than the love
+of order and decent neatness. Give me those briars, child, and don't
+lumber the room with such messes."
+
+Before Antonia could utter a word of remonstrance, Jane had whipped her
+duster round the briars and had rushed out of the room with them.
+
+For a moment Antonia felt inclined to pursue her; but as she was
+preparing to move, her large gaze was attracted by a couple of huge
+Chinese dragons which were reposing under one of the tables.
+
+"Oh, you loves! you darlings! you adorables!" she shrieked. "Here,
+indeed, is a prize."
+
+She made a rush to the objects of her worship, and kneeling down on the
+floor opposite to them, whipped out her sketching materials preparatory
+to work.
+
+"Tony, you must at least allow me to introduce you to Mrs. Lorrimer
+before you begin to sketch," said Susy, who had perfectly recovered her
+own equanimity in the amusement which Antonia's conduct afforded her.
+
+"Yes, yes, anything," muttered Antonia "Oh, these dragons are a prize;
+they are a prize. Yes, Susy, what is it you want?"
+
+"Get up," said Susy, "and come and be introduced."
+
+She pulled Antonia by her sleeve, who rose in a sort of dream and
+approached Mrs. Lorrimer, looking like a person in a trance.
+
+"This is my friend, Antonia Bernard Temple," exclaimed Susy, addressing
+Mrs. Lorrimer.
+
+"I am glad to see you, my dear," said Mrs. Lorrimer in her sweet voice;
+"and I am pleased to find that you appreciate the old china."
+
+"The dragons? Superb; Ruskinesque," exclaimed Antonia. "You don't mind
+if I go back to them? I must seize the opportunity of transferring them
+to my note book. Oh, what a heavenly room this is! Old, disorderly,
+worn, dim with the hue of ages. An artist might grovel in this
+room--grovel with delight!"
+
+"Well, go back and grovel over the dragons," exclaimed Susy, giving her
+friend a playful poke.
+
+Antonia hurried to obey. Her work instantly absorbed her; she saw
+nothing else.
+
+"Isn't she killing?" exclaimed Susy, addressing poor surprised Mrs.
+Lorrimer. "She's to be a sort of sister to Hester in the future; she's
+to live at the Grange. She's the daughter of Sir John Thornton's
+_fiancee_. Don't you love the word _fiancee?_ I do. Did you know that at
+school we called Hetty Prunes and Prism? Fancy Prunes and Prism and the
+Priestess together. Its almost too killing."
+
+Mrs. Lorrimer, gentle as she was, was also the soul of quiet dignity.
+She made no reply whatever to Susy's outburst with regard to Antonia, but
+gently led the conversation to matters of every-day interest.
+
+"This is our largest drawing-room," she said, "but we have two others
+leading into it. The farthest drawing-room takes you into the
+dining-room, and that again into the library and morning-room. All our
+reception-rooms open one into the other. You will notice that they are
+built round the central hall, which is almost octagon in shape. I am
+sure you would like to see the house, and I do not at all object to
+showing it to you. Ah! here comes Jane Macalister. I'm sure she will
+have great pleasure in taking you round. Jane, dear, come here."
+
+Jane came up at once. She still wore her smut, but the duster was gone.
+
+"Jane, let me introduce you to Miss Drummond. Her father is the new
+owner of the Towers; Miss Drummond would like to see over the house, if
+it would not trouble you too much to show her round."
+
+"Trouble me," exclaimed Jane; "_that_ doesn't trouble me. Come, child,
+this way. I'll go in front and you can follow. This is the smaller
+drawing-room. It was here that Charles the Second passed a night in the
+year of grace--"
+
+"Oh, for heaven's sake," exclaimed Susy, stopping her ears, "don't go
+into dates; the whole thing is confusing enough without dates."
+
+Jane favoured her with a quick, contemptuous glance.
+
+"I shan't dream of instructing you if you don't wish it, my dear," she
+said. "Those who like ignorance, in ignorance they shall remain, as far
+as Jane Macalister is concerned. Well, then, here's a room with three
+windows and four walls and a ceiling and a floor. The furniture won't
+belong to you, so you needn't look at it. Now come on. This room we also
+use as a drawing-room, but _you_ needn't unless you like."
+
+"Do stop, pray!" exclaimed Susy. "I can't rush through the place like
+this. You are not a Lorrimer, are you?"
+
+"No, I'm a Macalister, of the clan of----"
+
+"Oh, please, I don't want to hear about the clan. What I wanted to say
+was this, that I have got the tapes and measures in my pocket; Hester
+tells me I mustn't use them on account of paining the Lorrimers, but as
+you are not one, of course you won't mind. I see you have got carpets on
+all the floors."
+
+"Yes, why not? Carpets are put on most floors--at least they used to be
+when I was young."
+
+"But Antonia says that we ought to have parquetry and slippery rugs."
+
+"And do you mean to tell me," exclaimed Jane, "that you are going to
+heed the words of that poor daft lassie? It's nothing to me what you do,
+of course, but that poor girl has not got her proper wits, and if I were
+you I would try to follow someone with a grain of sense."
+
+Susy laughed heartily.
+
+"Antonia is as right as anyone else," she said "only she has a passion
+for art."
+
+"Preserve me from such a craze," exclaimed Jane. "How much longer are we
+to stand in the middle of this floor while we talk about tapes and
+measurements and that silly girl?"
+
+"But may I measure?"
+
+"You may do anything you please, provided you don't injure the
+furniture."
+
+"And it won't hurt your feelings?"
+
+"No, you couldn't touch 'em. I'll sit here and wait till you have done."
+
+Jane flung herself on a hard chair as she spoke, and drawing a long
+stocking out of her pocket, began to knit furiously.
+
+Susy, who had about as much idea of measuring a room as she had of
+turning the heel of a stocking took her tapes out of her pocket and
+began an impossible task.
+
+Jane watched her in silence for a moment or two, but Susy's futile
+attempts were too much for this deft, managing creature.
+
+"Why don't you foot it?" she exclaimed. "My word, I never saw such a way
+to set to work. Here, you want the length of the room. I'll do it for
+you. Take your pencil and paper and jot down what I say. You haven't got
+any? That's a nice way of doing business. Well, then, I hope you have a
+good memory. I always measure a yard as I walk. Now, then, you count.
+Here I begin--one, two, three--are you counting?"
+
+"No," said Susy; "I'm greatly obliged, but you confuse me awfully. I
+won't do any more measuring to-day; I shouldn't sleep for a week if I
+had to keep all that in my head. Some men must come down from Liberty's
+or Morris's. Antonia prefers Morris, she says he's the most _chic_."
+
+"I don't know what you mean by chick," said Jane Macalister, "unless you
+allude in some mysterious way to the fowls; but I am glad you've got
+sense enough not to undertake what Providence has given you no aptitude
+for. Now, do you or do you not want to see the rest of the house? To a
+person like you, it's just like any other house, only nothing like so
+modern and nothing like so comfortable. There's a ghost in the
+tower----"
+
+"A ghost," shrieked Susy; "I tremble at ghosts, I'm in terror at them; I
+won't go near the tower."
+
+"I don't want to drag you there against your will. It's my private
+opinion that the ghost is made up of rats, but be that as it may,
+there's an awful scrimmage in the old tower at night. Now, then, will
+you see it, or will you not?"
+
+"I think I won't," said Susy. "The Towers seems to be, from what you
+say, much like any other place. I hope my father has not been induced to
+pay too much for it."
+
+"Hoots! he has got a place that mere money couldn't purchase unless the
+Lorrimers had come to grief. Don't you talk of what you know nothing
+about, child. The Towers is the Towers, sacred with memory and
+beautiful----; do you know why the Towers is beautiful, Miss Susy
+Drummond?"
+
+"No, I'm sure I don't," said Susy, staring in astonishment at Jane, who
+had stalked up to her now and was staring her full in the face.
+
+"Well, then, perhaps I'd better tell you, if it is for the last time.
+The Towers is beautiful because for hundreds of years brave men have
+been born here and gentle noble women have lived here, and their
+influence has got somehow into the walls and into the furniture, and it
+pervades the rooms inside and out. It's bad to go against that kind of
+spirit and you and your father had better be careful when you come here,
+or you may rake up ghosts that you won't much care about. Now, if
+you'll have the goodness to go back to the others--you'll find them in
+the front drawing room. I'll return to my duties, which at the present
+moment consist of shelling peas and chucking raspberries. That's your
+way, Miss Susan Drummond, through that door, and if you're wise you'll
+remember my words."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+ANTONIA'S GIFT.
+
+
+When Susan returned to the drawing room she saw no one there but
+Antonia, who, squatting on the floor, was absorbed heart and soul in
+copying her Chinese dragons. Susy was not in a humour to talk to
+Antonia, she therefore proceeded to go further afield. She was anxious
+to find Hester and Annie. The Towers, with its old-fashioned rooms and
+old-world furniture, had much disappointed her. It needs the sort of
+education which nothing could ever give to Susy Drummond, to appreciate
+a place like the Towers. Hester and Jane Macalister had also between
+them contrived to depress her, and it was a subdued and rather
+crestfallen Susy who now crossed the magnificent octagon hall in pursuit
+of the rest of her party.
+
+Antonia meanwhile worked at her dragons with a will. If Susy were out of
+her element, Antonia was absolutely steeped in hers. The faded
+furniture, the subdued light, the rich colour of the magnificent china
+filled her really artistic nature with a sense of rejoicing. Behind all
+her affectations, Antonia had a soul. It had never been awakened yet.
+All her life hitherto poor Antonia had spent her time with the most
+empty-headed and frivolous people. Only art seemed great and glorious
+and satisfying. She loved it sincerely, and for itself alone; she had no
+ambitions with regard to it, ambition was not a part of her queer
+nature; she would all her life be a humble votary at a lofty shrine. She
+did not imagine that there could be anything greater than art in the
+whole world. As yet her soul had not been really aroused, but the time
+of awakening was near.
+
+Having made a rough, and, in truth, a very distorted sketch of the
+dragons, she gathered up her colours and portfolio, and prepared to
+search farther afield for objects on which to expend her genius. She
+followed Susy into the octagon hall, but, seeing the wide front doors
+open, went out, and, crossing a by no means well-kept field, entered the
+paddock, where the colts, Joe and Robin, had disported themselves before
+their sale. The paddock was skirted by a copse of small fir-trees, and
+Antonia sniffed the air as she walked towards it. Antonia was in a rusty
+black dress, with very little material in the skirt, and an extremely
+long train, which she never held up. She had just got to the edge of the
+copse of young trees, and was preparing to make a sketch of their
+straight trunks with the delicate sunlight shining across them, when a
+strange noise attracted her attention. She dropped her colour box,
+uttered one of her affected little shrieks, and then dropped on her
+knees beside a child who was lying face downwards on the grass. The
+child's dark hair completely covered her face, but the sobs which shook
+her slender little frame were too violent to be inaudible. Whatever
+ailed the child, she was prostrated by such a tempest of grief that
+Antonia forgot high art in an honest wish to comfort human misery.
+
+[Illustration: ANTONIA AND NELL IN THE PADDOCK (_p._ 209).]
+
+"Who are you?" she asked. "Can I do anything for you? What can be the
+matter with you? Have you lost your colour box?"
+
+Antonia could understand grief at such a loss, hence her inquiry.
+
+Nell turned a little when she was spoken to; dabbed her
+pocket-handkerchief into each eye, and then looked up at Antonia.
+
+"I wish you'd go away," she said. "I don't want you. I have come away
+here to hide. I wish, I wish you'd go away!"
+
+"I don't wish to trouble you in any way," replied Antonia, "but I can't
+go away, for I've come here to sketch. Your sobs don't disturb me now
+that I know there's nothing very serious the matter, so perhaps my
+presence won't disturb you. I'll sit here and not take the least notice
+of you. I must imprison that sunshine before it goes. You can sob away,
+I won't listen."
+
+But to be told that you can sob as long as you like has generally the
+effect of stopping tears, and Nell, astonished at Antonia's appearance
+and words, presently sat up on the grass, and, flinging back her heavy
+mane of hair, watched the priestess of art with great interest. How
+could Antonia imprison a sunbeam? It sounded interesting! Nell blinked
+her eyes and looked at her solemnly.
+
+"Well, child," said Antonia, pausing in her work, and giving her one of
+her slow glances, "I'm glad you're better; I never heard such
+distressing sobs. It's a great pity for you to cry so much, for you
+disfigure yourself; but I wish now that you are here you'd sit still,
+for I'd like to sketch you with that woebegone look. I never saw such a
+perfect ideal of true artistic beauty before."
+
+"Beauty?" said Nell, with a little laugh. "But I'm called 'the ugly
+duckling'!"
+
+"Charming!" exclaimed Antonia. "I'll immortalise this 'ugly duckling.'
+She shall be the foreground for these pine trees, and the imprisoned
+sunbeams can light her up from behind."
+
+Notwithstanding her sorrow, Nell found it intensely interesting to be
+made the foreground of a picture. She wondered how the imprisoned
+sunbeams would like their office of always shining round her head. Nell
+was by no means vain. She honestly believed herself to be a hideous
+little girl, but it was refreshing once, as a change, to be spoken of as
+a true artistic beauty. She thought that she would learn the phrase, and
+repeat it over when she looked at herself in the glass, or when Kitty
+and Harry became more than usually aggravating about her personal
+appearance.
+
+Meanwhile, the artist dashed in her colours with fiery speed. Nell sat
+perfectly still, and gazed straight at Antonia. Suddenly a flood of
+colour spread itself all over her face. Was Antonia the new owner of the
+Towers? If so, _she_ was the cause of poor Nell's heart-broken sobs.
+
+The younger members of the Lorrimer household had solemnly vowed an
+undying feud against the new owner of the Towers. They had established
+this feud with the solemnity of a sacred rite. They had made a bonfire
+and stood round it in a circle and joined hands, and declared the
+following awful formula:--
+
+"Neither I, nor my children, nor my grandchildren, nor any of my
+descendants, will ever speak a friendly word to the new owner of my
+ancestral home. I wish the ghost of my ancestor, Hugh Lorrimer, who died
+in the Wars of the Roses, to haunt the new owner and his family; and I
+solemnly declare that I never will have part or lot with him or his."
+
+This jargon had been made up by Harry, but each member of the feud, as
+they termed themselves, had solemnly repeated it, even down to little
+two-year-old Philip.
+
+Suppose this wonderful, queer lady, who was making a sketch of Nell, was
+the new owner. In that case, it was Nell's duty to leave her at once.
