Leonore Stubbs Part 25

"You may leave Paul to me," said Maud.

It appeared that Paul had brought a dog, and to Leo it was excruciatingly funny to see General Boldero with this dog. He would have Lion brought in--he from whose path all the animals belonging to the lower stratum of household society fled by instinct--and his efforts to coax the big, gentle creature from beneath his master's chair were continuous. Whenever conversation flagged, Lion was admired and petted.

Finally he made a joke. Leo and Lion? Ha, ha, ha! Upon which Paul raised his eyes which were mainly bent upon the ground, and Leo saw them fully for the first time. They were dark grey and very soft. They had an infinite amount of expression, and although she certainly could not call them sad at the moment, she felt that they might once have been so and might be so again.

But she was not anxious to speak to Paul, and every one else was. By Maud, as was natural, he was chiefly appropriated, but he listened to every remark that was made, and without opening his lips took as it were a leading part in the conversation.

General Boldero was eager to describe his shooting; he had planned how to put its best side forward, and, while deprecating its merits as superlative, to leave no doubt as to its being superior to that of his neighbours.

He hoped Paul would not expect too much; on the other hand, such as it was, and it was not--hum, ha--to be exactly despised, it had been carefully saved up for him.

"You are very good, sir," said Paul, gratefully.

"I was coming home from church last Sunday morning," continued the general--and stopped, apparently to pick up his stick which slipped, but in reality to let the words sink in--"we walk across the fields from church, it cuts off a mile--and I marked a covey of sixteen. That's not a bad covey, is it?"

"It is so long since I shot in England, sir, that I am afraid I hardly know a large covey from a small one."

"You have been tracking bigger game. I envy you that. But we poor stay-at-homes must be content with what we can get. Valentine Purcell--that's a young neighbour of ours--walked home from church with me on Sunday, and he was astonished at the size of our coveys. We are to shoot his, later on in the week."

Having thus twice brought in that he had been at church, though the tenor of his speech was partridge-shooting, the general felt that he had acquitted himself to admiration, and cast a glance of triumph at Maud.

Maud had been apprehensive of his manners forsooth? He hoped he knew better than to tread on any one's toes; and a man who could afford to give his daughter a handsome establishment and was on the look-out for a house with a private chapel attached, had every right to his consideration.

He had decreed that no official mention should be made of the family party having been augmented at dinner.

"It's the custom in French houses for the abbe to appear without invitation when he pleases. A very good custom; I wish it prevailed in England," he alleged unblushingly. "As it doesn't, it is not our fault if Custance only comes when he's asked; and I should certainly--Paul would certainly, eh, Maud?--You needn't look stupid, my dear," with a sudden touch of irritation. "You know very well what I mean."

And as she did and the rest did likewise, it was left to himself to say easily as the party broke up: "We have only our good rector to meet you to-night; he is quite _l'ami intime_ here, as I am sure you will agree with me the clergyman of the parish ought to be. Squire and parson hand in hand, eh?"

"And now I think I have settled that," quoth General Boldero to himself.

He had shot both his bolts; and though for a moment dismayed by the reflection that he had no more in reserve, there was consolation in the hope that no more would be required of him. Paul was evidently a gentlemanly fellow who would avoid unpleasant subjects.

The general opinion of Paul, though it took a different form, was equally favourable.

No sooner had the lovers disappeared in orthodox fashion, than encomiums broke out all round. They compared him with people they knew; he was like one man but taller--he reminded them of another but he was handsomer. Perhaps he was not strictly handsome, but certainly he was distinguished looking. If his nose were not a little on one side, it would be a good nose. Sue had not noticed that it was on one side; she thought it a very good nose as it was. Sue was even more enthusiastic than Sybil. Sybil lamented the absence of a moustache. Let a mouth be ever so good, a moustache was an improvement,--whereat her father stroked his own and agreed with her.

In the midst of it all, Leonore slipped aside, and pa.s.sed into the next room where the photograph was. She was going to convince herself of its being unlike, absolutely unlike, the original. She was going to discover, point by point, wherein lay the contrast, and abandon for ever the old Paul, thus replaced by the new.

The old Paul looked at her, and she started.

For the new Paul had looked, just once, for a single pa.s.sing minute, the same.

CHAPTER XIII.

"I AM TO GIVE YOU A WIDE BERTH, ALWAYS."

A formal dinner-party was of course necessary to introduce Major Foster to the neighbourhood, and it took place a week after his arrival.

"You will wear your best white silk, I suppose, Leo," said Sue, beforehand.

"No," said Leo, sharply.

"Won't you, dear? But we are all going to dress up a little, and you look so well in white."

"I--never mind, I am not going to wear it."

"What shall you wear?"

"Something--anything."

"But, Leo----"

"What _does_ it matter? Why should you care? You never used to worry about my clothes;" perceiving however that Sue looked hurt, Leo laughed--not quite naturally. "Don't you see, stupid old darling, that white silk--well, it makes a bride, and _I_ am not the bride."

"But you wore it in London."

"One wears in London what one never wears out of it." There was finality in the tone, but Sue persevered; she had not the art of letting well alone.

"Your only other is the grey voile."

"Well, it would do well enough," impatiently. "It's in rags, but it will do. You ought to be flattered, as it was your present."

"But it really is rather the worse for wear, Leo; and the white silk----"

Leo ran out of the room, and presently she was seen tearing down the avenue at breakneck speed, and did not look round, though hailed loudly from the terrace, as she swept out of sight.

"So tiresome!" exclaimed Maud, joining her eldest sister within; "I had been hunting everywhere for Leo; she promised to show Harrison the new way of doing the hair, and Harrison is ready now. It was Leo herself who said it would suit me."

"She must have forgotten," said Sue; "but I daresay she has only gone for a little run, and will be back directly. You know she often does run out in the twilight."

"It was very inconsiderate, I think. She had the whole afternoon to go out in, and then to take the only time when she could have been of use!"

Sue was silent, feeling both for the offender and the offended. Maud certainly had a grievance, for Leo's good offices had been volunteered not besought, and further Leo was aware that Harrison, good soul, was a despot of the worst type.

All the Boldero servants were despots--all the heads of departments at least; they had the strength of long-continued, undisputed rule--and Harrison, who had begun by being a little schoolroom maid, taken on the recommendation of the late vicar, while yet Sue was young and her sisters children, now governed them with a rod of iron. It was only in consideration of Maud's present att.i.tude that the present concession regarding her hair had been made, and it was felt to be so magnanimous that she was positively aghast at Leo's delinquency.

"It is only six o'clock now," adventured Sue, soothingly. "Could you not----?"

"How can I? If you mean send after her? No one knows where she is by this time. I called and called, but she never looked round. You might have reminded her, Sue."

"I should, if I had thought of it myself. But though she was here just now, we were talking of other things."

"What other things? Everything else is settled. The dinner-table really looks very nice," in mollified accents; "Watts has done the flowers beautifully, and Grier has condescended to have out all the plate. Well, I must go and break it to Harrison, I suppose--but if she is in a temper, she won't wait, even if I suggest it."

"I don't think I should suggest it," said Sue. She had an instinct that waiting would be of no use, and it proved to be a correct instinct.