Luttrell Of Arran Part 45

"You have, child."

"Oh! am I not happy again!" said she, throwing back her long hair upon her neck, and turning towards him her eyes beaming with grat.i.tude, and bright with triumph. "I have spent two nights of misery, but they are well repaid by the joy I feel now."

"There. You look like yourself already," said he. "Come, and we'll search for them."

"What am I thinking of!" cried she, suddenly. "I was forgetting these;"

and she unclasped the necklace, and took off the brooch, depositing them carefully in their places.

"You shall wear them again one of these days, Kate," said he, with a look of pensive meaning.

"They only served me to build castles with," said she, gaily, "and the words you have spoken will help me to raise much finer ones. I am ready now, Sir."

"Of all the days of your life," whispered Ada to Kate, as they drove home that evening, "was this the happiest?"

"It was," said the other, thoughtfully.

"And mine, too. I had not one dark thought till I saw evening coming on, and felt how soon it was to end. But I have such happy news for you, dear Kate, only I am not at liberty to tell it--something that is going to happen--somewhere we are about to go."

"Do not tell me more, or I shall become too curious to hear all."

"But you would be so glad, so overjoyed to hear it."

"One can always wait patiently for good tidings, the wise people say.

Where did you get your violets in mid-winter?"

"Where _you_ got your roses, Kate," said the other, laughing. "I never saw such pink cheeks as you had when you came into the garden."

"I had fallen asleep," said Kate, blus.h.i.+ng slightly. "Whenever I am very, very happy, I grow sleepy."

CHAPTER XXIX. MR. M'KINLAY IS PUZZLED.

Mr. M'Kinlay was at his breakfast the next day when he received the following letter from Sir Gervais Vyner:

"Rome, Palazzo Altieri.

"My dear M'Kinlay,--Lady Vyner's mother insists on seeing Ada out here, and will not listen to anything, either on the score of the season or the long journey. I cannot myself venture to be absent for more than a few days at a time; and I must entreat of you to give Mademoiselle and my daughter a safe convoy as far as Ma.r.s.eilles, where I shall meet you.

I know well how very inconvenient it may prove to you, just as term is about to open, so pray make me deeply your debtor for the service _in all ways_. My sister-in-law informs me--but so vaguely that I cannot appreciate the reasons--that Mademoiselle H. does not advise Miss O'Hara should accompany them. It will be for you to learn the grounds of this counsel, and, if you concur with them, to make a suitable arrangement for that young lady's maintenance and education in England, unless, indeed, her friends require her to return home. To whatever you decide, let money be no obstacle. There are good schools at Brighton, I believe.

If her friends prefer a French education, Madame Gosselin's, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris, is well spoken of. See Sir Within Wardle on the subject, who, besides being her guardian, is well qualified to direct your steps.

"I cannot tell you how much I am provoked by what I must call this failure in a favourite project, nor is my annoyance the less that I am not permitted to know how, when, or why the failure has been occasioned.

All that Miss Courtenay will tell me is, 'She must not come out to Italy,' and that I shall be the first to agree to the wisdom of this decision when I shall hear the reasons for it. Of course all this is between ourselves, and with Sir Within you will limit yourself to the fact that her education will be more carefully provided for by remaining north of the Alps--a truth he will, I am certain, recognise.

"Be sure, however, to get to the bottom of this, I may call it--mystery, for up to this I have regarded Ada's progress in learning, and great improvement in spirits, as entirely owing to this very companions.h.i.+p.

"Drop me a line to say if you can start on Monday or Tuesday, and at the Pavilion Hotel you will either find me on your arrival, or a note to say when to expect me. Tell Sir Within from me, that I will accept any trouble he shall take with Miss O'H. as a direct personal favour. I am not at all satisfied with the part we are taking towards this girl; nor shall I be easy until I hear from you that all is arranged to her own liking, and the perfect satisfaction of her family. I think, indeed, you should write to Mr. L., at Arran; his concurrence ought to be secured, as a formality; and he'll not refuse it, if not linked to something troublesome or inconvenient.

"I shall be curious to hear your personal report of Miss O'Hara, so take care to fit yourself for a very searching cross-examination from

"Yours faithfully,

"Gervais Vyner.

"I hear that the people have just thrown down the walls of my new lodge in Derryvaragh, and vowed that they'll not permit any one to build there. Are they mad? Can they not see that a proprietor, if he ever should come there, must be of use to them, and that all the benefit would be _theirs?_ Grenfell laughs at me, and says he predicted it all.

Perhaps he did: at all events, I shall not be deterred from going on, though neither of my Irish experiences have as yet redounded to my vainglory.

