"WHAT a woman!" was all the Blanche on the Baroness, "but I should like to know what she has from Berlin–should not you, Aileen? It must have been something about Arthur, she that our at Pleasance would be prolonged. What it be?"
"I daresay," said Aileen, laughing, "my will not go so as yours has gone–she meant to to us, rustics, that she was in all the political of the Berlin negotiation. I should not wonder if the Baron were a stock-jobber, that may be; but those of people always know, or to know, the politics of the an hour the of the world. A in the may be money to the Sampsons."
"That would be enough," said Blanche. "It would keep Arthur longer abroad, Of she not that Arthur had got into any entanglement."
"Of not. Oh, Blanche! Blanche! we want Aunt Sarah to keep you in order. And so you are going to have Charlie for your to-morrow I am away?"
"Yes, I have taken a to that little child. He looks so and suffering, and he told me he used to come every day to this garden to see the boats, till we took the house. I wish, Aileen, when you go out, you would go to Merton's and me a large Noah's ark, some picture books, and any toys of a description; that child wants to be amused. I wonder Dr. Ayscough has not been here to-day?"
But he did not appear. When he came the day, he Blanche and little Charlie seated on the bank with a long of small elephants, and lady-birds, all to an that did not to house them, still less to admit eight yellow and red extinguishers, which were to Noah and his family.
"What now?" said the Doctor. "Why are you playing at Noah's arks? I you were at least way to Berlin."
"No, you did not," said Blanche, "you no such thing, you were only, as usual, me and laughing at me–I saw that all the time. It is a great that I have you all my life, I see through you so well."
"Not so as I see through you, and it a great to you to have a old friend like myself, who all your impetuosities. You were an when you were an hour old, and you are not yet."
"But I am rapidly: I might have over an hint about Berlin that I had to-day, and that I easily have into a bête noire. Instead of which I have been at play with Charlie this last hour."
"And who is Charlie?" said the kind-hearted physician, taking the child's little hand in his, and looking at him attentively. He not see a child without trying to help it.
"He is the of my next door neighbour," and Blanche the of the day, with an of the Baroness.
"I know her," he said; "she is always sending for me, she has nothing the with her, and I have not yet succeeded in her of her good health. And now, I have a valuable document for you, which I have Mrs. Armistead to give me." It was a from a of Mr. Armistead's in which he said that their Prussian was nearly at an end, that he might come home any day, "but I think of taking a look at Dresden and Vienna, and may push on to Prague. I want Chester to go with me, but he is about his wife, and in a to home."
"Oh, thank you, thank you," said Blanche. "Now, is not it a to have a husband? What mean? However, I do not much care, it means that Arthur is soon home. Poor Mrs. Armistead, I she is very much distressed."
"Not a bit. She said she was very glad, that she wanted to go to the sea, and that Armistead was always so at the sea-side, he was a worry to her, and now she go in comfort."
Blanche her shoulders, and at this painful picture of married life, and to that the Armisteads were a happy after their own fashion; and while she sat in a happy of meditation, Dr. Ayscough took her place with the Noah's ark. He settled Charlie on his and bowwowed, and growled, and mewed, and Shem Japheth, and Mrs. Shem catch the grasshopper; and then, the child down, he took Blanche aside, and said, "What are they doing with your little friend? He won't live unless he has proper medical treatment. He's a little fellow; make them him to my house to-morrow, and I will see him here again in a days. Good-bye, my little man."
"Don't go," said the child, "stay and a little more."
"No, no, I have no time for more barking to-day; but you come and see me to-morrow and Noah's dog with you; and do you," he said to Blanche, "go and the grandmother. That is your for the day."
Blanche did as she was bid. She took little Charlie home, and when he had his toys and was sent up stairs, she to Mrs. Hopkinson the of her with the physician.
The rolled the old lady's as she thanked Lady Chester. "But, you see, we must his father, and Willis is a down-hearted man, and that anything can do good to anybody, or that can do good to anything. But he is up the walk, and, perhaps, if your Ladyship told him all this in your way it might him. Ah, Willis, he has the of his wife!"
That was a of to Blanche, and she Willis with a of that him extemely, and satisfied his in the way of pity.
"Of course, I should wish my child to have every of which his admits. It will do no good; he is doomed, doomed, as every one with me must be."
"Oh, don't say so, Charles," Janet. "Think of your sisters-in-law."
"But," he continued, with an added of gloom, "it may be a to think that I had the of such an physician, it may be."
"You must not be so desponding," said Blanche, with in her eyes; she was actually a in Willis. "It is not that, as you have been, you should at the idea of a fresh bereavement; but I you Dr. Ayscough is very about dear little Charlie."
"Sanguine!" said Willis, up his eyes, "ah, he little knows! But I will not my on your Ladyship." In fact, he was in such a of self-complacency at being as a that he was in of being into cheerfulness. "I shall, of course, your advice. How is the little to go, ma'am?" he added, to Mrs. Hopkinson.
