VII. THE EVENTS OF EIGHTEEN DAYS
1. AUGUST THE SEVENTEENTH
The time of day was four o'clock in the afternoon. The place was
the lady's study or boudoir, Knapwater House. The person was Miss
Aldclyffe sitting there alone, clothed in deep mourning.
The funeral of the old Captain had taken place, and his will had
been read. It was very concise, and had been executed about five
years previous to his death. It was attested by his solicitors,
Messrs. Nyttleton and Tayling, of Lincoln's Inn Fields. The whole
of his estate, real and personal, was bequeathed to his daughter
Cytherea, for her sole and absolute use, subject only to the payment
of a legacy to the rector, their relative, and a few small amounts
to the servants.
Miss Aldclyffe had not chosen the easiest chair of her boudoir to
sit in, or even a chair of ordinary comfort, but an uncomfortable,
high, narrow-backed, oak framed and seated chair, which was allowed
to remain in the room only on the ground of being a companion in
artistic quaintness to an old coffer beside it, and was never used
except to stand in to reach for a book from the highest row of
shelves. But she had sat erect in this chair for more than an hour,
for the reason that she was utterly unconscious of what her actions
and bodily feelings were. The chair had stood nearest her path on
entering the room, and she had gone to it in a dream.
She sat in the attitude which denotes unflagging, intense,
concentrated thought--as if she were cast in bronze. Her feet were
together, her body bent a little forward, and quite unsupported by
the back of the chair; her hands on her knees, her eyes fixed
intently on the corner of a footstool.
At last she moved and tapped her fingers upon the table at her side.
Her pent-up ideas had finally found some channel to advance in.
Motions became more and more frequent as she laboured to carry
further and further the problem which occupied her brain. She sat
back and drew a long breath: she sat sideways and leant her
forehead upon her hand. Later still she arose, walked up and down
the room--at first abstractedly, with her features as firmly set as
ever; but by degrees her brow relaxed, her footsteps became lighter
and more leisurely; her head rode gracefully and was no longer
bowed. She plumed herself like a swan after exertion.
'Yes,' she said aloud. 'To get HIM here without letting him know
that I have any other object than that of getting a useful man--
that's the difficulty--and that I think I can master.'
She rang for the new maid, a placid woman of forty with a few grey
hairs.
'Ask Miss Graye if she can come to me.'
Cytherea was not far off, and came in.
'Do you know anything about architects and surveyors?' said Miss
Aldclyffe abruptly.
'Know anything?' replied Cytherea, poising herself on her toe to
consider the compass of the question.
'Yes--know anything,' said Miss Aldclyffe.
'Owen is an architect and surveyor's draughtsman,' the maiden said,
and thought of somebody else who was likewise.
'Yes! that's why I asked you. What are the different kinds of work
comprised in an architect's practice? They lay out estates, and
superintend the various works done upon them, I should think, among
other things?'
'Those are, more properly, a land or building steward's duties--at
least I have always imagined so. Country architects include those
things in their practice; city architects don't.'
'I know that, child. But a steward's is an indefinite fast and
loose profession, it seems to me. Shouldn't you think that a man
who had been brought up as an architect would do for a steward?'
Cytherea had doubts whether an architect pure would do.
The chief pleasure connected with asking an opinion lies in not
adopting it. Miss Aldclyffe replied decisively--
'Nonsense; of course he would. Your brother Owen makes plans for
country buildings--such as cottages, stables, homesteads, and so
on?'
'Yes; he does.'
'And superintends the building of them?'
'Yes; he will soon.'
'And he surveys land?'
'O yes.'
'And he knows about hedges and ditches--how wide they ought to be,
boundaries, levelling, planting trees to keep away the winds,
measuring timber, houses for ninety-nine years, and such things?'
'I have never heard him say that; but I think Mr. Gradfield does
those things. Owen, I am afraid, is inexperienced as yet.'
'Yes; your brother is not old enough for such a post yet, of course.
And then there are rent-days, the audit and winding up of
tradesmen's accounts. I am afraid, Cytherea, you don't know much
more about the matter than I do myself. . . . I am going out just
now,' she continued. 'I shall not want you to walk with me to-day.
Run away till dinner-time.'
Miss Aldclyffe went out of doors, and down the steps to the lawn:
then turning to the left, through a shrubbery, she opened a wicket
and passed into a neglected and leafy carriage-drive, leading down
the hill. This she followed till she reached the point of its
greatest depression, which was also the lowest ground in the whole
grove.
