By Birth A Lady Part 22

"Yes--yes!" cried Laura, for she had been pressing her hands abstractedly together.

"Then look here. Don't show that you either hear or see anything. I have him on the hip in a way he little thinks for. What you have to do is to meet him always with the same gentle unvarying kindness. Wink at everything you hear about him; and even if he comes to you straight from her, you must receive him with open arms. Do you hear me?"

"Yes," said Laura bitterly; "I hear."

"For, bai Jove! he's not the man to be played with! Any show of jealousy, or whim, or snubbing, or any of that confounded tabby-foolery you women are so well up in, will drive him away."

Laura sighed.

"There, don't be a fool, Laury! Bai Jove, I'm ashamed of you! I thought you were a woman of more spirit. But look here: I was put out-- I was, bai Jove!--when I came down and found the little dove had spread her soft little wings and flown away, for it put me to a great deal of trouble and inconvenience and expense; but you trust to me, and you shall be Lady Vining--of course, I mean when the old gentleman drops off. But Charley will come back to you like a great sheep as he is."

"How dare you, Max!" cried Laura, firing up.

"O, there, I don't want to upset the fair sister's sweet prejudices,"

said Max, with a sneer. "There, we'll call him the n.o.ble baronet-apparent. He'll come back to you by and by to soothe the pains in his great soft heart, and you shall heal them for him."

Laura bit her pocket--handkerchief fiercely, and kept tearing it again from between her teeth.

"I have him, I tell you; and, bai Jove! the day shall come when he shall frown at the very mention of the little soft dove's name!"

"But when--when?" cried Laura.

"When!" said Max coolly; "bai Jove! how can I tell? I shall work hard as soon as I have found out the address, and when the proper time comes, my charming sister, I shall want your help in a scene I have _in petto_.

It may be a month, or it may be two, or perhaps three; but," he said excitedly, as he again threw off the drawl, and effeminate way, to let flash out the evil pa.s.sions of his heart, "I am in earnest, Laury, and I'll have that address before many days are gone by."

"But how--how will you get it?" cried Laura.

"Well," said Max, sinking back into his old way, "I've got a plan for that too--one that will give but little trouble, and so I don't mind telling you."

"Well--quick, tell me!" cried Laura.

"Bai Jove! how excited you are!" said Max, laughing insolently, and taking evident delight in probing his sister's wounds. "Charley is hard at work trying to find out her address."

"Yes, yes!" cried Laura, pressing her hand to her side.

"And he'll be sure to find it sooner or later."

"Yes, yes!" cried Laura pitifully, her eyes flas.h.i.+ng with jealous hate the while she stood before her brother, the style of woman who, had she lived at an earlier period, would have gladly taken a leaf from the book of Lucrezia Borgia, and ridded herself of her rival.

"Well," said Max coolly, "I said he'd be sure to find it out, didn't I?"

"Max--Max! why do you torture me?" cried Laura. "Tell me how you will manage, when you say that you will leave him to find out what should be yours to do, if there is to be any faith in your promise!"

"Faith!--yes, bai Jove, you may have faith in me! And there, I won't hurt your feelings any more. Charley will find out the address, and so shall I."

"But how?" cried Laura pa.s.sionately, stamping her foot.

"How? Why, bai Jove, _I shall watch him_!"

Volume 2, Chapter VI.

THE NEW HOME.

John Dudgeon was right. Ella Bedford's luggage was directed to Mrs Brandon's, Copse Hall, Laneton, to reach which, unless a fly had been engaged to convey her across country, Ella had to go up to town by one line, and then take her ticket by another. This she did, and reached Copse Hall, a gloomy-looking dwelling, late one evening, her heart sinking as the station fly conveyed her down a muddy lane, on the Croppley Magna road. The hedges were heavy, and the trees seemed all weeping--drip, drip, drip--while an occasional gust of wind drove the rain against the fly window.

Cold, sombre-looking, and bare was the house; and feeling that the refuge she had sought by means of advertising would be to her as a prison, Ella descended from the fly. A tall hard-looking footman opened the door, and kept her standing on the mat of a great bare hall, whose floor was polished oak, and whose ornaments were a set of harsh stiff-backed chairs, that looked as if they had been made out of old coffin boards, while the cold wind rushed through and shut a door somewhere in the back regions with an echoing bang.