+
+"I want to ask you a question," said Nell.
+
+"Yes--don't stir, please--ask me anything you like."
+
+"Are you the new owner of my home?"
+
+"I the new owner?" exclaimed Antonia. "Heavens! no! I own nothing except
+this"--she clasped her colour-box and looked up with a face of ecstacy.
+"I only want this," she said, "_and this_," she continued, waving her
+hand with an impressive sweep which was meant to include both earth and
+sky.
+
+She claimed a good deal, Nell thought; but, after all, that did not
+matter, as she had nothing to do with the feud.
+
+"I'm glad you are not the owner," said Nell, "for, if you were, I should
+have been obliged to leave you."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"I and the others have sworn it solemnly round a bonfire."
+
+The words were so unusual that Antonia was greatly amused.
+
+"You don't like to leave the Towers, then?" she said.
+
+"Like it?" replied Nell. "Would you, if you had lived here ever since
+the tenth century?"
+
+"Mercy, child! how venerable I'd be!" exclaimed Antonia. She smiled in
+quite a tragic way--it was quite a new thing to see a smile on Antonia's
+face.
+
+Nell looked at her very gravely. Her own sweet grey eyes grew full of
+tears.
+
+"It will kill father," she said suddenly, in a smothered voice.
+
+She swayed herself backwards and forwards as she spoke, in an ecstasy of
+pain. Strange to say, she seemed to understand Antonia, and, still
+stranger, Antonia understood her.
+
+The priestess of art dropped her palette.
+
+"Tell me about your father," she said, quickly; "tell me about yourself.
+You and your people have lived here for years--centuries--and it breaks
+your hearts to go? It's wonderfully artistic--it savours of mediaeval
+romance. And you go for a creature like Susan Drummond--shallow as a
+plate--no soul anywhere about her? She gets your rooms replete with
+memories, and your dear briary avenues and your fir trees, and this
+uncultured waste?"
+
+"It's a paddock," interrupted Nell, who could not quite follow Antonia's
+imagery.
+
+"It's a waste," said Miss Bernard Temple, with fire. "The Towers is
+untrammelled by man's vulgar restraint. Child, I do not even know your
+name, but I think I understand your grief."
+
+"You cannot," said Nell, with gentle dignity--"you are not a Lorrimer.
+But I'm glad I didn't vow to hate you round the bonfire. Now I'm afraid
+I must go."
+
+"One minute first," said Antonia. "Did you say that leaving this place
+would kill your father?"
+
+"I'm afraid it will," said Nell. "He won't come home--mother can't get
+him to come back. He came the night he had sold the Towers, and Boris
+and I saw him; but I don't think he'll ever come back again. I think his
+heart is broken. But I cannot speak of it any longer, please--it hurts
+me so dreadfully here."
+
+Nell had risen from the grass--she stood tall and thin and pale by
+Antonia's side. When she uttered the last words, she pressed her hand
+against her heart.
+
+"Good-bye," she said solemnly. "Jane Macalister said I was to be in at
+twelve o'clock to help her with some darning. Good-bye."
+
+Antonia held out one of her very long, very bony hands. She slipped it
+round Nell's waist, and drawing her close, kissed her gently between her
+eyebrows, then she let her go.
+
+Nell left the paddock; but Antonia did not attempt to finish her
+interrupted sketch. She sat on, lost in a world of musing. At last she
+uttered some emphatic words aloud.
+
+"I'm not much use," she said to herself; "nobody cares about me, and I
+care for no one. I love art with a divine passion; but art does not need
+such a poor, feeble disciple. Art can still exist and be glorious
+without Antonia. I am ugly I know, and I have no genius; but I have got
+one power--I can get my own way. All my life long, through a queer kind
+of persistence which is in me, I have got my way. I do not get it
+because people love me, for I don't honestly think a soul in the wide
+world loves me, but I get it because--because of something which I don't
+myself understand. It's a power I've got; it's my one gift. Did mother
+want me to study art in Paris? No; still I went. Did mother wish me to
+become grotesque, and to wear a dress like this? No; still I wear it.
+Did mother intend me to come with her on Saturday to the Grange? No, a
+thousand times no; still I came. I can twist mother round this finger.
+She appeals to me; I counsel her; she asks my advice; she is obliged to
+take it whether she likes or not. Mother is completely under my thumb.
+So it was with the professor who taught me; so it was with the students
+who worked with me; so it will be in the future with Hester, if I still
+wish it; and with Sir John Thornton, if I ordain it. They think very
+little of Antonia now; but wait until they feel my power; wait until I
+choose to direct them, and--hey, presto--they walk in my paths, not
+their own. Now I have made up my mind on one point. I have not the
+faintest idea how it is to be managed; but managed it shall be. Susan
+Drummond and her father are not to desecrate the Towers with their
+commonplaceness, their shallowness, and vulgarity. The Lorrimers are
+still to live here; and Nell's heart is not to be broken. For the sake
+of the ugly duckling I do this. How, I know not; but I turn all the
+power that is in me in that one direction from this hour forward.
+
+"Poor, ugly duckling with the pathetic eyes. I do believe Antonia loves
+you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+TRUTH AND FIDELITY.
+
+
+Hester and her party returned to the Grange in time for lunch. All the
+way back Antonia was silent. They drove home by another road; they
+passed a bog of extreme desolation, and some larger and wilder briars
+than ever; they skirted a melancholy common, but Antonia never made an
+observation; her whole gaze was turned inward; she was looking so
+intently at the picture of a sorrowful child, that she was blind to
+everything else. Susy was decidedly in a bad temper; Hester's brave
+heart was full of aches, doubts, and fears; and Annie was again going
+back to that unsolved problem of how she was to get back the ring for
+Mrs. Willis.
+
+The return party was, therefore, a dull one; although no one noticed the
+other's dulness, each being so occupied with her own thoughts.
+
+Mrs. Willis was to leave the Grange immediately after lunch, and Hester
+and Annie were to accompany her to Nortonbury in the landau.
+
+Just as the carriage drove up to the house, Mrs. Willis remembered the
+ring and spoke to Annie.
+
+"My dear," she said with a smile, "I am leaving the house without my
+ring. It is too late now to send it to Paris to be copied; but as I see
+you never wear it, I may as well take it back with me to Lavender House.
+You know, my love, how much I value that ring. I feel quite lonely
+without it."
+
+Annie's pretty face turned pink.
+
+"But I should like to wear it before I go back to school," she said,
+"and you promised that I might have it during the holidays."
+
+"So I did; well, I will say nothing more. Be sure you take good care of
+it and give it back to me on the day of your return to Lavender House."
+
+Annie promised with a light heart. The holidays were to last for another
+week, and what might not happen in a week? She laughed quite gaily, and
+springing lightly into the carriage, seated herself by Hester's side. As
+she did so, her eyes encountered the grave dark ones of Antonia fixed
+fully upon her. There was a curious expression round Antonia's mouth
+which puzzled Annie and gave her a momentary sense of discomfort.
+
+The drive, however, through the pleasant summer air revived her spirits,
+and on the way home she had so much to talk over with Hester that she
+naturally forgot the ring and her anxieties with regard to it.
+
+When the girls returned to the Grange they found the whole party out of
+doors enjoying afternoon tea on one of the lawns. Susy was swinging
+backwards and forwards in a large American chair. Nora was lying on a
+low couch slowly fanning herself. Mrs. Bernard Temple, looking very
+handsome and stately, was pouring out tea for the rest of the party and
+looking down at Sir John, who was lounging on the grass. Antonia was
+sitting with her back straight up against an oak tree, her eyes were
+half shut, and a very full cup of tea was on her lap--the tea was in
+extreme danger of being spilt, but Antonia cared nothing for any of
+these things.
+
+As soon as ever Annie and Hester appeared in view Miss Bernard Temple
+sprang suddenly to her feet. Of course the cup of tea came to instant
+grief. Sir John uttered an exclamation of decided annoyance; Nora
+exclaimed, "Oh, Miss Bernard Temple, what a mess you have made of your
+dress!" and Susy roused herself sufficiently to shake a playful finger
+at Antonia.
+
+"Oh, Tony, Tony, how killing you are," she said; Mrs. Bernard Temple
+looked aggrieved but said nothing, she knew Antonia too well.
+
+"How am I killing?" exclaimed Antonia; "this will shake off: that is the
+good of a shabby black dress--it stands anything. Miss Forest, I
+particularly want to speak to you; I am glad you have come home."
+
+She went straight up to Annie and tucked one bony hand through her arm.
+"Come," she said, "let us retire somewhere--I am anxious to talk to
+you."
+
+"But I want my tea first," said Annie. "I am really very thirsty."
+
+"How material," exclaimed Antonia; "well, I'll wait--be quick."
+
+She marched a step or two away, and leant against the wide trunk of the
+oak tree.
+
+Annie felt provoked. Antonia's queer glance returned uncomfortably to
+her memory.
+
+She took her tea, therefore, in greater haste than usual and then, going
+up to Miss Bernard Temple, told her she was ready to listen to anything
+she had to say.
+
+"Come, then," said Antonia; "we must have solitude. Where is the most
+solitary spot?"
+
+"We can walk up this rise," said Annie--"here, where the path is. There
+is a summer-house at the top of this hill, where we can sit. But I
+cannot imagine what you have to say to me."
+
+"It's simple enough," said Antonia; "I wish just to inform you that I
+know something."
+
+"I expect you do," said Annie, with a light laugh; "several things, most
+probably."
+
+"Something about you," pursued Antonia, in a firm, hard voice.
+
+"Indeed? How interesting!" Annie's tone was not quite so comfortable
+now.
+
+"I'll tell you what it is," continued Antonia, standing still, facing
+round and turning her melancholy gaze full on Annie: "you have not got
+the ring."
+
+"What ring? What do you mean?"
+
+"The ring Mrs. Willis asked you to return to her. You did not return it,
+because you had not got it You would have returned it if you had it--you
+are not the girl to care enough about rings just to keep it for the sake
+of wearing it. I know what has happened--you have sold or pawned the
+ring."
+
+"How can you know?" exclaimed Annie, in a voice almost of fear; "how is
+it possible for you to tell? You don't know anything whatever about
+me--how can you tell?"
+
+"Intuition," replied Antonia, in a light voice. "I can see farther than
+most people when I choose to see. Intuition and experience. Do you
+imagine that I, in my chequered career, have never had to part with a
+jewel. Once, when in Paris, I sold my hair. I had no money to buy canvas
+and colours, so I went to a barber, and he cut it quite short and gave
+me a napoleon for it. Ah! that nap, that darling nap, how I loved it!"
+
+"You are a very queer girl," said Annie.
+
+"That's neither here nor there," replied Antonia. "I didn't take you
+away from the others to speak of myself. I have watched you since I came
+here, and I can see that you are a very bright, clever girl; also, that
+you are pretty, according to modern ideas. You are not true art, by any
+means; but what of that? I know that you are in trouble about that ring,
+so you may as well confide in me."
+
+"But will you tell?" asked Annie.
+
+"Tell!" said Antonia, with scorn. "I don't ask for confidences to repeat
+them again--that is not Antonia Bernard Temple. Art is my mistress--art
+exacts both truth and fidelity from her disciples. You need not fear
+that I will tell."
+
+"You are a queer girl," replied Annie. "I'm sure you will not tell. Yes,
+I am in trouble about the ring, and I don't mind confiding the trouble
+to you."
+
+"Sit down here, then, on the bank," said Antonia, flinging herself on
+the grass as she spoke, "and state the case as briefly as possible.
+Where and when did you pawn the ring?"
+
+"Oh, I didn't pawn it--it wasn't done by me; and, as things have turned
+out, it wasn't really pawned at all. This is the story."
+
+Annie told it in a few forcible words; Antonia listened attentively,
+taking in all the facts.
+
+"And thirty-two shillings would get you out of this scrape?" she said,
+in conclusion, looking fixedly at Annie.
+
+"Oh, yes, indeed. If I had thirty-two shillings, I would pay Mrs. Martin
+and get the ring back, and when I return to Lavender House I would tell
+everything to Mrs. Willis. I would tell her what I have done, and how
+badly I have acted. At present there is a cloud between us; and she is
+my best, my kindest, my most valued friend. What I cannot bear to
+do--what I cannot stand--is to have to tell her that I pawned what was
+not my own, and at the same time not to be able to give her back the
+ring."
+
+"I partly understand," said Antonia in a slow voice; "I partly grasp
+your meaning. The pawning of the jewel is to me a mere nothing. I have
+had chequered times when the tea-pot and even the coffee-pot have been
+sold for the sake of a quarter of a cake of cobalt or of rose-madder,
+but then the tea-pot and the coffee-pot and the hair which grew on my
+head were undoubtedly my own. I cannot understand your taking another's
+property, nor your being deceitful about it. The paths of deceit are
+shut doors to me, naturally, who am a disciple of the great and divine
+Art. I mention this as an incident, but whether I understand you or not
+scarcely affects the case. I am willing to help you if you will help me.
+I can manage to get you thirty-two shillings, perhaps not to-day and
+perhaps not to-morrow, but certainly before you return to your school."
+
+"Oh, you are good!" exclaimed Annie, whose pretty cheeks were like
+peonies, for Antonia had managed to make her feel terribly small and
+contemptible.
+
+"No, I am not good," replied Miss Bernard Temple, "and I am not doing
+this in any sense for you. I do it because I wish to be in your
+confidence, as I think you can be a useful ally. I have a delicate
+mission before me, and I see that you may be very useful."
+
+"A mission?" said Annie, looking up in surprise.
+
+"Yes; there is a great deal at stake, but I believe that, difficult as
+the undertaking is, I may be permitted to succeed. I want to wrest the
+Towers from the hand of the Philistines."
+
+"What _do_ you mean?" exclaimed Annie.
+
+"In other words," continued Miss Bernard Temple, "I want to keep the
+Lorrimers in the home of their ancestors and to make those shallow
+Drummonds stay in their own place."
+
+"I suppose we all want that," said Annie; "but how can you possibly do
+it? You have no power."
+
+"So you think, but you are mistaken; I have a great deal of power. Now,
+will you help me?"
+
+"To do this? Yes. With all my heart and soul."
+
+"That is good. I don't wish to say anything to Hester Thornton nor to
+Nora Lorrimer, nor to any of the Lorrimers, nor least of all to Susan
+Drummond. I think I can manage Susy, for I am up to some of her pretty
+little vagaries. I can also manage mother, and mother has a good deal of
+influence in a certain quarter just now. You are a sort of outsider, and
+yet you are very friendly with everybody, so you can render me very
+important help; but, of course, you clearly understand that fidelity is
+my motto, and you know also that your mission will be one of extreme
+delicacy."
