A Double Knot Part 11

"Because your inflammable young heart will not be set on fire by antique virgins and blus.h.i.+ng widows of sixty."

"I don't know so much about that," cried the lad excitedly, taking off his natty little foraging cap. "Marcus, dear boy, I was walking round a cloister sort of place with a fountain in the middle, and then through a blank square court, and I saw three of the loveliest women, at one of the windows, I ever saw in my life."

"Distance lends enchantment to the view, my dear boy. If you had gone closer you would have seen the wrinkles and the silvery hairs, if they had not been dyed."

"I tell you they weren't old," continued d.i.c.k, whose eyes sparkled like those of a girl.

"I'm not a marrying man, for reasons best known to my banker and my creditors."

"Two of them were dark and the other was fair," continued the lad, revelling in his description. "Oh, those two dark girls! You never saw such eyes, such hair, such lovely complexions. Juno-like--that they were. I was quite struck."

"Foolish?"

"No, no; the Lelys in one of the rooms are nothing to them."

"Lilies?"

"Nonsense--Lelys: the pictures, Court beauties. I could only stand and gaze at them."

"Young buck--at gaze," said the other, smiling at the boy's enthusiasm.

"What was the fair one like?"

"Oh, sweet and Madonnaesque--pensive and gentle. Look here, Marcus, you and I will have a walk round there presently."

"Not if my name's Marcus," said the other, laughing. "Go along, you silly young b.u.t.terfly, scenting honey in every flower. I say, d.i.c.k, shall you go in full review order?"

"I wish you weren't so fond of chaffing a fellow."

"Did the maidens--old, or young, or doubtful--at the window see our handsome young Adonis with his cl.u.s.tering curls?"

"Hang me if I ever tell you anything again!" cried the lad pettishly.

"Where do you keep your matches? You are always chaffing."

"Not I," said the other, turning himself lazily in his chair, "only I want to see you grow into a matter-of-fact man."

"Is it a sign of manhood to grow into a Diogenes sort of fellow, who sneers at every woman he sees?" said the lad hotly.

"No, d.i.c.k, but it's a sign of hobble-de-hoyishness to be falling in love with pretty housemaids and boarding-school girls."

"Which I don't do," said the lad fiercely.

"Except when you are forming desperate attachments to well-developed ladies, who, after your stupid young heart has been pretty well frizzled in the imaginary fire cast by their eyes, turn out to be other men's wives."

"I declare you are unbearable, Glen," cried the lad hotly.

"My dear d.i.c.k, you are the most refres.h.i.+ng little chap I ever knew,"

said the other, rising. "There, put on your cap, my boy, and let's go;"

and leaving the direction of their course to his younger companion, Captain Glen found himself at last on the broad walk facing the old red-brick Palace.

"I wonder you have never seen it before."

"So do I; but I never did. Well, old Dutch William had a very good idea of taking care of himself, that's all I can say."

"But come along here; some of the interior is very curious, especially the quadrangles."

"So I should suppose," said Glen drily. "But I have a fancy for examining some of these quaint old parterres and carven trees, so we'll turn down here."

Richard Millet's countenance twitched, but he said nothing; and together they strolled about the grounds, the elder pointing out the pretty effects to be seen here and there, the younger seeing nothing but the faces of three ladies standing at a window, and longing to be back in that cloister-like square to gaze upon them again.

"This place will be dull," said Glen, as he seated himself upon a bench at the edge of a long spread of velvet turf; "but better than dingy Hounslow, and I've come to the conclusion that we might be much worse off. The society may turn out pretty decent, after all. This old garden will be splendid for a stroll. And--look there, d.i.c.k, the inhabitant of the land is fair. Here is another chance for you to fall in love."

"What, with one of those old--Oh, I say, look, look! I did not see them at first. Those are the very girls."

For Richard Millet's face had been turned in the other direction, and when he first spoke he had only caught sight of the Honourable Misses Dymc.o.x, walking side by side for their morning walk, closely followed by their three nieces, to make up for a close confinement to the house for three days, consequent upon the coming of the fresh troops to the barracks; the military being a necessary evil in the eyes of these elderly ladies, and such dreadful people that they were to be avoided upon all occasions.

"Oh, those are the damsels, are they?" said Glen, watching the little party as they walked straight on along a broad gravel path. "The old ladies look as if they were marching a squad of an Amazonian brigade to relieve guard somewhere. My word: how formal and precise! Now, I'll be bound to say, my lad, that you would like to see where they are posted, and go and commit a breach of discipline by talking to the pretty sentries."

"I should," cried d.i.c.k eagerly. "Did you notice them?"

"Well, I must own that they are nice-looking, young inflammable, certainly."

"But that first one, with the dark hair and eyes--she just glanced towards me--isn't she lovely?"

"Well, now, that's odd," said Glen, smiling. "I suppose it was my conceit: do you know, I fancied that she glanced at me. At all events, I seemed to catch her eye."

"Ah, it might seem so, but of course she recognised me again! Let's walk gently after them."

"What for?"

"To--er--well, to see which way they go."

"I don't want to know which way they go, my dear lad, and if I did, why, we can see very well from where we are. There they go, along that path to the right; you can see their dresses amongst the trees; and now they have turned off to the left. Would you like to stand upon the seat?"

"Oh, how cold and impa.s.sive you are! I feel as if I must see which way they go, and then we might take a short cut over the gra.s.s, and meet them again."

"When those two fierce-looking old gorgons would see that you were following them up, and they would fire such a round from their watchful eyes that you, my dear boy, would retire in discomfiture, and looking uncommonly foolish. I remember once, when I was somewhere about your age, I had a very severe encounter with a chaperone in a cashmere shawl."

"Oh, do get up, Glen, there's a good fellow, and let's go."

"I had fallen in love with a young lady. I fancy now that she wore drawers with frills at the bottom, and that her dresses were short-- frocks, I believe."

"There they are again," cried the boy, jumping up; "look, they are going down that path."

"I think the young lady was still in the schoolroom, but though undeveloped, and given to slipping her shoulders out of the bands of her frock, she was very pretty--bony, but pretty--and I was desperately in love."

"How wonderfully they are alike in height!"

"I believe," continued the captain, in a slow, ponderous way, though all the while he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying his companion's eagerness, "that if I had made love-offerings to my fair young friend--I never knew her name, d.i.c.k, and unkindly fate parted us--they would have taken the form of sweet cakes or acidulated drops, and been much appreciated; but alas!--"