Guy was luxurious in his tastes, and it seemed to him that Maddy was
just the picture to set off that room, or in fact all the rooms at
Aikenside. She would disgrace none of them, and he found himself
wishing that Providence had made her something to him--sister or
cousin, or anything that would make her one of the Remington line.
And now, my reader, do not fall to abusing Guy, or accuse him of
forgetting Lucy Atherstone, for he did not. He thought of her many
times that evening, and in his dreams that night Lucy and Maddy shared
pretty equally, but the latter was associated with the lessons of the
morrow, while Lucy was the bright daystar for which he lived and
hoped.
It did not take long for the people of Sommerville to hear that Guy
Remington had actually turned schoolmaster, having in his library for
two hours or more each day Jessie's little girl-governess, about whose
brilliant beauty there was so much said--people wondering, as people
will, where it would end, and if it could be possible that the haughty
Guy had forgotten his English Lucy and gone to educating a wife.
The doctor, to whom these remarks were sometimes made, silently
gnashed his teeth, then said savagely that "if Guy chose to teach
Maddy Clyde, he did not see whose business it was," and then rode over
to Aikenside to see the teacher and pupil, half hoping that Guy would
soom tire of his project and give it up. But Guy grew more and more
pleased with his employment, until, at last, from giving Maddy two
hours of his time, he came to give her four, esteeming them the
pleasantest of the whole twenty-four. Guy was proud of Maddy's
improvement, praising her often to the doctor, who also marveled at
the rapid development of her mind and the progress she made, grasping
a knotty point almost before it was explained, and retaining with
wonderful tenacity what she learned.
It mattered nothing to Guy that neighbors gossiped there were none
familiar enough to tell him what was said, except the doctor or Mrs.
Noah; and so he heard few of the remarks made so frequently, As in
Honedale, so in Sommerville Maddy was a favorite, and those who
interested themselves most in the matter never said anything worse of
her and Mr. Guy than that he might perhaps be educating his own wife,
and insinuating that it would be a great "come up" for Grandfather
Markham's child. But Maddy never dreamed of such a thing, and kept on
her pleasant way, reciting every day to Guy and going every Wednesday
to the red cottage, whither, after the first visit to Uncle Joseph,
Guy never accompanied her. Jessie, on the contrary, went often to
Honedale, where one at least always greeted her coming, stealing up
closely to her, and whispering softly: "My Daisy is come again."