'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.