Luttrell Of Arran Part 36

"What is it I suspect?" asked she, with an air of innocent curiosity.

"You suspect," said he, slowly, while he looked intently into her eyes at the time--"you suspect that Sir Gervais means by adopting this child to make some sort of a reparation to Luttrell."

"A what, Sir?" said she, opening her eyes to almost twice the usual size, while her nostrils dilated with pa.s.sion. "What did you dare to mean by that word?"

"My dear Miss Courtenay, I am miserable, the most wretched of men, if I have offended you."

"There's eleven now striking, Sir, and we may as well send the horses back," cried the postilion, sulkily.

"There, Sir, you hear what he says; pray don't be late on my account.

Good-by. I hope you'll have no more disasters. Good-by."

For a moment he thought to hasten after her, and try to make his peace; but great interests called him back to town, and, besides, he might in his confusion only make bad worse. It was a matter of much thought, and so, with a deep sigh, he stepped into the chaise and drove away, with a far heavier heart than he had carried from the porch of the cottage.

"I must have called a wrong witness," muttered he, "there's no doubt of it; _she_ belonged to 'the other side.'"

CHAPTER XXIII. MALONE IN GOOD COMPANY

[Ill.u.s.tration: 205]

When Georgina returned to the drawing-room, she found her sister seated on a sofa, with Sir Within beside her, and in front of them stood a girl, whose appearance certainly answered ill to the high-flown descriptions Sir Gervais had given them of her beauty.

With the evident intention of making a favourable first impression, her grandfather had dressed her up in some faded relics of Mrs. Luttrel's wardrobe: a blue silk dress, flounced and trimmed, reaching to her feet, while a bonnet of some extinct shape shadowed her face and concealed her hair, and a pair of satin boots, so large that they curved up, Turkish fas.h.i.+on, towards the toes, gave her the look rather of some wandering circus performer, than of a peasant child.

"Je la trouve affreus.e.m.e.nt laide!" said Lady Vyner, as her sister came forward and examined herewith a quiet and steady stare through her eye-gla.s.s.

"She is certainly nothing like the sketch he made, and still less like the description he gave of her," said Georgina, in French. "What do you say, Sir Within?"

"There is something--not exactly beauty--about her," said he, in the same language, "but something that, cultivated and developed, might possibly be attractive. Her eyes have a strange colour in them: they are grey, but they are of that grey that gets a tinge of amethyst when excited."

While they thus spoke, the girl had turned from one to the other, listening attentively, and as eagerly watching the expressions of the listeners' faces, to gather what she might of their meaning.

"Your name is Kitty--Kitty O'Hara, I think?" said Lady Vyner. "A very good name, too, is O'Hara!"

"Yes, my Lady. There is an O'Hara lives at Craig-na-Manna, in his own castle."

"Are you related to him?" asked Georgina, gravely.

"No, my Lady."

"Distantly, perhaps, you might be?"

"Perhaps we might; at all events, he never said so!"

"And you think, probably, it was more for him to own the relations.h.i.+p than for you to claim it?"

The girl was silent, and looked thoughtful; and Lady Vyner said, "I don't think she understood you, Georgy?"

"Yes I did, my Lady; but I didn't know what to say."

"At all events," said Georgina, "you don't call each other cousins."

The child nodded.

"And yet, Kitty, if I don't mistake greatly, you'd like well enough to have some grand relations--fine, rich people living in their own great castle?"

"Yes, I'd like that!" said the girl. And her cheek glowed, while her eyes deepened into the colour the old Baronet described.

"And if we were to be to you as these same cousins, Batty," said Lady Vyner, good naturedly, "do you think you could love us, and be happy with us?"

The girl turned her head and surveyed the room with a quiet leisurely look, and, though it was full of objects new and strange, she did not let her gaze dwell too long on any one in particular; and, in a quiet, steady tone, said, "I'd like to live here!"

"Yes; but you have only answered half of her Ladys.h.i.+p's question," said Sir Within. "She asked, 'Could you love her?'"

The girl turned her eyes full on Georgina, and, after a steady stare, she looked in Lady Vyner's face, and said, "I could love _you_!" The emphasis plainly indicating what she meant.

"I think there can be very little mistake there," said Georgina, in French. "I, at least, have not captivated her at first sight."

"Ma foi, she is more savage than I thought her," said Sir Within, in the same language.

"No," said she, quickly catching, at the sound of the word, "I am not a savage!" And there was a fierce energy in the way she spoke actually startling.

"My dear child," said he, gently, "I did not call you so."

"And if he had," interposed Miss Courtenay, "gentlemen are not accustomed to be rebuked by such as you!"

The girl's face grew scarlet; she clenched her hands together, and the joints cracked as the fingers strained and twisted in her grasp.

"You have much to learn, Kitty," said Lady Vyner; "but if you are a good child, gentle and obedient, we will try and teach you."

The child curtseyed her thanks.

"Take off that odious bonnet, Georgy, and let us see her better."

The girl stared with amazement at hearing her head-dress so criticised, and followed it with her eyes wistfully.

"Yes; she is much better now."

"What splendid hair!" said Sir Within, in French.

"You have got pretty hair, he says," said Georgina.

"This is prettier," said the child, as she lifted the amber beads of her necklace and displayed them proudly.

"They are very pretty too, and real amber."