'Don't go yet, please, Mr. Bell,' said she, hastily. 'I want you

to see Edith; and I want Edith to know you. Please!' said she,

laying a light but determined hand on his arm. He looked at her,

and saw the confusion stirring in her countenance; he sate down

again, as if her little touch had been possessed of resistless

strength.

'You see how she overpowers me, Mr. Lennox,' said he. 'And I hope

you noticed the happy choice of her expressions; she wants me to

"see" this cousin Edith, who, I am told, is a great beauty; but

she has the honesty to change her word when she comes to me--Mrs.

Lennox is to "know" me. I suppose I am not much to "see," eh,

Margaret?' He joked, to give her time to recover from the slight flutter

which he had detected in her manner on his proposal to leave; and

she caught the tone, and threw the ball back. Mr. Lennox wondered

how his brother, the Captain, could have reported her as having

lost all her good looks. To be sure, in her quiet black dress,

she was a contrast to Edith, dancing in her white crape mourning,

and long floating golden hair, all softness and glitter. She

dimpled and blushed most becomingly when introduced to Mr. Bell,

conscious that she had her reputation as a beauty to keep up, and

that it would not do to have a Mordecai refusing to worship and

admire, even in the shape of an old Fellow of a College, which

nobody had ever heard of. Mrs. Shaw and Captain Lennox, each in

their separate way, gave Mr. Bell a kind and sincere welcome,

winning him over to like them almost in spite of himself,

especially when he saw how naturally Margaret took her place as

sister and daughter of the house.

'What a shame that we were not at home to receive you,' said

Edith. 'You, too, Henry! though I don't know that we should have

stayed at home for you. And for Mr. Bell! for Margaret's Mr.

Bell----' 'There is no knowing what sacrifices you would not have made,'

said her brother-in-law. 'Even a dinner-party! and the delight of

wearing this very becoming dress.' Edith did not know whether to frown or to smile. But it did not

suit Mr. Lennox to drive her to the first of these alternatives;

so he went on.

'Will you show your readiness to make sacrifices to-morrow

morning, first by asking me to breakfast, to meet Mr. Bell, and

secondly, by being so kind as to order it at half-past nine,

instead of ten o'clock? I have some letters and papers that I

want to show to Miss Hale and Mr. Bell.' 'I hope Mr. Bell will make our house his own during his stay in

London,' said Captain Lennox. 'I am only so sorry we cannot offer

him a bed-room.' 'Thank you. I am much obliged to you. You would only think me a

churl if you had, for I should decline it, I believe, in spite of

all the temptations of such agreeable company,' said Mr. Bell,

bowing all round, and secretly congratulating himself on the neat

turn he had given to his sentence, which, if put into plain

language, would have been more to this effect: 'I couldn't stand

the restraints of such a proper-behaved and civil-spoken set of

people as these are: it would be like meat without salt. I'm

thankful they haven't a bed. And how well I rounded my sentence!

I am absolutely catching the trick of good manners.' His self-satisfaction lasted him till he was fairly out in the

streets, walking side by side with Henry Lennox. Here he suddenly

remembered Margaret's little look of entreaty as she urged him to

stay longer, and he also recollected a few hints given him long

ago by an acquaintance of Mr. Lennox's, as to his admiration of

Margaret. It gave a new direction to his thoughts. 'You have

known Miss Hale for a long time, I believe. How do you think her

looking? She strikes me as pale and ill.' 'I thought her looking remarkably well. Perhaps not when I first

came in--now I think of it. But certainly, when she grew

animated, she looked as well as ever I saw her do.' 'She has had a great deal to go through,' said Mr. Bell.




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