as if to light it. Then, as he noted the bright moonlight streaming in through the window, he altered his mind and went straight to the window recess, making a big, dark blot there in the brilliant silver light.
After this there came the sound of a door opening very timidly overhead, and then a small, slight figure came creeping down the stairs, step by step.
But those timid feet had scarcely touched the bottom of the stairs before the big, dark blot moved—no, sprang—from out the bright light of the window, took her hands in his, and—
Well, to Beatrix it seemed all incoherence; but she said to herself comfortingly: “I dare say they understand what they’re saying to each other, and I’m sure it is all right.”
At that moment a circumstance occurred which fairly startled her, and for which she could give no explanation.
Another small, slight figure, but this one clad in cloak and hat, made its appearance at the farther end of the hall, and seemed about to cross it, but, catching sight of Piers and Nellie in the window recess, drew back into a corner, and there appeared to stand waiting.
Before Beatrix had time to carry speculation as to this mysterious figure very far, two doors opening simultaneously at opposite ends of the gallery overhead, attracted her attention. From one emerged an almost unrecognisable figure in huge crinoline and full flowing tarlatan dress, profusely decorated with blush roses; from the other came the short, stout Professor, in his ragged velvet cap. Each, it may be remarked, mindful of the proprieties of life, carried a night-light.
“Now, to what emotion am I opening this door?” the Professor had soliloquised as he drew back his bolt. “To peace and the happy tranquillity of subdued affections!” And then he had almost run straight into the arms of Cousin Lavinia.
“Cousin John, dear Cousin John!” she exclaimed, “my heart is full; I have no words to express my feelings.”
The Professor extricated himself with difficulty.
“Confound it, madam! who are you?” he spluttered. Then he drew a long breath. “Oh‑h! Corkscrew curls! Cousin Lavinia!”
“It’s time I threw a little light on the scene,” thought Beatrix, emerging from her corner, and turning on the light of the gasalier to its fullest extent.
Piers and Nellie let go each other’s hands, and came forward blinking very hard. Guy, at that very moment on the point of coming downstairs, stared for a moment at them, and then retired. Simultaneously the small, slight figure, rushing from out its dark corner, appealed piteously to Nellie:
“Oh, Miss Nellie, Miss Nellie! I didn’t mean any harm! There’s a servants’ ball tonight at the Squire’s, and—and ‘Sir Roger de Coverley’ is to be danced at twelve precisely, and everyone is to dance with their sweethearts, and kiss them as they go down the middle! And I knew if I didn’t dance with Dick he’d be dancing with that horrid housemaid at the Hall, so I made him promise to come and fetch me directly the dance began. And I told him we’d fall in at the bottom, and nobody would notice me. And I’d show you Dick’s note, Miss Nellie, reminding me of twelve tonight, if I hadn’t pulled it out of my pocket somewhere—”
“What—what is all this confusion, and clang, and clamour, may I ask?” said the Professor, in loud, irritable tones, making his way down the stairs as fast as possible, as if to get ahead of Cousin Lavinia, who, in her enormous globular skirts, persistently kept pace with him, step by step; “for what purpose are we all assembled here at this extraordinary hour?”
“For the purpose of dancing the New Year in, Cousin John,” answered Beatrix, looking up at the big clock, whose hands now pointed at five minutes to twelve. “Mattie, don’t you think ‘Sir Roger’ can be danced just as well here as in the Squire’s hall, provided your sweetheart is present? Run and fetch Dick; I dare say he’s just outside the door. It’s a charming dance for three couples.”
She walked to the piano as she finished speaking, and struck up the first chords of the cheery old melody.
The Professor paused for a moment to take in the situation, and then he hurriedly approached Beatrix. “Be my partner, Beatrix,” he said, insinuatingly, and with a double meaning. “She can play for us,” nodding towards Cousin Lavinia.
Beatrix, with her fingers still playing the dancers towards their partners, tried to explain, “I’m going to be married—in a fortnight—didn’t you know? One can’t throw over a man in a minute when one’s been engaged to him for ten years. There’s Cousin Lavinia waiting for you.”
Piers and Nellie had already taken their places at the top of the room, Mattie and Dick stood waiting at the bottom, so the Professor and Cousin Lavinia took up their position midway.
Cousin Lavinia’s curtsies, in her voluminous skirts, and the Professor’s acknowledgement of them by the removal of his turned-inside-out velvet cap were a sight to be remembered.
And at the very moment that the bells from the village church came clanging through the frosty air, to give their welcome to the New Year, Nellie’s lips received their first love-kiss.
Rhea
A Woman of the World
“She is of the world—worldly, I fear,” said the Bishop of St. Cheviot’s to his chaplain, with a solemn shake of the head; “however, you may as well bring the charity to her notice; I dare say she will put her name down as patroness and give you a cheque for a good round sum.”
“Hm’m,” said Lord Chenevix musingly, as from the window of his club he watched Lady Glencross drive past in her neat Victoria, “if they admitted women into the diplomatic service she’d have made a name for herself. It passes my comprehension how that woman has managed to retain the family jewels and her enormous jointure, and yet keep on good terms with every member of the Glencross family—her gouty old father-in-law included. Bless my soul! it