+
+"I have plenty of tact," said Annie. "I most faithfully promise to
+reveal nothing, and I will do everything in my power for you. I begin to
+believe in you. I think you are a wonderful girl."
+
+"Don't say that," said Antonia, with solemn impressiveness; "if there is
+one thing more than another that gives me intense pain, it is praise. I
+am but the meanest disciple of great Art. I am doing this in the cause
+of Art. Now, I am not going to tell you what my plan of campaign is, at
+least, not to-day, but I want you to make certain inquiries for me. I
+want you to try and discover all you can from Hester with regard to her
+father's wealth, and all you can from Molly with regard to the
+Lorrimers' difficulties; and you are somehow or other to get the address
+in London where Squire Lorrimer is now staying. Have all this
+information ready for me by to-morrow morning. Now you can return to the
+others; I am going back to the house."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+A WET SPONGE.
+
+
+Antonia walked slowly in the direction of the house, trailing her long
+skirt behind her. She entered by a side door, and went straight up to
+her own room. The bedroom set apart for Miss Bernard Temple opened into
+the large and stately bedroom occupied by the future mistress of the
+Grange. Both rooms were dainty and fresh in the extreme. Mrs. Bernard
+Temple's maid was now sitting in Antonia's room mending a long rent in
+that young lady's brown Liberty velveteen evening dress.
+
+"You have made an awfully jagged rent, Miss Antonia," said the girl.
+
+"Have I?" said Antonia; "why mend it, then? I never expect to have my
+clothes mended. Of course, if you are good enough to occupy your time
+over me, Pinkerton, I am much obliged to you, but I don't expect your
+services, so clearly understand the position."
+
+"Lor'!" answered Pinkerton, who had a round, country face and a somewhat
+brusque manner, "what a show you'd be, Miss Antonia, if someone didn't
+make you and mend you."
+
+Antonia went over to the open window, and, flopping herself down on her
+knees, leant her two elbows on the window-sill and looked out.
+
+"I wish you'd let me know if Miss Drummond is having forty winks in her
+room," she said suddenly. "She generally does go to her own room about
+this hour, does she not?"
+
+"I believe so, miss. I'll inquire if she's there now."
+
+Pinkerton soon returned with the information that Miss Drummond's door
+was locked, that she could not see her maid anywhere, but that she heard
+sounds proceeding from within the room which led her to infer that the
+forty winks were being enjoyed.
+
+"But there's no use in your going to her, Miss Antonia," said Pinkerton,
+"for she won't hear you however hard you knock."
+
+"I'll see about that," said Antonia. "Do you happen to know, Pinkerton,
+if Miss Drummond's window is open?"
+
+"Sure to be, miss; every window in the house is kept open during this
+sultry weather."
+
+"There's no time to be lost," murmured Antonia; "I must scale the wall."
+
+She left her own bedroom in a hurry, and ran downstairs.
+
+"Nan," she shouted, catching sight of Nan's white frock in the distance,
+"come here."
+
+Nan ran up to her rather unwillingly. Antonia was detestable in her eyes
+as belonging to the dreadful new stepmother.
+
+"Why do you frown at me like that, child?" said Antonia; "it isn't
+pretty."
+
+"Tell-tale tit," answered Nan rudely; "you'll be making up stories of me
+in the future, won't you?"
+
+"I?" said Antonia, with a careless rise of her brows. "No; I shan't have
+time. Now, can you tell me if there's a ladder about?"
+
+"No, I can't," answered Nan.
+
+"Are there no ladders to be found in this benighted and over-cultivated
+region?"
+
+"Plenty; but I can't tell you where they are."
+
+Antonia knitted her brows. Nan gazed at her curiously. It was really
+interesting to have something to do with a person who wanted a ladder.
+What was she going to do with it?
+
+"I must climb without," said Antonia. "I wonder are there creepers."
+
+"What do you want with it?" said Nan in quite a friendly tone.
+
+"I want to get into Susan Drummond's room by her window."
+
+"Oh, dear, what fun!" Nan's eyes danced.
+
+"She is sound asleep," pursued Antonia, "and I propose to use the wet
+sponge with effect."
+
+"They did that at school," replied Nan. "How lovely! Oh, how perfectly
+lovely! I'm sure I can help you to find a ladder. Come round with me to
+the farmyard."
+
+Nan held out her hand, which Antonia grasped. They rushed across the
+lawn helter-skelter, and in an incredibly short space of time a ladder
+was leaning up against Susy's window. Nan held it from below while
+Antonia climbed. The next moment she had entered the room.
+
+"Thank you heartily, Nan," she called to the little girl.
+
+She made a good deal of noise, but Susy, lying on her back in the centre
+of the big bed, was impervious to sound. Antonia filled the sponge with
+cold water, and, standing at the foot of the bed, dashed it at Susy. The
+first application only made the sleeper groan and snore heavily, but at
+the second she opened her eyes, and at the third she sat up.
+
+"Now, what is the matter?" she exclaimed. "Am I back at that detestable
+school with the she-dragon once more? Oh, Antonia, what in the world are
+you doing here?"
+
+"Sponging you," said Antonia. "I have something to say, so wake up."
+
+"Wake up?" replied Susy. "I should think I am awake. Who could stand
+such barbarous treatment? I was so comfortable, and I had locked the
+door to make all things perfectly safe. How in the world did you get
+into the room?"
+
+"By a ladder, through the open window. Now pray don't waste any more
+time over trivial details. I have come here to have a serious talk with
+you."
+
+"Why serious, Tony? You know how I hate grave subjects."
+
+"I have come to have a quiet talk with you about the Towers; you can sit
+there, just where you are. Don't dry your hair, or you'll get sleepy
+again. I'll keep a basin of cold water near me and sponge you whenever
+you wink an eyelid. Now then, what do you think of the Towers?"
+
+"I have scarcely seen it yet."
+
+"You must have a first impression; what is it?"
+
+"Really, Tony, you needn't have awakened me and gone to the trouble of a
+ladder, and an open window, and a sponge, for the sake of hearing my
+first impressions."
+
+"That's neither here nor there," answered Antonia. "What do you think of
+the Towers?"
+
+"Oh, it's well enough; it seems to be a very old place."
+
+"Didn't it strike you that the rooms were musty?"
+
+"Well, yes; now that you mention it, I thought they were decidedly
+musty."
+
+"It will be impossible," said Antonia, "for you to turn the Towers into
+a proper Moresque or Libertyesque house."
+
+"I thought you liked the place; you seemed so delighted with the
+briars."
+
+"The briars are well enough, and so is the china; it's the rooms I
+complain of; they never can be reduced to high art--your sort of high
+art, I mean, Susy. But now, tell me, did you do much measuring?"
+
+"No, I didn't; a dreadful woman came with me; she quite frightened me,
+and spoke a lot about the Lorrimers, and a ghost in the tower."
+
+"Well, of course there'd be a ghost in the tower," continued Antonia;
+"an old place like that couldn't exist without its ghost."
+
+"I don't believe a bit in ghosts," said Susy. "No sensible people
+believe in them; there are no such things. You know that, of course,
+Antonia."
+
+Susy looked uncomfortable while she spoke, and Antonia knew well that
+she was an arrant coward.
+
+"You don't believe in ghosts either," continued Susy; "do you now,
+Tony?"
+
+"Oh, but I do," answered Antonia; "I believe in them profoundly. I have
+Shakespeare for my authority on the subject."
+
+"And you really think that--that the Towers is haunted?"
+
+"No doubt whatever on the subject. If you don't want to be convinced
+against your will, you must choose a bedroom in the most modern part of
+the house, and avoid the old tower, with its funny, quaint little rooms.
+Frankly, I am disappointed in the Towers as a place for _you_--the rooms
+are not your sort--you want great, lofty, bright, modern rooms. I don't
+like that musty smell either; it points to damp somewhere. Then, it is
+scarcely likely that the water supply is perfect; those old wells are
+full of danger, and you once had typhoid, don't you remember? Your
+father will have to spend a lot on the place before he makes it anything
+like what your sort of high art requires; and when all is said and done,
+you'd be lonely there. You know I'm perfectly frank; you know that well,
+don't you?"
+
+"Yes, Tony," answered poor Susy in a most melancholy voice. "Oh, please
+don't throw any more sponges at me; I am quite shivering, and your words
+make me feel so melancholy. But why should I be lonely at the Towers;
+there are plenty of neighbours all around?"
+
+"That is true, but I don't believe you'll care for them, nor they for
+you: they are the Lorrimer sort, and the Miss Macalister sort, and the
+Hester Thornton sort. You know you don't care for those sorts of
+people, do you?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't. I hate them. I wish father hadn't bought the Towers
+without consulting me."
+
+"Can't he back out of it?"
+
+"Back out of his bargain? What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean what I say; can't he get out of it? The Towers isn't a bit the
+sort of place for you; it isn't even healthy for a girl like you.
+There's a ghost there, and ground damp, and bad water, and the
+neighbours aren't sociable, and you'll be moped to death."
+
+"How perfectly miserable you make me, Tony, but I won't be quite
+friendless, for you'll be here most of the time now, won't you?"
+
+"Not I; I am going back to my atelier in Paris. Do you think I'd live in
+a poky corner of the world like this?"
+
+"What shall I do?" echoed Susy. "I think you're very unkind to make me
+so wretched and to depress me in the way you are doing. The Towers is
+bought now, and we must make the best of it."
+
+"I only hope you won't suffer the consequences of this piece of folly,"
+retorted Antonia with spirit. "The Towers is not the place for you, and
+you ought to persuade your father to get out of that bargain. Let him
+take a nice cheerful villa at Richmond; that's where you ought to live."
+
+"I wish he would," said Susy; "but it's a great deal too late, a great
+deal too late to draw back now. Besides, we did so want to be county
+people."
+
+"You'll never be county people, whatever that jargon means--that is,
+you'll never be like the Lorrimers and the Thorntons. You don't want to
+be, do you?"
+
+"Good gracious, no; they are a depressing set."
+
+"Then that's what county people are, so why should you kill yourself to
+be one of them? Aren't you going to write to your father to tell him
+what you think of the Towers?"
+
+"Shall I?"
+
+"I would if I were you. You might suggest----"
+
+"Yes; do you think it would be any use?"
+
+"There is no saying--it's your own affair. If you choose to die of
+_ennui_, don't tell me that I haven't warned you. Now I see you are wide
+awake, so you may dry your hair and get up."
+
+"Oh, dear, oh, dear," sighed Susy after Antonia had swung herself out of
+the room, "I'm chilled to the bone and every scrap of spirit taken out
+of me. I hate that awful Towers--_why_ did father buy it?"
+
+One of Antonia's great ideas was on all occasions to strike while the
+iron is hot. It was her plan to leap over obstacles or to push them
+vigorously aside. She had no respect for people's corns. Their
+preconceived prejudices were nothing to her. Having succeeded in
+disturbing Susy, she now went straight to her mother's room. Mrs.
+Bernard Temple was seated in an easy chair by the open window, enjoying
+a quiet ten minutes for thought and rest before It was time for her to
+dress for dinner. Pinkerton was moving about putting the different
+accessories for her mistress's toilet in order. Antonia pushed her
+almost rudely aside as she swept across the room.
+
+"Go away, Pinkerton," she said, "I want to speak to mother by herself."
+
+"Oh, really, not at present, Antonia," said Mrs. Bernard Temple, with a
+look of alarm spreading over her high-class features. "I have gone
+through a great deal to-day and am quite tired, and I shall have to
+begin to dress for dinner in a few minutes. Sir John is very particular
+about my appearance, and I wish Pinkerton to try the effect of arranging
+my hair in a new manner. I thought, Pinkerton, that you might pile it up
+high on a sort of cushion--it has a very old-picture effect."
+
+"You ought to wear a cap," said Antonia, standing in front of her
+parent; "it would be much more suitable and appropriate, and would save
+you a lot of trouble."
+
+"A cap!" almost screamed Mrs. Bernard Temple. "To hear you speak,
+Antonia, one would think that I was advanced in years."
+
+"As it's only I who think that, it doesn't matter, mother," said
+Antonia. "You shall wear your hair any way you please, only I really
+must have a little talk with you first. The sooner I begin my talk the
+sooner it will be over, so please go away at once, Pinkerton."
+
+Pinkerton knew Antonia too well to dream of disobeying her. She left the
+room, slamming the door behind her, and Mrs. Bernard Temple looked up at
+her resolute daughter with a frown between her brows.
+
+"Now, out with it, whatever it is," she said. "You have got something at
+the back of your head, and you can say it in ten words as well as
+twenty. What do you want me to do?"
+
+"You have great influence with Sir John Thornton, haven't you, mother?"
+asked Antonia, kneeling down as she spoke by the open window, and
+leaning one pointed elbow on the sill. Mrs. Bernard Temple permitted
+herself to smile agreeably.
+
+"A man's _fiancee_ has generally influence over him," she said in a
+sentimental voice.
+
+"That's what I thought," said Antonia. "I'll never be anybody's
+_fiancee_--the mere thought would make me ill--but that's neither here
+nor there. Granted that you have influence over Sir John, I want you to
+use it in my way--now, do you understand?"
+
+"Really, Antonia, really,"--Mrs. Bernard Temple looked quite
+alarmed--"Sir John cannot bear erratic people, he tells me so from
+morning to night. I am afraid you have managed to displease him very
+seriously, my dear. When you spilt your tea in the garden this evening,
+he acknowledged, when I pressed him on the subject, that it gave him
+quite a sense of nausea. You see, Antonia, how careful you ought to be.
+The comforts of the home I have provided for you may be jeopardised if
+you are too erratic. You know I did not wish you to come to the Grange
+until after my wedding. The fact is, Sir John is very much annoyed about
+you. He has spoken to me most seriously on the subject of your
+extraordinary manners, and has asked me why I permit you to do the
+things you do. When I tell him that I have not the smallest scrap of
+influence over you, he simply does not believe me; and then he has such
+an aggravating way of drawing comparisons between you and that
+icy-mannered girl, Hester."
+
+"Oh, I'm not a patch upon Hester," said Antonia; "she is a very nice,
+well-bred, English young lady. I'm Bohemian of the Bohemians. I'm
+nobody--nobody at all. I extinguish myself at the shrine of great Art.
+I love to extinguish myself. I adore being a shadow."
+
+"I think, Antonia, you are quite mad."
