第20章 BARBARA OF THE HOUSE OF GREBE(3)

'Speak for yourself!'she snapped through her sobs.'I am only one-and-forty!...Why didn't ye ride faster and overtake 'em!'

In the meantime the young married lovers,caring no more about their blood than about ditch-water,were intensely happy--happy,that is,in the descending scale which,as we all know,Heaven in its wisdom has ordained for such rash cases;that is to say,the first week they were in the seventh heaven,the second in the sixth,the third week temperate,the fourth reflective,and so on;a lover's heart after possession being comparable to the earth in its geologic stages,as described to us sometimes by our worthy President;first a hot coal,then a warm one,then a cooling cinder,then chilly--the simile shall be pursued no further.The long and the short of it was that one day a letter,sealed with their daughter's own little seal,came into Sir John and Lady Grebe's hands;and,on opening it,they found it to contain an appeal from the young couple to Sir John to forgive them for what they had done,and they would fall on their naked knees and be most dutiful children for evermore.

Then Sir John and his lady sat down again by the fireplace with the four-centred arch,and consulted,and re-read the letter.Sir John Grebe,if the truth must be told,loved his daughter's happiness far more,poor man,than he loved his name and lineage;he recalled to his mind all her little ways,gave vent to a sigh;and,by this time acclimatized to the idea of the marriage,said that what was done could not be undone,and that he supposed they must not be too harsh with her.Perhaps Barbara and her husband were in actual need;and how could they let their only child starve?

A slight consolation had come to them in an unexpected manner.They had been credibly informed that an ancestor of plebeian Willowes was once honoured with intermarriage with a scion of the aristocracy who had gone to the dogs.In short,such is the foolishness of distinguished parents,and sometimes of others also,that they wrote that very day to the address Barbara had given them,informing her that she might return home and bring her husband with her;they would not object to see him,would not reproach her,and would endeavour to welcome both,and to discuss with them what could best be arranged for their future.

In three or four days a rather shabby post-chaise drew up at the door of Chene Manor-house,at sound of which the tender-hearted baronet and his wife ran out as if to welcome a prince and princess of the blood.They were overjoyed to see their spoilt child return safe and sound--though she was only Mrs.Willowes,wife of Edmond Willowes of nowhere.Barbara burst into penitential tears,and both husband and wife were contrite enough,as well they might be,considering that they had not a guinea to call their own.

When the four had calmed themselves,and not a word of chiding had been uttered to the pair,they discussed the position soberly,young Willowes sitting in the background with great modesty till invited forward by Lady Grebe in no frigid tone.

'How handsome he is!'she said to herself.'I don't wonder at Barbara's craze for him.'

He was,indeed,one of the handsomest men who ever set his lips on a maid's.A blue coat,murrey waistcoat,and breeches of drab set off a figure that could scarcely be surpassed.He had large dark eyes,anxious now,as they glanced from Barbara to her parents and tenderly back again to her;observing whom,even now in her trepidation,one could see why the sang froid of Lord Uplandtowers had been raised to more than lukewarmness.Her fair young face (according to the tale handed down by old women)looked out from under a gray conical hat,trimmed with white ostrich-feathers,and her little toes peeped from a buff petticoat worn under a puce gown.

Her features were not regular:they were almost infantine,as you may see from miniatures in possession of the family,her mouth showing much sensitiveness,and one could be sure that her faults would not lie on the side of bad temper unless for urgent reasons.

Well,they discussed their state as became them,and the desire of the young couple to gain the goodwill of those upon whom they were literally dependent for everything induced them to agree to any temporizing measure that was not too irksome.Therefore,having been nearly two months united,they did not oppose Sir John's proposal that he should furnish Edmond Willowes with funds sufficient for him to travel a year on the Continent in the company of a tutor,the young man undertaking to lend himself with the utmost diligence to the tutor's instructions,till he became polished outwardly and inwardly to the degree required in the husband of such a lady as Barbara.He was to apply himself to the study of languages,manners,history,society,ruins,and everything else that came under his eyes,till he should return to take his place without blushing by Barbara's side.

'And by that time,'said worthy Sir John,'I'll get my little place out at Yewsholt ready for you and Barbara to occupy on your return.

The house is small and out of the way;but it will do for a young couple for a while.'

'If 'twere no bigger than a summer-house it would do!'says Barbara.

'If 'twere no bigger than a sedan-chair!'says Willowes.'And the more lonely the better.'

'We can put up with the loneliness,'said Barbara,with less zest.

'Some friends will come,no doubt.'

All this being laid down,a travelled tutor was called in--a man of many gifts and great experience,--and on a fine morning away tutor and pupil went.A great reason urged against Barbara accompanying her youthful husband was that his attentions to her would naturally be such as to prevent his zealously applying every hour of his time to learning and seeing--an argument of wise prescience,and unanswerable.Regular days for letter-writing were fixed,Barbara and her Edmond exchanged their last kisses at the door,and the chaise swept under the archway into the drive.