work done, so that Ishall not need to come back again till we come for good."
"I _think_ so," Philippa agreed. "But you know tradespeople andworkpeople are proverbially behind time in these cases."
She glanced around her as she spoke. They were standing in what was inprocess of being converted into a drawing-room in the old house on MrHeadfort's ---shire property which was now to be Evelyn's home.
It was a dear old place, and with great capabilities of better things;though hitherto it had been little more--of late years at least--than alarge well-kept farm-house.
But it was not substantially out of repair, and it was very roomy. Sono fresh building was called for, only the removal or alteration ofpartitions and doors and such, comparatively speaking, expeditious work,as well as painting, papering, and general embellishment to suit MrsMarmaduke Headfort's taste, and to be a fitting background to thewell-chosen furniture of which a great part was the old squire's gift.A "wedding present" he called it, though coming somewhat late in theday.
Altogether fortune was smiling on Duke and his wife. And Evelyn's busylittle brain meant to extract more smiles from the capricious ladybefore she had done with her. It had not been only and entirely forselfish reasons that she had dragged her sister from home to "rough it"for a fortnight at Palden Grange, declaring that she could not possibly"manage" without Philippa's advice and practical help about everything.
"Especially as Duke, you know, mamma, will be out all day. He isinfatuated about his new work and says he has such a lot to learn, andhe doesn't care a bit what our house is to look like. No, I _must_ havePhil."
And Phil she had, the girl herself neither urging nor objecting to theplan. Philippa was perplexed and unsettled in those days. She couldnot understand Bernard Gresham's silence. For the weeks were passing,and the reasons for seeing and hearing nothing more of him, which for atime had satisfied her, were no longer in existence. Evelyn, too, waspuzzled; half prepared to be angry with her hero, and at other timesinclined to throw the blame on her sister's "stand-off" manner.
"Though after all," she reflected, with a return to her usual practicalcommon-sense, "it is very awkward for men sometimes. And in our case itis not as if we had a big house and lots of people staying with us, sothat he could easily hint to me that he would like an invitation. Thatwould be so _very_ marked in our case. No, the only thing is for themto meet again `accidentally.'"
And she set her quick wits to work, and that successfully. She foundout that the master of Merle made a practice of spending Easter there,usually coming down a week or so beforehand. And this year there was nodoubt of his being there, as he had been so much away during the winterthat various things were calling for his attention. Palden Grange was,as has been mentioned, only a few miles from Merle-in-the-Wold. It wasnecessary that Evelyn, as well as her husband, should be on the spot forsome little time, to direct and superintend the alterations going on, soall turned out naturally, Evelyn arranging that their residence atPalden should include Easter-tide, _and_ her sister's company.
Philippa felt as if she must resign herself to fate. She would have hadan inexpressible horror of going out of her way or even seeming to doso, to meet Mr Gresham again, yet, on the other hand, any refusal to dowhat the Headforts so greatly urged would have been disobliging andunkind, unless she could have given the true reason for it. And thatreason, above, all the putting it into words, seemed to her asindelicate to entertain as the converse. For after all, Mr Gresham hadnot literally committed himself, and everybody said, and she was alwaysreading so in stories, that men were very changeable and capricious--even good, well-meaning men.
"Far more so than women," thought the girl. "No, I must just go on myown way and not swerve to right or left through any thought of him.That is the only thing to do if I wish to retain my own self-respect."
So Evelyn had her way, and here they were at Palden; here they had beenfor more than a week, as busy as bees, and nothing had been heard of MrGresham, no allusion even had been made to their vicinity to his home,except that one day when something had been said by Duke about takingPhil over to see the gardens at Merle before they left, and she had notreplied, Evelyn had not seconded the proposal. She had indeed ratherdiscouraged it, for which her sister had mentally thanked her.
"Imagine our going over there, and his possibly having come home andmeeting me like the girl in _Pride and Prejudice_--could anything bemore horrible?" thought Philippa.
