would fall--I mean poor Evelyn and her husband. Such an_esclandre_ would certainly have been utterly fatal to the Headfortsthinking well of Duke's wife or her family. We are very annoyed withEvelyn herself, too, for not _insisting_ on your returning the momentshe found you were in the train, and to prevent her doing so you musthave made an unjustifiable use of your greater strength of character anddetermination to carry out your own way. I shall say as little aspossible to your sister till you are both home again. I am countingevery day--indeed every hour, till this visit is over, and I only praythat no terribly disastrous consequences may follow on what you havedone."
It _was_ hard to bear, feeling conscious, as she did, that at leastthree-fourths of her motives had been purely unselfish, and only now didPhilippa allow to herself that a certain love of adventure--a touch ofthe reckless impulsiveness and defiance of conventionality which MaidaLermont, though vaguely, had been conscious of in her young cousin--onlynow did it dawn upon the girl that these less worthy incentives had gonefar to make up the remaining balance.
"I have never meant to be wild or headstrong," she said to herself. "Ihave always thought I was almost too practical and unimpulsive. Iplanned all this so carefully and even cautiously. I never dreamt ofpapa and mamma taking it up so severely; I don't think they ever havebeen really angry with me before in my life. And after all," with atouch of half-humorous defiance, as she dashed away the tears which shedared not indulge in, for fear of her sister's discovering them, "afterall, I do _not_ know what Evelyn would have done without me. I amperfectly certain she would not have got on so well; most assuredly shewould not have _looked_ as she has done!"
For Philippa's rule over her sister had been a very stringent one. MrsMarmaduke Headfort was not allowed to overtire herself by walking toofar or driving too long, by sitting up too late, or spasmodicallygetting up too early, all of which vagaries she was addicted to when herown mistress. Her tonic was never forgotten, nor her stated hours ofresting curtailed. In consequence of all these precautions, Evelynlooked and felt wonderfully invigorated. The credit of this wasattributed by her well-pleased hosts, and in part by herself, to thebracing air of Wyverston, and Philippa was too unselfish and generous tofeel annoyed at this, though she secretly hugged herself withsatisfaction as to what she knew had been her own share in this goodstate of things.
"I don't think mamma _can_ be so vexed with me when I tell her aboutit," she thought. "She does know that Evelyn is not fit to take care ofherself."
There was really, for the moment, no crumpled rose-leaf in young MrsHeadfort's path. To her facile nature, in spite of her capacity for"fussing," it came easy to accept things as she found them. Long beforethe first week was at an end she had got used to the anomalous positionin which her sister, and, to a certain extent through her sister, sheherself were placed. Beyond this, she even allowed herself thegratification of claiming Philippa's admiration for her strong-mindedbehaviour.
"I really think I have managed beautifully," she said. "I have notworried about you at all, Phil, and I have determined not to be homesickfor Bonny and Vanda, though," with a sudden realisation of what she owedto her sister, "I'm quite sure my good spirits are principally owing toyour being here."
And Philippa felt rewarded.
By this time Miss Raynsworth had begun to breathe more freely. Nofurther _contretemps_ had as yet occurred. She had been most careful tokeep out of the way of the guests in the house, more especially the twoGreshams, for, after hearing from Evelyn of her conversation on thenight of her arrival with the elder of the cousins, she could no longerdeceive herself as to his identity with the handsome, silent man whosepersonality had somehow impressed her at Dorriford, and she was evenmore afraid of coming across _him_ than of again meeting Solomon'smaster.
To poor Solomon himself she had more than once been obliged to bepositively cruel, for whenever she caught sight of his tan-colouredperson she was seized with terror lest her other travelling companionshould be near at hand. In those days it is to be feared that thedachshund's belief in the stability of woman's friendship received somesevere shocks. One afternoon in particular he happened to run againstMiss Raynsworth in one of the back passages not far from Mrs Shepton'sroom, and the girl, thinking herself for once safe from dangerousobservation, stooped down and patted him affectionately. No sooner hadshe done so than she bitterly regretted it, for coming towards her, buta few paces off, she descried his master's familiar figure. The dog bythis time was in a state of frantic delight; at all costs she must getrid of him.
