The countess was very civil to him, saying nothing about his engagement, but still talking to him a good deal about his sojourn at Allington. Crosbie was a pleasant man for ladies in a large house. Though a sportsman, he was not so keen a sportsman as to be always out with the gamekeepers. Though a politician, he did not sacrifice his mornings to the perusal of blue-books or the preparation of party tactics. Though a reading man, he did not devote himself to study. Though a horseman, he was not often to be found in the stables. He could supply conversation when it was wanted, and could take himself out of the way when his presence among the women was not needed. Between breakfast and lunch on the day following his arrival he talked a good deal to the countess, and made himself very agreeable. She continued to ridicule him gently for his prolonged stay among so primitive and rural a tribe of people as the Dales, and he bore her little sarcasm with the utmost good-humour.
'Six weeks at Allington without a move! Why, Mr Crosbie, you must have felt yourself to be growing there.'
'So I did—like an ancient tree. Indeed, I was so rooted that I could hardly get away.'
'Was the house full of people all the time?'
'There was nobody there but Bernard Dale, Lady Julia's nephew.'
'Quite a case of Damon and Pythias. Fancy your going down to the shades of Allington to enjoy the uninterrupted pleasures of friendship for six weeks.'
'Friendship and the partridges.'
'There was nothing else, then?'
'Indeed there was. There was a widow with two very nice daughters, living, not exactly in the same house, but on the same grounds.'
'Oh, indeed. That makes such a difference; doesn't it? You are not a man to bear much privation on the score of partridges, nor a great deal, I imagine, for friendship. But when you talk of pretty girls—'
'It makes a difference, doesn't it?'
'A very great difference. I think I have heard of that Mrs Dale before. And so her girls are nice?'
'Very nice indeed.'
'Play croquet, I suppose, and eat syllabub on the lawn? But, really, didn't you get very tired of it?'
'Oh dear, no. I was happy as the day was long.'
'Going about with a crook, I suppose?'
'Not exactly a live crook; but doing all that kind of thing. I learned a great deal about pigs.'
'Under the guidance of Miss Dale?'
'Yes; under the guidance of Miss Dale.'
'I'm sure one is very much obliged to you for tearing yourself away from such charms, and coming to such unromantic people as we are. But I fancy men always do that sort of thing once or twice in their lives,—and then they talk of their souvenirs. I suppose it won't go beyond a souvenir with you.'
This was a direct question, but still admitted of a fencing answer. 'It has, at any rate, given me one,' said he, 'which will last me my life!'
The countess was quite contented. That Lady Julia's statement was altogether true she had never for a moment doubted. That Crosbie should become engaged to a young lady in the country, whereas he had shown signs of being in love with her daughter in London, was not at all wonderful. Nor, in her eyes, did such practice amount to any great sin. Men did so daily, and girls were prepared for their so doing. A man in her eyes was not to be regarded as safe from attack because he was engaged. Let the young lady who took upon herself to own him have an eye to that. When she looked back on the past careers of her own flock, she had to reckon more than one such disappointment for her own daughters. Others besides Alexandrina had been so treated. Lady de Courcy had had her grand hopes respecting her girls, and after them moderate hopes, and again after them bitter disappointments. Only one had been married, and she was married to an attorney. It was not to be supposed that she would have any very high-toned feelings as to Lily's rights in this matter.
Such a man as Crosbie was certainly no great match for an earl's daughter. Such a marriage, indeed, would, one may say, be but a poor triumph. When the countess, during the last season in town, had observed how matters were going with Alexandrina, she had cautioned her child, taking her to task for her imprudence. But the child had been at this work for fourteen years, and was weary of it. Her sisters had been at the work longer, and had almost given it up in despair. Alexandrina did not tell her parent that her heart was now beyond her control, and that she had devoted herself to Crosbie for ever; but she pouted, saying that she knew very well what she was
