Her Mother's Secret Part 4

All the young ladies to whom he was introduced had fathers and mothers in the prime of life who bade fair to outlive the handsome colonel himself by many years, and ever so many brothers and sisters.

Indeed, large families seemed to be the rule in that neighborhood, and only daughters who were heiresses the exception that could nowhere be found.

It was strange that in all his search for a girl with expectations the colonel had never thought of Odalite.

But, then, she was only sixteen years of age, and she looked much younger.

She seemed to be merely the eldest child among children.

One day early in December an event occurred that opened his eyes. A letter arrived from foreign parts that gave the whole family, and especially Odalite, the greatest pleasure. She ran about with it open in her hands, and read it to her parents, to her sisters, and even to her governess.

Col. Anglesea, in his self-absorption, took not the slightest interest in this family jubilee and felt not the least curiosity concerning the letter which had caused it.

But Mr. Force, in the generous exuberance of his nature, wished to share his pleasure with all others, and so, joining his guest in a walk over the frozen fields that winter morning, he smiled and said:

"We have just received a letter from my ward and cousin, Midshipman Leonidas Force, who has been at sea for the last three years, but is now homeward bound and is expected to arrive in time for Christmas; and then I should not wonder if we should have to celebrate a New Year's wedding," he added.

"Ah! So the young gentleman is engaged. And who is the young lady?"

inquired the colonel, making an effort to appear interested.

"Why! is it possible you don't know? I thought everybody knew!" exclaimed the father, looking surprised.

"But I, you must remember, am a comparative stranger, and I am ignorant."

"Well, then, of course, the lady in question is my eldest daughter, a very little lady as yet."

"Miss Force! Why, she is a mere schoolgirl! She must have been a little child when he went away, if he has been gone three years," said Col.

Anglesea, in surprise; and then he fell into musing.

"She is sixteen now, and she was thirteen when he sailed. Of course there was no formal engagement between them then--there could not have been, you know; but it was understood! You see, sir, it is a family matter! The children have been brought up together with a view to their future union.

They are certainly very fond of each other. Their marriage is a very desirable one on every account. As I have no son, my eldest daughter will inherit this manor--one of the oldest and largest in Maryland, and one which has been in the family since the first settlement of the province, more than two hundred years ago, when Aaron Force, who came over with Leonard Calvert, received a grant of the land--a thousand acres, then. We have not lost an acre in all these generations, but rather gained a third more. There are fifteen hundred acres now. All this must 'fall to the distaff' and go out of the family unless my daughter should marry her cousin, Leonidas Force. He also has recently inherited a considerable estate, joining this, and, like this, with a long sea front. It is not always that young people submit to be guided by their elders in the matter of marriage, but I am happy to say that my boy and girl have very readily taken our views of the case and will follow them. So they will probably be married very early in the new year, and the old ancestral estate will not pa.s.s out of the old family name."

"I see," said the colonel, "and I heartily congratulate you on the prospect."

Then he fell into deep thought. Presently he said:

"She has not seen her lover for three years, since she was a child?"

"No, not since she was thirteen."

"When is he expected to return?"

"About Christmas."

"Ah, yes! You told me! She is very young to be married."

"Yes; but we do marry our girls very young when everything else is suitable--as in this case," smiled Mr. Force.

"But after three years of separation from the youth whom she parted with in her childhood, may not your daughter have changed her mind?"

"Oh, no!" earnestly replied the father.

"But you cannot know this until the young pair meet again. Suppose now, for instance, that when Miss Force sees the youth she may not like the idea of marrying him? What, in such a case, would be your line of policy?"

"I should have no policy. My dear daughter's happiness should be my first consideration, and the marriage could not go on."

"Exactly. That is just what I should expect of you," said the colonel, approvingly.

"Good fellow!" thought, honest Abel Force, admiringly.

"But such is not likely to be the case, colonel. She is quite fond of him as he is of her."

"Quite so," a.s.sented the colonel, as they turned and walked toward the house.

On reaching it, Mr. Force went in; but Col. Anglesea excused himself, and remained on the outside. He wanted to walk up and down.

Here was the very heiress he had been in search of right under his eyes all the time, and he had never seen her. He had thought her a child of about fourteen years of age, and here she was sixteen, and considered marriageable.

How precocious these young American girls were, to be sure! How very early they were married!

At this point the colonel lighted a fresh cigar, strolled out upon the frozen lawn, and sat down on a rustic seat, under the branches of an old yew tree, from which he had a view of the bay, that here spread out from the foot of the hill to the distant horizon.

It was not, however, to look at the prospect of nature before his eyes, but to contemplate the prospect of the future in his imagination, that he sat there, and smoked and reflected.

"The game is in my own hands," he said to himself. "The daughter is governed entirely by the mother, whom she adores. And she must appear to act from her own free will and for her own pleasure, in order to obtain the consent of her father, who, forsooth, will sacrifice his own family ambition to his child's happiness.

"This is the third of December," he mused, "and the young fellow is expected to be home at Christmas. There is no time to be lost. I must turn the screws on my lady. There shall be a New Year's wedding at Mondreer, but Mr. Leonidas Force shall not be the happy bridegroom."

CHAPTER V

GREENBUSHES

Glad voices broke in upon Anglesea's brooding.

He looked up, and saw coming toward him the three young daughters of the house--Odalite, Wynnette and Elva, attended by their governess, Miss Meeke.

They were all equipped in their warm, brown cloth coats, b.u.t.toned up before, and their brown, beaver poke bonnets tied under their chins. They carried little baskets in their hands and dragged along sticks after them.

"Will you take a walk with us through the woods this morning, Col.

Anglesea? Father has gone into town to attend court, you know; and mother has a little headache, and has locked herself up in her room to lie down and sleep. And we are going for a walk. Will you go?" inquired Odalite, as graciously as she could force herself to do; for the girl secretly detested the interloper, though her native good breeding prevented her from ever betraying her feelings to their object. She had not failed to perceive, through her own fine sympathies rather than through any expression from Mrs. Force, that the lady was very much annoyed and distressed by the presence of this intruder into the privacy of her domestic circle; and so Odalite often quietly relieved her mother by taking charge of the visitor's entertainment, as she did on this occasion by inviting him to join their walking party.

Col. Anglesea looked at her with an amused smile, yet with more attention than he had ever regarded her before.

"Will you come with us?" she inquired again, seeing that he hesitated to reply.