"Down, down," she said, in a cruelly repressive tone, which poor Solomonwould have understood even without the stern "Come here, sir," fromMichael Gresham which followed; and as she hurried along the passage shecould not resist glancing back over her shoulder in pity for herfour-footed admirer. Mr Gresham was not to be seen--what had become ofhim?--but Solomon was sitting on the mat outside the housekeeper's room,looking profoundly miserable and feeling doubly deserted--by his masteras well as by his friend. For Michael had shut the door in the dog'sface.
"Poor old boy," thought Philippa. "I wonder why he has settled himselfthere."
For she knew that Mrs Shepton was not specially addicted to dogs. Sheliked them, she said, in "their proper place;" in other words, when theywere entirely out of her sight and with no opportunity of jumping onsofas, eating rugs, or going to sleep on her best eiderdown quilts.
CHAPTER TEN.
"MERLE-IN-THE-WOLD."
Miss Raynsworth would have been considerably surprised had she known thereason of Solomon's encampment in his present quarters.
"I have left my dog outside," his master was at that moment saying tothe housekeeper, "so I hope you'll be pleased with me, `Mrs Shepton,ma'am!'" using the rather absurd title which had clung to his old friendsince the days when she had been his nurse.
Mrs Shepton smiled indulgently. "Now, Master Michael, what would anyone think to hear you still speaking to me like that?" she said,forgetting that her own way of addressing the young man was now equallyinappropriate, "and I don't like you to think that I would be unkind toa poor dumb creature, especially one you are fond of. Dogs are all verywell in their proper place! But when it comes to finding one in a younggentleman's bed with its head on the pillow and the clothes tucked underits shin, as I have seen you have Toby many and many a time in the olddays at Allerton--well, no, I can't say but what that was going toofar."
Michael Gresham laughed.
"I remember," he said, "especially once when Bernie and I stole one ofold Aunt Serena's caps--a nightcap I suppose it must have been--and tiedit neatly on to Toby's head with the frills sticking out beautifully allround."
"I don't remember Master _Bernard_ ever doing anything of the kind,"said Mrs Shepton, with a marked accent on the name. "If there was everany mischief afoot, it wasn't often it had to be laid at _his_ door."
"Not _often_, perhaps," said Michael, "though I wouldn't say never. Ifthere was a scrape to be got into, it was, I allow, pretty sure to be Iwho found myself in it. But we stuck to each other very faithfully inthose days. Poor old Bernie!" and he gave a little sigh. "After all,it isn't his fault if all the plums have fallen to his share, and I'msure I don't grudge them to him, though I would not object to a few formyself sometimes."
A shade of distress crossed Mrs Shepton's face.
"They will come, my dear," she said, affectionately patting the youngman's hand. "Never fear; they will come, all in good time, and none theless sweet that you have had to wait for them, and work for them too."
"Oh, bless you, don't think I mind the working," he said, lightly."Life would be unbearable without it. Don't think I was grumbling, MrsShepton, ma'am, but," and he rose to his feet, as an unmistakable soundof scratching and whining on the other side of the door made itselfheard, "some one _is_ grumbling, and that's Solomon. May I let him in?"
"Of course, dearie; I'll let him in myself. No," as the young man wasmoving towards the door, "let me do it; I sh
ould like him to see I wasfriendly."
In another moment Solomon was inside, pawing and jumping on thehousekeeper, who did her best to hide any sign of apprehension for herblack silk skirt. "You see he is fond of me," she said, with a touch ofrather tremulous triumph in her tone.
"Moderately so," Mr Gresham replied, eyeing the pair with considerableamusement, "but not as fond of you as he is of a young person whotravelled down in our carriage the other day--third class--I always comethird, you know. By-the-by, I wanted to ask you about her. She is MrsMarmaduke