'Why not you?'
'It will be all disappointment,' she answered in a choking voice, as, sheltered by the darkness, she knelt down by Gerald's bed, and burst into tears. 'It will all be like to-day.'
'No, it shall not!' cried Gerald; 'I will tell Edmund all about it, and he shall send them all to the right about! I can't think why you did not tell Mrs. Lyddell that you always stay at home for Edmund.'
'Miss Arundel,' said Saunders, at the door, 'do you know that it is half an hour later than usual?'
The next morning Marian awoke with brighter spirits. It was possible that she might accomplish one walk with him, and Gerald was sure of being constantly at his side, which was the great point. At any rate, she could not be very unhappy while he was in the house.
She heard nothing of him all the morning, but, just as the schoolroom dinner was over, in came Mrs. Lyddell, and with her Edmund himself, to the great surprise of all the inhabitants. Marian looked very happy, but said very little, while there was some talk with Miss Morley, and then Edmund asked if she had no drawings to show him. She brought out her portfolio, and felt it like old times when he observed on her improved shading, or criticised the hardness of her distant hills, while Miss Morley wondered at his taste and science. It was delightful to find that she and Gerald were really to take a walk with him by themselves. She almost flew to fetch her walking dress, and soon the three were on their way together.
There was a great quantity of home news to be talked over, for Edmund had not heard half so often nor so minutely as Marian, and he had to be told how Charles Wortley got on at his new school, that Ranger had been lost for a day and a half, and many pieces of the same kind of intelligence, of which the most important was that Farmer Bright's widow had given up the hill farm, and his nephew wanted to take it, but Mr. Wortley hoped that this would not be allowed, as he was a dissenter.
'Indeed!' said Edmund; 'I wonder Carter did not mention that.'
'Had you heard this before?' said Marian; 'I thought it news.'
'Most of it is,' said Edmund, 'but not about the farm. The letting it is part of my business here, but I did not know of this man's dissent. Your correspondence has done good service.'
'I am sure it is my great delight,' said Marian; 'I do not know what I should do without hearing from Agnes. I think I have learnt to prize her more since I have known other people.'
'You don't find the Miss Lyddells quite as formidable as you expected though?' said Edmund; 'the eldest has a nice open, countenance.'
'We get on very well,' said Marian. 'Caroline is so good-tempered and clever, and Lionel is delightful.'
'O, Edmund,' interposed Gerald, 'Lionel and I had such fun the other day. We caught the old donkey and blindfolded it with our handkerchiefs, and let it loose, and if you could but have seen how it kicked up its heels----'
They went on with the history of adventures of the same description, enjoying themselves exceedingly, and when Marian went in, she was much pleased to find how favourable an impression Edmund had made on her companions, although some of their commendations greatly surprised her; Miss Morley pronouncing that he had in the greatest degree an _air distingue_, and was a remarkably fashionable young man. Marian could endure the _air distingue_, but could hardly swallow the fashionable young man, an expression which only conveyed to her mind the idea of Elliot Lyddell and his moustached friends. However, she knew it was meant for high praise, and her present amiable fit was strong enough to prevent her from taking it as an insult.
The next day was Sunday, and she provokingly missed Edmund three times, in the walks to and from church, he being monopolized by 'some stupid person,' who had far less right to him than she had; but at last, when she had been completely worried and vexed with her succession of disappointments, and had come into what Lionel would have emphatically called 'a state of mind,' Edmund contrived to come to her before going in doors, and asked if she could not take a few turns with him on the terrace. She came gladly, and yet hardly with full delight, for the irritation of the continually recurring disappointments through the whole day, still had its influence on her spirits, and she did not at first speak. 'Where is Gerald?' asked Edmund.