"There'll be a row about that," said the hard-faced footman, as he set down the second trunk and closed the door, and the flyman drove off.

"Missus hates the doors to bang, and they will do it when the wind's in the south. You're to come in here, please, Miss--Bedford, isn't it?"

Trembling, in spite of her efforts to be calm, Ella responded to his query, and then followed the footman to a great gaunt-looking door. He opened it, and announced, "Miss Bedford." She advanced a few steps, seeing nothing for the blinding tears that would stand in her eyes-- tears that she had much difficulty to keep from falling. Then the door was closed behind her, and she felt two warm soft hands take hers, and that she was drawn towards a great glowing fire.

"Why, my dear child!" said a pleasant voice, "you are chilled through.

Come this way."

Then, as in a dream, she felt herself placed in a soft yielding easy-chair, her bonnet and mantle removed, the same soft hands smoothing back her hair, and then, as a pair of warm lips were pressed to hers, the same voice said gently:

"Welcome to Copse Hall, my love! I hope it will prove to you a happy home."

Ella started to her feet as those words thrilled through her; words so new, so tender, so motherly, that she could no longer restrain her feelings, but threw herself, sobbing violently, upon the gentle breast that seemed to welcome her; for two arms pressed her tightly there for a few moments. Then there were soothing whispers, soft hands caressing her; and at last Ella was seated calm and tranquil at Mrs Brandon's feet, feeling that, after the storms of the past, a haven of safety had been reached; and long was the converse which followed, as ingenuously Ella told all to her new friend, whose hand still rested on, or played with, the soft glossy bands of hair.

"We will not make a host of promises," said Mrs Brandon cheerfully; "but see how we get on. You were quite right to leave there: and I had such a kind letter from the Reverend Henry Morton, that I was glad to secure your aid for my children's education."

"Mr Morton was very, very kind," said Ella, "and offered me a home when poor mamma died; but I thought that I ought to be up and doing, though I did not expect so much trouble at the outset."

"Trouble, my child," said Mrs Brandon softly,--"the world is full of it;" and Ella, looking up, glanced at the widow's weeds. "Yes, seven years ago now," she continued, interpreting Ella's glance. "But the troubles here could be lessened, if we studied others more and self less. But there, bless me, you haven't seen the children!" and jumping up, she rang, and the hard-faced footman appeared.

"Tell Jane to bring in the young ladies, Edward," said Mrs Brandon; and, five minutes after, two bright happy-looking girls of eight and ten came running in. "There, my dears, that is Miss Bedford--your new governess."

The two girls went smiling up to offer their hands and kiss her, the younger clinging to her, and reading her face with a curious childish gaze.

"They are both totally spoiled, Miss Bedford," said Mrs Brandon, gazing fondly at her children; "and they're behindhand and tomboyish, and will give you no end of trouble. But you must rule them very strictly; and as they've not been quite so bad to-day, they may have tea with us this evening."

The girls clapped their hands, and over that pleasant meal it seemed to Ella that she must have been there for months; while, when Mrs Brandon accompanied her to her bedroom that night--a snug pleasant chamber, with a fire, books, and a general aspect of comfort--and left her alone with the sense of the warm kiss on her lips--a friendly pressure on her hand, Ella sank upon her knees, and the tears would for a while flow--tears this time, though, of thankfulness for the refuge she had found.

Two days of happiness had pa.s.sed like a dream, in spite of sad thoughts and an undefined dread that all was too bright to last, when, seated in the drawing-room with Mrs Brandon, Ella's heart leaped, and then the blood seemed to rush to her heart, for the clangour of the hall bell proclaimed a visitor. The next minute the hard footman entered with a card upon a salver.

"Gentleman wishes to see Miss Bedford," he said; and Ella with trembling hand took the card, to read thereon:

"Mr Charles Vining, Blandfield Court."

Volume 2, Chapter VII.

MRS BRANDON'S RECEPTIONS.

Mrs Brandon made no movement as the card was handed to Ella; but a look of firmness seemed imperceptibly to sweep across her pleasant matronly face, and one skilled in physiognomy would have said that she was waiting anxiously to see how the young girl would act, under what threatened to be very trying circ.u.mstances. Then, glancing at Ella, she saw her standing, pale as ashes, with the card in her hand.

"Where have you shown the gentleman, Edward?" said Mrs Brandon.