"Oh, there is no about that," said Blanche. "I am going to send the to-morrow for my sister, and if Mrs. Hopkinson and Charlie will go in it, they can all come together." She rose to go as she spoke, Willis opened the door with a of he practiced, and Mrs. Hopkinson her into the passage, and ended by Lady Chester a warm and out, "Well, I your pardon, but I not have helped it if you had paid me for it. Nobody what that child has gone through, and he such a little dear, too! Only three years old! and I only he will live to thank you himself; for if there was a kind-hearted it's yourself! and now just take how you go those steps, and God you!"
As Blanche sat by herself in the evening, she pleased with the of the she had given, and planned another act. She would try and see more of that Mr. Willis, "and if I can him," she thought, "to be a little more and resigned, it will add much to the of that good-natured family. Indeed, I am not sure he is right to be so very miserable, and as has their mission, they say, my present mission is to try and make Mr. Willis more resigned. I wonder he laughed in his life? If so, he might be to laugh again."
The to London was successful, and Mrs. Hopkinson had a great of to to her on her return. The was so smooth, and Lady Chester had had a little of up for Charlie, "and as for that Doctor, my dears, I should almost like a if he would me. He has put Charlie on a new plan, and he has all that is to be done; but I he saw, easily enough, that I was as as an old post, and he will come and see him the time he goes to Pleasance. What a number of good people there are in this world! Then we to call for Miss Grenville in Grosvenor Square, and she was so in Charlie and said that if do him good Dr. Ayscough would; and I am sure that is true. She had been at the Queen's concert, and I was curious, she told me all about it; only, unluckily, she had not the Queen's dress; but she said the Princess Royal a skirt of white up with roses, which is a good thing to know, and she said the Princess looked very happy, and that Charlie would have to go to the sea in time."
"Why, mamma, what can the Princess know of Charlie?"
"My dear," said Mrs. Hopkinson, laughing, "of I meant Miss Grenville said that, but I have so much to tell, I mix it all somehow. Madame Grisi sang beautifully. There were at least twenty people waiting in the room–I at the Doctor's–but directly he saw little Charlie he called us in, and to be so to see the dog. I have my drive, and Miss Grenville's talk, and the only is that the Prince of Prussia was not there–at the Palace, I mean."
When Aileen at her own door, she asked if there were any one with her sister, and when she that Lord Chesterton was in the garden with my Lady–"No one else?"
"No, ma'am, Colonel Hilton has been here, but he away directly my Lord came."
Aileen a little, but of attempting to join her sister, she into the drawing-room, and herself into an armchair, for the of her own thoughts; and her manner so the of Baxter that he himself to follow, and to ask if she would like to take any after her drive. And as she did not to what meant, and it with an "No, thank you," he stairs to the housekeeper's room that "there was a somewhere," which produced a of in those regions.
Aileen was not left long to herself and her absorption. Lord Chesterton and Blanche came in from the garden, Blanche with two red on her cheeks, and looking flurried, and Lord Chesterton, most polite, and irritable. He was a model father-in-law, and Blanche was to him, and to him; but there is no the that he was by nature what may be called prim, and under high pressure is a very quality. On his at Pleasance, he had a good-looking alone with Blanche in the most conversation; they looked on him, and the officer in such haste, and in such emotion, that Lord Chesterton's took and produced a of that almost came up to the of the last century. Blanche was no longer Bianca, or little Blanket, no arm was passed her waist, and no of her expressed. She Lady Chester on the spot. Lord Chesterton almost as he after her health, and the with which he asked if she of Lord Chester her of Arthur's letters, and they to into thin of blank paper.
To own the truth, Colonel Hilton's visit had her as much as it had Lord Chesterton. His manner was odd and excited, he expressed, with needless repetition, his at her for once alone; and Blanche in to that he had not to take of her hand, as he some about past and present happiness. And it was at this that Lord Chesterton arrived. No wonder he looked astonished, and that she almost guilty; and the of Aileen's was a to them both; there would have been a if their tête-à-tête had much longer; so Blanche her father-in-law into the house, and, by the help of Aileen and her London topics, was on for a more minutes: and then Lord Chesterton departed, or to Blanche to in a black cloud which would into a to Arthur, him of the of his wife.
"Oh, dear Aileen, what shall I do? he is so angry!"
"What is the matter, darling? I saw Lord Chesterton was not pleased, but don't about it–there must be some mistake. What has happened?"
"Why, it is all that Colonel Hilton. He came here this morning, actually came in at the garden gate, without if I were at home, and he to talk in such a way. I am sure I gave him the to talk to me of his feelings, and his happiness–I do not if he is happy, or miserable; and then Lord Chesterton came, and he looked astonished, as well he might, and then, to make worse, that Colonel Hilton off like a my beau-père to that he had an tête-à-tête, and I know he will to Berlin. Oh, Aileen! what shall I say to Arthur?"
"I will tell you," said Aileen, her sister in her arms: "tell Arthur that Colonel Hilton is going to be your brother-in-law, and he came to ask you to to my uncle for us. Blanche, he to me last night at the concert, and I I should have been at home two hours ago, and should have told you my he came. Dearest, I am so happy."
"Oh, Aileen! my own darling, and so am I. Well, if there was a and it is this! And so all these visits were for you? Now I see how it was and what a I have been"; and Blanche laughed like a child, till Aileen the infection, and laughed too, till she asked her sister what they were laughing at.