+
+"Think it away, my dearest mother, only grant my request; influence Sir
+John in my way."
+
+"Oh, you terrible, terrible child! Well, what do you want me to do?"
+
+"Now you're becoming reasonable," said Antonia, "and I really won't keep
+you from your hair a moment longer than I can help. I went to the Towers
+this morning, mother; it's really a heavenly old place; quite steeped in
+the best sort of mediaeval art. In the house, old china and low ceilings;
+out of doors, nature untrammelled. Think of a place like the Towers in
+the possession of Susy Drummond and her father, the ex-coal-merchant.
+Mother, it is not to be."
+
+"My dear Antonia, I can't listen to you another moment." Mrs. Bernard
+Temple rose as she spoke. "Pinkerton, come at once," she called.
+
+Pinkerton turned the handle of the door.
+
+"Go away, Pinkerton!" shouted Antonia. "Now, mother, sit down; there's
+oceans of time."
+
+"Really, really, my dear! Oh, what a trial one's children sometimes are.
+The Drummonds have bought the Towers. The whole thing is an accomplished
+fact."
+
+"It is not too late," pursued Antonia. "I have been giving a spice of my
+mind to Susy, and she hates and detests the place, and will do what she
+can to get her father to back out of his bargain. Well, the Lorrimers
+are almost dying at the thought of going. The ugly duckling told me the
+whole story to-day, and I never listened to anything more piteous; and
+Squire Lorrimer is hiding in London because of his poor feelings. In
+short, the moment for strong measures has arrived; and if you won't
+speak to Sir John, I will."
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple turned white.
+
+"If _you_ speak to him, Antonia," she said, "he will break off the
+match, and we shall be ruined--ruined."
+
+"Very well, mother; you must have a conversation with him. One or other
+of us must have it, that is certain."
+
+"Oh, you most terrible child! What am I to say to him?"
+
+"Say this, and say it firmly. Say that you won't marry him unless he
+goes to see Squire Lorrimer, and makes an arrangement to lend him
+sufficient money to stay on at the Towers. The Drummonds will be
+delighted to get out of their bargain, and the Lorrimers will be saved.
+That's the plan of campaign. Either I undertake to see it through,
+mother, or you do. Now, which is it to be?"
+
+"You must give me until to-morrow morning to think over your wild words.
+Really, my poor head is splitting."
+
+Antonia went up and kissed her mother.
+
+"You can come now, Pinkerton," she called out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+MOLLY'S SORROW.
+
+
+Hester was a good deal astonished that same day, when, just before
+dinner, Annie Forest came up to her with a request.
+
+"I don't want to dine here to-night," she said. "I want to go to the
+Towers to have a good long talk with Molly."
+
+"But, really, Annie," replied Hester, "is it necessary for you to go
+to-night? I did not know--I mean I did not think that--that you and
+Molly----"
+
+"That we were special friends?" interrupted Annie. "Oh, yes, we are
+quite friendly enough for the little talk I mean to have. You'll spare
+me, won't you, Hetty, and if Molly offers me a bed, I'll sleep there and
+be back quite early in the morning."
+
+"I can't refuse you, of course," said Hester, "but that won't prevent my
+missing you. It will be rather a dreadful dinner party, with only Mrs.
+Bernard Temple and Antonia and that dreadful, sleepy Susy. You are so
+full of tact and so bright, Annie, that you generally make matters go
+off fairly well. But to-night there won't be anyone to stem the current.
+Oh, dear, I do trust that Antonia won't talk _too_ much high art."
+
+As Hester spoke, she looked at her friend with an expression of great
+anxiety on her face. Under ordinary circumstances this look would have
+completely overmastered Annie, who would immediately have yielded up
+her own wishes to please Hester, but now she remained quite obdurate.
+
+"I am sure you will manage very well," she said, in an almost hard voice
+for her. "You know, Hetty, you won't always have me, and you will have
+Mrs. Bernard Temple and Antonia."
+
+"It is too dreadful," sighed Hester. "When my father thought of marrying
+again, why did he not think of someone more congenial?"
+
+"I suppose Mrs. Bernard Temple is congenial to him," replied Annie, "and
+that he doubtless considers of the first importance. After all, Hetty,
+I'm sure she will let you have your own way in everything, and I don't
+really think that Antonia is half bad. If I were you I would try and
+make friends with her."
+
+"It is not in my nature to make friends easily," replied Hester.
+
+She was standing in her pretty bedroom as she spoke, and Annie was
+leaning by the open window, swinging her garden hat in her hand.
+
+"Hester," she said, suddenly, "forgive me if I ask you rather a rude
+question. Is your father a very rich man?"
+
+Hester looked surprised.
+
+"I suppose so," she answered; "to tell the truth, I have never thought
+about it. Oh, yes, I conclude that he is quite well off."
+
+"But I want him to be more than well off. Is he rich--very rich? so rich
+that he would not miss a lot of money if he had suddenly to--to lose
+it?"
+
+"What a very queer question to ask me, Annie," replied Hester. "I am
+really afraid I cannot reply to it. I think my father must be rich, but
+I don't know if he is rich enough to be able to afford to lose a lot of
+money--I don't think anyone is rich enough for that."
+
+"Oh, yes, some people are," answered Annie. "Well, good-bye, Hetty, keep
+up your heart. I'll be back early to-morrow morning."
+
+"I must get that question of Sir John Thornton's wealth clearly answered
+somehow or other," thought Annie, "for there is no manner of use in
+Antonia stirring up a lot of mischief if there is no money to be found.
+I wonder if nursey could help me. I think I'll just have a word with her
+before I go to the Towers."
+
+Mrs. Martin was alone when Annie entered the room.
+
+"Well, my dear, and why ain't you at dinner?" asked the old woman. She
+was still fond of Annie, whom she invariably spoke of as "a winsome
+young body," but recent events had soured her considerably, and as she
+herself expressed it, the keenest pleasure now left to her in life was
+to "mope and mutter."
+
+"Moping and muttering eases the mind," she said; "it's a wonderful
+relief not to have to sit up straight and smiling when you feel crooked
+and all of a frown."
+
+Accordingly Mrs. Martin received Annie Forest with brief displeasure.
+
+"I have no heart for dinner," said Annie, who took her cue at once from
+the old woman's face. "I know you are miserable, Nurse Martin, but you
+need not look at me so scornfully, for I am trying to mend matters."
+
+"You," exclaimed nurse, "a child like you! Now, Miss Annie, I would try
+and talk sensibly, I would, really."
+
+"Well, I'm going off to the Towers for the night," said Annie, "and if
+you weren't so cross I'd like to say good-bye and give you a kiss before
+I started."
+
+"Eh, dear," replied nurse, her countenance visibly softening however;
+"kisses, however sweet they be, don't heal sore places."
+
+"But you'll take one, won't you, nursey?"
+
+"Eh, my bairn, you have a winsome way, but don't you come canoodling me
+now, when my heart is like to break about my own dear children; and the
+young ladies at the Towers, too, in such a muck of trouble."
+
+"Dear nursey," exclaimed Annie; "dear, loving, faithful, true-hearted
+nursey."
+
+She stroked the old woman's brow and rubbed her soft cheek against hers.
+
+"Out with it now, my pet," said Nurse Martin. "What is it you want me to
+do? If it's the pawn-shop again--once for all, no, I won't."
+
+"It isn't the pawn-shop," said Annie; "it's just to ask you a simple
+question. I asked Hester, but she couldn't tell me. Is Sir John Thornton
+a rich man?"
+
+"Is he rich?" echoed nurse; "do you think _she'd_ be after him if he
+wasn't?"
+
+"I don't know. Is he rich, nursey?"
+
+"Yes, he's rich," replied nurse.
+
+"Very, very rich? Dear Nurse Martin, please say yes."
+
+"He's rich," replied nurse in an emphatic voice. "He has got his gold
+and his lands, and not a debt anywhere, and small expenses compared to
+his means. Yes, he's rich. More shame to him for taking the money from
+Miss Hester and Miss Nan to provide a new wife and an outlandish
+stepdaughter."
+
+"If he lost a lot of money, a great lot, would he be a beggar?" pursued
+Annie.
+
+"Well, really, Miss Annie, it isn't for me to say; but I think it would
+be a very big sum that would beggar Sir John. What are you after, Miss?
+I don't understand you at all."
+
+"I'm thinking of the outlandish stepdaughter," replied Annie.
+
+"Oh, Miss Annie Forest, don't name her to me. She turns my heart sick.
+Its in an asylum she should be. The messes she carries about with her,
+and the dress she wears, and the whole look of her! It isn't fit for
+Miss Hester and Miss Nan to have anything to do with her."
+
+"You don't know her yet," replied Annie. "She has beautiful thoughts and
+grand resolves."
+
+"Preserve me from 'em," said nurse. "There, now, miss, if you re going,
+you'd better go. I don't want to hear anything more about that girl, for
+lady she ain't."
+
+"Good-bye, nurse," said Annie. "I am glad you are certain that Sir John
+Thornton is rich."
+
+"I'd be glad if I was as certain that Miss Hester and Miss Nan were
+going to be happy," replied the old woman.
+
+Annie blew a kiss to her and ran away.
+
+The task Antonia had set her was quite to her heart. If, in addition to
+helping the Lorrimers, she could by this means get out of her own
+scrape, why, so much the better. It was one of Annie's gifts to be able
+to discriminate character with great nicety; and while Antonia spoke to
+her, she acknowledged a sudden respect and even admiration for the
+power which this queer girl possessed.
+
+It was almost night when Annie set off on her walk across the fields to
+the Towers. She could not help singing to herself as she skipped lightly
+over the ground. She felt somehow, she could scarcely tell why, as if a
+great load had been lifted off her mind. One part of Antonia's mission
+she had already accomplished. She had found out from a very trustworthy
+source that Sir John Thornton was really a rich man. The second half of
+her task, the discovery of the present address of Squire Lorrimer, would
+surely not be impossible of fulfilment.
+
+The Lorrimer children were out as usual. Whenever was a Lorrimer within
+doors, when he or she could be out? When Annie approached they were
+dismally employed, for Harry had inaugurated weekly meetings of the feud
+during the remainder of their stay at the Towers; and the children were
+now dancing solemnly round the bonfire, and repeating the solemn dirge
+which was to work evil consequences to the new-comers. Harry was
+spokesman on the occasion. He repeated the words to a sort of chanting
+air, and all the others repeated them after him with immense unction and
+smacking of lips. Kitty said afterwards that the dirge made her feel
+nearly as bloodthirsty as a Red Indian, and Boris openly wished that he
+could live in a wigwam and wear scalps.
+
+Annie's appearance on the scene diverted the whole party, and Boris
+eagerly asked her if she would like to become a member of the feud.
+
+"I would immensely," replied Annie; "but it wouldn't be of any use, as
+I'm not a Lorrimer."
+
+"I could marry you, and then you'd be one," said Boris, looking up at
+her with a great shining light in his eyes.
+
+"So you could, you sweet," said Annie, bending down and kissing him,
+"and the day I marry you I faithfully promise to join the feud; but I
+must run off now to find Molly."
+
+"She's somewhere in the tower packing books," screamed Kitty after her.
+
+Accordingly Annie pursued her way round to that part of the house.
+
+The tower was at least two hundred years older than the rest of the
+mansion, and, as Annie ran up the spiral stairs, she had to feel her way
+through thick darkness, for the Lorrimers never thought of spending
+money on illuminating the stairs and passages of this ancient building.
+
+A dim light in the distance presently guided her steps, and she soon
+found herself standing, out of breath and a good deal blown, in the
+presence of Molly and Jane Macalister. They were both clothed from head
+to foot in long brown-holland aprons. Jane was vigorously dusting and
+brushing a heap of dilapidated books, which Molly was arranging in
+orderly piles on the floor. Jane looked up when she saw Annie and
+uttered a little scream.
+
+"Now, what have you come about?" she said; "you see we are quite up to
+our eyes in work."
+
+"Delightful," said Annie; "I'll help. Toss me an apron, Molly, do."
+
+Off went Annie's hat, on went the brown-holland apron, and Jane found
+that she had secured a valuable assistant in the matter of dusting and
+brushing.
+
+[Illustration: PACKING THE BOOKS (_p._ 240).]
+
+The work went on for two or three minutes in silence, then Molly said,
+"I hope there's nothing the matter with Nora, Annie? It seems so very
+late for you to come to pay us a visit."
+
+"I have come here to stay for the night, if I may," replied Annie.
+
+"Hoots! I don't know if that will be possible," interrupted Jane.
+
+"Oh, I'll sleep anywhere; I'm not a bit particular. I want to talk to
+you, Molly; I've a great deal to say."
+
+"There's no use in girls wasting their time with silly havering when
+work has to be done," snapped Jane. "I'm willing to grant that a heavy
+misfortune has come to this house, but come rain or sunshine the daily
+round _must_ go on. Pass me that clean duster, Molly. These books have
+to be sorted and put in boxes before we either of us lie down to-night."
+
+"But three pairs of hands make lighter work than two," rejoined Annie.
+"I'm willing to help; I mean to help; I am helping. Molly, pass me a
+duster, too. I'll talk to you, Molly, when the work is over."
+
+"That's the time for sleep," said Jane.
+
+"Oh, come, Jane, if Annie wants to talk to me, she must," said Molly in
+an almost fretful tone. "There's plenty of room for you in my bed,
+Annie, so that matter is settled; now let us fly along with the books."
+
+Jane did not utter another word of remonstrance. In her inmost heart she
+had a great admiration for Annie, whom she always spoke of as a "bonny,
+capable lassie." The books were all sorted and packed in a little over
+an hour, and then the girls went downstairs to supper in the great hall.
+Supper consisted of porridge and milk, followed by great dishes of
+stewed fruit. The children all sat round a table, and Mrs. Lorrimer,
+with the air of a royal matron, dispensed the simple food.
+
+Immediately afterwards, Annie slipped her hand through Molly's arm, and
+drew her out of doors on to the moonlit lawn.
+
+"I can't wait another moment," she said. "I've oceans of things to ask
+you."
+
+"I suppose you have come over on some special business," replied Molly.
+"Has Hester sent me a message?"
+
+"No; Hester has had nothing to do with it. I came over because I really
+want a talk with you all by myself. I cannot tell you what I thought
+to-day when that dreadful Susy Drummond came with her sort of 'take
+possession' style into the house."
+
+"And do you really imagine," answered Molly, "that Miss Drummond annoyed
+us in any way? for if you do you are greatly mistaken. We are in great
+trouble just now about father, and about dear Guy being cut out of his
+rightful inheritance, and naturally we shall all feel leaving the
+Towers, but if you think that girl makes any difference one way or
+other, you are quite wrong."
