Odeyne's marriage

ANTICIPATION.

"And so this is really Desmond's wedding-day?" remarked the dainty invalid, as she donned a remarkably becoming cap, and settled herself comfortably upon her pillows. "Well, to be sure, it is natural enough, I suppose, but somehow he has always seemed such a boy. Really I find it difficult to realise him with a wife. I wonder how the poor girl will get on."

"The poor girl, mother; really I do not think she is to be pitied. I think she has done uncommonly well for herself--a country clergyman's daughter," answered Maud, with a lifting of the delicate dark brows that showed a trace of superciliousness.

"That is just the whole point of the matter, my dear. If he had selected a bride out of his own world she would have known exactly what to expect from her marriage--she would have understood the risk she ran with a youth of Desmond's temperament; but this rustic maiden probably knows nothing, and will not even be on her guard. It makes me anxious for them both."

Maud looked up quickly, knitting her brows somewhat.

"But, mother, Desmond is steady enough now. He has never been more than a little wild and extravagant at Oxford, and so many young men are that. I am sure the last year or two he has been a model of discretion, and his marriage will sober him down still more--at least that is generally supposed to be the effect it has."

"I hope it may--perhaps that is his best chance. Oh no, Maud, I am not running down your brother--you need not give me such black looks. But facts are stubborn things, and it is no use trying to blink them; and the fact remains that your beloved Desmond has never yet stood up with any success against temptation. When there is no special inducement to take him out of the beaten path, he keeps to it pretty steadily; but he cannot withstand temptation, and anyone can lead him, who goes to work the right way."

"You talk as if Desmond were a pitiably weak creature, and I am sure he is anything but that."

The mother smiled a little, and shrugged her shoulders with an almost imperceptible gesture.

"We will not discuss the matter further. Desmond is one of the most attractive men I have ever seen in my life, though I am his mother that say it. He is a great many charming things, as we all know. Let us endow him with all the cardinal virtues as well, if you will. I have no objection, certainly."

Maud made no immediate reply. It was no new thing that her mother's conversation irritated her a good deal more than she would ever have admitted. But the friction was too chronic to be much noticed, and it was not long before she spoke again.

"I almost wish I had gone, after all. I think you could have spared me for two days, mother."

"I am sure I could. I told you so all along, but I thought you rather wished for a valid excuse for staying away."

"Well, I believe I did then, and now I am rather sorry. It seemed as if Desmond were almost throwing himself away, to marry like that. He could have made a really good match if he had liked, and this girl has nothing, I suppose?"

"She has a good old name and a charmingly pretty face, if her photographs do not flatter her outrageously. Of course Desmond might have done better; but then, again, he might have done worse--got into some tiresome or dangerous entanglement, so we will not fall foul of his engagement to Miss Hamilton. Why, they will be positively getting married at this very moment--yes, I wish you had been there, Maud. You could have told me all about it afterwards--how the bride behaved, and what the dresses were like, though, to be sure, in a place like that they would be nothing much to look at. Why, whoever can that be, coming at this hour of the morning? Oh, very likely only a friend to ask at the door after me."

"I think it is surely Beatrice," said Maud a moment later. "I am sure that is her step on the stairs."

"Beatrice--impossible! Beatrice is in town----"

"Is she indeed?" cried a clear, vibrating voice from without; and the next moment the door was thrown open to admit the entrance of a very stylish-looking figure, whose every movement was accompanied by the rustle of silk and the sweeping sound of rich raiment.

Beatrice Vanborough had the knack of producing an impression wherever she went. She was decidedly good-looking, but many better-looking women would attract less notice. Her figure was more perfect than her face, and she had the art of dress almost in perfection--dress in her own style, that is; and her style was to be rather extreme in richness and abundance of adornment. Still, she contrived never to look over-dressed in an ostentatious way, and was greatly admired wherever she went. She spoke with a good deal of gesture, and had several little mannerisms that some people called affectations; but she was abundantly good-natured, and delighted to do anyone a kindness, especially if it did not put her out at all personally, and she was a marked contrast in most external ways to her quiet sister Maud, albeit an excellent understanding existed between them.

