"I don't exactly know when dog-roses are in flower!"
"Not know, and you a poet? Don't you remember the lines--
It was the time of roses,
We plucked them as we passed?"
"Yes; but that doesn't specify the time of year that is the time
of roses; and I believe my movements are guided more by the lunar
calendar than the floral. You had better take my brother for your
companion; he is practical in his love of flowers, I am only
theoretical."
"Does that fine word 'theoretical' imply that you are ignorant?"
asked Cynthia.
"Of course we shall be happy to see your brother; but why can't we
have you too? I confess to a little timidity in the presence of one
so deep and learned as your brother is from all accounts. Give me a
little charming ignorance, if we must call it by that hard word."
Osborne bowed. It was very pleasant to him to be petted and
flattered, even though he knew all the time that it was only
flattery. It was an agreeable contrast to the home that was so dismal
to him, to come to this house, where the society of two agreeable
girls, and the soothing syrup of their mother's speeches, awaited
him whenever he liked to come. To say nothing of the difference that
struck upon his senses, poetical though he might esteem himself, of a
sitting-room full of flowers, and tokens of women's presence, where
all the chairs were easy, and all the tables well covered with pretty
things, to the great drawing-room at home, where the draperies were
threadbare, and the seats uncomfortable, and no sign of feminine
presence ever now lent a grace to the stiff arrangement of the
furniture. Then the meals, light and well-cooked, suited his taste
and delicate appetite so much better than the rich and heavy viands
prepared by the servants at the Hall. Osborne was becoming a little
afraid of falling into the habit of paying too frequent visits to
the Gibsons (and that, not because he feared the consequences of
his intercourse with the two young ladies; for he never thought of
them excepting as friends;--the fact of his marriage was constantly
present to his mind, and Aimée too securely enthroned in his heart,
for him to remember that he might be looked upon by others in the
light of a possible husband); but the reflection forced itself
upon him occasionally, whether he was not trespassing too often on
hospitality which he had at present no means of returning.
But Mrs. Gibson, in her ignorance of the true state of affairs, was
secretly exultant in the attraction which made him come so often
and lounge away the hours in her house and garden. She had no doubt
that it was Cynthia who drew him thither; and if the latter had been
a little more amenable to reason, her mother would have made more
frequent allusions than she did to the crisis which she thought was
approaching. But she was restrained by the intuitive conviction that
if her daughter became conscious of what was impending, and was made
aware of Mrs. Gibson's cautious and quiet efforts to forward the
catastrophe, the wilful girl would oppose herself to it with all
her skill and power. As it was, Mrs. Gibson trusted that Cynthia's
affections would become engaged before she knew where she was, and
that in that case she would not attempt to frustrate her mother's
delicate scheming, even though she did perceive it. But Cynthia had
come across too many varieties of flirtation, admiration, and even
passionate love, to be for a moment at fault as to the quiet friendly
nature of Osborne's attentions. She received him always as a sister
might a brother. It was different when Roger returned from his
election as Fellow of Trinity. The trembling diffidence, the hardly
suppressed ardour of his manner, made Cynthia understand before long
with what kind of love she had now to deal. She did not put it into
so many words--no, not even in her secret heart--but she recognized
the difference between Roger's relation to her and Osborne's long
before Mrs. Gibson found it out. Molly was, however, the first to
discover the nature of Roger's attention. The first time they saw
him after the ball, it came out to her observant eyes. Cynthia had
not been looking well since that evening; she went slowly about the
house, pale and heavy-eyed; and, fond as she usually was of exercise
and the free fresh air, there was hardly any persuading her now to go
out for a walk. Molly watched this fading with tender anxiety, but
to all her questions as to whether she had felt over-fatigued with
her dancing, whether anything had occurred to annoy her, and all
such inquiries, she replied in languid negatives. Once Molly touched
on Mr. Preston's name, and found that this was a subject on which
Cynthia was raw; now, Cynthia's face lighted up with spirit, and her
whole body showed her ill-repressed agitation, but she only said a
few sharp words, expressive of anything but kindly feeling towards
the gentleman, and then bade Molly never name his name to her again.
Still, the latter could not imagine that he was more than intensely
distasteful to her friend, as well as to herself; he could not be
the cause of Cynthia's present indisposition. But this indisposition
lasted so many days without change or modification, that even Mrs.
Gibson noticed it, and Molly became positively uneasy. Mrs. Gibson
considered Cynthia's quietness and languor as the natural consequence
of "dancing with everybody who asked her" at the ball. Partners whose
names were in the "Red Book" would not have produced half the amount
of fatigue, according to Mrs. Gibson's judgment apparently, and if
Cynthia had been quite well, very probably she would have hit the
blot in her mother's speech with one of her touches of sarcasm.
Then, again, when Cynthia did not rally, Mrs. Gibson grew impatient,
and accused her of being fanciful and lazy; at length, and partly
at Molly's instance, there came an appeal to Mr. Gibson, and a
professional examination of the supposed invalid, which Cynthia hated
more than anything, especially when the verdict was, that there was
nothing very much the matter, only a general lowness of tone, and
depression of health and spirits, which would soon be remedied by
tonics, and meanwhile, she was not to be roused to exertion.