"I have not the shadow of a reason for suspecting it, still you would confer a favour on me if you could a.s.sure me, of your own knowledge, that nothing weightier than a caprice has induced Mademoiselle to recommend that Miss O'H. should not come out here with my daughter.

"All of this letter is to be regarded private and confidential."

Scarcely had M'Kinlay finished the reading of this letter, than a servant presented him with a small note, sealed with a very large impress of the Wardle arms, and bearing a conspicuous W. W. on the outer corner. Its contents ran thus:

"My dear Mr. M'Kinlay,--Will you allow me to profit by the fortunate accident of your presence in these regions to bespeak the honour and pleasure of your company at a _tete-a-tete_ dinner with me to-day? My carriage will await your orders; and if perfectly in accordance with your convenience, I would beg that they may be to take you over here by an early hour--say four o'clock--as I am desirous of obtaining the benefit of your advice.

"I am very sincerely yours,

"Within Wardle."

"How provoking!" cried Mr. M'Kinlay; "and I meant to have caught the night-mail at Wrexham."

Now Mr. M'Kinlay was not either provoked or disappointed. It had never been his intention to have left the Cottage till the day after; and as to a dinner invitation to Dalradern, and with "the contingent remainder"

of a consultation, it was in every respect the direct opposite of all that is provoking. Here he was alone. None heard, him as he said these words. This hypocrisy was not addressed to any surrounders. It was the soliloquy of a man who liked self-flattery, and, strange as it may seem, there are scores of people who mix these sweet little draughts for themselves and toss them off in secresy, like solitary drinkers, and then go out into the world refreshed and stimulated by their dram.

"I cannot take his agency, if that's what he is at," said Mr. M'Kinlay, as he stood with his back to the fire and fingered the seals of his watch; "I am overworked already--sorely overworked. Clients, now-a-days, I find, have got the habit of employing their lawyers in a variety of ways quite foreign to their callings." This was a hit at Sir Gervais for his request to take Ada abroad. "A practice highly to be condemned, and, in fact, to be put down. It is not dignified; and I doubt if even it be profitable,"--his tone was now strong and severe. "A fine old place, Dalradern," muttered he, as his eyes fell upon a little engraving of the castle at the top of the note--such vignettes were rarer at that day than at the present--"I think, really, I will give myself a holiday and dine with him. I thought him a bit of a fop--an old fop, too--when I met him here; but he may 'cut up' better under his own roof."

"Rickards," said he, as that bland personage entered to remove the breakfast-things, "I am not going to dine here to-day."

"Lor, Sir! You an't a going so soon?"

"No. To-morrow, perhaps--indeed, I should say to-morrow certainly; but to-day I must dine at Dalradern."

"Well, Sir, you'll tell me when you comes home if he's better than Mrs.

Byles for his side-dishes; for I'll never believe it, Sir, till I have it from a knowledgeable gentleman like yourself. Not that I think, Sir, they will play off any of their new-fangled tricks on you--putting cheese into the soup, and powdered sugar over the peas."

"I have seen both in Paris," said M'Kinlay, gravely.

"And frogs too, Sir, and snails; and Jacob, that was out in Italy with the saddle-horses, says, he seen fifteen s.h.i.+llings given for a hedgehog, when lamb got too big."

"Let Mademoiselle Heinzleman know that I should be glad to speak to her," said the lawyer, who, feeling that he was going to dine out, could afford to be distant.

"Yes, Sir, I'll tell her;" and Rickards stirred the fire, and drew down a blind here, and drew up another there, and fidgeted about in that professionally desultory manner his order so well understand. When he got to the door, however, he stepped back, and in a low confidential whisper said, "It's the 'Ock, Sir, the 'Ock, at Dalradem, that beats us; eighty odd years in bottle, and worth three guineas a flask." He sighed as he went out, for the confession cost him dear. It was like a Government whip admitting that his party must be beaten on the next division!

Mr. M'Kinlay was deep in a second perusal of Sir Gervais Vyner's letter when Mademoiselle Heinzleman entered. "I have a few lines from Sir Gervais here, Mademoiselle," said he, pompously, for the invitation to Dalradem was still fresh in his mind. "He wishes me, if it be at all possible, to accompany you and Miss Vyner as far as, let me see"--and he opened the letter--"as far as Ma.r.s.eilles. I own, with whatever pride I should accept the charge, however charmed I should naturally feel at the prospect of a journey in such company----"

"Es macht nichts. I mean, Sare," said she, impetuously, "with Franz, the courier, we can travel very well all alone."