daughters. Once Bell had dined there with her uncle, the squire, and once Lily had gone over with her uncle Orlando. Even this had been long ago, before they were quite brought out, and they had regarded the occasion with the solemn awe of children. Now, at this time of their flitting into some small mean dwelling at Guestwick, they had previously settled among themselves that that affair of calling at the Manor might be allowed to drop. Mrs Eames never called, and they were descending to the level of Mrs Eames. 'Perhaps we shall get game sent to us, and that will be better,' Lily had said. And now, at this very moment of their descent in life, they were all asked to go and stay a week at the Manor! Stay a week with Lady Julia! Had the Queen sent the Lord Chamberlain down to bid them all go to Windsor Castle it could hardly have startled them more at the first blow. Bell had been seated on the folded carpet when her uncle had entered, and now had again sat herself in the same place. Lily was still standing at the top of the ladder, and Mrs Dale was at the foot with one hand on Lily's dress. The squire had told his story very abruptly, but he was a man who, having a story to tell, knew nothing better than to tell it out abruptly, letting out everything at the first moment.
'Wants us all!' said Mrs Dale. 'How many does the all mean?' Then she opened Lady Julia's note and read it, not moving from her position at the foot of the ladder.
'Do let me see, mamma,' said Lily; and then the note was handed up to her. Had Mrs Dale well considered the matter she might probably have kept the note to herself for a while, but the whole thing was so sudden that she had not considered the matter well.
My dear Mrs Dale [the letter ran],
I send this inside a note from my brother to Mr Dale. We particularly want you and your two girls to come to us for a week from the seventeenth of this month. Considering our near connection we ought to have seen more of each other than we have done for years past, and of course it has been our fault. But it is never too late to amend one's ways; and I hope you will receive my confession in the true spirit of affection in which it is intended, and that you will show your goodness by coming to us. I will do all I can to make the house pleasant to your girls, for both of whom I have much real regard.
I should tell you that John Eames will be here for the same week. My brother is very fond of him, and thinks him the best young man of the day. He is one of my heroes, too, I must confess.
Very sincerely yours,
Julia De Guest.
Lily, standing on the ladder, read the letter very attentively. The squire meanwhile stood below speaking a word or two to his sister-in-law and niece. No one could see Lily's face, as it was turned away towards the window, and it was still averted when she spoke. 'It is out of the question that we should go, mamma;—that is, all of us.'
'Why out of the question?' said the squire.
'A whole family!' said Mrs Dale.
'That is just what they want,' said the squire.
'I should like of all things to be left alone for a week,' said Lily, 'if mamma and Bell would go.'
'That wouldn't do at all,' said the squire. 'Lady Julia specially wants you to be one of the party.'
The thing had been badly managed altogether. The reference in Lady Julia's note to John Eames had explained to Lily the whole scheme at once, and had so opened her eyes that all the combined influence of the Dale and De Guest families could not have dragged her over to the Manor.
'Why not do?' said Lily. 'It would be out of the question, a whole family going in that way, but it would be very nice for Bell.'
'No, it would not,' said Bell.
'Don't be ungenerous about it, my dear,' said the squire turning to Bell; 'Lady Julia means to be kind. But, my darling,' and the squire turned again towards Lily, addressing her, as was his wont in these days, with an affection that was almost vexatious to her; 'but, my darling, why should you not go? A change of scene like that will do you all the good in the world, just when you are getting well. Mary, tell the girls they ought to go.'
Mrs Dale stood silent, again reading the note, and Lily came down from the ladder. When she reached the floor she went directly up to her uncle, and taking his hand turned him round with herself towards one of the windows, so that they stood with their backs to the room. 'Uncle,' she said, 'do not be angry with me. I can't go;' and then she put up her face to kiss him.
He stooped and kissed her and still held her hand. He looked into her face and read it all. He knew well, now, why she could not go; or, rather, why she herself thought that she could not go. 'Cannot you, my darling?' he said.
'No, uncle. It is very kind,—very kind; but I cannot go. I am not fit to go anywhere.'
