"You never had any in Paris or in London, mother, and yet you got on
very well."
"That was a matter of necessity, then; you were a youth at college; we
could not have your company; but now you are a young man, and your
place, until you marry, is with me and my daughters. We shall need your
escort, dear Herman, and be happier for your company. I should be very
glad if I could induce to accompany us to the city."
"And I should be very glad to do so, dear mother, but for the
engagements that bind me here."
She did not ask the very natural question of what those engagements
might be. She did not wish to let him see that she knew or suspected his
attachment to Nora Worth, so she answered: "You refer to the improvements and additions you mean, to add to
Brudenell Hall. Surely these repairs had better be deferred until the
spring, when the weather will be more favorable for such work?"
"My dear mother, all the alterations I mean to have made inside the
house can very well be done this winter. By the next summer I hope to
have the whole place in complete order for you and my sisters to return
and spend the warm weather with me."
The lady lifted her head. She had never known her son to be guilty of
the least insincerity. If he had looked forward to the coming of herself
and her daughters to Brudenell, to spend the next summer, he could not,
of course, be contemplating the removal of Nora Worth to the house.
"Then you really expect us to make this our home, as heretofore, every
summer?" she said.
"I have no right to expect such a favor, my dear mother: but I sincerely
hope for it," said the son courteously.
"But it is not every young bachelor living on his own estate who cares
to be restrained by the presence of his mother and sisters; such
generally desire a life of more freedom and gayety than would be proper
with ladies in the house," said Mrs. Brudenell.
"But I am not one of those, mother; you know that my habits are very
domestic."
"Yes. Well, Herman, it may just as well be understood that myself and
the girls will return here to spend the summer. But now--the previous
question! Can you not be prevailed on to accompany us to Washington?"
"My dear mother! anything on earth to oblige you I would do, if
possible! But see! you go on Saturday, and this is Thursday night. There
is but one intervening day. I could not make the necessary arrangements.
I have much business to transact with my overseer; the whole year's
accounts still to examine, and other duties to do before I could
possibly leave home. But I tell you what I can do; I can hurry up these
matters and join you in Washington at the end of the week, in full time
to escort you and my sisters to that grand national ball of which I hear
them incessantly talking."