And she was grateful for the sort of tacit understanding of her feelingswhich her sister seemed to show, though at the same time rathersurprised at it.
Then suddenly the aspect of everything changed.
That very afternoon--the afternoon of the day on which the sisters hadbeen discussing the probability of the work being sufficiently advancedto allow of their return to Greenleaves within a fortnight--as Philippaand Evelyn were unpacking some especially choice china which had justarrived, and which was to be carefully locked up in one of theinnumerable cupboards of the old house till Mrs Marmaduke Headfortshould return "for good," the young servant, who was their temporaryattendant, appeared in the doorway with a face of some consternation.
"If you please, ma'am," she began, "there's a gentleman called to seeyou. I told him you were very busy, but he _would_ come in, while Itold you. Mr Gresham is his name."
"Where is he?" said Evelyn, getting up as she spoke, for she had beenkneeling in front of a packing-case--her face rosier than usual. "Whatroom did you show him into? Not into the drawing-room, assuredly," shewent on, with a laugh, to Philippa, "for it is blockaded with laddersand scaffolding, and--"
"May I not show myself in?" said a voice in the doorway. "I have onlyjust come down and heard of your being here," and so saying thenew-comer came forward.
He shook hands cordially with Evelyn; the circumstances made anythinglike formality impossible, yet Philippa thought she detected a touch ofconstraint in his manner as he turned to her. For the moment she hadnot leisure to ask herself if this pained or gratified her; her wholeefforts being devoted to the maintaining in herself an entirely calmexterior, and this Evelyn's ready tact greatly assisted. She chattedmerrily to Mr Gresham about the house, and the furniture, and theirfuture plans, till her two companions grew completely at ease, to alloutward appearance at least. But it was not till shortly before MrGresham left, that Philippa allowed herself to yield to the happyconsciousness which had gilded the last days of her stay at Cannes.
For it was not fancy--he did hold her hand, for a moment longer thanconventionality permitted, and though he addressed Evelyn as he madeplans for meeting again on the morrow, it was Philippa's eyes that hissought.
"Yes, you must all come over to luncheon," he said, "and leave thepacking-cases to themselves. I only wish you would come to Merlealtogether while you are in the neighbourhood."
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
ON THE WAY TO THE FISH-PONDS.
During the next few days all outward circumstances seemed to combine inone direction. The weather was perfect; Evelyn the most tactful ofchaperons; Merle itself surpassed in beauty all that the sisters hadheard of it. Their host--for such he practically was, as nearly everyday saw them Mr Gresham's guests--quietly exerted all the powers hepossessed to enhance the charms of his home. And Philippa lived in thesunshine of the present, in happy confidence as to the future.
"It _must_ be all right," she told herself. Only--once or twice--analmost imperceptible hesitation in the young man's manner struck her, orher imagination, with a faint shadow of misgiving, and occasionally anunspoken inquiry in Evelyn's eyes startled her a little.
Why did he not speak definitely?
Though even as she thought this, she dismissed the question.
"I should have no misgiving," she said; "I have no reason for it. It isonly that miserable secret in the background! If he would but give me achance of telling him about it; it would be so delightful to find, as Iknow I should, how fanciful and exaggerated I have been
in fearing thata man like him would really be changed to me because of it."
The opportunity was to come, as such things often do, when she was leastexpecting it. Two or three days before Easter, Michael Gresham made hisappearance at Merle. His cousin welcomed him cordially, though, truthto tell, he had almost forgotten this arranged-for visit.
"So you're all alone," said Michael at breakfast the first morning--hehad travelled down by a night train--"I am all the better pleased,though rather surprised. You are not generally so contented with yourown society."
Bernard Gresham did not at once reply. He stooped to pat Solomon, who,needless to say, was in attendance; an unusual piece of amiability whichdid not escape Michael's attention, any more
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