+
+Annie was silent for a moment. Then she said in a low voice, "I'm glad
+you don't mind her; she would try me a good bit. How soon have you got
+to leave, Molly?"
+
+"Mother would like us to be out in a month," replied Molly. "Mr.
+Drummond does not take possession for over five weeks, but mother thinks
+that when a very painful thing has to be done, the sooner it is over the
+better. And she has almost taken a roomy old cottage on the edge of
+Sharsted Common. She says the children must not be cooped up in a town
+house, and they will have plenty of room to run about on the common, and
+as Nortonbury is only a mile away, Guy and Harry can still go to school
+there."
+
+"And will you still stay at home, Molly?"
+
+"I don't know, all the future is a complete blank. I am not educated
+according to modern ideas, and I love my own people so deeply that it
+would be agony to leave them. At the same time, I know some of us must
+go away, for we shall be very poor; we'll have no money at all except
+the income from mother's little fortune, and that will go a small way. I
+have asked mother to let us do without a servant, for I quite love
+housework. But really, Annie, everything at present is simply in chaos."
+
+"It is good of you to tell me," said Annie, in her caressing voice. "You
+know I am poor myself, and I dearly love poor people; they are fifty
+times more interesting than rich ones. Fancy what zest is added to life
+when you have to contrive and scrape, and patch and fit every one of
+your dresses."
+
+"As to that," replied Molly, "I don't in the least care what I wear; but
+I must frankly say that patched and contrived dresses are, as a rule,
+very ugly. Now shall we come into the house?"
+
+"Not yet," replied Annie; "it is lovely out. Let us take another turn
+just here in the moonlight. Have you heard anything about the Squire
+lately, Molly? Is he likely to come back to the Towers soon?"
+
+"No; I'm afraid he won't come at all. The sudden necessity which obliged
+him to sell the old home has had the strangest effect upon him. We are
+very anxious about him--very, very unhappy. The state of his health is
+our keenest grief."
+
+"And do you know where he is?"
+
+"Oh, yes, in London. Mother writes to him to his club."
+
+"It seems a great pity that he should be alone there," said Annie. "I
+wonder your mother likes to leave him."
+
+"Mother is only carrying out his wishes. He has absolutely refused to
+come back to the Towers. He says he may come after we have all gone, but
+not before. I cannot tell you, Annie, how miserable we are about him. He
+is completely altered. He used to be the tenderest, the most unselfish
+of fathers, and now the whole burden of everything is put on poor
+mother's shoulders."
+
+"What is the name of his club?" asked Annie.
+
+"The Carlton."
+
+"Have none of you any influence over him?"
+
+"Nell has the most. She is a strange child, and has a way of seeing down
+into the very heart of things. Where her interests are aroused, she has
+such intense sympathy that it gives her wonderful tact. If father were
+at home, I believe Nell could manage him; but where is the use of
+talking? He is away, and we none of us can move him by letter or
+otherwise. Mother hopes that when we are really settled at the cottage,
+he will return; but oh, dear--oh, dear--I believe the changed life will
+shorten his days. There, Annie, I never thought to confide in you, but
+you see I have done so. Now let us come indoors."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+PLOT THICKENS.
+
+
+"Mother," said Antonia, two days after the events mentioned in the last
+chapter, "I think we have been quite long enough at the Grange."
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple was taking a walk by herself round one of the lawns
+when Antonia swept up to her and made this remark.
+
+"I thought you would be saying something erratic of this sort," replied
+her parent, a good deal of annoyance in her tone. "We have not been at
+the Grange a week yet and, as it is to be the future home of both of us,
+it does not seem at all inconsistent to spend a fortnight here now,
+particularly when we are enjoying ourselves so much."
+
+"Pray speak for yourself with regard to the enjoyment, mother,"
+responded Miss Bernard Temple. "I must say that dreariness is no word
+for this place as far as I am concerned. These trim _parterres_, those
+undulating velvet lawns are abhorrence to me; but I am not thinking of
+myself at all when I say that I think it would be well for us to return
+to our rooms in town. I wish to do so for quite another motive. In the
+first place, I have got to take care of you, mother; you must not make
+yourself too cheap."
+
+"Oh, my dear Antonia, what a horrid expression! I hope I understand what
+is due to my own dignity."
+
+"Frankly, mother, you don't--not on all occasions; but now to revert to
+the more important business. I am anxious to be back in town because I
+want this matter with regard to the Towers to be carried into effect as
+soon as possible. By the way, have you spoken to Sir John Thornton on
+the subject?"
+
+"Yes, oh, yes! for goodness sake don't you interfere, my dear."
+
+"Of course I won't if you have done your duty. What did you say?"
+
+"Oh, just what I thought necessary! I think I made up quite a moving
+story. Sir John listened attentively. Said he had the greatest possible
+respect for Squire Lorrimer; that it gave him considerable pain to feel
+that _parvenus_, like the Drummonds should reside at the Towers; but he
+said, further, that he could not quite tell how he was to interfere."
+
+"Oh, I dare say!" answered Antonia. "I know enough of him to be certain
+that every step of the path to the rescue must be made clear by others.
+Did he give you to understand, mother, that he would be willing to help
+Squire Lorrimer if the occasion arose?"
+
+"Well, my dear, I gathered that he would not be averse to doing so; but,
+really, the matter is one of extreme delicacy, and one which it is quite
+impossible for me to say much about."
+
+"But I have not the least objection to talking about it," said Antonia.
+"It is one of my failings not to feel delicacy except with regard to
+art. I can talk to him if you like. I should recommend extreme
+bluntness. These obtuse people never see things unless they are put
+right up in front of their eyes."
+
+"Really, Antonia, in addition to being eccentric, you are now becoming
+positively vulgar. What have I done to be afflicted with a daughter like
+you? I beg and beseech of you not to say a word to Sir John on the
+subject."
+
+"All right, mother, I won't, if you will promise without fail to return
+to London to-morrow."
+
+"Oh, dear, dear, it will be most inconvenient."
+
+"But you'll come?"
+
+"I--really----"
+
+"I see Sir John in the distance; he is smoking a cigarette, which will
+soothe him while I talk. If I talk to him, you needn't go to London so
+soon. Which shall it be?"
+
+"Oh, London, London--anything better than that you should worry poor Sir
+John. Was there ever a woman so worried? You had better send Pinkerton
+to me."
+
+"That's a good mother," said Antonia, bestowing one of her rare and
+wonderfully sweet smiles upon her parent. She rushed away to the house
+in her headlong style; met Hester in one of the corridors; stopped her
+to exclaim, "Cheer up, Hetty, the incubus is leaving by the first train
+in the morning," and then finding Pinkerton, despatched her for orders
+to Mrs. Bernard Temple.
+
+A few moments later, Antonia had forced her way into Susy's presence.
+
+"Mother and I leave to-morrow," she said. "I don't know if you feel
+inclined to stay here much longer?"
+
+"I? No, I'm sure I don't," answered Susy. "I am sick of the place; they
+are all such a lot of slow coaches."
+
+"County people, you know," said Antonia with a slight sneer, "are always
+a little slow to us _parvenus_; we're so wonderfully fresh, you know;
+not worn out like the poor county folk."
+
+"You can call yourself a _parvenu_ if you like," said Susy in a rage,
+"but I decline to allow the name to be applied to me; however, I think
+I'll go back to father to-morrow, and I may as well take advantage of
+your escort."
+
+"That's what I thought. Get your maid to pack your things, for we shall
+be off by the first train, remember. By the way, did you hear from your
+father with regard to your letter?"
+
+"Yes, I heard this morning."
+
+"Well, what did he say?"
+
+"He says he is sorry I don't like the Towers, but he doesn't see how he
+is to get out of the purchase now. He is to take possession in a little
+over a month."
+
+"What a horrible future for you," said Antonia. "That musty old
+place--the ghost in the tower--the family feud----"
+
+"What do you mean by the family feud?"
+
+"Oh, a little arrangement lately entered into by the younger Lorrimers
+for your benefit. I'm not bound to repeat it, but I can truly say I
+shouldn't like the little formula they have made up to be chanted
+nightly about me. Frankly, Susy, I pity you. You must hate the idea of
+going to the Towers."
+
+"Yes, I loathe it," said Susy.
+
+"The best thing you can do is to see your father, and have a very
+serious talk. Its settled that you come back with us to-morrow. That's
+right. Ta-ta for the present."
+
+Antonia left the room.
+
+She stood for a moment by herself in one of the passages.
+
+"Who would have thought," she murmured to herself, "that I, Antonia
+Bernard Temple, would devote myself to anything except the services of
+high Art. Here am I absolutely wearing myself out and devising the most
+horrible plots and stratagems, all for the sake of an ugly duckling.
+Shall I succeed? Yes, I think so. Matters move in the right direction.
+Susy hates going to the Towers; the Lorrimers hate leaving the Towers.
+Sir John Thornton has more money than he knows what to do with. Surely
+some scheme can be suggested to keep the old family in the old place.
+When we are in town, we can soon get to know Squire Lorrimer. Hurrah! I
+have an idea. Annie Forest and Nora shall both come up to town with us
+to-morrow. Annie is a capital kind of girl, although she did behave with
+want of fidelity as regards that ring. I must get it back for her
+somehow before we leave. Annie we must have, for she's a perfect jewel
+of tact, and so sweetly pretty, just like a red rose, while I'm a
+fierce--very fierce--tiger lily. Nora must come, too, because, of
+course, Squire Lorrimer will visit us for the sake of seeing his child.
+Mother shall propose to Sir John Thornton, and he will further suggest
+to Mrs. Lorrimer, that Nora would be the better for the best surgical
+advice. Hey presto! the thing is delightfully managed. Antonia, my dear,
+you begin to see daylight, don't you?"
+
+Antonia skipped away in high good humour, and, wonderful to relate, her
+different little schemes for collecting a party to accompany her mother
+and herself to town were all carried out without hitch or difficulty.
+Annie, of course, was only too delighted to spend her last few days of
+holiday in London, and Nora, who had never been there, quite forgave
+Mrs. Bernard Temple for becoming Hester's stepmother when she heard
+that she was going to take her to the "Heart of the World," as she
+termed the great metropolis.
+
+On the evening of that same day Antonia, having concluded, as she
+considered, an arduous campaign, stood for a moment in earnest
+contemplation. "There's only the ring," she said to herself. "I must get
+the ring for poor Annie before I go. Now, who will lend me thirty
+shillings? I'll try Pinkerton first."
+
+She swept into the room where the tired maid was completing her somewhat
+laborious packing, for Mrs. Bernard Temple invariably carried nearly a
+houseful of dresses about with her.
+
+"Well, Miss Antonia, what now?" said the maid. "I wish you'd take off
+that evening dress, miss, and let me lay it just over the others here in
+in this box."
+
+"I can stuff it into my Gladstone bag," said Antonia; "don't trouble
+about it. Pinkerton, when were you paid your wages last?"
+
+"Oh, wages, indeed!" said Pinkerton, with a sniff. "Don't talk of em,
+Miss Antonia. It's months and months I'm owed, but I suppose it will be
+all right when your ma is married to this rich gentleman."
+
+"You haven't got about thirty-two shillings you could spare me?" said
+Antonia.
+
+"I couldn't oblige you with thirty-two pence, miss."
+
+Antonia drummed with her fingers on a chest of drawers near which she
+was leaning. "And it's such a paltry sum," she muttered--"not worth a
+fuss. You ought to have your wages, Pinkerton--it's a shame! I must
+speak to mother about them when my mind is a little less burdened. I
+have a good deal to think of just now, so good-night!"
+
+"What about that dress, miss?"
+
+"I can't give it to you at present. I'll stow it away somewhere.
+Good-night!"
+
+Antonia closed the door behind her and ran downstairs. She must get the
+thirty-two shillings from somewhere. To whom could she apply? She
+suddenly found herself face to face with Sir John Thornton. An
+inspiration seized her. She rushed up to him and took one of his hands.
+He shuddered, but had the strength of mind to remain perfectly still.
+
+"Can you lend me thirty-two shillings?" said Antonia. "You're as rich as
+Croesus, so you won't mind. I'll pay it back to you a shilling a week
+out of my dress allowance. Will you lend it? Say yes or no in a hurry,
+please."
+
+"Yes," said Sir John, "... with pleasure." He moved back a step or two.
+"Here are two sovereigns," he said. "Pray don't mind the change. The
+change doesn't matter, I assure you. Oh, any time, of course, as regards
+repayment. I am happy to oblige you." He dropped the sovereigns into
+Antonia's large palm and prepared to fly.
+
+"You are happy to oblige me?" she said with a sort of gasp. "Oh, do stay
+just a single moment. You have made me very happy. Thirty-two shillings
+must go for a special purpose, but eight blessed shillings remain. Don't
+you really want the change? May I really borrow the change?"
+
+"Most certainly. I am rather in a hurry."
+
+"I'd kiss you, but you wouldn't like it," said Antonia. "These eight
+shillings mean--do you know what they mean?"
+
+"If they make you happy, my dear young lady, that is enough for me."
+
+"They do, they do! Cobalt ... Indian red ... rose madder ... burnt
+sienna ... canvasses ... a new flat brush for the skies ... some drawing
+pins--Oh, he's gone! Dear old man. What an affliction I was to him; but
+how triumphant I feel!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+NELL IS IN TROUBLE.
+
+
+All Antonia's plans were carried into effect. She paid Mrs. Martin
+thirty-two shillings and gave the old woman her address in town, begging
+of her to forward the ring there without an hour's delay. In due course
+it arrived, and Annie had it once more in her possession. Poor Annie
+turned pale when Antonia put the little box which contained it into her
+hand.
+
+"I could cry as well as laugh," she said, looking at Antonia with tears
+springing to her eyes. "I have not behaved well about this ring, and I
+ought not to have it back like this. I ought to be properly punished. It
+does not seem fair that I should have the ring returned to me again in
+this easy manner."
+
+"Undoubtedly you have been deceitful," replied Antonia, "and your
+conscience must feel ruffled. I can stand most things, but a ruffled
+conscience, I confess, is too much for me. I suppose you will soothe it
+in the only possible way?"
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Annie.
+
+"Confession is good for the soul," replied Antonia, in a sing-song
+voice. She went to the window as she spoke and looked out into the
+sunlit street.
