must make you welcome to my studio,” said Mrs. Graham; “there is no fire in the sitting-room today, and it is very cold.”
She resumed her place beside the easel. It was a view of Wildfell Hall at early morning.
“I see your heart is in your work, Mrs. Graham,” observed I. “Our presence will interrupt, we shall regard ourselves as unwelcome intruders.”
“Oh, no!” replied she and threw her brush on to the table. “I can readily spare a few minutes to the few that favour me with their company.”
“You have almost completed your painting,” said I, with a greater degree of admiration and delight than I expressed. “But why have you called it Fernley Manor, Cumberland, instead of Wildfell Hall?”
“Because I have friends – acquaintances at least – from whom I desire to conceal my present abode.”
“Then you don't intend to keep the picture?” said I.
“No; I cannot afford to paint for my own amusement.”
“Mamma sends all her pictures to London,” said Arthur; “and somebody sells them for her there, and sends us the money.”
I remarked a pretty sketch of Lindenhope from the top of the hill; another view of the old hall in the sunny haze of a quiet summer afternoon; and a simple little picture of a child, with glimpses of dark low hills and autumnal fields behind it.
“I really have nothing else to paint,” observed the fair artist. “They say that you have a fine view of the sea somewhere in the neighbourhood. Is it true? And is it far?”
“Yes, if you are ready to walk four miles – or nearly so – eight miles, there and back.”
“In what direction does it lie?”
I described the situation.
“Oh, stop! Don't tell me now: I shall forget every word of your directions before I require them. I shall not go there till next spring; and then, perhaps, I may trouble you. At present we have the winter before us, and – ”
She suddenly paused, with a suppressed exclamation, started up from her seat, and said,
“Excuse me one moment!”
She hurried from the room, and shut the door behind her.
I looked from the window and beheld the man's coat behind a large bush that stood between the window and the porch.
“It's mamma's friend,” said Arthur.
Rose and I looked at each other. Rose began to talk to him, while I looked at the pictures. I discovered another picture. It was the portrait of a gentleman – handsome enough. It was evidently some years before. I surveyed it with considerable interest. Soon the fair artist returned.
“Someone was asking about the pictures,” said she, in apology for her departure: “I told him to wait.”
“I fear it will be considered an act of impertinence,” I said, “to look at a picture that the artist has turned to the wall; but may I ask – ”
“It is an act of very great impertinence, sir; and therefore I beg you will ask nothing about it,” replied she.
She was seriously annoyed. Then she took the picture from me; and quickly restored it to the dark corner, with its face to the wall, and then turned to me and laughed.
I carelessly turned to the window. Then I told my sister it was time to go, shook hands with the little gentleman, coolly bowed to the lady, and moved towards the door. Mrs. Graham smiled, – “Mr. Markham, I'm sorry I offended you by my abruptness.”
When a lady apologizes, I can't be angry, of course. We parted good friends for once. This time I squeezed her hand with a cordial pressure.
Chapter VI
During the next four months I did not enter Mrs. Graham's house; but still the ladies continued to talk about her. And still our acquaintance continued, though slowly, to advance. Sometimes I saw her myself, not only when she came to church, but when she was out on the hills with her son. I liked to see Mrs. Graham, and to talk to her. I decidedly liked to talk to her little companion, who was a very amiable and intelligent little fellow. We soon became excellent friends. What pleased her best of all was to see him with Sancho, while I walked by her side – not for love of my company (though I sometimes deluded myself with that idea). Those active sports were invigorating to her son, that's all.
One bright February morning, during twenty minutes' stroll along the moor, she was discoursing with so much eloquence and depth of thought, that I went home enchanted. And I thought it was, perhaps, better to spend one's days with such a woman than with Eliza Millward. Then I (figuratively) blushed for my inconstancy.
“However,” thought I, “I cannot marry Eliza, since my mother so strongly objects to it. So I must not delude the girl with the idea that I intended to do so. Mrs. Graham can be equally objectionable. But I shall not fall seriously in love with the young widow, I think, nor she with me – that's certain.”
One calm, clear afternoon, in March, I saw Mrs. Graham down by the brook, with a sketch-book in her hand. She was absorbed in her favourite art, while Arthur was constructing dams and breakwaters in the shallow, stony stream.
“Do you not find it a desolate place to live in?” said I, after a moment of silent contemplation.
“I do, sometimes,” replied she. “On winter evenings, when Arthur is in bed, and I am sitting there alone. But it is folly to give way to such weakness, I know. Rachel is satisfied with such a life. Indeed, I must be thankful for such an asylum.”
Then bid me good-evening and withdrew.
Soon perceived Mr. Lawrence, on his pretty grey pony. I went a little out of my way to speak to him.
“Was that Mrs. Graham you were speaking to just now?” said he.
“Yes.”
“Humph! I thought so.”
“Well! What then?”
“Oh, nothing!” replied he. “Only I thought you disliked her.”
“Suppose I did. Can't a man change his mind?”
“Yes, of course,” returned he. “Then you have changed your mind?”
“I can't say that I have exactly. No; I think I hold the same opinion – but slightly ameliorated.”
“Oh!” He glanced up at the moon.
“Lawrence,” said I calmly, “are you in love with Mrs. Graham?”
He laughed.
“I am in love with her!” repeated he. “Why do you think so?”
“From the interest you take in the progress of my acquaintance with the lady, and the changes of my opinion concerning her, I thought you were jealous.”
He laughed again.
“Jealous! no. But I thought you were going to marry Eliza Millward.”
