it was the most prudent thing he could have done. They insisted on his coming to stay at their house, and as it was full time to set off, left him to see about his worldly goods being transported thither.
'Has he told you his reason, Marian?' asked Selina, as soon as the two ladies and their trains were safely disposed of, in the carriage.
'I know them,' said Marian, her colour rising, 'and most noble they are; but I had rather let him tell you himself.'
'Marian's discretion again,' said Lord Marchmont, smiling.
'Only set me at rest on one point,' said Selina; 'it is no love affair, I hope?'
'No, indeed,' said Marian; 'or do you think he would have told me?'
Probably there were few young ladies who played their part that day in the drawing-room, that last remnant of the ancient state and majesty of our courts, with happier minds, or less intent on their own appearance, than Marian Arundel. She was very glad when the bustle and crowd were over, and she could be alone to enjoy the certainty that Edmund was really at home again.
He came according to promise that evening, but she could not have much conversation with him, as he was placed at a distance from her, the greater part of the time. He was not sorry to be thus able to watch her, though he did not see her in the point of view in which she pleased him best. She looked better now, he thought, than in the court dress; for the broad, simple, antique braids of her dark hair, only adorned by two large pearl pins, suited better than the plumes and lappets, with the cast of her classical features. All that he had thought promised beauty, as a child, had fulfilled the promise, and the countenance, the expression, would have been fine, seen on a much plainer face, and as she eat there, her black, shady eyes cast down, her dark pencilled eyebrows contrasting with her colourless cheek, and her plain white drapery in full folds, flowing round her, she might have been some majestic lady in a mysterious picture, who had stepped from her frame into a scene belonging to another age. She looked as if she was acting a tableau; she moved, indeed, and smiled, and spoke occasionally; but the queen-like deportment of her neck did not relax; her lips resumed their statue-like expression; there was no smile about the eye, no interest in the air. She was among the company, but not of them; neither shy nor formal, but as if she belonged to some other sphere, and had only come there by mistake. Edmund could have counted the times, for they were few enough, when her head bent forward with eagerness, and there was animation in her face.
How different from Caroline! her brightly coloured, blooming face sparkling with life and light; flowers among her light, shining hair; her dress of well-chosen, tasteful, brilliant tints, ornament, lace and ribbon, all well assorted in kind and quantity, her alert, lively movements carrying her from one group to another, with something pleasant and appropriate to say to all, bringing smiles and animation with her wherever she went. Not that Edmund did not prefer his cousin's severe simplicity, and admire it as something grand; but that stern grandeur was not all that fitted the place; and though he thought her beautiful, he was not satisfied.
Edmund had some talk with Mrs. Lyddell, who spoke of Gerald with great warmth; more, he thought, than she showed in the mention of Marian. He stayed till the last, and saw the relaxation of her grand company-face, before he wished them good night.
'Well,' said Mrs. Lyddell, as the door closed behind him, and she lighted her candle, 'Africa has not robbed Mr. Arundel of all his good looks. How old is he?'
'Nearly twenty-eight,' said Marian.
'I am always forgetting that he is so young,' said Mrs. Lyddell. 'Well, good night. I wonder what brought him home?'
'I do not wonder, for it is plain enough,' said Caroline, as the girls turned up their own staircase.
'Marian tries to look innocent,' said Clara, laughing violently.
'I am sure I don't understand,' said Marian.
'Now I am sure that is on purpose to make us explain,' said Clara. 'It is too bad, Marian; when he came straight to you, instead of going to Lady Marchmont.'
