第19章

"I have once or twice caught her in tears.Every now and then--sometimes when she is talking quite gayly--she suddenly changes color and becomes silent and depressed.Just now, when she left the table (didn't you notice it?), she looked at me in the strangest way--almost as if she was sorry for me.What do these things mean?"Horace's reply, instead of increasing Lady Janet's anxiety, seemed to relieve it.He had observed nothing which she had not noticed herself."You foolish boy!" she said, "the meaning is plain enough.Grace has been out of health for some time past.The doctor recommends change of air.I shall take her away with me.""It would be more to the purpose," Horace rejoined, "if I took her away with me.She might consent, if you would only use your influence.Is it asking too much to ask you to persuade her? My mother and my sisters have written to her, and have produced no effect.Do me the greatest of all kindnesses--speak to her to-day!" He paused, and possessing himself of Lady Janet's hand, pressed it entreatingly."You have always been so good to me," he said, softly, and pressed it again.

The old lady looked at him.It was impossible to dispute that there were attractions in Horace Holmcroft's face which made it well worth looking at.Many a woman might have envied him his clear complexion, his bright blue eyes, and the warm amber tint in his light Saxon hair.Men--especially men skilled in observing physiognomy--might have noticed in the shape of his forehead and in the line of his upper lip the signs indicative of a moral nature deficient in largeness and breadth--of a mind easily accessible to strong prejudices, and obstinate in maintaining those prejudices in the face of conviction itself.

To the observation of women these remote defects were too far below the surface to be visible.He charmed the sex in general by his rare personal advantages, and by the graceful deference of his manner.To Lady Janet he was endeared, not by his own merits only, but by old associations that were connected with him.His father had been one of her many admirers in her young days.Circumstances had parted them.Her marriage to another man had been a childless marriage.In past times, when the boy Horace had come to her from school, she had cherished a secret fancy (too absurd to be communicated to any living creature) that he ought to have been her son, and might have been her son, if she had married his father! She smiled charmingly, old as she was--she yielded as his mother might have yielded--when the young man took her hand and entreated her to interest herself in his marriage."Must I really speak to Grace?" she asked, with a gentleness of tone and manner far from characteristic, on ordinary occasions, of the lady of Mablethorpe House.Horace saw that he had gained his point.He sprang to his feet; his eyes turned eagerly in the direction of the conservatory; his handsome face was radiant with hope.Lady Janet (with her mind full of his father) stole a last look at him, sighed as she thought of the vanished days, and recovered herself.

"Go to the smoking-room," she said, giving him a push toward the door."Away with you, and cultivate the favorite vice of the nineteenth century." Horace attempted to express his gratitude."Go and smoke!" was all she said, pushing him out."Go and smoke!"Left by herself, Lady Janet took a turn in the room, and considered a little.

Horace's discontent was not unreasonable.There was really no excuse for the delay of which he complained.Whether the young lady had a special motive for hanging back, or whether she was merely fretting because she did not know her own mind, it was, in either case, necessary to come to a distinct understanding, sooner or later, on the serious question of the marriage.The difficulty was, how to approach the subject without giving offense."I don't understand the young women of the present generation," thought Lady Janet."In my time, when we were fond of a man, we were ready to marry him at a moment's notice.And this is an age of progress! They ought to be readier still."Arriving, by her own process of induction, at this inevitable conclusion, she decided to try what her influence could accomplish, and to trust to the inspiration of the moment for exerting it in the right way."Grace!" she called out, approaching the conservatory door.The tall, lithe figure in its gray dress glided into view, and stood relieved against the green background of the winter-garden.

"Did your ladyship call me?"

"Yes; I want to speak to you.Come and sit down by me."With those words Lady Janet led the way to a sofa, and placed her companion by her side.

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