The trees here were so interlaced, and hung their branches so near
the ground, that a whole summer's day was scarcely long enough to
change the air pervading the spot from its normal state of coolness
to even a temporary warmth. The unvarying freshness was helped by
the nearness of the ground to the level of the springs, and by the
presence of a deep, sluggish stream close by, equally well shaded by
bushes and a high wall. Following the road, which now ran along at
the margin of the stream, she came to an opening in the wall, on the
other side of the water, revealing a large rectangular nook from
which the stream proceeded, covered with froth, and accompanied by a
dull roar. Two more steps, and she was opposite the nook, in full
view of the cascade forming its further boundary. Over the top
could be seen the bright outer sky in the form of a crescent, caused
by the curve of a bridge across the rapids, and the trees above.
Beautiful as was the scene she did not look in that direction. The
same standing-ground afforded another prospect, straight in the
front, less sombre than the water on the right or the trees all
around. The avenue and grove which flanked it abruptly terminated a
few yards ahead, where the ground began to rise, and on the remote
edge of the greensward thus laid open, stood all that remained of
the original manor-house, to which the dark margin-line of the trees
in the avenue formed an adequate and well-fitting frame. It was the
picture thus presented that was now interesting Miss Aldclyffe--not
artistically or historically, but practically--as regarded its
fitness for adaptation to modern requirements.
In front, detached from everything else, rose the most ancient
portion of the structure--an old arched gateway, flanked by the
bases of two small towers, and nearly covered with creepers, which
had clambered over the eaves of the sinking roof, and up the gable
to the crest of the Aldclyffe family perched on the apex. Behind
this, at a distance of ten or twenty yards, came the only portion of
the main building that still existed--an Elizabethan fragment,
consisting of as much as could be contained under three gables and a
cross roof behind. Against the wall could be seen ragged lines
indicating the form of other destroyed gables which had once joined
it there. The mullioned and transomed windows, containing five or
six lights, were mostly bricked up to the extent of two or three,
and the remaining portion fitted with cottage window-frames
carelessly inserted, to suit the purpose to which the old place was
now applied, it being partitioned out into small rooms downstairs to
form cottages for two labourers and their families; the upper
portion was arranged as a storehouse for divers kinds of roots and
fruit.
The owner of the picturesque spot, after her survey from this point,
went up to the walls and walked into the old court, where the
paving-stones were pushed sideways and upwards by the thrust of the
grasses between them. Two or three little children, with their
fingers in their mouths, came out to look at her, and then ran in to
tell their mothers in loud tones of secrecy that Miss Aldclyffe was
coming. Miss Aldclyffe, however, did not come in. She concluded
her survey of the exterior by making a complete circuit of the
building; then turned into a nook a short distance off where round
and square timber, a saw-pit, planks, grindstones, heaps of building
stone and brick, explained that the spot was the centre of
operations for the building work done on the estate.
She paused, and looked around. A man who had seen her from the
window of the workshops behind, came out and respectfully lifted his
hat to her. It was the first time she had been seen walking outside
the house since her father's death.
'Strooden, could the Old House be made a decent residence of,
without much trouble?' she inquired.
The mechanic considered, and spoke as each consideration completed
itself.
'You don't forget, ma'am, that two-thirds of the place is already
pulled down, or gone to ruin?'
'Yes; I know.'
'And that what's left may almost as well be, ma'am.'
'Why may it?'
''Twas so cut up inside when they made it into cottages, that the
whole carcase is full of cracks.'
'Still by pulling down the inserted partitions, and adding a little
outside, it could be made to answer the purpose of an ordinary six
or eight-roomed house?'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'About what would it cost?' was the question which had invariably
come next in every communication of this kind to which the
superintending workman had been a party during his whole experience.
To his surprise, Miss Aldclyffe did not put it. The man thought her
object in altering an old house must have been an unusually
absorbing one not to prompt what was so instinctive in owners as
hardly to require any prompting at all.
'Thank you: that's sufficient, Strooden,' she said. 'You will
understand that it is not unlikely some alteration may be made here
in a short time, with reference to the management of the affairs.'
Strooden said 'Yes,' in a complex voice, and looked uneasy.
'During the life of Captain Aldclyffe, with you as the foreman of
works, and he himself as his own steward, everything worked well.
But now it may be necessary to have a steward, whose management will
encroach further upon things which have hitherto been left in your
hands than did your late master's. What I mean is, that he will
directly and in detail superintend all.'
