'By the bye,' said Mrs. Nesbit, 'what is become of your cousin, Mrs. George Gardner's son?'
'Mark! Oh, he is abroad. Poor fellow, I wish we could find something for him to do. Lady Fotheringham asked her nephew, Percival, if he could not put him in the way of getting some appointment.'
'Failed, of course,' said Mrs. Nesbit.
'Yes; I never expected much. Those diplomats are apt to be afraid of having their heels trodden upon; but it is a great pity. He is so clever, and speaks so many languages. We hope now that Mr. Finch may suggest some employment in America.'
'Highly advisable.'
'I assure you poor Mark would be glad of anything. He is entirely steadied now; but there are so few openings for men of his age.'
An interruption here occurring, Miss Gardner drew off to the window. Theodora sat still, until her friend said, 'How lovely it is! Do you ever take a turn on the terrace after dinner?'
Theodora could not refuse. Violet wished they had asked her to join them; but they went out alone, and for some moments both were silent. Miss Gardner first spoke, remarking, 'A beautiful complexion.'
There was a cold, absent assent; and she presently tried again, 'Quite a lady,' but with the same brief reply. Presently, however, Theodora exclaimed, 'Jane, you want me to talk to you; I cannot, unless you unsay that about Percy Fotheringham. He is not to be accused of baseness.'
'I beg your pardon, Theodora, dear; I have no doubt his motives were quite conscientious, but naturally, you know, one takes one's own cousin's part, and it was disappointing that he would not help to give poor Mark another chance.'
'That is no reason he should be accused of petty jealousies.'
'Come, you must not be so very severe and dignified. Make some allowance for poor things who don't know how to answer Mrs. Nesbit, and say what first occurs. Indeed, I did not know you were so much interested in him.'
'I am interested in justice to the innocent.'
'There! don't annihilate me. I know he is a very superior person, the pride of Lady Fotheringham's heart. Of course he would have recommended Mark if he had thought it right; I only hope he will find that he was mistaken.'
'If he was, he will be the first to own it.'
'Then I am forgiven, am I? And I may ask after you after this long solitary winter. We thought a great deal of you.'
'I needed no pity, thank you. I was well off with my chemistry and the parish matters. I liked the quiet time.'
'I know you do not care for society.'
'My aunt is a very amusing companion. Her clear, shrewd observation is like a book of French memoirs.'
'And you are one of the few not afraid of her.'
'No. We understand each other, and it is better for all parties that she should know I am not to be interfered with. Positively I think she has been fonder of me since we measured our strength.'
'There is a mutual attachment in determined spirits,' said Miss Gardner.
'I think there must be. I fancy it is resolution that enables me to go further with her than any one else can without offending her.'
'She is so proud of you.'
'What is strange is, that she is prouder of me than of mamma, who is so much handsomer and more accomplished,--more tractable, too, and making a figure and sensation that I never shall.'
'Mrs. Nesbit knows better,' said Miss Gardner, laughing.
'Don't say so. If John's illness had not prevented my coming out last year, I might have gone into the world like other girls. Now I see the worth of a young lady's triumph--the disgusting speculation! I detest it.'
'Ah! you have not pardoned poor Georgina.'
'Do you wish for my real opinion?'
'Pray let me hear it.'
'Georgina had a grand course open to her, and she has shrunk from it.'
'A grand course!' repeated Jane, bewildered.
'Yes, honest poverty, and independence. I looked to her to show the true meaning of that word. I call it dependence to be so unable to exist without this world's trash as to live in bondage for its sake. Independence is trusting for maintenance to our own head and hands.'
'So you really would have had us--do what? Teach music?--make lace?'
'If I had been lucky enough to have such a fate, I would have been a village school-mistress.'
'Not even a governess?'
'I should like the village children better; but, seriously, I would gladly get my own bread, and I did believe Georgina meant to wait to be of age and do the same.'
'But, Theodora, seriously! The loss of position.'
'I would ennoble the office.'
'With that head that looks as if it was born in the purple, you would ennoble anything, dear Theodora; but for ordinary--'
'All that is done in earnest towards Heaven and man ennobles and is ennobled.'
'True; but it needs a great soul and much indifference to creature comforts. Now, think of us, at our age, our relations' welcome worn out--'
'I thought you were desired to make Worthbourne your home.'
'Yes, there was no want of kindness there; but, my dear, if you could only imagine the dulness. It was as if the whole place had been potted and preserved in Sir Roger de Coverley's time. No neighbours, no club- books, no anything! One managed to vegetate through the morning by the help of being deputy to good Lady Bountiful; but oh! the evenings! Sir Antony always asleep after tea, and no one allowed to speak, lest he should be awakened, and the poor, imbecile son bringing out the draught-board, and playing with us all in turn. Fancy that, by way of enlivenment to poor Georgina after her nervous fever! I was quite alarmed about her,--her spirits seemed depressed for ever into apathy!'
'I should think them in more danger now.'
'Oh! her Finch is a manageable bird. Her life is in her own power, and she will have plenty of all that makes it agreeable. It is winning a home instead of working for it; that is the common sense view--'
'Winning it by the vow to love, honour, and obey, when she knows she cannot?'
'Oh, she may in the end. He is tame, and kind, and very much obliged. My dear Theodora, I could feel with you once; but one learns to see things in a different light as one lives on. After all, I have not done the thing.'
'If you did not promote it, you justify it.'
'May I not justify my sister to her friend?'
'I do no such thing. I do not justify Arthur. I own that he has acted wrongly; but-- No, I cannot compare the two cases. His was silly and bad enough, but it was a marriage, not a bargain.'
'Well, perhaps one may turn out as well as the other.'
'I am afraid so,' sighed Theodora.
'It has been a sad grief to you, so fond of your brother as you were.'
'Not that I see much harm in the girl,' continued Theodora; 'but--'
'But it is the loss of your brother! Do you know, I think it likely he may not be as much lost to you as if he had chosen a superior person. When the first fancy is over, such a young unformed thing as this cannot have by any means the influence that must belong to you. You will find him recurring to you as before.'
Meanwhile, Violet sat formal and forlorn in the drawing-room, and Lady Martindale tried to make conversation. Did she play, or draw? Matilda played, Caroline drew, she had been learning; and in horror of a request for music, she turned her eyes from the grand piano. Was she fond of flowers? O, yes! Of botany? Caroline was. A beautifully illustrated magazine of horticulture was laid before her, and somewhat relieved her, whilst the elder ladies talked about their fernery, in scientific terms, that sounded like an unknown tongue.
Perceiving that a book was wanted, she sprang up, begging to be told where to find it; but the answer made her fear she had been officious. 'No, my dear, thank you, do not trouble yourself.'