+
+The two girls were standing in the room which Antonia was pleased to
+call her studio. It was an attic at the top of the house, and had a
+dormer window with a north light. The dormer window had sides which were
+curtained with green. In Annie's opinion this room was simply hideous.
+Huge canvasses covered with great daubs of colour occupied the walls. A
+skeleton stood in one corner, and one or two draped figures were in
+others. Antonia had lured Annie up here for the purpose of taking her
+likeness in a white kerchief. Antonia was fired with an idea that Annie
+would look well as Marie Antoinette on her way to execution. She was not
+quite sure whether to make her Charlotte Corday or Marie Antoinette;
+but, on reflection, decided that the latter character would suit her
+best, as she did not think that Annie could ever get sufficient tragedy
+into her eyes for the former.
+
+"I am going to paint myself some day for Charlotte," exclaimed Antonia.
+"I'll study before the glass whenever I've an odd moment, and I believe
+I shall do the fixity of purpose stare after another week of hard
+practice. Now, do stand still Annie--the bother of the ring is at an
+end, so you can forget it. Just turn your head a little to the left, I
+want to get a peep at your ear--you have got a good ear, quite
+shell-like. Now, for mercy's sake look tragical! Think of the
+guillotine, and the crowd looking on, and La Belle France and the
+Tuileries, and the horrid feeling when your head is separated from your
+trunk. Now, then, realise it--get it into your eyes. Are you realising
+it?"
+
+"Frankly, I'm not," replied Annie. "I can't sit for Marie Antoinette any
+longer to-day. I really can't, Antonia. This room is so stiflingly hot,
+and I want to go out. I want to get into one of the parks. Are there any
+near this?"
+
+"Oh, yes! Hyde Park is quite close; but you'll find it as dry as chips.
+Remember, it is September now. Hyde Park is not pretty in September."
+
+"I wonder anyone can live in London," replied Annie.
+
+"Do you? I don't. I hate this poky little house in the centre of
+detestable fashion; but if I could have an atelier, or a studio, I ought
+to say, in Gower Street, it would be nearly as good as Paris. Well, if
+you won't sit any longer, I suppose you won't. Now let us come
+downstairs."
+
+The girls left the studio and entered the drawing-room. Here they found
+Mrs. Bernard Temple and Nora. Nora was lying on a sofa looking tired and
+pale, and Mrs. Bernard Temple was moving about the room in a bustling
+sort of fashion arranging flowers. The drawing-room was small and
+crowded with knick-knacks. Antonia seldom swept across this room without
+knocking a table over or flicking a paper on to the floor.
+
+"Now, my dear, be careful!" exclaimed her parent. "That papier-mache
+table on which I have just arranged these lovely late roses, sent to me
+by dear Sir John, will not stand one of your lunges. I cannot imagine
+how you have got that peculiar walk, Antonia; its exactly as if you were
+on board ship."
+
+Antonia lounged towards a chair, into which she flung herself.
+
+"Dear me, it is hot!" she exclaimed, pushing back her thick black hair
+from her forehead. "Never mind about my walk, mother; let me hear the
+news. What did Sir Henry Fraser say of Nora?"
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple sank into another chair.
+
+"The dear child!" she exclaimed. "She had a trying morning."
+
+"Pray don't talk of it!" exclaimed Nora from her sofa. "It was too
+desperate."
+
+"Why, did he hurt you?" exclaimed Antonia.
+
+"Oh, no! he was kindness itself; but we had to wait so long before we
+saw him."
+
+"Pooh!" answered Antonia. "Was that the dreadful part? Tell me what he
+said when you did see him? Are you likely soon to be quite well again?"
+
+"With care," interrupted Mrs. Bernard Temple, "dear Nora will recover
+perfectly. Her back is still very weak, but there is no injury. She may
+walk a little daily, but must lie down a good deal."
+
+"You're quite sure he wasn't anxious about you?" asked Antonia, fixing
+her eyes on Nora.
+
+Nora started.
+
+"No; what do you mean?" she said. "You quite startle me. Why should he
+be anxious?"
+
+"Well, I almost wish he were. It would suit my purpose to have him
+anxious for a day or two. However, if he isn't, he isn't, and there's an
+end of it. Nora, don't you want to see your father very badly?"
+
+"Oh, yes!" replied Nora. Her face grew pink and red. "Of course I'd like
+to see him, but I have not an idea where he is."
+
+"He's in London, close to you, you goose."
+
+"Antonia!" interrupted Mrs. Bernard Temple.
+
+"Mother, she is a goose not to remember that Squire Lorrimer is in town.
+You ought to write to him, Nora, and ask him to come to see you."
+
+"If he's in London I don't know his address," answered Nora.
+
+"You can write to his club--the Carlton. Here, I'll find you paper and
+pen, or, if you are too tired to write after the doctor's examination,
+you can dictate a letter to me. Here, what do you want to say? I'm not a
+good hand at letter-writing, but you must know the sort of thing. You
+had better ask him to dinner to-night; there's not an hour to be lost."
+
+"You forget that we are going to the theatre to-night," said Mrs.
+Bernard Temple.
+
+"Oh, what does that matter. Nora can't go, with her weak back."
+
+"Yes she can. I have taken a box, and she shall have my air-cushion to
+lean against."
+
+"And I want to go to a theatre awfully," said Nora.
+
+"Well, well, so much for filial affection. Ask him to come to lunch
+to-morrow. Write any way--show that you're a daughter, a loving
+daughter."
+
+"Of course I'm a loving daughter, but I----"
+
+"For goodness sake don't have any more buts. Write or dictate, whichever
+you please."
+
+"I'll write if I must, but really--I don't suppose father will care to
+come."
+
+"Doesn't he care for you, then?"
+
+"Care for me? What a thing to say. Of course he cares for me."
+
+"Then he'll come. Now, I give you five minutes. Write the letter, and
+I'll take it out and post it."
+
+Nora muttered and grumbled, but Antonia's perfectly motionless figure,
+as she sat in an easy chair facing her, was too much to be resisted. She
+took up a pen, dipped it in ink, and began to write.
+
+"Do it lovingly," said Antonia; "put heart into it; show that you're a
+daughter."
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple motioned Annie to come and sit near her.
+
+"Really," she said in a whisper, "poor Antonia becomes more peculiar and
+trying each day. She simply bullies us all. Look at that poor dear
+little Nora, submitting to her caprice as gently as a lamb. I don't know
+why she wants Squire Lorrimer to come here. I am not acquainted with
+him, and it will be really painful for me to see him in his present
+afflicted condition. I am a very cheerful person by nature, and hate
+depressing circumstances."
+
+"I am sorry you are not sympathetic," answered Annie.
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple raised her brows.
+
+"Sympathetic," she exclaimed; "my dear, I'm the soul--the very soul of
+sympathy; but where's the use of wasting emotion? I can do nothing for
+Squire Lorrimer, and it will only pain poor Nora to see him. Really,
+really, Antonia is beyond anything afflicting. Now, my love, where are
+you going?"
+
+The latter part of this speech was addressed to Miss Bernard Temple, who
+was leaving the room. "Where are you going, Antonia, my love?" repeated
+her mother.
+
+"Out, mother; to post this letter."
+
+"I beg of you to do nothing of the kind. I can send it by William, when
+next he goes for a message."
+
+William was a very diminutive, and much overworked, page-boy.
+
+"Thanks," said Antonia; "but I prefer to go myself."
+
+She left the room, shutting the door rather noisily; and Mrs. Bernard
+Temple looked for sympathy to the two girls.
+
+"Is not she trying?" she repeated. "With my mind so preoccupied with
+thoughts of my approaching marriage, and of dear Sir John, and those
+sweet girls, Hester and Nan; it is really too much to be worried by
+Antonia's whims."
+
+"Oh, but she means everything splendidly," said Annie. "I admire her
+beyond anything. If you will let me, Mrs. Bernard Temple, I will go out
+with her."
+
+"Oh, certainly, my dear. I see you are under her spell, so I have
+nothing to say. Dear Nora and I will try to make ourselves happy
+together."
+
+Annie left the room, and met Antonia in the hall.
+
+"Wait one moment, Antonia," she said; "I'll go with you."
+
+She ran upstairs, fetched her hat and gloves, and joined Antonia. The two
+girls went into the street.
+
+"I'm determined that no pranks shall be played with this letter," said
+Antonia; "so I intend not to post it, but to take it to the Carlton
+myself."
+
+"Antonia, is that right?"
+
+"Right--what can there be wrong in it? There is no one who will eat me
+at the Carlton. I shall simply give the letter to the hall-porter, and
+desire him to put it into Mr. Lorrimer's hands the moment he appears.
+Now, come on, if you are coming. You can stay in the street while I
+interview the porter."
+
+"But the post seems safer and easier," said Annie.
+
+"Well, I don't think so. Come, come; what are you loitering for?"
+
+As was universally the case, Antonia's strong will prevailed.
+
+She knew London thoroughly, and followed by the somewhat breathless
+Annie, in due course reached the Carlton Club.
+
+She had run up the steps, entered the hall, interviewed the porter,
+delivered her letter, and once more joined Annie, when the latter said
+to her in a voice of suppressed excitement--
+
+"There is Squire Lorrimer; that man with the bent head and hat pushed
+over his eyes. He passed the club while you were within. There he is,
+just turning the corner."
+
+"Run after him and stop him," exclaimed Antonia. "Quick, quick--I'll
+fetch the letter out while you're catching him up."
+
+"Oh, I don't like to," said Annie.
+
+"What a goose you are--then I'll do it--he'll be lost to view if we wait
+another instant arguing. Is it that rather old man who walks slowly?
+Yes, yes, I see him. Stay where you are and I'll bring him back to you."
+
+Before Annie could interfere, Antonia had hastened forward with long
+strides, which she soon quickened into a run. She reached Mr. Lorrimer,
+and gave one of his coat sleeves a fierce tug.
+
+He started, took off his hat instinctively, and then stared in amazement
+at the wild-looking girl, whose face was completely unknown to him.
+
+"Oh, yes, you think I'm mad," said Antonia, "but I'm not. I'm about as
+sane as anyone in England. You are Mr. Lorrimer, and you're afraid to go
+home, and your family are in dreadful trouble. I'm Antonia Bernard
+Temple; yes, it's a long unwieldy sort of name, but I have the
+misfortune to own it. If I'm a diamond at all, I'm a rough sort; very
+rough and uncouth, but I mean well. My mother is engaged to Sir John
+Thornton, and we have been staying at the Grange, and I have seen your
+magnificent untrammelled old place, with its briars, and dragon china,
+and I, in short--I have seen Nell. Nell is in trouble, and my heart has
+gone out to her; and Nora is in town staying with us, with my mother and
+me, and she wants to see you, naturally; so please come home with me
+now. Please turn round and come to the Carlton first. There's a letter
+there for you from Nora. Come and see her, and hear about Nell and
+Molly."
+
+There was the queerest mixture of every sort of emotion in Antonia's
+wild, disjointed speech; but above it all was an overpowering
+earnestness, which somehow attracted the poor, forlorn-looking Squire.
+
+"You are a very queer young lady," he said.
+
+"Oh, they all say that," exclaimed Antonia clasping her hands. "I beg of
+you not to be commonplace; do come home with me."
+
+"But somehow you seem to know all about my people," he continued. "Is it
+possible that Nora is in town? Yes, I'll go and see her. Where is she?"
+
+"Come with me and I'll take you to the house. It's in a most poky,
+fashionable part--an odious locality, where poor Art hides her head.
+Just walk back with me to meet Annie Forest, and to get your letter.
+You know Annie Forest, don't you?"
+
+"I have met her."
+
+"Well, she's waiting close to the Carlton Club for us both; and we can't
+leave her there, you know; come quickly."
+
+The Squire turned.
+
+His step was slow. The look of depression on his face was painful; his
+grizzled hair was nearly white, and his once keen, hawk-like blue eyes
+were now dim and dull. Antonia had never seen him before, but Annie
+started when he held out his hand to her.
+
+He walked in almost silence back with the two girls, and in a little
+more than half an hour, Antonia had the pleasure of introducing him to
+her mother and Nora, who were enjoying afternoon tea together in great
+contentment and peace of mind. Nora uttered a little shriek when she saw
+her father. He took her in his arms and kissed her tenderly. Annie did
+not follow the Squire into the drawing-room.
+
+"Come, mother," said Antonia, going up to her parent.
+
+"Where?" asked Mrs. Bernard Temple in astonishment.
+
+"Out of the room--come."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+THE LION AND MOUSE.
+
+
+No one could be in a more terrible state of complete collapse than poor
+Mr. Lorrimer. The blow he had most dreaded had overtaken him. He had
+been as plucky an English gentleman as ever walked. As true-hearted and
+affectionate a husband and father, as kind and considerate a
+landlord--as honourable as man could be in all his dealings--a keen
+sportsman, a lover of horses--in short, an ideal squire of the old
+school; but the Towers had been his backbone; now that circumstances for
+which he was scarcely to blame deprived him of the home of his fathers,
+he found himself unable to stand up against the blow. He had made a
+gallant fight up to the last moment, but when he saw plainly that the
+tide had set in dead against him, he ceased to fight and allowed himself
+to drift. He made up his mind that his last memory of the Towers should
+be that evening when the old ball-room was full of light and movement,
+and when two little fairy-like figures had flitted across the lawn to
+greet him. That fairy and that brownie had comforted him on that night
+of keen desolation, and their memory lingered with him still. He lived
+in cheap lodgings near his club, ate what was put before him, read
+nothing, moped away the long hours, and was fast reaching a stage when
+serious breakdown of some sort or other was imminent. He desired all
+letters to be sent to him to the Carlton, and not only refused to allow
+his wife to come to him, but would not let her know where he was
+lodging. He promised, however, to join his family when the move from the
+Towers had been made.
+
+On the day when Antonia met him, he was feeling more wretched even than
+usual. He had never hitherto been a weak or undecided man, but now he
+was completely limp--there was no other word to describe his condition.
+Antonia's firmness compelled him to obey her, and he found himself
+against his will in Nora's company. Nora was not his favourite child;
+she was not like Molly to him, nor like Nell and Boris, still she was
+one of his children, and his heart throbbed with a great wave of pain
+when he saw her.
+
+"My poor little girl," he said, kissing her tenderly, "my poor dear
+little girl. I have been a bad father to you, my little Nora."
+
+"Oh, no, no, father," said Nora, sobbing now, and much overcome. "No,
+no, dear, darling father; I'm so delighted, so delighted to see you
+again."
+
+The Squire sat down on the sofa near Nora, and putting his arm round
+her, drew her pretty head to rest on his breast.