'Then--I shall not be wanted, ma'am?' he faltered.
'O yes; if you like to stay on as foreman in the yard and workshops
only. I should be sorry to lose you. However, you had better
consider. I will send for you in a few days.'
Leaving him to suspense, and all the ills that came in its train--
distracted application to his duties, and an undefined number of
sleepless nights and untasted dinners, Miss Aldclyffe looked at her
watch and returned to the House. She was about to keep an
appointment with her solicitor, Mr. Nyttleton, who had been to
Budmouth, and was coming to Knapwater on his way back to London.
2. AUGUST THE TWENTIETH
On the Saturday subsequent to Mr. Nyttleton's visit to Knapwater
House, the subjoined advertisement appeared in the Field and the
Builder newspapers:--
'LAND STEWARD.
'A gentleman of integrity and professional skill is required
immediately for the MANAGEMENT of an ESTATE, containing about 1000
acres, upon which agricultural improvements and the erection of
buildings are contemplated. He must be a man of superior education,
unmarried, and not more than thirty years of age. Considerable
preference will be shown for one who possesses an artistic as well
as a practical knowledge of planning and laying out. The
remuneration will consist of a salary of 22O pounds, with the old
manor-house as a residence--Address Messrs. Nyttleton and Tayling,
solicitors, Lincoln's Inn Fields.'
A copy of each paper was sent to Miss Aldclyffe on the day of
publication. The same evening she told Cytherea that she was
advertising for a steward, who would live at the old manor-house,
showing her the papers containing the announcement.
What was the drift of that remark? thought the maiden; or was it
merely made to her in confidential intercourse, as other
arrangements were told her daily. Yet it seemed to have more
meaning than common. She remembered the conversation about
architects and surveyors, and her brother Owen. Miss Aldclyffe knew
that his situation was precarious, that he was well educated and
practical, and was applying himself heart and soul to the details of
the profession and all connected with it. Miss Aldclyffe might be
ready to take him if he could compete successfully with others who
would reply. She hazarded a question:
'Would it be desirable for Owen to answer it?'
'Not at all,' said Miss Aldclyffe peremptorily.
A flat answer of this kind had ceased to alarm Cytherea. Miss
Aldclyffe's blunt mood was not her worst. Cytherea thought of
another man, whose name, in spite of resolves, tears, renunciations
and injured pride, lingered in her ears like an old familiar strain.
That man was qualified for a stewardship under a king.
'Would it be of any use if Edward Springrove were to answer it?' she
said, resolutely enunciating the name.
'None whatever,' replied Miss Aldclyffe, again in the same decided
tone.
'You are very unkind to speak in that way.'
'Now don't pout like a goosie, as you are. I don't want men like
either of them, for, of course, I must look to the good of the
estate rather than to that of any individual. The man I want must
have been more specially educated. I have told you that we are
going to London next week; it is mostly on this account.'
Cytherea found that she had mistaken the drift of Miss Aldclyffe's
peculiar explicitness on the subject of advertising, and wrote to
tell her brother that if he saw the notice it would be useless to
reply.
3. AUGUST THE TWENTY-FIFTH
Five days after the above-mentioned dialogue took place they went to
London, and, with scarcely a minute's pause, to the solicitors'
offices in Lincoln's Inn Fields.
They alighted opposite one of the characteristic entrances about the
place--a gate which was never, and could never be, closed, flanked
by lamp-standards carrying no lamp. Rust was the only active agent
to be seen there at this time of the day and year. The palings
along the front were rusted away at their base to the thinness of
wires, and the successive coats of paint, with which they were
overlaid in bygone days, had been completely undermined by the same
insidious canker, which lifted off the paint in flakes, leaving the
raw surface of the iron on palings, standards, and gate hinges, of a
staring blood-red.
But once inside the railings the picture changed. The court and
offices were a complete contrast to the grand ruin of the outwork
which enclosed them. Well-painted respectability extended over,
within, and around the doorstep; and in the carefully swept yard not
a particle of dust was visible.
Mr. Nyttleton, who had just come up from Margate, where he was
staying with his family, was standing at the top of his own
staircase as the pair ascended. He politely took them inside.
'Is there a comfortable room in which this young lady can sit during
our interview?' said Miss Aldclyffe.
It was rather a favourite habit of hers to make much of Cytherea
when they were out, and snub her for it afterwards when they got
home.
'Certainly--Mr. Tayling's.' Cytherea was shown into an inner room.
