CHAPTER XXIV.
THE GIPSY TEA.
The gipsy tea was pronounced afterwards to have been a great success.Mr. Archer was agreeable, bright, and witty. He talked with a slightAmerican twang, which added to his fascination in Augusta's eyes.Whenever he looked at you his eyes seemed to laugh. He had whiteteeth, too, which he showed constantly. His hands were strong andmuscular, and also very white. He was slenderly made, and looked yearsyounger than Captain Richmond.
Augusta, determining to be her very best, her most amiable, and hermost fascinating self, won approval on all sides. She was really aclever girl, and having been in her father's and mother's house moreor less accustomed to society, knew better what to say and how to actthan either her cousins or Nancy. The Richmond girls were only toopleased to remain in the background, and Nancy of course kept themcompany.
When the kettle boiled, and the hot cakes, mysteriously toasted by aspecial arrangement of cook's, not only appeared on the scene, butvanished; when the tea itself had come absolutely to an end, thelittle party strolled in twos and threes through the wood. The greatheat of this lovely summer's day was tempered by a slight breeze, andunder the trees the shade was a comfort. Captain Richmond could nothelp remarking on the great beauty of the scene. He turned as he spokeand met the clear, wide gaze of Nancy. He was about to say somethingto her when a laugh from Flora Aspray diverted his attention.
"Ah!" she said, "who will race with me to catch that admiralbutterfly? I am collecting butterflies, and I must have it to add tomy collection."
"I hate that sort of thing," said Captain Richmond; and as he spoke heagain looked at Nancy. Her colour was coming and going.
"Oh! never mind, Captain Richmond; you must put up with it," said theAmerican, with a slight laugh. "And I am not so cruel after all. Igenerally use a chloroform-bottle. Now, who will take this net and tryand catch that beauty?--Will you, little Miss Nancy? You would obligeme so much!"
"I could not for worlds," said Nancy. She coloured crimson, and thenturned very pale.
"But if I make it a request, and a very great request; if I ask it asa personal favour," continued Flora.
"Nancy shall not be pressed," said Captain Richmond.--"Go back to theothers, Nancy, and leave this matter to me.--Suppose, Miss Aspray,that I request the life and liberty of the beautiful admiralbutterfly, will you, instead of hunting it down, take a walk with methrough the woods?"
Flora Aspray gave an indignant toss to her head, but Captain Richmondlooked both handsome and gentlemanly, and she found it impossible toresist him, and soon was walking rapidly away from the others by hisside.
Augusta found herself between Mr. Archer and Constance, and the threehad a very gay time.
"I wonder what this all means," said Kitty. "I want to ask you adirect question, Nancy. Do you, or do you not, like the Asprays?"
"I wish you had not asked me," said Nancy; "but I don't."
"What is the matter with you, child? You look so queer and nervous.What can the Asprays have done to you?"
"Nothing--nothing. Of course, I ought not to dislike them, but I do. Iwish they were not here. I had hoped that when Uncle Peter cameeverything would be all right, but I sometimes think that nothing willever be right any more."
"Why, Nancy," said Nora--"why are you so miserable?"
"I wish--I _wish_ I could tell you."
"But can't you, darling--can't you?"
"No--no, I can't--not now; perhaps in a few months' time, but not now.Don't ask me. Don't take any notice of me. I will try and keep it tomyself."
"Oh, whatever is worrying you?" said Nora. "You are getting quite paleand thin. Kitty and I have noticed it, and we don't like it at all. Wefeel somehow that Augusta is to blame, but we are not sure."
"Don't blame anybody," said Nancy. "It was my own fault in the firstinstance, and nothing can remedy it--at least until the holidays areover."
"Well, let us forget it," said Kitty, going up to her little friendand kissing her. "It is so lovely in these darling woods! Don't youjust adore that peep of the blue, blue sea between those trees? And,oh, how pretty the butterflies look flitting from flower to flower! Idon't think it is right to be unhappy in such a perfect place asthis."
Nancy tried to smile.
"There, that is better," said Nora; "come and sit between us. Let ustalk about prize-day. Won't it be exciting when it comes?"
"Yes--very," said Nancy.
