Altogether it was pleasanter before he came home.
Her father rode over pretty frequently; sometimes there were long
unaccountable absences, it was true; when his daughter began to
fidget after him, and to wonder what had become of him. But when
he made his appearance he had always good reasons to give; and the
right she felt that she had to his familiar household tenderness;
the power she possessed of fully understanding the exact value of
both his words and his silence, made these glimpses of intercourse
with him inexpressibly charming. Latterly her burden had always been,
"When may I come home, papa?" It was not that she was unhappy, or
uncomfortable; she was passionately fond of Mrs. Hamley, she was a
favourite of the Squire's, and could not as yet fully understand
why some people were so much afraid of him; and as for Roger, if he
did not add to her pleasure, he scarcely took away from it. But she
wanted to be at home once more. The reason why she could not tell;
but this she knew full well. Mr. Gibson reasoned with her till
she was weary of being completely convinced that it was right and
necessary for her to stay where she was. And then with an effort she
stopped the cry upon her tongue, for she saw that its repetition
harassed her father.
During this absence of hers Mr. Gibson was drifting into matrimony.
He was partly aware of whither he was going; and partly it was
like the soft floating movement of a dream. He was more passive
than active in the affair; though, if his reason had not fully
approved of the step he was tending to--if he had not believed that
a second marriage was the very best way of cutting the Gordian knot
of domestic difficulties, he could have made an effort without any
great trouble, and extricated himself without pain from the mesh
of circumstances. It happened in this manner:--Lady Cumnor having
married her two eldest daughters, found her labours as a chaperone to
Lady Harriet, the youngest, considerably lightened by co-operation;
and, at length, she had leisure to be an invalid. She was, however,
too energetic to allow herself this indulgence constantly; only she
permitted herself to break down occasionally after a long course of
dinners, late hours, and London atmosphere: and then, leaving Lady
Harriet with either Lady Cuxhaven or Lady Agnes Manners, she betook
herself to the comparative quiet of the Towers, where she found
occupation in doing her benevolence, which was sadly neglected in
the hurly-burly of London. This particular summer she had broken
down earlier than usual, and longed for the repose of the country.
She believed that her state of health, too, was more serious than
previously; but she did not say a word of this to her husband or
daughters; reserving her confidence for Mr. Gibson's ears. She
did not wish to take Lady Harriet away from the gaieties of town
which she was thoroughly enjoying, by any complaint of hers, which
might, after all, be ill-founded; and yet she did not quite like
being without a companion in the three weeks or a month that might
intervene before her family would join her at the Towers, especially
as the annual festivity to the school visitors was impending; and
both the school and the visit of the ladies connected with it, had
rather lost the zest of novelty.