Social definitions are all made relatively: an absolute datum is
only imagined. The small gentry about Knapwater seemed unpractised
to Miss Aldclyffe, Miss Aldclyffe herself seemed unpractised to Mr.
Nyttleton's experienced old eyes.
'Now then,' the lady said, when she was alone with the lawyer; 'what
is the result of our advertisement?'
It was late summer; the estate-agency, building, engineering, and
surveying worlds were dull. There were forty-five replies to the
advertisement.
Mr. Nyttleton spread them one by one before Miss Aldclyffe. 'You
will probably like to read some of them yourself, madam?' he said.
'Yes, certainly,' said she.
'I will not trouble you with those which are from persons manifestly
unfit at first sight,' he continued; and began selecting from the
heap twos and threes which he had marked, collecting others into his
hand.
'The man we want lies among these, if my judgment doesn't deceive
me, and from them it would be advisable to select a certain number
to be communicated with.'
'I should like to see every one--only just to glance them over--
exactly as they came,' she said suasively.
He looked as if he thought this a waste of his time, but dismissing
his sentiment unfolded each singly and laid it before her. As he
laid them out, it struck him that she studied them quite as rapidly
as he could spread them. He slyly glanced up from the outer corner
of his eye to hers, and noticed that all she did was look at the
name at the bottom of the letter, and then put the enclosure aside
without further ceremony. He thought this an odd way of inquiring
into the merits of forty-five men who at considerable trouble gave
in detail reasons why they believed themselves well qualified for a
certain post. She came to the final one, and put it down with the
rest.
Then the lady said that in her opinion it would be best to get as
many replies as they possibly could before selecting--'to give us a
wider choice. What do you think, Mr. Nyttleton?'
It seemed to him, he said, that a greater number than those they
already had would scarcely be necessary, and if they waited for
more, there would be this disadvantage attending it, that some of
those they now could command would possibly not be available.
'Never mind, we will run that risk,' said Miss Aldclyffe. 'Let the
advertisement be inserted once more, and then we will certainly
settle the matter.'
Mr. Nyttleton bowed, and seemed to think Miss Aldclyffe, for a
single woman, and one who till so very recently had never concerned
herself with business of any kind, a very meddlesome client. But
she was rich, and handsome still. 'She's a new broom in estate-
management as yet,' he thought. 'She will soon get tired of this,'
and he parted from her without a sentiment which could mar his
habitual blandness.
The two ladies then proceeded westward. Dismissing the cab in
Waterloo Place, they went along Pall Mall on foot, where in place of
the usual well-dressed clubbists--rubicund with alcohol--were to be
seen, in linen pinafores, flocks of house-painters pallid from white
lead. When they had reached the Green Park, Cytherea proposed that
they should sit down awhile under the young elms at the brow of the
hill. This they did--the growl of Piccadilly on their left hand--
the monastic seclusion of the Palace on their right: before them,
the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, standing forth with a
metallic lustre against a livid Lambeth sky.
Miss Aldclyffe still carried in her hand a copy of the newspaper,
and while Cytherea had been interesting herself in the picture
around, glanced again at the advertisement.
She heaved a slight sigh, and began to fold it up again. In the
action her eye caught sight of two consecutive advertisements on the
cover, one relating to some lecture on Art, and addressed to members
of the Institute of Architects. The other emanated from the same
source, but was addressed to the public, and stated that the
exhibition of drawings at the Institute's rooms would close at the
end of that week.
Her eye lighted up. She sent Cytherea back to the hotel in a cab,
then turned round by Piccadilly into Bond Street, and proceeded to
the rooms of the Institute. The secretary was sitting in the lobby.
After making her payment, and looking at a few of the drawings on
the walls, in the company of three gentlemen, the only other
visitors to the exhibition, she turned back and asked if she might
be allowed to see a list of the members. She was a little connected
with the architectural world, she said, with a smile, and was
interested in some of the names.
'Here it is, madam,' he replied, politely handing her a pamphlet
containing the names.
Miss Aldclyffe turned the leaves till she came to the letter M. The
name she hoped to find there was there, with the address appended,
as was the case with all the rest.
The address was at some chambers in a street not far from Charing
Cross. 'Chambers,' as a residence, had always been assumed by the
lady to imply the condition of a bachelor. She murmured two words,
'There still.'
Another request had yet to be made, but it was of a more noticeable
kind than the first, and might compromise the secrecy with which she
wished to act throughout this episode. Her object was to get one of
the envelopes lying on the secretary's table, stamped with the die
of the Institute; and in order to get it she was about to ask if she
might write a note.
