By Birth A Lady Part 31

"What do I hear?" exclaimed Mrs Marter. "Go correctly, and shake hands with Miss Bedford!"

"Shan't!" said Alicia, tucking her hands behind her, and sniffing again abundantly, as she, to show her dislike to governesses in general, made what is termed "a face" at the new-comer--that is to say, she contracted the skin of her little snub nose, half-closed her eyes, and lolled out her tongue in a most prepossessing manner; though Ella, not being of the medical profession, could very well have dispensed with the last attention.

"Alicia, I've told you before that that is very coa.r.s.e and vulgar," said Mrs Marter mildly, for the young lady's back being turned, she did not see the physiognomical contortions. "You must not say 'sha'n't!' but, if you do not wish to shake hands with Miss Bedford: 'I would rather not,' or, 'I do not wish to do so.'--Selina, my darling, you will do as mamma tells you--won't you? Now, my love, you go and shake hands with your new governess."

Ella took a step forward, and held out her hand, when mamma's darling's face contracted, and directly after she spat fiercely at the new-comer, and then ran howling behind the sofa.

"Naughty Seliny--naughty Seliny!" said Mrs Marter. "You see, Miss Bedford, you are strange to them yet. They will know you better soon."

"I sha'n't do no lessons," said Alicia defiantly; "and I've burnt my book."

"Fie, fie!" said Mrs Marter sweetly.

"Licy pushed me downstairs, mar," said the darling behind the sofa.

"No, I didn't," shouted Alicia; "she tumbled."

"There's a big story!" cried Eleonora. "She put her hands on her back, mar, and pushed her as hard as she could--"

Smack!

"Boo--boo--bo--oh!"

Before Miss Eleonora had finished her sentence, her sweet sister had smitten her upon the mouth so sharply, that her lip bled, and she burst forth into a loud howl.

"There, my dears, I cannot have this to-day.--Miss Bedford, be kind enough to see them into the schoolroom.--There, it's of no use, Selina; if you will not go, you must be carried.--There, for goodness' sake, Miss Bedford, what are you thinking about? Take her up in your arms and carry her."

Ella obeyed; for Miss Selina had refused to leave the room, clinging tightly to mamma's skirts till she was carried off, fighting furiously, and slapping and scratching at her bearer's face in such a way that, could Charley Vining have been a spectator, he would have been frantic.

"Never mind her scratching," said the eldest girl; "she always does like that. This way."

And in a few moments more Ella was able to deposit her precious charge in the schoolroom, where, set free, the sweet innocent revenged herself again by spitting, till the upper housemaid was summoned, and led Ella to her own room.

"I pity you, miss, I do," said the woman kindly. "You're no more fit to manage them young rips than nothing. They're spoilt in the drawing-room, and encouraged in everything."

"Thank you," said Ella gently; "you mean kindly, I am sure; but pray say no more. Let me find it out by degrees."

"Well, that's best, certainly, miss," said the woman, who eagerly a.s.sisted her to take off her things, and then hurried down to help get up the luggage; while Ella--did she break down and burst into weak tears?

No; smiling sadly, she determined to bear the burden that was to be hers, and nerved herself for the coming battle; so that when the housemaid returned and helped uncord the luggage, she was rewarded with a sweet and cheerful smile, which was repeated when she said she would go down and make Miss Bedford a cup of tea.

Ten minutes later, when, after coaxing the kettle to boil with a few pieces of bundle London fire-wood, she was making that infusion that is considered by the fair s.e.x to be a balm and refreshment for every pain and fatigue, she expressed herself loudly to her fellow-servants, to the effect that "that was quite an angel they had got upstairs. But it's my belief," she added, "that the poor thing don't know what she's got to put up with."

Volume 2, Chapter XVI.

CHANGE OF SCENE.

It was not until Ella had been gone a fortnight that Charley Vining learned the news of her departure; as it happened, upon the same day that it was brought home to Max Bray that his visits to Laneton were of no effect.

But he was shrewd, was Max Bray; and encountering Charley directly after, and reading his disappointment in his face, he a.s.sumed an air of perfect contentment himself, played with the ring upon his watch-chain, and pa.s.sed his rival with a mocking smile.

Five minutes after, Charley was at Copse Hall face to face with Edward the hard, who encountered him with a shake of the head.

