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Oh thou divinest softness! cried he, be assured I will put nothing to the venture that might take me from Louisa! Your kindness, my angel, has shewed me the value of life, and almost made a coward of your lover: no farther will I go than the duties of my post oblige me, and that honour, which to forfeit, would render me unworthy of your care.
The carriage is gone to-day, to bring Louisa and the Harvilles to-morrow. We are not asked to dine with them, however, till the day after, Mrs Musgrove is so afraid of her being fatigued by the journey, which is not very likely, considering the care that will be taken of her; and it would be much more convenient to me to dine there to-morrow.
She did everything humbly; she even let Louisa order her about. But before the end, Eliza had come to be restless when she was not there. Now, however, Eliza knew no more, and the little widow sat gazing at her with the tears on her cheeks. John, too, felt his eyes wet. But after half an hour, when there was still no change, he was turning away to go back to bed, when the widow touched his arm.
When she had closed the black lid of her violin-case, Helena stood a moment as if at a loss. Louisa looked up with eyes full of affection, like a dog that did not dare to move to her beloved. Getting no response, she drooped over the piano. At length Helena looked at her friend, then slowly closed her eyes. The burden of this excessive affection was too much for her.
"We're up against it now, Louisa," he whispered confidentially to his wife, "so let's have one wonderful night if we never have another." Mrs. Curtis nodded her complete agreement. She would have sanctioned a mortgage on her home rather than forego any material part of an experience which would command the breathless attention of many a future gathering of matrons and maids in faraway Bloomington.
"You do say such queer things," protested Louisa, "and half the time I don't know what you mean." "Bless you, dear coz, half the time I don't myself. Perhaps the joy of coming back to the old spot has slightly turned my brain, I've found my lost girlhood here. I'm NOT thirty-eight in this garden it is a flat impossibility. I'm sweet eighteen, with a waist line two inches smaller.
She dreaded the conclusion of the meal, fearing lest then she might be called upon to behold Richard Calmady once again, as she had beheld him now just on six years ago in the half dismantled house in Lowndes Square, on the night of Lady Louisa Barking's ball.
With a long, warm pressure of hands they parted, and Irene stood looking after the graceful figure till it glided out of sight. "In the name of wonder, who is that? You two have been the 'observed of all observers," ejaculated the impulsive Louisa. "That is my old schoolmate and friend of whom I once spoke to you. I had no idea that she was in New York. She is a poor orphan."
The accomplishments Louisa was mistress of, made every one convinced she had been educated in no mean way, tho' by some accidents she might have been reduced to the calamities Melanthe had so largely expatiated upon, and more there were who pitied her than approved the behaviour of her superior: some indeed, who had envied the praises they had heard bestowed on her, were rejoiced at her fall, and made it a matter of mirth wherever they came; and others again thought themselves affronted by having a person, who they now found was no more than a servant, introduced into their company, and would never visit Melanthe afterward the whole time she stayed in Venice.
And no wonder poor child, for she was sure of a terrible scolding sooner or later. Arthur paid attention to the ladies generally, with whom he was a great favorite. Louisa ate her dinner almost in silence, tho' Alice did her best to draw her out.
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