+
+"So you are staying in town," he said, "quite close to me; and how--how
+are the others, my dear?"
+
+"Quite well," replied Nora "only fretting about you."
+
+"About me? They needn't do that--I'm not worth it. You're sure your
+mother is quite well, Nora?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And Molly?"
+
+"Yes, quite well."
+
+"And the young 'uns, Nell and Boris?"
+
+"Oh, they're well, only Nell frets a good bit."
+
+"Poor child, poor child; bless her, she's a loving little soul. I
+suppose Guy is awfully cut up, eh, Nonie?"
+
+"Oh, father, indeed he's not. Guy is too much of a man--he's splendid,
+he is, really. I wish you'd go back again, father, that's all they want.
+It's you they want, not the Towers--you are more to them than the
+Towers."
+
+"You're a good child to say so," said the Squire; "but I can't go back
+at present. When I think of that place going out of the family, I feel
+like an unfaithful steward. It was committed to me to keep and to hand
+on intact to my boy, and I've lost him his inheritance. You none of you
+know what it means; but I can't go back--not at present."
+
+"May I write and tell mother where you are?"
+
+"No; she writes to me to the Carlton--I'm all right; don't you worry
+about me, pet."
+
+"You don't look all right--you look very ill."
+
+"See here, Nora, don't you write home and tell them that--promise."
+
+The Squire's manner grew quite fierce. He looked at Nora out of his
+bloodshot eyes. "Promise," he said. "I won't have it done--do you hear?"
+
+"No, father, of course I won't if it vexes you."
+
+"It does, my child, it does," the Squire's manner became tenderer than
+ever. "I'm worried and in trouble at present, and I am best alone; I am
+best all by myself for a bit. God knows, I suppose I shall pull round
+after a bit, and face you all--that poor boy whom I've ruined, and the
+rest of you--but I must get time--that's only reasonable--I must get
+time. Now I'm off; I'm glad to see you looking well, Nora."
+
+"But you'll come and see me again, father; you promise, do promise that
+you'll come and see me again."
+
+"Yes, my child, if you wish it."
+
+"To-morrow; promise you'll come to-morrow. Antonia made me write to ask
+you to come to lunch, and I sent the letter to the Carlton. Will you
+come to lunch to-morrow?"
+
+"No; I can't do that, but I'll look in some day. Good-bye, Nora,
+good-bye, my pet."
+
+The Squire put his arms again round Nora, kissed her on her lips and
+brow, and left the house.
+
+Antonia, who was trying to keep her mother quiet in the dismal
+dining-room, heard him slam the hall door after him, and rushed to the
+window to watch him down the street.
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple went and peeped over her daughter's shoulder.
+
+"I am glad he has gone," she said. "It's so trying to be turned out of
+one's drawing-room. He's very seedy about his clothes, but he has an
+aristocratic walk. I suppose I may go back now, Antonia, to finish my
+cup of tea."
+
+"Oh, yes, mother, all in good time. What does tea signify when you see a
+man broken with an awful grief of that sort? Why, he looks like a
+captive lion. Mother, cant you get enthusiastic on the subject? Can't
+you try?"
+
+"I'm sure, my dear, I have tried, but I cannot really see that it will
+injure the Lorrimers for me to finish my tea. With all I am undergoing
+on my own account at present--but of course, Antonia, you have no
+sympathy for your mother."
+
+"Oh, yes, I have when you need it, but you don't just now; you are
+perfectly happy. However, you must of course have your tea, and I won't
+worry you any more after you have sent off the telegram."
+
+"The telegram! Oh, you erratic, perverse child; what next?"
+
+"You have to telegraph to Sir John, mother, to beg of him to come here
+immediately. Things have gone much farther with Squire Lorrimer than I
+had the least idea of. He must be put out of his pain as quickly as
+possible or something bad will happen. We must get my new father that is
+to be on the spot to-night, and if you don't telegraph for him I shall
+myself take the next train to Nortonbury, and tackle him on the subject.
+I don't in the least mind which it is, but one or other must be done
+directly."
+
+"Antonia, you quite terrify me. Sir John will be seriously angry."
+
+"What of that. Let him be angry."
+
+"But I assure you, my dear, he is not a man to be trifled with."
+
+"Oh, I'll manage him, mother, if you're nervous."
+
+"I really think you must. I have not the courage to make or meddle in
+this matter; in short, I wash my hands of it."
+
+Antonia clapped hers.
+
+"Hurrah!" she said. "I can manage much better all by myself. All I ask
+you now, dear, good mother, is to trust me. Be sure that nothing
+whatever will happen to injure you, and simply give me leave to say,
+when I am telegraphing, that you would like to see Sir John."
+
+"Well, naturally, I always like to see him, dear, devoted fellow."
+
+"That's all right. Now you shall go back to your tea, and I'll be as
+mum as a mouse for the rest of the day."
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple left the room, relieved at any sort of truce with
+her troublesome daughter. Antonia addressed the telegraph form to ...
+_Sir John Thornton, The Grange, Nortonbury_, and filled in the following
+words:--
+
+     "Mother wants to see you without fail this evening. Take next
+     train. Important. Antonia. Reply paid."
+
+The words went hard with the enthusiastic girl, for her precious eight
+shillings were nearly exhausted, and she knew that she must deny herself
+some sadly-needed cobalt if she sent that telegram.
+
+"Never mind," she said, as she let herself out of the house, and rushed
+off to the nearest post-office. "You must do without that background of
+blue sky which I so wanted for your picture, Marie Antoinette. It is
+odd, but I never did think that I would allow Art to suffer in the cause
+of an ugly duckling."
+
+Antonia sent off her telegram and watched anxiously for the reply. It
+came in the course of an hour and a half, and was addressed to her
+mother.
+
+     "Expect me by the train which reaches Waterloo at nine o'clock,"
+
+wired the gallant Sir John.
+
+"There, now, Antonia," said Mrs. Bernard Temple, "you have only yourself
+to blame. What is to be done? We shall be at the theatre at nine
+o'clock."
+
+"Nothing could possibly be better, mother; I shan't go. I shall wait
+here for Sir John; we'll have a nice quiet time."
+
+"My dear, I'm afraid he'll be terribly offended."
+
+"No, mother, he won't; at least, not with you. Now, do go the theatre
+and be happy. Take Annie and Nora, and let them enjoy themselves. I
+promise you that you shall have serene skies on your return. Can't you
+trust me? Did you ever find me fail you yet when I promised you
+anything?"
+
+"No, I never did, you queer, queer creature."
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple was restored to good humour. Dinner passed off
+pleasantly, and immediately afterwards a cab conveyed three of the party
+to the Lyceum.
+
+Antonia had donned her rusty brown velveteen dress, and sat with her
+hands folded in front of her in a deep armchair.
+
+Her black hair was combed high over her forehead; her eyes were bright.
+Anxiety had brought a slight colour into her cheeks; she looked almost
+handsome.
+
+At about twenty minutes past nine a cab was heard to stop at the door,
+and a moment later Sir John Thornton was ushered into the drawing-room.
+
+"How do you do?" he said, in a stiff voice, to Antonia. "Where is your
+mother? Her telegram has startled me a good deal."
+
+"It was my telegram," said Antonia, in a calm voice.
+
+"Well, that does not matter. Will you have the goodness to inform your
+mother that I am here?"
+
+"I can't very well at the present moment, for she is enjoying herself at
+the Lyceum."
+
+Sir John's face grew scarlet. He drew himself up to his stiffest
+attitude, and compressed his lips firmly together.
+
+"Perhaps you feel annoyed," said Antonia, "and I don't think I am
+surprised. Will you sit down and let me explain matters?"
+
+"Pray do nothing of the kind. I can wait until Mrs. Bernard Temple comes
+home. When is the play likely to be over?"
+
+"I expect mother and Annie and Nora back about half-past eleven. It is
+now half-past nine. Have you had dinner?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Will you come downstairs, and let me give you something to eat?"
+
+"No, thank you. As your mother is not at home, I shall dine at my club,
+and come back later on."
+
+"No, you won't," said Antonia.
+
+She started up, and placed herself between Sir John and the door. He
+felt himself groaning inwardly. Was that awful girl mad? What did her
+strange telegram mean? And why, if Mrs. Bernard Temple sent for him in a
+hurry, had she not the civility to wait at home to see him? This was
+really taking matters with a free-and-easy hand with a vengeance. The
+proud Sir John had never felt more thoroughly angry in his life. He
+stalked up to Antonia now, and endeavoured to pass her, but she dodged
+him successfully.
+
+"I know you are a gentleman," she said; "and a gentleman always listens
+to what a lady has got to say, even when he is angry with her. I'm an
+awful personage in your eyes, but if you will listen to me to-night, I
+will promise to be as good and unobtrusive as girl can be in the future.
+I'll even wear ordinary dresses when I come to visit you, and I won't
+talk of my sacred Art when you are in the room. There, can girl promise
+more?--can she?"
+
+"Will you have the goodness to let me pass?" said Sir John.
+
+"I will in a moment or two. You shall go and dine at your club after you
+have heard why I sent for you."
+
+"Why _you_ sent for me?" exclaimed Sir John.
+
+"Oh, yes; it was all my doing."
+
+"But the message certainly came in your mother's name."
+
+"Yes, because you would not have come otherwise. It was I, Antonia, who
+really sent for you. You have come up to town in this violent hurry on
+my account. Now, will you come down to eat a very nice little dinner
+which has been prepared, and which the cook is waiting to send upstairs,
+and let me talk to you while you are enjoying it? Or will you listen to
+me here, and then go afterwards to your club? You must do one or other,
+unless you are rude enough to take me by main force and move me away
+from the door."
+
+Sir John Thornton might be very angry, but he was the pink of propriety,
+and the idea of lifting the bony Antonia from the neighbourhood of the
+door was too repellent even to be thought of for a moment.
+
+"You have got me into a trap," he said, "and I am deeply offended. Your
+mother must explain the position of affairs to me when she chooses to
+return home. I suppose I must listen to you, whether I wish it or not. I
+only beg of you to be brief."
+
+"Now you are delightful," said Antonia. "Won't you sit down?"
+
+"I prefer to stand."
+
+"Well, I'll sit, if you don't mind, for I've a good deal to say."
+
+"I must again beg of you to be brief."
+
+"Very well; I'll put it into a few words, but they'll be strong, I
+promise you."
+
+Sir John made no response. He folded his arms and looked down at
+Antonia. His face looked very cold and satirical; his lips were so
+tightly shut as to appear like a straight line. Antonia's face, all
+enthusiasm and fire, gazed up at him.
+
+"Can I melt that iceberg?" she said inwardly. "Now for the tug of war."
+
+"This is the heart and kernel of my reason for wishing to see you," she
+said. "I have taken up the cause of the Lorrimers. The Lorrimers are
+leaving the Towers because Squire Lorrimer has got into money
+difficulties. I don't know how, and I don't know why. He is obliged to
+sell the beautiful and noble home of his ancestors to clear himself of
+these difficulties. The children are all sorry to go--Molly loses the
+freshness of her youth when she leaves the Towers; Guy loses his
+rightful inheritance; the younger children are embittered by an
+unnatural feud which I need not trouble you about, but which will sour
+their characters; Nell is not strong, and simple grief may shorten her
+days; and the Squire, the Squire himself is so cut up, so heart-broken,
+that he cannot bring himself to say good-bye to the old place. He is in
+town, here, close to us; he is hiding somewhere near us because his
+proud old heart is broken. His hair is white ... his head is bowed and
+his eyes are dim."
+
+"What does all this mean?" interrupted Sir John.
+
+"What does it mean?" exclaimed Antonia, springing like a young lioness
+from her chair. "It means that you are to come to the rescue. Why should
+all that family be made wretched? and why should the Towers go to
+strangers when you can put things right? Take your money out of the
+bank, or wherever you have placed it--it will be the finest deed you
+ever did in your life--and buy back the Towers and give it to Squire
+Lorrimer and to Guy for their own place again. Yours is the talent
+buried in the ground. Take it out and save the Squire, and you'll be so
+happy you won't know yourself. Why, you'll be all on fire and alive with
+gladness. There, that's what I telegraphed to you for; you know now.
+You'll do it ... of course you'll do it. I have spoken now. You know
+what I want."
+
+Antonia sank down into her chair again. She was trembling visibly
+through all her slender figure. Sir John gazed at her in amazement. Her
+eyes met his fully, and then her heart gave a leap in her breast. He was
+not angry. She guessed then that she had won her cause.
+
+"You certainly are a queer girl," he said, sitting down near her. "You
+amaze me. I never heard of a girl who would take up a thing in this way
+... and the Lorrimers are not even your friends. Oh, no! I am not angry
+... not now. Hester frets morning, noon, and night, at the thought of
+parting with Molly; but Hester never thought of this. It is fine of
+you--quite impossible, of course; but I always admire real bravery when
+I see it."
+
+"Never mind praising me," said Antonia; "tell me why you call it
+impossible."
+
+"My dear young lady, do you think for a single moment Squire Lorrimer
+would accept a gift of this sort from me? Do you think the Towers would
+be of the least value to him won back in such a way? _Noblesse oblige_
+would prevent his accepting such an offer."
+
+"I have thought of all that," said Antonia. "I guessed that there would
+be a good deal of pride to overcome. Fortunately I am not bothered with
+_noblesse oblige_; but I guessed that you county people would worry over
+it. We art lovers never think of it; we rise above it; we go back to the
+old, old, _old_, times, when those who loved each other had all things
+in common."
+
+"As long as we live in the world," said Sir John, "the men of the world
+must adhere to its usages. It is not the custom for one man to present
+another with the sort of gift you propose that I should favour Squire
+Lorrimer with."
+
+"Then you must not give it in the form of a gift. You must go to your
+solicitor and consult him about the matter. I happen to know that Susy
+Drummond hates the Towers, so I am quite sure that Mr. Drummond would be
+very glad to be out of his bargain. The Squire wants a certain sum of
+money; you must lend it to him on very easy terms. Oh! of course you
+know how to manage! You must make it possible for him to stay at the
+Towers whatever happens. Oh! I know you'll do it! I know you'll be
+clever enough and kind enough to do it. You'll think of a way, and in
+all the world no man will ever have a more faithful daughter than I'll
+be to you. Dear me! how dead tired I am! Are you going out to your club
+to dinner? If so, I'll go to bed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+GOD BLESS ANTONIA.
