Dynevor Terrace, vol 2 | Page 5

wonder if Mrs. Mansell knew it all herself,
for her maid has a tongue a yard long. I won't say but I thought there
might be some grain of truth at the bottom--'
'And you shall hear it by-and-by, when I know what it is myself.'
'I'd not say I would have believed it the more if that fine gentleman had
taken his oath of it--a fellow that ain't to be trusted,' observed the
Captain.
This might have led to a revelation, if Louis had had time to attend to it;
but he had pity on James's impatient misery, and proceeded to ask the
loan of the boat. The tide would not, however, serve; and as waiting till
it would was not to be endured, the two cousins set off to walk together
through the woods, Louis beguiling the way by chaffing James, as far
as he would bear, with the idea of Isabel's name being trifled with by
the profane crowd.
He left James at the gate of the park, prowling about like a panther to
try for a glimpse of Isabel's window, and feeding his despair and
jealousy that Louis should boldly walk up to the door, while he, with so
much better a right, was excluded by his unguarded promise to Lady
Conway.
All the tumultuary emotions of his mind were endlessly repeated, and
many a slow and pealing note of the church-clock had added fuel to his
impatience, and spurred him to rush up to the door and claim his rights,
before Louis came bounding past the lodge-gates, flourishing his cap,
and crying, 'Hurrah, Jem! All right!'
'I'm going to her at once!' cried Jem, beginning to rush off; but Louis
caught and imprisoned his arm.
'Not so fast, sir! You are to see her. I promise you shall see her if you
wish it, but it must be in my aunt's way.'
'Let me go, I say!'
'When I have walked five miles in your service, you won't afford me an
arm to help me back. I am not a horse with wings, and I won't be
Cupid's post except on my own terms. Come back.'
'I don't stir till I have heard the state of the case.'
'Yes, you do; for all the sportsmen will be coming home, and my aunt

would not for all the world that Mr. Mansell caught you on the
forbidden ground.'
'How can you give in to such shuffling nonsense! If I am to claim
Isabel openly, why am I not to visit her openly? You have yielded to
that woman's crooked policy. I don't trust you!'
'When you are her son, you may manage her as you please. Just now
she has us in her power, and can impose conditions. Come on; and if
you are good, you shall hear.'
Drawing James along with him through the beechwood glades, he
began, 'You would have been more insane still if you had guessed at
my luck. I found Isabel alone. Mrs. Mansell had taken the girls to some
juvenile fete, and Delaford was discreet enough not to rouse my aunt
from her letters. I augured well from the happy conjunction.'
'Go on; don't waste time in stuff.'
'Barkis is willing, then. Is that enough to the point?'
'Fitzjocelyn, you never had any feelings yourself, and therefore you
trifle with those of others.'
'I beg your pardon. It was a shame! Jem, you may be proud. She trusts
you completely, and whatever you think sufficient, she regards as
ample.'
'Like her! Only too like her. Such confidence makes one feel a
redoubled responsibility.'
'I thought I had found something at which you could not grumble.'
'How does she look? How do they treat her?'
'Apparently they have not yet fed her on bread and water. No; seriously,
I must confess that she looked uncommonly well and lovely! Never
mind, Jem; I verily believe that, in spite of absence and all that, she had
never been so happy in her life. If any description could convey the
sweetness of voice and manner when she spoke of you! I could not look
in her face. Those looks can only be for you. We talked it over, but she
heeded no ways and means; it was enough that you were satisfied. She
says the subject has never been broached since the flight from
Northwold, and that Lady Conway's kindness never varies; and she told
me she had little fear but that her dear mamma would be prevailed on
to give sanction enough to hinder her from feeling as if she were doing
wrong, or setting a bad example to her sisters. They know nothing of it;
but Walter, who learnt it no one knows how, draws the exemplary

moral, that it serves his mother right