'Stay, Frank, you have not come that length. You forget that if you have, as you say, gained half the battle, there is another half; and that my father very reasonably feels hurt at being the last to be favoured with the intelligence.'
'Dear Lady Tyrrell, you can see how it was. There was no helping it when once I could speak to Lenore; and then no one would have let me utter a word till I had gone through the examination. We never meant to go on a system of concealment; but you know how every one would have raved and stormed if I had betrayed a thought beyond old Driver, and yet it was only being at rest about Lenore that carried me through without breaking down. Can't you see?'
'You special pleader! May you win over my father; but you must remember that we are a fallen house, unable to do all we wish.'
'If I might see Sir Harry! I must make him forgive me.'
'I will see whether he is ready.'
Could Frank's eyes have penetrated the walls, he would have seen Lady Tyrrell received with the words, 'Well, my dear, I hope you have got rid of the young man-poor fellow!'
'I am afraid that cannot be done without your seeing him yourself.'
'Hang it! I hate it! I can't abide it, Camilla. He's a nice lad, though he is his mother's son; and Lenore's heart is set on him, and I can't bear vexing the child.'
'Lena cares for him only because she met him before she knew what life is like. After one season she will understand what five hundred a year means.'
'Well, you ought to know your sister best; but if the lad has spoken to her, Lena is not the girl to stand his getting his conge so decidedly.'
'Exactly; it would only lead to heroics, and deepen the mischief.'
'Hang it! Then what do you want me to say?'
'Stand up for your rights, and reduce him to submission by displeasure at not having been consulted. Then explain how there can be no engagement at once; put him on his honour to leave her free till after her birthday in November.'
'What! have him dangling after her? That's no way to make her forget him.'
'She never will under direct opposition-she is too high-spirited for that; but if we leave it alone, and they are unpledged, there is a fair chance of her seeing the folly both for her and for him.'
'I don't know that. Lena may be high-flown; but things go deep with the child-deeper than they did with you, Camilla!'
Perhaps this was a stab, for there was bitterness in the answer. 'You mean that she is less willing to give up a fancy for the family good. Remember, it is doubly imperative that Lena should marry a man whose means are in his own power, so that he could advance something. This would be simply ruin-throwing up the whole thing, after all I have done to retrieve our position.'
'After all, Camilla, I am growing an old man, and poor Tom is gone. I don't know that the position is worth so much to me as the happiness to her, poor child!' said Sir Harry, wistfully.
'Happiness!' was the scornful answer. 'If you said 'her own way,' it would be nearer the truth. A back street in London-going about in a cab-and occasional holidays on sufferance from Mrs. Poynsett.'
However little happiness either father or daughter had derived from their chosen ways, this idea was abhorrent to both; and Lady Tyrrell pressed her advantage. 'If we keep him waiting much longer he will be rushing after Lena, and if you show the least sign of relenting he will insist on dragging you to an interview with his mother.'
The threat was effectual; for Sir Harry had had passages-at arms enough with Mrs. Poynsett to make him dread her curt dry civility far more than either dun or bailiff, and he was at once roused to the determination to be explicit.
Frank met him, with crimson face and prepared speech. 'Good morning, Sir Harry! I am afraid you may think that you have reason to complain of my not having spoken to you sooner; but I trusted to your previous knowledge of my feelings, and I was anxious to ascertain my position before laying it before you, though I don't believe I should have succeeded unless my mind had been set at rest.'
Soft-hearted Sir Harry muttered, 'I understand, but-'
The pause at that 'but' was so long that Frank ventured on going on. 'I have not had an official communication, but I know privately that I have passed well and stand favourably for promotion, so that my income will go on increasing, and my mother will make over to me five thousand pounds, as she has done to Miles and Julius, so that it can be settled on Eleonora at once.'
'There, there, that's enough!' said Sir Harry, coerced by his daughter's glances; 'there's plenty of time before coming to all that! You see, my dear boy, I always liked you, and had an immense respect for your-your family; but, you see, Eleonora is young, and under the circumstances she ought not to engage herself. She can't any way marry before coming of age, and-considering all things-I should much prefer that this should go no further.'
'You ought both to be free!' said Lady Tyrrell.
'That I can never be!'
'Nor do you think that she can-only it sounds presumptuous,' smiled Lady Tyrrell. 'Who can say? But things have to be proved; and considering what young untried hearts are, it is safer and happier for both that there should be perfect freedom, so that no harm should be done, if you found that you had not known your own minds.'
'It will make no difference to me.'
'Oh yes, we know that!' laughed Sir Harry. 'Only suppose you changed your mind, we could not be angry with you.'
'You don't think I could!'
'No, no,' said Lady Tyrrell; 'we think no such thing. Don't you see, if we did not trust your honour, we could not leave this in suspense. All we desire is that these matters may be left till it is possible to see our way, when the affairs of the estate are wound up; for we can't tell what the poor child will have. Come, don't repeat that it will make no difference. It may not to you; but it must to us, and to your mother.'
'My mother expects nothing!' said Frank, eagerly; but it was a false step.
Sir Harry bristled up, saying, 'Sir, my daughter shall go into no family that-that has not a proper appreciation of-and expectations befitting her position.'
'Dear papa,' exclaimed Lady Tyrrell, 'he means no such thing. He is only crediting his mother with his own romantic ardour and disinterestedness.-Hark! there actually is the gong. Come and have some luncheon, and contain yourself, you foolish boy!'
'I am sorry I said anything that seemed unfitting,' said Frank, meekly. 'You know I
'Yes, yes, yes, I bear no malice; only one does not like to see one's own child courted without a voice in the matter, and to hear she is to be taken as a
'Does she know this decision?' asked Frank, aside, as he held open the door for Lady Tyrrell.
'Yes, she knows it can go no further; though we are too merciful to deny you the beatific vision, provided you are good, and abstain from any more little tendresses for the present.-Ah!'-enter Cecil- 'I thought we should see you to-day, my dear!'
'Yes; I am on my way to meet my husband at the station,' said Cecil, meeting her in the hall, and returning her kiss.
'Is Raymond coming home to-day?' said Frank, as he too exchanged greetings. 'Ah! I remember; I did not see you at breakfast this morning.'
'No!' and there was signification in the voice; but Frank did not heed it, for coming down-stairs was Eleonora, her face full of a blushing sweetness, which gave it all the beauty it had ever lacked.
He could do no more than look and speak before all the rest; the carriage was ordered for the sisters to go out together, and he lingered in vain for a few words in private, for Sir Harry kept him talking about Captain Duncombe's wonderful colt, till Cecil had driven off one way, and their two hostesses the other; and he could only ride home to tell his mother how he had sped.
Better than Rosamond, better even than Charlie, was his mother as a confidante; and though she had been surprised into her affectionate acceptance of Eleonora, it was an indescribable delight to mother and son to find