+
+
+Mrs. Bernard Temple waited up for Sir John that night; but he did not
+appear. When he left Antonia he went straight to his club, ordered
+dinner, and ate it with his usual refined and somewhat languid appetite.
+He then went up to his room, and being tired thought he would go early
+to bed. He did go to bed--he even went to the length of shutting his
+eyes, preparatory for a peaceful night's slumber. Up to that point he
+was the Sir John of old. The calculating, reserved, cold-natured
+Englishman; but beyond that point he was different, altogether different
+from what he had been before. Between him and his accustomed night's
+rest came the eager face and passionate words of a girl--a lanky,
+untidy, and, in his opinion, most disagreeable girl. Still, she had
+roused him as he had never yet been roused. She had absolutely awakened
+a sort of conscience in him. For the first time in his whole existence,
+he carefully considered the question, who is my neighbour?
+
+Certainly Squire Lorrimer was his neighbour. Their estates joined; they
+had been good friends from boyhood upward; they had been lads at the
+same school, and afterwards men of the same college. His children and
+Squire Lorrimer's children loved each other dearly. He had noticed of
+late how often Hester's eyes had been red as if with tears. She had been
+very good about his own proposed marriage, but she had cried when the
+Lorrimers were mentioned Nan had been sulky and disagreeable and
+defiant, and this was also on account of the Lorrimers. He was very
+sorry for his children, and very sorry also for the Lorrimers, but never
+until to-night had it entered into his head to help the Lorrimers out of
+their trouble.
+
+He could do so, of course--he was a very rich man--he was also a careful
+man, never living up to his large yearly income. By no means extravagant
+in his tastes, not specially fond of hoarding money, but being really
+possessed of more than his wants required. He lay awake, and thought and
+thought, and after an early breakfast the next morning he did adopt
+Antonia's suggestion, and went to see his solicitor. From there he wrote
+a brief note to Mrs. Bernard Temple.
+
+"As she had not, after all, required his presence in town," he wrote,
+"he would not come to see her. He happened to be particularly engaged,
+and wanted to return to the Grange that evening."
+
+This letter was delivered at Mrs. Bernard Temple's house by a
+Commissionaire. It made that good lady very uneasy, but when Antonia
+read it she proceeded to skip up and down the drawing-room with such
+energy that two papier-mache tables were knocked over and a valuable
+china cup and saucer smashed.
+
+"Don't speak to me, mother," she exclaimed. "I have nothing whatever to
+say, only if I don't give vent to my feelings in some sort of exercise I
+shall go mad."
+
+The next day or two passed without anything special occurring, but on
+the third day Mrs. Bernard Temple received a letter which astonished her
+very much.
+
+It was from Sir John, begging of her to come back to the Grange, and
+especially asking that Antonia should accompany her.
+
+"Dear old man," murmured Antonia when she received this message. "I knew
+he'd rise to it; I knew he would. Mother, which is the most fashionable
+shop in London?"
+
+"For what, my dear?"
+
+"For an up-to-date costume. I must go at once and be rigged up. You had
+better order a hansom--never mind the extravagance--it will be untold
+torture, but it is a promise, and it must be done. Annie, love, you are
+exquisite on the subject of dress; come and see Antonia made
+fashionable."
+
+"Yes, go with her, Annie," said Mrs. Bernard Temple. "I cannot imagine
+what this queer thing portends, but anything to make Antonia look like
+an ordinary girl I willingly agree to. Don't be extravagant, my love,
+for my purse is not too heavy; but anything under ten pounds I will
+willingly spend to make you presentable."
+
+"It's appalling to think of the waste of money," said Antonia. "Oh, what
+would not ten pounds do in the cause of Art? But a promise is a promise.
+Come along, Annie, we'll go to Regent Street and choose."
+
+Five minutes later, the two girls set off. Antonia's face was wreathed
+with wonderful smiles, but she was mute as to the subject of her
+thoughts, even to Annie.
+
+"I suppose I must have a respectable hat," she said, suddenly; "and I
+suppose it must sit in the correct way on my head; therefore, the first
+thing is to go to a hairdresser's. I must be fringed, and curled, and
+frizzed."
+
+"Oh, Antonia, no, no;" said Annie. "Your beautiful hair--it would be a
+sin to put a pair of scissors near it."
+
+"A promise is a promise," said Antonia. "Which is the best hairdresser?"
+
+They stopped at one in Bond Street, and half an hour later Antonia left
+the shop, very stiff about the head and red about the face.
+
+"The hairpins are sticking into me all over," she gasped, "and the
+weight of the fringe is like a furnace on my forehead; but never mind."
+
+"It isn't at all becoming either," said Annie.
+
+Antonia looked at her with large eyes of reproach.
+
+"Do you think I _want_ it to be becoming?" she said. "That would be the
+final straw."
+
+The fashionable dress was not only bought, but put on, and Mrs. Bernard
+Temple scarcely knew her daughter when she saw her back again.
+
+"I'm in misery," said Antonia; "but a promise is a promise. My dear
+mother, when you are married to Sir John, that dear, dear old man, you
+need not expect to see me often at the Grange."
+
+"I really do not see, Antonia, why you should speak of your future
+father as so very old."
+
+"He's old to me," said Antonia. "I always speak of people as I find
+them."
+
+"You are a most extraordinary girl," remarked her mother.
+
+But she made this remark so often that Antonia did not think it
+necessary to reply.
+
+By a late train in the afternoon the whole party were conveyed back to
+the Grange, where Hester received them with rather a puzzled expression
+on her face. As soon as possible she drew Annie aside, and began to
+speak to her.
+
+"I cannot imagine what is the matter," she said; "father is going on in
+a most extraordinary way. You won't mind my speaking frankly, Annie, but
+he seemed really quite relieved when you all went away. Then he got that
+telegram from Mrs. Bernard Temple, and rushed off to town in a hurry. He
+came back the following evening completely altered--very silent and
+absorbed, but with a kind of change over him which Nan and I could not
+help noticing. I asked him if he had seen anything of Squire Lorrimer,
+and he looked hard at me and said--'I wonder if you are in it, too.'"
+
+"Oh, I know, I know," said Annie softly, rubbing her hands; "dear
+Antonia, dear Antonia."
+
+"Oh, for pity's sake, Annie, don't you get mysterious," exclaimed
+Hester, almost fretfully. "What can Antonia have to say to Squire
+Lorrimer? Let me finish my story. I asked father if he had seen him, and
+he replied, 'I have heard and seen enough of Lorrimer to fill all my
+thoughts.' He would not tell me another word; but he went to town again
+the next morning, and came back absolutely excited in the evening. Fancy
+my father in a state of excitement! He was ever so nice to me; and when
+Nan said that she must go to school almost immediately, he said that
+Mrs. Willis should be invited to come back to the Grange, for he wanted
+us all to have a happy meeting before his wedding. And he has been
+telegraphing to all kinds of people all day, and I believe all the
+Lorrimers are coming here to-morrow. Father said he wanted to have a
+real, jolly time, and that everyone of the Lorrimers, even to little
+Phil, and, of course, Jane Macalister, were to be asked. I ventured to
+remind him that dear Molly and all of them were not just in the mood for
+festivities at present, but he would not listen to me for a moment. He
+said, that on such an auspicious occasion he must have his own way, and
+that he would engage that they would be jolly enough when the time
+came."
+
+"So they will, I am sure," said Annie. "Did you say Mrs. Willis was
+here, Hester?"
+
+"Yes, she came an hour ago. She is in her room. She says she will take
+you and Nan back with her to Lavender House the day after to-morrow."
+
+Annie's face, which had been very bright a moment before, grew suddenly
+grave. She murmured something half aloud.
+
+"I won't be outdone by Antonia," she said.
+
+"Really, really, Annie," exclaimed Hester, "I shall get to hate Antonia,
+if you allude to her in that sphinx-like way any longer."
+
+Annie looked hard at Hester with dilating eyes and paling cheeks.
+
+"Do you remember," she said, suddenly coming up to her friend, "the old
+Annie of Lavender House?"
+
+"How can I forget her," said Hester; "when she is my dearest friend?"
+
+"Do you remember," continued Annie, "the heaps and heaps of scrapes she
+used to get into, and how there was no peace for her, and no way out of
+them at all except by confession?"
+
+"Yes, I remember," said Hester, gravely.
+
+"Well, I am going to confess now."
+
+"To confess! But you have done nothing wrong, Annie darling."
+
+"Oh, haven't I; I've been just at my old pranks--just as heedless, as
+impetuous, as mad, as I have ever been. Hester, I have done wrong, but
+as it does not concern you, I won't tell you, dear. Only before I go to
+Mrs. Willis, I should like to congratulate you."
+
+"To congratulate me? On what?" asked poor Hester.
+
+"On having the chance of such a girl as Antonia for your sister."
+
+"Now, really, I wont listen to another word," said Hester. "I have quite
+made up my mind to _endure_ Antonia, and to be patient with her, but if,
+in addition, I am to congratulate myself, I'm just afraid I can't rise
+to it. Run away if you want to, Annie, and when you cease to be
+mysterious I will talk to you again."
+
+Annie left the room and went slowly upstairs to Mrs. Willis's bedroom.
+She knocked and was admitted. What she said--what words passed between
+the two were never known, but when Annie left that room there was a look
+on her face which reminded those who saw her of the best of Annie in the
+old days, and Mrs. Willis was more affectionate than ever to her dear
+pupil that evening.
+
+The next day dawned bright and splendid. The trees were beginning to put
+on their autumn tints, but the air was still full of summer. The
+Lorrimers at the Towers were busy making preparations to come over to
+the Grange. They had been invited to the festival by no less a personage
+than Sir John Thornton himself, and he had couched his epistle in gay
+and pleasant words.
+
+"As if we had any heart for it," murmured Molly to herself.
+
+"It is over a week now since we have had even a line from father,"
+whispered Nell to her own heart; "how can we care to go and laugh at the
+Grange?"
+
+"We are going from the dear old place in a week," thought Guy. "I don't
+believe anyone can draw a smile out of me to-day."
+
+But Boris was happy enough to go, for he was so young that any change
+was delightful; and as his pets were also leaving the Towers, and he and
+Kitty had just thought of a splendid way to prepare them for their
+journey, he felt quite light-hearted once again, and that he would be
+happy in his new home.
+
+When Jane Macalister heard of the invitation, she flatly refused to
+accept it.
+
+"Go, if you choose to," she said, with a wave of her hand to the
+assembled children; "you are young, and it's good for the young to
+forget. But I shall take the opportunity of sewing up the feather beds
+in their brown-holland cases. I vowed and declared that when this move
+had to be made no outsider should come in to pack, so my hands are full,
+and I have neither time nor heart for frivolity."
+
+"But, Jane, you are specially asked; you are mentioned by name," said
+Kitty.
+
+"By name, am I?" asked Jane. "Who invited me? That chit of a Hester?"
+
+"No, indeed; the great, magnificent Sir John himself."
+
+"Hoots!" exclaimed Jane; "he's cracked over his second marriage, or he
+wouldn't bother about an old body like me. I'll none of it. Go away
+children, and let me get on with my work."
+
+The children withdrew, apparently discomfited, but they guessed that
+when the time came Jane would go with them, and it proved that they
+were right.
+
+She made no remark as she joined the group, only at intervals as they
+all walked across the fields, the single expression, "Hoots!" passed her
+lips.
+
+In due course they all crossed the stile and entered the grounds of the
+Grange. They had gone a little way, when Boris uttered a short, sharp
+cry.
+
+"Why, there's father!" he exclaimed. The others all looked up at this,
+and then there was a rush and a helter-skelter, and Squire Lorrimer,
+looking just like the Squire of old, no longer bent nor bowed, nor
+broken hearted, was surrounded by his family.
+
+Boris mounted on his father's shoulder, and Nell clasped the Squire's
+hand and looked into his face. Mrs. Lorrimer came close to her husband's
+side, and Molly stood behind him.
+
+"Where's Guy?" said the Squire in a hoarse kind of voice. "Come here, my
+boy, I want to say something. It was Sir John's will that I should tell
+you the good news here, or you'd have all heard from me before I came
+down to meet you by this path, and we'll all go up and thank him
+presently."
+
+"For what, father?" asked Molly.
+
+"Why, the most wonderful thing," replied the Squire. "It seems that a
+girl called Antonia--a strange girl whom I have only met once--put a
+thought into my old friend's head, and he has acted on it in such a way
+that, without anything being done which I could not accept, I am enabled
+to continue as owner of the Towers."
+
+"Oh, father!" said Guy, with a great gasp.
+
+"Yes, my boy," continued the Squire, "I need not sell now. Sir John has
+lent me money to get over my difficulties, and on such easy terms that
+it will be possible to pay him back in the course of years without
+ruining any of us. Drummond was glad to be out of his bargain, so the
+whole thing was settled last night. We'll be poor enough still, but we
+need not leave the Towers; and if we are all careful, and I let my farms
+well--by the way, Sir John is going to take two of them--I have not the
+least doubt that the debt will be cleared away by the time you are of
+age, Guy. Anyhow, I feel like a new man. I can hold up my head once
+more, and all I can say is, God bless Antonia!"
+
+"What's the matter, Jane?" exclaimed Boris.
+
+"Hoots!" said Jane, whose face was nearly purple. "I felt this morning
+that I needn't go on sewing up those feather beds."
+
+She turned her head aside, and, to the amazement of everyone, burst into
+tears.
+
+Those tears of Jane's seemed to loosen all tongues. Eyes grew bright,
+eager voices flew, lips were wreathed in smiles. All the Lorrimers in a
+body went up to the Grange, where Sir John and his family came out to
+meet and welcome them.
+
+"And where's Antonia?" asked the Squire.
+
+Everyone else, even Mrs. Bernard Temple, was present, but Antonia was
+not to be found. Annie volunteered to go and look for her.
+
+After a long search she found her at last busily painting some huge dock
+leaves, which she had found in her morning ramble, and pulled up by the
+roots.
+
+"Come, Antonia, you are wanted," said Annie.
+
+"What for?" said Antonia. "Pray don't stand in my light, Annie."
+
+"But they're all waiting for you, every one of them--the Lorrimers, and
+Hester, and Sir John, and the rest. They want to thank you; it was your
+doing, you know."
+
+"Of all things in the world," replied Antonia, "I hate being thanked
+most of all. I did nothing. It was all dear old Sir John. And look what
+he has given me, Annie. This magnificent paint-box. Oh, the darling! the
+beauty! Oh, the rapture of possessing it! I'll go if I must when I have
+finished my dock leaves, but not before."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Red Rose and Tiger Lily, by L. T. Meade
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