"Do you know what Kit and I are quite certain about?" continued Nora."We are positively sure that you will get the Royal Cross."
"Oh no, I sha'n't! Why should I?"
"Well, you see, as far as we can tell, you have never had even whatmight be called a _dubious_ mark for conduct. Your conduct everysingle day has been good, or very good, or excellent."
"But how do you know?" said Nancy. "Have you seen the marks?"
"I did once, when Miss Roy was here. She just let me look at a page ortwo, and then shut the book and said I must not see any farther; but Isaw quite enough to perceive how high you were on the ladder of goodconduct. Neither Nora nor I will grudge you the great honour, Nancy;but I am afraid if Gussie took the prize we should be green withjealousy."
"She has not a chance," said Kitty. "And now let us pack up thebaskets. It will soon be time to return to the house."
The little girls busied themselves. The crockery was washed and putcarefully away, the tablecloth folded, the knives and forks and spoonswrapped in tissue-paper.
"Wasn't it funny Gussie insisting on carrying this heavy basket allthe way here? Why did you offer to help her, Nancy? I quite loved tosee her dragged down by the weight," said Kitty.
"There is one thing certain," said Nora--"_we_ shall have tocarry the things back. Why, even Uncle Peter has deserted us. I didthink he would have stayed. I suppose he has fallen a victim to thecharms of the Asprays."
Now, Captain Richmond had done nothing of the sort. He was a graveman, with lofty views on all subjects. He also had considerableinsight into character. Augusta was a girl who could never be in thevery least to his taste, but as she happened to be his sister-in-law'sniece, he was bound to be kind to her. She was also living in the samehouse with Nora, Kitty, and Nancy. He had not taken to the Asprays,nor did he consider them suitable companions for his nieces; and itgave him a certain sense of satisfaction to see that Nora, Kitty, andNancy were as indifferent to these gay young ladies as he was himself.It was Augusta who liked them. Now, in the absence of hissister-in-law he felt it his duty to look after Augusta, and it wasreally for her sake that he took this walk alone with Flora Aspray.
Flora found him exceedingly fascinating. A red colour had come to hercheeks, and her eyes were bright. She put on her most up-to-datesociety airs for his benefit, and felt sure in her silly little heartthat she was making a conquest, for the Captain replied to her lightand silly nothings with such politeness. He was determined to performfor her benefit those thousand and one little attentions which mark,as a rule, the gentleman and the soldier. She laughed merrily aboutnothing at all, and was highly pleased with herself. But when CaptainRichmond began to talk of graver matters Flora quickly got out of herdepths. She did not know that she was being weighed in the balance andfound wanting. From one subject to another did the Captain lead her,and more and more did she disappoint him. None of his feelings,however, were allowed to appear, and they said good-bye to each otherapparently the best of friends.
Augusta and Captain Richmond walked home together. As soon as theywere out of earshot of the Asprays, Augusta turned to her companionand said eagerly:
"Didn't you have a delightful afternoon? I am sure I did. I do thinkConstance the most charming girl! And as to Mr. Archer, he is soAmerican, is he not? You like him very much, don't you?"
"What a quantity of liking I have to do, Gussie!" said the Captain."Now, do you want the truth, or just a polite remark?"
"Oh! the truth--the truth, of course," said Augusta, colouring, andthen dropping her eyes under Uncle Peter's stead
fast gaze.
"Very well; I will give it to you, for I think I ought. I don't careabout Mr. Archer. He may be harmless, but that is the most that can besaid of him. I don't like Miss Flora, and I have a strong persuasionthat Miss Constance is as like her as one pea resembles another."
"And why don't you like Flora? I am sure she tried to be nice to you."
"She was extremely nice to me, but she is not the sort of girl I careabout. Why need we talk about them any more? They are not our friends;they are only chance acquaintances."
"But I want them to be our friends," said Augusta; "it is so lonelyand dull here, and their society would make such a great difference.At the worst you have to admit that they are harmless, Uncle Peter,and you cannot possibly object to our seeing a good deal of them."
"I will write to your aunt to-night, Augusta, and ask her what are herviews on the subject. Until I hear from her you must not have much todo with the Asprays. Of course, if you meet them by accident, as wedid to-day, you will be polite and all that. But you are not to go toFairlight; neither are they to come here until I hear from your auntJessie."
