Hester

of old Captain Morgan’s grandson, looked at him with astonished, and indeed reluctant, approval. His whiskers were not so thick or so black as Algernon’s; but he had a fine mass of dark hair, wavy, and rather longer than is now permitted by fashion, fine features and dark eyes, with a paleness which was considered very interesting in those days. He was much taller and of more imposing aspect than Edward, whose stature was not great; he was far more intellectual than Harry; altogether of the four young men present, his was no doubt the most noticeable figure. They all appraised him mentally as he came in⁠—Catherine first of all, with a sensation of pride that the one individual who was her relation, without being the relation of her family, was a creditable novelty to introduce among them; the others, with various degrees of quickened curiosity and grudging. The grudge was intensified in the persons of the sisters, who could not endure this interloper. They had felt it their duty to draw the line at the Morgans long ago, and it was all they could do to behave with propriety at Catherine’s table when they were seated beside the descendant of the old people on whom Catherine spent her money in what they felt to be an entirely unjustifiable way. They were the only persons present who kept up their grudge to the end. In Ellen’s case it disappeared with the clear perception of his good looks. But when Mr. Ashton offered his arm to Miss Matilda Vernon-Ridgway, the look with which she received the offered courtesy was enough to freeze any adventurous young man into stone. It did not, however. It made him all but laugh as he glanced at Catherine, who for her part contemplated her cousins with much gratification. Miss Matilda placed the end of her finger upon the young man’s arm. She kept at as great a distance as possible as she crossed the hall by his side. To the little speech about the weather, which he thought it his duty to make her, she returned a sort of inarticulate reply⁠—a monosyllable, but conveying no meaning. When she was seated at table she flung herself, so to speak, upon her neighbour at the other side, who, as it happened, was Harry Vernon, and who was not prepared for the honour. All this was to Catherine as good as a play.

“What a climate, and what a poky old place this Redborough is,” said Ellen, preparing to lead the conversation, as she finished her soup. She spoke apparently to Edward, but in reality to the company, which was not too large for general conversation. “It is dreadful to come back here in the beginning of winter from Abroad. I declare I quite envy you, you people who have never been Abroad; you don’t know the difference. Bright sunshine all day long, and bands playing, and the best of music, and all your friends to talk to, sitting out under the trees. Compare that with Redborough, where, beyond a few tiresome little dinner parties, and perhaps three dances at Christmas⁠—”

“The White House used to be a great addition to the cheerfulness of the place,” said Edward. “Harry will have no heart to keep it up by himself now you have left him.”

“Oh, Harry shall marry,” said Ellen, “I have made up my mind to that; and as soon as we have got quite settled, I mean to set things a-going. I mean to have a Thursday, Aunt Catherine. We shall be glad if you’ll come. It is to be a Thé Dansante, which is quite a novelty here. You learn so much better about all these things Abroad.”

“Where is Abroad?” said Roland, in an undertone which was so confidential and intimate, that had he been anybody else, Miss Matilda must have yielded to its seduction. As it was, she only gave him a look of surprise at his ignorance, and cleared her throat and shook her bracelets in order to be able to strike in.

“A Thé Dansante is exactly the kind of entertainment that suits me,” Catherine said.

“Yes, won’t it be nice?” said Ellen, unconscious. “I learnt all the figures of the cotillion, which is the most amusing thing to end up with, and I made Algy learn it. As soon as ever our house is ready we shall start. It will be a new feature in society. As for Harry, till he’s married he’ll have to be content with bachelor’s dinners, for I can’t always be leaving Algy to look after him.”

Here Harry murmured something, stammering, and with a blush, to the intent that the bachelor’s dinners would last a long time.

“We don’t see you so often at our place as we used to do, Mr. Harry,” said Miss Matilda, sweetly. “It used to be quite a pleasure to watch for you; and the summer evenings were so tempting, weren’t they? Oh, fie! it is very naughty to love and to ride away. We always said that was what was likely to happen, didn’t we?” she said to her sister, on the other side of the table.

Miss Martha nodded and smiled in return, and cried⁠—

“Oh, always,” in a shriller tone.

“What’s that you thought likely to happen? Then it didn’t happen if it was Harry,” cried Ellen, instinctively, ranging herself on her brother’s side.

“But about this cotillion?” said Edward. “What is it? I thought it had something to say to a lady’s dress. I am sure it had in the eighteenth century. We shall have to go to school to learn what your novelty means.”

“She put me to school, I can tell you,” cried Algernon, from the other end of the table. “I had to work! She is the most dreadful little tyrant, though she looks so soft.”

“Dancing is neglected shamefully nowadays,” said Miss Matilda; “shamefully! We were taught very differently. Don’t you remember, dear, Mousheer D’Egmont and his little violin, Martha? we were taught the minuet first on