The Shadow of Ashlydyat Part 15

"Did you call me, Sir George?" interrupted Charlotte, tripping forward from the back of the hall, where she and Maria stood, out of sight, but within hearing.

"No, my dear, I did not call you," replied Sir George G.o.dolphin.

CHAPTER VIII.

A SNAKE IN THE GRa.s.s.

Seated on a camp-stool, amidst a lovely bit of woodland scenery, was Maria Hastings. The day, beautifully bright, was warm as one in September; delightful for the pleasure-seekers at Broomhead, but bad for the fever at Prior's Ash. Maria was putting some finis.h.i.+ng touches to a sketch--she had taken many since she came--and Mr. George G.o.dolphin and Charlotte Pain watched her as they pleased, or took sauntering strolls to a distance.

Lady G.o.dolphin was as fond of Broomhead as the G.o.dolphins were of Ashlydyat. Certainly Broomhead was the more attractive home of the two.

A fine house of exquisite taste; with modern rooms and modern embellishments; and when she invited the two young ladies to accompany her on a visit to it, she was actuated as much by a sense of exultation at exhibiting the place to them, as by a desire for their companions.h.i.+p, though she did like and desire the companions.h.i.+p. Lady G.o.dolphin, who never read, and never worked; in short, never did anything; was obliged to have friends with her to dissipate her ennui and cheat time. She liked young ladies best; for they did not interfere with her own will, and were rarely exacting visitors.

But she required less of this companions.h.i.+p at Broomhead. There she knew every one, and every one knew her. She was sufficiently familiar with the smallest and poorest cottage to take an interest in its ill-doings and its short-comings; at least, as much interest as it was possible to the nature of Lady G.o.dolphin to take. Old acquaintances dropped in without ceremony and remained the morning with her, gossiping of times past and present: or she dropped into their houses, and remained with them. Of gaiety there was none: Sir George's state of health forbade it: and in this quiet social intercourse--which Charlotte Pain held in especial contempt--the young visitors were not wanted. Altogether they were much at liberty, and went roaming where they would, under the protection of Mr. George G.o.dolphin.

He had now been a week at Broomhead: flirting with Charlotte, giving stolen minutes to Maria. A looker-on might have decided that Miss Pain was the gentleman's chief attraction: for, in public, his attentions were princ.i.p.ally given to her. _She_ may be pardoned for estimating them at more than they were worth: but she could very well have welcomed any friendly wind that would have wafted away Maria, and have kept her away.

They knew, those two girls, that their mutual intercourse was of a hollow nature; their paraded friends.h.i.+p, their politeness, rotten at the core. Each was jealous of the other; and the one subject which filled their minds was never alluded to in conversation. Either might have affirmed to the other, "You are aware that I watch you and George: my jealous eyes are upon your every movement, my jealous ears are ever open." But these avowals are not made in social life, and Charlotte and Maria observed studied courtesy, making believe to be mutually unconscious: knowing all the time that the consciousness existed in a remarkable degree. It was an artificial state of things.

"How dark you are putting in those trees!" exclaimed Charlotte Pain.

Maria paused, pencil in hand; glanced at the trees opposite, and at the trees on paper. "Not too dark," she said. "The grove is a heavy one."

"What's that queer-looking thing in the corner? It is like a half-moon, coming down to pay us a visit."

Maria held out her sketch at arm's distance, laughing merrily. "You do not understand perspective, Charlotte. Look at it now."

"Not I," said Charlotte. "I understand nothing of the work. They tried to teach me when I was a child, but I never could make a straight line without the ruler. After all, where's the use of it? The best-made sketch cannot rival its model--nature."

"But sketches serve to remind us of familiar places, when we are beyond their reach," was Maria's answer. "I love drawing."

"Maria draws well," observed George G.o.dolphin, from his swinging perch on the branch of a neighbouring tree.

She looked up at him, almost gratefully. "This will be one of the best sketches I have taken here," she said. "It is so thoroughly picturesque: and that farm-house, under the hill, gives life to the picture."

Charlotte Pain cast her eyes upon the house in the distance over the green field, to which she had not before vouchsafed a glance. A shade of contempt crossed her face.

"Call _that_ a farm-house! I should say it was a tumble-down old cottage."

"It is large for a cottage; and has a barn and a shed round it,"

returned Maria. "I conclude that it was a farm some time."

"It is not inhabited," said Charlotte.

"Oh, yes it is. There is a woman standing at the door. I have put her into my sketch."

"And her pipe also?" cried George.

"Her pipe!"

George took his own cigar from his mouth, as he answered. "She is smoking, that woman. A short pipe."

Maria shaded her eyes with her hand, and gazed attentively.

"I--really--do--think--she--is!" she exclaimed slowly. "What a strange thing!"

"A Welshwoman married to a Scotch husband, possibly," suggested Charlotte. "The Welsh smoke."

"I'll make her a Welshwoman," said Maria gaily, "with a man's coat, and a man's hat. But, there's--there's another now. George, it is Margery!"

"Yes," said Mr. George composedly. "I saw her go in half an hour ago.

How smart she is! She must be paying morning calls."

They laughed at this, and watched Margery. A staid woman of middle age, who had been maid to the late Mrs. G.o.dolphin. Margery dressed plainly, but she certainly looked smart to-day, as the sun's rays fell upon her.

The sun was unusually bright, and Charlotte Pain remarked it, saying it made her eyes ache.

"Suspiciously bright," observed George G.o.dolphin.

"Suspiciously?"

He flirted the ashes from his cigar with his finger. "Suspicious of a storm," he said. "We shall have it, ere long. See those clouds. They look small and inoffensive; but they mean mischief."

Charlotte Pain strolled away over the meadows towards the side path on which Margery was advancing. George G.o.dolphin leaped from his seat, apparently with the intention of following her. But first of all he approached Maria, and bent to look at her progress.

"Make the farm--as you call it--very conspicuous, Maria, if you are going to keep the sketch as a memento," said he.

"Is it not a farm?"

"It was, once; until idleness suffered it to drop through."

"Why should I make it particularly conspicuous?" she continued.

There was no reply, and she looked quickly up. A peculiar expression, one which she did not understand, sat upon his face.

"If we had a mind to cheat the world, Maria, we might do so, by paying a visit to that house."

"In what way?"

"I might take you in Maria Hastings, and bring you out Mrs. George G.o.dolphin."

"What do you mean?" she inquired, completely puzzled.

Mr. George laughed. "The man who lives there, Sandy Bray, has made more couples one than a rustic parson. Some people call him a public nuisance; others say he is a convenience, as it is three miles to the nearest kirk. He goes by the nickname of Minister Bray. Many a lad and la.s.sie have stolen in there, under cover of the twilight, and in five minutes have come forth again, married, the world being none the wiser."

"Is it the place they call Gretna Green?" inquired Maria in much astonishment.

"No, it is not Gretna Green. Only a place of the same description, and equally serviceable."