"Oh dear!" said Augusta, "I did hope you would have liked them."
"I am here to look after you all," said the Captain, "and I want yourcompanions to be worthy."
"But how are they unworthy?"
"Ask yourself, Augusta; you are not without common-sense. And now,don't talk to me any more on this matter."
Augusta had to make a great effort to keep back her temper, but theprize, which was so near, had to be thought of. She remained silentfor a few minutes, and then spoke as cheerfully as she could on othersubjects.
Immediately after supper that night Augusta went up to her own room,and Nancy too disappeared; thus the Captain found himself alone withhis nieces.
"Now, this is really cosy," said Kitty, taking his right side. "Sithere, Nora.--You are not to stir, Uncle Pete; we are each going to siton an arm of this exceedingly comfortable chair. You are going to haveyour nieces very, very near to you. Oh, isn't it quite delicious?"
The Captain smiled and patted Kitty's soft white hand.
"How are you getting on?" he said. "How does the soldieringprosper--or are you both tired of the campaign?"
"No; we both love it," said Nora. "But I am afraid we are poorsoldiers--very; still, I think we do our best. Uncle Pete, may we talkto you about something? Are we to see a lot of these new people, theAsprays, during the holidays?"
"I cannot tell you. Augusta wishes it, and her desires ought not to bealtogether ignored. But nothing can be done until I hear from yourmother."
"I hope you will tell mother the exact truth about them," said Kitty."I am most anxious to have nothing further to do with them."
"Well, you had very little to do with them to-day, Kit; you talked toNora or Nancy all the time."
"They didn't want me. I am nothing but a child compared to Flora andConstance. But it isn't that, Uncle Pete. I should not really greatlycare if they came or not were it not for Nancy."
"And what about Nancy?"
"Ah! I wish I could tell you, for I don't think she likes them at all,but she is too good-natured to say a word against any one."
"I wish you could find out what ails her," said the Captain, withinterest. "Does she admit that something does?"
"Yes--oh yes, poor darling; and she looked so sad when she justalluded to it! She is awfully patient, you know, and I think---- Nora,may I tell?"
"Of course you may," said Nora. "Uncle Pete is like one of our veryown selves."
"Well, what Nora and I think is that Gussie worries her; that she hasgot a sort of hold over her. We can't make it out, but we have thoughtit for some time."
"I don't see how that is possible," said the Captain. "Perhaps theremay be some other reason for Nancy's unhappiness."
"But what can there be?"
"How can I tell you?"
"Uncle Pete, why do you get up from your chair and look so funny? Youalmost tossed me on the floor."
"A thousand pardons, Kit.--I am going to have a smoke on the terrace,and I think it is time for you little women to go to bed."
"But have you nothing to propose about Nancy?"
"I am afraid not."
"Are not you interested in her, Uncle Peter? You always seemed to likeher so very much."
"I am interested, but sometimes one cannot see an inch beyond one'sown nose."
"Oh, Uncle Pete, you are not so blind as all that!"
"At the present moment I am, Kitty. Don't say any more to-night.Justice must be done to Nancy; of that rest assured."
The Captain left the room, and the little girls stared at each other;presently they went hand in hand up to bed.
It was not until they left the room that a girl suddenly stepped outfrom behind a screen, where she had been hiding for the last quarterof an hour. The girl was Augusta.
"Eavesdroppers hear no good of themselves," was her inward comment;"but all information is useful. So those impudent little chits think Iam bullying Nancy, and they will try to persuade Uncle Pete to theirway of thinking if I don't put a spoke in their wheel. I must, andwill, or my name is not Augusta. Uncle Pete thinks at the presentmoment that that pretty and fascinating Nancy is guilty of cruelty. Iwill prove it before his very eyes between now and the day when theprizes are given away. Nancy, I have no dislike to you personally, butI am determined to get the Royal Cross, for it means Paris and a goodtime in the future; and I am also determined to get you more than everinto my power, for you must help me with regard to the Asprays. Seethem again I will--ay, many times. I am not going to be balked of thefirst bit of genuine fun that has come across my path."