But the secretary's back chanced to be turned, and he now went
towards one of the men at the other end of the room, who had called
him to ask some question relating to an etching on the wall. Quick
as thought, Miss Aldclyffe stood before the table, slipped her hand
behind her, took one of the envelopes and put it in her pocket.
She sauntered round the rooms for two or three minutes longer, then
withdrew and returned to her hotel.
Here she cut the Knapwater advertisement from the paper, put it into
the envelope she had stolen, embossed with the society's stamp, and
directed it in a round clerkly hand to the address she had seen in
the list of members' names submitted to her:--
AENEAS MANSTON, ESQ.,
WYKEHAM CHAMBERS,
SPRING GARDENS.
This ended her first day's work in London.
4. FROM AUGUST THE TWENTY-SIXTH TO SEPTEMBER THE FIRST
The two Cythereas continued at the Westminster Hotel, Miss Aldclyffe
informing her companion that business would detain them in London
another week. The days passed as slowly and quietly as days can
pass in a city at that time of the year, the shuttered windows about
the squares and terraces confronting their eyes like the white and
sightless orbs of blind men. On Thursday Mr. Nyttleton called,
bringing the whole number of replies to the advertisement. Cytherea
was present at the interview, by Miss Aldclyffe's request--either
from whim or design.
Ten additional letters were the result of the second week's
insertion, making fifty-five in all. Miss Aldclyffe looked them
over as before. One was signed--
AENEAS MANSTON,
133, TURNGATE STREET,
LIVERPOOL.
'Now, then, Mr. Nyttleton, will you make a selection, and I will add
one or two,' Miss Aldclyffe said.
Mr. Nyttleton scanned the whole heap of letters, testimonials, and
references, sorting them into two heaps. Manston's missive, after a
mere glance, was thrown amongst the summarily rejected ones.
Miss Aldclyffe read, or pretended to read after the lawyer. When he
had finished, five lay in the group he had selected. 'Would you
like to add to the number?' he said, turning to the lady.
'No,' she said carelessly. 'Well, two or three additional ones
rather took my fancy,' she added, searching for some in the larger
collection.
She drew out three. One was Manston's.
'These eight, then, shall be communicated with,' said the lawyer,
taking up the eight letters and placing them by themselves.
They stood up. 'If I myself, Miss Aldclyffe, were only concerned
personally,' he said, in an off-hand way, and holding up a letter
singly, 'I should choose this man unhesitatingly. He writes
honestly, is not afraid to name what he does not consider himself
well acquainted with--a rare thing to find in answers to
advertisements; he is well recommended, and possesses some qualities
rarely found in combination. Oddly enough, he is not really a
steward. He was bred a farmer, studied building affairs, served on
an estate for some time, then went with an architect, and is now
well qualified as architect, estate agent, and surveyor. That man
is sure to have a fine head for a manor like yours.' He tapped the
letter as he spoke. 'Yes, I should choose him without hesitation--
speaking personally.'
'And I think,' she said artificially, 'I should choose this one as a
matter of mere personal whim, which, of course, can't be given way
to when practical questions have to be considered.'
Cytherea, after looking out of the window, and then at the
newspapers, had become interested in the proceedings between the
clever Miss Aldclyffe and the keen old lawyer, which reminded her of
a game at cards. She looked inquiringly at the two letters--one in
Miss Aldclyffe's hand, the other in Mr. Nyttleton's.
'What is the name of your man?' said Miss Aldclyffe.
'His name--' said the lawyer, looking down the page; 'what is his
name?--it is Edward Springrove.'
Miss Aldclyffe glanced towards Cytherea, who was getting red and
pale by turns. She looked imploringly at Miss Aldclyffe.
'The name of my man,' said Miss Aldclyffe, looking at her letter in
turn; 'is, I think--yes--AEneas Manston.'
5. SEPTEMBER THE THIRD
The next morning but one was appointed for the interviews, which
were to be at the lawyer's offices. Mr. Nyttleton and Mr. Tayling
were both in town for the day, and the candidates were admitted one
by one into a private room. In the window recess was seated Miss
Aldclyffe, wearing her veil down.
The lawyer had, in his letters to the selected number, timed each
candidate at an interval of ten or fifteen minutes from those
preceding and following. They were shown in as they arrived, and
had short conversations with Mr. Nyttleton--terse, and to the point.
