'Nobody asked you to wait for us,' said John. 'Come, Gerald.'
'No, I see Sir Gerald is a good little boy, and is coming steadily with us,' said Miss Morley.
'Yes, Gerald, do,' said Marian.
'There will be plenty of time by and by,' said Gerald, sitting down again.
'O very well,' said John. 'Well, if you won't, I will; I want to see Elliot's colt come in from exercising, and he will be sure to be there himself now.'
Lionel and Johnny ran off, Caroline looked distressed, and went out into the passage leaving the door open. Walter was coming along it, and as she met him, she said, 'Walter, the boys are off to the stable again; we shall have just such a fuss as we had last Sunday if you cannot stop them. Is Elliot there again?'
'I am afraid he is,' said Walter.
'Then there is no chance!' said Caroline, retreating; but at that moment Lionel and John came clattering down from their own distant abode at the top of the house. 'Who likes to walk with me through, the plantations to Church?' said Walter; 'I was coming to ask if you liked to show that way to Gerald.'
Lionel and John, who had a real respect for Walter, thought it best to keep silence on their disobedient designs, and accept the kind offer. Gerald gladly joined them, and off they set. Miss Morley, Caroline, and Clara, had all gone different ways, and Marian remained, leaning her forehead against the window, thinking what her own dear Sunday-school class were doing at Fern Torr, and feeling very disconsolate. She had stood in this manner for some minutes when Clara came to tell her it was time to prepare for Church, followed her to her room, and contrived to make more remarks on her dress than Marian could have thought could possibly have been bestowed on a plain black crape bonnet and mantle.
Through all the rather long walk, Clara still kept close to her, telling who every one was, and talking incessantly, till she felt almost confused, and longed for the quietness of the church. Mr. Lyddell's pew was a high, square box, curtained round, with a table and a stove, so that she hardly felt as if she was in church, and she was surprised not to see Elliot Lyddell there.
They had to walk quickly back after the service, dine hurriedly, and then set off again for the afternoon service. Miss Morley sighed, and said that the second long hot walk almost killed her, and she went so slowly that the schoolroom party all came in late. They found no one in the pew but Mrs. Lyndell and Walter, and Marian once more sighed and wondered.
On coming home, Miss Morley went in to rest, but as it was now cool and pleasant, her pupils stayed out a little longer to show the park and garden. They were very desirous of making the Arundels admire all they saw, and Lionel and John were continually asking, 'Have you anything like that at Fern Torr?'
Gerald, jealous for the honor of home, was magnificent in his descriptions, and unconscious that he was talking rhodomontade. According to him, his park took in a whole mountain, his house was quite as large and much handsomer than Mr. Lyddell's, the garden was like the hanging gardens of Babylon, and greenhouses were never wanted there, for 'all sorts of things' would grow in the open air. His cousins were so amazed that they would hardly attend to Marian's explanations, and thought her description of the myrtle, which reached to the top of the house, as fabulous as his hanging gardens.
'And, Marian, what do you think of this place?' asked Clara.
After some pressing, the following reply was extracted:--'It is so shut in with fir-trees, but I suppose you want them to hide the town, and there is nothing to see if they were away.'
'O Marian!' said Caroline, 'when we showed you the beautiful view over the high gate.'
'But there was no hill, and no wood, and no water.'