"Show me in to your mistress," said Charley hoa.r.s.ely; and it was done.

Mrs Brandon was seated working, but she rose, evidently much agitated, as her visitor entered to catch her hands in his, and look imploringly in her face.

"I have only just learned the news," he said. "Dear Mrs Brandon, you know why I have come! Be pitiful! See how I suffer! Tell me where she is gone!"

"I cannot," was the gentle reply, as, with a mother's tenderness, Mrs Brandon pressed him back into a seat. "You forget that I have given my word to Sir Philip."

Charley groaned bitterly.

"You are all against me!" he cried reproachfully. "You measure me by others. You do not know the depth of my feelings towards her. You all think that in a few days--a month--a year--all will be forgotten; but, Mrs Brandon, it grows upon me with the obstacles I encounter. But you will at least tell me to what part of England she has gone?"

Mrs Brandon shook her head.

"It was her wish--her express wish--that her retreat should not be known, Mr Vining; and, in addition to what I promised to your father, I must respect that wish."

Charley looked sternly at her for a moment, and then rose, and without a word left the room; Mrs Brandon following him with a sympathising look, till the door closed upon him.

"I must be a boy--a simple boy!" muttered Charley fiercely; "for they treat me as such. My father, this Mrs Brandon, and even Max Bray laugh at me! But," he muttered fiercely, "I may be a boy; but these bitternesses will soon make me a man--such a man as they do not dream of! Give her up? Yes, when I see her in Max Bray's arms--not before!"

Then he laughed, almost lightly, at the utter impossibility of such a termination, and returned to Blandfield after vainly trying to obtain information at the Laneton station of Ella's whereabouts. He could find that a young lady answering his description had taken a ticket for London; that was all; and in spite of his laugh of a.s.surance, that was all the information that had so far been obtained by Max Bray.

But there are ways and means of finding all who play at hide and seek; England, as a rule, proving to be too small a place to conceal those who are diligently sought.

Max Bray knew that well enough; and returning to town, he sat tapping his white teeth as he made his plans; on the whole feeling very well satisfied at the change in the base of operations, since, in spite of his hippopotamus hide, he was beginning to be a little annoyed at the notice taken of his visits to Laneton. Old women were in the habit of thrusting their heads out of their cottage doors to watch him; servant-girls would t.i.tter; and on more than one countenance of the male s.e.x there would often be a stolid grin.

It was satisfactory, then, on the whole, for London presented many advantages to a scheming mind; but the first thing to be found out was whether Ella were in London.

Max was seated in one of the windows of his club, as he ran over his arrangements; then rising, he ordered a cab, and drove away, ignorant of the fact that the hall boy was imitating his gestures for the benefit of the porter, who was convulsed with laughter.

That same day, without a word to Sir Philip, Charley started for town.

A week later, and, to his surprise, Charley Vining, who was staying at Long's, involuntarily raised his hat as the Brays' carriage pa.s.sed him, with Mrs Bray and Laura on the back seat, Nelly and a stranger on the front. So introspective was Charley as he stood upon the hotel steps, that the carriage would have pa.s.sed him unnoticed if a loud shrill voice had not shouted his name, when, starting and looking up, he saw Nelly, flushed and excited, leaning over the side of the barouche, as if ready to jump into his arms. But the carriage pa.s.sed on; and though by a little exertion he might easily have overtaken it in the crowded street, beyond raising his hat, Charley made no movement.

Ten minutes after, an empty hansom pa.s.sing, Charley hailed it, gave his orders, and was soon being spun along through the streets, thinking over the encounter he had just had, and wondering whether Sir Philip Vining would be the next to make his appearance.

"To see what I am doing!" said Charley bitterly. And then his thoughts reverted to the past, and he came to the conclusion that it does not fall to the lot of any of us to pa.s.s a life of uninterrupted happiness, such as his had been until he first set eyes upon Ella.

"Branksome-street, sir?" cried the driver through his little trap-door.

"Number nineteen, sir?"

"How did you know that I wanted number nineteen?" said Charley pettishly; "I did not name a number."

"Lor' bless you, sir, this makes, I should think, a score of times I've been here in the course of a couple of years' hansom-driving. I never come wunst when it was a growler I druv. You want number nineteen, sir--private-inkviry orfice--that's what you want."