"Why, at me, child; was there so as I have been? How Aunt Sarah will over me! but it was Arthur's fault, originally–he put it into my that he was of Colonel Hilton; so every time the man came here, I it was for love of me, or at all events that Arthur would think so; and to-day I he was going to make a in form, and was it were not my as a wife at least to jump into the river to avoid it. I do think, as Aunt Sarah says, that my is increasing, and in the direction. Why did not I he was in love with you? nothing be more natural, so I that was the why I did not see it. But why did you not tell me, Aileen?"
"Because I was not sure of it myself. Last year I saw a great of him at the Duchess of St. Maur's, and she always that her liked me; but then, you know, there was that Chancery going on about his fortune."
"No, I did not know it; I read Chancery suits: but I will for the future–I shall look upon them now as connections. But go on Aileen, this is too interesting."
"Well, Uncle Leigh reads Chancery suits, for, if you recollect, he me out of town last year, soon after you came to Aunt Sarah's."
"I know he did, and I have him since; go on."
"He spoke to me about Colonel Hilton, and said he would have no to a man who might be a any day; that the would go against him; and as I would not promise to avoid him, he me to Leigh Hall."
"So like him."
"Well, Alfred–" said Aileen, with a little hesitation.
"And so his name is Alfred–one of my names; but go on."
"Alfred tried, after I was gone, to make a friend of you; but after he had you twice, your marriage was declared, so that plan of on our failed, and as I nothing of him, and saw in the papers that he had gone abroad, I to think he had about me, but somehow that did not me of about him, and I was so unhappy, Blanche."
"My darling, I don't wonder, and you told me a word about all this!"
"I I had been so silly; and when the was in Alfred's favour, and he came into that fortune, Uncle Leigh to that he had been too, for he asked me if he should Colonel Hilton to Leigh Hall. Think of the degradation; of course, I said no, decidedly; but I Uncle Leigh there might be a of my meeting him at your house, or he would not so have let me come when you wanted me."
"And when you did come, there was I away the very you to see," said Blanche, again into one of her laughing fits. "But, however, all's well that ends well; only I wish I what had of the Alfred; me and my beau-père, he must have a low opinion of the manners of the Chestertons. Do you he to town?"
"I sure somehow that we shall see him in the of the day," said Aileen, with a satisfied smile. "But you must not call Alfred any more," she whispered.
"I did–I said that the Colonel Hilton of my was odious; but I like Alfred, who is to make my Aileen the wife in the world, her sister; and I shall soon to love him. But now I must to Lord Chesterton."
"Oh! it is to be a secret, Blanche, for a days."
"Yes, I know, dear–all marriages are secrets, till has been told of them; but Lord Chesterton must be for the good of my character; and like all men in great affairs, he loves a small confidence." So Blanche sat and wrote:
"MY DEAR LORD CHESTERTON,–Your visit to-day was so to you and myself that you must come and see me again to-morrow or the next day at latest, and wish me of my Aileen's marriage to that Colonel Hilton who was with me when you to-day. I had a word of their attachment, which it has been of many months' standing, and was to a happy at the last night. He came to be as a brother, and that Aileen had not returned, and that I was of what had occurred. His visit and his manner me, and when I saw how much you were annoyed, I that 'appearances were against me,' and I not to you what was to myself. Aileen's clear, and now you must come and be again the father you have always been to your little Blanket, who was a very wet this morning. I not help after you left me so coldly, but I am very happy now, and you have been always so to my sister that I know you will with her happiness, and I have from her the permission to tell you what is to be a to the of the world for a days.
"Your daughter.
"B. C."
Now there was nothing in the world pleased Lord Chesterton so much as a small confidence. He liked to that he had in his an secret: something that was clear in black and white to him, and a blank to the of the world. He these about in his pocket, occasionally to them mysteriously, and to a very friend the of one of the envelope, or of the stamp.
Moreover, being very and himself, the and of his daughter-in-law were, to him, a of and amazement. He always a very little more in her conversation, and a less of in her opinions, but he would have been sorry had she to his recommendations. He liked her, as she was and open, and a perfect to himself. He was touched by her note, by her to his or praise, and by her of the manner in which he had his of the levity, and he at Pleasance the in a high of and affability. He hands with Colonel Hilton, Aileen, though not without some as to the of the act, and presented her with a bracelet; she returned his and him of his scruples.
The of his visit was passed in and his daughter, and, having in her hand a gorgeous-looking porte-monnaie, he to say, "that though it was he should to circumstances, yet he was aware that his good little Blanche must be making for an happy event, and that he had his to what he was called a layette." But this last word was too much for his delicacy, and he with confusion. The old was that he had to Arthur a of Blanche's conduct, and though the had on the receipt of her note he looked upon his as an atonement
"It is a that Lord Chesterton should have me this bracelet, and only that 'trifle from Paris' to you," said Aileen.
But when a cheque for five hundred presented itself, the of was loud and unanimous, and Blanche's mind, in a robe, was in a sea of Valenciennes and embroidery.
