The Clever Woman of the Family
Page 107As soon as he had deposited his brother at the hotel, he came back
again, and in answer to Ermine's "Well," he demanded, "What she thought
of his brother, and if he were what she expected?"
"Very much, only older and feebler. And did he communicate his views of
Mackarel Lane? I saw him regarding, me as a species of mermaid or syren,
evidently thinking it a great shame that I have not a burnt face. If he
had only known about Rose!"
"The worst of it is that he wants me to go home with him, and I am
afraid I must do so, for now that he and I are the last in the entail,
there is an opportunity of making an arrangement about the property, for
which he is very anxious."
"Well, you know, I have long thought it would be very good for you."
he looked into her eyes to see if she would let them show concern, but
she kept up their brave sparkle as she still said, "You know you ought."
"Then you deliver me up to Keith's tender mercies till--"
"Till you have done your duty--and forgiven him."
"Remember, Ermine, I can't spend a winter in Scotland. A cold always
makes the ball remind me of its presence in my chest, and I was told
that if I spent a winter at home, it must be on the Devonshire coast."
"That ball is sufficient justification for ourselves, I allow," she
said, that one little word our making up for all that had gone before.
"And meantime you will write to me--about Rose's education."
"To be sure, or what would be the use of growing old?"
understanding and the playful fiction about waiting for Rose left him a
great deal too free. Ermine might almost be supposed to want to get rid
of him, and even when he took leave she only remained for a few minutes
leaning her cheek on her hand, and scarcely indulged in a sigh before
asking to be wheeled into the house again, nor would she make any
remark, save "It has been too bright a summer to last for ever. It would
be very wrong to wish him to stay dangling here. Let what will happen,
he is himself."
It sounded far too like a deliberate resignation of him, and persuasion
that if he went he would not return to be all he had been. However, the
departure was not immediate, Lord Keith had taken a fancy to the place
that there were various expeditions in the carriages or on horseback, in
which he displayed his grand courtesy to Lady Temple, and Rachel enjoyed
the colonel's conversation, and would have enjoyed it still more if she
had not been tracing a meaning in every attention that he paid her, and
considering whether she was committing herself by receiving it. She was
glad he was going away that she might have time to face the subject, and
make up her mind, for she was convinced that the object of his journey
was to make himself certain of his prospects. When he said that he
should return for the winter, and that he had too much to leave at
Avonmouth to stay long away from it, there must be a meaning in his
words.