"Yes, here I am, you see. We ran down last night, Algy and I. Ascot fairly knocked me up--it was so fearfully hot, I felt like being grilled alive every hour of the day, and then Algy was unlucky, and that made the dear boy a bit bearish; so on the whole we decided that a week of country air would do us good, and here we are. And so Desmond is really being married to-day? Why, Maud, it is too bad of you not to be there. I did my best to get Algy to the scratch, but a country parson's family was altogether too much for him. My lord would not budge an inch, and I could not well go without him; but you ought to be ashamed of yourself. It looks as if his family held aloof, and really I am delighted that the dear boy has taken a wife and settled down. And it will be such an advantage to get the Chase inhabited again. I trust the little rustic maid will not be altogether too ingenuous and rustic. I mean to make great friends with her, and regularly initiate her into the mysteries of fashionable life."

"Well, it will be a very good thing if you do take her in hand; you will do it better than Maud, and I must not attempt much, or I shall get the character of the interfering mother-in-law directly. Yes, I hope it will turn out happily for both; but I could wish he had taken a fancy to someone of whom his family knew more."

"Oh, do you think so? Now, I quite like the idea of the new element about to be introduced. Give me novelty above all things! And is it really true that Desmond is going into the business? That seems to me the most wonderful thing of all. Our bright, careless Desmond to turn into a City merchant! You should have seen how Algy and I laughed when we heard the news. Algy gives him a month before he throws the whole concern overboard."

The mother smiled, and made one of her little indescribable gestures, of which Beatrice's seemed the exaggerated copy; but Maud took up the cudgels, and replied with grave directness--

"I do not see why you should laugh. I think it is a very sensible thing to do. A man is always better for an occupation; and perhaps in time there will be a family to provide for, and it would be much better not to let the business slip out of his hands altogether."

"Sensible! why of course it is sensible; it is the appalling sensibility of the arrangement that is the joke of it. It seems to me that the little bride must have an eye to the main chance, in making such a stipulation, in which case I have hopes of her. She will be better than a fortune to him, if she can only induce him to stick to the collar, and interest himself in the mercantile house. I know what idle men are like"; and she made a little expressive gesture with her daintily-gloved hands.

Maud said nothing, but let her sister rattle away as she would. It was always rather entertaining to hear Beatrice talk, and it did her mother good to be amused. Of course, if they would persist in misunderstanding Desmond, and making jokes about him, it was not her fault. She was the only one in the family who really appreciated him.

"I sent her the loveliest wedding present--really when the time came I took great credit to myself for making up my mind to part with it at all. Algy did grumble at the bill; but one couldn't be stingy to the bride of the only son of the house. It was the sweetest necklace of pearls you ever saw in your life. If she has a complexion she will be enchanted with them. She wrote me a very pretty letter of thanks, but I don't think she had the least idea of the value of them. I think she will turn out a dear little girl. I quite love her already. I wish I could see her now. I offered to superintend the making of the wedding dress at my own woman's; but no, the child had the exquisite innocence to prefer her own dressmaker. I fear my lady will find that she must have another wedding dress made, to face the county in, but she can find all that out for herself in time. I do not think we shall find her lacking in a species of sound common-sense."

"I sent her a dressing-bag," said Mrs. St. Claire, who was looking roused and interested, "and Maud some silver, I don't exactly remember what. Of course she will find more gifts of mine at the Chase when she gets there. Have you seen the place since it was done up for them, Beatrice? Really you ought to go; it looks charming. Desmond has been mighty particular in his orders, I can tell you. He has spent a lot of money over it, you may be sure."

"And quite right too. He has plenty, and he ought to keep up his position in the place. He cannot have spent his income these past years, and he is right in making his home comfortable before settling down. Seen it? No, how could I have seen it? I have not been in these parts for an age. Happy thought! we will drive over there this afternoon, Maud, whilst mother has her nap. I told Algy not to expect me back to lunch. We will certainly go home viâ the Chase."

So after the midday meal Mrs. Vanborough's carriage was ordered, and the two sisters set off for a visit to their old home.

The Chase, though within thirty miles of the great metropolis, was still to all intents and purposes a country house. It lay in the midst of lovely scenery, not far from the valley of the Thames, was surrounded by wooded hills and running water, and formed altogether a charming retreat, despite the fact that mansions and villas showed a disposition to crop up in the vicinity, and people began to prognosticate that in the course of time the place might be much spoilt by over-building. But for the present, at least, that danger was not imminent, and in no case could the house itself suffer very much, for it was surrounded by its own small but well-wooded park, some fifty acres in extent, and nothing could be seen from the windows of the living-rooms but the gardens and grass-land and fine timber belonging to it.

The Chase was a thorough-going, old-fashioned house, such as are growing more and more scarce every year, with gable ends, twisted chimneys, and great cross-way beams let into the brickwork at intervals.