"There, there!" said he, "that's enough, my dear! It's quite right
you should keep up with your relations; there's nothing more to be
said about it."
"I do think your father is the most charming man I know," said
Cynthia, on her return to Molly; "and it's that which always makes
me so afraid of losing his good opinion, and fret so when I think he
is displeased with me. And now let us think all about this London
visit. It will be delightful, won't it? I can make ten pounds go ever
so far; and in some ways it will be such a comfort to get out of
Hollingford."
"Will it?" said Molly, rather wistfully.
"Oh, yes! You know I don't mean that it will be a comfort to leave
you; that will be anything but a comfort. But, after all, a country
town is a country town, and London is London. You need not smile at
my truisms; I've always had a sympathy with M. de la Palisse,--
M. de la Palisse est mort
En perdant sa vie;
Un quart d'heure avant sa mort
Il était en vie,"
sang she, in so gay a manner that she puzzled Molly, as she often
did, by her change of mood from the gloomy decision with which she
had refused to accept the invitation only half an hour ago. She
suddenly took Molly round the waist, and began waltzing round the
room with her, to the imminent danger of the various little tables,
loaded with "_objets d'art_" (as Mrs. Gibson delighted to call them)
with which the drawing-room was crowded. She avoided them, however,
with her usual skill; but they both stood still at last, surprised
at Mrs. Gibson's surprise, as she stood at the door, looking at the
whirl going on before her.
"Upon my word, I only hope you are not going crazy, both of you!
What's all this about, pray?"
"Only because I'm so glad I'm going to London, mamma," said Cynthia,
demurely.
"I'm not sure if it's quite the thing for an engaged young lady to
be so much beside herself at the prospect of gaiety. In my time, our
great pleasure in our lovers' absence was in thinking about them."
"I should have thought that would have given you pain, because you
would have had to remember that they were away, which ought to have
made you unhappy. Now, to tell you the truth, just at the moment I
had forgotten all about Roger. I hope it wasn't very wrong. Osborne
looks as if he did all my share as well as his own of the fretting
after Roger. How ill he looked yesterday!"