It was, perhaps, fortunate for the general peace that just at this
moment Mr. Gibson was announced. It is odd enough to see how the
entrance of a person of the opposite sex into an assemblage of either
men or women calms down the little discordances and the disturbance
of mood. It was the case now; at Mr. Gibson's entrance my lady took
off her glasses, and smoothed her brow; Mrs. Kirkpatrick managed
to get up a very becoming blush, and as for Molly, her face glowed
with delight, and the white teeth and pretty dimples came out like
sunlight on a landscape.
Of course, after the first greeting, my lady had to have a private
interview with her doctor; and Molly and her future stepmother
wandered about in the gardens with their arms round each other's
waists, or hand in hand, like two babes in the wood; Mrs. Kirkpatrick
active in such endearments, Molly passive, and feeling within herself
very shy and strange; for she had that particular kind of shy modesty
which makes any one uncomfortable at receiving caresses from a person
towards whom the heart does not go forth with an impulsive welcome.
Then came the early dinner; Lady Cumnor having hers in the quiet of
her own room, to which she was still a prisoner. Once or twice during
the meal, the idea crossed Molly's mind that her father disliked his
position as a middle-aged lover being made so evident to the men in
waiting as it was by Mrs. Kirkpatrick's affectionate speeches and
innuendos. He tried to banish every tint of pink sentimentalism from
the conversation, and to confine it to matter of fact; and when Mrs.
Kirkpatrick would persevere in referring to such things as had a
bearing on the future relationship of the parties, he insisted upon
viewing them in the most matter-of-fact way; and this continued even
after the men had left the room. An old rhyme Molly had heard Betty
use, would keep running in her head and making her uneasy,--
Two is company,
Three is trumpery.
But where could she go to in that strange house? What ought she to
do? She was roused from this fit of wonder and abstraction by her
father's saying--"What do you think of this plan of Lady Cumnor's?
She says she was advising you to have Molly as a visitor at Ashcombe
until we are married."
Mrs. Kirkpatrick's countenance fell. If only Molly would be so good
as to testify again, as she had done before Lady Cumnor! But if the
proposal was made by her father, it would come to his daughter from
a different quarter than it had done from a strange lady, be she
ever so great. Molly did not say anything; she only looked pale, and
wistful, and anxious. Mrs. Kirkpatrick had to speak for herself.