he said. “A country place is charming; but I almost wonder you haven’t got a house in town.”
“I think of taking one,” she replied. “Mildred has never been in town – never resided there, I ought to say. Her papa objected to noise and racket – didn’t care for the parks or the Opera, and disliked large parties. I don’t think he could have stood a season in town. I prefer quietude and the country myself. However, Mildred ought to be considered, and as she wishes to mix a little more with society than she is able to do here, we shall go to London for a time.”
“‘Pon my soul! you’re exceedingly kind,” cried the captain. “Miss Calverley is blessed with a most indulgent mamma – ‘sister,’ I was going to say, but I recollected myself in time.”
“I shall make her as happy as I can, so long as she remains with me,” replied Mrs. Calverley. “When my late husband entrusted his daughter to my care, he knew I should do my duty to her.”
“And your first duty,” he remarked, with a smile, “is to get her well married. That will be easily accomplished, for I hear there are many prétendants. No wonder! – she is a most lovely creature.”
“And will have a very good fortune,” said Mrs. Calverley. “I make no secret that I mean to give her thirty thousand pounds as a marriage portion.” Captain Danvers was astounded. If she was to have such a fortune as this, he began to think he had better turn his attention to the step-daughter. He endeavoured to look indifferent, but Mrs. Calverley perceived that the remark had told, as she intended it to do.
“You are the most generous of your sex, Mrs. Calverley,” he observed. “Few women, circumstanced as you are, would make so great a sacrifice.”
“I don’t consider it a sacrifice, Captain Danvers. I regard it as a duty. I simply represent her father. What he would have done, I shall do.”
“I cannot withhold my admiration of conduct as rare as it is praiseworthy,” said the captain. “I repeat, you deserve infinite credit for your generosity. But Mr. Calverley, I believe, left a son as well as a daughter? What will he say to this magnificent portion?”
“He has no voice in the matter,” replied the lady. “My husband left the entire control of his property to me.”
“A wise man! – a very wise man!” cried the captain.
“Chetwynd Calverley has been very wild and extravagant,” said the widow. “It was necessary, therefore, to tie up the property.”
“Quite necessary! – quite proper!” remarked the captain. “Though I shouldn’t like it myself,” he thought. “Is Chetwynd satisfied with the arrangement, may I ask?”
“Very much the reverse,” she replied. “But that is immaterial.”
“He doesn’t know what is good for him,” said the captain. “None of us do,” he mentally ejaculated.
“Then you approve of the course I am about to pursue, Captain Danvers?”
“Entirely, my dear madam – entirely,” he replied. “I think it most judicious.”
“And now you have asked me a good many questions, let me ask you one in return?” said Mrs. Calverley.
“Delighted to answer any questions you may put to me,” he replied, wondering what she was going to say.
“But don’t answer this, unless you like,” she observed.
“Let me hear it,” he rejoined, fearing something unpleasant was coming.
“How is it that your lovely cousin, Emmeline, has not married? I know she has had several very good offers.”
“‘Pon my honour, I can’t tell. I fancy – but mind its only fancy – she has had some disappointment.”
“I should think that scarcely possible,” observed Mrs. Calverley. “Why, she is an only child, and will be a great heiress!”
“Well, that’s the only solution I can give of the mystery. I know Lord Bollington proposed to her, and I know my uncle would have liked the match to take place, but the young lord was refused.”
“Possibly she has an attachment,” observed Mrs. Calverley, thoughtfully. “If so, it’s a great pity.”
“Here she comes, with Miss Calverley,” said Captain Danvers, as the two young ladies were seen advancing along the terrace.
XII. BRACKLEY MERE
Judging from her lively manner, no one would have dreamed that she nourished a secret attachment. But she kept it carefully locked up in the recesses of her heart, and had no confidante except Mildred.
Captain Danvers rose to meet them, but Mrs. Calverley retained her seat.
“We shall see now how he acts,” she thought.
He did not leave her long in doubt. He immediately began an animated conversation with Mildred, and kept by her side as they walked round the garden, leaving Emmeline to amuse Mrs. Calverley.
No doubt the handsome captain could make himself extremely agreeable if he chose, and he now exerted himself to the utmost, and succeeded.
Having expatiated upon the beauty of the formal old garden they were surveying, and saying how much he preferred it to the landscape style, he turned the discourse to the amusements and gaieties of London, and soon found that Mildred was really anxious to spend a season in town; whereupon he expressed the greatest satisfaction, as he should frequently have an opportunity of meeting her.
By this time Lady Barfleur had made her appearance, and as she could report nothing of Sir Leycester, she suggested a visit to the mere.
“It is a nice shady walk there through the wood,” she said; “and if you have not seen the mere, I think you will be struck by it.”
“Not by its beauty, mamma,” remarked Emmeline, “but rather by its blackness.”
“Well, such blackness as that water boasts is a beauty,” said Captain Danvers. “In my opinion, the mere is well worth seeing.”
“There are all sorts of legends attached to it,” said Emmeline. “Amongst others, there is a superstition, that when anything is about to happen to our house, a great piece of black oak, that has been sunk for ages at the bottom of the lake, floats to the surface.”
“An idle story,” remarked Lady Barfleur.
“You excite my curiosity,” said Mrs. Calverley. “I should like to see this mysterious lake.”
“You must excuse my accompanying you,” said Lady Barfleur. “Captain Danvers will conduct you there.”
“With the greatest pleasure,” said the captain. “I hope you will go too, Miss Calverley?”
“Oh, of course!” she replied.
So they all set off, with the exception of Lady Barfleur, who rarely got beyond the garden.
In a very few minutes, they