Miss Aldclyffe neither moved nor spoke during this proceeding; it
might have been supposed that she was quite unmindful of it, had it
not been for what was revealed by a keen penetration of the veil
covering her countenance--the rays from two bright black eyes,
directed towards the lawyer and his interlocutor.
Springrove came fifth; Manston seventh. When the examination of all
was ended, and the last man had retired, Nyttleton, again as at the
former time, blandly asked his client which of the eight she
personally preferred. 'I still think the fifth we spoke to,
Springrove, the man whose letter I pounced upon at first, to be by
far the best qualified, in short, most suitable generally.'
'I am sorry to say that I differ from you; I lean to my first notion
still--that Mr--Mr. Manston is most desirable in tone and bearing,
and even specifically; I think he would suit me best in the long-
run.'
Mr. Nyttleton looked out of the window at the whitened wall of the
court.
'Of course, madam, your opinion may be perfectly sound and reliable;
a sort of instinct, I know, often leads ladies by a short cut to
conclusions truer than those come to by men after laborious round-
about calculations, based on long experience. I must say I
shouldn't recommend him.'
'Why, pray?'
'Well, let us look first at his letter of answer to the
advertisement. He didn't reply till the last insertion; that's one
thing. His letter is bold and frank in tone, so bold and frank that
the second thought after reading it is that not honesty, but
unscrupulousness of conscience dictated it. It is written in an
indifferent mood, as if he felt that he was humbugging us in his
statement that he was the right man for such an office, that he
tried hard to get it only as a matter of form which required that he
should neglect no opportunity that came in his way.'
'You may be right, Mr. Nyttleton, but I don't quite see the grounds
of your reasoning.'
'He has been, as you perceive, almost entirely used to the office
duties of a city architect, the experience we don't want. You want
a man whose acquaintance with rural landed properties is more
practical and closer--somebody who, if he has not filled exactly
such an office before, has lived a country life, knows the ins and
outs of country tenancies, building, farming, and so on.'
'He's by far the most intellectual looking of them all.'
'Yes; he may be--your opinion, Miss Aldclyffe, is worth more than
mine in that matter. And more than you say, he is a man of parts--
his brain power would soon enable him to master details and fit him
for the post, I don't much doubt that. But to speak clearly' (here
his words started off at a jog-trot) 'I wouldn't run the risk of
placing the management of an estate of mine in his hands on any
account whatever. There, that's flat and plain, madam.'
'But, definitely,' she said, with a show of impatience, 'what is
your reason?'
'He is a voluptuary with activity; which is a very bad form of man--
as bad as it is rare.'
'Oh. Thank you for your explicit statement, Mr. Nyttleton,' said
Miss Aldclyffe, starting a little and flushing with displeasure.
Mr. Nyttleton nodded slightly, as a sort of neutral motion, simply
signifying a receipt of the information, good or bad.
'And I really think it is hardly worth while to trouble you further
in this,' continued the lady. 'He's quite good enough for a little
insignificant place like mine at Knapwater; and I know that I could
not get on with one of the others for a single month. We'll try
him.'
'Certainly, Miss Aldclyffe,' said the lawyer. And Mr. Manston was
written to, to the effect that he was the successful competitor.
'Did you see how unmistakably her temper was getting the better of
her, that minute you were in the room?' said Nyttleton to Tayling,
when their client had left the house. Nyttleton was a man who
surveyed everybody's character in a sunless and shadowless northern
light. A culpable slyness, which marked him as a boy, had been
moulded by Time, the Improver, into honourable circumspection.
We frequently find that the quality which, conjoined with the
simplicity of the child, is vice, is virtue when it pervades the
knowledge of the man.
'She was as near as damn-it to boiling over when I added up her
man,' continued Nyttleton. 'His handsome face is his qualification
in her eyes. They have met before; I saw that.'
'He didn't seem conscious of it,' said the junior.
'He didn't. That was rather puzzling to me. But still, if ever a
woman's face spoke out plainly that she was in love with a man, hers
did that she was with him. Poor old maid, she's almost old enough
to be his mother. If that Manston's a schemer he'll marry her, as
sure as I am Nyttleton. Let's hope he's honest, however.'
'I don't think she's in love with him,' said Tayling. He had seen
but little of the pair, and yet he could not reconcile what he had
noticed in Miss Aldclyffe's behaviour with the idea that it was the
bearing of a woman towards her lover.
'Well, your experience of the fiery phenomenon is more recent than
mine,' rejoined Nyttleton carelessly. 'And you may remember the
nature of it best.'
