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'Oh, Mr. Elsmere, where is Catherine? 'I brought her home, he said gently, 'She is mine, if you will it. Give her to me again! Mrs. Leyburn's face worked pitifully. The rectory and the wedding dress, which had lingered so regretfully in her thoughts since her last sight of Catherine, sank out of them altogether. 'She has been everything in the world to us, Mr. Elsmere.
At any time Richard Leyburn's daughter would have found it hard to tolerate a society where everything is an open question and all confessions of faith are more or less bad taste. But now, when there was no refuge to fall back upon in Robert's arms, no certainty of his sympathy nay, a certainty, that, however tender and pitiful he might be, he would still think her wrong and mistaken!
Catherine, however, talked away, gently stroking the while the girl's rough hand which lay on her knee, to the mingled pain and bliss of its owner, who was outraged by the contrast between her own ungainly member and Miss Leyburn's delicate fingers. Mrs. Seaton was on the sofa beside Mrs. Thornburgh, amply avenging herself on the vicar's wife for any checks she might have received at tea.
Was the wretched thing to come off after all? He was too proud and sore to suggest an alternative. But Mrs. Thornburgh managed that for him. When he got back he told the vicar in the hall of Miss Leyburn's flight in the fewest possible words, and then his long legs vanished up the stairs in a twinkling, and the door of his room shut behind him. A few minutes afterward Mrs.
She never guessed anything; there was no need, with three daughters to think for her, and give her the benefit of their young brains. 'No, she said again. 'I can't imagine what you mean. Mrs. Thornburgh felt a rush of inward contempt for so much obtuseness. 'Well, then, he is in love with Catherine! she said abruptly, laying her hand on Mrs. Leyburn's knee, and watching the effect.
Like all theorists, especially those at second-hand, Mrs. Leyburn's maxims had been very much routed by the event. The babe had ailments she did not understand, or it developed likes and dislikes she had forgotten existed in babies, and Mrs. Leyburn was nonplussed. She would sit with it on her lap, anxiously studying its peculiarities.
'Miss Leyburn, why are you coughing? said Lady Charlotte suddenly. 'There is a great draught, said Rose, shivering a little. 'So there is! cried Lady Charlotte. 'Why, we have got both the windows open. Hugh, draw up Miss Leyburn's. He moved over to her and drew it up. 'I thought you liked a tornado, he said to her, smiling. 'Will you have a shawl? there is one behind me.
'If this girl lives, it will be Miss Leyburn's doing; if she dies, saved and comforted, instead of lost in this world and the next, it will be Miss Leyburn's doing too. Ah, my dear young lady, let me alone! You tie my tongue always, and I won't have it. And the doctor turned his weather-beaten elderly face upon her with a look which was half defiance and half apology.
"Decidedly, whenever old Mr. Leyburn's public spirit and gout induce him to give way. My father's heart is set on it; and gifts like mine, you know" here Stephen drew himself up, and rubbed his large white hands over his hair with playful self-admiration "gifts like mine involve great responsibilities. Don't you think so, Miss Tulliver?"
And he, indeed, did his polite best to be serious. But it somewhat disconcerted him in the middle to find Miss Leyburn's eyes upon him. And undeniably there was a spark of laughter in them, quenched, as soon as his glance crossed hers, under long lashes. How that spark had lit up the grave, pale face! He longed to provoke it again, to cross over to her and say, 'What amused you?
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